Huey Lewis & The News
Huey: I like the jam band scene. These guys are pals of ours. The way they run their ship is really interesting. They do all the stuff internally. They produce their own records. I think we would have been a jam band if we’d have come along today.
Cowboy Mouth
“How do you describe Cowboy Mouth to someone who hasn’t gone to a show before?”
Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish: That’s a great question. And I have a great answer for it. Early on I realized a quick way to put it into a context where people knew that I was serious about it. I would say, “They are one of my top three all time live acts I’ve ever seen.”
And then they’d go, “Who are the others?”
And I’d say, “The Who and Fishbone.”
So all of a sudden, if you get a visual of The Who and Fishbone, and if you have ever seen either of those two acts or even heard of what they do live, you realize that there is going to be an energy that’s other worldly. And I can put Cowboy Mouth on that level and mean it.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Kim: When I was a senior in high school, I was a football player, but I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to play football the rest of my life.
At the same time I was getting into all this great blues music. A friend of mine was playing a harmonica. I picked it up and I was in a band immediately. I was in a band three months after I started playing.
A year later, I was playing with all the great old guys. It was crazy. Eddie Taylor, Albert Collins, Pee Wee Crayton, George “Harmonica” Smith, John Lee Hooker even back then a little bit.
Red Wanting Blue
Scott: About the song "Times For You." I missed an important wedding, a close friend's wedding. When the couple chose that date, there wasn’t a conflict on band's tour calendar. But there was a private show (unlisted on our website) on the date of their wedding. We were all disappointed because the show couldn’t be moved.
I've missed out a lot of the milestones in the lives of my close friends. I see the photos and hear the stories, but in the end I just haven’t always been there. As I get older, being there has become more and more important. That is what this song is about. So much of love is just showing up.
Daniel Glass
When onstage, listen more to what your fellow musicians are playing than yourself.
A bass player I work with a lot (Steve Doyle) made a pretty profound comment. He said, “It’s all about listening. Spend your time listening to what the other musicians onstage are playing, and react to that. Your playing will feel more natural and make more musical sense.”
Remember, folks, it’s a conversation.
Sister Hazel
Drew: One of our mottos is “Family first.” We have lived by that. Every one of us is allowed to come on the bus and vent about stuff that's going on at home. All of us are willing to listen and be someone to bounce ideas off of. It is about supporting the health of each person’s relationship and family. That's always going to be the top priority.
Hire me to work with your band
John “Papa” Gros
I am always prepared and ready for that unexpected moment during a show. You never know when it’s going to happen, but you always know when it’s happening. It's a great moment and one that unifies musicians with their audience.
The Devlins
Colin: We had great support from our parents. Our father was a veterinary surgeon. In his surgery, he had a huge map of America. For every show that we played in the United States, he would put a red pin in the city. After about a year, he called and said, “I can't fit any more pins on the map! I've got about 20 in Chicago. Maybe I can fit a couple more in Boston. But we need a bigger map.”
Cimarron 615
Ronnie: Usually when I write a song, I think of a lyric first. Once I have that, a melody idea will come to me. I would like to write the other way, where you start with great chords, a great melody, and then you think of lyrics to go with that. But I hardly ever do it that way.
Professor Louie & The Crowmatix
Louie: When I hire people to play an instrument or work in the control room, I rarely question them. I hire them for their expertise. If you are going to constantly question people, why even hire them? For instance, we work with Bob Ludwig. He's one of the greatest mastering engineers in the world. He's got more hit records than anybody in history. He might say to me, "This song really should be sped up" or "I really should bounce it over to my one-inch tape machine so we can put it on analog and then master it from there." He has great ideas that improve the songs even more.
Blue Élan Records
Jesse Dayton: Samantha Fish and I had to learn how to sing together. I would come in and kind of overpower it a little bit. So I started singing lighter, breathier. Now I do that every show.
I'm sure she stumbled onto some stuff too. It's a natural process. That's the great thing about getting out of your comfort zone and trying different stuff.