Speaker 1: 0:46

Today, I'm bringing you all with me down to the sportsman's paradise, where I will be joined by the keyboard player for one of the greatest bands that has ever come out of the great state of Louisiana. Hey, everyone, it's Randy Holsey with Backstage Pass Radio, and my guest today is a pianist, singer-songwriter and Louisiana Music Hall of Fame artist. The band he co-founded has toured the world with such groups as Journey, theobie brothers, ario, speedwagon and more. Sit tight, and I will be joined by the master of the 88s, rod roddy, of the louisiana based band larue, right after this this is backstage pass radio.

Speaker 2: 1:21

Backstage pass radio a podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week, we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created, from chart-topping hits to underground gems. We explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So, whether you're a casual listener or a die-hard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melodies. Here is your host of backstage pass radio, randy holsey rod roddy.

Speaker 1: 2:00

Here we are, man. Finally. How about that? A little back and forth, uh, since, uh, I don't know about a month now we've been trying to figure out a good date to meet up.

Speaker 3: 2:09

Yeah, it's been crazy on my end.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Yeah, so it's your fault, then, it's not my fault.

Speaker 3: 2:13

I'll take total blame.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Well, it's good to be here. It's nice to meet your wife, lisa. Cool place right here on the bayou in Thibodeau, louisiana. How long has this place been around here?

Speaker 3: 2:25

Rod Since the 1930s and this bayou goes all the way from Donaldsonville all the way to the Gulf. So it's not the prettiest water, but I think it's the longest freshwater bayou to the Gulf.

Speaker 1: 2:39

But you did say that they were doing some work to it. That hopefully will kind of get it going in the right direction right.

Speaker 3: 2:46

They're building some new pumps and they should be done within two years. Been here two years for about four years, but it should be done pretty quick. And yeah, it's going to help get some silt down to the Gulf and build some land up and hopefully help against hurricanes Awesome.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Well, I'm also here at your place with one of my best friends ever, Scott Ducote. He's sitting across the room over there. Scott, thanks for making the ride down here with me.

Speaker 1: 3:12

It's been enjoyable to be here. It's Scott and I were talking. You know I was in Lafayette at UL, usl back in the day and it's been 40 years since I've been back to Lafayette and first time. Scott and I have caught up in a long time, so so you kind of helped bring all this back together. So appreciate that. Well, I wanted to tell you also how I came to kind of know Scott. We were going to a camp together. We started as little boys and as we got old enough to drive we were coming back from.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Where was it Scott? Washington, on the Brazos, I think, in Texas, right, and it was probably sometime around 83, I'm guessing. And he's like man, I got this stuff, this music I've got to let you hear, right, and he pops in Zebra's debut album and then right after that the so Fired Up record from LaRue and it was. You know I was telling Scott that it was a couple of records that shaped me as a musician, like it was. You know I was telling Scott that it was a couple of records that shaped me as a musician, like it was just great stuff. So that's kind of the connection with Scott and I so appreciate you being here bud, You're a music man.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Yeah, first of all, you know, rod, I wanted to thank you for so many great years of music and thanks Scott again for popping in that cassette and turning me on to LaRue back in the day. I wanted to jump in, if you don't mind, for just a second. We'll kind of jump back in Peabody's time machine a little bit. You were born not too far from here, right?

Speaker 3: 4:44

Born in Houma, Louisiana, about 18 miles south.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Okay, yeah, and any family still back in the Houma area.

Speaker 3: 4:51

Yeah, well, I have a brother that's moved further down the bayou in Lockport and my sister's still in Houma. Okay, parents are gone, so a lot of relatives down there.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Well, and I think you still have a bandmate that lives in Houma as well, correct?

Speaker 3: 5:06

Well, mark Duthu, he's been with us almost 30 years now as well, correct? Well, mark Duthu, he's been with us almost 30 years now, and, yeah, playing congas, and we've been friends since he was in high school.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Well, mark was very instrumental in assisting me locking in my interview with Tony Hazleton and it was, I think, 2021 when Tony and I first spoke, and I think he was probably the 19th artist that I ever had on the show. So thanks to Mark. If he listens to this interview, he certainly set that one up and was somewhat instrumental in getting you and I together. I guess, if it wasn't for him, tony is an awesome person to interview.

Speaker 3: 5:49

He was so uh, so his wit. We always talk about his wit. He was so clever and so quick and and always funny well and second to none songwriter.

Speaker 1: 6:00

I mean, the guy was just a phenomenal songwriter and you know what I didn't? I learned about tony and that's what I love about the show is. There's so much that I feel like my head is full of great music stuff that maybe only I care about. But I didn't realize that Tony had slipped off to Nashville for 20 plus years and wrote songs for some of the biggest country artists number one hits. Keith Whitley, george Strait, kid Rock, like I mean the, the guy is a, a writing machine isn't.

Speaker 3: 6:29

He wrote it's. There was stuff on the interview that Martin did that I didn't realize. He wrote for people and I'm going really I didn't know, tell me like a man.

Speaker 1: 6:39

I didn't realize that was his song Exactly yeah, he's got a score of hits for sure. I don't remember all of them. I know he wrote for Leanne Womack. It's a who's who of country artists that recorded his stuff.

Speaker 3: 6:52

Uri Osmond yeah, I never knew that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, amazing.

Speaker 1: 6:56

Well, tell me about the youth days, rod Roddy, youth days. What artists were shaping you as a young, up-and-coming musician?

Speaker 3: 7:08

Well, it's interesting, I never did really listen to a whole lot of anybody but my brother and I. My brother played drums and I wanted to play drums, but he was probably a better drummer. And when you take the little band course, a little test, they said you need to play saxophone. Well, we couldn't afford a saxophone but we had a piano, which I'm glad we had that, because I think I got more work doing that. But we would just, my brother and I would put a band together and we would play whatever was popular I mean, it was just whatever was on the radio and then we would play with my dad in a band. So we learned how to play country music and old standards and all that stuff.

Speaker 3: 7:53

And he'd take me to the bathroom Like somebody would give him a $20 tip and say can you all play that? Oh yeah. He'd take me and he'd hum it to me. I'm going, dad, I don't know that song he goes. It goes like this so you get out there and you kind of go through it, fake it until you make it right. Yeah, and the deal about it.

Speaker 3: 8:13

What's great about the audience side of it? As long as you get part of it right, yeah, they're having a few cocktails. They love it, so it doesn't have to. Because we went to see a band here in past christian, uh, mississippi and I don't want to say they were bad, but they were real close to it and but the crowd loved it because they were familiar with the songs and it didn't matter. And that's what you've got to realize. The audience is not that critical. If you're having fun, they're having fun, and if they recognize the song, great. So I pretty much like to play whatever people like to hear. But now, later on, my favorites were Michael McDonald, the Allman Brothers brothers, things like that, and um, I was more on the melodic side than some of the bands I played with because they were more in guitar and they were into all that stuff. But um, so there's nobody in one, because I like to listen to ray charles, I like to listen to Frank Sinatra.

Speaker 1: 9:08

Sure, yeah, kind of all over from a genre perspective. Well, there's an old saying, you know, the more people drink, the better you sound, right.

Speaker 3: 9:17

There's a lot of truth to that, isn't there Much, much?

Speaker 1: 9:21

Just have a few more drinks and I'll sound better and better as the night goes along. Well, it sounds like. Interestingly enough, you come from a musical family, like dad played, brother played, and a lot of the artists that I have on the show had none of that growing up. It's just like they I don't know, the music was just injected into them by osmosis or however it happens, but you come from that background.

Speaker 3: 9:47

Right, and it was always my dad would play what they call swamp pop, but back then it was Chubby Checker and all those kind of guys playing it. So we grew up listening to that stuff and then when we played with him whatever was popular at the time, we had to learn that stuff. And then we'd listen to the radio and play, you know, Enneagram of the Vita and all this stuff, whatever it was playing. So it was just a hodgepodge just anything.

Speaker 1: 10:15

If it wasn't the piano, what would Rod Roddy play?

Speaker 3: 10:20

I tried to play guitar.

Speaker 1: 10:21

Okay.

Speaker 3: 10:27

And it was okay. But it was obviously not, and I've heard Tony say how. You know he didn't come from a musical background but the guitar just fit him and he just took off with it and the guitar didn't do that for me. The piano was interesting to me and I'd like to sit and just listen. I never learned how to read. I tried, but I could play by ear quicker, so I was lazy.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Okay.

Speaker 3: 10:48

And so that's how I do it.

Speaker 1: 10:50

I hear quicker. So I was lazy, okay, and so that's how I do it. That's interesting because I was a pianist. I played 13 years of classical piano growing up. That's where I got my background, and I've heard a lot of people say that piano is probably one of the hardest instruments to learn to play, or at least play well and I don't know. Well, you kind of clarified it like you had a little bit of trouble with the guitar. It didn't come to you like the piano did, right.

Speaker 3: 11:22

Yeah, and I took piano lessons for a year and a half. I was nine years old and the guy back then you could smoke in front of kids and do all that and we were locked up in a little room in his house and he'd be smoking and I'd be going crazy and he'd say, play this. And I didn't know the song from Adam. I said, well, could you play it for me? And he played it for me and then I'd remember it and I'd go home and practice that and I'm sure he knew it wasn't exactly how it was written. He was getting paid.

Speaker 1: 11:46

Sure yeah, of course it earned a paycheck.

Speaker 3: 11:49

Yeah, so I just learned by ear. And then which I'm glad because there's a lot of trained people that you take the music away and they're lost.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Yeah, 100% yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:01

And I didn't have that, so that's good.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Well, it's interesting that you say that, because we'll get to it in a minute. But I wanted to talk a little bit about studio in the country. Right, but when you play in a group like larue with studio guys, right, um, you expect those guys are trained and they're, you know, they're the musicians musician. Um, that's interesting to hear that neither you nor tony were formally trained in the music and you've become world-class players. That's interesting to hear that.

Speaker 3: 12:35

Well, like Jim Odom, our guitar player now he went to Berklee. I mean, he's a genius, okay, you know, obviously with his company and everything, but he could play anything.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:45

You know. And one thing about the studio when we got there, I was probably on the low end of totem pole as far as Musically. Yeah, and capable. But I quickly learned what was expected and what was doing. And you know, pressure always makes you work better or it makes you leave.

Speaker 2: 13:03

Sure, you know.

Speaker 3: 13:04

So and then later on, when the band broke up, for a while Jim was engineer on a Cinderella album and he called me and I played three songs on Heartbreak Station.

Speaker 1: 13:16

Okay.

Speaker 3: 13:16

You know, and it's funny because there were young guys on tour with Jon Bon Jovi and they were saying, man, you play really well. What do you do? I said, well, a couple years ago I did what you did. Yeah, you know what you're doing. And I remember I had to do a syncopated clavinet part and Fred was. It was the first album that he played drums on.

Speaker 1: 13:36

Fred Corey.

Speaker 3: 13:39

And in that track it dips. I forget what track it is, but it's one that has a clavinet part in it, so I had to learn. I had to learn that section where I'm playing like you know, okay, that's that. So you, you learn by the studio.

Speaker 1: 13:55

It's yeah, it's a pressure on you and it's it works out to make you a better player well, and I I've always said that if whether it's basketball or or whatever, right tiddly when you you name the activity, if you're with people that are far better than you, you can't help but come up right, so you never want to play down right. You don't want to regress in your talent, so you don't want to play with shitty musicians if you will Always play with somebody better, right?

Speaker 3: 14:23

Well, they say tennis players could be great, but when they play with a weak player their game sucks.

Speaker 1: 14:28

Yeah sure, it seems like you come down to that level right or you don't try as hard that that vibe or that energy is no longer there. So, yeah, I guess there's a lot of truth to that. Well, I know you were um. If my memory serves me correctly, you were a Korg player right back in the day right that have you carried on with Korg?

Speaker 3: 14:51

all these years, or what do you play today? When the band broke up, I let the Korg endorsement go away and I bought a Yamaha weighted keyboard.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Okay.

Speaker 3: 15:04

And in the studio I played the bald one.

Speaker 2: 15:09

That's on.

Speaker 3: 15:10

New.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Orleans.

Speaker 3: 15:10

Ladies, the Bald One. And then we did an album. We did some songs with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and I played on a Bosendorf. Our manager at the time, bill McEwen, had a house on Ajax Mountain and where the piano was upstairs, the studio was downstairs and it opened up into a big window on Ajax Mountain. Well, you had that Bosendorf up there and that's where Steve Martin recorded Condo Made of Stone.

Speaker 1: 15:39

Oh, King Tut, yeah King Tut.

Speaker 3: 15:42

So anyway, I was playing that and I said, man, that's a good feeling piano. Well, I played a Yamaha and it was great and ever since then I just love the way the Yamaha feels so and it was great.

Speaker 1: 15:49

And ever since then I just love the way the Yamaha feels. So the Korg coming up through the Korg days, were those never?

Speaker 3: 15:56

weighted keyboards. I guess you could have got them weighted.

Speaker 3: 15:58

The first piano I had back when we first started touring. Most of the pianos had a mic system that went across with Baby Grand, Okay, and it was not very good. And then they came out with Yamaha, came out with CP-70. And I got one right before we went on the road with Journey, and that one has the feel of an acoustic piano. The sound was kind of tinny, but for that time period it was awesome, you know, and so I played that for a while. And then the Korgs I used mostly for synths.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Synths. Yeah, that for a while, and then the chords I use mostly for uh, synth synth, synths.

Speaker 3: 16:31

Yeah, okay, and I had an oberheim at one time that I traded out gene at the studio in the country for yeah only because it was so much easier than setting up to oberheim. But, um, now I just play a synth that has the piano sounds with weighted keys. Uh, yamaha, and I did add a. I added a Roland because it's 10 pounds. Right of course yeah, and it's got all the sounds, but I'm pretty much a diehard Yamaha.

Speaker 1: 17:02

Yeah, it seems like going from weighted to non-weighted would throw the game all off. Did you have any trouble adapting to going from weighted to non-weighted keys? It's still a problem.

Speaker 3: 17:10

When I first started playing, I was playing organ. In fact, one of the bands, the Levee band, is the band that eventually turned into the Jeff Pollard band. Yeah to LaRue Bobby Kimball.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Sure Toto. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3: 17:24

Jeff was the lead singer, bobby Kimball was the lead singer on this side, playing piano, and I played organ. I had a C3 organ so I played. From my rock days I played mostly organ, so it was fine. I was used to that Interesting, okay. But then when I started playing piano, when Bobby left and I started playing piano, I really liked the way that feel was and it felt like you were more in touch with the keyboard, of course, and when I try to play piano parts on a non-weighted or semi-weighted keyboard, it's really hard for me because you don't have that.

Speaker 2: 17:56

I don't know, it's just.

Speaker 3: 17:57

I don't feel it's connected. Yeah, in fact, when I do a calculator, if it's wobbly, it's that same kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 18:03

Well, a non-weighted key just bounces right back up in place so quick.

Speaker 1: 18:08

A weighted key is more of a a cushioned return I guess, and a semi-weighted is kind of they try, try to get a hybrid of the two, it helps but um, yeah, I prefer weighted yeah, well, and that's what for the non-piano people that will listen to this podcast, non-awaited uh, instrument would be like a regular acoustic piano, right, that's the feel, and, uh, a lot of the synthesizers that that rod's talking about would would be, you know, non-weighted keys or a hybrid of the two just like an organ, of course, of course.

Speaker 1: 18:43

So we jump back in that time and we fast forward to 1978. You co-found the band we know today as LaRue right. How did the band come about? Walk the listeners that are maybe not as familiar with LaRue where LaRue came from.

Speaker 3: 19:05

I had a band in Houma called the Levee Band and Jeff Pollard was in a band called the War Babies. And Jeff showed up one day I guess we were rehearsing or something and he said hey, man, I want to put a band together. I want to see if you want to play. I said, well, I already have a band, why don't you just join my band? So we did, and then we went through some different personnel over the years, as you do. We even had a five-piece horn section at one time, but it was a levy band.

Speaker 3: 19:41

We moved to Baton Rouge and then Leon Medica, the bass player, got with us and said, hey, I can get us some studio gigs. We said, okay, that's cool. And we went out as the Jeff Pollard Band doing an acoustic act David playing congas, leon bass, me, piano and Jeff. And then we had Bobby on horn or flute. And then he said, hey, gatemouth Brown's looking for a band to tour with, and we're like sure. So we went with Gabe Muff Brown.

Speaker 3: 20:12

That eventually led to an African tour in 1976. Okay, when we toured for the State Department as Goodwill Ambassadors, we toured up the East Coast of Africa and then back, leon said I got a guy interested in hearing the band wants us to go to Nashville cut some demos, go to Nashville and see what happens. So we went to Nashville cut some demos and then they liked that and they sent us to LA and we opened up for Muddy Waters and Rod Stewart was in the audience, greg Allman was in the audience. In fact we didn't have a name. So they said, well, what's the name? They didn't want to call it Jeff Pollard Band at that time. Sure. So Leon said BR Burners. And when they introduced the band they pulled the curtain up and Jeff's microphone stand was going up, and that's when he noticed who was.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I think Tom Petty was out there too wow, but uh, a bunch of nobodies in the audience, right and that's where you you went, you know, as a new band trying to get going.

Speaker 3: 21:13

That's why other people would like to go see what's happening and uh, I think all three or four record companies there, okay, and uh, that's how we got with capital the levy band back before?

Speaker 1: 21:27

um well, the levyvee Band, that was all. Were you writing all of your own originals? You weren't doing anything. Were you covering too?

Speaker 3: 21:35

It was mostly cover tunes, and then, when we got with Jeff, jeff had a book of music, a catalog?

Speaker 1: 21:42

yeah, he already had a catalog coming in, yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:44

And in fact somebody just sent me I started listening to it today a USB with music that he recorded. I think it was the uh, some club in lafayette and I can't remember. No, it was in lafayette, it's. It was near a country club and I can't remember the name of it, but we used to play there and he recorded and it's got me Leon, Bobby, tony, the core group of LaRue, yeah, you know and sent that to me and I'm going. Man, I don't remember playing those songs Because we were doing copy tunes and then we started doing original. Well, when we started doing originals we went from playing all over the state to about four or five places because people wanted to hear copy tunes, of course.

Speaker 1: 22:32

But it was fun If we bounce back. We had a little bit If we bounce back to the studio in the country conversation. Which of you guys were in studio in the country as studio artists artists, studio musicians we, our band was the whole band was interesting. Okay, I didn't know.

Speaker 3: 22:59

I thought it might have been a subset but I didn't realize it was the whole band we did. Uh, if they called us in to do a country act or they call us in to do this, you know we'd go do it. We pretty much became the the band there for a while.

Speaker 1: 23:16

Um, I'll just, it was just kind of a natural feel sure, so studio in the country for for the listeners bogalusa, bogalusa uh, louisiana um yeah, and in the mind's eye, where is bogalusa in the state of louisiana. For, for those that may not, know, I think it's highway 59.

Speaker 3: 23:40

It's north of new orleans and it's um right before you get to. It's around poplarville, mississippi, that area. Bogalusa's got a paper mill there. You can't miss it. And there's nothing there, yeah, just the studio. And it's in the country.

Speaker 1: 23:55

Yeah, Well, I think that was part of the mystique behind the studio was that when you go there, you're not distracted by anything. You can fish, but there's nothing to distract you from, and it was a world-class studio.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Yeah, you can fish, but there's nothing to distract you from and it was a world-class studio, yeah Well, so this, yeah, it's a famed studio and I've heard it spoken of as probably the best studio in Louisiana to record in, and there's been so many notable artists that have recorded there what Kansas Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Buffett, I think they even did the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in the studio in the city.

Speaker 3: 24:32

Well, yeah, I had some of that. He produced one or two songs on that, so, probably. And you know, cinderella, I played on that album when they played there. Yeah, a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 24:44

Who else musician-wise that the listeners may know as a notable artist these days? So Cinderella was one, of course. Who else did you play with in studio in the country.

Speaker 3: 24:55

That's really the only other band outside of LaRue. I mean, I did stuff with local guys trying to get a record deal, trying to sell songs and stuff like that, but um, that was the major act that I played well you got.

Speaker 1: 25:07

You guys were like the, the louisiana version of the swampers, were you not?

Speaker 3: 25:12

I mean, you were the cajun swampers, yeah, yeah you know it's funny, we did uh southern rock uh cruise in 2018. And we used to tour with all those guys that were on that cruise. A lot of them didn't even have any original members in it anymore, but a guy named Dave Anderson was playing guitar. I met him in Huntsville when I was living there and he's playing with Atlanta Rhythm Section now.

Speaker 1: 25:37

Oh, sure, yeah.

Speaker 3: 25:39

And we did a set and and he came in after he said, man, we love your band, he goes. We used to call you all the Steely Dan of the South.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Really Never heard that Wow.

Speaker 3: 25:48

But I thought it was pretty cool, that's a huge accolade.

Speaker 1: 25:50

I mean, those are technical musicians, right yeah?

Speaker 3: 25:53

Our songs aren't just straight ahead.

Speaker 1: 25:55

No.

Speaker 3: 25:56

It's a lot Like to sit in with our band. You'd have to know the songs pretty much. You could wing, you could play with a jazz band, a blues band and do all that kind of get it by. But our stuff has starts, stops and just it's different. So when he said that I went never thought about that.

Speaker 1: 26:17

Time signature changes and all of that, yeah, yeah, when we think of bands like ACDC, who I love, it's just straight driving rock and roll. It's 4-4 time all the way through and you're just jamming, right. But you know, even Zebra, like the La La song, changes time signatures in the middle of the song and I think that that's kind of what separates these musicians from those musicians. Right, it's just a little notch above, right, that can adjust the songs like that. Yeah, scott, I don't know if you were familiar with that. You've heard the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

Speaker 1: 26:50

Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers and a lot of people don't even know who the Swampers were. They were the studio musicians and Muscle Shoals in the recording studio there they were called the Swampers, so the Cajun Swampers. I'm sitting with one of them right here. How about that? So we go from 78 to 82. Jeff Pollard and Bobby Campo leave, leave LaRue and replaced with Fergie Fredrickson and Jim Odom, who is still current with you guys today. Right, can you speak a little bit about that shakeup and why Jeff may have left the band?

Speaker 3: 27:33

Well, Jeff was always a Christian. Okay, In fact, when we toured with Kansas, he Kerry Leverin, we were real close to them. We were managed by the same Bud Corp, same manager, and Jeff would sometimes ride the bus with them and Cary would sometimes ride the bus with us and eventually Cary left the band. You know he was into Eastern religion and stuff like that. Okay, and Jeff had it and he gives Jeff the credit for bringing him to god and um, it's just jeff. Back then most of the concerts were put on by beer companies or cigarette companies everything he was probably stood against, right, yeah, yeah, okay, fair enough.

Speaker 3: 28:19

In that interview that I told you all you should check out, I found out something we did the video to Addicted a song I wrote and it really has nothing to do with drug addiction. But when we went to do the video they had this queen, painted black and hanging from the ceiling and they had smoke machines going on and it was real rock. And we found out that the producer wanted it to be real dark, like you're coming from addiction, and blah, blah, blah. And, like Jeff said in the interview, it wasn't about drugs, it was about a man and a woman. We did a couple of takes and the producer told Leon something. Leon went over to Jeff and said hey, man, they want you to take your Jesus sticker off the guitar. You know the fish, oh no way Sure yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:07

And Jeff in the interview says that you couldn't have hit him with a ton of bricks.

Speaker 1: 29:11

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:13

So he went and begrudgingly took it off and he said when the video was done, everybody was high-fiving, it was like a band was loving it. I mean, we were. We thought it was great, we were just new to videos. And he said he went back to the room and he just felt like peter who had denied christ three times. I never knew that, never knew that.

Speaker 3: 29:36

And he said at that point he realized he was saying that the devil wanted that off of there. The devil wanted off of that. And he said it came to him clear as a bell that Jesus said I don't want to be any part of that. And he said that's when I realized I'm a part of that. And he said he was a Christian but he wasn't converted. Now that's heavier than I can understand, of course. But anyway, he said he gave us notice that hey, I'll finish out, I'll give you a year, I'll finish out whatever contracts we have. And he said then he left the band and he hadn't done any media for four decades. So that was something I learned from, that it was pulling at him the whole time. Sure.

Speaker 1: 30:25

And he probably never spoke a lot about it either. I wouldn't think right. Well, you know he would talk about it.

Speaker 3: 30:30

He would read the Bible all the time. You could tell he was smitten Yep, but I don't think he felt like he gave his whole self. Yes, that makes sense, and then when he did that, he never looked back. He doesn't pick up guitar he doesn't sing.

Speaker 1: 30:47

He's strictly a minister and he's a pure minister yeah, you know, that's crazy, that somebody with the, the talent and the voice that he had, I I mean, I can hear it, it, I can hear it now. I'm addicted baby. And that powerful vocal that just comes out, like it's amazing, like somebody could just turn and just 180 out the door.

Speaker 3: 31:10

Amazing singer, amazing guitar player but, like he said, and you know they asked Tony, Barton asked Tony in an interview. He said well, what did you think? You know, y'all were right on the cusp of making it and Jeff had this calling to go. How did that affect you?

Speaker 1: 31:26

He goes you know when you get the calling you go.

Speaker 3: 31:29

Yeah, you go. Whatever that calling may be, you go there. And for Jeff, that's what it was and he stayed true to it. He's still doing that. A little church and they, they do 103 nations. They give tracks out free of charge. He is pure none of his money oriented, you know, it's none of that which you don't find much anymore.

Speaker 1: 31:51

Right, everything's for a dollar, that's right. He's the real deal, yeah he doesn't drive.

Speaker 3: 31:55

He lives in a nice house right around the church. He's there all the time and there's nothing. He doesn't fly in a jet. He doesn't drive a $200,000 car. He's all about God. He's the real deal.

Speaker 1: 32:08

Well, good for him. Everybody has their calling. Some are drilling people, some are pastors, some are garbage men, but I think everybody has their calling at the end of the day. So Jeff steps out. Share your thoughts with me on the late Fergie Fredrickson who I believe. If my. I'm horrible with dates, but I think 2014 we lost Fergie right. Is that correct?

Speaker 3: 32:38

You're a lot closer than me.

Speaker 1: 32:40

Yeah, share your thoughts. A little bit about Fergie.

Speaker 3: 32:42

Well, fergie, you know it's funny, we had Bobby Kimball leave the band and went out to LA and did a couple of projects and then finally got with the Toto Boys. That was a great run. And then when LaRue broke up, fergie goes with Toto. He did two albums with Toto. He did really well and then he found out he was sick. He had cancer and Fergie was amazing. He would do backflips and do all that stuff. He was a gymnast and just a really likable guy. Sure, you know he could sing. In fact we've had singers along the way that we've always had to lower the key to sing the songs.

Speaker 3: 33:19

Not him, I that we've always had to lower the key to sing the songs. Not him, I bet you not?

Speaker 1: 33:24

No, the songs that Fergie sang we always had to lower the key Really, okay, wow, yeah, they were just up like Carrie's Gone.

Speaker 3: 33:32

I can't think of the name of it, anyway, but yeah, he's just amazing, he's up there with Steve.

Speaker 1: 33:38

Perry oh yeah, he's way up there.

Speaker 3: 33:40

But just a real likable guy. Yeah, and he came down a few times after he was sick and we did some shows and just hated to see him go.

Speaker 1: 33:50

Yeah, you spoke a little bit about his stint with Toto and correct me if I'm wrong, but I've often heard of, often heard of you guys, and I don't know where I heard this. It doesn't even matter, but I've often heard, as LaRue was like the I wouldn't say the training camp for Toto, but there was a lot of cross pollination with Toto. Can you speak to kind of how you guys intertwined with Toto? Yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 3: 34:21

We never played with him live but when we went in to do I think it was a so Fired Up album that Jay Winding produced. Jay Winding was dating a girl that was married. It was twin girls. He was dating one and Lukather was married to the twin.

Speaker 1: 34:42

Okay.

Speaker 3: 34:43

And they had a girl band and so we knew them from there too the connection. And Jay, you know, did the album, produced it, and so we had that connection, we had the Bobby connection, and then we will always do this song by them or you know that kind of stuff. But I mean we love their music because it was technical.

Speaker 1: 35:08

Of course we like to do stuff. Well, luke's a great player man, I mean there's. Well, did you mention that there was a female band?

Speaker 3: 35:17

Yeah, the two sisters had some band, but I can't remember what the name was.

Speaker 1: 35:20

It wasn't called Hardly Dangerous by any chance. Does that sound familiar? Okay, because I have a really dear friend. Her name is Bethany Heavenstone and she was the bass player for Hardly Dangerous and she actually dated Lukather for like 10 years, I believe, but she's now been with Grand Bonnet for a long time, right? So when you said the all-girl band, I wonder if that was Bethany's band back in the day.

Speaker 3: 35:43

Hollywood. I think they had one single or something, but I can't remember the name of it. See, if Mark was here, he'd probably know.

Speaker 1: 35:50

Sure sure. So when these guys joined you, they joined for the so Fired Up record, and that was 83. Does that sound right, 83? Share with me your thoughts about the record itself. So Fired Up? A little different, I guess, maybe a little more rock. To me it was a little more commercial, Not commercial in a bad way, but share with me your thoughts around that record specifically.

Speaker 3: 36:24

Well, I started writing more. I wrote Mystery, which I'm trying to think. If that was on that album, I think it is. No, I don't think it was. I don't think it was actually.

Speaker 1: 36:38

Scott, take a look at the back of that record for me. I'm calling Rod Roddy out on the show here. Mystery, there's no mystery on that record.

Speaker 3: 36:45

We were touring with all the bands. When we first went out on the road we went out with Seeger and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It's the bands that really were more in line with what we were kind of playing just middle of the road kind of stuff. But then we started touring with kansas and foreigner and and cheap trick and all these bands and I really liked that. You know there's a lot of keyboard stuff, sure. So I started writing more and and some of the songs, uh, the record company really liked the rock, that, that avenue and um. So I guess I'm to blame from leaving our roots, because now we look back and we go maybe we should have stayed with the funky stuff, but there's a lot of people that like so Fired Up and songs from those records. So I don't know, it was just that's where the band was headed.

Speaker 3: 37:37

We were playing with those kind of bands. We liked the way it sounded, we did our version of that, that and we did it. Well, it's just um. Now, when we play, we tend to go back more to the funky stuff like the last album, the 2020 record yeah, yeah, it was more of that funky, yes it was felt good. It was just like that's kind of like home to us.

Speaker 1: 37:58

You know, you know I picked on you a little bit and told you you were wrong just a second ago and I can only say that because that record specifically for me, top three all-time front to back records for me, in my opinion like, so fired up, so fired up, like every song on that record was.

Speaker 1: 38:19

I mean, scott, tell me if I'm wrong like you probably feel the same right, um, and I know every song on that record right as a, as a fan of larue, um, but that's to to you, that should be a huge accolade. And I only say that because think about how many wonderful artists we spoke of, so many journey, kansas, toto. We've heard this all of our lives, but that record for me, and being a musician, top three of all time for me, so yeah, of course I do hear people that in last safe places, I think, maybe where mystery was, I think that was kind of the turning.

Speaker 3: 38:56

Okay, um, that was in the uh. But there's a lot of people that feel that same way. Yeah, you know, we have a hodgepodge when you look at what the first albums were. The first album I had a definite feel about it. The second album was kind of like a mixture, but then it started going a little bit more because we were. You know, when you're in that environment 200 days a year, you start picking up on I like the way that sounds.

Speaker 1: 39:28

Like this way this comes together different feel kind of left louisiana, so we were in a different vibe. Yeah, for sure, so it sticks to you, was it? It ain't nothing but a gree. Gree was that before, before, that was before, so fired up, right, that was I think it was after, but I'm not sure.

Speaker 3: 39:40

That was one of the albums that I didn't play on, it was one that they did. I think we played some dates with Tab and I was out of town and they did it like that, so I'm not real familiar with that record.

Speaker 1: 40:00

And correct me if I'm wrong. I think so fired up and last safe place were both actually recorded in bogalusa studio in the country. Right, you had quite a few writing credits, no, I?

Speaker 3: 40:14

think so fired up, that's. That's the one with the rock stuff yeah, so fired up.

Speaker 1: 40:18

Is carrie's gone?

Speaker 3: 40:19

yeah, that was in la oh, was it in la?

Speaker 1: 40:21

yeah, okay that jay wendy produced that one okay, well, you, I I guess I didn't you know after talking to tony and all the great songs that he wrote you, you would expect that. Well, gee, tony wrote all the songs for larue. So far from the truth. And I look back at the liner notes and so fired up and it's like Rod, roddy, rod, roddy, rod, roddy, rod, roddy, kudos to you. You've written a lot of great songs.

Speaker 3: 40:48

You know it's funny because I had a song that was Tony and I did together Get it Right the First Time, which was a cool song that was. Just I had the music and I'd play around with it and it's like I I wasn't much on lyrics that time at that time I mean I'd write. If I wrote it it was cause of breakup or sad song or something silly. You know something like that.

Speaker 1: 41:09

Sure.

Speaker 3: 41:09

But Tony, he says he comes over there. I mean I was sitting at the piano playing and he said this book and he flips through it.

Speaker 1: 41:22

I think I got a song that'll work for that and and the lyrics in that song are incredible, wow, incredible, um it's, I just don't. I I thought back to my interview with tony and I got a larue trivia question for you. I'm not sure if you know this or not, but do you happen to know what tony's favorite larue song of all times is? If you were to guess what do you think it would be?

Speaker 3: 41:43

I have no idea you know how those boys are. That is a great song, yeah.

Speaker 1: 41:48

And it kind of caught me off guard Of all of them. I would have never thought that was a great song, but I didn't expect him to say that.

Speaker 3: 41:55

It's got a turnaround riff in it that even now I play that song and it's like I go oh wait, no, that's right, that's it.

Speaker 1: 42:03

Yeah. You've got to really be locked into that one. Like I mentioned earlier, you had quite a few writings, quite a few writing credits on the so Fired Up record. Is there a track that maybe you're the most proud of on that record? And I know that's kind of like calling one of your children ugly, right, but is there a song that sticks out in your mind on that record that you're maybe the most proud of, or that resonates with Rod Roddy more than the others?

Speaker 3: 42:34

On which album now.

Speaker 1: 42:35

So Fired Up.

Speaker 3: 42:36

You got that album, I don't know. You got that Al. I got that.

Speaker 1: 42:43

We're cross-referencing the back of a vinyl here.

Speaker 3: 42:51

I think I had something to do with yours tonight because I really liked that and Turning Point those are two. Turning Point was really, I think, Turning Point might be it and. I'll tell you why. Because it was a Turning Point with the band. But we were riding in Lake Decad and wind blowing, had a couple of drinks and we're at night and I said I think that's our Turning Point over there.

Speaker 3: 43:15

And we just look at me, jim and and and uh, fergie it's like turning point, turning point and that it's just, and it felt like, okay, it was a turning point for the band and, you know, I think it's probably more like a about a girl, but yeah, um, but yeah, those, those are really good songs. I mean, I really like those songs on there well, there's so many songs.

Speaker 1: 43:37

It's interesting because you know turning point could be misconstrued and you can, I think the artist write a song and you can use the listener or the ingester of music can use the songs however they like, right, which I think is what artists love. Um, and I, and I lost my, my train of thought of what I where I was going with that. I'll think of it in a minute, but um, gosh, dang it. I hate when I lose my thought um, do you get older?

Speaker 1: 44:11

yeah, I know this. This is why I love like recorded interviews so you can just like that spot. Just wipe that out like it never even happened. Like randy, he's so perfect. Um, I'll think of that in a minute. But outside of um, outside of fergie, um, the the last few years has yielded the loss of several of the founding members. In 2024, of course, leon Medica passed. Share your thoughts on Leon, both as a person and as a bandmate, if you'd be so kind.

Speaker 3: 44:51

Leon knew the business probably better than anybody else in the business in the band. He had that part and he could be funny, clever and ruthless and I think to be in that business you've got to be all those things you can't, you know, whereas Tony we lost Tony too just recently and Tony was just a whole different kind of personality. Tony was upbeat, he had his moments, and we all do, but he was always nice and friendly and all that. Now, if he got mad he got mad, but with Leon Leon kept it. It was always business and you got to have that when you do that part of it. And I don't think anybody else in the band was able to capture that when Leon started having issues with his dementia and all that and retired and we kind of lost that part of keeping us centered and and that. That was hard. But um, I mean leon was there from the beginning, from when larue actually sure sure you know, so you hate losing people like that I.

Speaker 1: 46:04

I had reached out to randy jackson, the lead singer for zebra, just recently, well in 2024, when I heard of leon's and I you know Randy's still up in Long Island when he left New Orleans. They went to New York or two of the guys him and Felix, did and I text him one morning and I said, hey, I don't know if you heard, but Leon Medica from LaRue passed away and he's like no way, I didn't, I had no idea and I think he was kind of close with Leon. I had no idea and I think he was kind of close with Leon. Of course they had known each other, probably closer with him in LaRue than maybe some of the others. I don't know the full relationship, right, but yeah, I think Randy was smitten to hear the news about Leon as well. And you mentioned it too Recently Tony Hazelden passed after a lengthy illness. I know you've got a lot of thoughts about Tony. Share your thoughts with Tony as a human being and then, just from a bandmate perspective, two-part question for you.

Speaker 3: 47:04

Well, as a human, he was just amazing. I mean, we'd be riding together and I would say something funny and then he would take it to that level. Okay, and he was just it, to that level.

Speaker 1: 47:14

Okay.

Speaker 3: 47:15

And he was just that kind of guy. He was quick, but if I would come up with a song idea, he'd already add stuff to it and just again take it to another level. And I said I never thought of that. You know, it's like that. And he was just. He would always make you feel special, I don't care what level you are in his world, he made you feel special and he was. We'd always this was our Airbnb at one time and we'd always the gang would come here and we'd sit out there and listen to music and we'd just talk about times and dance and my brother would dance and do that kind of stuff and it was just like I said.

Speaker 3: 47:53

I've known him for 53 years. He worked at a music store, Prof Ernie's, with my mom. That's how I met him. He got in a band with me and Lee Offman who played guitar and sang. He was not that good, but we went to Miami and opened up for David Ruffin and we started that music and then we felt away from each other. And then, when Jeff came along and we looked for another guitar player, we asked Tony to come jam with us at Nichols. He came jam with us. He was getting ready to go for his, his PhD or whatever his next level from a graduate. And we called him two o'clock in the morning and said, hey, man, how would you like to be in the band? And he goes, uh, I don't know, he's getting ready to go back to school. And uh, he said, okay, you know, and then we were there and that's you know. But you could, when you talk to him you realize he had a psychology degree.

Speaker 1: 48:49

I mean man was yeah way up there.

Speaker 3: 48:53

Great person.

Speaker 1: 48:54

And you know, I of course didn't know him like you did by any stretch of the imagination, but I was fortunate enough to meet him and Julia for lunch. I guess he was in town for medical treatment Sometime back. My wife and I met him and you sit down with these people and it's like you've known them all your life, like there was no you know. Some people would say, you know, I'm talking to music royalty here.

Speaker 1: 49:20

This guy is you know, LaRue written hit songs for so many different people. But he sat at the table like he was just like one of the boys right and Julia was just as amazing as could be, and I know that both of their musical contributions, leon's and Tony's, will be certainly a missed thing in the future.

Speaker 3: 49:40

Well, you know, tony Leon wrote New Orleans Ladies with Hart Garrick and both are gone now and he wrote it for a French artist that didn't use it, thank goodness.

Speaker 1: 49:51

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 49:52

But yeah, they're missed For sure.

Speaker 1: 49:54

So fast, but yeah, they're missed, yeah for sure. So fast forward, we fast forward to 2020. The band releases an LP called One of those Days. Love the record. Going back to the roots.

Speaker 3: 50:09

a little bit right If we talk about so Fired Up, come forward to 2020, totally different sound than than 83 wrote the majority of that record and tony wrote a lot of the lyrics and jim would bring an idea, and then tony would just take it and run with it. Um, and then I would say, of all the singers we've had since Jeff Pollard, jeff McCarty's probably the next best to do that. What Jeff did Is that right To continue that yeah, jeff's just got a unique voice.

Speaker 1: 50:43

That's a huge accolade for him, like saying that Fergie Fredrickson was a great singer Fergie was, but Fergie was specifically that rock genre.

Speaker 3: 50:53

Yes, okay fair enough when Jeff could do both.

Speaker 1: 50:56

Versatile, versatile singer Do funky.

Speaker 3: 50:58

And I'm not saying Fergie couldn't, but I never heard him do it, of course, and it was probably because of the environment he was in. But when we were thinking about hiring Jeff in fact it's on one of our interviews we did I was saying, well, I wasn't sure I knew he could sing the funky stuff, but I wasn't sure that he could sing rock. And then the guy did a video of us and he cuts to Jeff going I grew up with Megadeth and all that Right and you listen to him sing and he wails way higher.

Speaker 1: 51:28

Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3: 51:29

But he's got a round, that Michael McDonald kind of a round, smooth, warm but raspy, and he covers it all and that's Jim says that in one of the interviews. He says you know, when we heard Jeff, we knew we had that piece the final piece. The missing piece To do another record.

Speaker 1: 51:49

Was it Jeff that wrote one of those days? Was that his song that he wrote?

Speaker 3: 51:54

Actually Jim wrote that.

Speaker 1: 51:56

I'm sorry, yeah, jim, I meant Jim.

Speaker 3: 51:58

Jim wrote the majority of the music on that and I didn't write anything on it, and Tony, I think, helped with the lyrics and, yeah, Jim came up with some incredible guitar. It was just right in what we were feeling at the time sure the sad thing is, it did really well in europe, but covid, we couldn't go, yeah, you know.

Speaker 1: 52:20

So that was such a that was such a great vibe song like that's uh, one of those let your hair blow in the winds and just go just go which is cool and there was a lyric in that, in that song, and when I heard it for the first time I didn't look at any liner notes.

Speaker 1: 52:36

I'm that guy that writes the damn liner notes, right, but I didn't read it and I just assumed for a minute that Tony had written that song, because there was a lyric in that song that sounded like something Tony would write. But it could have been Jim and kudos to Jim if he wrote it, but it went. I saw an been Jim and kudos to Jim if he wrote it, but there was, it went. I saw an angel standing on the interstate, jeans cut off, clear up the heaven's gate. Amen, can I get an amen?

Speaker 3: 53:03

That sounds like Tony right there, right, yeah, 100%, that's like, if you don't get that, you know yeah no, you nailed it. That's what I'm saying Jim had, we had a basic idea. I think Jim may have been one of those days, that kind of thing, just hey, have it out. And then Tony ran with it. I mean to think of that line. You know. And then the guy who did the video of it nailed it, you know.

Speaker 1: 53:30

It's funny. I don't think that my podcast I it's funny. I don't think that my podcast. I don't think that I'm any better than any other podcaster, but I listen to songs differently than some people do and I get inside of the song. I'm not on the outside of the song, I'm dissecting inside the song and when I heard that it was Tony Hazelden, like no doubt about it, it had to be Tony Hazelden, right? Well, and he has a song called who the Baby Daddy, but you got to Scott.

Speaker 3: 54:02

You got to watch who the Baby Daddy on YouTube. I don't know who did that video.

Speaker 1: 54:03

I don't know who did it, but put it. Even the listeners around the world that will listen to this interview. Who the Baby Daddy, tony Hazelden. Youtube that and it's a I guess it's a this interview who to baby daddy Tony Hazelden, youtube that.

Speaker 3: 54:18

And it's a, I guess it's a.

Speaker 1: 54:20

You can't call it a spoof, yeah, but it's to religion, right yeah? But it explains it Of course, and it's awesome, and I think only Tony could pull something off like that.

Speaker 3: 54:30

Right, you should see when Tony would play like we would do live, and then Tony would play a song Towards toward the end. We would play a little bit in it, but you can see the audience because they're going. I don't know if I should laugh at that, but it's funny yeah, you can't help, but at the end you go oh, I get it, it's yeah well, there was a lot, of, a lot of great songs on the record.

Speaker 1: 54:53

You guys completely redid lifeline, which is one of the songs that you wrote correct Totally different vibe than on the so Fired Up record. Really cool to hear that. In fact I was listening to it in my studio in Cyprus last week, kind of preparing my mind around what I wanted to talk to you about. And my wife walks into the studio and she said I've heard this song before, I've heard you listening, but it doesn't sound like what I'm used to. I said same band, just a remake on the. Well, mostly the same band name but different musicians, but it was a remake of that song Totally different than what you heard off the 83 so Fired Up record. Right, yeah, we went for a different feel.

Speaker 3: 55:41

Okay, you know, just we liked the groove, we liked the feel of the song, we wanted to try to make it where it wasn't so 80s, you know that driving thing.

Speaker 2: 55:52

And.

Speaker 3: 55:52

I think it came off pretty nice.

Speaker 1: 55:56

It almost has like a kind of miami kind of feel to it, like a you know, yes, I tried to do some of that with the piano um you know, uriah, he did that song too yes, they did, yes, they did.

Speaker 3: 56:05

I don't think I've ever heard it yeah that's interesting.

Speaker 1: 56:08

Um well, that was, that's that record. Uh went to number one on the iTunes Blues chart.

Speaker 2: 56:21

Did it not?

Speaker 1: 56:22

Yeah, interesting, and I guess that was one of the first records you guys had released. In what? 18-ish years?

Speaker 3: 56:32

somewhere around there. That's a shame. I wish we could have uh gone and promoted it.

Speaker 1: 56:37

Yeah, uh well, yeah, because that was the height of covid, right, yeah, that's about when I was starting up the podcast. Yeah, you couldn't go anywhere, yeah, um well, and you know, another great track on that effort was, uh, luciana, right, how did that? Do you remember how that song?

Speaker 3: 56:53

came about when.

Speaker 1: 56:54

When Keith uh, we were listening to that on the way up here, hey little.

Speaker 3: 56:57

Luciana, it's a cool tune. Keith Landry was singing with us at the time and he was uh, a backup singer with Bobby Kimball and Toto and he's from, uh, Lafayette area, I think Keith Landry and he and a friend of his wrote that and we always liked it and we cut it, and then we thought about it and then we said nah, nah, and then we said, oh man, we've got to do it. It feels so good and it's just a good little piano song and it was fun.

Speaker 1: 57:26

Well, it really showcased your talents in that song. You got a lot of it. I mean the spotlight was kind of on you when it opened up, right, yeah, it was just one of them old like Jerry Lee Lewis kind of piano things. Do you remember whose idea it was to redo Lifeline, Like of all of the songs that you could have redone? Right, you have a catalog of stuff. Why was it Lifeline that was picked out of that, I think?

Speaker 3: 57:56

Jimbo really liked that song and Fergie I mean Jeff liked it Okay. And Jim said I hear it more laid back. And Jeff said yeah, let's try that, so they would have too.

Speaker 1: 58:10

Well, I mentioned earlier, I think it was an 18-year span between the 2020 release and the last recording. Why the gap? Why the 18-year gap? Was that the time Tony was in Nashville, or was Nashville before that?

Speaker 3: 58:29

No, tony was in Nashville, I was in Alabama, had a whole different career. Tony was in Nashville, I was in Alabama, had a whole different career. We would get together but it wasn't. I think Jim nailed it when finally we got Jeff. We needed a singer and I fell upon him. I talked to somebody and they said well, come see Jeff. I said I heard about that guy and I went and listened to him locally and I said I mean, y'all got to come hear this guy and I think after they heard him they said let's, let's see what we can do. We started getting together and jamming on songs and we said let's do this in the studio. And we got with Jeff Glicksman who did most of the Kansas records and did an awesome job, totally different way of recording than what we did before.

Speaker 1: 59:20

Sure Was that, and not to geek out on the recording too much, but was that a digital type of recording or did you guys go analog on that?

Speaker 3: 59:30

I think we did a bit of both what he did differently before. We did it almost like science. We just went in there and we did the basic track and then we started doing overdubs and what I liked about the way Jeff would do it. He'd go we might have a scratch vocal thing and he'd go come on, I want you to do piano, just play through the whole thing, I'll use what I want to use. So he just lets you kind of jam along. And then he found pieces. He would take a piece and put it here, put it there, and you'd go wow, so you're just playing the click tracks, right?

Speaker 3: 1:00:06

Well, we had basic, the track was there, everything was there, but you had a scratch vocal. You really didn't have guitars yet. But he just let you play. And then when you play you go yeah, I like that. Okay, well, then I'd refine it and use it, you know, and he would pull stuff that I would have never played normally. You know, you kind of get trapped in the way you normally play, but in the studio, because if a guy goes, I don't really like that.

Speaker 1: 1:00:36

That's the good stuff usually, right yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:00:40

Yeah, you wind up coming back around, but that's what I liked about Jeff.

Speaker 1: 1:00:45

He threw it at us from a whole different direction no-transcript, but sometimes they're the highlight of the song. They turn out to be the highlight of the song. They hear things that you don't hear sometimes.

Speaker 3: 1:01:02

Well, you know it's funny, the song Baby, you Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.

Speaker 1: 1:01:05

Sure.

Speaker 3: 1:01:06

Supposedly that was a scratch vocal.

Speaker 1: 1:01:08

Really.

Speaker 3: 1:01:09

That he just did out of fun and it was a hit.

Speaker 1: 1:01:12

That was old Bachman. Turner overdrive right.

Speaker 3: 1:01:15

Yeah, they said he did that as just cutting up you know, yeah, that that's it.

Speaker 1: 1:01:20

I mean some of the garbage that you think throw away is the biggest hit song sometimes you know, uh, daryl hall said so.

Speaker 1: 1:01:27

I had elliot lewis on my show who was a 20-year player with hall and oats. He was in all the live from daryl house videos and played with all these guys and they they were saying that the song Rich Girl, right was a 10-minute write, was a throwaway song and it became one of the biggest songs that they ever wrote right. So one man's trash, I guess, is another man's treasure at the end of the day. You guys recorded New Orleans Ladies on this record for I guess the second time right Slowed it up, slowed it up.

Speaker 3: 1:02:05

Got Tab to play.

Speaker 1: 1:02:06

Featured Tab on the song. I guess the middle of the song, which was not like the original recording, opened up in the middle for some guitar parts. Right Now who was playing? Was that Tony playing those parts or was that?

Speaker 3: 1:02:22

Jimim, jim and, uh, I think, tab went back and forth on that. And then we had the girls, uh, who have doing really well, chapel heart.

Speaker 1: 1:02:30

Same background on that, yes and it and it sounds like you know, rod it, it, it. It sounds hauntingly like the original recording. I mean, they did a really fantastic job on that and Tab's voice is special.

Speaker 3: 1:02:45

He's a hell of an entertainer. He's on, he's on all the time.

Speaker 1: 1:02:51

Sure, well, I remember, I tell you, I had this whole emotional moment listening back to that song after so many years, dating all the way back when I first heard it, and it just kind of came full circle for me. And I don't, you know, I was talking to Scott this morning and we were talking about the death of Leonard Skinner and Scott got choked up talking about it and it's, I guess, guess. Unless you have that deep appreciation and love for music, you don't connect with it on that level. But it becomes a very emotional thing to you, right? The songs take me back in time.

Speaker 1: 1:03:30

I dedicated New Orleans ladies to my wife, who is from New Orleans, and the first time I heard I said this I didn't write the song, of course, but if I did write a song it would be this one and that's just been her song forever. And to hear it re-recorded. And, to be honest, I guess I didn't let myself listen to the song on the latest release, right, um, but I did the other day because I just wanted to, I wanted to listen to the whole record, just front to back, no distractions, and it was a, it was an emotional thing for me because it's just a, it's a song that's literally stood the test of time for you guys yeah, and it's uh.

Speaker 3: 1:04:17

Different people see different things in that song. They wonder if it's about the call girls or what it's about. To me it's about New Orleans. I mean, it's just, it's a. You know, new Orleans is just a mix of everything, so you can pull out of it what you want, of course, but a great song.

Speaker 1: 1:04:35

Yes, outside of music, what keeps you busy these days, man?

Speaker 3: 1:04:42

I'm trying to be stress-free. In fact, the place we have a house, if you figure that one out.

Speaker 1: 1:04:48

Please call me and let me know.

Speaker 3: 1:04:50

We have a house right past Bay, st Louis and past Christiane and it's on the water. And somebody says you know, lisa and I Lisa's amazing, we've been together 13 years and we both, since we've been together, we've done everything. We've redone an old 1957 Yellowstone camper, we did a school bus, we started on a boat and then got busy doing other stuff. We've done 31 houses and we bought that house.

Speaker 3: 1:05:24

I grew up on the water of St Louis Canal in Houma and we had a place in Napoleonville. My grandpa's place was off Lake Ferret. So we bought this place on the water and I told her I said people said I thought you wasn't going to sell your house downtown. I thought you wasn't going to sell the store you redid. Well, we just, we fall in love with it, we give it our all and then we move on to something else. So I said, well, it's our forever home. But that's about a year and a half, you know. But we bought this place on the water and somebody said I guess you'll sell it too and I said yeah, I don't think so. I said I was raised on the water. I'm not saying I'm ready to die, but I'm comfortable.

Speaker 1: 1:06:04

Thanks for clearing that up. Yeah, God don't. He was just joking, Jesus, he was only kidding.

Speaker 3: 1:06:11

But I said, no, I like it there. I can go in the backyard and go catch a fish. Lulu, y'all met Lulu. She hangs there either catching crabs or catching fish, and she loves it. She follows. She goes back and forth between the pole and the cage and it's just that's what it is. But it's time to slow down a little bit, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:06:37

I get it totally, scott, doesn't your? Scott's a little off the mic right here for the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio. But, scott, doesn't your family have quite a big plot of land out in Mississippi somewhere North of?

Speaker 3: 1:06:49

Hattiesburg about 70. Oh wow. Beautiful state, yeah, and my daughter lives in Pass Christiane on the water.

Speaker 1: 1:06:55

Yeah, how many acres up there? We've got 120 up there, okay.

Speaker 3: 1:07:01

You think that's going to be enough. Just that it never will be enough. That's where we got up north of Hasburg and that's where my mother was born.

Speaker 2: 1:07:10

Oh awesome.

Speaker 3: 1:07:11

And raised on that land. You know what I like about Mississippi. You know most clocks run this way. It kind of tink. Yeah, that's right. And I lived in Brandon, mississippi, for about five or seven years and it took me the longest time to get used to it. It's just laid back, but on the coast it's the same thing. They'll go, honey, you ain't got to go that you know. Everybody loves you, everybody, and I'm sure that's eventually going to change. Because now they keep writing articles about it's the secret, the Gulf Coast and but you go over there. And because now they keep writing articles about it's the secret, the Gulf Coast, but you go over there and it's just chill, it's a slower ride, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:07:47

But I mean, I love Louisiana and we have our place in Louisiana. The sad thing is we come here to see doctors and family and then we go back to chill.

Speaker 1: 1:07:55

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:07:55

You know so we'll never give this place up.

Speaker 1: 1:08:00

We're on the water again, yeah yeah Well, you know, what's cool about this place that we're sitting in right now is you mentioned it earlier that the whole band used to come to this place here, and that's kind of a cool thing. That's kind of an honor for me to be sitting in here with such, you know, where great musicians have shared stories and probably collaborated a little bit at some point in time, right, I'm sure, and then the general store that we did was built in 1928, and we would rehearse there.

Speaker 3: 1:08:30

In fact, if you look at our interviews of that last album, that was all filmed in that house Was it Okay. Yeah, and that's all. Was a store in 1928. Served the plantations and all the people around there. It was just awesome, yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:08:47

Well, just to my immediate right for the listeners in their mind's eye there's a beautiful baby grand piano. Do you still play today? Do you just sit down at the piano and just tool? I don't hammer at it, but I'll play, I'll sit down.

Speaker 3: 1:09:05

It's funny. I might have a cocktail and then I think of a song and I play for emotion. Now I don't just play, of course, and I'm going to tell you why. I've got a hearing issue going on. You know, you hear about these guys that lost their hearing. I'll be playing. It happened on the first cruise we did and I'll be in G, but every bass note that the bass player would hit would be A, so it'd be the ninth.

Speaker 3: 1:09:29

Yeah yeah, and if you listen to a song, I'll listen on the radio and it'll start. It'll do that and I can't follow the song anymore because it's playing the ninth of every, so it changes with the song, but it's the ninth and it drives me crazy yeah, so I don't know if um I don't know what I asked the lady. I went to the hearing thing. She goes. Oh, I can't help you with that.

Speaker 1: 1:09:49

You know too many fibers laid down right, but um, yeah, are you still writing at all? Do you not write anymore?

Speaker 3: 1:09:58

I started writing a song a few weeks ago and it's it's about no stress, okay, you know, and it's gonna have a Mississippi vibe I hadn't worked on it much lately and then with Tony's now we're getting ready for a memorial service on the 29th, that we're gonna do some stuff, but no, not really. It's kind of like Tony said, you know, he just kind of it didn't leave him, but it wasn't the Predominant. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:10:27

You dabble. You dabble in it or around it If you feel something you go like that and then you know it's just.

Speaker 3: 1:10:34

I don't want to say I lost my mojo, I just want to say my mojo's changed Elsewhere. Yes, yeah, I get it.

Speaker 1: 1:10:42

It's like taste buds, I think. Over the years they just change what you liked in the past you don't have a taste for anymore. I don't know why that happens, but it does. It's a real thing and I think it's that way with musicianship too. Being an artist, I go through those lulls too, where sometimes I want to play eight hours a day and sometimes I don't want to play for eight days.

Speaker 2: 1:11:07

There's no rhyme or reason to that.

Speaker 1: 1:11:11

It's a phenomenon that I can't explain, but I never lose the love for music and hearing music that never goes away right, the deep love for the art and the song.

Speaker 3: 1:11:22

It's funny because Lisa loves music more than I do. I mean she would want to go see everybody, which is good, because when I'm not in that moment she'll drag me out and we'll go watch somebody and then be like, oh, that was cool. Yeah of course, but it's just changed. I can't explain it.

Speaker 1: 1:11:43

Share with the listeners just real quick. What does from a member perspective? What does LaRue look like today?

Speaker 3: 1:11:52

Well, the core of the band is still there. I mean, we've done shows with one guitar player and it's not to take away from losing one, it's just obviously the songs that we do with two guitar players will have to be revamped and structured differently. But you know, it's funny because we're going to have a meeting, probably in two to three weeks, and just visit with what is I call it me Mark and Jim and Jeff. What do we think the band needs to be and what direction do we want to go? How much life is there in it still? So we're at that crossroads that you've got to go. Do we want to chase it? Not chase it for a record deal? But when we get together on stage it's magic, yeah, and we miss that part of it. So we've got to figure out how we're going to get that back and that's, I think, what we're going to get together and talk about.

Speaker 1: 1:12:51

Yeah, I think both of us stole my thunder because that was a question that I was going to ask coming up, but it was a perfect segue into it. Like you know, with the loss of Tony you know Leon a while back, like I was wondering what the direction of the band. Is there a direction for the band or is it still just kind of let's talk about it? We don't even know, let's just figure it out.

Speaker 3: 1:13:15

That's kind of where we're at right now, but you know we did that, like I said, at 2018, we did the Rockin' Southern Rock, Molly Hatchet, not a single original member.

Speaker 1: 1:13:25

Isn't that just a tribute band at that time right?

Speaker 3: 1:13:27

And Foreigner has no original members.

Speaker 1: 1:13:30

Well, did Mick Jones finally give it up?

Speaker 3: 1:13:33

Yeah, In fact, the last thing I heard about it was when he didn't play and the crowd was going crazy Wait a minute, because they've always had a replacement singer.

Speaker 1: 1:13:44

Yeah, kelly Hanson, who has sang with Foreigner for probably 20 years now, and Jeff Pilsen, who was in Dokken for a while and then he was in Black Swan. I mean, those guys are phenomenal musicians in and of themselves, but they serve those songs, those Foreigner songs, really really well.

Speaker 3: 1:14:04

We went to see Chicago and Biloxi and they were freaking awesome. Yes, and I think it's three original members left. The keyboard player is 81 years old Now. He doesn't sing a lot of the parts he sang originally, but they were awesome. The show was awesome. So age doesn't determine it.

Speaker 1: 1:14:19

No.

Speaker 3: 1:14:21

You just have to see where we're at.

Speaker 1: 1:14:22

That's exactly it. Where can the listeners and? You made a comment earlier and I might be asking the wrong guy, but I'm going to ask you anyway when can the listeners find the band on social media?

Speaker 3: 1:14:35

We have a website. Well, we do have a website, but we also have a Facebook page, and Mark is usually in charge of that. But I would say the website it's here lately hasn't been updated much, but again, that's one of the things we'll be talking about.

Speaker 1: 1:14:52

Awesome. Well, Rod, listen, this has been super awesome man. I appreciate you taking the time and Scott for coming down here with me. Thanks for opening up your home. I know that sometimes might be a little weird for people, but sometimes just being on these good mics is better than this Zoom crap, because it doesn't come across sometimes as genuine, and I've had some awesome in-home interviews and this is another one that I've had, so I appreciate this so much.

Speaker 1: 1:15:21

I I wish you guys the best of luck, um and and continued success for whatever the band comes up with. And if you're ever in houston, make sure you you call and let's have a a coffee or a beer the last time we played there was at uh, what's his name?

Speaker 3: 1:15:36

uh, mike. Um no, the radio personality. He's a friend of mine. I can't remember his name. He had the Redneck Social Club.

Speaker 1: 1:15:47

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, gosh dang it.

Speaker 3: 1:15:50

Hey, what's his name? She's sleeping probably.

Speaker 1: 1:15:55

Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3: 1:15:56

He's a conservative radio host.

Speaker 1: 1:15:58

Yes, Michael Berry. Thank you have an old person. What did you call it? You're having a numbers issue. It's a numbers issue. Yeah, 1966.

Speaker 3: 1:16:08

Yeah, michael Berry, he had that club. He's just a cool guy.

Speaker 1: 1:16:14

That was a cool place, did you say you played it, we played there.

Speaker 3: 1:16:18

You know that's how I met him. You don't have to keep this, but that's how I met him. I have Alvin Ballard Roofing, my roofing company, which I'm trying to close down, and they brought me WJBO was advertising and they brought me to meet the guys that we advertised with. Well, michael Berry, I really didn't know of him. I just know that I was on his show. Oh, I love him. I just know that I was on his show. So we're sitting there and they're talking about music and all he goes. Yeah, man, there's one band I really loved and he said LaRue, and they all get this look on their face. You know that's funny. And he goes what's the deal? What you heard of them? No, I didn't do that.

Speaker 3: 1:16:56

The people at the table and he goes and they said that's the keyboard player, he's in it. And he said no way, and we've been friends ever since.

Speaker 1: 1:17:06

That's funny yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:17:07

I know and I mean he was a diehard. He tells about when he was at high school. Whatever, diehard LaRue fan.

Speaker 1: 1:17:14

Isn't it funny? The people you least expect to know what you did or do is one of the biggest fans out there. That's super cool. And you spoke of the Redneck Country Club and that is a really cool place for the listeners that don't know about this place. It's a really cool music type of venue and the seating in there is lawn chairs, right, just like you would think of a redneck sitting out in the yard in a lawn chair.

Speaker 3: 1:17:38

Cut-off campers yes yeah, cool, cool, cool.

Speaker 1: 1:17:43

Very cool stuff. So again, rod, thanks a lot for joining me. This has been super cool and there's some things that I learned today that I didn't even know, and that's kind of one of the reasons that I started the show, because I'm the music junkieie, I love the stories behind the songs, the stories behind the band, and, being a huge larue fan myself, it did it kind of broadened my knowledge about the band.

Speaker 3: 1:18:07

So thanks for sharing. I really like to talk to people who go that in depth. Sure, like I think it was about six years ago I finally knew the words to the old ladies. You know it's a joke, but it wasn't that far away yes, yes, yeah, but you know listen.

Speaker 1: 1:18:21

I asked the listeners to check out LaRue's website at wwwlarueband and, yes, that is band. That's a weird DNS name, but you can find it at wwwlarueband. And make sure to follow them on all of the social media handles. 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 each other and yourselves and we'll see you right back here on the next episode ofstagePassRadiocom. You guys remember to take care of each other and yourselves and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

Speaker 2: 1:19:06

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries and the streams continue to grow each week. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring and keep the passion of music alive.