Chris Stills has been in music his entire life. He still tours the world playing! In fact, he'll be playing in West Hollywood, CA on June 15th and then he will be playing in La Rochelle, France on July 11th. Chris has performed with Leanne Rimes, Ryan Adams, and Smashing Pumpkins. One of my favorite tracks on his new album, called "DONT BE AFRAID," is criminal mind, and was written by Chris and Ryan.
Here's a fun fact, Chris wrote and performs the song "Live to Live" on one of my all time favorite movies, American Hustle, starring my girl, Jennifer Lawrence.
Justin Fabus, 2018 CMA Fest performer and CMA "Emerging Artist" is this week's singer - songwriter guest on the podcast. His new album, "Remedy," is coming out June 22nd, and you can listen to the title track of the record now (link below.)
When you sit down to do collaborative work with someone you've never met, whether that be recording a podcast or writing a new song, you never know how it's going to go. Are you going to get along, will you be able to get some good content? We talk all about this struggle of connection, maintaining authenticity and building a business you can be proud of in this episode of the podcast.
Honey County, powerful girl-band made up of Dani Rose, Devon Jane & Katie Stump, have a huge announcement in this week's podcast! Their song, "Love Someone" will be in the hit tv show, Nashville in the Season and Show finale, airing June 14th! I'd been looking forward to having these ladies on the show for a long time, so it was amazing to finally sit down and talk outfits, travel and the power of teamwork.
Podcast Sponsor: https://www.oldgringoboots.com/
Love Someone Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7rgaKKmsCY
Valerie Morehouse is a vocal expert and coach to artists and actors including Hunter Hayes, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly of Florida Georgia Line, Michael Ray, Sia, Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki, Avril Lavigne, Noah Cyrus, Rachel Platten, Ruby Rose, Jeff Bridges, and cast members of the Nashville TV series including Connie Britton, Charles Esten, Hayden Panettiere, and Claire Bowen In this podcast she talks about the importance of sleep, nutrition, moderation of drinking and having balance in life.
James McCoy Taylor is a Texas grown artist and a former cast member on ABC's The Bachelor. This interview happened at the strangest show I've ever experienced. James was so sweet to take some time, literally last minute, to talk to me this night. Every artist has their story about a difficult show and this was definitely that night for James.
Clay Walker, the artist behind legendary songs like "I Could Make a Living" and "This Woman and This Man" talks fishing, hunting, and the love of family. In the 15 minutes I had to talk with Clay, I felt like I got to know him in a really personal way. So glad you get to enjoy this too!
Brett Myers has over 30 songs out and a new single with Colt Ford, Rattlesnake. Rewinding the clock a bit, you may remember Brett from his World Series winning professional baseball career. He played 11 seasons of Major League Baseball and is now in his third year of being a professional country musician. Before he put the baseball down, Brett was writing songs and sharing them with is buddy, Colt Ford, but I’ll let him tell you more about that...
The Swon Brothers, Colton and Zach Swon, talk about their experiences with country music icons Blake Shelton and Brad Paisley and share some insight into what they've learned from watching these leaders in country music. We also talk about our favorite podcasts! Let me know what your fav pods are! Send me a message @countrymusicpod on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter! Check out their new music, What Ever Happened.
Colt Ford has sold over a million albums, his songs have been streamed over a billion times, and he has a brand new album coming out May 5th called “Love Hope Faith.” Hope you enjoy this little pre-show chat we had when he came to Denver!
It was an honor to speak with singer and songwriter Ned Ledoux about his life of music, and the meaning behind some of the songs on his album, Sagebrush.
Lit band members A Jay and Jeremy Popoff are my guests on this 34th episode of the podcast. It was an honor to travel to California and get to speak two guys who have given decades to the pursuit of the careers in music. I love finding artists that cross genres. Music is an artistic expression and to hear the lovely melodies that Lit is playing now is so exciting to me.
Jenny and Blake Marvin are the creators of Two Way Crossing. They are married and quit their full time jobs, sold their possessions and moved to Nashville to pursue their music career in 2014. Also on this podcast is their dummer and technical guru Jaron Mossman. They mention some of their favorite podcasts which I have linked in the description of this episode on the website at Backroadspodcast.com.
Hunter Hayes writes 150 to 200 songs per album he releases. His exeptional work ethic and interested personality make this episode one of my favorites. Our conversation made me think about music rights, laws and what is being done to ensure that content creators are able to continue to make a living in the industry.
WildHorse is one of my favorite albums from 2017. Five years. Longer than it takes to start and graduate college. That is how long it took for this album to finally come out! Boy, was it worth the wait. I had the hardest time deciding which songs to play in this episode, because I truly love them all. It was such an honor to speak with Raelynn and now present this episode to you in this brand new year of podcasts!
So much fun to talk about college, politics and education with Chancey Wiliams in this episode of the podcast! Thanks to Chancey for his time, and thanks to you all for your submissiones of "successful moments" which I share at the beginning of the episode. After you check out our interview, make sure to watch the amazing BBC tourism video in the website description of this episode (backroadspodcast.com) about Wyoming, America, and country music with Chancey Williams!
Gethen Jenkins, a powerful musician with an honest American soul, joined me in this episode to talk about defining success as an artist. As I mention in the intro, tell me what you've been successful at lately! DM me @countrymusicpod and I'll share some of the stories on next week's episode!
If you're from LA you know Graham Bunn from #grahaminthemorning on Go Country 105. If you're in ABC's Bachelor Nation, you remember him from The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise. Graham was so gracious to meet up with me in the middle of the Driftwood Music Festival right before his interview with Kip Moore. His energy is contagious and I hope his warm heart is as well. After meeting him, I understand why Graham is pals with all the greats.
Sam Riggs tells me THE craziest stories about what he has seen, and been a part of, at concerts in this episode. That is reason enough to listen. Enjoy!
Tracy Dixon, co-host of 98.5 KYGO's Denver morning radio show, is an incredible role model to me, as a woman in the media and country music industry. It is easy to understand why she has been so successful when you get the chance to talk with her. There is so much to learn from listening to Tracy talk about her work and love of her career in this episode!
Russell Dickerson and I had fun telling stories about camping problems and wine tasting, but what really amazed me was to learn about his hard core hustle in country music. He shares so many the details about the road that led him to his debut album “Yours.” I also got to meet his wife Kailey, not only the inspiration behind his love songs, but also the photgraphic genius behind his music video and album cover.
When you look at Country music today you’ll see a patchwork of people with different ideas about what they think country should sound like. You may hear some say that Florida Georgia Line raps too much, the Dixie Chicks are too political, or Wheeler Walker Jr. is too dirty. But it’s all country. Does country music have to twang, or have a banjo, or be about a girl and a pick up truck? Or do you just have to wear a cowboy hat when you sing it? When I met Joe Stamm for this interview, he started off talking about his upcoming song American Freeborn Kids. As he described the song, and why he wrote it, I began to see that the way that country music is divided, is much like the way America is divided. I’m not sure what the fix is, for unity in general, but I’m pretty sure that great music like this will help! Their song American Freeborn Kids is coming out soon, so stayed tuned for the release date! Joe Stamm and his band are Back Dirt Country Rockers, and this is our conversation.
This episode marks the beginning of what I want this podcast to be, a casual conversation with an artist after a show. Hudson Moore and I talk for about 20 minutes, then we sign off, and then we really talk. Actually I do most of the talking, sorry about that Hudson, but I really enjoyed the relaxed nature of this conversation. Im so thankful to Hudson for taking the time to sit down and share his thoughts with me after his show here in Denver. He is an amazing guy who is a really talented artist with some really great songs.
Jerrod Niemann, the artist of songs like "Lover, Lover" and "What Do You Want," has soothed and inspired country music fans for years. Leading up to the interview, I started out with a list of 50 questions and whittled it down to six...knowing I would have ten minutes to talk to him. Interviewing Jerrod and having him tell me stories about his life, is the experience I dreamed of when launching this show. He was not only generous with his time, but he thought to share experiences that made me laugh, and that changed the way that I see my work.
I cannot count the times that I've started humming "When It Rains" on days that I am feeling down and I'm sporting a frown. I can still feel the passion in "Guinevere" as I set my iPod on repeat and pound out the miles on a treadmill. I will never forget the moment that I stood with my arm around my sister, tears of sisterhood streaming down my face, as the band struck up our song, "Crazy Girl." What about the times we drove down an actual dirt road, in a Ford pickup truck, windows down, screaming out the lyrics to "Even If It Breaks Your Heart." I could go on for days, about every single song since their third album Jet Black & Jealous (2008) --- that is eight years after the band started.
They released a new album this year, Fingerprints, which is every bit as raw as the true-blue fan could hope. Taking the wheel on this album, the band wrote eight out of the 11 tracks including the title track Fingerprints, Never Land, and God Love the Rain.
I'm proud to bring you this episode with the legendary Eli Young Band. Thanks for listening and subscribing!
If you don’t already know, Craig Campbell has had many hit singles in Country Music including “Fish,” “Family Man,” and my personal favorite “Keep Them Kisses Comin.” His current single is titled "Outskirts of Heaven." What some of you might not realize is that before he got his first record deal, Craig used to tour with Tracy Byrd and Luke Byan playing the keyboard. The thing I have really taken to heart after thinking about this conversation with Craig, is that people who achieve greatness EXPECT to put in loads of work. And not only has he been putting in incredible amounts of work since 2002 (and probably earlier,) but this hard work is literally ALL he knows. And most IMPORTANTLY he seems to kinda enjoy it. These days Craig is touring the country and always working on new music. He regularly performs at the Grand Ole Opry AND he is currently recording a new album with Producer Mickey Jack Cones, which will be his first with BBR Music Group’s Red Bow Records. Thanks for listening!