SPEAKER_01 0:46

Welcome to Backstage Pass Radio. It's Randy Halsey here. Today's guest grew up in the heart of Baton Rouge, cut his teeth on the Chitlin circuit, and rose from the church pews to world tours with legends. His guitar tells stories, his voice carries truth, and his songwriting hits with the weight of a lived life. This is the journey of Jonathan Boogie Long, and we'll get to it right after this.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

This is Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Fass 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

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 1:31

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 melody. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Holsey.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Boogie, here we are, man. What's shaking, brother? How you doing?

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Man, I'm good. As good as expected, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

What do they say every every day above ground is a great day, right? Oh man, I'm telling you, man. It really is.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

It truly is.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, well, it's good to see you, man. And I I look forward to you uh sharing your story here with the listeners of uh Backstage Pass Radio. And I and I think it's it's my understanding. So I was, I think me and you and and Jim were, and there was some other person that were looped into a text message this weekend. You were in Nashville. Are you still in Nashville or did you get back home already from this consequence?

SPEAKER_04 2:29

I'm back home. Uh I had to go play a private party at the Yacht Club in Mount Juliet

Nashville Gig And Music Connections

SPEAKER_04 2:35

with Bart Walker's band. Bart plays guitar with uh Jamie Johnson and Hank Williams Jr. And uh his band got hired for a gig by a friend of mine, and so he flew me up there to come be a special guest.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

You know, very cool. So how was how was the gig?

SPEAKER_04 2:52

It was great. Yeah, it was really cool. Uh I've done it, I've done it before with my band, so I kind of knew what to expect. I knew it was gonna be a s a small crowd um of you know of you know high rollers, you know, like a small crowd of high rollers, basically, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Sometimes those are the the the fun gigs, too, right? You know, it uh doesn't always have to be like a 10-15,000-person show. Like some of those small, intimate things can be really fun in and of themselves, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:24

That was a lot of fun, and uh they I can I can tell you right now, they had more fun than I mean they man, they had a lot of fun, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I bet they did. Well, you know, it just came to my mind, it's it's interesting. Uh I have some friends up in um they're in Indiana, and they're huge. You you you mentioned pre us going live. You you you dropped the name Samantha Fish, right? And um John and Leslie, my friends John and Leslie who live up in um in Indiana uh are huge, huge Samantha Fish fans, and and I got to I got to kind of digging around, and it looks like they're connected through Facebook with you as well. And you you may not know them, but you know, I know you us musicians will connect with a lot of people. Sometimes we know them, sometimes we don't, but they're big blues followers, huge Samantha fish. I'm sure I've met them.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

Yeah, I'm sure I've met them. I uh I did uh several tours with her. Uh you know, she uh two of my records were on her label.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

So okay, awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

So I did I did a lot of stuff on the East Coast and then a couple on the West Coast, you know, the troubadour, belly up, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Well, I guess speaking of records, man, a quick shout out to our uh mutual friend uh Jim Odom at Miracle Records for uh he was my connection to you, and and Jim was on with me in my season nine, which was like October of of last year. So thanks, Jim Odom, for for hooking me up with Boogie here.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Yeah, and uh Jim is a is uh uh amazing person, a a great friend, uh, you know, and and uh man, he's one of my biggest supporters uh right now. He's he's been in my corner since uh day one, and he's really trying to help me make something uh positive and memorable, and uh trying to help me kind of get my feet in the game the right way, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, well, that's a good camp. The LaRue camp is a good camp to be in. You know, I've had Rod Roddy, I had uh Tony Hazelden on my show before he passed, and and of course Jim. And I've been uh geez, man. I you know, I guess I date back to LaRue a a long ways just from uh from a fan base, but that 83 record so fired up that came out when Fergie was still with the band, like you know, I I told all three of those guys, and I did my interview with Rod at his place in uh Thibodeau. I said, you know, that's top three albums front to back for me of all time. Like I just there's something about that record, and then Zebra, the debut from Zebra was another big record for me, right? We'll talk about the whole Louisiana roots there shortly, but love the LaRue guys, man. You you got it, you got a good team there, especially with Jim, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Yeah, well, you know, and he's uh I mean he's he's really just trying, you know, anything and everything, and he's you know, not scared to try anything. So it's really it's interesting to watch it happen, and they're you know, they're real uh optimistic, man. You know uh that we're gonna have some big stuff coming up.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

So I can think of worse people to be in, you know, I have in my corner, right? I mean, you got a guy that, you know, we'll talk about it maybe a little bit more later on, but boy, what a what a company he's cold co-spun up, you know, years ago with Presonas, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:57

The guy Yeah, he founded it and and uh and yeah, and built it up to to to be something something real special, and then he ended up selling Defender.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, for sure. Well, you you two guys, I mean, speaking of speaking of Jim, you you two guys have more in common than just Miracle Records. I mean, you're both inductees into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:21

Yeah, yeah. Uh and we've been uh I've known Jim for a for a long time before we started actually working together, you know. Yeah. But um my he had mentioned something to my friend Tracy about, man, you know, Jonathan's never had a record that was done the way that I think he should have a record done. Like he hasn't had one that really truly represents him in a way that, you know, like I feel it should. And so Tracy told me that. He's like, man, Jim wants to produce a record on you, and that's kind of what started the ball rolling. Next thing you know, I'm having I'm having dinner, and then we, you know, a couple more lunch meetings, and then we're in a studio, you know, with a couple guys actually tracking stuff, and it's you know, just came together, man.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And I think and I think you're the artist, if a and correct me where I'm wrong in any of this interview, right? I I'll let you set the record straight, but I think you're the artist kind of kicking it off from Miracle Records, are you not?

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Yeah, I'm the first, I'm his first artist, you know. He's gonna uh he's gonna produce a couple a couple different people, I'm I'm sure. He's he's looking for some other artists to produce. He asked me, he even told me, hey man, if there's an artist that you believe in, bring them to the table and let's talk about it, you know. But but uh you know, it's uh it's just a tough like the record business is such a tough game, especially right now. Like it's hard to it's hard to recoup, it's hard to uh do anything unless you're unless you're really, really, really hitting the road real hard. And yeah, uh, you know, uh it's our it's really hard to get traction on Spotify.

SPEAKER_05 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

I mean it just it just is, unless you have a viral, unless you have like a video or something that goes viral or you know, which is which is honestly what I should be focusing a lot of my time on. But I mean, what do you but it's like I I sit there and I spin my wheels like what do you do? Like you gotta go act

Surviving Streaming And Social Media

SPEAKER_04 9:23

stupid or what? Well, yeah, exactly. Or or like or or do I just sing my entire catalog at the camera, you know, with all my might and and just hope and pray that somebody connects to it, you know? It's like it just feels forced.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah. One yeah, I I agree with you there. And I what I will tell you is I've had this conversation at nauseum with artists, like even I'm a musician too, a professional musician here in Cyprus, Texas, but you know, promoting your show, it's a social media is a necessary evil for guys like you and I. Probably more so for you because you're you're basing a living on this, whereas I'm not basing a living on this. But you know, it's like you think of things like TikTok and you say, Do I just go act dumb and do dumb videos just to get recognized on TikTok? Like, man, I'm 60 years old. Like, like that ship has sailed. I'm not gonna go look dumb on social media for a few followers, right? So I I don't I don't sell myself out. So I I get your thought process is like, what do I do? Do I sing the phone book? Do I do a handstand at the park? Like, what the hell do I do to get noticed around here, right?

SPEAKER_04 10:37

Well, I I've been improv solo and on TikTok uh to anything and everything. And uh man, I'll play metal and I'll play Crossroads by Bone Thugs and Harmony, and I'll play I'll play blues and shuffles and fusion and jazz. Like I've been on a smooth jazz kick this week, like just like I've been playing my 335, you know. And uh man, I I started out uh about two years, I'm gonna say about two years ago with 800 people that that already knew who I was, you know. And on live streams alone, I'm almost 29,000. Very nice. So it's just on but but what's cool about it is is that it's all organic. Yep. They didn't follow from a video. It's people that scrolled through and went, holy crap, this guy's amazing, you know. And uh, man, I've got I've got 10, 20, 30,000 comments or more of people that just say, man, you're the you know, they there's a lot of people that say you're the best, you're the baddest dude on TikTok, you know. So I've got a lot of people that really I got a lot of people that just hang out in my room just to hang out because they because the vibe is so cool, they just feel the vibe. Right on. My mix is really good. And yeah, you know, they uh I'm good at like um I'm good at keeping up with like the comments while I'm playing. Yep. So people like that, you know, they like the engagement. And uh, so that's been helping me. I I say all that to say uh that that's been helping. Yeah, yeah. Because whenever I do that a lot, like um the you you'll see the Spotify numbers kind of go up a little bit because people are checking out your stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_05 12:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

So that's really cool. And uh and that's really what the goal is, is to try to get that number up. I mean, I've had I've had people in the business tell you, we won't even look at you unless you have a million streams. We don't even want to, you know, we don't even care about you till then.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So it's all it's all about recognition and notability, right? Uh and I don't I don't want to go down a uh like a TikTok rabbit hole, but I I you may remember I I I stumbled across you on one of your live streams the other day, right? Yeah, I remember. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I remember and I'm like, oh, there's Boogie right there. And I I checked it out for a little bit, but um, like high level, right? Like, because I don't for for the people that aren't the gearheads, like what do you do sound wise going into the TikTok live to get the best sound for you? Like like talk talk to the listeners.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

So I'm using a I'm you I'm using an audio interface, like a like a uh Scarlet Focus right. I'm running it straight into my MacBook, and then uh I'm having that be my interface. Uh and then I just run my mic into the left channel, my guitar into the right channel. I'm using like a um like a uh Fender Tone Master Pro, you know. Okay, and uh and I and I play my back and track straight off of YouTube, right? And then TikTok Live Studio has uh loot back. So so like anything that you hear on your computer,

Dialing In Pro TikTok Live Sound

SPEAKER_04 13:49

they can hear on the stream, okay, you know? And then somehow magically, because it doesn't work for most people, and sometimes I have uh glitches too, but somehow magically everything lined up and just worked.

unknown 14:04

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

So so it is some people have a latency, some it some people have issues, yeah. But my I didn't have any of those issues for like by the grace of God, like when I plugged everything in, it just it just happened. You know that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Well, I notice a lot of people are live streaming at their shows, and I have to think that a lot of them are not connected to Wi-Fi, they're coming straight over the cell tower, and a lot of them have really good sound and video, which is surprising. Like you would think there would be a lot of buffering and and well, cell phone cameras are getting better.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Cell phone cameras are getting better, and the other thing is is is man, I I've seen guys that have a just have their phone sitting on a table and they're playing uh uh with a back and track blaring through the speakers, and they got their guitar amp behind them, and they're just letting the phone pick up all that sound. I've seen them guys have half million followers. That's crazy. I followed a guy that had a that he was my TikTok hero. His name was Paul, his uh is Big Paul, you know. He's a big Mexican guy named Paul, and he plays the blues in Penton, you know, one spot. And uh man, he had a half million followers. And I was like, he had more followers than Joe Bonamasa. I swear, by like twice. I was supposed to say it's twice. Well, he's because he's on there every day doing it. But anyway, enough of the TikTok rabbit hole. Right, yeah. Go check out TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

There you go, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Well, um, I think it's American old now.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Right on. Well, I think that uh you call Baton Rouge home these days, but uh is is Baton Rouge it so set me right. Are you in Baton Rouge these days and that's where you were born and raised? Or talk talk to me.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

I live in Hammond. Hammond, which is about yeah, which is about 45 minutes or 40 minutes from Baton Rouge. I got you. Uh I but I I was born in Baton Rouge, and I I spent, you know, some years there, and then uh I went to school in Livingston Parish, which is kind of like like where I got into like the band program and like like that sort of stuff. I mean, I had a guitar when I was a kid, like like a cheap acoustic, just kind of like a banger guitar. But I didn't get it like my first like actual guitar till I was about eight and a half or so. My dad bought me a white Oscar Schmidt um

Louisiana Roots And First Guitar

SPEAKER_04 16:31

uh on his birthday one year. It was his birthday. We were at a pawn shop, and he bought me this guitar, and then that's kind of where I like really took to the journey, you know. Like I banged around and like like messed around and would try to like imitate my my pawpaw, you know, and like all that kind of stuff. But that's when I like got, you know, I took a couple lessons and like I had people like really trying to show me stuff, and you know, I went to Mark Wascomb and Denham Springs and he started teaching me how to hear stuff. That's how I learned was was because he could listen to something and just play it, you know, and I always was fascinated with that. I was like, man, he can just hear it, you know. He doesn't have to like have tablature music or anything, he can just he could just go right to it, you know? And uh so that's what I that's how I learned. I learned to use my ear, you know, uh, and just learned how to uh how to do that. Now I hear the band, I hear the entire band in my head, and I just can't get rid of it. It's like and and uh like when I'm listening to a song, I'm hearing the I don't have to have a guitar in my hand to know what the progression is. I can I can chart out the progression to the song just listening to it. I don't need an instrument. And then it doesn't matter what the it doesn't matter what key it's in because the progression is the progression. Then you find out what the one is. It's not even about having perfect pitch. You can just hear it based on the major scale, based on do, re mi, fa, sol, la ti do. You can hear whether the song starts on the minor six or the minor two or the four, or if it starts on the one. You can hear those things. You can hear it without having an instrument, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

That's interesting that you say that, you know, like like I I'm a classical pianist trained from way back in the day, and I don't really play the piano much anymore. I have one here in the studio, but I learned to read music at a young age, and when I hear guys like you say, you know, I'm a I'm a Phil or I'm a play-by-ear guy, and then you start talking about relative minors and major six and the first and the fourth and the fifth of that that's all theory stuff. So it doesn't, in my head, it's like, how do guys like you know so damn much about theory when you don't know anything about theory? That doesn't make sense to me, right? I'm looking at it being around it so much. Is that what you say that's it?

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Yeah, and and and when I say when I say I don't know theory a lot, okay, is the is the sense of man, listen, I play Aeolian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Dorian, all that stuff. I don't know what none of them sound like, okay. I couldn't play, I can't play the the scale straight through for you, okay, right? I don't know, I don't know the modes like like straight through up and down. I play in all of them. I play in out because I play fusion, so I'm I just hear it though. I feel it. I'm not looking at guitar, I always say this on the online. I say, I'm not looking at guitar like Olympic figure skating. Like, here comes the Dorian. Last time he tried this, he failed miserably. I wonder

Playing By Ear And Finding Feel

SPEAKER_04 19:43

if he's gonna get a perfect 10 this time. You know what I'm saying? I don't look at it that way. Okay. I'm feeling it. I'm not thinking to myself, like, all right, I'm fixing to play a mixolydian scale, or I'm fixing to play a lick that's in mixolydian. Yeah, I'm not I'm not thinking about it theoretically. I'm using my ear and going, this is where my soul wants to go.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yeah, it's a feel thing at that time, right?

SPEAKER_04 20:06

It's just a feel thing. Like it's like a language. I try to tell people it's like talking. Yeah, it's like another form of talking, it's my form of uh communication. Yeah, you know, and it's and uh and um it's not that I can play, it's not that I can play everything. It's that I can play what I what I think, what I want. And that's all I get, that's all I care about. I don't care about learning Eddie Van Halen's wicks. I want to sound like Boogie Long. That's right. You know, and I can sound like Boogie Long over anything. I can sound like Boogie Long over a metal track, I can sound like Boogie Long over rap, hip-hop, funk, jazz, RB, polka. Yeah, you know, anything. I can sound like me. Yeah, and that's that's what I try to do. I don't try to be anybody else or or uh now they all influence you. Everybody influences you, you know? Yep. My favorite guitar player was Sean Lane. He's the people that nobody ever played faster than him, and it's not about fast. That's not what's cool because he was melodic too, but he could do stuff that nobody else in the world could do. And I and I saw him at 12 years old and said, I'll never be the best. Never, but I can strive to write a good song.

SPEAKER_05 21:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

And then that's what that's what it ended up becoming about. It became about trying to write a good song because everybody's a great guitar player, but but what you know, what do you do with it if you don't write a good song?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

That's right. That's right. Well, if the guitar, if the guitar went away for you, right? What what would the fallback instrument be? If I said, Boogie, we're taking all the guitars out of that studio right there, and you got you gotta pick something else, man. What what would that instrument be for you?

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Do you think? It'd probably end up being piano, I or keyboard. I play, I play just a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

But I mean, that's probably where I would go to, like just based on my understanding of guitar already. Makes sense, you know. Uh I mean I play drums and stuff, but I know I know uh some of the best drummers in the world, and I wouldn't You ain't gonna be it, right? I ain't gonna be it. That's right. I ain't gonna be it, man. So I just I just you know, uh singing also, I mean I can sing. I could I could sing. Like if like if something happened to me to where I wasn't able to play, I would try to sing. Yeah. You know, just be a blues singer.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

My my mentor was Big Luther Kent. He was one of the best blues singers in the world. He sang with blood, sweat, and tears, and you know, he uh fronted a twelve piece big band and uh so I I I know some of that showmanship. I know like some of that, you know, just being a singer showmanship. Of course, of course. So I I hide behind that guitar a lot though. I do hide behind my guitar skills. You know what I'm saying? Just because like totally, totally. It's a crutch. It's like a little bit of a crutch, you know? Yeah. So uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Well, it's I think I think a lot of artists and and you you are a really good player, no doubt, right? But I think there's a lot of like country musicians that use the guitar, even though I think they ultimately know how to play it and are probably well good do good enough at it. But you look at guys like Alan Jackson and George Strait, like how many times have you seen them strum a few little bars and then they stop playing and they s they're singing? It's it's kind of like uh it almost is a prop to them or a comfort, like a pacifier, if you will. It's a fidget, it's a fidget spinner. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

It's like a fidget toy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

No, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 23:46

Yeah. Sometimes they're probably not even turned up, or you know, they're probably just out of the mix, just whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

That could be it. Like we'll never know, but yeah, that's cool. Yeah, uh well, you talked about you talked a minute ago. You you mentioned Paw Paw, you mentioned your dad buying a guitar on his birthday for you. Yeah. So so I guess it's safe to say you come from a musical family of some sort, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:11

Yeah, my grandfather was a was a fire and brimstone preacher. You know, he he never did preach at a church, but like he would go guest preach, and he would have uh he always led like a home group where they would have what they called singings, they would sing every week, and um and uh so we always played old country gospel. I mean old gospel. They were my grandma, listen, if you don't turn off my grandmother's Jimmy Swaggard, you know what I'm saying? Like I know Jimmy, like they're old, but I'm saying like it just she they they wanted the

Gospel Upbringing And Starting Young

SPEAKER_04 24:46

old school stuff. Uh and uh you know, uh so I came up around that and I came up playing real young in like nursing homes and prisons, like we went to St. Gabriel Prison and we would play there sometimes for the prisoners, and uh I would always pick Amazing Grace. That was the you know, they would sing Amazing Grace, and my my papa would look at me and say, now pick it, you know, and then I'd pick the I'd pick the melody, you know. That was always my shining moment when I was a kid, you know. And then then uh, you know, I just like in the third grade I learned uh I had a talent show, so I learned the Maleguania, I learned Roy Clark Maleguña, and I played that in third grade, and then I uh started going to blues jams and stuff. Uh, you know, Dixie Rose uh found me when I was like 10 or 11, and she brought me into her band. Um, you know, around the time I was 11 years old, it's like the first time I'd been in like a venue to play something something. And then so I started going to rehearsals and stuff with her, and then she kind of introduced me to the the blues jam circuit. So I was able to be around like Larry Garner and Little Ray Neal that played with Bobby Bland and James Cotton and B.B. King, and uh I was able to be around Kenny Neal and Rudy Richard and James Johnson that was the original guitar for Swim Harpo. He played the chicken scratch on scratch my back, you know? Uh so I was able to be around all those people and and uh as a kid and uh you know, 13, 14. And uh I'll never forget I was mad, I was already mad at my band director, uh, and Kenny Neal, Kenny Neal said, Man, you're good. He's uh and he said, uh, you know, I I'm half-minded to bring you to Japan with me, you know, uh go play some music or whatever. And that's when I kind of realized, you know, like this is what I want to do for a living. Like the excitement, the excitement of just that possibility just made me so excited. So um, you know, my band director uh made a decision uh to move me down to last chair and take away my solos on French horn and all that kind of stuff because I had strep throat for a week. And uh I quit school. I went in there and told him if you don't change, all I cared about was band. I said, if you don't change his mind, I I'm gonna quit this school. Yeah, I don't even care about any of this academic crap. I just didn't. All I cared about was music. And uh so I so uh long story short, I quit school. Really what I did was went homeschooling and they never came and checked on me ever. I just disappeared out of the out of the system, right? But I went on the road.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

And this I got a gig. This was like at the age of like 14.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

14. Yeah, it's 14.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Like I hadn't even hit a gig. I hadn't even hit puberty at that age, and you're already you you're already out on the road doing things at 14, right? That most kids are not doing, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Well, I I had I had parents that were uh I call it supportive. Some people might call it crazy. I call it supportive. They allowed me, you know, um I think at the end of the day, like they were really strict with my brother and sister, really strict. My they couldn't even listen to Petra, and that was a Christian rock band. Okay, I remember that. They were extremely very, very strict. So they were way, they were the complete opposite with me. You know, I was able to go to skating rink lock-ins and like do stuff, and they were just like kind of loose with me, and they let me make my kind of like just kind of become my own person. And uh, so uh to I I say that to say when I was 14, I got a gig with a reggae band, uh, Henry Turner Jr. in Flavor. And I uh went on the road with him, and my parents had to sign partial custody of me over to him uh so that I was able to uh so that he could be my guardian in clubs, you know. So I was working, I was working a little bit and I was making a little bit. And uh I also played in church. I had a I had a church, I had a gig at church. I was making like 12, 12 or 1500 a month playing guitar in a church, you know. And uh so I was uh yeah, I was playing when I was a kid, man. Wow. And I also played, I played in a I played in a funk rap cover band for a while. We played all the college uh the uh frat parties and stuff, man. We played all those parties, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

So did you ever get over into Lafayette and play in Lafayette? That's where I went to school at USL back in the day.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

I want to say we did the band was called Too Hypnotic, man. So I want to say we probably did. Uh uh uh I've played Artmas Artmasphere like years and years ago. Uh but um you know it was mostly like like mobile, Hattiesburg, you know, those kind of those kind of things. But but uh so then um I got the Luther Kent gig when I was like 18, is when I became first call. Um so that was a 12-piece big band. I got a lot of seasoning in that band because those guys were old school, and there was no stepping on toes in that band, like you had to learn how to play with a group. It was, you know, 12 people and everybody had a part, and you just gotta like learn how to fit in. So I got a lot of seasoning on that gig. Uh I played that's when I started playing Jazz Fest every year. Because I I started playing Jazz Fest every year with Luther. And then um in 2011, I won uh Guitar Center's King of the Blues. So um, you know, at that time, well I had I had been playing with Luther, obviously, and I'd been playing gigs and stuff, and then uh so what am I 22, 23, then maybe or something like that. Um I won Best Unsigned Blues guitarist in America. So I won 20, I won 25 grand in cash and $35,000 worth of guitars and amps. And then uh they basically it didn't really do a lot for me. They they they did some PR stuff or whatever, and then just kind of turned me loose. And then what really helped me was uh John Blancher was hiring me to play the rock and bowl a lot. And he said,

Big Breaks Guitar Center And Jazz Fest

SPEAKER_04 31:07

Man, you know who's gotta see you? He said, Quent Davis, the owner of Jazz Fest, needs to see you. And I was like, Yeah, and he said, Yeah, he needs to see you play. So he hit Quent up and said, Hey man, you gotta come see this kid, whatever, you know. And uh so I played and and Quentin was backstage, and John said, Hey man, Quentin wants to talk to you. And I I walk up to Quentin and he says, Man, he goes, Where have you been? He goes, Where have you been hiding at? And who are you? And and it I just got he's like, I just gotta help you. I just I just know that I have to help you, you know. So he got me signed, he got me my first management deal with Red Light Management, which is one of the biggest companies in the world. Uh corn capshaw managed Dave Matthews, and he um he flew Chris Tetzelli and his business partner down to Denham Springs or down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to watch me play at a blues jam, or I was hosting a blues jam. They came to watch me host the blues jam, and I had um I had bronchitis so bad, I I had like I like fluid in my head, you know, and I was I was ner I was nervous as shit, and I was like, there's no way they're gonna love me. And uh Chris Tedzelli came up to me after that gig and he said, Hey bruh, he said it people like you, artists like you, are the reason that I got into this business to begin with. That's awesome. And so I got uh that's when I got my first management deal and uh kind of like started playing like you know nicer festivals and stuff like that. And uh so yeah. Yeah, you you you you spoke about um the guitar center accolade that which is super cool, but uh you know, another accolade we we touched on it uh briefly uh earlier was the induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and I think that came to you in what was that was based on, and I'll tell you, like, that was based on just the fact that I've been in music since I was a kid. Yeah, and and I made a joke, you know, Mike Shepard just died, literally. Uh uh God rest his soul, he literally just died two or three days ago. Um and I told Mike, I said, uh just jokingly with him, uh I said, uh I I'm gonna backtrack. They were they were inducting, I want to say they inducted, they inducted a kid. And I was like, man, how does this kid get inducted? And they said, oh, well, he he did something special, whatever. And I was like, well, I did some special stuff, and I was like, I told Mike, I said, well, if you're gonna ever induct me, I said, don't wait till I'm almost dead, like everybody else you induct. Induct me early enough to where I can use it, or like, or at least put it on in my resume and like and like say something about it, you know. Yeah, so so he did, you know, he did because he he uh you know the whole the board or whoever decided uh this decided that I deserved it, and I like I said I've been doing it a long time. That's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Well, I think Jim Odom was inducted in 2009, if my memory served me correctly, with LaRue. But I've you know I've had I've had those zebra guys on my show several times there, Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Lillian Axe has been on my show, which is you know, as you know, I mean if you live in Louisiana and don't know who any of these people are, right? Then you you haven't been in the music business at the end of the day. That's right, right? So super cool stuff. Well, another accolade is is you know is is the current record that came out this year called Courage and the Chaos uh has done really well for you, and I think considered a billboard top 20 blues artist from from that particular record, or is is that yeah, we made it to number 14.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

We made it to number 14. And and and man, it's so hard to make it on there now because they they uh they now include what's called legacy acts, uh, which are Edda James and Steve Ravon and Eric Clapton. And so like us new guys, you know, whenever we release a new record, you're having to compete with with pride and joy and like all this, these like that's right, these like heavy hitting records, and uh there,

Billboard Charts And Positive Songwriting

SPEAKER_04 35:20

you know, uh so it's really hard. It'd be super hard to get to the top. I had a record that was number five before, and and if it was still like like it was then, I'd have been number two or three because we sold enough records to get there. Wow. But but because we had to deal with the legacy acts, we didn't even know if we were gonna make it at all. I got a call that Sunday, because that was the big campaign we were telling people, like, hey, by the record, we're trying to make it on the Billboard chart. You know, it's like it was like a goal. You know, we set a goal, we were gonna try to do it, and then they called me on Sunday and said, Hey man, I think we're gonna be like number 16, and they only list 15, you know? So I was like, oh my god, man, really? So I was kind of bummed.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

And then the next morning I got an email from Billboard, from Billboard.com, and it said, Hey, we need pictures and uh a bio on this thing, you know, you're gonna be chart, you're charting tomorrow, you know.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

Wow. So it's like so it was kind of like uh that's how it went, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Well that's I mean, that's that's the cat's meow when it comes to the the charts, right? I mean, the billboard is is the the de facto standard, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:30

And to be honest with you, man, we uh it's a week by week thing. We made it on there for one week because we sold a bunch of records.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Yeah, but you were on there for you were on there one more week than I was on there, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:43

And we were we were on there and we made a very we made a big impact. And uh there will be uh one day, one day, I have faith that I'll make a big enough impact to where maybe I'll make it on there two weeks. You know, and I'm just gonna and I'm just gonna keep pushing until then. Uh, because what I do know is that what I do, people connect with. Absolutely. And uh and um I'm changing, you know, I have people that come on my live stream and they I've I inspired them to pick guitar up again. They put it down, but they'll sit there and practice with me. I'll have 20 or 30 grown men on the other side of the screen practicing with me and playing while I while you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 37:26

That's super cool, man.

SPEAKER_04 37:27

And we just have uh we just we're just building a community and it's uh man, I've just got I've gotten some of the craziest messages of just like an outpourings of love and support. So I just uh you know, I I know that what I'm doing's positive. I know that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing in this life. Yep. And it's just gonna take uh, you know, I I try to write more positive stuff. I I try to I I don't I don't try to write negative, and I feel like negative is what gets a lot of the attention these days. And so I'm uh I'm always gonna try to write positive and make people feel better. And I'm just gonna hope that that that that narrative turns around one day and people start wanting to hear up stuff that's gonna be more uplifting than than stuff that's gonna be derogatory or bring them down. A lot of mainstream music's derogatory.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Yeah, there's a lot.

SPEAKER_04 38:23

It disrespects women and it disrespects uh different ideologies and it disrespects people and just you know, just everything. It's just disrespectful. Yeah, and it's just taste, it's it's distasteful, and uh, I'll never I'll never uh succumb to that. I'll never succumb to that.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

No, one hundred percent. And I and I think that uh regardless of how you know how high up the charts or how many millions of dollars or how many records you sell, like you gotta be in your mind, you have to live with your own conscience and and the message that you're putting out there. And if you're putting out negative connotations, negative messages, and you can live with that, then by by all means shoot your shot, right? But you know where you're you know your lane. It sounds like you know your lane, you're staying true to your heart, that's what your heart says, and that that's that's uh that's respectful in my eyes. I mean, that's 100 right there.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

So Yeah, I mean, I just try like uh I just try to be real.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Well tell me more, tell me more about the new record, man. Uh courage in the chaos. Talk to the listeners a little bit about the record.

SPEAKER_04 39:42

Man, so uh, you know, some of the songs were kind of written in crunch time, you know, where it was like, man, we need some blues rock tunes. You know, I I write blues, rock, and blues pretty quickly. Uh and then some of the tunes were like tunes that I that I reached way back, like lipstick and like insanity, like a couple of those tunes are like super deep tunes that I've been working on for like a long, long, long time that Jim kind of helped me round out. Um and uh the title I just felt like the world needed at the time. You know what I'm saying? We just need courage in the chaos, it's chaotic

Building Courage And The Chaos

SPEAKER_04 40:19

right now, and we need courage. So the title just just kind of like made itself. Uh and uh, you know, it's uh um I think it's a Jim helped me make a very cool representation of kind of where I where my musical head is at, you know? Yeah, and uh you know we did uh we we paid homage to Michael Burks, who's one of my favorite artists, Empty Promises. I've been playing that since before Kingfish was even touring, you know. Uh I've been playing that song forever. They always say, play Kingfish's Empty Promises, and I'm like, nah, that's Michael Burks, you know. I love Kingfish, don't get me wrong. That's my brother, but uh but Michael Burks was one of my heroes. And um uh we did Can't You See because Jim Jim was kind of like, you know, what's an iconic song that that's you know tied to Southern Roots that we could really do something cool with, you know, obviously can't you see, you know. Great rendition of that, by the way. Done nice job on that. I appreciate that. Yeah. So that was cool. And uh, you know, and everything else was stuff that I wrote, you know, just a bunch of different I got stuff that feels kind of country on there, I got stuff that feels adult contemporary. No, I wasn't. I got stuff that feels blues. I it's like I try to I don't try to write something for everybody. I always I say that in interviews sometimes. I try to write something for everybody, but it just ends up happening. It just ends up happening to where like I'll write some catchy stuff that uh is just cross-genre.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

Yeah, you know what, man? You know, the cool thing, I'm glad you said that because I listened, I listened to that whole record top to bottom, like two or three times. And I I say this tongue in cheek and it's no slight. Like it's I said, this is kind of that mutt of a record, right? And a mutt in the most respectful way. I said, this dude is weaving in and out of genres on this record, you know, like I could I could hear this, I could hear that, and it's like, this isn't like that, right? You you know it was so you kind of solidify what I thought I was hearing on that record, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Well, think about think about the way that people consume music now. Like you listen to the record frontwards to backwards, but uh, but most people ain't gonna do that. They're gonna they're gonna sample the first 10 or 15 seconds of the song. If it's a groove they like, they might they might listen to enough to where you sing, right? Yep. And then if if they do like it, they're gonna add it to their playlist if you're lucky, and it's gonna be the one boogie long song on the playlist, and it's gonna play every now and then, and then that's gonna be it. They don't like unless it's like a diehard fan or like somebody that really supports you, uh, a lot of people aren't listening. The general listener is not listening to the whole record. They're not. They're gonna find they're gonna end up hearing the song that's being pushed the most, and they're gonna they're either gonna like it or they aren't. You'll get a playlist ad if you're lucky, and then that's that. And that's how people consume music now. So like if I if I wanna if I wanna end up in a in a country fans country playlist, I gotta have a song like Drinking Through.

SPEAKER_05 43:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:36

You know? Totally. If I wanna, if I wanna end up in a blues fans playlist, I gotta have a song like Baby I'm Through. You know? If I wanna end up in a guy that listens to Z nothing but Z type and Ted Nugent, I gotta have a song like Heller High Water.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

You know what I mean? Yeah, I that's just what you that's just what I gotta have. Like if I like if I want to reach, if I want to reach these people, but I don't I don't think about it. It's not like I go, oh well I gotta have a song.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

You do it subconsciously, right?

SPEAKER_04 44:06

I do it subconsciously, dude. I just do because I listen, because I grew up listening to so much stuff. Like um I'm just weird, dude. I'm just a weird writer. Right now, the only new music I listen to is if Jason Isbel writes a new record, right? But I grew up, but I grew up on nothing but black gospel, RB, and fusion bands. Yeah. So like everybody else was listening to Thunderstruck and and uh ACDC and and and Guns N' Roads and whatever, and I'm listening to the Clark Sisters and Rance Allen and and and uh the Aquarium Rescue Unit. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

It was just like like that's why that's what makes me different. No, you're right. You're very you're very eclip eclectic in the taste. And and and you don't you don't know me past this interview, but I I've said it many times on my show. I'm I'm the liner notes guy. I'm the guy that's gonna buy the record and bust it open and sit there and read the liner notes before I even put the record on the turntable. And then I'm gonna it's a whole it's a whole experience to me. And people don't listen like that anymore. They don't listen like that at live shows. They don't listen like that when they listen in the car, they don't listen like that when they like it's it's a lost art, man. It's not the same anymore. And I'll tell you that, you know, I've had a lot of old school guys. I had Tony Carey from Rainbow, the band rock band Rainbow on my show. And he's like, Man, from you know, the time I recorded records back with Rainbow and my solo stuff with Planet P, they the whole industry is 180 changed. It's just the the music world is not what it was 20 years ago, right? At all.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

It's not, it's not, and that's why uh, you know, like getting getting back on the road to some degree is my biggest goal right now. I I'm gonna do whatever it takes to to get back on the road because I have to, because that's that's where I'm most comfortable in my own skin. But um I had to embrace the online thing or at least find some niche of it that I could that I could grasp and try to grow.

SPEAKER_05 46:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:18

You know, and and live performance is my is my best thing, and improv is my is one of my strong suits. So I I that's why I started doing the TikTok thing so heavily. And uh I just don't make I'm just not good at sitting there making polished content. Yeah and it's hard for me to it's hard for me to get over the perfectionist aspect of my ADHD brain to want to post like stuff to YouTube and I'm kind of like saving that for just live clips, and I'm just gonna have like boogie long live clips. Uh but I should be doing gear reviews and guitar lesson clips and wicks of the day and here's a pedal and here's this and that. But I just I'm I'm like I'm too self-conscious. Yeah. It's it's because of a I I I I'm not it's it's because it was ingrained in my head by previous people that I worked with that everything that I did was was garbage, like everything social media wise was garbage. So I so now that I now that I'm not under such such uh heated discussion, like heated um judgment, scrutiny, I'm still like in that mindset. Totally.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

And it's it's just like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Yeah, I think if I think you I read that you I guess split recording time, was it between New Orleans and Mandeville? Uh share with me how the recording went down for you guys.

SPEAKER_04 47:59

Half the record was done in in in Mandeville at uh Rabidash Studios, and uh uh I had um I had uh David Ellis and I had Terrence Higgins on drums at who now plays for Government Mule, and I had uh Nelson Blanchard, who now plays for LaRue, right, on uh keyboard. And uh so that was that session. And then I did that so half the record was done there. And then the other half the record

Recording Sessions And Song Craft

SPEAKER_04 48:28

was done with Doug Ballode on drums, Alan Maxwell on bass, and John Papa Groh on uh B3 organ. And I did that at Jack Mills studio in uh New Orleans. Jack is the uh the founder and the leader of Molly Ringwalls.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

And he also owns a huge studio. He does a lot of a bunch, a bunch of bunch of TV work, like a lot of stuff from movies and film, you know.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Right, right, right. So well, I love I love the song Insanity, by the way. That one stuck out to me on on that record. And this is uh an 11-song LP, and it features some great musicianship for sure. How how proud are you of the of the record?

SPEAKER_04 49:13

Oh, I'm proud of it. It's my favorite album that I've done. Because like Insanity is one of my favorite songs I've written. I love the song Lipstick that Jeff Glixman, Jeff Glixman helped us mix that, and he did all of Kansas' stuff. He produced Gary Moore, he produced Ingve. He uh he loved that song, and I it was so cool to like uh uh there's just songs on there that I really that I connect with so deeply, and I I was just so happy to finally like just get them out because it's kind of like just shedding it, you know. You just kind of get it out and you just put it out there, and um so man, I'm super proud of it. Could it could listen? You can always do better. Yeah, yeah. Like you can always tell yourself, man, like I go back and listen to this, and this could have done, then we could have done that. But you know what?

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Keep it simple, stupid.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

Sonic sonically, I haven't had a single negative review from somebody that wasn't a troll, like somebody that actually listened to the stuff and and you know, because I mean Daryl Fort mixed the record, he mixed all the Foo Fighters stuff. Guys got 10 Grammys for the Foo Fighters, you know. Yeah, uh I mean it's a really it's just a cool record. Yeah, well you're just cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

Yeah, that's super cool, man. And you meant you mentioned Kansas, and there's there's a lot of ties to Louisiana with Kansas, you know, at in Bogaloosa at studio in the country, like a lot of the the great Kansas records were were done here.

SPEAKER_04 50:48

That's right. Yeah, left overture was was done here, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um I just I just went and wrote three songs with uh Steve Morse, who who uh played guitar with Kansas for a short time, you know, for a little while. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

He also played Deep Purple, but well when it comes to songwriting, Boogie, you you've been compared to the Cody Johnson's, uh the Jason Isbulls, and and you know what? Look, truth be told, I consider Jason Isbel one of the one of the best out there. Uh so I mean he's my favorite of the century. That's that's that's a pretty awesome comparison because Jason Isbel in the 400 unit doesn't write shitty songs, right? Like they just don't do it. And I'm a huge Isbel fan.

SPEAKER_04 51:36

It's a good comparison. I I listen, man, and I'm not I would love to uh that's a great comparison. I I won't even accept that, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_05 51:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah I won't accept that because I because like I've heard, dude, I've heard I've sat there and listened to Elephant.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

Yeah, wow and and man and like deep is that one, man.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

Oh, it's the deepest, and it's like it's like, you know, he writes stuff that if you listen to it and you don't it doesn't hit you in the gut, you don't even have a soul. Yeah. Like I like I used to I used to make a joke, like if you if if I put on an Isbel record and you listen to it all the way through and it doesn't gut wrench you at least one time, I can't be friends with that person. It's like you know what I'm saying. It's like that it's like that's not even a good person.

SPEAKER_02 52:30

You know what I mean? It's like I I don't disagree with you.

SPEAKER_04 52:34

It's just so it's just so deep, man. And uh I am trying to um I'm getting there. I'm getting there, and I and I love the comparison and it's humbling, but I'm getting there, man. I got I got uh I got some living to do. I don't know, dude. That guy, that guy, that guy has been to some dark places. I don't know if I've been there. I don't know if I've been there yet, man.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

He's been through the shit for sure, but I mean you think of if you're an Isbel fan and you think of songs like Vampires, like that's fucking that's about as deep as it comes to, yeah. Like crazy good stuff. Well, you know what, you've you've shared the stages with some greats, man, and and that those greats include the BB Kings, the Joe Bonhomas's, the Robert Craze. What what does it mean to a guy like you to get to share the bill and the stages with with I mean these guys are kind of legends, right? Or they are legends, right? They are legends. What do you I mean, what what goes through your mind? Like, is there ever a pinch yourself moment? Like, what the fuck am I doing here, right? And I know you're grow you're great in your own right, but these are legends that you and me grew up listening to. The BB Kings, right? Let's just say let's throw them out.

SPEAKER_04 53:56

They're all and and you just you just gotta look at them all as a as

Sharing Stages With Legends Staying Grounded

SPEAKER_04 54:02

a uh experience and a and a uh you know, a notch in the belt, a notch in the cap, you know. I mean, it's um, you know, like I've I did a show with Greg Allman. He he's he he'll he'll never be back, you know. I've done a I've done I was on the blues cruise with Alan Tucsant, Buckwheat Zydeco, they'll never be back, you know. It's just like um BB King I did 15 shows with, you know. Um so it's just uh it's humbling, man. That's all I can tell you. Like every every every opportunity that I get is humbling because I know how lucky I am to have it. Well you know what aspects of it, man. There's so many people that are just like like uh the fact that I that I can that I can stand and walk and and feel and taste and touch and see and do what I love and I got all my fingers that work and just it just like I'm just so blessed and lucky just to just to even be here, to even have the opportunity, much less to to share the stage with my heroes and to do those things. So you know what? I just feel blessed, man. I just feel blessed.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Yeah, and and you should. And well, it it it just came to mind that I said this guy, this guy Boogie will will go far because you're a grounded guy, right? I like to think I'm a good judge of character. Um and and you're you're you're a humble guy, even though you're you're a great vocalist and guitarist, right? But that humility, that humbleness, and just staying grounded, people, people see right through the the the unreal musicians. They're they're they're they're just they're dirty, they're messy. Like I don't want to be I wouldn't want to be around those. I'd rather hang around with a guy like you that just you know, I'm just doing this because I really love it, you know, and you know, and what happens, happens from it. If I make ten trillion dollars, I make ten trillion dollars. If I only make, you know, a million dollars, I'm okay with that too. But I'm doing what I love and you and you stay grounded like that. And that that's commendable, man. So pass on the back for that.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

I'm doing it because it's literally my lifeline. Yeah, right. Because it's it's it's what uh it's the reason I exist, man. Yeah. And that's it, it's what keeps me going, you know. So I just have to keep going. And I've had some ups and downs, man. I've had some, you know, I'm trying, I'm on an I'm I'm trying to make an upswing right now. I was on a major, major low. But the thing is, is uh I always make this joke about uh I I say I'm like a I'm resilient like a roach. They could spray me with that, spray me, they ain't never gonna get rid of me, you know.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

There's a there was an uh an interview I saw with Cher uh years ago, and she said, you know, if if there was a nuclear holocaust, uh hell holocaust, there's gonna be only two things left, and that's roaches and share. Like, you know, you're never gonna get rid of her, right? She's gonna be around from the dawn of time, and you you kind of said the same thing in your own words.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

A friend of mine wrote the song uh uh years ago. Um, but uh it it I always remember uh star spelled backwards is rat.

SPEAKER_05 57:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

Yeah. So you just gotta, you know, so at the end of the day, you know, you're a star and you're a rat, baby.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

That's right. Well, you know, we we dropped a few names like you know, BB King, Joe Bonhomasa, Robert Craig comes to mind with you, uh, you know, of course, Jason Isabel. Are there any, I guess, up and comers or current stuff these days that are in that blues rock, creole soul type genre that you're really vibing with? Like, is there anybody doing it for you right now?

SPEAKER_04 58:03

I don't uh I don't really listen to uh uh enough music these days to to honestly uh to make an assessment. I I've been connecting with this, there's this guy named uh there's this group named the Nicotine dolls, and I've been connecting with their singer a lot because he's real, you can just hear the realness in his voice. And then there's a guy I'm gonna mention him, there's a guy that I follow on TikTok who I think is is really gonna be cool. He's like a he's kind of like uh I call him like the next Alan Stone. He's like a soul R and B kid, and his name's Benny G. I think Benny G is gonna be. Yeah, I think I've seen him. It's been on my mind for a day. So, you know, he's got he's got he's got some really catchy stuff. So I so I've been I've been vibing to some Benny G. And um uh man, there's just so many, there's so many unique artists, there's so many unique people out there, man. There's a there's a uh there's just some there's just some some eclectic people. There's there's a guy named Talk, T-A-L-K, and he had a song called Runaway, Runaway to Mars. What a gorgeous song. And he he wears uh he's a real big guy, and he he dresses like uh like uh like an interstellar spaceman meets a wrestler, like a like a like he's in luchador with sparkles and big star. Yeah, he's just the craziest outfits. And uh uh dude, it's so interesting. And and uh I mean like these guys are crushing it, man. Yeah, that's great. You know, we're we uh just there's a lot of there's a lot of hip dudes out there, man. For sure. I don't listen to enough music though. I try to uh I try to play. I I try to just play every day and I try to try to stay writing and you know it's just that it's it's takes up a lot of my mind.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

Well, and you you could you could go down a rabbit hole and I mean there's so many great artists out there that you could just like wither days away listening to people, but I I think that's one of the one of the cool things about my show. Um it you know, it's in 143 countries now, and I've had Hall of Fame guys like yourself from you know bands like Guns N' Roses and blah blah blah blah blah, right? And it this never gets old because it it it helps me to open my ears and to go listen to things that maybe I would have never listened to before, and I fall in love with these things, you know, these artists and these bands. So I think for for musicians we have to keep that open mind and keep keep keep the ears open to new things because you you you never know when you're gonna pull an inspiration of that that you can in turn interpret your way and put it out on a record and it does amazing, right? You never know when the next cool thing is gonna inspire you, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:00

Man, I'm always inspired, man. I might I might get inspired by the windshield wipers on a certain day. You know what I mean? Like there's just why it's just just you know, anything can inspire.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

That's right. Well, talk to the listeners about any projects coming up, either music projects or outside of music that you can talk about. Is there anything that you'd like to share there with the listeners of uh Pass H Pass Radio?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:26

Uh well I'm gonna um I'm working on putting a uh a project together. I'm hoping to put something together with Steve Morse. I don't know if it's what's gonna happen with that yet, but uh we're trying to put something together with that. I've wrote three songs with him already. Um also I got a tour in September. I'm gonna be doing uh Knuckleheads on September 3rd. I'm gonna be at the Red Shed in Hutcheson, Kansas on the 4th, The Blues Ball in Medicine Park, Oklahoma on the 5th, uh George's Tavern in Denison, Texas on the 6th. Then we're gonna wrap up in Baton Rouge at LaBurge uh Casino in the Edge Bar on the 7th.

Upcoming Tours And Next Album Plans

SPEAKER_04 1:02:07

I'll also be at uh Panorama Music House in Lake Charles on the 19th of September. And then I'm doing a tour in December of Florida. 21st will be in Boca Raton, 22nd will be in Cocoa Beach, 23rd will be in Tallahassee, 24th will be in Fort Myre, and the 25th will be in Pensacola. So that's that's cool. You know, I got I got some dates coming up, and really right now that's my focus is like uh trying to get some numbers to report. Yeah. Because I want to I want to put some good numbers up and get those reports so I can show good numbers and just try to move forward, man. That's the the biggest goal right now. I have uh, you know, Jim is helping me uh put some put some funding behind promotion and and press the shows and stuff. And uh we're just gonna um I just want to work hard so that his investment doesn't go uh doesn't go uh you understand what I'm saying. I want him to be able to see his investment do something positive and uh and and which would be awesome because that helps me. I mean he's he's investing in me, so if it's positive, that means I'm I'm positive. So that's exactly it, man. Um so yeah, man. That's we're just trying to move forward and uh you know I I'm just a songwriter at heart, man. You know, I I think we're gonna try to do a traditional blues album because I really feel like I play traditional blues as good as anybody, and I want to do a traditional blues album, shuffles and shuffles and slow blues and minor blueses and and and Albert Collins and and and and Freddie King feeling stuff, you know. Yeah, the real deal.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:46

So I really want to put together something like that at some point. And uh we might even do a we we've even had talks about doing a record with some horns, you know, which could be that record too. So we'll see. We'll see what happens, man. You know, uh absolutely absolutely we're just gonna keep we're just gonna keep a positive mindset in this crazy world, and we're just gonna try to uh be a light to people and and to uh to make people smile instead of frown. There's so many, there's so many, there's so many things out there that just make people wanna wanna vomit, you know. I hate to use that word, but it's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:25

That's true with all the politics and everything. Just everything.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:28

You know, I don't even like I don't even get in it, but it's it's just like just too much, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

It is it's overwhelming, it's overwhelming.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:37

So well, where can the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio find you on social media if they wanted to go out there and find all things boogie long? Where are we looking?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:47

Hey, if you go, uh you know, boogie long.com uh has all my social media links, uh direct direct links. You can click the your favorite app and it'll bring you to the page. Uh otherwise, just Google Boogie Long. Always tell people, just Google Boogie Long. You can my life stories on Wikipedia. All my apps are connected on my Google uh homepage. And um, I mean, uh I'm easy to find. I'm boogie long, man. You know, that's me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:20

That's exactly it. There's only one that I've ever heard of.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:22

So

Where To Follow Plus Gear Favorites

SPEAKER_04 1:05:24

what's funny is I uh this is just a real quick uh a funny story. I'm an avid pool player. I've I've been playing good pool since I was a child. So um there is a guy in Mississippi's one state over. His name is Jonathan Boogie Long. The only difference, yeah, his his uh nickname's always been Boogie 2, and his name's Jonathan Long. So he's Jonathan Boogie Long, he spells it with an A. And he plays, he he plays way better pool than I do. He's a he's he's a really good pool player, so it's uh it's just kind of funny, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:57

He got the pool, he got the pool skill, and I got the guitar skill, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

So I'd take I take the yeah, I take the pool uh the guitar skill myself. Yeah, yeah, me too. But I do have my my own little stick over there in the corner. I'll I'll shoot a game or two from from from time to time, but don't do it much anymore. But for the uh for the guitar geeks out there, a couple of little rapid fire questions for you. Uh uh your go-to guitar, what what is the guitar for you and your collection that that that you would say is the baby, right? The go to.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:32

Man, uh the I have several that I love, obviously, uh for many different reasons. Uh if I if if I was to ask the guitar that I'll never get rid of, it's my 335, even though it's the hardest one to tour with. My favorite guitar period in the world is a Fender Telecaster. So any any iteration of it. Like like I think it's a Swiss Army knife. I think if you get stranded in the middle of a flood, that you can paddle your way out of it with it. I think that like literally it's like uh it's uh and I and you can you can put it in a case and throw it under uh the airplane. Yeah, see there that guitar is is virtually indestructible, you know? I mean you might have some some some scrapes and stuff and this and that on it, but uh I feel comfortable like even if they have to put it under the plane to to just give it to them. And I think that's the that's you know, when you're traveling, that's the that's the big thing. Because you'll if I had to give them the 335, my stomach would be a knot. You know, I'd be like, oh, you know, yeah. I mean, it it's um so I think a telecaster is my favorite, man. Okay, they're just easy to travel with. Whenever I whenever I do fly dates, I I I I I bring two of them. I bring two tele.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

So one guitar that you would love to own that you don't have today. I said one, not 73. I know your brain's already going 100 miles an hour, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:05

Um well, I mean I treat them both the same way. I I I I'd either I I I would either want like a pre-war Martin or a 52 telly black guard. I mean, I think a black I think the blackguard telly is like the holy grail. Like if I had a if I had a butterscotch blonde blackguard telly, I think I'd just fall out of the chair. Like if I got to pick that up and play it every day, it would be just they're 60 grand.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:32

Yeah. How much do you find yourself playing acoustic guitar though? Do you play a little bit guitar? When I write songs.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:38

Okay. Or or or uh well now I have my studio set up to where I'm kind of like been writing more on electric too, but uh I used to write everything on acoustic and uh I play I play acoustic gigs every now and then, like very, very, very rarely. It's one of my least favorite things in life to do. And all I always end up doing good people enjoy it, they enjoy the hell out of it, and I always end up doing it and this and that, but I always dread it. It's like one of those kind of gigs that I just dread. I I dread being up there alone. Yeah, and just that makes it. You know what I'm saying? I dread, I dread like by myself.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

Yeah, I'm so used to the band things. Totally, totally. Yeah, because you don't have the same full sound that you have in the band thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:25

Yeah, and it's just uh I'm covering a lot. I'm I'm a I I play a lot of guitar, so I do a lot of lead stuff, and you know, I'm I'm having to cover a lot of rhythm and lead at the same time, which I do, but it's it's just a different, it's just a different mindset and a different play in a different way. It makes me play a different way. Yep. I kind of have to approach everything from more of like an old school blues kind of perspective, then being able to be more fusion kind of that I'd like to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:52

Yep. Um is the is there like a pedal, uh, a board, uh, like uh a unit for for the guitar listener that is kind of your sign, and I'm sure you have a pedal board that has like ten pedals or whatever effects. Like okay. I have three three pedals. Talk to me about them.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:12

I have uh so my so right now this is my board.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

Oh, you're a simple guy. Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:20

Okay, so I have a carbon copy. Uh sorry, over here. Carbon copy delay. This is a landau distortion VimuraM. Vimuram is my favorite overdrive pedal company. They're from Japan. They make the best overdrive pedals I've ever heard in my life. So Vimuram. And then I have a tuner. So delay, delay, and really I this this is barely on. Okay. This is this really just adds a little color, like kind of like uh almost to like take the place of reverb. I know delay is completely different than reverb, but uh just to add that little bit of something extra uh to give it just that little bit of extra sparkle. You know, and that's really all I use the delay for. It's very, very, very, very light. Otherwise, I've I switched between clean and the overdrive. This pedal, I'll the overdrive I love so much because it's one of those pedals where you can just use the volume knob. So like when you turn it down, it doesn't you don't really lose volume, just you just kind of lose gain. It gets a little cleaner. And then when you crank it, it's it's you know, it's full on.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:23

So yeah, yeah, yeah. What about a string of choice? What what strings do you play?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:28

11s. I'm endorsed by Ernie Ball. Ernie Ball. So I use I use uh Power Slinky is the purple pack.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:35

Yeah. So I order I order 24 or 36 sets of those at a time.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:39

Yeah. How often do you do you change those after every show or you you use them for a little bit?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:43

About two shows. It depends unless it's an outdoor show. If it's outdoors, sometimes it gets gunky, and and like I'm I'm really terrible about wiping my guitar down after the show because I'm I always try to go sell merch and this and that, and everybody's always just packing stuff up. So uh a lot of times I'll have to do like a clean up, you know, and just change strings. Uh so um I get them I get them for you know real cheap. So uh I uh about once every two shows, you know. So my my live stream guitars even get gunky. I have to change them after, you know, four live streams, and they're they're ready to be changed too. Sure. But I play a lot. I I'll play some some days I'll I'll off and on, I'll do six hours in a day.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:29

Wow, it's a lot, man. It's a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:31

Yeah, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:33

What about amp choice for you?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:35

Uh I've been endorsing a company called Two Rock since 2020. Uh they um they're uh they make a couple different style amps, but most of them are based on like a Dumble circuit. They're like Dumble clones. Uh and uh they're incredible. They're my favorite amp, you know. Um I like a clean, I like a clean pedal platform. I like an amp that can get real clean and jangly um and just sound big and full. For sure. And these, I mean, these things are insanely ridiculous. I mean, they're they're they're some they're the best amps I've ever I've ever owned. So interesting. They're expensive, they're real expensive. But they're awesome. Two rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:22

Yeah, two rock. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:24

Uh John Mary used to use them. Joe Bonamassi used to use them too. Now, Joe would probably still be using them, but he uses his dumbles now, so he's actually got real dumbles. So when you got dumbbell money, you use dumbles.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:34

There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:36

Uh but they're a quarter million dollars a piece. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Yeah, a little out of my budget there. Out of most people's budget, right? Gotta save a few, uh, save a few dollars there. Yeah. Uh greatest blues artist in in Boogie Long's eyes. Who who's who who do you believe that crown goes to?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:56

Man, that's I mean, I mean, BB King is the king of the blues, man. He did more, he did more, he did more with blues than anybody. He played more shows than anybody. I'll tell you that. I mean, he played so many shows. Uh, I mean, he's not my favorite blues artist. I I I think I'll tell you this. I think Sean Costello would have been one of the biggest blues artists in the world if he didn't die when he was younger. You know, he died at like 28 or 29.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:28

I think he would have been uh I think he would have been one of the biggest because he was he was he was the real deal Holyfield. Michael

Blues Heroes Gospel Phrasing And Final Push

SPEAKER_04 1:14:37

Burks is one of my favorites too. I never got to see him live or play with him because he passed away in the airport coming back from uh overseas. But um, you know, uh Sean and Michael are literally two of my favorite blues artists, man. Yeah. Uh I go back and listen to their stuff all the time. Um I I bet I've listened to more Michael Burks than I have Stevie Ray Von. I care more about Michael Burks' songs than I do Stevie Ray Von's. I just do.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:05

It's always cool to hear that because I guess by nature or by trade, I I would never consider myself a blues guy, right? I never played the blues. I I I loved it, but I just don't play it. So it's all I always like that perspective, right? Uh of a guy like you that's uh uh that's a renowned blues guy that's played with some of the biggest names, just to hear what's kind of your your thought process around it, right? Because I think everybody will go to that, oh Steve Ray Von, right? Because that's the household name, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:38

That everybody's gonna be like, they all compare you to that, man. Yeah. But if they listened, like people automatically like if you if you're holding a guitar and you have a little bit of a dirty sound on it, they're automatically gonna compare you to Steve Ravon. But if you if you listen real close, what I'm actually playing is is uh gospel vocal licks. You know what I mean? That's interesting. Because that's what I because I I look at guitar as a singing instrument. Yeah, I look at it more from a singer's standpoint. Yeah, I listened to more singers, I learned more licks, more runs and licks from singers than I did guitar players in my life. I listened to more vocalists. Black gospel was a huge influence in my life. Ever Donnie McClurkin, Daryl Cooley, Rance Allen, the Pace Sisters, the Clark Sisters, uh all just all that stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:37

All that where did that come from for you? Like, you know, you're growing up in a white, white family, you know, like like and I love Motown. I, you know, I'm eclectic like that, but you you're spitting out, you know, some old school people here that most would not, I would have never guessed, right? So it's interesting. So I'm curious where that that background or that love for.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:58

Well, I grew up around great, I grew up around great musicians that shared music. Yeah, you know, that shared music. Yeah. I grew up with a great singer named German Poole, who's uh who's uh still leading worship at churches now. Man, he turned me on to some of my favorite music and some of my favorite artists, you know? Yeah, and uh, you know, I uh just grow just the people that you grow up on show you stuff. I had guy like my people wasn't showing me, you know, rock and roll and ACDC and all that kind of stuff. They were they were showing me like soulful stuff, man. Yeah, one of my favorite albums is uh Jill Scott live in Washington, D.C. There's not even a guitar player on that album. Nowhere. Wow, not one single note of guitar, you know. Interesting. Uh so yeah, I mean, that's just I love it. Yeah, can't get enough of it. And uh, and I mean, it makes me different. Yeah, that's what makes me different. If I I feel like if I would have grown up on everything like everybody else, I'd sound like everybody else. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:05

No, yeah, but you have a great point there.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:07

I do play pentatonic scales too, though. Don't get me wrong. I play a lot of hey, I'm a I'm I I wear the pentatonic out just like anybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:15

Everybody got to play the pentatonic scale, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:18

Uh you know, I just use it a little differently. The way that I use it's a little different.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:24

So Boogie, what did we what did we miss, man? Like we we covered a lot of ground here, and I wanted to make sure that if there's anything that I didn't tee up for you or that you had on your mind, like you know, use this to share with my listeners. But you know, uh we covered it, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:40

I mean, I'm just look for me on the road. Go follow me up my socials. Every every Spotify spin helps that road to uh to a million busins, you know. Yeah uh I mean every every person that follows on TikTok and and hits a like on Instagram and any of that kind of stuff, it all helps. So, you know, if you dig if you dig my vibe, if you want to hear stuff, go follow the socials, go go check it out because I post content and I try to uh I try to be personable with people and really get to know you know people. So uh you know it's a it's a struggle and uh uh but somebody's gotta do it. That's right. I'm happy that uh and blessed that it's that it's me to some degree.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:28

So there you go. Well, you know what, Boogie? Like it's uh I I don't think the listeners out there understand the power of the likes and the shares and the subscribes. Like I think people are so tuned to just like you said it best earlier. They pick up the phone, they go to a reel, it's they watch it for seven seconds and they just swipe up. They they don't like it, they don't do nothing with it, they don't share it. And if if people uh half like what you do, and this is a PSA to my listeners out there, if you go look at a boogie long video, goddamn, like hit the like button and and share it with your friends, do something if you even halfway like it, right? That helps these musicians out tremendously and exponentially. Like you have no idea what the impact is for them. To you, it's cheesy and it means nothing, but to guys like Boogie, it means the world to these guys. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:25

So it means it means get it means uh you know, getting out to the next person or or or meeting the next opportunity. And you don't ever know.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:33

So and the same thing happens with the podcast, you know, the more you can like and share, even if you like the show a little bit, that helps me tremendously get out to more to more ears, right? And it's really all about putting guys like you, giving you the the mic and the and the pedestal to share your gift with uh the listeners, uh, the stories behind the songs, which is why I started this podcast back in uh you know 2020. You know, it was it was all about you and the stories behind the music, right? Because I'm that junkie, like I'm that guy that listens intently still to this day. I listen to music for the three and a half minute story that gets told, right? Not just the beat, not just the loudness or whatever. I I want to hear the story, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:20

Well, we appreciate guys like you for sure, uh, that there's still people like you out there. And uh it's humbling, it's a humbling experience for me that uh anybody would be interested to hear uh anything that I have to say. So it's it's humbling, and I tr I appreciate the opportunity and you and you having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:40

Yeah, and you know what, brother, if if if only one person listened to that, you you have one more listener today than you had yesterday, right? And that's right. So that's a positive thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:49

Well, but and that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:52

That is it. Well, Boogie, listen, man, I appreciate the time and the stories and getting to know you this evening. I, you know, when Jim told me about you, you know, I I take Jim's word as the as the gospel. If he says you gotta have Boogie on the show, then then I that's all you needed to say. So I appreciate Jim getting this set up and and it it's you know, this has been a treat, and I know the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio will, you know, really enjoy getting to know you and your story and what you like and dislike and the and the humble guy that you are, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:26

Well, I appreciate that. And and it's uh like I said, it's humbling for the opportunity is humbling in itself. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:32

Yeah, well, you guys make sure to uh you know, like, share, and subscribe to all things uh Jonathan Boogie Long. Um, and also make sure to bookmark that official page uh at boogie long.com and also make sure to go out and check out Miracle Records, uh their website at Miracle, that's M Y R I C A L Miracle Records.com. I uh ask the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at BackstagePass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at BackstagePass Radio, and on the website at BackstagePassradio.com. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:18

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. 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.