Ep.306 – Rocky Michaels Interview

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This is the Windward Fail Music speaks podcast with Blake Mosley, James Cod, and Amanda Dolan.

Welcome back to the Words Fail Music Speaks podcast. I am Amanda Dolan and I am joined today by Rocky Michaels. He is an indie singer songwriter out of California, and he just released his new album at the time of recording today, which is March 1, which so excited about. I listened to it through twice on my way here to the lake. So, Rocky, thank you so much for being here with me today and being willing to chat about your music and some of your life experience.

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, looking forward to chatting.

I enjoyed listening to your album on my way in and the song Firefly, right? That was one that I really just enjoyed because it's talking. Know, how do I shine my light the way you do, I guess, is kind of the message I got from it. And I love that. I love the idea of shining a light. So where did you get that firefly thing from? Because here in Texas, we don't have fireflies.

Yeah, no, it's funny. You don't really have them. At least I'm not aware of know very much. In California, every song is special. Kind of like our know. You never want to know. We love all of our children equally. Some days we love some children more equally than others. So it's the same thing with songs. They're all special in their own way. With Firefly, it's kind of interesting. I was at my computer, and sometimes you're at your computer and on the news feed, stories of interest pop up. Just so happened to be a story about fireflies. So I was mildly intrigued and I started reading and I didn't realize how symbolic fireflies are from different cultures around the world. They can be a symbol of good luck, of love and this and that. So I was kind of fascinated by it. And I had my guitar by my side, which I often do. I never know when inspiration is going to hit me. And I decided to go with how we all have a light within each and every one of us, and the world needs to see our light. The world needs to see us shine. So it came together kind of strange bedfellows about sort of lack of confidence and shining the light, and I just kind of melded the two. And, yeah, that's a special song, so I appreciate you shouting that out.

I often talk to people about, like, when you shine your light, it doesn't mean that you dim someone else's. Right. It's like when all of us have bright lights. One, we all see things better, but sometimes shining your light lights the path for others.

Yeah, absolutely. And there was one line that stuck out with me, where the light can shine brightest when there's darkness everywhere. I mean, literally and figuratively. And I just thought, well, that's kind of a cool sort of imagery to try to elaborate on.

It is. And I know that we chatted for a little bit before this, and you have two sons, and so how do you encourage them and their creativity?

Yeah, taking a step back, being married and becoming a parent was really kind of a rites of passage for me. Back in my college days, I was writing songs about girlfriends breaking up with me and this and that. But now I'm grateful for the perspective that I have. And so I'm really trying as best I can to be a role model. And so many of my songs have to do with parenting and relationships and social, environmental causes. And I joke kind of with sincerity. If something were to happen to me, hopefully my children will have almost like, a living diary of my stories through songs. A number of songs that I wrote have to do with them. There's a song called Wishes, which is kind of a lullaby, which is, I penned a letter to our son when he turned 13 to both of them, and I had forgotten about it. And a year or two ago, I was at the computer and I saw it, and I'm like, oh, wow, what a cool message that I wrote to him. So I turned that into a song. So I'm influenced as a parent in my songwriting because of our children, and I hope they think it's pretty cool.

Yeah, I think it's pretty cool, too. The better man. Is that also a song to your boys?

Better man was a song I wrote to my wife. It's so funny. I had written songs about our children. I wrote a song about the good old days. I even wrote a song about our dog. I figured I better write a song, a real wholehearted song about my wife. Otherwise I'll be sleeping with a dog. And it's kind of like what I said. She makes me each and every day. She inspires me to try to be a better man, and I'm not always successful, but that was really the essence of the song, and I was really honored. There's a wonderful organization in Nashville called the Josie Music Awards. JMAs and better man was nominated for song of the year in the folk category. I didn't win, but it was among the top 3% to be nominated. So I felt very grateful to at least be acknowledged.

Winning is great, but also just that recognition is really awesome. It gets your kind of information, your name out there in front of people. I think that folk Americana singer songwriter genre is really making its way to the forefront of.

Think, you know, I'm in California. You're in mean. I think if you speak about common. You know, people may have different preferences for melodies and instrumentals, but if you speak about common themes as humans and how we interact, I mean, that's kind of universal. And that kind of seems like it's a core foundation for folk Americana. Just speaking about the real life world. Yeah.

And I think it's that storytelling a little bit more than some of the pop or rock stuff. There's still storytelling there, but I love a good storytelling song.

I found this interesting. It's harder to make things up. It's almost easier, and it sounds strange. It's easier to write about real life situations just because I have these resources at my disposal. At my disposal, and I think part of it, too. You have to be willing to share a little bit of your vulnerabilities. You write about situations. You don't know if people are going to connect or not, but when they do, that's the best form of reward I can think of. When people say, oh, yeah, I totally know what you mean, or I experienced that, too. For me, that's what it's all about.

The title of the podcast is when words fail music speak. Because sometimes I'm one of those people, and I'm sure there are others out there, and you may be one of them. I care about someone or going through something. I'll be like, here, listen to this song. Yeah, I don't know if you have that where, whether it's your music or someone else's. You connect with people through music, I think, in a different way.

For me, it's not always easy for me to have an on the spot two way dialogue, especially when it's getting heated. And I just, you know, songwriting allows me to collect my thoughts, take my time, exact my message that I want to share. So it's still a way to share my feelings and so forth, but in more of a controlled environment than just on the cuff. Just getting into an argument or conversation.

With someone, I think that's so much of it, is that ability to. Okay, I can't really tell you exactly how I'm feeling, but here, listen to this, and it'll get you at least close. And in an argument or even, I think when we tell people we love them, sometimes that can feel so vulnerable that being like, here, listen to this song that I didn't write. Not really my words. Right. It can maybe be a little easier, although you get to use your words in the music.

Yeah. Music is universal, and especially in this day and age, when there's such divisiveness going on. Seems like more so than I can remember. Just the vitriol and just the hate music is that. I mean, it sounds like a cliche, but I mean it with sincerity. It can serve as that sort of common denominator that can bring us all a little closer. We may have differences at the end of the day, but hopefully we can find a common thread in music.

I think that we all also have different tastes in. Certainly I don't like rap, or I'm learning more about metal right now, but definitely, I grew up with parents who. My dad's favorite band was the Kingston trio. My first concert with Peter Paul, and, like, that was the music that I kind of grew up around. But when I got into even high school and college, that wasn't cool, right, to listen to Peter Paul and Mary. In the 90s, people thought it was cool. And I think you and I were probably about the same age, because I know that your kids are just a little older than mine. That music that came out of, I guess, the 90s is so different. There were all the bad words, and it was the music you couldn't listen to around your parents. But I guess there's always that in generations. Elvis.

Yeah. I think every generation, there's the know saying, kids these days, I just don't understand the music that they're listening to. I'm sure my grandparents said that to my parents about the Beatles. My parents probably said it to me as I'm listening to the Rolling Stones and know I the music today our sons have introduced us to mean, I actually love post Malone. I mean, there's some great new mean. He's really talented. But then there's also some music today that I'm like, wow, that's out there on the radio. You sure you want to portray yourself in that light and talk down about women and whatever it may be? So I think every generation has that experience with the previous generation.

Tom Petty, he one of the best, in my opinion, songwriters out there. He, again, also told great stories with catchy melodies.

I mean, even just the melodies themselves are just so iconic.

And, I mean, I'm just thinking as we're talking, I'm like, singing last dance with Mary Jane. Then I'm also, like, over here thinking, refugee. Right? There's such classics.

Takes you back to your.

It does. Um, and I can think of the video. I think it was last night's Mary Jane. It was an escalator in a mall. I don't know if I'm remembering that correctly. And after we are done, I'm going to have to look it up, see if I'm right or wrong on that. We kind of talked about, like, music is a way to express yourself, and I know that you have partnered with. It's a book that your song is kind of an uncomfortable truth is featured in or part of. Right, yeah. Unsheltered voices of the sorry of the past.

Yeah. That just came out sort of by accident. So the song uncomfortable truth is sung from the perspective of a homeless person. And I'm sure we've all come across homeless people. I'll see them out here as well. And honestly, I'm conflicted. I mean, I want to help them, but I can't help everyone. And so that always stuck with me, and I was inspired to sort of write a song. The reality is, you see anyone, whether they're homeless or not, you have no idea what their story is. You have no idea what road they may have traveled to get to where they are. And so I wrote this song from the perspective of a homeless person, and I wasn't sure how it was going to be received because it's kind of a specific topic, but I still felt it was important, and I felt proud of it. So I wanted to at least put it out there just for immortality. But here's the interesting part. Two weeks before the song was going to be released, I was just scrolling on social media, I think it was LinkedIn. And I saw this project about homelessness that was going to be released. And I just, you know, this. What a great fit. So I reached out to the co producer, Dennis Patoko, and I said, hey, I really admire what you're doing. By the way, I have this song that's going to be released in two weeks. I think it might be a great fit. I'm happy to donate it to your cause, however you want to use it. And sure enough, he responded back immediately. He said, oh, my goodness, this is great. This would be a great anthem for our rollout and our promotional and the videos. So it was just somewhat fortuitous. But I think many of us feel that way when we come across people. You don't know the whole story, don't judge a book. You never know if they're coming from medical issues or broken homes. And just hopefully it'll inspire a little compassion along the way.

Before we started, I let you know that both of my kids had the flu this week, and somehow I was spared. I don't know how that happened, but I was thinking, had to take them both to the doctor, and they both needed medication, and I worked for myself and from home, so I didn't need to take time off from work. But if I had had to go to the doctor, too, and my partner had as well, and we all needed medicine, it's 200 and $5300. Even with insurance, then if I had to miss a couple of days of work and all of a sudden you're $1,000 out for the month, right? That's with a low paying job. It can be something that simple that gets you to that homelessness place, and.

Somebody sees you on the street and you may be kind of in despair, and they have no idea if you're grumpy or in a bad mood or if you got all this weight behind you. I mean, we just don't know. So again, hopefully the takeaway is just go easy on everyone. Yeah, you never know. We're all trying to doing our best out here. Yeah.

I think a lot of homelessness comes from some mental health stuff. There's all that kind of thing. But we talk a lot about mental health around here that I always like to ask about vocal health, because I think people don't always realize that as a musician and as a vocal artist, you've got to really take care of your voice as well. When you're performing, when you're recording, what do you do to take care of your vocal cords and all that during your time?

First of all, kudos to you. No one has ever asked me that question before. So the way to go, I'm sure I have a lot of improvements. I'm not coming into this as a singer. I grew up playing the piano, and then I was in a band. I played the guitar, and I was never a singer. The band back in the 90s needed harmony, so I tried. It wasn't very good, but I kept writing all these songs. A couple of years ago, I decided I really wanted to put my songs out there, and so I could have chosen to sell them to someone else to sing. But they're my babies, so I tried to sing. So singing has been sort of the weak link, but I've been taking lessons to directly answer your question, I have vocal exercises that I'll do. I've been told to try to do. Try to stay hydrated. I can definitely feel it. Oftentimes, I'll play out 3 hours, 4 hours at a time by myself. I'm a solo performer, typically, so I'm usually hoarse by the end, and so I'll try not to schedule back to back gigs, or it's a great excuse not to have to get in a conversation with the family the next day.

I am protecting my vocal cords, but I think it's kind of hydration. I'm always like, hydration. Sleep and nutrition, right. Those are, like, the things that we need for vocal health, mental health, physical health, and I think we often overlook those. But also, like you mentioned, rest is a really important piece of that. And I know I said, like, sleep, but I think rest is different than taking, like, going to bed on time.

Yeah, wake. But you don't have to be running 100 miles an hour doing five different things. It's okay to kind of take a chill evening or whatever and just plop on the couch and just kind of re energize. I mean, that's important.

It is. I know that you do a fair amount of performing. Is it pretty local to you, or do you go out far away from.

Home for weeks at a mean to been? I'm in California, the San Francisco Bay Area, northern California. So to date, it's been sort of the greater region. I've gone a few hours north and a few hours know out here, wineries are a great popular view. I mean, I can get to Napa in an hour. And there's another town called Livermore, which has some great wineries, and it's a great compatible venue for me as a solo. Just, I'll play the guitar. Sometimes I'll bring a piano. I joke the more they drink, the better I sound. So motivation to keep drinking, but there's been a plentiful amount of wineries here, and I've hit some bars and hotels. It's mean. The Bay Area has, like, I want to say, four and a half, 5 million people in the greater Bay Area. So it's a dense population out here.

And you're just east, right, of the Bay Area.

Technically in the Bay Area. I'm about 40 miles due east of San Francisco in a town called Danville, which is the east side of the Bay Area, where Berkeley and Oakland is. And you cross Bay and you get to San Francisco, but it's born and raised. But I can hit the beach in an hour. I can go to Napa, I can go to Lake Tahoe, although not this weekend, because they're getting a blizzard down south. I can go to Carmel and Monterey. And it's just such natural beauty out here.

It's one of the great things about California, right? You can be at the beach quickly or the mountains and ski. Right. You could do a little bit of.

Everything, in fact, if I may. So my last song that just came out two weeks ago, called Seasons, is a song I sing, literally, about the four Seasons. And so when I was preparing the video, I wanted to capture imagery of the four different seasons. And I filmed this all in a weekend a couple of months ago. So literally one Saturday morning, I woke up really early. I drove 3 hours to Lake Tahoe for about 30 minutes of video in the snow. That was my winter shot. Came home the next day, I woke up, I went to the beach. That was my summer.

Summer.

And I did a lot of driving, but I filmed that entire music video called seasons. It's on YouTube. It's all google rocky Michaels. I did it all on the weekend.

Which is when I looked at the COVID art for that song. I saw sea and then sons. And I was like, if he has sons, before I listen to it or anything, I read your sons that you're hanging out at the sea with. I don't know why that's how I read that, but.

I should have sent it to you beforehand for like a pre marketing test because that thought never occurred to me. I was just trying to be creative with the COVID But it's beautiful.

That was the first seasons, but also, hey, son, see this? And let's go out to sea. I don't. I'm. That's the way my brain works. It's weird. That's really the beautiful about California that you could get all four seasons in.

A, we don't you have to drive to. When we were younger, we would say, hey, let's go to the snow. Let's go to the snow, meaning, let's go to Lake Tahoe. We don't really have it around immediately, but I just love the ocean and the coast.

I think we had four seasons here this week. It was 90 degrees on Monday, and by Wednesday it was 35.

Yeah.

Wow. Everywhere. It seems like the weather is funky this year.

Yeah.

I know. You have your two sons, you said are 20 and 22, and you started playing music at five, six. Is that right?

Well, joke. My parents forced piano lessons on me when I was five years old.

Mine too.

Yeah. And I did that for five years or so. And back then, going to date myself, we didn't have the Internet, so it's either, hey, go play ball. Know, go ride your bike or play piano. And that was really a good foundation for know, we would have the piano and I'd go back to it every now and. But then after college, I started a band with some buddies. We'd play around San Francisco and Napa. I was a piano guy, and they were all the cool guitar guys and just kind of by osmosis. I started learning a few things on guitar and just kind of taught myself guitar, and I really enjoy having both instruments. It's like cross training. If I'm on the guitar and I can't figure out a chord, I'll go to the piano. Oh, okay. That's a B minor seven. So it's been kind of a synergistic process for me to. Plus, the guitar is portable, so I can take it everywhere I want.

Right. A piano, like a true piano, not so portable.

Yeah, the lug that on your shoulder a little bit.

Keyboard. You can take small electric keyboard places. So then you had a great experience learning music, piano. Did you force your kids to learn music as well?

So I didn't force it, but we have a piano in our home and I would play and they'd see me playing. And sometimes in the morning or on weekends if they wouldn't get up, I'd go in there with the guitar and I'd just say, time to wake up, and I'd play a little guitar. So it was always soft exposure. I didn't force it on them, and they did take lessons. Our youngest son is actually an amazing musician in his own right, and he's trying to branch out. And it's fun because I didn't force it. They have different interests, but I just think having music in general, just music in the house is just an additional element. It's wonderful.

It brings you together. But also, I did force, and I will use that word, my kids to. They. They could take an. Or they had to take an art elective in middle school or even in elementary school, but I forced them to take music. My son plays the violin and the cello. My daughter is in choir, because I think that music, and especially that, like, where you're with a group, one, it teaches you sort of, like, that teamwork and how to harmonize and work with other people, but also math. Stand by that.

Yeah. Especially nowadays, so many kids, and, I mean, I'm guilty of it, too. We've got our faces and our phones. Music really helps promote that much needed mental stimulation, which bleeds positively into other aspects of life. So I'm a huge supporter of music when it can be shared.

I don't know about you, but with my kids, there are songs that are, like, our songs that we sing in the car together or just even at dinner, or we often less so now that on Fridays, we would have pizza dance party nights, and so we would make pizza together, and then we would dance in the living room while the pizza cooked. Did you all do that? Are there songs that are just, like, for you and your sons or even just for you and your wife's song?

We kind of have different tastes. I mean, growing up, there would be songs that I tried as best I could to really introduce them to all the wonders of Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor. We have different interests now. And as they age, from their toddler days to their teenage days now, I mean, their musical interests have changed, but it's okay. Our youngest son will share some songs that he likes, and I'll share some songs, and it's an opportunity. It's probably an example for the rest of the world, opportunity to kind of bring our differences to the table and say, hey, like to share this with. You don't have to like it, but here's why I like it. And it's just a great opportunity to engage in conversation and share our differences.

And my daughter more than my son, but she's introduced me to some artists that I never would have found on my own, because I get stuck in the same artists, the same songs. But she's the younger performer. Her name, lyn Lapid, is the first one that she introduced me to. It was the first concert I had been to because I had to take her, because she was 15 and 14. She couldn't drive herself. And it was in Dallas, and I didn't really want to go, but I was like, okay, I'll take you. It was so much fun going and being in that space of just everyone together. That sounds kind of corny, but just that you're all there enjoying the same.

Thing, and there's a totally, totally. That's do that brings people together for.

I think, you know, Peter, Paul, and Mary. That was, like, my first in the Kingston trio. But you said simon and Garfunkel. They are awesome.

It's funny. So I'll play out the wines. I'll play a bunch of popular covers, and I'll sneak in some original songs. And I didn't realize this, but just for fun, I went back and I added up how many times I played James Taylor, how many times, you know, the Eagles Simon and Garfunkel came in number one. I have more Simon and Garfunkel songs that I'll share, and so I think that's just a testament to how influential they were. And I didn't realize it, but I've always been a huge admirer of really great lyricists and Paul Simon.

There's so many.

Never get old for me.

I'll share this, and it will lead to another question. So, a million years ago, it feels like now we adopted a puppy. I'm just trying to figure out this tiny, little, long haired dachshund sitting in my lap. I'm trying to figure out what we're going to name this dog, and all of a sudden, Paul Simon comes on. And I'm not going to sing this to you because I don't want to hurt your ears, but you said, you can call me Al. And right then, the dog started kissing my face, and I was like, oh, albert, that is your name.

I was thinking, okay, is Al. Is it Cecilia? Is it the boxer? Like, what are you going to name the dog?

So many of them. And then, like, Cecilia, too. That was a song that we sang, which is kind of inappropriate, now that I think about it. In my music class or not music, my math class, every Friday, we would sing Cecilia with my math teacher, Mr. Haas. Hey, Rick.

Great song.

Probably listen to this, but I remember that you said you have one dog I know the ASPCA and humane society are passionate about.

So back growing up, our very first dog was a dachshund, and she was the runt of the litter. So my parents named her runtel for the runt of the litter, and that was the only dog I knew, and it was wonderful, but I just had such wonderful memories of growing up in a family with a dog. So when we got married and we had kids, now he's a ten year old loving golden retriever named Jackson. In fact, I would joke when we would get him, I used to refer to him as Jackson Brown. And my kids were like, what? So I had to explain. And also, where we live, there are deer and rabbits and turkey that can come right onto our court and our lawn and our grass. And I keep reminding them they were all here first before the buildings and construction went. Just been. I've just always had a fondness for animal and animal rights. I'm in California, so we're all a little different out mean, I'm a vegetarian and I'm a.

So we're. I'm in Texas and I'm a. Yeah. And I spent about half my time in a town called is not. I don't necessarily fit in here, but.

That doesn't mean that all individuals and who we are, we all have a story, but they can't speak for themselves. I mean, they can communicate, but they can't speak human words. So that's been very special for me, to be able to offer a little donation. Give a shout out on my website.

And you said you wrote a song about your dog.

I did. I haven't produced it yet. I mean, I haven't put it out there. I've got a whole stockpile of songs that. So seasons was my 30th song that I just released. I typically put out ten songs and then I wrap it into an album. But I'm very selective as to which song to put out there. And for better, for worse, my pipeline is full of songs. That's why I don't sleep too well, because I'm always thinking of. I get song ideas, but I do have a song for our dog. I'm drawing a blank, but I wrote it a few years ago, and he's great. He'll sit next to me. He's heard all my songs before, and he doesn't move. And he just likes. I think he's used to the guitar. I actually want to say, hey, I'm going to play guitar. He knows what that is.

They're smart. They know. You talked about, you've got all these songs now in the pipeline. You said, they're waiting. You also mentioned that you were in a band and then decided like, no, I want to sing my own song. Something I've always been curious about is that as a singer songwriter. As a songwriter, you said, they're your babies. So how do you decide if or when you're going to give one of them to someone else?

I don't know. If and when I get to that point, I'll let you know. I haven't really sold my songs to anyone else, I mean, in the band. And we practiced for a few years, but then one of my budies moved up to Oregon and we ran its course, but we're still friends and it's all wonderful. But all my songs, that was my motivation for really trying to work on my singing and vocals, because I wanted to be able to sing it and express myself coming from the heart, because I'm singing about things, topics that are inside of me. So while I might not be technically perfect, I'm authentic in my delivery.

And I think that that is when people connect to music, is when they can hear in the artist's voice, like that emotion and that they've connected with the music as well.

Hopefully. Yeah, hopefully. I mean, it's all about connection. I've played in front of a few hundred people and I've played, I think, in as little as six people. But sometimes those smaller venues, it's so intimate and you can talk and explain your songs and asking questions, and it's just. It's just. It's great.

It's.

It's. You know, when people nod or you say a line or a lyric. Yeah, I totally, you know, I was thinking about my spouse or whatever. Like I said, that's just the best reward for me.

I do some public speaking kind of things and I would rather have a crowd of 2000 where I can't, like, I don't feel like I have to talk to one person. You get me in a room with five people and I panic. I'm like, they're all pain. So I don't know. It's funny how we all have different comfort levels with who we surround ourselves with and how we perform or get our message out there.

Yeah, it depends on the dynamics, too. Maybe if it's a topic that everybody's really supportive of, that can make it easier. But if it's a speech and debate type of situation, there's confrontation that might not be as pleasant.

Music tends to bring people together. I know, of course, some of us don't love. Like you said, the music our kids listen to or the lyrics of songs can sometimes be divisive, but not always. I don't think your lyrics are remotely divisive. They feel very for me. I connected with a lot of them. I really enjoyed listening to them and I don't know where I got this, but I wrote in my notes, music unites us. Why did I write that.

By the way? Yeah, I am very g rated. If I were to give myself a parental guidance. Music, well, that's been a message. I think I shared that before in other little video snippets, how music is the common denominator. As I said before, just bring us all a little closer together. I have another song called Somewhere, which oftentimes it wasn't on this last album, it was on my second album. But when I'm playing out often, that'll be the last song that I play, just because it's a song about togetherness and building bridges in our society. And my intent is to have people leave the venue with some positive vibes and positive mojo. You can shake a neighbor's hand across the bridges and you can share a common view on top of the ridges or something. So it's an attempt to try to share some commonality.

That's beautiful, because I think that when we take a moment and pause, we often have far more in common with each other than we think in the beginning. So having those open conversations, it sounds.

Corny, but we're all brothers and sisters on this earth. We may live in different places, have different cultures, different beliefs, but we all share this earth. We got to figure out a way to cohabitate.

And I'm sure you've heard of her now, she wasn't as popular or as well known until. But she did win a Grammy for best Americana, I think, song this year, Brandi Clark has a song called like Mine, and it's like your heart's like mine and it breaks like it's. And I think that that's the thing, is, we're all similar. We're not exactly the same as we talked about, but finding that where we're common together, like what we, humanity, just live in that humanity. If you think about how many thousands of years has music been a part of humanity and culture? Absolutely.

All the way message to try to share it, especially these days. As I said before, there's just so much ugliness going around. Just take a chill pill, listen to.

Some music, have fun, don't take things too seriously. Like, there's another line in one of her songs. That's the only time we meet in the middle, is to fight. And there's so much truth in that. It's like, why don't we just go hang out? And I think that when you go to a show, at least I know when I do. I'm there for the music. I don't know how that person next to me voted or what tax bracket they're in necessarily. Right. You're just all there enjoying a band you love.

Yeah. It's funny you mentioned meet in the middle. That's another song idea that I haven't produced yet. But I think the line of the song is, I'm from Mars and you're from Venus, and there's a million miles between us, in between us. But the message there is to try to find compromise. Not to meet in the middle, to fight, but to find compromise, to have each side give a little bit. So you can interpret that a couple of different ways.

And I think that I work with clients and I talk about the difference between compromise and collaboration. With compromise, you kind of each give up a little something. But collaboration, it's really about working together for the greater good. But that got me thinking, collaborations. Do you collaborate with any other artists or are you solo? Solo.

Right now, I'm open to it. I haven't yet. I guess for two reasons. One, again, for better, for worse, I don't have a shortage of ideas. Sometimes I'll wake up at three in the morning and I'll have a song idea and I'll put a little note on my phone, you know, so I don't forget it the next day. So I've got a good stockpile of ideas. And also, again, I'm totally open to it, but I don't know how to go about finding someone who I would be compatible with. Maybe I'm just because my well hasn't run dry yet, I haven't had the need to explore that yet. I think it would be good for me, a good learning process to try to collaborate, but to date, I haven't. All my songs have been my own.

Wondering maybe your son, who you said, he's a great musician. I know, I wonder. Your music tastes are probably different, but that might make for an interesting collaboration.

He started out with rap, but he's been getting more into the singer song. He's 20 years old and there's some really good young 20 year old singer songwriters out there. And I'm not trying to force him. He's got to find his own path and he's got his lens on as a 20 year old. I've got my perspective as a year old, but yeah, it's any opportunity to just jam and chat and share life experiences.

I'm curious. I will talk about it in a second. But you still have CDs and I know I said still, because there was a joke. I was talking to someone the other day, and our newest car, there's not even a CV player in it. To get a CV player in the car was an upgrade. But with TikTok and TikTok especially, but like Instagram, YouTube, all of that, people can get their songs out there more. And I think that that's especially true for younger. I sound so old and I'm like those younger people putting the music on the TikTok. Not that old. But how do you think that's changed the music industry?

Yeah, it's funny, I hardly sell any CDs. I still have them. Every now and then I'll get somebody to buy it here or there. And I joke, well, if you don't have a CD player anymore, you can always use it as a coaster for your drink or Frisbee. But I'm offering both the physical CD as well as the download stream. And this is where our two boys have been, my chief technical advisors of the house. Here's how you telling me about hashtags on Instagram and Spotify. And it's a whole new world. But at the same mean, technology has been such a blessing to be able to put more control in the hands of the independent artists. I don't have a traditional record label. I have joined with big records out of Vancouver and they're wonderful. But I can still retain 100% rights to creativity. My own. I can do whatever I want. They're simply there to amplify what I'm already doing. Going off tangent, but technology really has allowed me to all my posts on content and even my videos. It's amazing what you can do with a tripod and a smartphone and you can make some great music videos. So most of my videos are self made.

Well, and I think even recording music. Right. Of course having a solid studio with a great producer makes for a great song. But you can record something on your smartphone or get a decent microphone and you're a good computer and you can mix your own.

Yeah. The last several songs I've worked with a producer, a wonderful producer in Nashville called Stacey Hogan. But I'm in California, he's in Nashville. I've never met him in person. I would send him a scratch audio file and then we talk, chat about it and then he might have some session musicians record some background. I might lay a piano, send it back to him. I lay my vocals and we're ping ponging audio files electronically 2000 miles apart from each other. And I've still never met them. But you couldn't do that 1020 years ago.

No. And I mean, I even think about one of my favorite music stories is Led Zeppelin. And whole lot of, you know, they didn't have a whole lot of tape left to record on. And so there's that bleed through that ended up happening with that.

Good trivia.

Yeah. Echo of whole lot of love. It's funny, I found that out from my therapist because he would talk about, like, there are messages that we have that don't work for us anymore and so we record over that tape. And yes, young people out there, that's not going to make sense to you. But if you record over something enough on a tape, it bleeds through. So that bleed through, do you use it to create something beautiful or do you use it to beat yourself up with and to keep using that message that wasn't working. So he used that example, and I still do because it's a great fun piece of.

Mean. I. Speaking of old, I. My first memorable exposure to music was the old eight track tape players, which I'm sure young kids are going to probably Google or, hey, Siri, what's the eight track tape player? Oh, my. Siri just turned on. Sorry about that. Yeah, technology, it's amazing. But again, the takeaway is we can do so much more as independent artists in this field with the tools we have these days.

Yeah. And I think I'd love that back and forth with somebody 2000 miles away that you can create a song and never be in the same room.

Yeah, I'd love to. It's just. Haven't had the need to, but just like, you can go on a synthesizer and play piano, but if I had the choice, I'd love to go to an actual. Can't. You can't truly replicate that. So I'd love to go into a physical studio. I just haven't had the need to. And I've only been to Nashville twice and I haven't hooked up with them yet, but one day.

I mean, I do love my, my best friend and I, who lives outside of DC and I live in Texas, so we're meeting in Nashville in about a month. It's just a great city. It's like the songwriter place, right? Like LA is the pop star, movie star, but Nashville is.

I was fortunate. I played at the Bluebird Cafe and I played at the Commodore Grill and it was just one song here and there, but just the experience. I mean, walking into the bluebird was just halls of mean. It's such an iconic.

Just in LA, too. But Nashville, to me, that's where music granul opry, like, how do you. I don't know. For me and the like, those are some places that are just classic what.

I was going to say when I first went to the Nashville airport, I got such out of kick of walking through the gates and every other gate there was a stage and a performer. I'm like, all right, hey, I'm home. This is awesome.

I almost missed a flight out of Nashville once because I was so into the musician that was playing at that gate or just outside of that gate, which, again, I guess, speaks to music and how it can draw us in and, like, create that incredible connection with each other. Yeah, I think you should know. Go hang out in Nashville for a week or two, record some know, play at the Grand El Opry because it's so easy to play, like, a couple songs from the. But I think it's that granular Opry, Ryman, whatever. Those are places that, I don't know, they're sort of those dream stages, I think, for a lot of artists. Do you have, like, a favorite local kind of venue? We talked about wineries, but is there, like, a favorite dive, bar or venue that you just love?

There have been so many, mostly wineries, and they're all such beautiful venues, especially in the spring and summer. You can play out back with the venues behind you. I don't have one particular favorite. I enjoy the opportunity to play and share my music and have an engaging audience, so I'm just grateful for the opportunity. Like I said, I'll play in front of three people or 300 or 3000. Just want to share my music and share my stories through song.

I love that. And I love sharing my story through other people's songs because maybe I can't. I don't know. I've never tried to write and I play the guitar very poorly. And I sing not so great, but yeah, I was like, I'm going to really learn to play the guitar. So I bought myself a seagull because I was like, I'm going to get a good guitar. So I'm excited. And then it sits behind my desk at home and I don't play it as much as I would like to.

Never say.

Probably no one wants to hear me sing. My children, I drive them crazy with my singing often, but that's my job. Their mom, to annoy them with music and to teach them the good music, right? To show them the greatness that I grew up with. Even I know we talked about, like.

Our yeah.

My son hates when I tell the story, but I don't care. He's 15 now. When he was quite a bit younger, Carly Ray Jepsen's call me maybe song, it was like the anthem of the Olympics that year, and it was all over the place. And he loved that song so much, and he would sing it. We have a whole dance that we do together because we're car dancers, and it's fun to have choreography to music. And to this day, if I play that song and it's just the two of us, either in the car or my daughter, too. But if it's like there's none of his friends around, no one can see him, he will sing and big smile on his face. And sometimes if he's in a bad mood, especially on the way to school, having a rough day, I'll turn that song on and he'll try to be grumpy still, man. Like, you get to that first chorus, and he's like.

It takes over.

Yeah. He's just like, there's something about the songs that you love that just make your mood.

One of my fond memories is, as my youngest son was learning to play guitar, he really just ramped up real quickly. One time he said, hey, dad, I learned this song. And so I came in and he played it. It was dust in the wind by Kansas. It's like back in the 70s, but it's got a very cool acoustic guitar intro. And he took it upon himself to learn that. It's like a young man after my own heart. Kansas, dust in the wind, what a great song.

Probably there's not the joke anymore of being at a live show and somebody yelling that, does that happen? Anyway, I don't know if people could play it or will. So we always wrap up interviews with this question. What is, like a song or an album that just hits home, makes you feel all the feels, but you just can't even describe to someone else how meaningful it is to you. Really put it into words. Do you have an album or a.

Song that's that for you of mine or just.

No.

In general, yeah, there's one that comes to mind. So about 20 years ago, I had a health scare. I'm totally fine. I actually had a ruptured brain aneurysm, which is crazy. I shouldn't be alive, but I'm fine. And shortly after that, a few years after that, Tim McGraw had a song called live like you were dying. And just the message of the just. We have an expression in our household. Yolo. You only live once. So that gave me the precious gift of perspective. And when I heard the song and the lyrics, it just reinforced. You can sleep when you're dead. Just go and live life to the fullest, as much as you can, even though it might be exhausting at times. Make as many memories as you can and just color your life as best you can. And so that's kind of been a guiding light for me, and it really stuck with me.

Well, I'm glad that you are still here and have had the ability to live like you're dying. Although I will not die anytime soon, either of us. We've got a lot of living left to do. Feel like that's a lyric to a song. Hey, but I don't know.

A lot of living you can do. Let's see. Okay, he's going to sing on it. Okay.

Nobody will listen to it. I'll talk or stand in the background of a video and smile, but probably not saying before we go to anything else that you want to share about yourself, your music, anything.

Thank you for the time. I appreciate having me on. It's been wonderful. In fact, a lot of times I forgot we were still recording. It was just so nice and calming to just have a nice conversation with you. But if anybody's interested, my website has all the links, just rockymichaelsmusic.com. And from there I'm on Facebook, Instagram again with the help of my kids, LinkedIn, YouTube. Many, not all, but most of my videos have music. I'm sorry, most of my music has videos. So you can always go to YouTube and just type in Rocky Michael's music. And if you go on, listen to a song or watch a video, drop me a line, say, hey, I saw the video or this or that, I'd love to hear. And I always try to respond back to everyone who shouts out. So I appreciate the time.

You also like people that sign up for your rock stars, which is your mailing list fan group. All right. You're giving away CDs or downloads to ten people?

Yeah. So I just did that today, in fact. I mean, good timing. March 1. So there's going to be a drawing on Wednesday, March 5. Whatever date Wednesday is for anyone new who signs up to the rock Stars website. You can do it on my website. I'm going to do a live drawing on Facebook, and the ten names I draw will have the choice of either those physical drink coasters, I mean, CDs, or an electronic download. But then after that, once that ends, anybody who just signs up in general, you can get a free download or sheet music once the drawing ends after Wednesday, I'll go back to that. And yeah, who doesn't love?

Everyone loves free stuff, right? And it's a great opportunity to find out for sure when new music comes out or you're playing somewhere so people can come see you live.

Yeah, I don't post a lot, but every now and then with a new song or this or that and you can opt out anytime just like everything else.

Yes. Well Rocky, thank you so much for being here, sharing your time from California. And I know you all can't see this out here in podcast land, but there's the most beautiful landscape behind you with these trees. It looks beautiful. I don't know, you might not be as beautiful where you are when you're looking out the window, but it is gorgeous from my view. So thank you so much for sharing your time and your talent with us and your stories.

Thank you so much.

That is the end of another episode and thank you guys for listening. And always remember that when words fail music feed I.