S2: E15: Jeff Canada - Three Wooden Crosses on a Dove

Interview with Singer-Songwriter Jeff Canada out of the Woodlands Texas

Jeff Canada_mixdown Master

Tue, 5/3 12:48PM • 1:57:26

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

play, song, write, guitar, record, country, band, day, music, musician, cover, good, radio, sound, texas, backstage pass, jeff, started, shows, venue, Jeff Canada, Jeff Canada Music, Pearl Jam Fans, Ride With Me, Taylor Guitars, Gibson, Love Dove, Randy Travis, Singer Songwriter, Josh David Walker

SPEAKERS

Jeff Canada, Randy Hulsey, Adam Gordon

Randy Hulsey 00:00

I am joined in the crystal vision studio today by a local artist that has spent almost two decades in the music scene playing upwards to 300 shows a year. He is an artist that has opened for many of the big name acts, and is now headlining his own shows in and around Texas. I will see what's going on with my buddy, Jeff, Canada when we come back. This is backstage pass radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon. And I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like subscribe and turn the alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio, Randy Halsey. Jeff, what's going on, man? Good to see you. Good to see you. I guess he traveled in from the woodlands area. How was traffic pretty brutal for you?

Jeff Canada 00:58

It's you know, I don't know what they were thinking when they made 99 with no on and off ramps on 45. So it was about an hour to get over here. But, you know, I was I was actually listening to the podcast you did with Brett Axelsson. Okay, he's one of the first ones I think it's actually my second one. Yeah. So I was listening to that. I started it a while back ago. I love Brett. He's a good friend of mine. And it's just cool to hear that. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey 01:23

He's an okay guy. I felt sorry for him. So I had him on the show.

Jeff Canada 01:28

He is a he's a character. He has a character. And it's funny because you're busting his balls right now. And we force each other.

Randy Hulsey 01:35

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's a good dude. I enjoyed having him on. And then several of his bandmates have been on, you know, Kent Newman's been on and Stacy steel, you know, all those guys have been in and around the scene for a long time. But glad you're here. I've never had a chance to meet you. Of course, I know your name. I've seen you play that kind of thing in and around town. You know, we've probably played quite a few of the same places. Jackies, Brickhouse and places like that. So it's good to have you here in the studio, and finally getting the chance to chat with you. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so I was wondering if you've actually come down off the high of that. November sell out at dosey. Doe.

Jeff Canada 02:18

You know, that's it's funny, because that was a crazy night for sure. But it just seems like I thought for sure that that was gonna be like, the top of the line experience for me, but it's just been the next one. The next one, the next one. They've been coming, you know. And so I've already kind of tune that one out. And you know, now thinking about the last awesome thing that happened to me. Yeah. What do we have coming up for till 2022? That, I can't really announce a lot of it. But it's just, it's crazy. What's going on? Yeah. And so yes, I've kind of gotten past it. But it was definitely a

Randy Hulsey 02:51

great, great night is the next one in the next one. Is it better than the first one? Or are they all kind of equal? Or what's your take on that? And like, each one is just kind of different probably to in their own way, right?

Jeff Canada 03:03

I mean, so I've played by I've played shows in front of, you know, two 3000 people before in my life, but I've never played gigs where everyone in that room was there for me, for me and for my music. So that was definitely crazy. I haven't been nervous on stage since I was in high school. And I didn't think I was nervous. And I don't know if it was nerves, or adrenaline or what it was, but I messed up some lyrics that night. And I had the shakes for sure. Yes, it was crazy. Just seeing that many people. And it's all my loved ones. Right. And a lot of people that have never even seen me play before. Yeah. And they're there to support me. It was it was an amazing, amazing night.

Randy Hulsey 03:42

I bet it was and But in all fairness to you. Would you say that even back when you were playing the cover shows, right? I'm guilty of it, too. I forget a lyric, I screw up a chord progression, like it happens. I mean, we're human at the end of the night, right? I mean,

Jeff Canada 03:58

I made a career out of not doing the right lyrics. It just worked or other reasons. Part of the reason why I was I was so successful in the Houston area with the cover thing, because I was I mean, I made really good money for a long time was because I didn't take myself seriously as a musician or any of that stuff. I mean, professionally, I would when I went into the bars, I handle myself professionally, but when I was on stage, it was kind of pushing the limits. Yeah, I was doing things that other people wouldn't do sure are scared to do. Yeah. And lyric changes all the time. Matter of fact, at least twice a week. I get a message on Facebook saying so and so it was listening to the song on the radio, and they can't even sing it like it is because they've heard yours. So many different times. And yeah, so that's it's a good compliment for me. Oh, it makes

Randy Hulsey 04:42

it fun, too. I mean, it makes the show memorable. It doesn't have to be so rigid music doesn't have to be so rigid that people say yeah, he sounded good. You know, he everything was perfect. You know, it can be your own your own thing and people remember you by that and

Jeff Canada 04:57

I think that's you know, that is an argument that I get I was was involved in the Houston cover scene for a really long time. And that was an argument I would get amongst musicians is, you know, whether you're running tracks or you're not or whether you're nailing solos or you're not, you're nailing the lyrics or you're singing the same key or you're cabling, whatever you're doing. There's always like this argument between musicians because we're a bunch of sensitive Teddy babies a lot of the time. And what people forget is it's not about you as a musician. That's not what it's about. Yeah, the crowd in front of you. It's harder now than ever. How do you make those people put on their phone? How do you make them pay attention? You How do you make them remember you? Yeah, you know, because they're gonna, as soon as they leave your show, they're gonna pull up Tik Tok, and find the island boys, and that's gonna get stuck in their head. And they're not going to remember the crappy version of brown eyed girl, or even the awesome version of crazy train that your band nailed. Yeah, they're not gonna remember that. I agree. But how do you get their attention and keep their attention? Absolutely. And you can see that by like, the voice or American Idol, or any of those shows, the ones that do the best are the ones that play their own versions of this, I

Randy Hulsey 05:55

think so. You know,

Jeff Canada 05:57

you can have a girl get up and just nail a Celine Dion song, and nobody's gonna remember that. But somebody's definitely gonna remember the metal version of poker face or Absolutely. And so that's that's kind of that was always my mentality. But I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan. Okay, Pearl Jam was my number one all time favorite band of all time. And they never did their shows the same? Yeah, right. Okay. Never the same solos. It's, you know, any veteran would break things down and go into a cover just not even the same. But you knew what he was singing? Absolutely. And to me, that's, that's the stuff. That's where the magic happens. Nothing is magic about you going in and nailing a song unless you're in a tribute band. That's the difference. Are you in a cover band? Are you in a tribute band? Yeah. Oz is a tribute. And cover and

Randy Hulsey 06:39

tribute are not the same.

Jeff Canada 06:41

They're definitely not the same thing. So, you know, if you're if you're doing a cover, then cover it. Yep. I mean, people don't come up anymore. No one ever comes up and says, Can you play simple man by Linares standard? No one asked that, right. They say can you play simple band by Shinedown? Yeah.

Randy Hulsey 06:56

Why is that? Because they did it their way, right? Their way? Yeah. Well, my mentor, the guy that kind of got me into just, I wouldn't say music. But he inspired me on the guitar. He was a he was a solo artist years and years and years ago. And not too long ago, probably three years ago, he said, Brandy, and he's kind of since retired and stepped down, you know, but he said, I don't envy you guys today, because people don't pay attention like they did when I was playing the phones are a distraction. You know, they're the TVs, there's 900 TVs in these places that are on your your background noise a lot of time Yeah, some of it resonates with a lot of people don't get me wrong, but you know who it's resonating with and who it's not. Because you have those people that you know, are head down in the phones for the whole three hours that you're sitting on the stool, and for musician that that can be frustrating, but

Jeff Canada 07:49

it can be but to me, that's what separates the entertainers from the non entertainers. And so I prided myself a lot about being able to turn heads. And it wasn't because I'm an awesome singer, because I'm not an awesome singer, or an awesome guitar player. It was because I would those zingers and almost every song I would play, whether it's a fart noise or a lit trumpet, or actually singing the words put down your phone and, and what would happen is is one person would hear it and they would turn around, they would say and you can see it. Yeah, they'll tap the person, right? When you just said, Get off. Whatever, like and I would say some crazy stuff. But maybe only you know, one or two people heard it because there's just so used to hearing the songs and absolute like that one person would tap and then guess what? Now the crowd is listening to see what you're gonna say next. Exactly. And it was kind of like a chakra kind of thing is what I always did, but just to cover Yes. And I got some trouble at some venues. And, you know, the venues. I've only been fired from one venue ever. But, you know, the venues would be like, you know, you need to tone it down. You do this? And I wouldn't do it. I'm not gonna do that. And then the more people would start seeing see me at that venue. Finally, they just stopped later. They'd let me do my show. Yeah. But then the problem is, is you see other bands come at you. You got to know to write you got to know how to read a room. I agree. You can't set up and play dick in the box, the first set at a restaurant? Yeah. You know, right. And so and I would have musicians come out and see me play. And then they would go do that, because they would catch the last 45 minutes of my set. And by that time, you've already pumped them up by the end and ready to go. I can do whatever I want to do. Yeah. And so that caused a lot of problems with musicians as well, because it'd be a fired and then blame it on me. And I'm like, Whoa, you're taking your own dog? Yes, yeah. Yeah, you know, you need to do whatever you got. And not everybody's me, right. Not everybody is gonna be that guy that can push those buttons. Sure. But you got to find your strengths as a musician and being in recovery musician, it's an art form in itself. And you got to treat it that way. Unless you're in a dance band, like a party band, like a wedding band, because then those shows are not about you at all. You're just there to do. And I hate those shows. And I would never ever, ever be sad Fabian Britain Well, background music. i There are many, many places that I refuse to play wine bars and stuff that because I'm not going to do that,

Randy Hulsey 10:07

yeah. Well, that's your prerogative at the end of the day. You're an artist. And it's your prerogative that if you go to a place and you play it, it just doesn't feel right. Or it doesn't register. The prerogative is don't book the bench again, right. That's kind of that's what I do. I mean, there's places that I've played one time, and I'll never go back and play him again. Not because the people were bad or the crowd was bad. It's just that it was a vibe thing. And I just didn't protect our wounds I have not cared for right there. Yeah, I

Jeff Canada 10:33

mean, it's, it's 100%. And, you know, now with what's going on now, I'm able to be a little bit more selective for about that, you know, with a select floor. Did I just say select

Randy Hulsey 10:44

floors? It's, it's a word if you want it to. It's our show. So you make it up as you go. Yeah.

Jeff Canada 10:50

I mean, you know, because I get caught now that I have this this name, or whatever that's happening now. And you got the bars that David, give me a chance before now that are reaching out want me to play? Yeah. And I'm just I don't have to. Yeah, so how many golden tea machines you have? How many TVs Do you have? Exactly? What's your stage setup? Am I just setting up and, you know, one thing that has definitely changed. And I'm seeing it now in the Texas country thing. But one thing that changed in the Houston cover scene out 2008 2009 was when the US bands used to walk into these venues, the servers and the staff and the managers would treat us like we're part of the team before 2008, maybe 2009, they would welcome us, they would ask us what we immediately they would come in and say what can I get you to drink, and they would comp your tabs. Even though you didn't have a comp tab, they would still take care of you during the night or whatever, if they had a good night. Something happened around 2008 2009 where they just were hospitality just stopped being a thing. And you just started going to these venues. And I wouldn't even talk to a manager until he paid me at the end of it. Yeah. And to me, that's that's one of the biggest flaws about about the Houston cover scene right now is there's there's just not a lot of venues in the cover scene that really treat you like you're part of a team. And to me, that's the bars, I want to play it. Are you looking at me like I'm an investment? Are you looking to like I'm an expense? And if I'm an expense?

Randy Hulsey 12:09

I don't know. Yeah, you don't need to be there. At the end of the day, you're an extension of their team. Right? And they should be Yeah. 100%. If they're not looking at it as a business move, like, okay, maybe you didn't bring in 1000 people tonight, right, whatever, but you're still talking to their guests, you're still thanking them for being at the show being there supporting local business, right? I mean, you don't have to bring in 1000 people to be valuable to the venue.

Jeff Canada 12:33

Or if you roll into a venue and they say, Hey, Jeff, I'm glad you're here. And they they bring you some water, or they Hey, you want something to eat or for free. Just just asking me, yes, the manager comes over, man, I'm so glad to hear it. He shakes your hand, when you get up on that stage. You know, we play three to four hours,

Randy Hulsey 12:49

you're pumped and ready to go, there

Jeff Canada 12:50

are multiple nights where I'll get up and play a three hour night without even taking a break. Because the venue is so awesome, because the staff is so cool. Absolutely. We're so cool. But you don't mind giving back to people that you feel like they're giving to you. But that's missing in society. In general, like Ed jobs, I guess the more you appreciate somebody, the more they're gonna give you. Period. That's just the way it works. And when you stop appreciating someone, and it's not that you don't appreciate him, but when you stop hourly appreciating people, they're gonna start up our league trying so hard to do that.

Randy Hulsey 13:22

I agree. And I'll get I'll give you a case in point. So I was a booking agent for the fire and pub brewery in Tomball for a while. And I remember playing there one night and the little girl that was the hostess, I always greeted her and said hello to her when I walked in. And at the end of the night, she she came over as I was trying to load my stuff out and she put some money in my tip jar. I don't know if it was $1 or 1000. I don't know. But then she she came up to me and hugged me and said, I enjoyed your music. And I said, Oh, thanks so much. I said You're so sweet. She said no, you are because you're one of the only artists that comes in here that even acknowledges my existence. When you walk through the door. Everybody else just thinks, Oh, she's just whatever the floor sweeper or the door holder or the hostess or whatever, but you treat everybody like they're like their people. And you know that that was her whole thing. And it meant the world to her.

Jeff Canada 14:17

Absolutely. And you never know that. Here's the thing that a lot of musicians that are out there and I don't want to spend the whole time just ragging on musicians because that's not what it's about. But a lot of musicians out there don't think past. Tonight's $200 Yeah, they don't think past that. Right? They don't think you know, I when I do want to venue. I don't want to make 250 bucks or 300 bucks off. Right? I want to make $10,000 off here. Yeah, that's what I want to do. I want to have a venue that I can call up and say hey, I need a show and you're gonna you're gonna put me in there. And I spent a long time getting to know everyone at every venue I played. And now it's coming to roost you know, there's a lot of musicians throw out the word lucky that I'm lucky because I'm getting to know opened up for Pat green or or go down the list. But to be honest with you, the whole reason is that is because the owner of one of the best venues in town used to be a bartender right? And we became friends like through that. Now, he's, you know, he owns sort of Park. And so, of course, they want me on their stage whenever they're doing a big show. Absolutely. And you can go down the list. I mean, I can name those things a million miles, because that's what happens. I mean, obviously, if you're a go getter, right, you start as a bartender, your goal is to open your own spot one day. And and so if you go to that bar, and you're not tipping that bartender, or you're a butthole, to the bartender, or you're not a team player, and then that guy opens up a spot and somebody says, hey, I want Jeff Canada play there. That guy Yeah, and that's not what you want. No, not at all. Yeah, man. Jeff was always cool. Let's let's get him absolutely.

Randy Hulsey 15:47

And you don't have to be the best musician to have people remember you. It's just about treating people like people. Let's let's shift gears a bit. I'll come back to kind of the the ticketed shows shortly. But take take the listeners back to Splendora. Texas, right. Splendour for those that are listening that are not from the Houston area. Splendour is northeast Houston in between a town called Cleveland and new Caney. Probably what 2020 minutes outside of Houston or is it more than that? 30 minutes. Okay. 35 Well knows depending on traffic, right? 40 minutes, but talk to me a little bit about growing up in splendour. How long were you in splendour? When did you leave splendour, that kind of thing.

Jeff Canada 16:31

I was born and raised out there. I mean, I wasn't born in splendour, obviously. But I was, you know, I was raised out there from the time I was born. I went through, you know, all of my school in splendour, Texas. I didn't get out until I was 20 or so. And then I went to work in the oil field. And, and yeah, it's just a small town thing. It's not like a ranch or town or anything like that. There's no really identity to it. It's just a town. Yeah. I mean, I grew up, you know, working cows and all that stuff. But not you know, I'm not from Stephenville or Eastland or any of these really cool towns that some of these guys are from on doors small town in East Montgomery County, Texas, Piney Woods. Yep. I grew up doing the typical you know, deer hunting and fishing and all that stuff. You sports kid at all growing up or not so much? Not. No. I mean, I played T ball one season and I played football for like a half season just now not my thing. Really. I was more of an attention seeker. Not really a team player. Glory hound, if you will. And I still am. Yeah, it's it's just I want to be the loudest one in the room. Yeah. Well, it's

Randy Hulsey 17:39

a kid though. Like, you know, I don't know what age you can pick any age you want. But what were you thinking about as a kid like, this is what I want to be when I grow up.

Jeff Canada 17:49

Man. I don't know when that when that switch flipped. But I can tell you that even going back and reading when my mom passed, I went got my baby book out of her house. And in there's there's passages in there that she that she wrote about me carrying my guitar around everywhere, and I didn't know how to play right. And what I'm talking about is like a one year old, two year old or me singing or dancing. Huge Michael Jackson fan when I was younger. I kind of listened to a little bit of everything. We were kind of forced to listen to country and my house. We didn't it was not really allowed until later on for me to listen to guns and roses or Pearl Jam or any of that stuff later on. But it was mostly since you know 70s 80s 90s country. Conway Twitty Vince Gill, Brooks and Dunn. Yeah, that sort of stuff. Keith Whitley. Yeah, so that's, that's what I grew up on. But I was always, you know, we would do talent shows a family reunions. And I was always dancing and singing and I was always been in the music, I would DJ those things with a two tape deck.

Randy Hulsey 18:53

The dual deck or whatever,

Jeff Canada 18:56

because a lot of these a lot of the newer guys out there so yeah, or even records. Yeah, you know, I remember going to my grandma grandpa's. And they had the little 40 fives I guess that what they're what they're called the 45 and 1000s of them. Yeah, we would just set up I'd sit up there for hours and just flipping records and anything. I mean, from the Big Bopper to the you know, just whatever, just all kinds of stuff. And so I've always been into music, but I don't know at what point it's switched to where this is what I want to do.

Randy Hulsey 19:28

If you didn't if you didn't like you, it sounds like you probably subconsciously you were thinking music was probably going to be it for you. But let's say you weren't doing music What would you be doing if you weren't playing music but it's still would you still be oilfield trash or? I mean, what have you ever thought

Jeff Canada 19:46

much about? You know, I don't know. I mean, when I was younger, me and my brother both actually me and both of my brothers. You know, there was nothing we couldn't fix. There was nothing we couldn't drive if we found the keys to it. We could drive it I mean, I remember driving a you know a lot I'm truck through the woods when I was like 10 years old, I learned how to drive on like a 82 stepside Chevy three speed. I mean, it was just there was nothing we couldn't we were mowing the fields on a tractor hole on our old Leyland tractor at eight, driving these things around, you know, so I would probably be doing something along those lines or who knows, I don't know, I don't even know I don't really think about it. I mean, I've it's pretty much been been a, you know, music, especially since 2006. I did take I took about 10 years off, okay. And I just, I just I stopped writing, I didn't do anything I met would play my guitar on the house. But I was I never really worked in the actual field. I was just in oil and gas. I was a project manager. And I mean, I started in assembly and inventory and all that stuff. So when I left there, I just started playing music full time. And and that's just been what it's been since but I never expected ever in a million years that this stuff. That's some of the stuff that's happening now would happen. Yeah. You know, never I did that record just as a therapy record. Sure. And I was if I would have just played dosey doe and 100 people would have came out and saw me play an ottoman show. I was okay, I'm done yet. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey 21:12

So this is all house money now. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Pretty awesome. Very cool. Now, at one time, I know you were you were known for playing 250 300 shows a year and these shows it was mostly covered music, right. That was all covered. Nice. Okay. Yeah. What do you think the breaking point was though, for you? Did you wake up one day and say, no more covers? I'm done with this. Like, what led up to that? You know, what led you to saying, now it's going to be Geoff Canada, my brand, and I'm leaving. I'm cutting that umbilical cord.

Jeff Canada 21:45

It was a slow process of Aye. Aye. I did not write a single song for about 10 years. And before that, I wrote a ton. You know, when I was early 2000 I get to open up for dish Wallah. And I did some some other national stuff. But I just you know, I just started playing covers, you know, when you're playing 300 shows a year. I mean, I think my most was like 316 or 312. And one year, the last thing you want to do when you're at home is pick up your guitar, because you're just you're doing it every day. It's like sure, if you drive a tractor for a living, you don't want

Randy Hulsey 22:18

to be mowed grass for live in your yard is never cut.

Jeff Canada 22:22

Yeah, so but the turning point was when my mom passed away in 2018, she she died the day after mother's day in 2018. And I knew that I needed to write her a song, you know, haven't written one a long time. And I knew I needed to write one. And so she was a huge fan of 70s country. And so I went out to her house and I got the CD collection. I came home, of course did not listen to it on the CD, I got the CD and looked at it and then download it onto my Spotify or whatever. And I would just listen to that stuff, you know, and like I said, Conway Twitty and Vince Gill and, and that sort of stuff. And then I wrote the song, needle and thread, which was on the first record. And that's just kind of where it clicked, right. And I don't know if that's where I found my voice, because I've been kind of away from country for a long time. And I don't know if that's where I found my voice, or what happened was something just clicked and people really liked it. And it just resonated with people. And so I was like, Man, I'm just, I'm gonna write a country record, I'm gonna do it. And so I just got busy writing. Yeah. And again, I'm never I never once expected to not play covers, I was doing this. So all my friends could come out and party. And I put out a record. And it wasn't about anything more than that. Everything started to change from that, probably, I'd have to say around the beginning of COVID. Right? Because COVID happened, and it just took my livelihood completely away. And so you start thinking, you know, because because I've made six figures almost every year since doing covers, and people don't realize that how much money you can make doing it. But you can make that if you're doing it right, and you treat it like a business. And so but now my livelihood is gone. And the government's not helping me out. They said they would, but they're not sure. And it took 10 weeks before I got any help. And so I just started really thinking, Okay, do I really need to be doing that? Do I really need to be setting a bar plan covers all the time, and I need to diversify. And then you start doing other things. And so and my record wasn't finished either. And so I just started writing. And 2018 was was the worst year of my life. I mean, it was a bad year, my mom died. I got involved in a bar as a partner. And that was actually when I first took a step away from covers, I became the GM and I started running this bar and that only lasts for about six months. The owner was was not a decent person, but he's no longer with us. He passed away. And then right towards the end of that bar situation is when mom got sick, and she was sick for a few weeks and then passed away so it was pretty quick and and that was really tough. Tough on me, I'm sure and my brothers and then you just don't expect my mom was 63 when she passed away. You just don't expect to your mom not to be there. And then she was taken from pretty quick. And then after that, because of the depression and fallout from that, you know, I got a divorce or separated from my wife and got a divorce. And then 2019 was not much better. And then 2020 with COVID, it was just like slid dominant, slap slap, which is probably why why wishing? Well, the record is such a sad record. And I don't know, I don't know when this switch actually flipped for me to stop playing covers. But that was definitely the turning point was was whenever I started writing my record, and then we did the record, and then I did a Kickstarter, because I didn't think I was gonna get any support on this thing. So I was alright, I'm gonna do a Kickstarter, I'm gonna do it for 7500 bucks, surely, I'm not going to reach that goal. Because on Kickstarter, if you don't reach your goal, then the people don't have to donate. That's how it works. So basically, the donation doesn't kick in until you reach your goal. And we reached my goal in like, a month of $7,500. And then it got all the way to $10,000. And I was just, I was floored that people wanted to support this project, you know, and so we did the record. And like I said, I finished it, Darren COVID. And why everybody else was kind of resting or, or waiting on something to happen. I just kind of took the bull by the horns, and finished the record. And then we released the record in November of 2020. And since then, it's just been, you know, like you said, just it's the opposite way, you know, from 2017 to 2020 was just, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And now it seems like it's the opposite way. It seems like it's just cool thing after cool thing after cool things happening.

Randy Hulsey 26:35

Absolutely. Now you You've opened in the past for x, you mentioned one earlier pet grain you've opened for Stoney, LaRue, Wei Mo and the list kind of goes on the shows that you're booking now, are they strictly headlining shows that you're doing? Are you still open to being an opening?

Jeff Canada 26:54

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm always I'm always gonna open. That's just I look I love it. It's it's cool. Headlining acts to me are, they're very stressful, especially here in town. I mean, the goal is the goal is definitely in around Texas to get to the point where I'm doing the headlining act, but I'm not an egomaniac that thinks I'm there yet. Yeah. And I know a lot of my peers are that way. But I'm just not, you know, I know where my lane is. And right now, right now, I want to play in front of as many people as I can. And me headlining is not the ticket to that me. Me stealing other people's fans is the ticket to that. Yeah. And you mentioned the stone dealers show. I mean, I made so many fans at the start of the roadshow. Yeah, it was insane. Cuz we played one of the best shows we've ever played in our life that night, you know, and it was just it was asked most

Randy Hulsey 27:42

probably, you know, it's probably in and I'm gonna speak from the vantage point that I'm not a headlining act, right? I never professed to be but I have to think that there's this there's probably this egotistical thought process for a musician that I headline or else but there's nothing wrong with being an opening app because you said it best just a minute ago. You go to Stoney LaRue, you open for this guy, right, which is a wonderful artist, and it's not really that you stole his fans but you acquired a lot of his fans is now your fan. So that was a positive for you. Whether you are headlining or have the supporting act you and one there at the end of the night, you one right yeah, for sure. And that's the way it's got to be. And I'm just I'm not that guy.

Jeff Canada 28:28

I mean, there's a lot of people that think I am an ego, egotistical person. I mean, I'm a little cocky, I guess, I don't think you can do this and not be but I'm just you know, I've gotten stuff like, like, like Pat green. We weren't direct support. We were the band before direct support. And I got so many people that like Yeah, but you're not really opening for Patreon. You're, you know, you're down the list. I just don't view it that way. You know, I'm sharing the stage where there's still people there hear you. Yeah, absolutely. And it doesn't bend that's my thing is where am I playing? You know, and I had a conversation with someone recently I do need to learn my own worth. That does need to happen. I've always been slow to the to the gate on that one. But you know, in in the spring Cypress woodlands area, I don't need to be the opening opening act. You know, if I'm going to be playing with with some of the bigger bands, I need to be direct sport and that is only because in that area, I'm one of the biggest drawing acts are in that in that area. And you take me down Seabrook and you have a fort, you know, a five band festival. Yeah, put me put me at the front. I'm fine with that. Sure. But I'm not going to do that here anymore. Yeah, that's, that's I'm drawing the line on that one. If I'm if I'm within 30 miles of my house, then I'm not going to be doing that I'm either direct support or I'm headlining,

Randy Hulsey 29:41

even if you're not worth a certain amount, you have to make people think that you're worth right more than what you know you are like you might say started Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'll tuck my podcast up like it's heard around the world and I've got some good statistics. I'm not Eddie trunk. I don't pretend to be Eddie trunk right. But I talk about my show I'm just as proud of my show is he is his like, even though I don't have near the listeners, and probably never will. But that's not why I even started this. If I started it for that reason, then that that was an uphill battle that I was probably never going to conquer, right.

Jeff Canada 30:17

Yeah. And that's been it's that has been something that's been very hard for me my entire life is accepting the praise, accepting the compliments having a big head having an ego. It's just it's always been very, very difficult for me. And even now, you know, I played a show on Saturday, and I'm looking out and open for Jason Cassidy. And there's not very many people paying attention to me, and I just, I'm my, my go to start is self deprecating. That's like my go to, and I've got to get that fixed. And I've gotten way better at it than what than what I used to be. But

Randy Hulsey 30:48

like, like, do you mean you shut down, you tend to shut down, shut down,

Jeff Canada 30:52

I just start talking shit about myself. It makes people laugh. And people remember it. And that's cool. But I need to stop doing that I humility at your expense is kind of the thing. And it's always been my thing. And, and that's it gets me in trouble on other spots. Because I talk shit. It's what I do. I've done in my entire life. And I bust balls to people I like, the problem is, is a lot of people can't handle that. And so whenever I'm talking about about myself, I'm just busting my own balls, right? And I'm my best friend. So I'm busting my own bucket, but they they may not see it that way. You know, they may see it as a guy that has no confidence or guy that this negative, right. So I need to get better about that. That's one thing, I got a list of 10 things that I keep, and I read every morning, and that's that's all on the list of is to don't be so negative. Well, that's, you know, that's

Randy Hulsey 31:39

a good point. I mean, I don't know what the old adage is, I don't remember it. But it's not a problem. If you if you identify the problem. I mean, you know that that's an issue for you. Yeah. Right. And if you know that, then you can figure out ways to fix it. But if you deny it, like I don't have that problem, then then it's always going to be that way. So the first step has been taken, right? It's probably with alcoholics, you have to identify that you have a problem with the bottle, because it's never gonna get fixed. If you don't identify that, right.

Jeff Canada 32:11

Yeah, I just identified a long time ago, and I haven't fixed it yet. Yeah, well, I think that's a lot of a lot of my issues or a lot of my problems. But you know, they're they're minor problems that have I mean, what I didn't really turn that person off, they just may not have as high of an opinion of me as I hope they might. Sure. Right. And so I definitely need to get better about that. But I also don't want to take it to the point where a lot of these guys are where they're just cocky. Yeah, right. And that's, to me, it's a fine line to walk is how do you how do you how are you confident and not negative on yourself, but also not some egotistical, sherlocky person that that nobody likes or that people are gonna talk? First of all, in this business, there is no winning, you're there, you're always gonna have people that are gonna hate you. And you're always gonna have people that are gonna love you, but but you're always gonna have people that have something negative no matter what you put out, no matter how good it is, no matter how hard you worked at it, people are going to trash what you do no matter

Randy Hulsey 33:06

what. And I've always said that the that 99 Out of the 100 that talk shit about you and what you do can't do it themselves. Absolutely. And I always keep that in mind. Am I the best singer? No. Am I the best guitars? No. Where's your fucking show? Where are you playing next? Are you even relevant? Does anybody know your name? And that's, that's not arrogance. That's confidence. Don't mistake the confidence for arrogance. Because it's not that I'm not an arrogant person. But I am a confident person. Right? And there's, there's a big difference, too, right? And that arrogance is usually people that can't back up what they're being arrogant about right is in my own opinion, but you'll never be good through everybody's eyes. Oh, first, you know, your album, you might think that wishing well was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But there's going to be two dicks over in the corner that say that was the worst shit I've ever heard in my life. And you it's hard. It's hard. It's hard because we want to please everybody, we please people. That's our humaneness. At the end of the day. We're never going to do that.

Jeff Canada 34:06

Right. But that's but that's the gauge. And that's what I always try to. That's what I tried to tell the cover guys as well, you know, you got this 9010 rule, right. And I call it the 9010 rule, you can do whatever you want to do. But no matter how good you are, 10% of the people are gonna hate you. But also, on the flip side of that, no matter how bad you are 10% that people are gonna love you. And the question is, you got to figure out which one right so when you're playing a show, and you've got 10 People that are up there just watching you and they're just in love with you and they're following you around. Is that is that is that because that 10% Love you are that is that the 90%? Or is that the 10%? Did you clear the rest of the room out and and you know, because those guys can give you a false sense of of how good you are sure, because of how much they love you and I've seen it a million times. To me it's it's trying to figure out okay, the 90% of the people stay or the 90% people leave Yeah, or 90 people 90% people smiling and laughing happily A time are they having a horrible time? And that's, that's kind of the key, right? Is to figure out which one of which one of those you are. And I've always been self aware enough to know where I'm at. Yeah, you know, and I think that's one of the big things lacking specially in the US to cover scene is self awareness. Like, am I good enough? Am I playing the right songs? Am I upbeat enough? Am I gonna you know, go down the list? Sure. And so I've always been pretty good about being a read a crowd and going where they want me to go. I've also been really good about finding the four or five people that I know are not going to like me and singling them out and go and get it and get it over with very, very quick Yeah. And then that way they're gone. And then you can have fun with people that do like absolutely so it's a tricky thing, but it's it's self awareness and just knowing where you fit Yep, and what and staying in your lane Absolutely.

Randy Hulsey 35:49

Are the big things. Yep. Now what what music was shaping you as a kid? You know, you grew up in Piney Woods. You know, you would think all the kids all they listened to his country, we stereotype that you know, all the time, right? But what was shaping Jeff Canada growing up,

Jeff Canada 36:04

I literally listened to everything. Yeah, I mean, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard. You know, the big guys, the good guys, you know, Garth Brooks was a huge influence on me on the country side of things, but I also grew up listening to poison and Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. And, but even older stuff, with Jimmy Buffett and that sort of stuff. So I've kind of always Michael Jackson, like I said, I was a huge Michael Jackson fan. I mean, I would wear the jacket and dance around the house and do all those things. So it was It wasn't so much the genre, as it was the beats and the rhythm and the the lyrics write the story. I fell in love with the stories. Yeah, so if you're a good storyteller, and I was in love with it, that's why I really loved like poison and Bon Jovi, and those guys because they they told stories in their songs. Sure. As opposed to like Nirvana. I cannot get into nirvana, because I don't I don't have the time to try to figure out what you're talking about. Yeah, and I'm knocking them there. They have I have the utmost respect for them. But if I got to if I got to dive into my subconscious or do some drugs to figure out what your Yeah, and then I'm not,

Randy Hulsey 37:15

then I don't like it. Well, you always knew that that Jon Bon Jovi was writing about Tommy and Gina Right. Absolutely.

Jeff Canada 37:21

No, or like Nickelback, you know, everybody downs Nickelback all the time. Nickelback is like a country rock band, right? All of their songs have stories, all of their songs. They're not, they're not writing this obscure, crazy stuff. It's story.

Randy Hulsey 37:36

I don't I don't want to get off on a tangent of Nickelback, but But here's what I do want to say about them? Because I've heard that sentiment from people. I don't think they get the respect that they deserve. I think they're great musicians. And what's his name? Chad Kroeber? Yeah, that fucking guy. Yeah, he's got some pipes on him. So where do they get the bad rap from? Where does that come from? Success, right haters.

Jeff Canada 38:00

And that's the thing you said the words that you don't think they they get the respect they deserve or whatever, but they do. And the reason they do is because they're one of the top charting rock bands of all time, but it's the loudest the squeaky wheel gets the grease right and we see that in politics we see that and every day of our you know, you don't ever see someone hear on the news. Someone saying something good about a politician, right. It's always something bad. Same thing with with music, you know you don't. And football. You know, Tom Brady, who is the greatest of all time, hands down. There's nobody better he's still doing it. I don't know how he's my age, like 43 or something. He's still doing it and how much hate do you get and then we had to witness it here with the Astros right, the Astros. They're the best team in baseball. They have been for a while now. And it's just hate. It's hate, hate hate. And that's just it's just the way the world is sure. Yeah. So I think they do get the I think they do get the respect they deserve. We just we hear the negative. Yeah, you know, and just success man creed was the same way. Go down the list, you know? Yeah. But yeah, I mean, all of those bands, the top charting bands, I mean, I'm sure Elvis got the same crap. Back in the day. You know,

Randy Hulsey 39:09

I've always liked Nickelback, like their music, and they have great hooks, you know? So, now back in 2020, you released a record called wishing well, was that the first full length record that you had written? I released

Jeff Canada 39:25

one when I was like 2021 Maybe and it was called the band was called Jezza Bell's tree which it was it was not good. I mean, it was horrible. It was just a puddle of mud. But rock crap. So I don't know of anybody that has it. And if you do have it, please don't ever upload it. It's not good. But yeah, so So wishing well was was definitely my first solo record. And really the first real record I did the other one we recorded in a buddy's house, you know? Sure. It was my first real. I mean, I wrote 50 Something songs for this record. So it was doing it like the big guys It wasn't just okay, here's 10 songs, and we're just gonna put on a record. Yeah, I tried to make the record tell a story. It makes sense. Absolutely. And some of it did. And some of it didn't. But that's okay.

Randy Hulsey 40:11

You know, it's a good first stab at it. Sure. You mentioned earlier back in 2018, you had a song that came out of the loss of your mom called needle and thread, tell the listeners about the song like, how did how did that the death of your mom inspire the song?

Jeff Canada 40:29

So it was multiple things, you know, I, I've always been the black sheep of my family, always. I mean, the rest of my family, they have nine to five jobs, you know, they work in the oil field, or they drove trucks or, you know, whatever. And I've always been kind of the black sheep. And, and, and I was not very close with my family, right. I mean, I'm, I was pretty close to my dad, but my mom, I would see my mom, she raised me. But ever since I left, left home, I would maybe see her four times a year, maybe five times a year. And I would talk to her about that, too. You know, we didn't really talk on the phone. That's just not what we did. And my brothers were even further apart, right? We all just grew up and did our own thing. And I'm just so different than they are. And, but when my mom died it like it gave me my brother's a second chance, if you will, we kind of and not that there was anything negative, like we not that we got into huge fights or anything, we just kind of grew apart, right. And so it just kind of got us all back together. And I remember sitting in the hospital room when in hospice, right. And I just remember thinking, everyone goes through this, right, everyone goes through this, at some point in their life, everyone loses somebody they love at some point in their life, but you don't hear a lot of real songs about it. And so I wanted to write a song that she would like, but also wanted to write a song that basically touched on that how hard it is that last 10 hours, 12 hours, 14 hours of someone's in hospice that lasts even the last hour, whether the breath and all that stuff. And I wanted to portray that musically. And that's just how I started writing the song. And there's a lot of stuff that mean, the producer got in a fight about because this song, I didn't play the song for anybody else. I didn't write the song for anybody else. I wrote it for me, it was a therapy song. I just wanted to be good, you know. And I wanted to tell a story. But at the end of it, it's it says you can let go. And we repeated it a lot. And it wasn't because we were trying to artistically, it wasn't because I'm just trying to fill time or anything it was because I wanted people to realize that that last hour or that last 45 minutes, or whatever it is, when when they're taking that last breath, it's it is that uncomfortable. Yeah. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation or not. But it's, you know, they take a breath, and sometimes it's two or three minutes between their next breath. So it's extremely difficult to watch. And I don't know that anyone has ever tried to put that into into an art form, right? Even in the movies, you know, when they die, they take that last breath and it's over, it's finished. It's never something that's so uncomfortable. So I wanted to do that. And so we got a lot of fights with the producer in the studio. And I ended up winning, obviously. But there's just multiple parts in the song that I wanted to really hit on the emotion of just losing somebody that you love. And that slow going process. Not so much the the big headline, this, you know, cops dying and that sort of stuff, or family members or whatever. It's just a tough deal.

Randy Hulsey 43:32

Yeah, my wife, Terry has lost. So she her biological parents, she's lost them. But her aunt and uncle adopted her at a young age. So for all practical purposes, she's had four parents over her lifespan and she's lost all four and mine are still alive. They live in town lake right across the street. And I don't know what it's like to lose a parent. And she, she doesn't remind me but she says, You know, I hope you never have to, you know, because it's not. It's not easy.

Jeff Canada 44:06

It's not I've dealt with a lot of death in my life. I mean, I was there when my grandpa took his last breath. I was there when my stepdads took his last breath. I've dealt with you know, and I've lost friends and you know, it's been I've been to a lot of funerals in my life. But the man when you when it's apparent, it's just different. It's just it's just tough, you know, especially when you know that you didn't give them the appropriate time as well. Well, I

Randy Hulsey 44:31

think we're regret is a bad thing and a conscience. A bad conscience is a bad thing, too. And that's why I've always said that if and when well, it's not if we're going to lose loved ones but I never want to look back and say I should have done these things. I should have spent more time I should I should have you know that whole should have thing I try to do what I think is right today because I mean you could testify there's there's sometimes There's no tomorrow, right? I mean, you don't know when the if there's going to be a tomorrow.

Jeff Canada 45:03

That's what kicked me in the ass that is that right there that sentiment. I mean, I was 40 years old. My mom was 63. Or I was 39 or 40. I can't remember. But, you know, I was, I'm 23 years behind my mom. That means I got 23 years left on this planet.

Randy Hulsey 45:20

That's the way that's one way. Yeah, sure. So it was like,

Jeff Canada 45:24

I'm done. I'm done doing things. For everybody else. I've always been the guy to do stuff for everybody else. I've always been the one to make sure everybody else to take care of before myself. I've always done the right thing. For everybody else, not necessarily for me. And that's what that's I mean, that's one of the reasons why me and my wife got a divorce, you know, is I was ready to live my life for me, and not for anybody else for once in my life, because I've only got 23 years left, you know, what's the point of sticking in a marriage that? Listen, my wife, my ex wife is one of the best women I know. She's one of the best people I know. And we're really good friends to this day. And we're a team and we talk a lot. And we have tried to be the best parent we can for our kid. But it just wasn't there was we were so far apart.

Randy Hulsey 46:08

Well, you were probably better apart than you were together.

Jeff Canada 46:12

It's just we've grown so far apart, right? Where it was so bad that when we got to divorce, we didn't lose any mutual friends. There was nobody had to take that make a choice. Right. Right. So I mean, her family, my family, but no mutual friends. I have all my friends. I mean, there were friends that I've been that I've been friends with 10 years that never met my wife. That's how crazy it was. Probably were. So what happened happened, but I just made a conscious decision that I'm going to start living my life for me. And that's what I do to this day. I don't say no to experiences. Yeah. If if, if somebody calls me up right now and says, Hey, do you want to go to Vegas? I'll pay for the trip. I'm not even gonna think about what else I have to do. I'm going with him to Vegas, or whatever, you know, doesn't really matter. Or somebody calls me up says, Hey, you want to go? spotlighting the night? Go kill an illegal deer? I mean, I haven't done it in a long time. But I would Yeah, let's go or let's go break something or whatever. I'm I'm gonna not not to the point of being mischievous or breaking the law or do anything like that. But but definitely pushing the envelope of your life. Because I don't want to be 63 lying on my deathbed. Brett brought it up. You know, Dad, what was your biggest regrets? I don't, I don't want to have any regrets. Yeah, you know, my regrets. I you know, I love hard. I love full. But but I'm living my life for me. Yeah. And I want to keep doing that. And, you know, hopefully, whoever I'm with, I'm dating a girl now that we're, it's great. It's awesome. That are that the paths are on the same path? Sure. And that the things that really we enjoy are the same. And I'm hoping that works out. It'd be awesome. If it does. But I'm, you know, I'm living my life for me.

Randy Hulsey 47:50

Well, I've always said there's no rewind button on life, right? You know, you don't get to that deathbed, and say, Oh, hang on, let me let me there's no backup button, right? So you're better, you better have done and live the way you wanted to live. And again, it's it goes back to the regrets. You can't say Damn, I should have done a, b and c. And I never did do that. So for sure.

Jeff Canada 48:14

And that's why I'm trying things now that I've never ever tried in my life. You know, I didn't I was not a pot smoker at all. I didn't you know, I didn't do drugs ever. I mean, I've never even touched cocaine and till my 40th birthday or whatever. And I mean, I've done it maybe four times. It's not like I do it all the time. But I'm like, Yeah, let's try it. I mean, I'm not gonna do heroin. I'm not gonna stop. It's gonna kill you. Sure. But you know if, if it's not hurting anybody else, I'm gonna give it a shot and see what happened to responsible. Absolutely. I go, I get your point. I still have kids. I don't want to be a loser. I don't want to end up in jail. I'm not going to do something crazy. But I'm going to push the limit. Yeah, for sure.

Randy Hulsey 48:57

Well, you released wish anwil, which was a full length record. And then you also had a handful of singles, I think, peaks and valleys. Memories in a shoe box. Right? Fill me up was one also that was the last one. I don't know if you would mind play in one of these are one of your choice. You brought the guitar there. And I'd like for you to just pick one of your choice. If you'd be so kind as to play something for the listeners.

Jeff Canada 49:25

Do you want me to do one that's already been released? Or you mean do you can do whatever you want to do your choice, man, it's tough choice. I tell you, what I'll do is I'll do the new song that we're going to release here in the next few months. We're about to put everything we got behind the song. Because we have a whole team now. Right? I have a whole team behind. Okay, I have a management team now and I have you know, we're having a meeting tomorrow with a marketing person. And so we're doing everything we got the everything has been released, previous to now has been done on my own. Okay, I follow you know, hell Oh, no team, nothing. So so this is gonna be the first one where it's like, we're gonna hit them in the mouth with it. Okay, cool. So we're gonna launch into radio, we got Ed spacey, who's gonna be our radio promoter. And then and we're gonna do a music video, a real one a, you know, a professional one, right? Even though I've done a couple of professionals already, but we're gonna go all out on this one. Good. And so I'll play that one. It's called ride with me. And it's about it's not really it's about taking chances really is what it's about. It's about, you may not be ready for love, or you may not be ready to take this leap, but just give it a shot. Absolutely chance. If you keep saying no to everything in your life, then no, yeses are gonna happen.

Randy Hulsey 50:41

This is a single I agree. And you said this is a single off of that this is going to be released as a single,

Jeff Canada 50:47

we're not going to do another record for a long time. Okay, what we're doing is we're piling up songs, and I'm in the studio once a week right now or so. And we're just piling up content, whether it's a live cover song, or or it's a studio cut of a of a of one of my songs. We're we're just going to be pushing out content. I'm gonna try to release something new every two to three weeks. That's the goal. Okay, so we're pushing hot and heavy on this sweet which my brain is on overload stuff but it's called ride with me that's what it's about. And I hope you like it