Ep.316 – Mell Shaer Interview

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This is the Woodward tale music speaks podcast with Blake Moseley, James Tots, and Amanda Dolan. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Wynnwords Tale Music Week's podcast, where I'm your professional handkerchief. James Cox and I got an awesome interview today. I'm interviewing a mister, Mel Scherr. He is a lead singer of Crown tourists. But first, let me tell you a little bit about them before we bring them on a Red Crown tourist. Formed in late 2013 as outlet for songwriting by Mel Sher. The original idea was to have any musician involved to be known as tourists. Over the years, it's slowly evolving into a full blown musical act. As tourists in this life, we experience events that, when reflected upon, can be retold as short musical stories. Set to country and rock style music. Many musicians have contributed their talents to an overall evolving sound. Typically, the songs take on a country Americana feel and continue on in vain. With two albums completed and one on the way, the journey forges on as we. As we tour this big old world. How you doing, mister Mill?

I'm doing good. How you doing?

Good, good. That's a lot. I mean. I mean, to go back and. Okay, so, first, I want to ask you about the original idea first, because that's how interesting. So, when you start beginning to form this band, did you play to hire any musician and they'll play with you, or did you have. I mean, like, did you have a whole band set up, too?

No. Um, I play in a lot of COVID bands, and I always, always want to write, and sometimes bands don't want to. And so the way I deal with that is I just set up my own songwriting, uh, operation, if you want to call it that. So I. It's kind of a full blown it's becoming kind of a full blown business model. Not that I'm, you know, lighting up the world money wise, but, you know, I copyright everything. I'm registered with BMI, and I just got my own publishing company, things like that. Just kind of preparing myself. If anything ever did happen, I already have that taken care of. The idea, the whole concept started back in 2013. I was watching tv, and Bonnie and Clyde had been tracked down by the law, I guess, at a place called the Red Crown tourist courts. They were like little motels on the side of the road. And I'm a man of faith, and, you know, the Lord wore a red crown, and we're just tourists here as believers. So I said, well, you know, I'll just kind of set that whole thing up. And that's. That was how the original concept began.

Okay. Yeah, that's very cool, because. Yeah, because I find it. Well, now it's time. Time for tough, you know, because I understand the money issue, so I guess you have to do what you can. And I guess it's slowly forming into, like, a bigger company. It's what I'm hearing right now seems.

To be that way. Every musician that's ever contributed their talents to what I do, I call their. They're part of what I do. And so, as time has gone on, there's. I'm getting a little traction. People are like, hey, you play live. Things like that. So I'm in the beginning process of picking the players that want to be part of it. And my whole goal right now, locally, is just to be in a position that when national acts come through to various venues, we can book and we can play our own music and just kind of get it out there that way, be exposed to their audiences and things like that. So that's where everything's at right now.

So you have two albums. One is called again, which is your latest album, and the other one is called.

So what we try.

So, yes, so what we try. Yes, sir. Thank you for that. And so those are all experiences that you've experienced, because pretty much I don't. Because you're my take storage stories formed for it in your life.

A lot of times, they're just truisms. There's a little bit of piece, like, I wrote a song, and again, it was, you should go home. And it was kind of based on a conversation I had with a lady that I met at one of the clubs I was playing, and she just. She kind of said, man, I've been married since I was 16. And she was happy in her marriage and everything, but, you know, she seemed curious on stuff. So the only part of that song that's true is that she'd been married since she was 16. So I created a story around that idea and that's what. That's what evolved.

Yeah. Yeah, because, well, I find it's like country music now is trying to get away from storytelling. Cuz I mean, when you look at that, like Johnny Cash ride this train, that's ten songs about 1010 train rides that he went from, you know, state to state, you know, and I find like. Like they're getting out of that whole storytelling. So where do you see country music going as a whole now? You know, given the fact that they.

Don'T like, you know, Alan Jackson just put an album out and he's not real happy with the way Nashville's going, right? And I think guys like that, and that's kind of how I. That's kind of my age range in there. And I'm a huge Skynyrd fan. And Skynyrd always wrote stories about their experiences, you know, and put them in records. So I've always been of that mind that you write a story and you formulate some chords and some music behind it and you tell the story. And I think people still like that, you know, like a lot of the songs I play in the clubs and stuff, they're. They're stories, but they're. They're kind of about drinking or whiskey, you know. I'm so, so sick of people taking the name whiskey in a band or whiskey in a song. It's almost like they're doing it as a cliche, you know? And I'll do it if it adds to the story, but I'm more focused on writing a story. And like, for instance, in my cover band, it's Lefty Martin and the Lefty Martin band, we're beginning to write. We want to put out about twelve songs and also be in that position to open when national acts come through and we're starting to write. And so we do a five way split, kind of the REM model. Everybody gets a piece of the action. Anybody that contributed the band, whether they contributed or not, gets a fifth of the copyright. And that way I think it keeps everybody happy. Anyway, one of my jobs was to write lyrics for the song and then other players are going to write lyrics the song. We'll see what we have and then we'll pick and we'll go from there. So the storyline I chose for this was a bunch of guys down in Mexico drinking, and somebody, you know, grabs the character by the throat and he cracks a bottle over his head. And then all he thinks he's dead because all the guys, friends around this beautiful senior, Rita, grabs him by the arm, puts him in his car and speeds off to the border, slams on her brakes. They get out and run. But when he looks back, he had fallen in love with her during the time. So he goes back down, finds her, and she grabs his hand because her father's coming and her father doesn't like gringos hanging around with his daughter. So they get in the car and it's back out. And so the song's called down in Mexico. And it's just a quick story set to some chord structure. And it's kind of cool, you know, so it. As a songwriter, I'm learning as I go, learning how to try to tell those stories in three and a half minutes so that I can, you know, accommodate what you guys do, too, you know.

Well, two of our favorite songs on your song, on your album called again is a ten wheel bus and the Renegade. And I just think about those old time storytelling songs. I mean, you just knocked it out of part with ten wheelbus. I love that song to death.

I'm glad you do. I love it, too. And, you know, it's weird when you put music out, people are going to. Most, for me, most people aren't going to like it. But there's some like you that go, man, that's really cool song. I think it's a great song.

It is.

It's just a story about a little girl that dreams about making it big, and she does through hard work. You know, I kind of had Dolly Parton in mind when I was thinking, that's the best.

Best person to go to when you're thinking about writing songs, you know, dollar part, killing it right now, she just released, like, a rock album, which I. Which I haven't heard yet, but I heard some great things about it, you know, so she's everywhere now.

Well, I have a friend back in Nashville's name, Dave Fowler, and he was playing with the Artemis Pyle band. Artemis Pyle's the drummer for Leonard Skynyrd that went and got help and all that.

Yeah.

So anyway, Dave was instrumental. He's real close with her. He used to be as her tour manager, things like that. And I think he's helped out quite a bit. A little bit. I don't know for sure, but I know he talks about it from time to time. So, yeah, it's kind of cool. She's delving into rock. It's probably something new for.

Yeah. Well, I think that this is the first time ever she's released, like a blackout woman. I mean, she's been around since, like, the seventies, right? Or something. Eighties, you know, I can't remember.

Well, everything's bleeding over. Like, beyond is coming in. I think Jay Z's thinking about getting in the country and.

Yeah. Okay, so let's. Let's talk about that. So I. I don't think they. That they belong in country, because to me, it's like, I guess she's doing it for relevancy and, like. Like, fans and views. I don't know. You know, you could have the totally opposite, you know, opinion.

But what's she? She's a Texas girl, so I imagine she grew up around it. And I don't know what her motivation is. Could just be my money, but, I mean, she's probably got more money she needs.

Yeah.

And I don't know if it's the industry kind of forcing it to be.

That seems what it seems like to me. I don't know. You know, I can't really think of. I'm not into industry, course, but. Yeah, that seems to be kind of weird all of a sudden. You know, she's country, you know? I don't. I don't really get it, but I don't know.

Yeah, I listened to. It's kind of cool. You know, I'm not a. I'm not a big Beyonce fan, but she's pretty talented, you know, so, I mean, you.

Can'T deny the fact that she could sing. That girl can sing, you know, some.

Songs, but she can sing. For sure.

Yeah, for sure. Are you going to, like, a farm? I hear chickens in the background or, like, rooster.

Oh, yeah. I live out in the country. I live about an hour out of San Diego east in the mountains, and it's a place called campo, and a lot of history here. The buffalo soldiers were here under Calvary 24, way back in the world war two, and they guarded the border. They were african american cavalry riders, and they were called buffalo soldiers because the American Indians, when they would scrap with them, they. For this is what I heard. And I don't know if this is true or not, and I'm not trying to, you know, be belligerent or whatever, but the texture of the hair reminded the American Indians of the buffalo hair. That's just what I heard. I don't even know if that's true or not, but. But it's a. They were very, very good hearted when they shut them down. Like, from what I understand, they wanted them to kill the horses that they rode. And somewhere up here, there's, like, a bunch of saddles buried. And I think they took the horses off to Canada to keep them alive. But I don't know if that's mythology or if that actually happened, but that's kind of the scuttle. Scuttle around here.

Yeah. Well, I think it's great living on the farm. Well, I never lived on the farm before, but I. But I. I have a few friends let just watch against, you know, for eggs, you know. Yeah, I make the best eggs, you know, so I don't know.

Everybody up here has animals. Sometimes at night when the, you know, when after the sun's gone down, especially on a warm night, you'll hear donkeys going. And we have a bull arena, like two properties over. When they're going to do a bull ride, you'll hear the bull. The animals can really get rowdy out here, and it's kind of cool.

That's awesome. Yeah, that's great. That's great. They're very lively stuff. Yeah. Going back to music, who is, who is your favorite country singer for all time?

Favorite country singer?

Yes, sir.

Ray Price.

Okay. I've heard that a lot. Yeah. There's something very mystique in something very motivating about his music.

You know, I got to see him at the ryman, and I went on a road trip for my son, went in the military, and we just did a father son kind of impart some wisdom, knowledge. And one night we were in Nashville, and I told my son, I said, I don't care who's playing at the ryman, we're going to see the show. We went up, and it was ray Price. We got tickets, and we got tickets that weren't so good. So we went up by the sound board to hear a better sound, and the usher, out of nowhere, came up and traded us our tickets for two tickets two rows back on the front row.

Nice.

So I got to see him probably from 20 foot away, and it was amazing. Show that man. What an amazing man he was. Great singer, you know? So that was cool.

Nice. Nice. So, um, so how do you maintain a sense of authenticity in your music, as well as appealing to both traditional country fans as well as newer ones?

You know, lately I've been pulled off, you know, like, it's got to be three minutes and 20 seconds, and, you know, how are you going to get people to listen to it. And I, for a couple weeks there, I was like, I don't want to go there. You know, I definitely want to get my songs really efficient. That's what I'm trying to do. But I don't want to sing about the cliche things like Bud light, neon lights, and trucks and dogs and all that's going on all over the place, you know? And like Ray Price said, he said, you can't lose with a good love song. So I always try to keep that in the back of my mind, too. Even that song about Mexico, it's kind of a love song, you know, two people fell in love and they ran off, you know. And so I just try to. I write songs that I like to listen to when I listen to them back, if the music's good, I write some dingers. I write some real dogs from time to time that I don't like to listen to, but I try to maintain that storyline and helps me as a writer and a thinker creator. I've been in a lot of theater and film background. In fact, that's something that is kind of interesting. Three of my songs have been chosen as part of the soundtrack of a movie that's being made that was made up here where I live. Way back in that eighties, they made a movie called Slaughterhouse. It was a real b cut them up movie, and the producer and the director just made the second one called Slaughterhouse two up here. And I got a little small film part in it, and I sent my music to them, and they're like, man, we like ten wheel bus, take off my boots, and the Renegade. So those three songs are going to be in the. In the movie soundtrack in some way, shape, or fashion. So that's kind of cool, too.

When that movie comes out, you have to tell me what it is so I can watch it, you know?

Yeah, it's supposed to be. I think they're releasing. They're still doing some pickup shots and. Yeah, the guy that engineers my work, his name's Jeff Forrest, at double time studios out here, I linked those two. So he's actually going to write the rest of the soundtrack, and I may help with that a little bit. I don't know. But Jeff's super talented, and he's taught me everything I know about being in the studio, and I've watched him produce my stuff and watched him work. I've just learned so much from him. So he's kind of my main mentor and teacher, you know?

Right. Going back to what Ray Branch said about love songs. We can't go wrong with love songs, you know? And I figured that's true because, you know, this world is so dark and think, you know, who wants to be in this world? It's all depressing. A love song will get you out of that funk and get you motivated again for the next day, for whatever, you know. And I think it's. Love songs are just great, you know?

Oh, yeah, it's. You know, it works. You know, people want to hear the. The wonderful because, you know, life's hard sometimes, you know, and you need that break. I did just write a song, though, called cutting you loose. I had a. I had a relationship go bad in a while back, and so I ended up having to kind of cut a bunch of people loose because it just wasn't a good place for me. And even in that song, I was kind to the other person in the song. That one's kind of based on a true story, but at the same time, it was like, you know, I can't solve your problem, so I'm. I'm out of here, so. Right. You know, the tagline on it is, I'm cutting you loose.

Sometimes you have to, you know, I mean, you're perceived as a bad guy in that. In that relationship if you do, but it's. But, but it's not, you know, you're, you know, you're doing it for your mental health and everything, so.

Yeah, yeah. You have to. You have to fight hard to keep your thoughts going good.

Yeah.

If you thought your thoughts get bagged, that can spiral you down into depression and anxiety and nervousness, and that's just no fun to live that way, you know. So positive thinking and, you know, so you have to edit your friends from time to time, you know, most times.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we all know that music is, if all we ever so rapidly now, as country music continues to evolve, what other genres or artists from different backgrounds have had this surprising impact on your style?

Yeah. So when I was younger, my brother knew a radio dj, and that was back in the days of vinyl. So my brother would always bring home the albums that he wasn't going to use anymore, and the corner was cut out of them, you know, so I could always tell when he got it from the dj. So when I was about. Well, when I was five, my brother, I had three brothers, you know, they liked the Beatles and Rolling Stones. I heard that a lot in the house. So that was kind of early influence. I go to church. Usually when I go, I go church. Christ and it's a capella there, so sung a lot of the old hymns and you hear the melody lines and stuff. So that was a huge influence there. But also Stephen Stills, Crosby, Stills, Nash and young. When I was about 1516 in Oklahoma, I lived there. Leonard Skynyrd, when I was twelve, I think I was the only kid on the block that had ever heard Freebird. I was right there at the first album and followed him ever since. Just love Leonard Skynyrd. And I got a good story about that, if you have time, and I'll tell you. And then John Hyatt and Lucinda Williams, I love that they're just songwriters. They don't seem to really look for commercial, you know, a lot of people record their songs, but they just write songs, you know, and they write how they're feeling. Especially Lucinda Williams. She'll get after it, you know, if she's had a bad thing happen, she'll write about it. And then I think in college, when I got, when I was getting my degree, Frank Zappa was kind of my college band. I listened to everything he did, you know. And then I think my all time favorite band is tears for fears. I just, I've always loved their work, you know, so that's kind of, I would say that kind of capsulates my main influence.

Sounds like you're just like me because I listen to everything under the sun, you know?

Yeah. Yeah.

Because you can't limit yourself to one genre like I used to. I used to be big into heavy metal back when I was a teenager, you know, cuz, cuz I was grow. I was raised on country music. My mom and dad love country. Of course, my, my dad loves crazy Clearwater revival.

Oh yeah.

And my aunt loved the Beatles, but I will, we were mainly raised on country music. And then I found heavy metal and I couldn't stay off that until like, uh, like 20 something years old. And then I started listening to, uh, more music, you know, that I ever stuff, you know.

Oh yeah, yeah. It's all I like. I like everything. I was, I listened to a lot of rush when I was younger too. And um, gosh, you mother moot the mot the hoople, you know, some british bands and I was in a, I was in a power pop band. So I got exposed to a lot of the glamour rock from the old days and learned how to play that stuff too, so. And I've been in like 30 bands over, you know, in different kinds of genres, been in blues bands, rock bands. I'm in country bands now, so I've picked a lot of stuff up from just, you know, playing too.

So now that you said that, um, what, what is the rowdiest place you've ever played at? Like, like, you know, like a bar or like an actual stadium or, like, you know, can you think of a really rowdy place?

I. Most of the places I've played, like that song, the Renegade that I wrote, I wrote that about a club here in San Diego called the Renegade. And certain bands that show up there, there's a lot of fights going on. The bouncers are real busy all night. And when, usually when I play there, everybody's just there to two step, ten step country swing. Right. And so I haven't really been a super rowdy one. Although this Saturday we're playing a place called the Red Eye up in a place called Fallbrook. Yeah, this may be the rowdiest one coming. I don't know. I'll tell you if it is, but.

All right, so I got three, about three requests for you, sir. So what are some unique and or unexpected challenges that you face while on the road as a country musician? Have you faced any, like, big, huge challenges yet?

No, I haven't been on the road much. I did do a tour with that power pop band and we went into Arizona, played New Orleans and El Paso. And the biggest challenge is getting paid because you're spending money. Give you an example. We played a place called the Dragons Den in New Orleans way back, and we made $18 as a band and played and played 20 and got, and paid $20 for parking.

So that's $2. Yeah, right.

Getting paid and getting paid and eaten. But this is, this is my thing. I do. So even the challenges, I'll just turn them into songs. You know, it's all a good experience.

Okay, so you said you learned about the student, how the studio works with your friend. What's the number one thing you took away from working in any studio?

Being prepared, coming in with your work done. So you're not wasting the engineer's time or the producer's time because there's nothing worse than going, oh, let's see, let's try that because the guy on the board gets real antsy. Like, dude, you know, this is your money. I got other things to do. If you're not, you're not going to take yourself serious, then I'm not going to take yourself. I'm not going to take you serious either. So being prepared, understanding the rules in the studio, not getting in there and going, oh, let's have a party and, you know, drinking and boozing or.

What does this button do? And mess with the whole thing?

You know, it's like you're right.

Click on any button you want to know. Oh, my God. You missed the whole thing. You know. Gotta shut down.

Oh, he's, he's told me some real stories about people that come in and they might come in like divas and. No, dude. And then I think it's just coming in and just knowing how to play well in the sandbox.

Yeah.

You know, don't throw sand.

That's probably the number one thing you can take away from that. Yes, you are right.

Two more questions, if you don't mind. No problem.

Who are your four main bands that you go to on your. Okay, so if. If you had a mountain rush for four bands or four, four individual artists, who would it be?

I really like Roger Klein and the Peacemakers.

Okay.

They're out of Arizona. Great live band. They were just here and I missed them, and I was sad. Anytime John Hyatt comes in, my wife loves him. We'll go Lucinda if she comes. And I like BlackBerry smoke, too. They're. They're real good live. Sad to hear they lost their drummer. But sometimes here in San Diego, the audiences are not. It's no fun being an audience member because it. Sometimes the younger crowd's a little entitled. They don't, if you're taller than them, they don't think you should stand in front of them. And you're like, I was here for an hour and a half. You should have gotten earlier. They'll shove into you and try to make your night miserable, try to make you leave. And I don't like that. I'm too old for that. So I don't go see BlackBerry smoke unless I can get a seat. But I. I really like Steve Vai, too. I just saw him at a place out here called Magnolia, and it was nice. The audience. The audience members were musicians?

Yeah.

And very kind. Nobody was causing a problem. Everybody was very calm and civil. And I like concerts like that, you know? So was it.

Was he with jewish edge driving? Because I know that they did the run together, like this past, like, month or something.

No, he was just by himself.

Okay.

And it was a great show. He always does. Really. He's so good. Golly. And, yeah.

Especially with this Hydra guitar. I don't know how he did, how he does it, you know?

Yeah.

Got like four guitars connected to. It's insane, you know?

Yeah. He's just really, really good. The guy that does the. Usually, the guy that does my work, his name is Jamie Kyne out of Los Angeles. He. He plays with Steve I, and Zappa plays Zappa. So I'm really lucky to have that guy want to do the guitar tracks on my ten. So it's great when you have great musicians around you. You just sound better.

It is. And you get done faster, too, because they know what you do instead of going into doing what you know, you know. All right.

And they help. They help you, too. They're like, maybe, like, for example, the song, you should go home. The bass line. Because I'm primarily a bass player, I do acoustic just to get scratch tracks and start doing the tracking. He goes, yeah, that bass line's a little busy. So I sent it out to Dave Fowler in Nashville. Didn't tell him why. I said, hey, can you do this bass line? He did. So I was listening how he did it, and I learned a lot from that. So now I've simplified my playing quite a bit, and it's working out for me a lot better.

Nice. But that's always good here. Last question of the day. Okay, so this might be the hardest questions I have for you today.

Okay.

If you can name me an artist, an album, or a song that you can listen to, but you can't tell me how it makes you feel deep inside your soul.

I would say the album would be Raul and the kings of Spain. And there's about four songs on there that Gail Ann Dorsey played bass on that. She's my. She has to be Gaylann Dorsey and Leon Wilkson from Leonard Skynyrd. And she played on that album. And every time I listen to it, I'm just like, how'd she hear that? How'd she do that? But that. That whole album is tops in my. My estimation. And so I would kind of. I don't know if that answered your question.

Yeah, any question you give me would have been awesome, because I asked you what songs can end up telling people about, and you just knit on. On your head, so. Yeah, so thank you for that.

Yeah, let me. Let me tell you about my story. I was going to tell you. I was in a tribute band here called Skynyrd's innards for about five years, and we just did Leonard Skynyrd music. And one of the guitar players that wanted to play with us, he is good friends with Artemis Pyle, the drummer. And so I'm interviewing him, and he looks at me, goes, you want to talk to Artemis? And I'm like, huh? Of course he calls him and aunt gives me the phone. So here I'm talking to my childhood hero. And through that, we, we arranged for him to come out, and he came out and sat in with our band, did about three shows with us out here. And I. What a nice man he is. And I couldn't believe it. I'm sitting here playing bass with a drummer, which is always a tight relationship anyway, and I'd look over and go, how did I get here? On my plant? So that's like a crowning point.

Yeah. And I. And I guess he played a lot of inner skinny songs, you know, obviously. Right.

Yeah, we, and, and we had a good time. He was, he. It was nice to play with the drummer that knew all the parts because then I could play all the bass lines that were supposed to be there, which was a challenge because Leon was dang good, you know?

Well, I'm sure, sure Artemis knows what he's doing because he wrote the songs, too. You know, that guy can kill it on the drum kit the other week, you know?

You know what I like, what I like about guys like that? After the show, I left, and he always had a line of people that wanted to talk to him. He made sure he talked to everybody that night that wanted to talk to him. He was there till three in the morning. Yeah, Ray Price did that, too. He talked to his fans.

Do you ever get the chance to meet Ray Price?

No. Oh, man, I wish I would have. I listen to his songs all the time. One of my, one of my favorite songs he does is no more songs to sing, and it's a love song. He says, when I'm. When I'm done with all this, then we can have our lives. And the end of his last album that he did, he, you know, he had cancer, and his wife told. Told the story that they were driving in the truck, and he looked at, he said, you think they'll like it? And. Amazing. Amazing.

So for all of our listeners listening right now, what do you have? Upcoming tours? Well, we mentioned a new album coming soon, right?

Yeah. So I wrote this album being 63. One of my favorite songwriters is Travis Meadows. He lives in Nashville. He's written a lot of songs. A lot of people have recorded his music. And I watch his little youtubes, and he said, you know, two things. He said, the last thing Nashville needs is another song. And Nashville is a ten year town. Takes you about ten years to kind of get on the map. At 63. I don't have that kind of time, so I can do what I would do back there possibly, but out here. So the album's titled west of Nashville and Slum. I'm in the process of writing the title track and part of it is looking to that shining hill, that shining city on the hill. I'll never be part of that club. But you know what? I'm still going to do it out here. And, and uh, so that's what that, that whole concept is about. I'm western Nashville.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Yeah. I can't wait to hear it. Yeah. I loved your album again. I haven't listened to your first album, which, you know, I mean, so I'm gonna go back and listen to all your stuff for sure.

One of my, one of my songs on there, it makes my wife cries. It's called again. So the title track is again. I wrote that to my daughter because her, her husband passed away, my son in law. And it just devastated her life and my granddaughter's life. And so it's just kind of letting her know, you know, you're going to rise and spread your wings again. And so that's a, that's a heartfelt song. That's a true one.

So nice, nice. I'm definitely going to live happy to listen to that song too, along with all the other songs you got. And I can't wait for the west of Nashville. You got to tell me when, when that's coming out. So we can, so I can.

I'm sitting at, at nine. I'm probably shooting at twelve. Who knows? I probably won't release it till November. December. That gives me some time. And my, my engineer Jeff Forrest I told you about, he's retiring in November and he's moving to Portugal. So I'm gonna lose a big part. Yeah. Selling out, getting out of California.

Everybody leaving. And I understand why.

Oh my gosh. The government out here is, it's a super majority and they just do what they want and I. Their ideas don't always work out economically. Right. So we're suffering for that and, but we're still gonna keep it up. He's gonna set up his recording studio in Portugal. And so I can still. Cuz I'm sending files everywhere. In fact, on the album. On the album again. Sorry for being so long winded on it. On the album again. The one called eye of the hurricane.

Yes.

I wanted fiddle in there. I couldn't find a local player. And Dave Fowler back in nashville knows Garth Brooks is fiddle player. And so we, we sent the song out and he only charged me $125 to do the whole song.

Nice.

And so I have Garth Brooks, fiddle player. He doesn't know me, I don't know him, but he's on my album, so that's how you do it nowadays. You, you can send files all anywhere in the world, and people do their work, send them back, and then you mix them, master them, and there you go.

So I heard that, uh, um, what's her name? Delete. Singer from hail storm, lily Hale. I heard she charges $10,000 to be on this long. I'm like, holy crap, I can't even do $200. Sometimes. Can imagine spending $10,000 for her voice. Or to her, to be honest.

Yeah. You know, honestly, when you look at the industry, there's a real good book called everything you want to know about the music business written by an attorney. I think his last name, passman. I think every artist should have that as study material, but it just makes you realize everybody's got their finger in the pot.

Yeah.

And one thing you'll hear if you're a writer is, oh, man, your music's so good, come back and record with us, and I'll take the tracks to a record label. And I. And they're just trying to make money in the studio, so you have to be careful. I call them southern slickers.

There you go. Yeah. Cuz, uh, cuz I've been new, I've been interviewing artists like yourself. Were good on like, four years now. And a lot of them are going to independent. They're making their own songs, they're making their own records.

You know, just what I'm doing. Yeah, you know?

Yeah, right. Yeah. Cuz labels just, you know, they will take like, 80, 85% of the things and turn to slides like, you know, who are you now? You know, we got them.

We've got what we. That's what that guy wrote in his book. He says they can pick anybody off the street and turn them into a star. As long as you play the game and you're making money, you're in it the minute you don't. Next, you're out.

Yeah.

Next comes in.

Yeah.

You know, so it's all about the dollar, you know, that's what everybody's in it for, you know, so.

And we. Which is sad. So.

But, uh, well, that's why, that's why I've done as much as I can that I know of, business wise, behind the scenes, just in case. I mean, even though I have my own publishing, I don't have connections at all.

Right.

But if somebody were to come to me. You know, I have full copyright on it. So, yeah, I'll license them the song, go make it famous, and then I'll get royalty. Whether that'll ever happen, but I don't know. But I'm ready if it's. Yeah, I'm ready if it does.

So, yeah, somebody might pick up tin will bus. And there you go.

You know? Exactly. So the biggest enemy to an artist is our ego.

Yes.

You know, we want. We want to be loved and told how great we are, but that can really get you in trouble if you're not smart. Business like prince says, own your masters.

Yes. And he did.

He did.

Somehow passed away. I wonder why, right?

So, yeah. Makes you wonder sometimes, doesn't it?

So, well, we honestly love you and we will. We hope you got you. Come back anytime you want to.

Okay, thank you.

And I can't wait for western industrial. I'm going to keep everybody up to date on that one.

I appreciate that.

And you are on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and all that fun stuff, right?

Yeah. And if people like a song and they just want to buy a song and get it on iTunes, you can get it on my website, which is www. Rct sta r.com. So Rct Red ground tour star. Rct star.com. You can buy it there, too. But itunes has really great compression. I like how they sound when you download them from iTunes. And it's cheaper.

Yes. Look, I love itunes better than Spotify. I can't stand, you know, because they don't pay their artists nothing, you know?

Well, from what the guy is, what the guy said in that book, that's kind of how royalties are paid out of BMI and stuff. When your songs are played, they. That all the artists pay into a big pool.

Yeah.

And then they like, I guess Harry Fox is big on track and who's played what and that's kind of how they. Where they pick from royalties. I think that's how it works.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know either.

Yeah, but you won't go back anytime you want to and. Okay, we'll keep all your fans updated with all your cool stuff and forget by you listening right now. Always remember, when word fail, music speaks. Hi, guys.

Yeah, that's right. Thank you.