S6: E7: Adam Hood - From Opelika to the Opry

Speaker 1: 0:46

My guest today is from the Alabama border town of Opelika and is a gifted guitarist and singer-songwriter. It's Randy Halsey here with Backstage Pass Radio and I hope you guys are doing well. You guys hang out with me as we get to know Grand Ole Opry vet Adam Hood, and we'll do that when we come back.

Speaker 2: 1:04

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 alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of Backstage Pass Radio, randy Halsey radio Randy.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Halsey, I am joined by Alabama native and songwriter extraordinaire, adam Hood. Adam, how are you, bud? I'm doing good. Randy, how you doing man? I'm good, we're doing good here in the Lone Star State. It's good to have you on. It's finally great to catch up with you after a month or so, I guess, of going back and forth on scheduling and when are you available? When are you available? Right, it's always a herding the cats kind of thing with musicians, because you know we're just all over the place, I guess.

Speaker 3: 2:05

At least you understand from a musician's perspective how that uncertainty is. It's funny how you can have nothing planned for a day and still not be available for a day. You know what I mean. Like this, when I don't have anything to do, I have a lot of stuff to do with nothing to do.

Speaker 1: 2:17

It's funny that you put it that way, because I reached out to a friend. I try to stay in contact with all the guests on my show and some have become very dear friends. Some I don't hear from too much, as you can only imagine, but I've had artists out of Conroe, Texas, or Willis, Texas, Peyton Howie, on my show a couple of times and I'll ask her something and it'll be a day or two before she gets back with me. It's like why are musicians the most busy people I know? Why does it?

Speaker 1: 2:47

take you eight weeks to get back in touch with me.

Speaker 3: 2:49

Yeah, it takes me 24 hours to work up the courage for some strange reason, like I need the courage to respond to the text, but I'm past it now. Well, in a couple of years to do it, but yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Adam. My wife always tells me, randy, your expectations are way too high of people, so maybe I just need to lower the expectations all around, right? Who knows? I mean across the board.

Speaker 3: 3:08

Yeah, yeah, all around, right, who knows? I mean across the board. Yeah, yeah, of course, expectations of people you're going to get let down.

Speaker 1: 3:13

I hear you and the expectations low. And the older I get, the more that becomes a reality. Right, I really start to understand that. Well, I'm glad you're here, man, I'm glad you joined me today and took the time out to kind of share your story with the listeners. And I wanted to share a little bit with the listeners about the Alabama upbringing Walk us through maybe just high level of Adam Hood growing up in the border town of Alabama there. And what kind of kid were you like? Were you a sports guy? Were you always a music guy?

Speaker 3: 3:43

I really was. I mean considering, and I'll go ahead and preface this by saying no one in my family and my whole extended family mother, father side, either one of them, no one is musically apt at all. I found everything by myself, really, to be honest with you, you know, and I was one of those kids that I did like football. My dad was a pretty good athlete when he was younger and played football and rodeo and ironically, in Alabama, and then baseball stuff. But you would think my hand coordination is fine but everything else I'm slow, you know, I run flat footed you know, and so you can't really run flat footed and be any good at anything, and so music was just kind of.

Speaker 3: 4:21

You know, I just grew up and I was starting to get interested in music at a great time.

Speaker 3: 4:26

You know, I started playing guitar right when people like Garth Brooks kind of came into the picture, and that was when, you know you could, garth Brooks had an acoustic guitar and you could hear the acoustic guitar parts really well in those songs and Clint Black and people like that, you know they were, they were interesting songs, and so I, you know, my parents bought me guitar because I couldn't sit still and it just kind of worked. You know, I had my best friend growing up that lived right behind me. We started taking lessons from the same guy in seventh grade and I realized that having a buddy to play with that's kind of two for one lessons really, to be honest with you. And so in high school, you know, I, you know, in going to church all the time, I just started playing in front of people and nobody threw anything at me, you know. And so that's kind of been the story of my life from then to 48, like nobody's thrown anything at me yet.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Well they say you know to get better as a musician. You know well, you probably want to invest in some kind of music lessons, but really, just, you know, collaborate with other musicians. It makes us better as musicians. You know what I mean. Play with better players. You're going to step up your game because you don't want to be the worst player in the room and you don't want to be the worst basketball player on the team. We all aspire to be better than average and hopefully better than our peers. Not that music is a competition in any way, but I think if you play with better players and I get to play with a better player my lead guitarist so I'm in a an acoustic I say an acoustic duo. We're a duo and and Chris, my lead guitarist, is just so brilliant on the guitar and, uh, he has more talent in in one finger than I do, period, and it's. It's just nice to play with players of that caliber and I'm sure you can.

Speaker 3: 6:14

Uh, 100%. I mean I started playing guitar before I started singing in front of people and before I started writing songs, and so, you know, guitar was really my first love. And I mean to be honest with you I mean not to toot my own horn, but you know I'm an only child and so you know I had this kind of seek out people to play with and buddies that I could, you know, enjoy that time with, but nonetheless, I learned a lot about how to kind of do this myself. You know, my technique is, you know, I can keep my low end going and still, you know, play through melodies of songs and sing them at the same time, and so I really developed a style that way and it's been really beneficial to do it.

Speaker 3: 6:47

But at the same time, and as much as I can hold my own as a guitar player, I mean, like you said, when you got guys, that's what they do and they do it well, they did. You know, I mean the guy that plays guitar for me right now, he's a great guitar player. He plays b bender and slide and stuff like that. So you know, that's a pretty interesting craft in itself and he can cover a lot of grounds that he can play the pedal steel part and play the guitar part at the same time, where I'm just trying to sing and remember the words and the chords and stuff like that, like I don't need any more to do.

Speaker 3: 7:18

To be honest with you, and to breathe in there somewhere too, right, yes, yeah, and then I gotta go sell my merch at the end of the night, exactly well, I've always said kind of tongue-in-cheek that players like that both inspire me and piss me off all at the same time. Yes, I say you were.

Speaker 1: 7:35

You were in in great agreeance with that yep well, what do you think it was for you that sparked that that musical bug? What was it? The players like garth brooks, or was there some other life event? That that light bulb just went off for Adam Hood and you said that's it, that's what I'm gonna do right there for sure.

Speaker 3: 7:55

Yeah, I mean, I was like I said, you know, garth, and that generation of country music made everything accessible to me and I could, I could hear the music then, but my mom brought home a cassette tape of John Hyatt's Bring the Family and that was it. I mean, I, that was mean. That was the day that set my trajectory Because you know so Bonnie Raitt had a hit with Thing Called Love and that song was on. You know, hyatt wrote it and it was on that album and so that was the first time I'd ever actually had an understanding of this guy actually wrote this song. Now she made it, and also, you know you can listen to Bonnie's version of it and it's great. But then this song now she made it, and also, you know you can listen to bonnie's version of it and it's great, but then you listen to highest version of it.

Speaker 2: 8:34

There's a bridge and a third verse in there, of course.

Speaker 3: 8:35

And then there's a. Really there's a lot of cool things that are going on with a four-piece band and it was magic. That whole record was magic. And so I just I I got to hear depth of music at 17. That I mean, sometimes it takes a long people a long time to dig into that. And you know, that was just kind of coincidence. Like I said, my mother's not a again, she's not very musical, but she just kind of happened to have that CD and she said you know, listen to this. And I mean I was struck then and I mean that's what I wanted to do at 17, and I'm still doing it.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Well, sometimes that's. All it takes is a little flame, right, that's 100%. Absolutely, opelika, that's small town, usa, is it not? It is not a music mecca? No, sir, it's not. That's interesting. So where do you call home now?

Speaker 3: 9:17

My wife and I live outside of Tuscaloosa Alabama, so that's where she and her family are from here. Her mother and father are here and she has a sister that has four kids and we have three, and so you know it's a nice little happy family community around here.

Speaker 3: 9:31

So yes, that's what kind of where we've chosen it. But you know, you realize, especially with what I do, man, it's when you start having your own children. You, you realize how important it is to be as close to family as possible, and everybody needs that, just because sometimes moms and dads have to sleep, you know. But with me doing what I do, like I was on the road for 10 days last week. Well, it was the girls spring break and of course I would have loved to have been there. But my wife just went down to the beach, took the girls under the beach. Her parents were down there, they had a good time, you know. So she couldn't have been able to do that on her own. And I mean not to say that they don't come to shows. They come to as many shows as they can, realistic to take the girls, especially when school's in session.

Speaker 3: 10:09

It's just hard to travel.

Speaker 1: 10:16

Of course. Well, they say it takes a village, right, so it takes a village. When you're on the road, there's people that step in and fill that temporary void. But you're out doing what you got to do and out what you love doing, and it's good to have that support system back in the primary home with your wife and kids that understand that that's what dad does, right.

Speaker 3: 10:30

Yeah, and also the good thing is, you know, I remember my father growing up. He was a forester and so by the time I woke up in the morning he was gone and then, you know, so he got home by 3.30, he took a 30-minute nap and you know that was all the time we had to spend. And of course I don't on the weekends. But number one my girls have never known any different. Number two when I'm home, man, I'm devoted, you know. I mean all I'm really doing is just writing songs and doing kind of cleanup work and paperwork and stuff like that. So it's not really, it's quality, quality time.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Well, as long as you know how to manage it, you learn how to manage it over time, Right?

Speaker 3: 11:07

And you say well, it manages you you know 100%.

Speaker 1: 11:10

That's with anything in life for that matter, whether you're a musician or a garbage truck driver, I mean it doesn't matter what the living is. You know you can let the career consume you and I've always been one of those dads myself that could I have worked longer hours, could I have worked harder? Absolutely we all could say that. But I never wanted my kids to look back and say why was dad never at my baseball game? Why was dad never at my hockey game? I never wanted to be that guy. So I worked hard when I was at work, but I separated work from the home life and you have to have, like they say, that work-life balance, otherwise it can turn into not be such a good thing for everybody.

Speaker 3: 11:52

I take pride in the fact that I'm the only dad sitting in ballet class. You know what I mean. Like it's me and no other males in there. And so just because again, because I don't mean to be a broken record, but you know, my dad was busy and so I realized that this is important, it's just, and it's just as important for me as it is for them too. You know, they love my presence, but my kids bring me a lot of joy, you know, and so that's a good thing because you you don't have a receipt, so you can't trade them in, Right?

Speaker 3: 12:21

So they bring me a lot of joy, and I was just yelling at them.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Hey, it's normal man, it's normal. Well, there was something special that happened for you a couple of years back. Let's walk back for just a second to 20, I think it's 2022. And I mentioned keep me honest on any information that I'm a little off on, but I believe it was 2022. And I wanted to talk about the Grand Ole Opry debut for you. Share with the listeners how the invite to play the Opry comes to the artist who calls you. Share with the listeners that information You'll get a kick out of this.

Speaker 3: 12:59

So I got up in the morning and I opened up my email and there was an email that the heading of it was Grand Ole Opry, and so I opened it and like as soon as I did, my manager said don't open your email, Don't look in your emails.

Speaker 3: 13:11

Don't look in your emails and I was like well, too late. What's this? They all had a lot of explaining to do. And yeah, I mean that was that was really it. I mean, you know, it was so funny because Jason Eadie he was the whole thing's been really interesting because since I, you know, I did it, and then Jason did it, and then a lot of our friends and peers and just Wilder Blues done it, and Josh Ward did it, and just William Clark Green, and the list goes on and on and on.

Speaker 3: 13:38

Like I said, I've always known people that played on the Opry and stuff, but it was like our crowd, a lot of Texas music singers and songwriters and just folks that were in the same trench that I was, and I felt like that it happened at one period of time. So it was. That was in itself was really cool, but like, yeah, it was just really kind of surreal. It was the fact that, like, I just got an email one day and next thing, you know, I'm on the Grand Ole Opry and like we, you know, we just show up and I put on a clean shirt and I walk on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, you know, and I mean in real time.

Speaker 3: 14:10

You kind of have to make yourself not be nervous about it. Just, you know, put your head down. You know what you're doing. You only got to go sing three songs. I mean, surely you can manage this. I mean, like, how much messing up would I really do? I mean you know? I mean my buddy, rob Snyder, went out there with Luke Combs one time. He so what? I mean, you know you dropped your pick. Everybody drops their pick every now and then Of course, yeah exactly, but I let it set in.

Speaker 3: 14:32

Well, I tell you this the phone started ringing and it was different people after the Opry happened and just something that like when I'm introduced in audiences and stuff, like people say, though you know, they mention the Grand Ole Opry like they would a record label or anything like that, like that. So it really is a, it was, it was a sacred, a sacred thing. It was in jason and I. We talk about a lot, like I said, and I understand now why it's such a gateway into country music. You know what I mean. It really is like it's a welcome, welcome to the club, kind of thing yeah, of course.

Speaker 1: 15:03

So it literally came to you by way of email, the invite. Yeah, wow, interesting. And you never thought for a minute when you saw that, oh, oh, that must be spam. I'm just going to go ahead and delete that, right? I?

Speaker 3: 15:13

mean, you know, it was honestly it was nowhere in my line of sight, I mean and not to say I wouldn't have. You know, I never went to somebody and said, hey, I'd like to play the Grand Ole Opry one day. You know, I mean, of course everybody would like to play the Grand Ole Opry one day. That's kind of an unspoken thing, but like the reality of it happening, yeah, it was nowhere in my scope, nowhere.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Well, you dropped the name there just a second ago. Uh, Jason Eady, and I don't know a ton of his music, but what I will say is he covered an old Keith Whitley song called homecoming 63. And man, what a great job he did on that song Homecoming 63.

Speaker 1: 15:48

And man, what a great job he did on that song. That's when I really fell in love with it. It's like, wow, I need to know this guy and his stuff, because if he can cover a song like that, his original stuff must be just as good, right, I would think so.

Speaker 3: 16:02

It truly is. Yeah, and Jason and I, we've known each other a long time. He and I are the same age. Our oldest daughters are within two weeks of each other. We met at a writer's round like a big fundraiser writer's round in Austin Gosh. This was at least 20 years ago. I'll never forget I heard him play and I thought, oh, I had been in Texas for a little while, but I had been in Texas by that time long enough to know that my stuff was a little left to center.

Speaker 3: 16:29

Know, I was texas music, because I, you know, got into delbert clinton and stuff like that. But like the foundational stuff of of how I write is close to texas, but it's not the same, of course, and because I live east of the mississippi, you know. And so I heard jason sing and I thought, well, yeah, that guy is that guy's from east of the mississippi, I know he is, and same thing with me. He said you know it's funny. You said that because I thought the exact same thing when I heard you saying oh, I know that voice, you know, and we've just been best friends ever since. You know, it's just a great writer, and he's never sent me ideas that I didn't really really appreciate, you know. I mean, I never felt like it was a disservice to me to write with him or vice versa. Where does he hail from? He's from Jackson, mississippi, but he's been in Fort Worth for a long time.

Speaker 1: 17:15

I thought he had a Texas connection, and again, I haven't gone out and dug into him, but something made me want to say that he was Texas, right, but not originally from here.

Speaker 3: 17:25

Yeah, I mean he was. He grew up with a high school in Jackson and then got married pretty early and that's when they were in Fort Worth. So he's had a Texas residency for a lot longer than he has had a Jackson one.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Yeah, that makes sense. Well, I, like you, have been to the Grand Ole Opry, right, I will say I've been there but I've never played there, right, but I did take the tour and the interesting thing about the tour and there's a segue there, right, there's a method to my madness. You know, you get to walk out and stand in the circle and I'm not an original musician, I don't profess to be one behind the circle, and as a musician, it was surreal for me to even stand out, to walk out and stand in the circle and to look out at the pews in this place. Talk to the listeners a little bit about that feeling walking out and standing in that circle for the first time.

Speaker 3: 19:15

Well, number one. I mean, you're right, that room is number one, it's enormous, it's enormous. And when you stand in that circle you realize the enormity of it. Like you can sit in the pews and yeah, it's a big room then but like to be able to sort of be in everybody's line of sight, everybody's center of attention, like it's a big room, Sure, and the cool thing is like you can attest to this, Like test this, like you know, those plants of wood are different, you know. I mean like there's the stage and then there's this circle and there's there's different wood in there, and just the whole mojo about it, just it's such a beloved thing and such a sacred thing that that, yeah, it's a, it's a special thing.

Speaker 3: 19:51

I've done it twice. I did in october and then I did it again in february. The first time I did like I said I just I just kind of walked out on stage, I kept my head down. I did like I said I just I just kind of walked out on stage, I kept my head down, I did my job, I said thank you as grateful as I possibly could, and just, you know, when I walked off stage, you know everybody and their mama was standing in a pool of tears. You know what I mean. But the second time I wouldn't let myself be as nervous and I I kind of looked up and just absorbed it, took it in for a minute, you know, and it was yeah, it's a man, it's a neat room, and we did the same thing.

Speaker 3: 20:26

We took the tour the first time as well, me and my wife and the girls and her parents and my mom, and it was funny because we were at the back of the tour. We kind of joined the tour kind of halfway through it. They started at the dressing rooms. Well, we started with them at the dressing rooms, and so the lady that was taking everybody around for the tour she said this is the dressing room where everyone from the first time comes up and this is where their dressing room is. Tonight Adam Hood is doing it. And my seven-year-old said my dad's Adam Hood. And so everybody kind of turned around and looked at me.

Speaker 2: 20:58

She was like, did I?

Speaker 3: 20:58

say something wrong. I said, no, you didn't say anything wrong, but it was neat, you know, after that conversation, you know, people started turning around in the line and we started talking and I mean I met a couple from Germany there, there were people from California there, there were, you know, just all walks of life, all nationalities, everybody kind of it's like Graceland. You know, it's like Graceland. You kind of have to go there If you care anything about the music that's on the radio, if you like country music, you should go to the Grand Ole Opry, because it's accessible.

Speaker 3: 21:26

It's great and so a lot of people do that.

Speaker 1: 21:29

Yeah, and I think there's so much to know and so much to learn there and I promise that I'm not going to go down a rabbit hole. But things like you know, I didn't know he hall was filmed there for 20 years, like I had no idea that that's where they filmed he hall. And then you know the story behind the uh, the circle, that wood came out of the what the ryman right when it was underwater. They had divers go down and pull that flooring. You know scuba divers go down and pull that flooring out and that's the. That's the flooring or the wood that you see in the circle on the Grand Ole Opry stage. So a lot of cool things like that probably the general public doesn't know unless you've gone there taking the tour or know somebody that's played it or whatever the case may be.

Speaker 3: 22:11

But cool plays and it seems like that the first time I did it like I think Darius Rucker was there and Lauren Alaina, and so you know those were two of the headliners, I can't remember everybody. But like the second time, crystal Gale and Ricky Skaggs were there and the best part about that was like they were all interestingly relaxed back there, like you know. I mean, like Crystal Gale was not a celebrity that night. You know, she was really approachable. My daughters talked to her, took pictures and you know just all those people were. So Lauren Alaina was really nice to my girls. I mean, she was just super nice.

Speaker 1: 22:46

That's great when you have that kind of experience, because there's an old adage never meet your idols, right, Because you'll a lot of times be disappointed in behavior or attitude or whatever. But I've met some of mine on this show and I haven't been disappointed yet. So I I feel like I'm way ahead of the curve, but I'm sure it does happen.

Speaker 3: 23:06

Well, and it's showtime, that you know, that's the thing. That's kind of. You know I I don't necessarily hate to have a conversation with people before showtime, but I know, I know I'm not the most engaging person before showtime because, you know, I still get really nervous. I mean, I'm nervous every night. They say that, you know, being a little nervous is good, but I'm kind of a lot nervous and so again, I'm not just not really myself before the show.

Speaker 3: 23:29

I understand 100 percent how people, if they see you in there, in close proximity to you, like have this moment to have a conversation, and you know, and so they're deserving of that. You know, you know, if this moment to have a conversation, and so they're deserving of that, if you like my music and I'm standing right there, please let me know. But if it's five minutes before a show, I'm probably going to say thank you and be really nice, but then I'm going to go back and bite my nails.

Speaker 1: 23:51

You know what I mean. Well, have there ever been a more impactful show for you than the Opry? Would you say that that's been the pinnacle for you? That's pretty much where the benchmark is set.

Speaker 3: 24:02

Man, I've had a lot of cool things happen, you know. I mean, I have to say it's been just do what I do. You know there's no strategy other than just trying to just write the best songs and try to take them to as many people that will listen, you know 100%. But at the same time, in staying consistent with that, a lot of cool things have happened, but yeah, I'd say that that was pretty much the one that, like it happened in real time.

Speaker 1: 24:28

I knew it was different and it's been different ever since. Well, they say good things come to good people, right? So maybe there's some truth in that. You know, there's so many amazing artists that have played the Opry and there are some of these artists that I believe that you have even performed with and I believe a few of them have even recorded some of your songs, and I wanted to throw out a couple of names and maybe you share with the listeners what the relationship is with this artist. Did you play a show with them? Did you write for them? Did they write for you? Miranda Lambert.

Speaker 3: 25:00

I mean I kind of give her credit as the person that basically discovered me. I mean, this may be a little, I'll try to make this long story short, but she and her mom I was playing a place in New Braunfels on a Tuesday night. Ray Wiley Hubbard did this thing called Roots and Branches. He and Madison Rainer did it and I was. I played that and Miranda and her mother were there on vacation and their car broke down. And so the guy said I can order a party, we'll be here for tomorrow. And they said, well, let's just go get somewhere to stay and then we'll walk to the closest bar we can and I'll have a drink. And that was the bar that I was playing in. And so I played my four or five songs. Casey Musgraves was there with her, and so she walked up to me after my set and she said man, I loved your songs. And I said thanks. I said here's a CD. And two weeks later her mother called me and said Miranda, we like this music. We'd love for you to come open some shows for Miranda. And I did. I played her birthday party. This was oh, man, this was probably 07, maybe 2007. I played her birthday party and that just kind of started the whole thing.

Speaker 3: 26:02

I did some shows with her after that and then she introduced me to Frank Liddell, who was her producer at the time. Well, frank owned a publishing company that was Carnival Music. That's the publishing company I started writing for in Nashville. That was where I met Brent Cobb. That was where I met Natalie Hemby. That was where I met Troy Jones. That was where I met Brent Cobb. That was where I met Natalie Henby. That was where I met Troy Jones. That was where I wrote a lot of songs.

Speaker 3: 26:23

I mean because I'd never really been in that situation. I'd always wanted to be, you know, because, in my opinion, a writer, and especially a staff writer, there's, you know, the staff writer thing is a little bit of a misconception, but, like you know, someone that is more a writer than an artist. That was something that was appealing to me, because I felt like that was the most normal avenue in the music industry. And boy, I lied to myself it's not by no means. But I told myself it was, and it was the best way for me to be an artist and still be a dad and still be a husband too. And so it took a long time to get there. But Miranda introduced me to Frank and I wrote there for years and then we just kind of kept our relationship going and you know she's cut a couple of my songs and, like I said, she's just been a big cheerleader and a big and a good friend. She's sweet to my family. Her parents are my kids' god grandparents, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 3: 27:21

So we're pretty close to them if that makes any sense.

Speaker 1: 27:27

So we're pretty close to them. Well, that's a super cool story. And I mentored a young female artist when, when I started playing out professionally again and she played shows with me, and I always told her don't bring half baked songs to the stage. Polish your songs when they're ready, when they're polished, bring them and perform them for people, because you never know who's going to be in the audience and can change your life. Right, and this sounds like the Miranda Lambert Adam Hood story almost to a tee. Right, maybe she didn't change your life, but my point being is you get a big name that just happens to be in the same room as you one night and magical things can happen from that. Maybe you blow up, maybe you don't, but it sure couldn't hurt. And if you give that crappy performance, they leave there. It's lackluster, it's like, eh, another artist, you know, kind of thing, yeah, right. So I always told her put your best foot forward, you know, pretend like you're playing for somebody that's going to change your life.

Speaker 3: 28:31

Yeah, and it's your confidence and your own belief in what you're doing that really makes all the difference in the world. Because, man, there's no industry standard. There's really not. I mean, art is subjective. We're all allowed to like whatever it is we like and hate whatever it is we hate, like you know, and granted, you'll say, I love this is there's always somebody that, like you're stupid for loving that, and vice versa, you know so. So there's a lot of liberty there. But I agree with you, you know, but it's up to the person that's writing it, it's up to the person that's singing it to decide.

Speaker 3: 28:59

You have to listen to these songs for yourself and go okay, what do I like about this song, what do I not like about it?

Speaker 3: 29:06

If you can answer both those questions, just take what you've got that you don't like and just change it, figure out a way to make it better, and you can do that. The easiest way to not do that is to sort of give yourself these limitations that your mind and your heart kind of does, and I don't know why the human mind does that, but we all do. We all have something that we're having to push through to just get better. You know, and it's hard, but once you kind of tap into that, I mean, you know, and you may be the best writer of like crappy songs, you know, sure, those guys exist. You know, and that's the funny thing about it, those guys exist and you know you can say, well, that guy writes crappy songs but then everybody that knows him goes man, that guy's a salt to the earth and he's taking care of his kids and he's doing this. You know, maybe you don't like his songs, but you know what. What he's doing is working and it works for him or her, you know.

Speaker 3: 29:58

And so, yeah, I agree. You know it has to be your decision. You decide what's the best way. Just be the best, you, you can be.

Speaker 1: 30:06

Yeah, I agree with that 100 percent. One more name to throw at you there Travis Tritt.

Speaker 3: 30:18

Oh man, so talking about Garth Brooks and stuff, like again, like I said, that was kind of when I got into it. Well, travis, travis was the guy that didn't wear a hat, ok, and so you know I didn't. I wear hats now, but like they're not cowboy hats. But you know, coming up I didn't wear a hat. You know, I wore a hat but, like you know, my dad always kind of joked around me. He's like he's wearing a hat, like a dime store cowboy. You know you don't have to wear that hat if you don't want to. And so Travis was the he didn't wear a hat. Number one. Number two, he was from Georgia and, being from Alabama, it's the same thing.

Speaker 3: 30:45

Just like I was saying, there was this kind of musical something-in-the-water commonality that I could relate to. Travis Tritt. You know, I saw him live a couple of times and like he played night moves and I was never really into Bob Seger until Travis Tritt played night moves. Well, then I saw him another time. He, you know, played copperhead road and I was never into steve earl until I heard travis trip do that. So come full circle.

Speaker 3: 31:07

Well, I got my manager set it up to where brent cobb and I had three days basically to go right with travis trip.

Speaker 3: 31:14

And so brent and I did, and brent and I have and this is something I've learned from him we developed a knack for, like you said, kind of come and prepared and not just say, well, anybody that write with you sort of ought to come prepared and by saying that, don't just have, like you know, these half lines or anything like that, have something that is an operational verse or have something that's an operational chorus, just something that's a melody, a guitar part, a line that you're singing, like something musical, that's an idea, something that you could build off of correct, correct. And so Brent and I kind of dug around and found the three good ones that we thought. And so I got there. Let's see, brent wrote with Travis on Tuesday, brent and I wrote with Travis on Wednesday, and then I wrote with him by myself on Thursday. He cut three songs on the last record and one of them was the title track. So I mean, not only was it a good experience, I mean it was like winning a fan club contest and just meeting the guy.

Speaker 4: 32:14

Much less writing with the guy, much less him cutting songs Much less there'd be three, much less.

Speaker 1: 32:19

There'd be an album title. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 32:21

It was crazy, and I mean he's one of those guys that every time it's his birthday I'll send him a text and say happy birthday. I mean we get Christmas cards from him and it's a trip man.

Speaker 1: 32:31

It's a trip. My 17 year old self just thinks I'm the coolest guy in the world preface this by saying growing up, I was never a country guy, so to speak. I was the rock and roll guy growing up and later in life I discovered country music and then, when I got into playing duo shows, I really got a lot more into it. Because you want to be diverse, right, you don't want to be a one trick pony.

Speaker 1: 33:00

So I never paid much attention to Travis and I don't know how many years ago it was maybe five, six, seven years, I don't know I stumbled across a YouTube video of him doing this acoustic tour right.

Speaker 1: 33:15

And he's playing some of his songs and Charlie Daniels song and I'm like man, this dude is mega talented, like vocally and guitar talented, and I never knew that about him and I think it was just because I'm an acoustic, mainly an acoustic player. I gravitated to that part of Travis Tritt, the just raw him and the guitar, not all the fabrication of a band or anything like that, and I really started to understand the true talent of this guy yeah, well, and that's the thing, like you know, saying that I heard him play bob seger.

Speaker 3: 33:54

It wasn't just that I heard him play the song and I wanted to play the song myself, but like, he sort of opened my eyes to the fact that there are elements of bob seger that are country you know, and he opened my eyes to the fact that there are elements of Bob Seger that are country you know, and he opened my eyes to the fact that there are elements of Stevie Ray that were country you know, and like not so much.

Speaker 3: 34:11

But then, yeah, at the same time, here's a common thread. Right here I can play this song of Seger's and it goes right in line with my set, you know. It goes right in line with Put Some Drive in your Country, like the, the almond brothers, the country or side of a band that was, you know, they were just kind of, they were like a jazz blues band really, to be honest with you. So, but he opened my eyes to the fact that, like, if you dig enough and you find the songs that you like, you can find country songs in a lot of artists that have a discography, basically, sure, so that's how I started looking at music and and because I did that, that's what got me, you know, I mean, that was what got me to van morrison, what got me to you know how this?

Speaker 3: 34:52

is a plethora of artists, yeah yeah, just this is the excavation of finding songs, you know, of course, and so, uh, he was really really helpful in doing that well my mind when you were telling me some of those stories there.

Speaker 1: 35:05

My mind drifted a little bit when you said something about East of the Mississippi and we're talking about songwriters and that type of thing and I mean, who who could not think of guys like Jason Isbell when you, when you think about, you know, East of the Mississippi river, what a great singer, songwriter that guy is right, A phenomenal talent. Pre-2023, you had released something like eight records, if my memory serves me correct, and feel free to set me straight on that, but you released a new LP in 2023 called Different Groove.

Speaker 3: 35:43

It was called.

Speaker 1: 35:44

Adam Hood's Different Groove yeah, okay, there's a clip off of that record that I'd like to share with the listeners that maybe are not privy or haven't heard maybe some of your newer stuff, and I'd like to treat them to a clip of that, maybe about a minute and a half, and then you and I will come back and chat. Fair enough, excellent, that's great.

Speaker 4: 36:08

There's a light in the city standing five miles high. I'm crossing that river, there's a girl on my mind and it's high top of the buildings flashing red. There's just one more reason. She's stuck in my head and it buzzes like neon and it makes me feel fine the way she leads me on. It's a real good sign. These dirty brick cities, they all look the same. Not one damn person ever knows my name and the clouds ain't lifting. There's something within Saying a change in the weather Will come round again. And it buzzes like neon and it makes me feel fine the way she leads me on. It's a real good sign.

Speaker 1: 37:37

That was a song called Buzzes Like Neon, off of the 2023 LP called Adam Hood's Different Groove. First of all, this is a solid record, man. Congrats on that. I've listened to it I was going to say front and back, but I don't have it on vinyl but I've listened to it front and back, basically several times, and it's good stuff. So good job, thank you.

Speaker 3: 38:00

I'll send you a vinyl.

Speaker 1: 38:01

Nice. Well, you know what I would prefer and I have this conversation with people on my show all the time. I would love to actually buy a vinyl if you'll just sign it for me and I put it in my collection. I love to support my fellow musicians any way I can, and that's what kind of the show is all about. It's a musician being trying to expose other musicians and help them get a leg up in the business. Right, and that's why I called it a musician's podcast, because I'm an artist like you and don't do it for a living like you do, but certainly understand the trials and tribulations and the ups and downs of the music business for sure. You kind of caught me on when I said the album was called Different Groove and you said it's Adam Hood's Different Groove. Talk to me about that, because now you've piqued my interest, kind of why it's not just Different Groove? Why is the name thrown in with the name of the record?

Speaker 3: 38:59

Well, because it's a remake, basically, and so that different groove was an album that I made. We put it out in 2007. So I'm sure you're familiar with Pete Anderson. He was Duke Yoakam's guitar player and producer for years and years, and so I got to make that record with Pete and so I went out to LA this is, you know, I mean, living in Alabama.

Speaker 3: 39:17

I've spent three years back and forth flying out to LA to make this record with Pete, and it was the first time I'd ever, really, you know, effectively co-written anything. Really, you know, I'm sat down with Pete and, like we worked on songs. I had plenty of songs, but, like you know, he said, out of the ones I sent him, he said, I like these, I don't like these, let's take these and see what we can come up with. And so that was kind of my first real sort of pointed effort at a project and my first time in a real studio, and it was out in Burbank, california, and it was with a guy that had platinum albums everywhere and a Grammy. You know what I mean. It was a very intimidating situation. I was 26 years old, yeah, exactly. And so my intention was to just keep a tail between my legs and do the best I could and learn something. And I did, and Pete is a sweet guy and I think the world of him. But in that process you don't speak up when it comes to what you want in songs. You know, and I didn't have anything to say back then.

Speaker 3: 40:18

Well, not only just doing it over and over again, but over and over again for 20 years. You know I had developed these songs, had evolved. Basically, number one and number two, these were like 22 Days was my first Texas single, different Groove was my second. Buzz is Like Neon was my third. So these were the songs that people knew me by and we just couldn't ever really emulate them.

Speaker 3: 40:42

Pete's style of playing guitar is just impossible. He just plays differently and I couldn't ever really emulate him. I like, just, you know Pete's style of playing guitar is just impossible, you know, I mean he just he just plays differently and I would. I just I can't play guitar like Pete does, like even just acoustic, strumming E chords, like I don't do it like he does, and so because I couldn't do it like that, I just couldn't replicate it. And it's a real frustrating thing when you're live and you play these things all the time you can't make it sound like the record, you know. And so you know, britney and my wife and I talked about it for years. You know, adam, you should probably, you know, try to find a time and a way and a place to make this your own.

Speaker 3: 41:13

And so when jason edie was recording one of his last albums, he recorded it in the studio in austin, the finishing school, and gordy quist from the band of heathens that's their studio, basically Okay, and George refoned it before I think they record a snake farm there, like there's a lot of history to that studio. And so I heard Jason's record and there was just a texture in his voice that I had never heard on any of his. I knew that's how he sang, but his records never reflected that until until he started recording with Gordy. And so I just approached Gordy and I said, man, I don't know what you did, but you really brought the best out of Jason. He said, well, come by the studio, and he showed me around and I said well, I had this idea and just presented it to him and he said, okay, we'd love to do it.

Speaker 3: 41:58

And so it kind of came to full effect into talking about it. We said said, what are we going to call this record? Well, you can't call it the same record because it's not different groove. You can't give it a completely different title because it's not a different record. It's, I mean, like it's the same tracks in the same order, the same chords, all that stuff. You know what I mean? Interesting. So okay, yeah, and so that's why we called it. The adam hood's different groove was the only thing we could settle on. That was a different version.

Speaker 1: 42:24

Yeah, then the story makes perfect sense. Now, right?

Speaker 3: 42:28

It was a bold move on my part. I was really nervous about it, you know, because, like I said, you know people really like some of these songs and I knew I was either going to do these much better and they were going to like it or they weren't, and it was kind of the middle of the road. I've heard people, you know, saying comments and stuff I like the old version better, and that's I mean.

Speaker 2: 42:45

I'm still winning you know, I mean it's still me playing that song.

Speaker 3: 42:50

It's the same as playing this song. But yeah, it was just nice to just take out a few things I didn't think were necessary and put in a few things that I thought were. And then again I've been living with these songs for 20 years. I mean I am a very imperfect singer. You know, I come from that Otis Redding school where you don't have to sing it right, Just sing it good. You know, you stay on the blue side of the note, Don't have to be on the note if you just stay flat with feeling, you know. And so I had the opportunity to go in there and like lay down perfect vocal tracks like Cars, Trucks and Me I feel like that was. I've never sang it more perfectly than I did in that recording and that was a cool that was just a cool experience.

Speaker 1: 43:28

You know, I had a thought and I lost the the thought. Well, no, I remember the thought now, uh, what I was going to tell you is that's one of the reasons I had, two reasons why I started this show back in 2021, and one of the reasons was I love the stories behind the songs and behind the artist. I've always, from a little kid I've always been the kid that would get a record or a vinyl or whatever, and the first thing I would do is bust the wrapper and read the liner notes. I didn't even listen to the music first. I wanted to know who the players were. Just meaningless nonsense, that didn't.

Speaker 1: 44:04

Most people out of 100 people, adam, you know as well as I do 99 of them are not going to read the liner notes. Right, correct. But there's going to be the geek guys like you and I that want to. Who were they giving thanks to? Who played on the record? That kind of thing. So to hear the story of Adam Hood's, you know, different groove. I love those stories and that's one of the main reasons why I started the show is just to get the behind the scenes information about the records, the song, the artist. I find it intriguing?

Speaker 3: 44:35

I do too, and I, I'm with you, I think we're a generation that does that and there aren't many of them left, you know. But but the ones that are, but I ones that are, but as much as I say that I meet people every night, I play that say exactly what you just said and that's the common thread that I have with that person. That's why that person wants to talk, because, hey, man, you know, I can tell there's this thing that you're doing that intrigues me, because I do what I do, because I see you're fulfilling something, and so, you know, we develop relationships that way and those are the people I'm playing for.

Speaker 3: 45:08

I'm playing for everybody to listen, but at the same time I know there's connection with folks that are legal.

Speaker 1: 45:14

You know, and I'm sure you will concur with this, but I have people that will come up after my shows and sometimes I can remember the last show, two women came up after the show. They were probably mid-60s, late-60s and they're like, oh my gosh, the songs you played were amazing and I said, oh, you recognize some of them. They're like they're the storyboard of my life. I'm playing old stuff by America and Led Zeppelin and the Eagles from the 70s and we listened to music differently then for, I think, a couple of reasons. But if you think about vinyl and the way you would put a vinyl on a turntable, it was an experience, it was an event to sit down and listen to the record and get inside of the music.

Speaker 1: 46:02

Now, with streaming music, you just click, you know, next, next, next, or you you don't listen the same way that we did back in the day when there wasn't all this fast forward and you know that type of technology built into things. So it's nice to hear those people that that music really resonates with. And even though I'm covering classic stuff that you and I grew up with, I'm sure you really love those fans that really come up and say, man, I really connected with your stuff of truly from the heart what you're doing and the meaning behind the song and you know it's a three and a half minute story at the end of the day and they're inside of that story. So you've got to love those conversations and you've got to respect the people that want to have that conversation with you after the shows, right, and to talk to them about those types of things.

Speaker 3: 47:01

Well, and that's the thing I mean, that's how I, that's how I approach my songs. I just don't want to, you know I don't. I don't drink beer, so I don't want to write a song about drinking beer. You know I drive a CRX. Or you know a Honda, so I don't write a song about trucks. You know I mean same thing. You know I don't write cowboy songs. I'm not a cowboy, you know are realistic, you know. And so you know, I don't know I don't know how many people do that, but I feel like the songs that penetrate are the ones that are realistic.

Speaker 3: 47:30

They kind of poke their heads through radio every now and then, I mean, and even like Tim McGraw, every now and then I mean he'll, you know, he'll sing Laurie McKenna songs. And man, you talk about a songwriter. There's none better, I mean. And that woman, she, just, she, just, I mean all day, every day, just, it's just a brilliance, brilliance, brilliance. Yeah, and so you know those things happen. And I mean frank, that you know I was talking about earlier. You know he said he said, man, a good song trumps everything. Yeah, and he was absolutely right. There's if you it doesn't matter who you are or what you do. Or if you got four arms, you know, and if you play guitar with your knees, I mean, if you've got good songs and you perform them honestly with your, your cymbals on your knees, you won. You know?

Speaker 1: 48:11

yeah, it's that way across the board well, I think if you're writing songs about driving trucks and drinking beers and that's not who you are, I think people see right through that and they don't connect with you. They say, yeah, that's just, that's not adam, that's not him. But if you're, if you're being adam and you're singing adam songs, they're gonna always resonate with the listener so much better they're gonna connect with it. But I have to think I mean, that's common sense. But maybe common sense is not so common anymore. I don't know, but I'm sure you would agree with me, right? Yeah, absolutely yeah. You don't want to write songs about being a professional football player, because you just told me you were never a sports guy, right? So how can I connect with you if you're singing about something you really don't know about, right, exactly?

Speaker 3: 48:56

exactly, yeah, you're absolutely right. You got to write about what you know.

Speaker 1: 49:00

Exactly Well you. On this song, I think you collaborated with the mega talented Ella Langley, and talk to the listeners about Ella and how this collaboration came about.

Speaker 3: 49:14

So she's from a little bit South of Montgomery Alabama and so I mean, I've, I played a room in Birmingham one night and the guy that opened up for me was Dayton Ella. And I played a room in Birmingham one night and the guy that opened up for me was Dayton Ella, and and uh, and he said I'd like you to meet my girlfriend. And she walked back there and and she's just, you know, she's who she was then, who she is now, and and uh, and you know she said that she mentioned that she played and sang and stuff, and and that you know I listened to some of her stuff but she, the thing that was the interesting thing was she sang way too long that was what she sang in her set, that song of mine Way Too Long and just knocked it out of the park. And the thing is that song is one of those things where I start out low in the verses and I come up high in the choruses.

Speaker 3: 49:57

That's not an easy song for me to sing, much less a female, and she sings it in the key that I sing and I don't know how she does it, to be honest with you, but that's just it. And so, yeah, I've just, you know, she and I just have remained friends. She opened for me a couple of times in different places, and then she moved to Nashville and boy, it didn't take long after that, you know, I mean it didn't take long for just I mean people to just soak up her abilities. And things are different now for her.

Speaker 1: 50:24

Well, yeah, because her, like you are, you know, she's a Grand Ole Opry vet herself, right? You know you mentioned Brent Cobb earlier. If my memory serves me correctly, I want to say he's a Florida boy, but I could be wrong there. You've worked with him on past recordings. Was there anything that he was involved in with this, with the latest record that you redid, or was that from from a past?

Speaker 3: 50:49

Yeah, it was bad days better. He produces. So Brent's from, he's from Georgia. He's from Georgia, okay, gotcha Okay. And so where I'm from and where he's from, you know the Chattiswick Poochie river separates the States, but I mean his hometown and my hometown were like an hour and a half apart basically. So, like you know the bars that were in his, you know where he lived I started playing in and his dad's a pretty talented musician as well, and so Patrick used to play in all the bars in Auburn and so you know I'm about 10 years older than Brent but 10 years younger than Patrick, so we have an interesting relationship there.

Speaker 3: 51:21

But I met Brent so, like I said, I was writing for carnival and I had been writing at carnival for one year and Brent showed up and he had a job at Walgreens. Basically his wife is a pharmacist, so he was doing the cash register at Walgreens and you know, we just same thing, we just hit it off. We had common ground, we had musical common ground and he's just been such a dear friend. He, you know, and he's just been such a dear friend. He and I share an apartment in Nashville. He still lives in Georgia and we wrote a bunch and honestly, like we were saying the Travis Tritt songs, I mean, he and I we have a partnership in that, and so when it's big artists like that, brent is kind enough to call me and say, hey, let's sit down and come up with some ideas for so-and-so or whoever it is, you know, if it's a little big town or whoever it is, yes, and so we had that relationship.

Speaker 3: 52:08

But then it came time to make the record. That became bad days better, and and I just I couldn't find anybody to help me make it and he said, well, well, man, I think you are so-and-so, I think you are this, that and the other. I said, well, why don't you just produce it? And he said that's not a bad idea. And so we kind of started talking about it. And then COVID hit.

Speaker 3: 52:29

But the beauty in COVID was number one, capricorn Studios in Macon, georgia, where Charlie Daniels recorded and everybody you know a bunch of people that studio had opened up in December of 2019. The world shut down in March of 2020. So in August of 2020, that studio was vacant and you know they had just opened and they were vacant. Well, also, you know, know, so we had the opportunity to go and record there and then nobody was on the road so the guys from blackberry smoke were the band. So you know it was. It was. That was a really special record to have blackberry smoke being the band and brent producing the album and it just being an adam hood record, you know, yeah I don't know how I worked my way into that, really, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 53:09

Well, I think I got into Brent's stuff probably around 2016. He had a record called I think it was called Shine On Rainy Day and he had a song on there called South of Atlanta and I always loved that song and I was going to ask you also to talk a little bit about Blackberry Smoke and the involvement that you had with them in the past. So you're saying that this studio that was vacant. They were the band for the studio, so those were the studio musicians for the studio. No, they were just available.

Speaker 3: 53:42

They were just available and so I mean they had actually done some stuff in the studio before I went down there and recorded. Like, my record was the first official record, like full-length record to come out of the capricorn since the reopening. But they had gone in, uh, with jimmy hall from wet willie and they cut a couple of wet willie songs. So that was, you know, they kind of had a familiarity with that studio in itself and again, they were available. So they live in atlanta which is, you know, making in. Making in Atlanta is like an hour and a half from each other, but Charlie Starr, the lead singer, and I we grew up 15 minutes from each other.

Speaker 3: 54:14

And he graduated in 92. I graduated in 93. And the only difference is, you know, when he got out and got busy playing music, he headed east, and same thing with me, I just headed west and so we were familiar with each other but never really met until we made a record together and so just put a record out and I wrote the last song on the record with Charlie, because he's just a brilliant guy and to be such a great guitar player really writes well on acoustic guitar and just chord changes are interesting, his voices are interesting and I love writing with him. I love it.

Speaker 1: 54:44

Well, there's probably three or four Blackberry Smoke songs that Chris and I do together. So we're big Blackberry Smoke fans and, not to take a turn for the somber, but we recently lost Britt Turner, who was the drummer for Blackberry Smoke. What was your relationship with Britt? Did you have a special relationship with Britt, specifically, well and same thing.

Speaker 3: 55:07

I met Britt when we made the record and, um, he's just a real positive guy man. You know he was one of those people that after we made that record and everybody was great at that like helping promote the record. But like brit was the first guy to repost, like he was the first guy to comment, he was the first guy to like and comment, and he did that not just for the record, but like he just just kept it going. You know, like if every time I said something on social media, britt was right there, was right there and he just had a really his sense of humor was really unique and he just he was a really special guy and, yeah, he was really encouraging.

Speaker 1: 55:44

Man he's missed by a lot of people. I bet he is, and you kind of made a great point. You know, keeping you know just by him going in and making comments, whether they were snarky comments or fun or or whatever. I don't think the non-musician understands how important those are to guys like you and I to get the word out of. In my case it's the podcast. I don't really care anything about promoting my music because I'm playing cover stuff, right, but in your case it's your music, it's my podcast.

Speaker 1: 56:18

But just going out and clicking on that share button or type in a comment because just by Brit typing that comment, all of his friends sees that he commented on your page. So now somebody that never even heard of Adam hood in their life say, oh, who's this Adam hood guy? Why is? Why is Brit always commenting on this guy's stuff? And the next thing, you know that person's following you on your page and it's free. People Like you can go out and support guys like Adam and even myself just as simple things just interacting with us on social media, right. I don't know if you have any comments or want to expound upon that, but it's huge what that can do for guys like yourself.

Speaker 3: 56:57

I mean, that is exactly how that works. I mean, it is verbatim how that works. You know, you think about it. Like you know, when Miranda Lambert reposts a single that I put out, I mean, how many people do you think see that you?

Speaker 3: 57:10

know, I mean, those are the kinds of things that they change people's lives but at the same time, because they change people's lives, it's also the artists don't seem to do this very much but manage not necessarily management, but administration will kind of put a wedge in there sometimes and by doing that you kind of have to go ask people to do that, and that is. It's a real humiliating thing to have to do, you know, and everybody has to do things they don't want to with their job. I get it, you know, but at the same time, like I don't want to have to go ask Miranda to, you know, repost something, and kind of typically don't have to. But I have a lot of friends that you know. I mean, man, I couldn't tell you how many people that everybody knows there are huge famous people that have said man, I'm a big fan, thank you. Just say that real quick, just in a story just real quick.

Speaker 1: 57:57

It'll take you three seconds. Three seconds to say it, because I appreciate it, thank you very much.

Speaker 3: 58:03

I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but yeah, you're right, I mean that's life-changing.

Speaker 1: 58:07

Well, interesting that you say that, that sometimes these artists can be screened from their fans. I was recently out in Hollywood and I was staying with some friends. Both have been on my show. Graham Bonnet is his name. He was the lead singer of a band called Rainbow back in the day.

Speaker 3: 58:27

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 58:29

World renowned musician and Graham was the singer of probably the most commercially successful song Rainbow put out. But I was having a conversation with Graham. He grew up in the UK and he was really really good friends with the brothers Gibb, or most people know him as the Bee Gees and they recorded together. They wrote songs together. Graham had a hit song that was written by Barry Gibb back most people know him as the Bee Gees and they recorded together. They wrote songs together. Graham had a hit song that was written by Barry Gibb back in the day that he recorded was number one hit in Australia and sadly enough all the brothers except Barry have passed.

Speaker 1: 59:02

But even being a childhood friend of Barry's, guys like Graham can't even get in touch with him because the emails or the messages on IM or whatever they never get to him. They're screened by the management. It's sad. I don't know why. It made me think of that story, but I think you're pretty active with your social media and that type of thing. But that's not the case with a lot of artists. It's other people managing that, posting for them, responding to messages, right. A lot of times you're not even talking to that artist, right? And it's a disconnect at the end of the day.

Speaker 3: 59:43

Well, and so I've been on the road with this guy named Drake White, who is a dear friend of mine. I've known him a long time, but we started the middle of February and I'm on the road exclusively with him until May, and he and I were talking about it the other day, and it's true. I mean, you know the luxury of not having to do something like that yourself. Yeah, that would be, that would be nice to not have to stop what I'm doing and figure out what am I going to do this, that and the other? But and figure out what am I going to do, this, that and the other? But at the same time, he said, you know, he said Taylor Swift answers every email. Taylor Swift, I mean, can you imagine? And so and you know it's like you know, you're making all of us look bad by doing this. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 1:00:23

And so it's a great challenge to say, if she can, if that many people across the world are reaching out to her as much as they do every day, and she can do it every day. I can try to be present as much as I can. I've never done it where it served me wrong. Yes, I mean, I've never gotten in a lawsuit because of it. I've never, you know, had any sort of weird things come between me and my wife because of it. It's always been people that just I give love and accept love from someone just because of my music and man I mean boy, I'll take that any day.

Speaker 1: 1:00:55

I'll take that any day 100% and you say that you keep it to yourself, that kind of thing. I think that's great. I have another artist that has been on my show. I won't mention her name because I don't want to give away her trade secrets. I won't mention her name because I don't want to give her away her trade secrets, but she had given her social media and she's a very popular Texas artist had given her social medias to a PR company or whatever to do the post and all that, and she wound up taking it back from them because she said you know what? I don't talk like that. I people see, right, people know that I don't have that kind of humor or I don't say things like that. So it wasn't her right, it wasn't her and you, I guess I mean I'm just thinking out loud, but you could start to lose a fan base like that because it's like who's this robot on the other end of the social media, right, they know who they're talking to, especially if you're present.

Speaker 3: 1:01:48

They know who they're talking to, especially if you're present, they know who they're talking to, of course, and they know when they're not talking to you. And I mean even you know my wife. You know she'll post stuff and like you know something's going on if I'm not available to do it, like she can post stuff and like she's the closest person and anybody in the world that can talk for me, but still it's you know, and granted, she has to correct my grammar every day.

Speaker 2: 1:02:09

You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 1:02:10

Like she's the one that puts the commas in there and makes everything spell correctly, of course, but it has to be my words. And even if it's hers for a couple of you know, even if it's her talking for me, it starts to show, like I said, people just they would rather it come from you?

Speaker 1: 1:02:23

Yes, they know Well. You talked a little bit about being out with Drake. Talk to the listeners a little bit about the current tour, and I know that you've had multiple sellout shows. I think you've got one coming up in Columbus that is already sold out, but you were out with some other people as well. It wasn't just Drake. Talk to me a little bit about did you come off the road with somebody else and you're with Drake now? Am I understanding that correct?

Speaker 3: 1:02:49

Yeah, it kind of worked out that way. In December we did 10 days with Whiskey Myers and did a lot of the same rooms, and so Whiskey Myers was doing this kind of this acoustic tour basically and I mean to be an acoustic tour it was high energy. I mean these guys were sitting down and it was still a rock show. It was unbelievable. You know, I've written some songs with Whiskey Miles, wrote two songs on the Mud album and then I wrote that song, rolling Stone, with Cody Cannon what a great song, man. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:03:18

And so you know we have a relationship there, and so it was me and Brent and Aaron Reitier, who you should Google him Reitier is, he's just googling, I don't even know how to describe it. All right, same thing, a dear friend. But uh, we did those shows together and uh, that pretty much through that happening, not through that happening, but that happened. And then, coincidentally, um, we got the call from drake right after that and, like I said, you know, being from opal lockout, you know that's right next to auburn university. Well, drake went to school at auburn and we met down there back in the 1900s and so we had just kind of kept in touch. You know, through all the ups and downs of his life and he's got a great story and he's a super singer and man. This was kind of what I mean. We really needed that. Like you know, I'd been praying for it for about a year, you know just. Or we just need something, something that's going to get us in front of some new people, to just revitalize what we're doing, to kind of recreate some energy for us to where we don't burn out our old friends and our old fans and where we, you know, just sort of meet some new people.

Speaker 3: 1:04:22

And I mean we've got 27 shows on this tour. It's all up the East coast, I mean everywhere from St Augustine, florida, to portland, maine. We were in portland maine saturday, you know. So I mean. And everywhere in between we'll be in detroit. We're playing birmingham, of course, but yeah, like you said, we got sold out to two rooms in columbus, ohio, and you know it's just great to be on that tour and I'm on the bus with him and then, you know, get to play a good 45 minute set and that's been a great challenge, just because it's hard to entertain 1,000 people by yourself. Yeah, of course, you know, I mean it's hard and you're not ready for it. If you don't go ahead and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and find some confidence in yourself, they're going to eat you alive, and so that's been the thing it's really gotten me. I mean, I feel like I'm 25 again. I'm out there with some energy and just trying to do what.

Speaker 1: 1:05:11

I do because.

Speaker 3: 1:05:12

I can do it. I can do it, and why not do it?

Speaker 1: 1:05:21

Well, do it while you're young, because when you get older, the old body, your head and your heart says I can still do this, but your body says yeah, maybe not so much. Yeah, oh listen.

Speaker 4: 1:05:30

I have to rub my knees at the end of the night.

Speaker 1: 1:05:31

We're not going to go down that, but we're not going to get in that conversation man, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not going to have arthritis conversations on my show but you, you did mention something about being on the being on the bus and I uh, I had a great chat with uh shane smith from uh shane smith and the saints and I I called him out on the road. I think he was up in tacoma and he had said something man, maybe when we get big I'll get to take a plane from city to city. I won't have to keep riding this damn bus around.

Speaker 3: 1:05:59

Yeah, and everybody wants to be on a bus. Until your bus catches on fire like Shane, did you know what I mean? I mean, that's the worst story in the world. I mean, it's your dream until it's your nightmare.

Speaker 1: 1:06:08

Exactly Yep, and he shared that story on the show with me. He said not a lot of people know that, but it was an interesting story for sure. What about any plans for like an overseas run? Have you ever played overseas? Is there maybe thoughts around trying to get over and do something in the UK or in Europe for you?

Speaker 3: 1:06:29

I've had thoughts about it for years and just the doors have just never opened. But at the same time, the doors that have opened for me for the most part have been just like you know, like I said, I just kind of I kind of talk to the Lord about it and then I sort of figure out, all right, well, I don't figure it out, but just kind of stay open to if there's an opportunity to talk to somebody, then I talk to them instead of being like I don't want to talk to that guy, I don't know who he is, but we just I haven't pursued it and I would love to because that's kind of the, that's kind of the new frontier for me. To be honest with you. I think we could go over there and really, you know, if we spent a, if we spent a year just focusing and kind of directing it a little more intentional just focusing and kind of directing it a little more intentionally, or just intentionally at all.

Speaker 1: 1:07:17

I think it would do us a good service. Sure, well, you know we've talked a little bit about the tour and the latest record that you have out, and I've looked back at some of the older material, and some of it now is millions of streams on Spotify, and that's just Spotify alone. Streams on Spotify and that's just Spotify alone. So congrats on those spins there. But talk just briefly about how hard it is to make a living just off streaming music. Like what? What, for the musician, is the best source of income? Like if we talked about vinyl, right? How can Adam Hood reap the most benefit from his music? Is it streams, is it downloads? Is it just buying the stuff at the shows? Can you speak to that from a musician's perspective, because the music business has changed over the last 30 years drastically, right? So do you have thoughts around that?

Speaker 3: 1:08:07

Well, and it has changed drastically. And not only has it changed drastically, like it's changed faster than than the industry has been able to figure out how we can make a living at it. And so right now, as a songwriter I'm not the only person that will say songwriters are probably the ones that are suffering the most just because you don't make any money at it. You know, I mean a million streams is like the equivalent of $3,000 or $1,000. I mean a million streams, you think about it. You've got a million plays back when CDs were popular. That's a platinum album, yes, 100%, but it's $1,000 in our modern world now and so that is a drastic pay cut.

Speaker 3: 1:08:47

I mean, the way that I've kind of combated the whole thing is just to sort of be knowledgeable and present and available and open-minded at all of it. You know, go ahead. I mean I don't have to be back there at the merch, but like I need to be. I don't have to be handling my social media, but I need to be. I don't have to be the guy that writes all my songs, but I need to be. I don't have to be the guy that writes all my songs, but I need to be. I don't have to be the guy that produces my records, but I do have to be the guy that kind of plays guitar on a lot of them and does my own singing, you know, orchestrates my own stuff, and 100%, you know I mean so that's to me that's the best way to do it. But you can like.

Speaker 3: 1:09:26

You know ragweed, you know those guys, they, you know they. They made a name for themselves being the band that they were. But they also, they, they made a killing selling t-shirts. You know I mean every. You know when, when that first album came out, but by the second album maybe I mean everybody at Auburn had carostinating ragweed shirts off, I mean at Auburn and theyostin 80 Ragweed shirts on.

Speaker 3: 1:09:49

I mean at Auburn and they never I mean, they played there probably two or three times, you know. So it was just something that kind of. It was just a ripple effect and it was. You know, I know Cody well enough to know that that was not intentional and so, but you just have to, just, you know.

Speaker 3: 1:10:03

And granted, there are things that you do best. You know, I'm saying like I was saying I feel like that my the way I, I serve people best by writing songs with them. Um, you know, I can sing the way I sing, I can play the way I play, I can be live the way I'm live. Um, you know all that other stuff, but like, that's, that's my angle. But there's a lot more stuff that I do and I have to do it, but I also want to do it too. So, you know, just kind of find a way to make it fun, cause at the end of the day, like you know, this ain't, this ain't. You know, being an accountant or anything like that, you know what I mean. Like this is not, like you know, it's, it's a, it's a really fun job if you make it fun, because all you're doing is just kind of meeting people and talking to people and getting to know people, and if you hate people, this is probably not a good job for you.

Speaker 4: 1:10:49

You know, what I mean.

Speaker 3: 1:10:50

But if you enjoy company and you know kind of, you know, yeah, I mean man, this is the way to do it.

Speaker 1: 1:10:56

Well, I think your approach is good, adam. I think you know you're engaged in all aspects and this is your business, this is your brand at the end of the day, right? And if you, If you're not at the merch table, I mean what the hell? Right? I mean Adam Hood should be standing at the Adam Hood merch table and meeting and greeting the people that pay their money to come out and support you. That's just my business mind thinking, right.

Speaker 3: 1:11:20

Right.

Speaker 1: 1:11:21

Because there's a lot of artists that just are disengaged. Oh, I've got Jimmy out there selling my merch. I'm just going to sit backstage and drink water after the show, right, and never go out and shake a hand or whatever. There are those artists out there, unfortunately.

Speaker 3: 1:11:35

Well, it's a big old slice of humble pie to have to make that your mentality. I've decided to make that my mentality because I would rather succeed at this than I would fail, because I was too proud.

Speaker 1: 1:11:46

Well, I think it's going to take you so much further. The way you're doing it is my point.

Speaker 3: 1:11:50

Yeah, for sure, it feels a lot more honest and a lot more like you said true to who I am, of course.

Speaker 1: 1:11:57

Well, like I've mentioned in several podcast interviews, especially with the older world-class artists that I've had that have toured the world, you know, back when I was a teenager going to concerts, you couldn't take a camera, you couldn't take a video camera. There were ropes up, you couldn't get near the artist. You know there was not that connection back in the 80s or the 70s or whatever. Now you know you guys are coming out, You're meeting and greeting the fans. There was no such thing as a Led Zeppelin meet and greet. Back in the day, it just didn't exist. It was us and them and we were the fans and they were the musicians and there was a chasm between that at all costs, and I think that that kind of kept the mystique of the artist. You know people were intrigued by that mystique, but it's just so much different now. But again, I think, for the present time that we're living in, your approach is probably spot on and I would probably mimic your business plan there if I were a touring musician, for sure. Well, thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:13:04

Yeah, there was an accolade that was given to you back in 2015 by Rolling Stone and they had mentioned that you were one of the top country artists that people should know. That's a pretty powerful comment. What does such a compliment mean to you as an artist coming from the music authority? I mean, this is Rolling Stone, right? This is not Backstage Pass Radio we're talking about here, right? I love my show and I do great at it, and it's heard by a lot of people. But I'm not Rolling Stone at the end of the day, nor do I profess to be. But when Rolling Stone makes a compliment and a comment like that, that should be pretty special. What are your thoughts about that? You know that they would say such a thing about you.

Speaker 3: 1:13:52

I mean yes, and as much as it's endearing, of course, and as much as I'm proud of it and as much as I've tried to all shucks it like. It kind of puts a responsibility on my shoulders to sort of say okay, well, if somebody like that is going to say that about you, don't you want to live up to it, you know? I mean don't you want to be that guy? I mean don't wear it like a badge, like wear it like, you know something to be proud of.

Speaker 3: 1:14:16

Wear it like a jewel, you know I mean, and so I do, and so I don't. Number one I don't take them lightly. Number two I don't ignore them.

Speaker 1: 1:14:30

And number three, head, I let it go to my heart and I let it go to my arms and my back and my legs and let it be the tools that I work with. You know, nicely said it's nice to hear the humble musician. So many times I guess an artist could take that compliment and really turn it into a boastful kind of thing and an arrogant kind of thing. But it's nice to hear the humble side of the business for sure. Well, when you've been humbled enough, you learn how to stay humble. Yeah, no.

Speaker 1: 1:14:50

I, I hear you, I hear you. I hear you there because you could be digging a ditch for a living. Not that digging ditches are bad, but you could be out breaking your back doing construction work or whatever. But instead you're doing what you love to do. And uh and my dad always said that too Do you want to work with your back or your or your mind? And I said, well, I think it's going to be easier on me if I work with my mind right and not have to go out and lift heavy things or whatever. But where can the listeners find you on social media?

Speaker 3: 1:15:22

I'll tell you this adamhoodcom will take you anywhere you need to go. That's usually the easiest thing to do and, other than that, I'm pretty easy to find. I mean, you know, it's just as easy as searching Adam Hood. I think Adam Hood Music is my handle on Instagram. Everything else is Adam Hood. We're available on Spotify, itunes, we're on TikTok, we're on Instagram, facebook.

Speaker 1: 1:15:43

Try to be pretty present everywhere we possibly can be we possibly can be Gotcha, and what can the listeners expect as it relates to maybe new music in 2024 or maybe 2025? Is there anything that you can talk about or that you want to talk about as it relates to new material or content?

Speaker 3: 1:16:03

Yeah, I've got a couple of singles in the can right now. We're just trying to figure out time and place to put them out. Basically, I mean, we're in that position right now where they're mixed but not mastered, and so we're just trying to figure out time and place to put them out. Basically, I mean, we're in that position right now where they're mixed but not mastered, and so we're just kind of waiting on that, and then, once you do that, you kind of have to start the prep work that usually takes about a month. So hopefully April or May we'll have at least one new single out. And yeah, we just I mean again I went back in the studio with Brent, went back to Capricorn, I mean you know it worked well last time and so we're just going to try to do it again.

Speaker 1: 1:16:32

That's super awesome. Well listen, Adam, it's been great chatting with you and getting to know you, and thanks so much for taking the time and being gracious with your time to chat with me.

Speaker 3: 1:16:44

Man, my pleasure, Andy. I knew I was going to enjoy it, so I'm glad I did. Thank you so much. I saw your guitars and saw them.

Speaker 1: 1:16:57

Well, I said I've got to put up this facade and make sure Adam thinks at least I maybe play the guitars. Well, listen, I look forward to any of the new stuff that's coming out in the near future and I also look forward to catching up with you. If you're ever in and around the Houston area, maybe we can grab a water or coffee or something like that. I'll ping you about the vinyl, how I help support you with the vinyl. And for the listeners out there, go out and check Adam out on all of his social media handles and also at the website at adamhoodcom. I ask the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at Backstage Pass Radio and on the website at BackstagePassRadiocom. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other and we will see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

Speaker 2: 1:17:48

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Halsey Music and on Twitter at rhalseymusic. Also, make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them. Backstage pass radio is the best show on the web for everything Music. We'll see you next time right here on backstage pass radio.