Tales From The Trail

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Adam Hood May 26, 2020

Solo artist. Frontman. Behind-the-scenes songwriter. For more than a decade, Adam Hood has left his mark both onstage and in the writing room, carving out a southern sound that mixes equal parts country, soul and American roots music.

It's a sound that began shape in Opelika, Alabama. Raised by working-class parents, Hood started playing hometown shows as a 16 year-old, landing a weekly residency at a local restaurant. He'd perform there every Friday and Saturday night, filling his set list with songs by John Hiatt, Hank Williams Jr, and Vince Gill. As the years progressed, the gigs continued — not only in his home state, but across the entire country. Eventually even landing himself a three-year nationwide tour opening for Leon Russell.

These days, though, Hood is no longer just putting his own stamp on the songs of chart-topping country stars. Instead, many of those acts -- including Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Anderson East, Josh Abbott Band, Lee Ann Womack & Brent Cobb -- are playing his songs.

In 2016, Hood signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Nashville and GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dave Cobb’s Low Country Sound. All while remaining adamantly focused on his own career, playing around 100 shows annually promoting third solo release, Welcome to the Big World, and now his newest release, Somewhere in Between.

As a blue-collar songwriter, Hood shines a light on everyday experiences — from family and friends to the thrill of Friday nights. Partly because he’s stuck to his roots. The native Alabaman still lives in the Yellowhammer State and celebrates America's rural pockets with songs like "Keeping Me Here" and "Real Small Town," two songs filled with images of main streets, open landscapes, hard times, and good people.

"It's southern music," he says, grouping Somewhere in Between’s wide range of music under an appropriate banner. "That's what it represents: the soulful side of southern music, the country side of southern music, the genuineness of southern culture, and the way I grew up. One of the t-shirts I sell at every show simply says ‘Southern Songs,’ and It's a good summary of what I do. It's what I've always done."

For More Information On This Podcast: Visit http://cowboysindians.com and search "Tales From The Trail". To find out more about Tyller Gummersall, visit http://tyllermusic.com Follow Tyller on social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyllermusic/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tyllermusic

Corb Lund Apr 21, 2020

Corb Lund is an alt-country singer-songwriter from Alberta, Canada. He grew up in a ranching and rodeo family in the foothills of Southern Alberta, then spent the early years of his career writing songs and playing bass for the indie rock band “the smalls.”

Lund’s music reflects his Western heritage and rock and roll roots. His distinct blend of Americana-meets-roots-meets-alt-country has attracted accolades from critics in Canada and the U.S., who have called him “one of the best contemporary country songwriters” (Popmatters) and one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know” (Rolling Stone Country).

Lund’s 2015 release, Things That Can’t Be Undone, was produced by Grammy Award-nominated producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton). His previous record, 2014’s Counterfeit Blues, was recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, TN, and was the focus of a 2-hour CMT special. Previous to that, 2012’s Cabin Fever debuted at #1 on the Billboard Canadian Charts, and three of his albums are certified Gold.

Along with his band, Lund tours extensively throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Currently signed to New West Records, Lund is an 8-time Canadian Country Music Awards Roots Artist of the Year, the 2017 BreakOut West Roots Solo Artist of the Year, and has many other awards and accolades, including a JUNO Award, under his belt.

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John Gunn Mar 02, 2020

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Randy Rogers Aug 28, 2019

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Randy Rogers Band ( http://randyrogersband.com ) is a country music group from the state of Texas.
The band is composed of Randy Rogers (lead vocals), Geoffrey Hill (guitar), Jon Richardson (bass guitar), Brady Black (fiddle), Les Lawless (drums), and Todd Stewart (utility player). They have recorded seven studio albums and two live albums, and have charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Rogers also co-wrote "Somebody Take Me Home", a song recorded by Kenny Chesney, on his 2005 album, The Road and the Radio. Several of the songs on Rollercoaster were co-written by Radney Foster, who also co-produced the album. Just a Matter of Time, the band's first major-label album, was released on Mercury Nashville Records in 2006. The band also released their self-titled album on September 23, 2008, also on Mercury Nashville Records. The first single "In My Arms Instead", was released in August.
Randy purchased the legendary San Marcos venue Chetam Street Warehouse ( https://www.cheathamstreet.com/ ) where artitsts like George Strait got their start from owner Kent Finlay.

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Hayes Carll Aug 28, 2019

Information on this episode's guest:
Hayes Carll ( http://hayescarll.com ), is a singer-songwriter from Texas, his style of roots-oriented songwriting has been noted for its plainspoken poetry and sarcastic humor.
After releasing his debut album, Flowers & Liquor, in 2002, Carll was voted Best New Act by the Houston Press. Since then he's been compared to other Texas songwriters, including Townes Van Zandt, who he said "ruined me and saved me at the same time,". He released his second album, Little Rock, in 2004.
Produced by R.S. Field, Little Rock was the first self-released album to reach #1 on the Americana Chart. Carll signed with Lost Highway records in 2006 and released his next album, Trouble in Mind, in 2008. It was ranked #60 of the year by The Village Voice. "She Left Me For Jesus," which appeared on Trouble in Mind, was the Americana Music Association Song of the Year 2008.
Four songs by Carll appeared in the 2010 film Country Strong, three of which also appeared on the film's second soundtrack album, Country Strong: More Music from the Motion Picture.

KMAG YOYO & Other American Stories was released in 2011. KMAG YOYO is military slang for "Kiss my ass, guys, you're on your own." It received a nomination for Best Album by the Americana Music Association in 2011, and Spin voted it #3 in the category of "Best Country/Americana".
American Songwriter voted the song "Another Like You" the #1 song of 2011, and the album #6.
Rolling Stone ranked "KMAG YOYO" at #46 of best singles of 2011, and the album #47 on their list of "50 Country Albums Every Rock Fan Should Own."
In 2015 he went into the studio with producer Joe Henry to record Lovers and Leavers then released the album in April 2016 on his own Highway 87 Records to great critical acclaim.
Carll was nominated for a Grammy Awards in 2016 Best Country Song for "Chances Are.
His most recent album "What It Is" which was co-prodcued by his wife Allison Moorer ( http://allisonmoorer.com/ ) has enjoyed much success and critical acclaim.

For More Information On This Podcast:
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Nick Forster (Hot Rize, eTown) Aug 28, 2019

About This Episode's Guest:
Nick Forster ( http://nickforster.com ) is a professional musician, record producer, radio host and Executive Director of a non-profit organization based in Boulder, Colorado. He is most widely known as a long standing member of the award winning bluegrass band, Hot Rize and as the host and founder of the musical and environmental radio program, eTown.
Born in Beirut in 1955 while his father worked for the State Department, Nick was raised in upstate New York. He started playing drums at age ten, but abandoned them in favor of his first guitar a year later. As a teen, he played in folk and folk-rock bands. His desire to pursue music as a career in the mid-seventies led him to Colorado, where he worked at the famed Denver Folklore Center. It was there he met the three young men with whom he would form the contemporary bluegrass band Hot Rize in 1978. For the band, Nick supplied bass, vocals and guitar and was also well known as the M.C. and host. He won recognition as a writer as well, earning praise from Rolling Stone Magazine as “an exceptional songwriter.”
Hot Rize established an acclaimed international reputation, releasing ten albums and touring worldwide fulltime for over 12 years. The band appeared on countless radio and television programs, including Austin City Limits, The Grand Old Opry and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Hot Rize earned both a Grammy nomination and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award in 1991. Ironically, in the face of this success, the band members collectively decided to pursue individual projects later that year and went into semi-retirement. In September of 2014, Hot RIze released When I'm Free, their first new studio record in 25 years and will be touring heavily through 2015. The Bluegrass world is welcoming them back with open arms.
Based on his varied experiences, and while on a musical State Department tour in eastern Europe, Nick conceived the idea of a new concept in radio - eTown, the popular weekly radio variety show now heard worldwide. As eTown’s host, Nick leads a radio program that entices the audience with live performances from today’s top musicians, then engages listeners with conversation and information about our communities and our environment. His warm on-air wit, insightful interviewing skills and stellar guitar playing are hallmarks of the show. eTown shows are recorded live at the brand new solar-powered eTown Hall in downtown Boulder, adding eco-friendly and innovative high-end music venue building skills to Forster's resume.
In addition to eTown and Hot Rize, Nick remains an active player in the music world, performing at major festivals around the globe and playing recording sessions for various artists across all genres. He also is an accomplished record producer with a Grammy nomination and other prestigious awards to his credit.
Nick lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Helen and their cat Lucy. He has three daughters and one granddaughter.

For More Information On This Podcast:
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Kin Faux Aug 28, 2019

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Kin Faux ( http://kinfaux.com ) is a band of four talented musicians on a mission to put "western" back in country music. While they do pay tribute to country legends like Haggard, Jennings, and Cash, the heavy influence of the band comes from today's Texas music scene (i.e. Randy Rogers, Kevin Fowler, Cody Jinks, and Wade Bowen).
What you will experience at a "Kin Faux" show is a solid rhythm section providing a foundation for blistering guitar and fiddle solos. What you will NOT experience are skinny, glitter-jeans twerking to Pop 40 Country. So, put on your wranglers and two-stepping' boots, then come see what the buzz is all about!

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Jim Lauderdale Aug 28, 2019

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Jim Lauderdale ( https://www.jimlauderdalemusic.com ) is a 2-time Grammy winning Americana icon, a singer-songwriter whose unmistakable rhinestone-incrusted silhouette has been a symbol for creative integrity and prolificacy for thirty-one albums over decades of recording. He’s an A-list Nashville songwriter whose songs have ruled the country charts while recording an eclectic catalogue of albums that run the gamut of American roots styles.
Jim cut his teeth in the New York country clubs, making fast friends with fellow musical iconoclasts like Buddy Miller and Shawn Colvin. Jim honed his live chops and graduated to Los Angeles, where he spent the late 80s at the center of the fiery alt-country scene alongside Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam, packing out the Palomino Club and catching the eyes of the local crowds and industry alike, leading to his first record deal.
Although he never got to work with his idol Gram Parsons, who Jim immortalized in his classic signature song ‘The King of Broken Hearts’ (also the title of a feature documentary on Jim), Lauderdale has realized that great dream of any musician – to stand shoulder to shoulder making music with his biggest inspirations. His duet albums with bluegrass icon Dr Ralph Stanley earned Jim his first Grammy award, he’s penned albums worth of bluegrass gems with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and he’s on a short list that includes Paul McCartney and Allen Toussaint as a writing partner of Elvis Costello.

It’s no wonder that artists from Willie Nelson to John Oates line up to collaborate with Jim, hoping to snare some of that Lauderdale magic. After all, his songs have helped sell millions of albums for artists like George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Patty Loveless, Lee Ann Womack, Blake Shelton, Solomon Burke, Gary Allan and Vince Gill. Classic songs like ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’, ‘You Don’t Seem to Miss Me’, ‘Hole in My Head’, ‘Halfway Down’, ‘We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This’ and many more have come from his pen.

For More Information On This Podcast:
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Charlie Daniels Aug 28, 2019

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From his Dove Award winning gospel albums to his genre-defining Southern rock anthems and his CMA Award-winning country hits, few artists have left a more indelible mark on America’s musical landscape than Charlie Daniels ( https://www.charliedaniels.com/bio ). An outspoken patriot, beloved mentor to young artists and still a road warrior at age 81, Charlie has parlayed his passion for music into a multi-platinum career and a platform to support the military, underprivileged children and others in need.
Raised among the longleaf pines of North Carolina, Charlie began his career playing bluegrass music with the Misty Mountain Boys. After moving to Nashville in 1967, he began making a name for himself as a songwriter, session musician and producer. Elvis Presley recorded a tune Charlie co-wrote titled “It Hurts Me,” which was released on the flip side of “Kissin’ Cousins.” He played on such landmark albums as Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and tried his hand at producing on the Youngbloods’ Elephant Mountain and Ride the Wind.
His own unique voice as an artist emerged as Charlie recorded his self-titled solo album in 1970 for Capitol Records. Two years later he formed the Charlie Daniels Band and the group scored its first hit with the top ten “Uneasy Rider.” Since then the CDB has populated radio with such memorable hits as “Long Haired Country Boy,” “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “In America,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” and of course, his signature song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1979 as well as single of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.

For More Information On This Podcast:
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Ranger Doug and Too Slim (Riders In The Sky) Aug 28, 2019

Information this episode's guest:

Riders In The Sky (https://www.ridersinthesky.com) are truly exceptional.
By definition, empirical data, and critical acclaim, they stand "hats & shoulders" above the rest of the purveyors of C & W - "Comedy & Western!"
For more than thirty years Riders In The Sky have been keepers of the flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, reviving and revitalizing the genre. And while remaining true to the integrity of Western music, they have themselves become modern-day icons by branding the genre with their own legendary wacky humor and way-out Western wit, and all along encouraging buckaroos and buckarettes to live life "The Cowboy Way!"
Riders In The Sky are exceptional not just in the sense that their music is of superlative standards (they are the ONLY exclusively Western artist to have won a Grammy, and Riders have won two), but by the fact that their accomplishments are an exception to the rule as well.
As a classic cowboy quartet, the trail has led them to heights they could have never predicted. Riders have chalked up over 6100 concert appearances in all 50 states and 10 countries, appearing in venues everywhere from the Nashville National Guard Armory to Carnegie Hall, and from county fairs to the Hollywood Bowl. Their cowboy charisma and comedic flair made them naturals for TV, and landed them their own weekly show on TNN, as well as a Saturday morning series on CBS. They have been guests on countless TV specials, documentaries and variety shows, appearing with everyone from Barney to Penn & Teller. And their animated likenesses have shared the screen with Daffy Duck on the Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel's Stanley. If you consider their compositional credits, one might call them "Writers In The Sky!" In addition to penning award winning songs for their own albums, they wrote the score for Pixar Animation's 2002 Academy Award-winning short "For the Birds." They composed the theme song for the internet cartoon show "Thomas Timberwolf" by renowned Bugs Bunny creator Chuck Jones. But the animated character that history will most certainly link to Riders In The Sky is the loveable cowboy Woody, as Riders performed "Woody's Round Up" in "Toy Story 2," with the album of the same name garnering Riders their first Grammy Award in 2001 for "Best Musical Album for Children." Two years later, Riders roped their second Grammy in the same category, for "Monsters Inc. - Scream Factory Favorites," the companion CD to Pixar's award winning movie.

For More Information On This Podcast:
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David Lee and Josh Grider Aug 19, 2019

Information about this episode's guests:

David Lee ( http://davidleemusic.com ) is an award winning songwriter who had his first #1 song with “19 Somethin” for Mark Wills. He then went on to write “Letters From Home” for John Michael Montgomery and received a Song of the Year Grammy nomination for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s riveting love song “I Need You” followed by second #1 hit “Lucky Man" performed by Montgomery Gentry. Later David found a new home at Universal Music Publishing and wrote for six years having another #1 with Easton Corbin’s “Roll With It”, Alan Jackson’s “You Go Your Way”, Lady Antebellum’s “Hello World”, two Trace Adkins releases “I Wanna Feel Somethin" and “This Ain’t No Love Song” and continued to score cuts by artist such as George Strait, Kix Brooks, Clay Davidson, Billy Currington and others. After Spending years in Nashville David now resides in Spring Branch, TX where he tours and perfoms his orginal music.

Josh Grider ( http://JoshGrider.com ) has released eight albums studio albums, toured the country and abroad, signed publishing deals, and topped the Texas radio charts. His 2012 EP The Gettin’ There, produced three No. 1 hits at Texas radio and his new album "Good People" (2018) was released with much acclaim.

Visit http://cowboysindians.com and search "Tales From The Trail" for more episodes.
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