The Wilder Blue 

Sun, 8/28 10:05AM • 29:25

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

play, band, wilder, record, song, music, backstage pass, album, country, linden, absolutely, sing, pieced, harmonies, listen, paul, hulsey, wrote, mentioned, zane, The Wilder Blue, Feelin The Miles, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Podcast, Interview, Top 10% Podcast, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast, Dosey Doe, Bri Bagwell

SPEAKERS

Randy Hulsey, The Wilder Blue, Adam Gordon

Randy Hulsey  00:00

We have set up shop right here in the heart of dosey. Doe where we're going to chat with all five members of a charting band that brings the five part harmonies to life. Hey, you all it's Randy Halsey with backstage pass radio. You guys stay tuned as we dial in the mics to chat with Zane, Paul Linden, Sean and Andy of the Wilder blue when we come back.

Adam Gordon  00:22

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 podcast. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio, Randy Halsey.

Randy Hulsey  00:51

Fellas, welcome to dosi know, what's happening,

The Wilder Blue  00:55

what is happening?

Randy Hulsey  00:56

This is, this is kind of rare for me, because usually it's like a one on one interview or maybe two at the most. So I've got a table full of guys here. So welcome. Glad you guys are here. Thanks for taking the time to chat and for the show. Now, it's my understanding and you guys educate me along the way if I'm wrong, but tonight is an album release party for you guys Correct. website

The Wilder Blue  01:23

that you are absolutely correct that a website said that. And we do have an album that came out not too long ago. So yeah, this is

Randy Hulsey  01:32

the first time we played here since it came out. That's true. Yeah, so sure. Okay. Well, we're gonna go without an album release party. So everybody should come out. I'm gonna have a party right now. The album that you guys were referring to is the 2022 self titled album release called the Wilder blue. Yes. Talk to me a little bit about the new record.

The Wilder Blue  01:53

Well, it's our second self titled album. So we're very excited about that

Randy Hulsey  01:58

we hold the record. Yes, for two.

The Wilder Blue  02:02

The first album was called hill country, which was our name at the time, we had to change due to trademark little snafu. And so we decided to go ahead and self titled The second one, the Wilder blue. Like I say, we got 10 songs on there. They're all obviously original songs that we wrote as a band. We, we produced it ourselves. Yeah. Had a lot of fun kind of learning each other's process definitely settled in more on the second record. And felt like we could take a little bit more time the whole record was made with fans subscriber money, which is pretty awesome. We basically send our fans subscribers, one new song a month. And we did that for the entire year of 2021. And those 12 songs are on the record. So I'm actually wrong. Yeah, there's 12 songs.

Randy Hulsey  02:51

I think they were fact check. And you there's a song countless countless fingers. Snopes

The Wilder Blue  02:55

says 12.

Randy Hulsey  02:58

So it was the album. Where was it recorded at? At echo lab in Denton, Texas didn't close to Dallas, for those that are not, not from Texas, right? Yeah.

The Wilder Blue  03:11

And we did it a little bit different this time, we actually recorded all the songs to tape machine. And on the first record, we kind of pieced it together. And yeah, we did, we'd spent I guess the on the first record, we spent about two years making it. And we'd had you know, we went back in the studio and re recorded drums. And we actually did it with a couple different studios, one in Austin, and then st media in Houston. But for the second one, we did it all at Echo lab in Denton. And again, so the tape machines a lot different because what we did is we all we got together in a room, and I was in a small drum booth. And then we did our best to get full takes of all the songs. So when you listen to it, it's really us playing together at the same time. So so you're not, so you're not kind of like recording and sending files to one another directly. So you get more of a band feel when you do it like that. But tape machine makes it harder because you can't just, you know, rewind it and you have to do full take. Sure. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  04:08

So the freshman effort you guys you mentioned earlier you called it Hill Country and it was released back in 2020. And the height of the pandemic. Did you guys use the time during the pandemic to write that record? Or was that material that had been around? And, you know, what was the time utilized during the pandemic for that record? I guess is the basic question.

The Wilder Blue  04:33

It's a little bit of both. I think it's but not 5050. Yeah, I'd say most most of this second record was written during the pandemic timeframe. Most of the first record was pretty much already done before COVID happened. Those are some songs that I've been saving up for a year to thinking about this band and kind of putting it together.

Randy Hulsey  04:58

And I don't like to talk too too much around genre. But would you say that you guys, if you talked about style of music? Would you say that you're a little more on the country side than the rock side? But how would you define the music? And your own words? Are you kind of country? Infused rock? Yeah, I

The Wilder Blue  05:19

mean, a little everything. Because I mean, we're still like, I'm a big bluegrass fan. And a lot of stuff I do is sort of from the Bluegrass side and the country and the rock. We just kind of try to do what we like to do we just kind of make music. I'm not too worried about the labels of it. Absolutely.

Randy Hulsey  05:35

Yeah. Well, I was gonna say also that most of the time, you know, a self titled album is usually a debut album, right? Yeah. So I'm not sure if that was by design that you called the The sophomore effort, the Wilder blue, or kind of what the thought process was there?

The Wilder Blue  05:52

Yeah, I think we kind of intended to do that just to really drive home the fact that we changed our name, you know, we have a whole new name. And so that deserves a fresh start. Plus, this was the first full album that we had Mr. Sean Rodriguez on the base. And, and again, like I said, the first time was kind of pieced together. And this this one was really us as a group, we got to know each other a lot better. And honestly, the pandemic kind of helped us in that way. We didn't get to play as many live shows. But we did get to kind of just go in the studio and stay there.

Randy Hulsey  06:27

And job together. Oh, yeah.

The Wilder Blue  06:29

Yeah. It feels it feels a lot like us. I guess both records. Do we still play all those songs? But yeah, has a different has a different energy, a different fear? So?

Randy Hulsey  06:41

Well, I think it's cool that all you guys are dialed in with me here. Today. Usually I get, like I mentioned earlier, a representative from a group or it's an individual artist. The band, though, from my readings and understandings is kind of a true democracy. Right. I mean, you guys are all you know, everybody's a fifth of the puzzle, right? Yeah. All? Yes,

The Wilder Blue  07:06

that is correct. No, it's pretty great. You know, we usually on anything that we have to decide on we vote and whoever, you know, if we get three to two, it's going the three way. Oh, that sounds weird. The three way. Two Way is a bummer. But the three ways.

Randy Hulsey  07:24

For sure. That's what I've heard. For sure. I'll take your word for it. I'm a musician too, but I haven't been done that path yet. We'll talk we'll talk later. Well, I think when it's a democracy, you know, I think there's always been historically, a lot of egos and man's and it's hard to keep some of those that may sometimes, but when you're a true democracy, you bounce things off one another. I think that that helps you guys to remain like brothers, treating the music. Like it's the priority and make it really a more cohesive unit. Yeah. Currently, it's

The Wilder Blue  07:58

whatever we all think sounds best. As a whole, it's not you know, you will, you will go to the ground and fight for part if we really wanted it, or something like that. That's one of the cool things in the studio is that we all agree that our egos should not come before what's good for the song, you know, so we got to find what's good for the song. And even if that's not the thing that you want to do, you know, sometimes you're gonna just give in to the greater good,

Randy Hulsey  08:24

sure. And not to air dirty laundry. But would you guys say that you're usually in lockstep with your thought process around the music? Or? Or do you do sometimes one of the guys go off on a venture like and don't totally don't agree? I would

The Wilder Blue  08:40

say that's sort of few and far between when it's just one of us that just completely doesn't want it, or you know, doesn't agree with a specific thing. But, again, we go back to the thing of like, what's best for this? And if it sounds good, it sounds good. We, you know, ultimately, we slippery on that. But you nailed it. As far as the ego thing goes, as soon as the ego comes in, it becomes about yourself, and it gets gross. Yeah, no, we're always trying to trying to serve the song and, and then everybody has. So we have a couple of rules. You know, everybody has to speak their mind and say what they actually think. Don't be scared to speak your mind. And then everybody just can't get butthurt. Just don't, don't get butthurt. And just keep your like you said keep your ego out of

Randy Hulsey  09:21

it. Absolutely. And I think you guys would probably agree, I don't know how many of you are married or in relationships, and it doesn't matter. But in a relationship that communication has to stay open is where I'm going with my thought process, right? If you stop communicating what happens to the relationship? It goes to shit real quick right? Now the ban was, I guess conceived somewhere around 2019. Does that sound like do I have my 2008 teammate I team?

The Wilder Blue  09:50

I mean, the seed was planted in 1977 when Zane Williams was born, new bands beginning conception or

Randy Hulsey  10:01

And we'll be right back, ladies.

The Wilder Blue  10:06

Maybe the initial seat was probably in 2017. There were some demos, I think that we made in 2018. It really started coming more together in 2019. We didn't, we didn't get our last member on board until the end of towards the end of 2019. That was Sean Rodriguez there on the base. So it was kind of like putting together a go kart while you're headed downhill, sure, piecing it together as you go. It was a little bit of an adventure. But it did take about a year, a year and a half for all of the ideas and brainstorming and scheming to sort of materialize.

Randy Hulsey  10:43

Share with me, maybe a high level story of how the band was put together. Like we did, did you guys know each other before had you played in the same circles? Talk to me a little bit? Given the long version, brother. Come on. I've got all night. I just don't know if you guys have all right. So they were supposed to play show.

The Wilder Blue  11:02

Right? So Andy was playing bass in my Zane Williams band. And I was looking for singer songwriters that can play something other than the acoustic guitar really well. And I thought of Paul Eason, who, whose music I had always enjoyed, and they use played on the local radio station up in Dallas. So I reached out to Paul, he was playing with Kevin Fowler. And so I knew he'd had that gig for seven or eight years. I thought he might be interested in a project where he could be an equal owner and write some of the songs and sang and, you know, be part of a band. So Paul was interested we went looking for other just multitalented singing musicians. Paul had met Linden but we didn't should tell that story Paul of meeting. Definitely Medellin, and we were on Jiang Rodriguez tour bus one night after a Krieger and Fowler show. And I met Linden. And I mean, we'd all had some beers and stuff. But before Linden and we talked and we got along and then before Linden left, he looked at me pointed at me and said, Remember me, you will remember me? He wasn't you will remember me. And I did remember me. And a couple years later, when I needed a singing drummer, I remembered him. Right. So it worked. Nice kind of inception style, you know, absolutely knew he was important. I liked him. And I wanted him to like if you don't

Randy Hulsey  12:25

pimp yourself, Linda, nobody's gonna pimp you right. You get it? You guys, so I guess groups are put together for different reasons. But I think you guys were kind of it was more about the vocal blends for you guys talk to me a little bit about that. Because that's, that's interesting, because some like a tone some put together a band for a tone or type of music. This was more of a blended vocal thing for you guys. Right? Speak to that.

The Wilder Blue  12:55

Yeah, for sure. I grew up in the church of Christ where we sing acapella a lot and have a lot of harmony stuff going on. My first musical paying gig was beatboxing and singing bass and an acapella group, Christian group. Nerd alert. And that beatbox

Randy Hulsey  13:18

Come on. Give us some low inertia, how

13:29

do you give people what they want when they want and they want it all the time. Give the people what they want. Nice. Nice.

The Wilder Blue  13:39

Anyway. So I had always had in the back of my mind that I would love to have a band where everybody's saying it never really came together organically for me. And when I was thinking of the idea of starting a band, the only way I wanted to do it was if everybody could sing, we can have that. And I you know, it's rare to find people that can sing and play really well. Usually those people already have a really good gig. So I went looking for multi talented people like that. And, you know, I didn't know for sure if I wanted everybody in the band to sing, but I knew I least want a three part in a real good shirt. And it turned out you know, got lucky with it coming together. Everybody. Everybody thinks it's fun. And we're still working on the, you know, the vocal, the vocal blend thing. You know, we had a lot of three part stuff on the on the first record and, you know, when you have five people that can sing, it makes you ask, you know, like so. So what about the five people and so we're still, you know, messing with, you know, saying, you know, maybe singing the lead and then two people singing the higher part. Okay, the people singing the lower part. Yes. And then how do you mix that on the record? You know, do you spread it out wide and thankfully, we produced our own stuff and we get to mix our own stuff salute So we get to make it sound how we want it to sound. That's still a work in progress. I think that it's a blast. And now you have so many resources. I mean, everybody can sing high everybody can sing low, so we're still messing with it. It's

Randy Hulsey  15:11

one thing to get a musician that not only plays but sings like Zane said, but it's another thing to have a vocalist that can actually harmonize right because not everybody can harmonize. That's true that you know, so you guys sound like you agree with me. But now for the listeners that may be have never heard of the Wilder blue. I'm sure there's very few that haven't heard. Okay. Let me just say that. Share with me your names, where you're from and what role you play in the band, if you will. Sure. Thanks.

The Wilder Blue  15:38

So we'll start with me and go down the line. My name is Zane Williams and I write a lot of the songs sing lead on a lot of them and play acoustic guitar and accordion. Paul Eason I play acoustic and electric guitar mandolin and then sing a couple of lead songs in addition to harmony. Linden Hughes from Houston I play drums, percussion, harmonies, and I get to help produce and I get to mix the album's as well. So that's pretty cool. Sean,

Randy Hulsey  16:12

spin it over there, Sean.

The Wilder Blue  16:14

Oh, yeah, I am Sean Rodriguez and I played the bass and I'm from Austin, Texas. And it's awesome. And I sing harmonies and I've been known to blow a little hard to be obnoxious for Andy.

Randy Hulsey  16:26

I saw that hanging around your neck down there and it's I didn't know if you played it or it was a cool look and prop for you.

The Wilder Blue  16:31

Right it's a little bit of both that's when that takes away. My girlfriend appreciate it. My name is Andrew Rogers I live in Denton. I'm from Tennessee right outside of Nashville. Play banjo guitar fiddle dobro mandolin I played half the bass tracks on the first record something like that before

Randy Hulsey  16:54

I wasn't really so you're the you're the multi well sounds like you guys are multi utility guy. Yeah, for sure. So way to describe so Denton Austin huge. Are you here in Houston now

The Wilder Blue  17:06

I'm actually in The Woodlands.

Randy Hulsey  17:07

Oh, nice. Okay, I'm gonna Cypress I'm not too far from me. How about you boy, you're Dubroff Braunfels

The Wilder Blue  17:11

and McKinney northern Dallas. Yeah. Okay. Which is interesting, because those cities are not close to one another. So, I think that's, that's another that's another blessing man. That's another blessing in disguise. Because what ends up happening is when we do get together, we all go on the bus and, and then we live together, you know, so we don't just go home at the end of the evening. As soon as we get together, we are together. I think it's a blessing as

Randy Hulsey  17:39

well. We talked about a cohesive unit earlier, and then you guys go and blow my whole theory about the band and tell me that you live all over the state of Texas, right? So are you really cohesive? That's great. So I understand there might be a connection with Luke combs.

The Wilder Blue  17:53

Oh, yes. Our good friend, our dear friend Luke combs Zane. Yes, sure. The just kind of out of the blue after we released our first record, about a month or two later, Luke tweeted about us and said he couldn't stop listen to the record, and he just loved everything about it. And we, you know, none of us know him. We didn't know he was a fan. So that was a pleasant surprise. We definitely got a bump early on from that. People finding out about our music that way. And I ended up you know, making contact with Luke and flew up and wrote a song with him a while back. And, you know, he's just very down to earth as advertised type of dude, who is a genuine fan of music. And you know, he happened to come across our band on our website called Saving country music Kooker and Rolling Stone just put our name in an article about him, which is also very cool.

Randy Hulsey  18:53

Well, then our new name that that never sucks to be mentioned in Rolling Stone. I wanted to ask each of you guys a two part question. And we can go down the line again, who inspired you musically growing up? And who inspires you musically now?

The Wilder Blue  19:15

Well, so when I started listening to country music, I was the only person in my family that did and I think it was really Garth Brooks. That probably roped me into the country. World. I loved his lyrics and storytelling. These days, I listened to a lot of stuff like kind of harmony bands from the 70s. So I'm trying to think of one that I've been listened to a lot lately. But Wilder blue. Well, yeah. I don't know. I'll just say a little feet since we're jamming them out today. Yeah, I mean, I grew up listening to some country stuff my parents chose to but the first guy that got me I think when I was in high school was Roberto Keane. And that's kind of what got me into this songwriting realm I think, and Pat green and Courtney Moore all those guys. And then today, I guess I listened to a lot of that kind of same stuff. I love it, but also like the punch brothers a lot. Some of the more, you know, really technical, bluegrass ish kind of stuff. Okay. Yeah. So my parents were worship leaders growing up and so musically I was probably a little sheltered, but they were incredible. So they loved them, but I can listen to oldies and stuff. So I think the My first favorite band was Earth, Wind and Fire. Love it down with the Motown sound. Absolutely. And so now, I'm still catching up to everything. But have you heard a band called The Eagles? Think of our level once or twice a year? Yeah. And then the band so Don Henley and livan helm are just unbelievable inspirations. The cat's meow. Yeah, yeah, man.

Randy Hulsey  20:55

I don't think I don't think they ever wrote a bad song did the dude I mean I just bought a double A double vinyl record and my wife said Every song is great. What the hell? There isn't like one shitty song on the whole record.

21:10

Yeah

The Wilder Blue  21:13

okay, sorry this mic is awful heavy you know I I grew up listening to a lot of the Eagles you know courtesy of my parents but when I when I first started playing I mean it's all James Brown. down the hole for me and Parliament and what's that other band brick has a lot of crazy 70s funk bands out there. I could name them all

Randy Hulsey  21:38

Ohio players. Yeah, I was gonna say you went to the the funk side of the house from where I come from, you know,

The Wilder Blue  21:44

nowadays, I list all kinds of stuff. i A few years ago, I started my way down the Willie Nelson rabbit hole and I'm still not really finished. There's a lot in there. Very cool, you know, but everything is good. Well, for me, I grew up my parents played my granddad plays that was played bluegrass and country old gospel stuff. Same as these guys grew up in Baptist Church playing bluegrass gospel stuff. But still like a lot of the old Bill Monroe Flatt and Scruggs. JD Crowe all that stuff is kind of what I started with. And then about 90s country is when I started getting all the Nashville stuff, right. Yes, Nashville at that point was what it was. Yeah. 90s country but yeah, now let's sort of surge rose, Sierra Pharrell. I've been getting into lately Alliance. She's awesome. But my my favorite lately is with Charles was like God when I'm way into that. That's my record. I've been spending the last couple months.

Randy Hulsey  22:39

Yeah. I think that you mentioned flats and Scruggs. Like if my trivia is correct, they wrote the theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies. For the listeners that weren't aware of the share with the listeners. What's coming up for you guys? What's noteworthy? What do we need to know about the Wilder blue?

The Wilder Blue  22:59

Well, we are doing still doing that fans subscriber thing. So we're making new music all the time sending it out to our fans. This year, we're having fun making demos on our bus and sending those to our subscribers. And then we plan to collect those songs and make album number three later this year. We've been talking to producers and stuff about that we're always on the road. We're you know, if you check our dates at the Wilder blue.com We play obviously a lot in Texas, but we're doing our best to get out and about. And, you know, we've got an opening date on the schedule with Midland coming up and we're playing green Hall. And anyway, we just always have a lot of dates and we never, you know, we never stopped touring really?

Randy Hulsey  23:52

Will the will that green Hall. Will that be the first show together as the band I know that yeah, you guys have probably played it in the past right with other outfits or whatever. Right? But

The Wilder Blue  24:03

this would be the first Wilder blue green Hall shows we're excited and I think tickets just went on sale for that week or two ago.

Randy Hulsey  24:09

And is that the summer or when when can

The Wilder Blue  24:13

i Nice? August 5,

Randy Hulsey  24:15

it's not gonna it's not gonna be hot in that place. Holy cow shorts. Yeah, exactly. You mentioned earlier the Wilder blue.com But where can the listeners find you guys on social media? Is there any handles you guys want to mark out from from a individual perspective? I know I've added a couple of you guys on Facebook

The Wilder Blue  24:36

everybody should follow Hughes global on Instagram huge global global no I kid but you can if you want you want he doesn't post anything so you'll never see anything sorry.

Randy Hulsey  24:47

What's the point of our the slide?

The Wilder Blue  24:50

Eventually entertainment dining right cosmetics, mystery mystery sponsored advertising. No, I mean, it's best to follow us on all platforms. We recently re energized our tic toc. And hopefully our young Ward who sells our merch will you know make that a huge success. But otherwise, you know, follow us at the Wilder blue on Instagram or at the underscore wild or blue on Twitter something like that.

Randy Hulsey  25:17

I don't know. Sure just go Google the wild or blue right?

The Wilder Blue  25:21

Or you know if if you must you can follow Mr. fretless on Instagram and asked me where to find the wild blue and I will probably respond to Instagram and even the banjo Rogers is totally is the one that you want to follow to with his two

Randy Hulsey  25:35

pictures, but it's what it is. Is that is that at

The Wilder Blue  25:41

Andy banjo

Randy Hulsey  25:43

don't forget the outside. Right? Well, so we have a couple of minutes I wanted to jump into a couple of quickfire questions and all of you guys can answer these questions. Or if you don't want to you guys can answer it. It really doesn't matter. How are you gonna handle it? How about Paul? Rocker country?

The Wilder Blue  26:01

Country? Depends on which country you're talking about. I guess because some of it is considered rock these days. It gets very complicated.

Randy Hulsey  26:07

I was thinking Armenia about you, Sean. Rocker country rock. country. Country. Lenin both. Fair enough fair answer. Do you guys have an NI in? You would probably refrain maybe from answering this because it's really not an effort to call your baby ugly, I promise. But is there a favorite song that you guys love to play live? Is there one that just does it for you

The Wilder Blue  26:41

Dixie darlin is one of my favorite songs that we that we read. I think it's everything about us. And that song not the lyrics specifically but just what the song is now it sound being harmonies and all that yeah, that's a great answer, but also throw wave dancer and there's very fun to play. Yeah. Be Palomino gold

Randy Hulsey  26:59

is a great song. Yeah.

The Wilder Blue  27:03

Playing the hits man.

Randy Hulsey  27:05

Absolutely. Absolutely. How about a favorite food for you guys? For the listeners that are curious about the off the stage? Is Tex Mex an answer we absolutely yes. chicken fried steak. No question at all Z pulse even when the hell eat scallops don't have an edit button. On Tuesday there

The Wilder Blue  27:37

was some off about that guy. Yeah. You know brisket Awesome. Awesome. I mean other specific but I'll I'll go to a crawfish ball and go to town on

Randy Hulsey  27:50

my wife's from New Orleans. I think she'd be down with you there for sure. Well, guys, listen, I know there's a show coming up here at dosey. Doe I want to get you to your dinner time your your time together. I want to thank you for chatting with me. It's been a it's been a pleasure. It's kind of been a while in the making and I want to thank brick Bagwell for for helping to facilitate kind of us getting in here. It went through multiple people, but she kind of kicked it off for me. Awesome. As always, I ask the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. Also make sure to follow the Wilder blue at the Wilder blue.com. And on all of those at handles that Shawn and Andy mentioned earlier. Again, you can follow the show on Facebook at backstage pass radio on Instagram at backstage pass radio, Twitter at backstage pass PC and on the website at backstage pass. radio.com You guys take care of each other and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of backstage pass radio.

Adam Gordon  28:49

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 our Halsey music. Also make sure to like subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts scallops. 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. I mean we'll see you next time right here on backstage pass radio