The Rich Redmond Show

Coming to you from crash studios
in Music City, USA. Nashville.

This is the rich Redmond show

Yep, it's that time. It's never
an exciting episode of the rich

Redmond show. This one's long
overdue. Of course I say that

all the time because I have so
many musician friends. But this

one is long overdue because
today's guest we moved to

Nashville. This is my Nashville
family. We're going to talk

about that today. The drumming
family will all move within a

couple of weeks of each other.
And I get this gentleman all to

myself today. Usually I'm joined
by Jim McCarthy, my co host co

producer Jim McCarthy voice
overs.com. We'll get into that

because we have that in common
with our guests today as well

some voiceover action, but let's
get into it. Hailing from

Concord, North Carolina, calling
Nashville home since 1997. And

since 2019, has been the touring
drummer with Hank Williams Jr.

And that's just the tip of the
iceberg. He's also played with

Gary Allen Mark chestnut, Heidi
Newfield Kelly Pickler, get your

breath Loverboy Slidell, Texas
Jeff Bates Erin tip and Chris

Knight Trent Tomlinson, Shannon
Lawson, Ricky van Shelton Mitch

Malloy, Marty Reid, the list
goes on and on. Our friend Lee

Kelly, what's up pow.

Yeah, can't keep a job. That's
the joke of people who've been

here this long, right? You've
been way too hard on yourself.

And that's great. It's an
amazing, Ed's amazing resume.

You and I are sitting here
catching up in a public forum.

You got your boom, boom drum
room. I got crash studio here.

I'm sure you're staring at piles
of drum kits and snare drums

sourced from around the world.
Same as me. We did the thing,

man. So I know that from reading
your bio, you moved to Nashville

on a very specific date January
11 1997. Is that right? Yep. Now

for me, I knew it was February
or March. And I don't know I'd

have to ask Jim rarely, because
we that is our grad. This is our

graduating class. Me, you. Jim
Riley, who went on to Rascal

Flatts fame. Pat McDonald, who
went on to play with Charlie

Daniels. Guy versus old Charlie
Daniels. And was there someone

else in the mix there? Like, you
know, William Ellis was kind of

coming up a little bit with us.
But that was about the Big Four

right there. I think William was
already here. Oh, yeah. And

playing I can't remember the
band he played with but the band

he played with us to come to
Charlotte. I never saw him. But

I remember the band name like
playing in our neighborhood,

neighborhood clubs or whatever.
So yeah. Taylor, man. So yeah,

so So we, you know, we took that
first step, which is, you know,

the big step. And that is the
biggest step. And that requires

the most bravery and conviction.
And it really is, you know, you

could do anything in any chapter
in any season of your life. But,

you know, when you're in your
20s, or your 30s, you know, you

still have that, like piss and
vinegar, and you're like, I'm

gonna show them I'm gonna do the
thing at the watering hole. What

was your background? And why did
you say, Alright, it's time for

Nashville?

Well, I

grown up playing drums. But it
wasn't really a vocation that my

parents are saw as a vocation.
Right? So my education with it

kind of stopped at high school.
And then I still played to

records and stuff in college if
I had a chance to set my drum

kit up in a band room or in a
dorm room or something I would.

And then toward the end of
college, a friend of mine, there

was a band, I followed around
called Sugar Creek for a few

years, when I was a teenager,
and they were they had done Star

Search.

You know, they were kind of
local, you know, local regional

heroes. Yeah. It would, you
know, put out their own records

and stuff. So they do a
combination of originals and

covers and do it. hour and a
half set break an hour and a

half set. And it was like seeing
a an arena. Uncertain a club

every time you saw these guys.
Well, they broke up the keyboard

player putting together a new
band called too much Sylvia. And

I was the original drummer.
Actually, the drum heads right

there. Now was it. There's too
much Sylvia or it too much. So

there's too much Sylvia.

Where does the emphasis go on
the syllable? Well,

we started as a melodic rock
band. So we were writing late,

right? Exact well, right as
right before Nirvana hits. We

started in 89

or 89 and 90

wrote 10 songs. And Monica said,
did a bunch of covers like Black

Crowes Mr. Big Yes.

And some other stuff.

Played a few gigs like that
Nirvana hits and changes the

Landscape completely. It sounds
like that bale of giant

rail. I'm telling you that was a
big fan of, of those guys as

well. Yeah, you know, and it
just changed the landscape as

you remember as well. And so in
his genius, Rick Lee, the leader

of the band, who had been
running band since 1968.

Is that let's make it a variety
band. So we still played rock,

but it became like, it led
toward the beach band circuit,

and playing some of that stuff,
the Carolina Beach band stuff,

the variety stuff, stuff that
was sequenced with horns, and

percussion, that he had played
with a clique and all that

stuff.

Triggering pads, you know, like
everybody does now, but back

then it was just an octopath to
just triggering silence. He

then spent about four years in
that band as the original

drummer. And so it was like,
Okay, I got to change and then I

played with a few blues bands
and other bands around that

area.

And then

played in one band that was kind
of like a Jimmy Buffett variety

band, so it was everything Jimmy
Buffett Little Feat Allman

Brothers, all that stuff.

And but that band wanted a
singing drummer. So they wanted

more harmonies, and they had
three part harmony and four part

harmony. Sometimes it's the bass
player of champion, but they

wanted to singing drummer so
they wanted to make a change.

And a friend of mine went, Hey,
our buddy that used to live here

bass player named Ron cheek. Now
rest is so he's been past a

while.

He had already moved to
Nashville, this drummer friend

of mine,

named Frank, surreal. He goes,
Let's go to Nashville for a week

and check it out. And that was
like August of 96. Very smart.

Yeah. No, okay. Sure. You know,
we came in on a Sunday

afternoon, and the first place
we went was the Boardwalk Cafe.

Ah, which is which? Came 16th
Avenue Shoe Warehouse. And now

it's something else right. Now
the Boardwalk Cafe was the one

Oh, no one's Ville? Oh, yeah.
That was the first place I

played to at a gym session with
Casey Lutton. Posted by Cassie

Lutton. Yeah, remember the
soundboard was over there in the

corner next to the popcorn
machine. Yeah. The one you're

thinking about, which is where
you and I actually met was 16th

Avenue cafe. That was owned by
owned by Rick enjoys Tiger.

Yeah, so we watch Mike Kennedy
play all the time, God rest his

soul. Well, and funny enough,
the first band that we saw at

the boardwalk on that Sunday in
August of 96 was my bridge shard

and the starving hounds. But
instead of Kennedy playing

drums, it was Steve Cummings on
drums. Steve Cummings is still

here kicking it around town and
I haven't seen him in 15 years

as he Have you ever run into
him? I just follow I see what he

does on Facebook and I keep
meaning when he does those.

Bowen shows that Jimmy Bowen
things Yeah, out at music

Valley. I need to go drop in on
him because he was a big, you

know, like a big cheerleader.
You sat in and how you work that

kind of thing. Yeah. And Frank
and I sat in everywhere we went

we sat in there we sat at the
Broken Spoke. We sat in at

Barbara's with Steve, me some
more was playing there. Steve

was a cheerleader. Yeah. Oh,
yeah.

Saturday games, it will be
Saturday games. There was a

baseball game Brenda Clark, who,
you know, went on play with some

other people she played with
older artists. Back then. Yeah.

After we after I played one song
with her a shuffle on old

country shuffle. She looks at me
goes, Do you live here? And I

said no. But I'm thinking about
moving. She goes, gave me your

number. He goes, Okay, when you
move here, call me. Let me know

you're here. So I'm hiring you.
I was like, okay. Don't even

live there. You got work? Well,
yeah, it's always encouraging.

And then also, along those lines
at bears had done that thing in

Modern Drummer, where somebody
asked him to critique his plane.

And he said, Well, I really
can't though his answer, and his

answer was I really can't
critique it without hearing you.

So send me a tape and he
graciously opened it up to all

the readers of Modern Drummer
where it was if you want to send

me a tape for me to critique
your playing send it to Money

Pit studios in Nashville, we
owned I remember that. Yeah,

that's cool. Yeah, it was
somewhere in the mid 90s. So I

put together a tape of like, you
know, pulled audio and video

stuff. I'd had a couple of
things and sent it to him and he

was nice enough to write you
know, you're

Write back up a little note and
a side note that basically said,

Hey, if you move here your work
makes you able to get a day gig

like we all had to Yes. And you
can use me as a reference and I

went, Okay, that's, I'm going
green. That is correct. Because

I did the same thing. I didn't
do it through monster drummer.

But somehow I got Eddie's
information. And Edie and Lonnie

got a rich Redman cassette. And
it had me covering all styles

for Motown diffusion and
everything in between, and he

did the same thing. A kid,
you'll do fine. Be part of the

community support the community.
And let me know if you need a

reference. How cool he took
this. Yeah. So yeah, and then we

ended up, you know, January 96,
and February and March of 96. We

all show up.

Okay, so what are you been doing
since and go?

We're just talking about how to
25 years, come and go. But I

love this story of a shuffle
because I've been consuming some

of the interviews that are out
there that exist your you know,

the working drummers podcasts
and stuff, because I was like,

there's 25 years have gone by
long periods of time. Well, I

won't see Lee let me kind of
bone up on some of the things

that are happening in his life.
And you're telling me about the

story with Gary Allen. And how
you went to this audition, I

remember going to that audition
and thinking to myself now if

we're going to do shuffles, they
probably want like aggressive

like, like cheap trick like
shoulder on the ride cymbal,

like rim shots. And And anyways,
I don't know if it was the right

approach. It wasn't because you
your shuffle. Got you. The gig

was Gary Allen, your first job.
Was that the first job you got?

It was the first artists gig.
Yeah, you're shuffling. That's

you the job, buddy. Well,
honestly, I'm glad we get to

talk about this because I didn't
think I'd get the gig because I

knew you were auditioning, I'm
like, Oh, rachel, get it.

But and also, when I don't know
if you remember when you listen

to Gary's first album, it's so
country. So yeah, I mean, even

that to the second album, it
would be you was the change. And

then of course, the smoke rings
was a drastic and fantastic

change for him. Yeah, musically.
Yeah. But I was in the first

record and listen to that song
that you're talking about the

one that we all started with,
I'm sure sitting back my heart

that

and I remember Gary had us all
bring our drum sets in, which

was weird. Where were you
playing at the time because I

was I was probably over the top
with my black smoky black Yamaha

kit with the gold turrets you
know the wack.

Oh, yeah. The white the maple
customs maple customs? Yeah, I

remember you still you always
played one up into down? I

remember that. Yeah. And I was
playing an AR kit at the time to

up and well, two up and two down
or two up and one down. Yeah. On

a rack. Which, after I got the
gig, it quickly went away

because Gary's like, that's not
really the lookup looking

forward. I'm like, I get it.
That's cool. You know? So switch

back to modular stands from
that. But the shuffle thing it

is funny because

we played the song.

Yeah, set up. Nobody says much
of anything to each other

because they're sizing you up.
And you're over there trying to

get your stuff together. You
know? Okay, he'll be right

public fast. Guys. Hold on a
second. Yeah. Crazy.

Gear. Yeah. Yeah. And you're
putting your erector set

together. And also, even if you
do one with a house kit, you're

having to move the erector set
around to get it close enough.

And it's kind of like dead air
on radio. You feel like you're

just all manases you know, this
is like forever.

And we played the song and
nobody said a word. Except for

Ali O'Shea the federal player
who always kind of equate him to

Kramer from Seinfeld. Is he
still around? He's he's not

around Nashville. But he is in
Taos, New Mexico. Oh, artsy

scene, man. Yeah, yeah. He's
he's been out there for quite a

while. And I know he plays with
Michael Martin mu Michel Martin

Murphy. Quite good. So ah, he
says busy out there. He was very

wiry, skinny looking dude.
Almost like a Kenny G meets

Kramer right.

Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. And
kind of wore the same kind of,

you know, like slacks and stuff
had the same kind of vibe.

And all it was the guy who was
responsible for introducing Jim

Lauderdale to whoever he
introduced Jim to to launch

Jim's career. Like they were
working together somewhere in

Chicago and Ollie knew
somebody's like you got to check

Lauderdale out, you know that
kind of Oh, wow. But nobody says

a word at all. He just looks at
me goes Hey kid, nice tits. And

I'm like, What? What does that
mean? To this day? Do we know

what that means? No idea. So, so
yes, Brian Arsenault that wonder

Arsenal knows I just had lunch
with them after not seeing him

for like six years the other
day. Oh, cool, man. Yeah, it was

cool. He's still there. I mean,
he was hard. And I was still in

the band. Yeah.

And actually, I saw them in
2017. Yeah. When I started

playing with Kindle, Marvel, and
Kindle had co written right,

ready to be his current outlet
just up at Kindle became an

artist at that point. And we
opened for Gary.

And they sounded so great. Like,
back when we all auditioned for

him, and I played for him. It
was a guitar band. There were no

keyboards, right. In fact, John
Lancaster passed. Yeah.

On this gig, John asked me goes,
so were you in the band? Would

Mike Webb was playing keyboards.
I said, No, I was in the band

with Gary hated keyboard
players. There wasn't any.

So all the guitar players were
doing, you know, keyboard parts.

But then when I saw him in 2017,
I think I told Jeff Jackson and

I told Gary, I said, that was
amazing. I said, that was the

band I always wanted.

I'd say interesting was that
when Larry Bab was playing

drums. Yeah, Larry, I think
Larry is still there. Dude,

Larry is

a secret gem, and an aerated gem
of Nashville. Like I saw that

dude play with big and rich and
they've had a lot of great

drummers, and like Kitt. You
know, he'll, he'll leave in a

minute. He's like, dude, that
guy played that gig perfectly.

It was like

it was just perfect. I mean,
he's just like, that is flawless

drumming. You know what I mean?
Where and where are you? He

never gets out. Because he's
practicing eight hours a day

still in his 50s. You know what
I mean? Yeah, we had dinner one

of those dates back then. And
he's like, yeah, man, I'm still

practicing. Oh, my gosh, please
stop. And Gary's like, hey, come

by the bus, you know, the gig.
And so as I'm walking out of the

door, there goes Larry, he's
gone.

It's gone. Yeah, yeah. That's
crazy. But hey, Kendall, Marvel

was the only name I really
wasn't familiar with on the

list, but okay, so he was a
writer that got a record deal,

but he would do these Honky Tonk
nights it was it was kind of

like a was it like a variety
show? We had guests and things

are? Well, his thing started
before I joined him is it's

called the Kindle Marvel kindled
Marvel walkie talkie experience

that he started at the exit in.
And he was a rider that was

around the time he moved to
town. In fact, his first co

write was right where I need to
be

like, second day in town, he
wrote that song, and that was a

hit. That he gave a lot to his
dad. from it. Yeah, yeah. For

you know, helping him out. He
said, Man, if I write a hit, you

know, we'll settle up. And he
happened to write it the day

after he moved to town. Yeah,
but he was a writer throughout

the late 90s and 2000s.

Mostly recently, he's written a
lot of stuff with brothers

Osbourne. Okay. Yeah. And well,
and was Chris Stapleton. In

fact, either way,

that's him. And Kendall is
Stapleton, Kendall Marvel. So

that's won a Grammy. And then
what was the one with brother's

eyes when they just did? Oh,
younger me. But that's Kindle

Marvel cut. Right? Nice. So he's
still in the mix? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, and Kindles out playing.
In fact, he opened three or four

shows for us with Hank last
year. Yeah.

And he's kind of the reason I
got the Hank gig because he

would hire if he augmented the
four piece band.

He would hire a steel player.
And if he hired a steel player,

it was either cowboy Eddie long
from the Bama Vadera, or Mike

Daly, who's been there now. 27
years. Mike Daly first steel

player I ever shared a stage
with I had never met a steel

guitar player because, you know,
coming to Dallas seen a lot of

saxophones a lot. You know, a
lot of electric guitar rippers

you know what I mean? Not a lot
of steel guitar. Well, no.

I take that back. I did play
with a cat named Milo Dearing,

who is the fiddle mandolin steel
king of Tao.

was Texas. And that's him
playing on the theme song to

Motel Six, you know, we'll leave
the light on for you. That was

like some of my experience but
you know, in Dallas was all

about the saxophone, you know,
like Sergio the shirtless

saxophone player a lot. And now
we don't play with any saxophone

players in Nashville. It's all
steel guitar. Yeah, it's one of

the most beautiful instruments,
period. It's a weapon. It's a

weapon in the wrong hands. But a
beautiful instrument if you know

how to do it and tell me if I'm
wrong. I don't know if you

noticed this, but most steel
guitar players are advanced in

age because it is a mature
person's instrument. That takes

some time to figure out. Oh,
yeah, it's you're wrestling an

alligator. Kinda on a piano?
Yeah. Yeah. It's, but it's it's

wonderful when it's in the right
hands. Yeah, man. Yeah. In fact,

yeah, it's in. So us leaving a
Kindle Marvel rehearsal, or

Kindle was also changing a
couple of band members. So I was

kind of calling the shots of
what we were running throughout.

Okay, back to the guest thing.
His hockey talk experience

was an is whenever he does it,
he's doing it sparingly now

because of, you know, he's
busier on the road and stuff

like that.

But it would be playing Kindles
originals off the first record

at the time now he's got three
albums out. But at the time, it

was just off the first record
that he did with God rest his

soul, Keith Gaddis. We're
talking about a lot of people

that have passed on today,
right? It's Oh,

yeah, there's another one today.
Ronnie Stoneman, you know,

passed away today. I was Ronnie
stone when the banjo player from

the Stoneman family and also she
was a she was on E Hall. Oh,

wow. The lady with the gap
teeth. Oh, wow. Okay. She was

one of the people on here.

But can we play Kindles,
originals? And the Kindle? What

have guest singers come out?
Like he'd have Randy Houser come

out, he'd have a main guest, and
he'd have other ones peppered

through the night. But the main
guests would do like three or

four songs, maybe four or five.
And then the other people

sitting in

everybody had to do country
covers. That was the criteria.

You couldn't do originals of
Gary did or when Gary said in

Gary did originals because of
the CO writer right where I need

to be.

And he didn't I think one of the
I think he did watch we did

watching airplanes.

And then he did country covers
other than that, but he also

brought half of his band.

And then when he said his his
own drums his Leaguers, that's

fine. I he'll know my stuff,
right?

So we would be sometimes we
rehearse it the day of the show

with the exit em. But this
particular time

when we actually got to
rehearsal room,

and went to the tunes that had
the guests come over and sit in

and we were changing band
members changing guitar player

and bass player.

And I'd also started road
managing Kindle by that as well,

by that time as well. For the
little extra cash. Oh, for sure.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, gobble. I love
that. So you just got to make

sure that everybody gets fed
gets to bed and it's paid. Yeah,

pretty much make sure you put
everything you said everything

about you know going into it
that way. The day runs smooth

because you've already put it
all together it just has to be

set in motion and do that but
I'm fires him. Right. And you

you worked a great road managers
and you look to them why okay,

they know what's going on, you
know, so you weren't

but this particular one, I was
kind of calling the shots Okay,

let's run this. Let's run this
blah, blah, blah, Kendall,

whatever else you want to run,
and being steel and drums and

steel guitar and drums and
having all the gear that we

have. Mike and I were the last
ones out. And Daley turns to me

and said hey, would you consider
playing drums with Hank? And how

did another didn't know they
were even looking? I had no idea

the other gig you've shared with
Keo right it's

it's this town is it's gotten
more insular.

Where the last actual cattle
call audition I remember even

hearing of was Gretchen Wilson
when she blew up which was about

2003 Right? But everybody either
head is now Hey, I know a guy

let's take this guy out and see
if he works out see what kind of

hang they are. Yeah, very much
relationship based. Not a lot

auditions happening.

For sure, you know, which is
fine. That's just the way it's

work worked out. And yeah, it
gives us more power actually to

create. Because if we are doing
the right things, checking all

the boxes, we're a person of
integrity, we know how to play

the drums. We just keep showing
up. Our group of friends that

mix business and pleasure
continues to grow. And then

people vouch for us. And we're
not having to deal with a

management company.

You know, putting their paws
into like, we got to hire

musicians, right. But in 1997,
it was very much like, I call

those management companies. Hey,
I'm rich. Redmond has moved

here. Are you auditioning? I'll
keep your name nothing right

now. But I'll hold on to your
number. Okay. Yeah, and even

back then the reason you and I
got an audition for Gary is

because of Jim rally. But yes,
they saw Jim play

movies at wolfies. I think
wolfies. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, they

saw him play and asked him, Hey,
would you consider playing with

us? And he had just gotten the
mark chestnut gig. That's right.

And then he recommended us. So
going back even that far, and

you got the mark chestnut gig as
well. So there is a theme to

this episode is already showing
its ugly head. It's all about

relationships. Well, yeah, it is
for sure. Because then if you

have bumps in the road, as long
as you as you said, keep showing

up and doing a good job. It'll
smooth back out, you know, and

everything will be fine. Yeah.
So Mike asked me if I'd consider

joining Hank and, or, you know,
giving it a thought or giving it

a shot and

went home and talked with my
wife at the time and was we get

we're like, ya know, you're
invested with Kindle, but it's

hate fucking Williams Jr. That
you didn't.

You didn't even see it coming.
And then over the next two or

three weeks, we get to the
secret from Kindle. Just I

didn't want him to know it. I
wanted I wanted to get it before

I said anything to anybody. You
know, you don't want to, you

don't want to start going, Hey,
I'm up for this, you know, and

then it not pan out. Yeah, that
does. It rather, let's make sure

it works before we say anything.
And by the time I got to play

with Hank, the band and crew had
set it up so well. That if I

didn't get it, I saw it.

So what do you mean? Yeah, well,
I knew everybody in the band,

except for Jimmy Hall.

So when my daily went to them,
they're like, Oh, yeah. Lika do

that. And, you know,

I let other people say that
stuff. I'm uncomfortable saying

that stuff because I have a
problem looking outside of the

drum kit and playing. It's like,
oh, that sounds okay. Sounds

great.

But inside you're dissecting it
anyway. Oh, yeah. And over

analyzing the crap out of it.

And then I had gotten to know
the crew over

they had me come out and watch
two shows with Keo playing.

And so the first show

thing I watched on the side of
the stage and watched Hank,

watch his mannerisms. And a big
thing with me with singer

songwriters, and whoever's
front, the band, especially if

they're playing guitar is

what foot did they tap with,
they tap with their heel, watch

their feet. Because that'll tell
you where it's going. Especially

somebody who's good at a
competent musician

that plays either great rhythm
or pretty decent lead that that

foot is going to be in time it's
not going to be jumping all over

the place. That is the first
time in 170 episodes that

watching and analyzing the it's
essentially the EAC to slack of

a conductor of a symphony, the
baton, no one has mentioned

watching the foot. Exactly. And
you can watch

like when Hank has kaleida and I
have to have his fiddle up

really loud to follow his tempo
changes.

But there's a couple people in
the band that somehow they can

watch his forearm and get it

you know, it's a little too
jerky from my point of view to

do that but like Bart our guitar
player, he can watch his hand

and see where it's gonna go. Is
there a setlist?

A lot more than there used to
be. Every night is like going

into battle. It is some sort of
a musical experience that will

be completely different from the
previous night.

A lot of the steps are the same.
It's kind of like being on a

football team and hate calling
the plays which is really

weird analogy considering how
long he's done the Monday night

football thing. But if he says a
certain thing we're gonna do

this. If he says is we do have
the first seven or eight songs,

there is no click.

I count off four songs, the
whole gig. And then he's got the

wrist. Amazing. I like that
sometimes where it's like, hey,

I really have no responsibility
for starting the tempos. I just

have to fall in perfectly with
whoever this person starts.

Yeah.

Well, that and also the fact
that the person starting it, if

it's not us, it's usually the
person whose name is on the

marquee. Yeah. And the fact that
they trust us enough with that

foundation of the song, and to
hold it together, while they do

all the other stuff on top of it
is pretty cool that they trust

us enough to go. Alright. I
don't have to worry about that

behind me because it's gonna be
there. Yeah. So. So what a fun

experience. So you get that gig
in 2018. Then the entire world

changes in March of 2020, is an
international global pandemic.

And Fauci is is printing money.
And then what happens? Do you

guys stop for a year? What do
you do? We stopped

March 16th. I think I went and
did a fact I know I did. I went

and did a

video thing. And everybody was
starting to do that from their

homes. Yeah. And I went and did
one with Vince Moreno and

gagemaker.

I'm trying to remember I want to
say Shawn Bailey might have been

on fiddle. We did it at Vince's
house. Yeah.

And he had

you know, his, his wife and a
friend of his wife was watching

from the living room while we
were in the kitchen, where he

was shooting it for like the
long haul look, or whatever. So

just playing go home and stuff
like that. And turns out like

three days later, the friend
that was watching in the other

room had COVID. And that was
early on.

And then what a week later, Joe
Diffie passes away. Was that

right? That made it even more
real scary. Oh, gosh, hey, you

need to gauge Baker is that the
gauge that's incredibly tall

bass player that played on lower
Broadway. So when I played my

days and my eight months that I
played lower Broadway in 1997

played a lot with that cat, man.
He's fantastic. As he's still

doing that down there.

I don't know how much he's doing
down there. But he went on to

play get some artists jobs.
Yeah. No, he didn't. I tried to

pull him into the chest. That
gig at one point when when there

was a talk about making a change
there. Yeah.

And I think his thing I've came
to find that knowing him for for

that many years, is, you know,
by even our height, and I mean,

I'm six foot six foot one now.

But we're still touching the top
and the bottom of the bunk and

he can't fit in a bunk so he'd
have to sleep in the back of the

front. Right. So I don't know
about that. But even at six foot

eight, he feels like he'd be
crushed in there. Yeah. And he

carved out him a nice little
cottage industry playing in town

and now he still goes out and
does like row dates with Vince

Marino, you know, doing the
doing some of the honky tonk

clubs across Texas and New
Mexico. I would like to see him

again. And he was he was
literally in my paper Rolodex

and I have not seen a lot of
technology has come and gone.

flip phones, blackberries the
first hour on the iPhone 14 or

whatever the 15 who whatever the
hell it is. Haven't seen him

since. So if you see him, please
say hello for me. And I'd love

to just Yeah, I'd love to just
say hello, what's crazy? I'll

send you his number. I still
have it. Awesome. Yeah, he's

great. We spent four years
together on Monday nights in the

front room of tootsies

with Ray St Germain Jr fronting
it gauge on base John Scott on

fiddle and keyboards and me on
drums that for you that you did

the Tutsis front room it's like
how much for that drummer in the

window. Now that's that's the
only room I haven't played down

there. I've played the upstairs
Tutsis but never the front room.

That the last time I played
tootsies was the front room. And

that's the last time I'll play
the front row but it's just so

claustrophobic the early the
older you get at that place is

just I don't know how they get
away with it, but it's

perpetually a fire hazard.

They're in there, you know?
Yeah, whenever I played it I

mean, I haven't played a regular
gig down there in years but I'll

still sub if somebody calls that
I know is I Oh, that'll be fun.

Yeah, you know, and of course
you do make a lot more money

nowadays down there than we used
to. Hey you remember when we

would party we it was free to
park in Nashville, you'd go do a

shift on lower Broadway, you'd
bring all your stuff to your

load in you might leave with
like $8 Yep.

Now you can now you can leave
with $408 Yeah, it's insane.

Yeah, crazy that boom as become
senses become the it city. Yeah.

But I was like playing the
Sandersons clubs a lot like the

stage and legends second fiddle
and crossroads, which is now

ain't juniors bar.

Now

they redesigned the entire
inside it looks nothing like

Crossroads did so. Wow.
Incredible. So So you're working

for this legend. So you guys
take 220 And maybe art at 21

off? When do you go to we
started, we started back our

first games. We did two shows
that Billy Bob's in Texas on in

April of 2021.

Everybody had to get vaccinated,
which was fine with me. Yeah.

It was just part of not only
Hank but also vector management.

You know, that's which, I'm
sorry. Yeah, vector management

can levitate and that whole
bunch which has a huge, you

know, bunch of artists to watch
out for and so we, you know, and

hates only usually does about 20
to 25 shows a year. It's what we

all call it's the best part time
job ever. You can go do whatever

else. So not to be nosy big, but
people we talked about a lot on

the show.

You get a check all year or you
just paid handsomely for those

25 shows handsomely for the 25
shows like it's you. It's gonna

be great because then you don't
feel like you're so locked in.

There's a lot of freelance and
going on, which is great. Now,

there's no and there's been a
couple of times where like I

haven't subbed out. But what
Jimmy Hall being there for 37

years and him being Jimmy Hall,
you know, Willie, and all that

stuff. Jimmy has carte blanche
to go. If he has something he

has to go do like when I joined
he was still touring with Jeff

Beck. So he Yeah, so Yeah, he'd
have to deal with either me or

Vinnie Colaiuta amazing, bro.
See you're in the mix in a major

way. Well, the funniest thing he
ever said to me and I posted it

on the national drummers thing
once was, he walks up to me he

goes, Man, Lee, you and Vinnie
have something in common. I went

really Jimmy was said he goes
y'all both trestle like

that. He's, he's a great, he's a
God loves you. And he's just

what it was. He was actually the
first band and act. I saw the

day that I moved to Nashville.
Was that with Tommy wells, the

prisoners? It sure was and I met
Tommy that night. I rested. So

Oh, and stole the idea. You
remember how all the metronomes

had the mount for the civil
stand then? Yeah. But yeah. And

they'd break. Oh, yeah. Because
you hit on it. So the plastic

would snap. Yeah.

I'm watching the presence of
Love.

And I'm watching Tommy's got his
on a board. Yeah, but had you

walked into even met him? I knew
him from modern stadium monitor

drummer and say, Well, hey, man,
I just moved here. How you

doing, man? Yeah. And I stole
that idea from him. I was like,

I'm totally stealing velcroing
the metronome do the thing I

still do to this day. If I had
the belt the velcro and I'm on a

wood plank is is a fantastic
thing. And I will say this about

Tommy. He was also another
incredible encourager, and I'm

so happy that you that was one
of the first people you met as

well. I ended up in 98 Taking a
like six week country. Sorry

studio drumming class with Tommy
theory crew. Oh, wow. And so

they would talk about setting up
clicks on the SR 16 They would

talk about mounting your
metronome reading the number

system tuning house kids playing
styles, it was cool man.

Yeah, if you got to learn go to
go to the right place like go to

source Yeah. Yeah, like when I
had to learn when I got into

country like we all did in the
mid 90s or early 90s What drums

became more prevalent, you know,
with bands like you know, Black

Hawk and little Texas and mark
the mark chestnuts and the Tracy

bar

Words

are getting louder and louder
and there was a picker of snare

drum in the mix. Thanks, Lonnie.
Thanks, Eddie.

Thanks, Brian Brown. Thanks,
Paul. I'm

Yeah, you got everyone had a
piccolo, do you have a piccolo?

Piccolo in this room right now?
I do now because Mark Neymar

funny enough. Last year, slim
Yamaguchi from the mark chestnut

band called and asked me this,
they were changing drummers.

Darla was going to come off the
road. And as he said he has some

guys you can suggest. Mark was
one of the guys that suggested

Mark got the gig. And as a thank
you Mark gifted me a three by 14

Piccolo. Look, I have in the
other room. You know, I'm gonna

get one I'm not gonna beg DW for
one just to have one one of the

probably one of the carbon ones
that got the carbon fiber

piccolos. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I
mean, the snap has to come back

the kit. The snares can't be
Tubby the whole time. And we've

been wearing the tub factor out
for about a decade now. I'm

telling you, man.

I'd rather have a little more
wide open and honking. Yeah,

yeah, I heard somewhere that you
know, if you if if at all

possible live, you'd like to
tune your drums completely wide

open with as little muffling as
possible. And let the front

house engineer have a complete
Mona Lisa to work with

creatively, you know,
absolutely. Yeah, a little bit

of muffling in the kick drum.
Maybe a piece of duct tape on

the snare, maybe small jail. But
I'll work with Billy. And he'll

tell me since I used to 16 inch
floors, one on each side. I

turned one of them higher than
the other one. If it gets a

little close rocket hear that in
the in ears. You know how

that'll give you a false sense
of, of tuning. You know, he'll

tell me and then I'll pull the
ears out and fix it. Yeah, but

I'll work with him well enough
that I don't have to deaden

anything else. All the times are
wide open. Yeah. I love that

did. I was on a session exactly
one year ago, and I brought in

my wide open DW drums. 2413 1618
and I had they were wide open

and the engineer goes I love how

you know how brave you are.
These are so wide open. Man. i

You want to try to go for that
today. I was like, Yeah, sure.

Let's go for the wide open
drums. Isn't that what we want?

And it turns out as soon as the
client showed up, and as soon as

we started going through running
through the song, he's like,

man, we got to break up the tea
towels. Man, you know, so sorry.

But that's another current
trend, right? You got to have

the tea towels and you get the
you get the little clips on the

edge and you get to move them as
far far in or just on the edge.

It's crazy. So like the whole
bad data covers the whole head.

Yeah, get her with her call. But
she queues that's it? Yeah. You

gotta have them because the
routine queues and the big fat

snare drums and the drum dots
and the drum tacks and the moon

gels, the Evans rings and all of
it. They've all got a different

vibe.

You just don't need the Dead
Ringers. Remember those? glue

into the heads? Yeah. I remember
seeing seeing Merle Haggard and

Biff had glued dead riggers into
his drums. Oh, yeah, I want

drums but I don't really want to
hear him that well.

So what do you think are the
skill sets that got you the job

with Hank? And are as are
keeping you there?

Oh,

because it's a unique gig.
Right? I mean, yeah, it's a you

very unique gig. He's an icon.
And

I don't want to say potentially
there's a reputation where he

may not be easy to work with. I
mean, I worked with Hank

Williams the third and he was
not easy to work with now we

shared that gig meet you and Jim
earlier I believe there's you do

it when he was still doing his
granddad's 99 Okay, so he was

still doing the old country
stuff. Yep. And he did not want

to rehearse. He wanted to sound
very loose. I was like, I

couldn't wrap my head around it.
I was like, wait a minute, you

don't want to sound good. He
does not want to sound good, but

not tight.

Just jump in when I start that
kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Which

is fine. Because, you know, pick
one of three or four groups.

They're just gonna change tempo.
And oh, so who did you play

with? I mean, Jason Brown was on
base back then. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Who was a guitar player
from like the Jesus Lizard? Oh,

wow. I remember that. That kind
of like iconic rock band, like

very odd around.

I don't remember the cat's name
but have you I'm sure everybody

can get into the wiki. There was
a band called The Jesus Lizard.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, when I
went and subbed for Jim on that

gig, it was just for a weekend
in Colorado somewhere. We played

above the, you know, above the
slot machine.

scenes on the gaming floor
mazing

first time I got on the bus and
Shelton walked out I did a

double take because he looks so
much like his granddad. Sure. It

was just like holy crap, like
see a ghost really. But on that

particular run, I had read a
book card on guitar. Jason Brown

on doghouse Vernon Derek on
fiddle, who was also part of the

Bama band at one point. And Jim
Murphy on steel who had played

with Johnny paycheck for years.
So all I had to do was sit back

here and keep time and listen to
these guys just quote great

country music.

And then go eat with them and
sit there and not let say a

word. I just listened to them
tell stories the whole time.

Amazing. Yeah, it was great. So
but shelf was very honest. He's

like, I'm doing this for
palimony. I'd rather be playing

this and he played me the you
know, the heavier stuff that he

liked. And so, but yeah, fun
stuff. You know, it's crazy.

Yeah, like he had he had
recently done an interview with

Rolling Stone back then.

And when it when the art when
the interview came out, like

three or four weeks later, after
I'd played with him, it was

essentially everything he told
me. Because it was so fresh in

his mind. He was still talking
about what they had talked

about. So he couldn't make any
money with the heavier stuff

like the ash Jack stuff. Or what
was the band he had with PhilaU

samo from Panthera. I don't
remember that heavy shit. Yeah.

So he couldn't make any money
doing that it was so

underground. So he but he could
go out and sing his granddad

stuff and make a lot of money.
Yeah. And then pay for other

stuff. Yeah, ya be sitting at
home, being competitive at video

games for money back then, which
was crazy. Yeah, but this the

skill set to play with Hank is
like, just listen,

know, the stuff now will kind of
play most of the same songs

every night.

You know, and they're usually in
the same spot at this point. You

know, it's not as crazy as it
was, you know, in years past.

There is 10 or 11 songs he might
do.

And he's in six years, whether
he's pulled three of them out.

So anyway, I've got those on a
chart, but they all kind of

start, you know, just grab hold.
They'll avail themselves real

quickly. As long as you jump in
before he's were full on. He's

not going to care. It's gonna be
fine. You know, we're all gonna

be there. And then, but and then
it's just making sure you're

there on time when you're
supposed to be there being a bus

call on time being at the
airport on time. Yeah. We had a

few instances instances last
year with a crew guy that you

know was missing flights or bus
call or whatever, you never want

to be late. Never want to be
late because he traveled with

you guys or is he separate from
the organization kind of guy. He

is a separate from the
organization kind of guy he

actually flies in an hour before
the show. Wow. Yep. And kind of

takes over the band bus. You
know, we kind of take our

clothes and stuff into the
dressing rooms anyway.

And watch you know, whoever else
is on the, on the bill with us,

you know, hanging out with those
guys or whatever catering and

all that stuff. You know, I'll
see Hank, if I have to go get a

shirt off the bus. It's just you
know, stays a few pleasantries

with him or some Hey guys, how
you doing? You know that kind of

thing.

And but most times, I'll see him
first time I'll see him for the

night is when he walks out or
when he walks out and Billy the

front of house guy tells me to
go we're behind a curtain. I

don't know if we will be this
year.

But we're usually behind a
curtain when we start. And then

we inch they intro him inside
and we go yeah, and man I'm so

excited this year. We are on two
shows together. I'm very very

excited. Is this the Kid Rock
stuff in the small towns the

seven shows that we're doing in
the world two of those with

y'all wit and is are you on are
night or kids night.

Oh, we're gonna do the same.
What's crazy? We'll never see

Kid Rock. He's always on the
other night. Oh, I thought you

guys were together. That would
be one word. I'd love to see

that. But apparently it's like
we're on one night with a bunch

of support a rotating door of
support like 30 different bands

that are going to be the support
over the seven shows. So what

I'm hoping is that you guys are
on one of our one of them. I

didn't know that. That's how it
was working. I thought it was

you guys were co headlining it.
And then the rotating acts were

like us and everybody I'd love
to see you play the gig. I

really really would man it'd be
so Oh, and I haven't. I haven't

Seeing you play Jason's gigs
since Nora, Roswell, New Mexico,

which was about 2007 or 2006 or
seven. Hit town was new.

That would have been that was.
Yeah, that was it hit town was

the single. That's crazy. So
I've been doing it non stop

touring since 2004. So we're 20
years of non stop touring. That

would have been the first year
and a half. Yep. Who really wish

there were more just wow. A lot
has changed buddy we we've gone

through so many in our
incarnations of the band. So at

that time, we were a ragtag
group of like space pirates that

would be hanging out in moss
Isley, you know, and then we

became, we became like a
motorcycle gang after that. And

then we started, you know,
paying attention to like, Hey,

wait, maybe we're gonna do
skinny ties for two years. We'll

be like the neck and then we'll
do the then we'll do the all

black with the sports coat and
the rock T kind of thing. And

now we're that we're it is
evolved man. Gonna like when the

Foo Fighters did the whole craft
work, look? Yes, the red, the

black and the red and the black.
Yeah, man. Well, I know why you

got to gig. That's incredible.
But you mentioned to two, I know

why you got the gig and while
you're holding on to the gig,

but you mentioned two things,
listening and watching the tow.

That's great.

That's amazing. And that's
probably something you've

carried through. Now I've heard
in another interview. It's also

a similar technique you've used
with Chris Knight. Now. Now

Chris Knight's music is bright
and true, like dirty. Americana

music, you know? And

and it's the same thing. You got
to watch his hands. You got to

watch his feet.

Yeah, but like everybody else
you watch it lands all lands on

the same plane. And you're
right. He's planning. He's Yeah,

he's somewhere in between there
and it moves. So I spent about

eight months on that gig. And
just it, I was afraid it was

going to start to affect my
playing.

Like, in a bad way. And you
start second guessing yourself.

Playing with people who

aren't second guessing
themselves, but maybe they

should be.

So I don't know. But it was a
good experience. I love I still

love Christmas music. He had
written a couple of things for

Gary, that we played in Gary's
band, so that was cool. And I

mean, he's still out there doing
it. Doing the thing gosh, oh,

yeah. He's not I think shaky
folks is that they're playing

with him. Shaky folks, but

but also, but also through that
through the the Chris night gig

is originally how the Kindle
Marvel gig came up because the

guitar player was the same.
Yeah. Mike macadam, who was part

of Steve Earl's original, you
know the the exit Oban way, way

back then. So once again, about
relationships and who's gonna

trust you? They got to know you.
They gotta like, yeah. And they

got to trust you. And you just
got to rinse and repeat. And

hope for repeat business in this
town. You know, and I've been

here 25 years. That's incredible
to hear. Like if I'm looking at

some of these other names, Gary
Allen gets you going. And then

somewhere along the line. I
mean, we're talking about all

these shared gigs me you Jim
Riley all do and Hank, the

third. Jim passes, or puts in a
good word or something you do

that you're doing the mark
chestnut thing. And then along

the way, some of these are
subbing things. I don't know

Shannon Lawson. Trent Tomlinson,
I was looking at some video of

that Shannon Lawson. My claim to
fame. I went to go see the Lord

of the Rings with the guy in
1999. We sat next to each other.

He was a great singer. It didn't
pop for him. You know, it

doesn't. Kelly Pickler. So,
Heidi Newfields so you got male

artists, you got female artists,
you got bands, the work you did

with subbing for Matt for net,
there's videos floating around

of the Loverboy drum cam. I
think you're playing you might

be playing his kid three up to
down. immaculate, immaculate

work, man. So a lot of stories,
a lot of cross pollination, a

lot of tentacles. How did the
subbing for Matt fernet come

about?

Well, I've known Mike arena for
a long time.

I mentioned Ray St. Germain Jr.
earlier. Well, Ray comes from a

Canadian family.

Both the St. Germain and his dad
is a like a venturi icon up

there, like had his own TV show
in the 60s. Kind of like Porter

Wagner did. And Ray lived in our
lives down here. He doesn't play

music anymore. Or doesn't play
out live. Well actually. He does

play out live. He had a brother
friend of ours still does a duo.

But we did those four years at
tootsies, well,

about 2002 Or three. He goes,
Hey, I want to get a band

together to back my brother in
law and I said really?

Who's your brother in law? He
goes migraine. Oh, and I went

really?

So we ended up doing a private
gig with my engaged Baker played

by San Diego Cooper played kit.
Bo Cooper played keys.

Bo Cooper, and then my God.
Yeah. And out of that Beau ended

up subbing for Doug Johnson with
Loverboy for a while at one

point. So well, then, fast
forward about 10 years later,

and unrelated. Jim Magothy that
used to work at Zildjian got in

touch with me and said, Hey,
I've got a friend of mine, a

drummer friend of mine who's
thinking about moving his family

to Nashville, because their kids
are in ballet ones in Florida

ones in New York at the Met us
okay, who's that he was mad for

net? I'm like, from Loverboy.
Yeah.

Matt and I became fast friends.
Yeah. And

for about a year, we talk every
so often about five or six years

and still do.

And he took some time off for
about a month. And there was

five gigs booked.

And he said, go sit in a spot

that did the work and no
rehearsal except for a

soundcheck and shorts and went
and sat in the spot and

had a had a ball. I'd already
known Mike.

And I had drum tech for Matt a
time or two, when his guy

couldn't make it. Yeah, he's
like, Hey, will you come fly out

and take care of me? For sure,
man, no problem. You know, nice.

I mean, I grew up growing up as
a teenager, I also hung out with

crew guys and helped set up
stages and swap that band Sugar

Creek I like, I remember one
time honeymoon suite came in

from Canada when they were I got
a new girl now. Yep. And the hit

they had when they came through
was feeling again. And so I'd go

with Sugar Creek, who were the
regional guys and you know,

they'd open up for him and swap
and say that. So I have no

problem. wrap my hands around
gear and stuff like that. You're

a smart man. You know, you're a
smart man. And then the fact

that you wouldn't be like too
precious to be like, No, I'm a

drummer, not a drum tech, of
course. Of course, man. Go out

there and set it up, shine it
up, make sure everything's fine

tune. You know, give the guy a
bottle of water and a towel

touching you travel, get to hang
out with your buddies. You make

some cash. And then you start
start this relationship and you

got to go grass, grass, grass.

Grass, grass grass. Yeah. Yeah.
So it was it was a lot of fun

because they were the first
video I ever saw on MTV letters.

Yeah, very surreal. And, but
they they're great

to hear and it's still four of
the five original members. Now

that's very rare in a legacy
rock band. And the whole reason

it's not five is because Scott
Smith passed away. Well, this is

seems to be the theme of the
show today. Death.

There we're gonna search about
AI like you talked about,

there'll be depth to music. This
is why everyone's like, well, we

don't listen to Redmond's
podcast because he just gets

just old people on the talk
about death. Sorry, guys. No,

this is just this is just what
happens. We're here to help. We

can't help the world. I'm 56
year old today. So today's your

birthday. Yep. You're still
doing this interview? Man. I

would be somewhere with my face
and a bigger sugar pie cake.

No, I got my coffee right here.
Me too, dude. Like Happy

Birthday, brother. 50. That's
awesome. So you could be getting

your AARP literature to the
house. It is it was doing a

casino gig with little Texas a
year or two ago. Yeah. And we

had some time. You know, we did
it for two days, or we had some

time. And so I went to the movie
theater in the casino. They

said, Would you like a singer
discount?

Like,

I was like, wait a minute, how?
How do you have to be with the

senior discount? They said 55.
And I was like, Okay, I'll take

it. So how deep was it wasn't
very deep of a discount, was it?

Oh, it was only a couple bucks.
But I was like, Okay, sure. I'll

just keep forgetting to ask now.
That's incredible. Oh my god do

that is nuts. Okay, so you're
subbing so you're subbing for

del gray as well. I did for I
did for two and a half or three

years almost. Dale was diagnosed
he had cancer. I did not know

that. Wow. Yeah. He kept it
pretty quiet. They said health

is going okay. He's doing great.
In fact, I was texting with him

yesterday and today, talking to
Dwayne and procfs a couple of

days ago, but he's, yeah.

He's doing great. He's beat it.
It looks like he started coming

back out riding the bus. A
couple of

Hobbs Wow played

and then he took back over in
December. They did a couple of

rehearsals and

he's all good. He's back at it.
Yeah, man. You got to play that

God bless Texas just like me
because I was in that band Rush

slow. So we had a little Yeah,
we had a little Texas medley in

there. We had to do you know,
I'm sure great songs back. Yeah.

Great songs stand the test of
time.

And we did a show with the
frontman. Oh, with Hank. The

frontman open. So it was Larry
and Oh, Richie. And, and Tim was

pat my back. Matt Cross playing
drums. No, he wasn't Matt had

moved on. I can't remember who's
playing. I've met the guy. Blake

was playing guitar. But yeah,
Matt had they had just changed

drummers and Matt had just come
off the road. Crazy. Yeah.

Crazy. Now how long were you
with chestnut? Man? That's a

nice song cat. That's a nice

body of work that he has. It is
I was with Mark for five years

from 2003 until 2008. Nice
started. They had the package

store going on. I think it was
him. Joe Duffy and Tracy,

Lawrence.

Joe and Mark tried to get me on
that. But it was Tracy's turn to

pick the drummer. So I went out
and tried it. And I wasn't

really Tracy's bag. Even though
I would have, you know, hey, you

could fit some gigs and you
won't fit other ones. Sure

happens to everybody. Yeah. And
if it doesn't happen, it's going

to happen.

And so I wasn't really a fit for
Tracy, as much as I would have

been a great fit and was a great
fit for Mark and a good I was a

good fit for Joe, if that would
have come up, which it did. And

I kind of since I've known Mark
longer, and he kind of brought

me to the party. US stayed with
Mark out of that. That three

three frontman and one band
thing breaking up. And Mark is a

drum hobbyist. He played some
drums suddenly, like well, he

that's he grew up playing drums
before he switched to fronting

when he grew up in Texas. And so
he can keep a B for sure. Every

once in a while he'd throw me
off the kit to play. But it

would drive him nuts because our
height difference is so

different. And also for me being
tall, I sit really low.

And so he was like I'm playing
like this.

Mantis. Yeah. But there was a
couple times he's like, oh, man,

I want to play him. Okay, go
ahead. And one time when in the

early days, we had a double bill
with him and he came up on the

bus and ElDeen didn't have his
cowboy hat on and he looks like

a completely different human
being without his cowboy hat,

right? Because that's like his
caricature. That's his look. And

Mark kept saying, Now guys, when
you see our dean, you tell him

such and such, and for me, he
was telling our Dean this, and

when you when you see Jason tell
him I love that song. And then

we were just like, do we tell
him right now that he's talking

to Jason? Oh, gosh. Hilarious.

Oh, yeah. Mine was awesome. He's
another one. Glad he trusted me

with these music. And yeah.

It was with a bunch of guys that
I had made friends with because

we'd already been on the road
when I was playing with Gary. So

yeah, all the guys that Jim had
played with when Jim had moved

on to Rascal Flatts. So there's
this theme here like between me

you?

Jim CIO. Just sharing gigs, man
passing things back and forth to

each other. You know, a lot of
incest going on.

Not only if you want to I am out
of the loop. Today's your

birthday. Happy, happy, happy
birthday.

Your personal life. Did you have
kids? Did you were you married?

Are you married? What happened?
I never say yeah.

Where do you live? What burr Are
you in? I'm out Lebanon. I'm

about? Yeah, I'm on the west
side of Lebanon on a hill, or I

can see completely across town
to 12 miles across town to the

east side of Lebanon. So I can
see the city lights and all that

stuff. It's great. Oh, it's
fantastic.

I was married for a little
while.

I was with DNA. My wife DNA for
now ex wife for about 15 years.

That's good, Ryan. Oh, yeah.
Seven year riches.

Yeah, I do. But you know, COVID
has a lot to do with it. You

know, us being you know, on top
of each other. Yeah, yeah. In

the same space for a while and

then

We also have a student we have a
son named Dylan who? Great.

Yeah, he says he will turn 14 in
April. And he and I FaceTime and

text every day. They live down
in Hello, Dallas, Texas, which

is close to where she's from.

And she has a little more of a
support system with family

there. My ex in laws still live
here at Gallatin. And in a

couple of weeks, they'll come up
for his spring break, and he'll

hang out here a good bit, and
he's with me through the

summers.

Does he play? What's his thing?
He does? He does not, in fact,

not sadly. But he did come up to
me when he was smaller. And he

goes, Dad, kind of he's very
sensitive. He's very sweet. So

we have raised him, right. And
my ex wife and I are very

amicable. So that's all good,
right? Oh, yeah. That, you know,

we still text to talk. Hey, what
are you coming up? What's going

on? Blah, blah, blah.

And he comes me goes, they're
gonna tell you something without

hurting your feelings. Secure me
anything is, musics really not

my thing? And I'm like, that's
fine. It wasn't any of my

family's thing, either. Except
for me. We are the black sheep,

my friend. Yes. Well, yeah, for
sure, you know, tattoos and all

that stuff.

But his thing is more art and
video games.

And

right now, instead of action
figures, they now get poseable

figures. You know, they're, you
know, it's like the action

figures we were had, but they
have a lot more poseable ways

and stones and stuff. So they
take pictures of them and pose

them and, you know, send
pictures to their friends. Is

that interesting. So he might go
to art school or something like

graphic design or? Exactly, and
I he plays video games a lot,

which is, we were kind of in the
gray area of video games, where

now it's, I mean, even I play a
few things on Xbox, and I'm

blown away by the graphics. It's
so immersive. I had to get rid

of my ex box because I went
through a period of of the Duke

new comes in the dooms and the
Resident Evils in his life. I

like first person shooters. But
next thing, next thing you know,

you're like, you've been on the
couch for seven hours, your butt

sweating, and you ate a giant
bag of m&ms. And you're like, I

did nothing with my life for
seven hours. Now. Yeah, I can't

sit that long. But I can get a
couple hours into like Red Dead

Redemption or cyberpunk or
something like that. I like the

the roleplaying storyline stuff.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I keep

explaining the deal. And I'm
like, you know, the people that

make these games make a lot of
money. Right. And it's through

art. That was the one thing
about the pandemic that really

bothered me, is the way that not
only musicians, but artists as a

whole are treated. Yeah, because
everything that you touch,

everything that you use on a day
to day basis, at one point is

touched by an artist

that had to mock it up, draw it
up, come up with how it looks,

come up with how it works.

So you know, and I'm sure we all
have the big wins. Like before

we were actually making a living
at this and you get the question

that family get togethers of. So
how's that music hobby going?

You know, or stuff like that.
Yeah. So it's

hopefully it's getting better.
It's, I am really pleased to say

that once the floodgates opened
back up that lob music is

extremely alive and well. No
matter what market you're

playing it, whether it be arenas
sheds,

the smaller outdoor theater
outdoor venues that have popped

up yeah, the even smaller ones
that are in

like community areas. Yeah. And
then all the I'm doing some

sub dates this year with the the
tribute act 20. And Lynn, which

is the grandchildren of Conway
and Loretta. Oh, nice. And

someone tells me they're going
to play. Every small, even small

town has that downtown square
where there's a historic

probably haunted theater that
sits between 502,000 people.

Exactly. And that's exactly the
ones they play. Little Texas

have been playing some of those.
Yeah, and it's really cool to

see some of the smaller theaters
get new love because a lot of

them are now being repurposed.
And the downtown areas of the

smaller towns are coming back up
and it's fun to support the

economy. You know, the bus pulls
in front of the theater. You

could go next door support the
local coffee house buy a t shirt

from them you go to soundcheck
after the show, there's a

hanging at the martini bar
across the street. Exactly. It's

cool.

And it's a blast. It's a lot of
fun. So, but it's really cool to

see all the different levels of
lob music.

what looks to be coming back
stronger? Of course, it is the

main revenue stream for our
industry now. Pretty much. So

I'm pretty hopeful for things in
the future. And I'll be with

Hank until he's done. You know
what one yet some thing is, once

you find something I tell all
the kids that, you know, I did a

lesson slash consultation
yesterday, these guys will come

into town like, Hey, can I book
an hour of your time over at the

drum pad a drum paradise. And we
do some playing, but usually a

lot of talking, they ask
questions and, and I'm like, you

know, the one thing that you
really need to try to happen is

to try to get a steady job in
the music business, something

where you have a W two where you
can buy a home, where you know,

just have that home base. Do all
the freelancing you want work in

as many fun side projects, do as
many Music Row sessions, home

sessions as you want, keep the
calendar full, but have that

home base where you can your
home base is you can count on 25

well paid gigs per year with
that one act and you could

sprinkle everything across the
calendar, which is amazing.

And it gives me a lot of freedom
as I get older. Yeah, no, I've

I've had a job of some kind
since I was 12 years old. What

was the day job when you moved
to Nashville? Like I parked cars

waited tables and was a
substitute teacher. What did you

do? I worked in the warehouse at
Pearl drums. Very practical job

because you're meeting other
drummers? Well, it was hey, you

know, you know Rick Murray, our
buddy. Yeah. Okay. Well, Rick

was a big influence on me,
playing country and coming to

Nashville.

I work for Rick at his drum shop
called drums and company in

Charlotte. And of course, would
go out and watch him play at

coyote Joe's when he was the
house drummer.

But oh, and when was

coyote Joe's? I mean, that's a
rite of passage. Man. We used to

play there with ElDeen. And I
instead of instead of us being

the headliner with that
mentality, like, Hey, you're the

opening act, you should play on
my drums. I ended up playing on

the house guys. Drums a lot. Did
you really I played on his

drums, they're all falling
apart. And I'd had the duck take

the legs of the hi hat to the
stage. And every it's like, oh,

boy. And that would be after
Rick because I know Rick's drum

kit was fabulous when he played
there because I played on it a

few times.

But because of Rick, and working
at his drum shop, when he knew

people in the pearl, you know,
in Pearl, so when I moved, we,

you know, we worked it out for
me to get a job in the warehouse

and work part time. So if I
picked up a gig, I could call in

and go, Hey, I'm not coming in,
over if I had a late night from

hanging out trying to get gigs,
I could call in and go, Hey, I'm

not gonna be in, you know? Or if
I went out on the road with

somebody, I could come back and
the gig would still be there.

Nice flexible job. Yeah. Well,
yeah, it was flexible. I mean,

there was no benefits because I
was part time. But if I'd gone

full time, I couldn't have left
and gone and played gigs and

stuff. So that's right. That's
right. Well, you know, so and

then the, you know, the best
thing that ever happened was not

having to work those day jobs
anymore. But I substitute Todd

it was like, you know, with my
master's degree back in

1999 2000. It was

75 bucks a day, man. You know,
the thing is, is that we played

in the clubs till 230 In the
morning, and by the time we got

home and decompress. It was 330
in the morning, and I was

supposed to be standing in front
of that classroom at seven in

the morning. And that was rough.
Oh, at least I could you wander

in at night at Pearl and yeah,
well enough to fill out orders.

You know, it's so funny. You're
you if you go to your website,

it's a beautiful website, very
robust. Got a lot of information

on you leak Ellie on drums and
ladies and gentlemen, it's k e l

l e y li Kelly on drums.com.
Taking a look around. Every

drummer has got this interesting
little thing that nags at them

throughout their lifetime and
and it seems that for you, it

was voiceover and on my website.
I have a voiceover demo. I heard

your voice over demo. When did
you start experimenting with it

sounds great man. Oh, I haven't
messed with it in years. I just

tried a course with Joe lash.
Joe less lives six houses from

me. Oh, so you still live over
there? I didn't know you were

still over there. Yeah, I'm here
and but yeah, I've been here 14

years crazy. Okay, yeah, you're
because I remember passing your

house going to his Yeah.

I tried it.

Just out of curiosity. There you
can really

Also my dad was in broadcasting.
My dad was in NASCAR

broadcasting for universal
racing network in the 60s and

70s. And my older brother
Winston, he was on MRN radio

motor racing network for 33
years, from 1988 until

2021 is when he stopped being a
regular pit reporter for MRN

radio, and he just does his day
job which is run the NASCAR Hall

of Fame.

Oh, yeah, my, my family goes
back or my dad goes back to

NASCAR predating the
sanctioning. Like my dad, my dad

came out of World War Two, as a

gearhead a little bit,

which it kind of rubbed my
grandfather. I haven't gone to

ancestry.com and done this, but
my grandfather was a moon

shiner. Wow. Yeah, my
grandfather was a moonshot or

BAFTA moonshine. Well, I don't
know if he made it or if he just

ran it, but the story I've heard
is he died running it. Oh, man.

Yeah.

And you know, it wasn't a great
household. So I don't guess it

was a great household to grow up
in. Yeah. So my dad and his two

brothers after Pearl Harbor, and
they were old enough, which at

that time was 17. They all three
went into the service. My dad

went into Navy, my uncle went
into the Marines. My other uncle

went into the army. So when they
came back, dad tried and he

actually tried racing did five
races and said that was enough.

You know, that's enough. You
know, that could get me killed.

I can't handle that kind of
speed. No way. I was insane.

I've been a passenger in one of
those cars to go around, you

know, 170 miles an hour. You
have been? Are you crazy? I've

written Yeah, they

like it the tracks that have
cars that you can, the ego take

driving classes at that kind of
thing. They have passenger seats

in the in the cars, even though
it's got full rope roll cages

and just like a stock car.

So with too much Sylvia, we
played Charlotte Motor Speedway

in 2000. I'm sorry, in 1994 when
the Final Four was there. And we

played Charlotte Motor Speedway,
they were taking people around

in the cars and we made I jumped
in one of my buddy jumped in the

other one. You could feel the G
forces jerk your head back. Wow.

And I had already been around it
through my dad and stuff for

years and already knew they were
athletes. You know, being from

Carolina. That's kind of our
sport. Yes. So. So my dad ended

up in broadcasting at one point,
my my brother did it. And we've

got this voice. You know that if
you get rid of the southern

accent, it comes out a little
more robust. And sounds like my

brother, when I met you. When I
met you, you know, I mean, I'd

spent a lot of time in Texas,
but the Texas Southern accent is

different from the Carolina
southern accent. I had never

heard an accent so thick. When I
met. I was like, wow, this guy

is getting six syllables out of
one word. Yeah, we'll do that.

And even my family says it got a
little thicker when I moved to

Nashville. So Wow. It is what it
is. Yeah. So you did. So you did

your demo with Joe lash. I did.
And then I tried pursuing the

pay to play sites or whatever.
Voices 123 and all that. Yeah,

just kind of

something came up great. Yeah.

Do it full time li are that I
know some people that have had

some success with with those pay
to play sites. And they

literally they get up super
early. So they could be on West

Coast time. And they answer the
they respond to all the ads

immediately. And then they
literally are in front of their

computer all day. And if the job
comes in then there's a

deadline. They got a knock it
out. They are tied to their home

studio. All day. Yeah, all day.

And I want to have a life. Yeah.
So you're in Lebanon. I was

just, I was the emcee for the
Bach to rock awards at the

Capitol Theatre. On Saturdays go
to Saturday, because yeah, so

Oh, so there's Sunday. You are a
big influence to me. Just so you

know. I remember coming out of
shoulder surgery in 2016. Yeah.

And you were doing your
weekends.

During your drummer weekends,
and I had never I remember

texting you God. I'd never seen
your spill. Let me come by. And

you were gracious enough. Hey,
come on, drop in.

One I'll never forget when I
walked in, you stopped whatever

you're saying and introduced me
and told about the class of 97,

which I thought was fantastic.
Our history and I meet Troy

McKenna. And I'm like, Oh, my
gosh, hero of mine, you know,

Tesla night, so. And just your
enthusiasm, which has always

been like, just all over you.
Your enthusiasm is infectious.

Oh, I take it as a big
compliment. Thank you. Oh,

please do and but you talking
about being the positive guy in

the room?

That was a I mean,

I've never thought about it.
Yeah, just kind of been me and

things have worked out. But that
sticks in the back of my mind

all the time. Wow. But it really
does. It's like yeah, just don't

Don't be the downer. Don't think
Debbie Downer? Yeah, exactly.

Man, you want to have a good
job? Well, you've Oh, I've never

seen you have a bad day. Like
you are like a high energy

person like so if you get me and
you in a place for one or two

hours, it's going to be like a
earthquake. Yeah, you've got a

lot of a

lot of energy, man, a lot of
energy.

Is your son like that?

A good bit of a like, I mean, he
really It's funny how when we

were growing up, everybody went
outside and played. And, you

know, you're not in until you
hear the dinner bell ring two,

three blocks away. And now they
are on their games on their PS

five. And they're still playing
with people. They're all you

know, they're online. But it's
changed. I mean, COVID showed

that anyway, but that was
because they had to. But I think

that's out. That's how it is
now. Yeah, I did ask him if he

wants to do anything special. He
likes to shoot basketball. So

we'll go down here to

Floyd, the Oh, the whatever, the
basketball courts here. And

he'll play for a couple hours
every day. So killer man, that's

killer. So yeah, so yeah, I get
the family thing happening. You

got your in your boom, boom drum
room, and people are sending you

the files and you're knocking
them out for people. You have

fun doing that? Is it pretty
consistent? Oh, somebody I

haven't pushed it real hard.
This version of it. Like the one

I had Mount Juliet, you know
where I was in the bonus room. I

promoted it a little more.

And funnily enough, Pat and I
would talk about, we'd look at

you and Jim and go in. They are
just getting it. They're all

over the place. And Pat and I
finally realized we're just

lazy.

Y'all were y'all have a lot more
motivation where Pat and I just

like, go to the beach. Right,
you know.

And, and also COVID

Except for playing gigs and
doing what I had to do

kind of took the wind out of my
sails.

So I'm honestly really just
getting back to really wanting

to do this here. Yeah. I mean,
you're saying that COVID had a a

negative impact on your mental
health. Oh, for sure.

Absolutely. I'm glad I'm not the
only one. I had to fight it

every day with everything I had.
Oh, because I miss people. I

miss people. You know.

It was it was having just
drummers or anything like that.

Like I taught good. bandmates.
I've played with forever.

They're like, yeah, I just don't
feel like doing it, man. Because

it was the first time in our
lifetime that the rug was pulled

out from under us. Yeah. So and
you couple that with, even

though it was an amicable,
amicable divorce? You couple it

with that, as well. So that was
2001 2001 to 2002. Gotcha. Kind

of got finalized last year, but
that was just legalities. And so

you mean 2000 22,021? Yeah,
2000 21,000 tweeted, sorry.

And that was just legalities and
stuff like that, but it's still

good.

If

going and doing stuff that's
booked is easy. Like, okay, I

have that goal there. You know,
I could walk in here and let the

kid just go and don't feel like
it. Yeah, I don't have to. I

don't feel like it. But now I
kind of feel like a lot more

good at a friend of mine come
over and help get my, my, my

channeling or my routing
correct. So I could have control

over logic when I needed it.
signal path. Oh, for sure, man.

And at that point, I just play
drums a lot of times and great.

Great. You looks like

Yeah, high ceilings there like
nine to 11 feet or something.

It's great. It's one of the
reasons I wanted to make sure I

kept the house in the divorce
was this room and also just the

views and got an inground pool
outside. So keep Yeah, so get

that make sure to keep that for
Dylan when he's here during the

summers. So you got this
beautiful house on the hill

overlooking the city like that
you can have all your new

girlfriends out to

whenever I feel like dating
here, we'll see how that goes.

And yeah, but but yeah, I'm
feeling like doing so I've been

in here messing around with
camera angles and stuff. And

since my education, unlike yours
in gyms, like

going back to my parents not
seeing it as a viable vocation.

And also, I didn't want to do
like, drum camp during the

summer when I was in high
school, because we had a place

in North Myrtle Beach in Cherry
Grove, South Carolina, that we

would go and spend three months
at, um, like, beach or a parking

lot with drums, which is going
to win a beach beach or I'm

working at an arcade on the
beach. I'm there. I can

appreciate a beach more than
anyone because I worked so hard

in the early years of my life
that at least once a year. I got

to you know what I discovered?
It's only six hours away is not

Myrtle Beach but Alabama. Orange
Beach. Orange Beach. Yeah.

Yeah, Mexico Beach is. B Kindle.
Marvel's got a place that his

family has a place in Mexico
beach. That's gorgeous. Wow.

Yeah, I just, that's a gorgeous
place. So

North Myrtle Beach is about 10
hours away. So yeah, the six

hours of Orange Beach is it's a
little secret. It's like oh my

god, I because every time I want
to take a vacation, I'm

thinking, Well, I gotta fly to
LA then I gotta get then I gotta

go over water. I got to get to
why it's so expensive. You need

You need those two extra travel
days, you know, six hours to

Orange Beach. The beaches are
nice. It's affordable. There's

tons of great restaurants. I
like it. Right. And also, my

brother has a place over in
Blowing Rock, South Carolina,

which is booed in Blowing Rock.

And occasionally, I'll take off
for there. But

it wasn't a vocation. So my
education back to that main

education start in high school.
Yeah. So what I did before the

pandemic hit and the wind was
taken out of our sails. I had

bought Todd Zuckerman's rock
drumming masterclass. Oppa

dremio. Cool.

And so what I'm planning to do
is record the play alongs that

he has in there.

And along the way, it's going to
do kind of like an old dog

learning new tricks thing for
me. Yes. You know, even though I

have enough vocation and enough
tools in my shed to do the gigs

I'm doing. I want to have a few
more tools in my shed. Yeah. And

it'll be fun for me to do it.
And now I want to get in here

and put headphones on and play
to stuff and

and

I don't get red light fever hear
that stuff? It's like turn it

on. Let's go. Yeah, to me, I'm
just playing with another band.

So oh, man, that's that's that's
really, really exciting. And you

know, speaking of which, who
were some of your Mount Rushmore

drummers coming up that Yeah,
your car? Oh, yeah. I could be.

Oh, absolutely. I can hear that
time because there's, there's

definitely a focus on like,
there's a serious intention and

focus on groove and pocket with
you, man, and that's why you get

gigs and keep gigs. You know, on
YouTube. We're playing songs,

whisper song drummers. And if we
didn't start out a song

drummers, Nashville made a song
drummers. It gave us a shirt HD

and song drumming. Yeah, and
luckily I grew up loving songs

so like my earliest drumming
influence were fluences were Ron

Bushi from iron butterfly Lee
Kerslake from Uriah Heep. To the

years before Ozzy

Neil Smith with a with Alice
Cooper.

Whoever was playing drums with
parliament on Chocolate City

mothership connection clubs with
Dr. Frankenstein strong ones. Oh

dude.

Oh yeah, clown in the one baby
clown in the one big Freddie

White from Earth Wind and Fire
Nice.

Later on the near the needle
drop moment for David Garibaldi

hearing ebony jam for the first
time and the in the slot record.

later on, somebody brought back
waiting for Columbus to our

Camelot music I was working at
as a teenager. And one of the

guys wait, you'll like this the
minute I heard

Oh, oh Fat Man in the bathtub. I
was hooked. Richie Rich. He's

big. Jim Keltner Jim Gordon. Can
I have? Oh gosh, Jim Gordon's

got a book out now. I believe
there's this coming out. Yeah, I

saw that on John did Christopher
site. Oh, Floyd Sneed from three

dog night. Oh, yeah, come on.

And then obviously, Alex Van
Halen, James Bradley Jr. from

the chuck man's journey live at
the Hollywood Bowl. Man, that is

still a life changing record for
me. Yeah, I still listen to

that. Yeah, we love it so much.
We're pals on Facebook. Not

super tight. But I remember you
know, and you would hear you

would hear that, that Flugel
horn, Chuck Manzoni in,

in supermarkets and elevators
every day. And then he went on

to be that one hit wonder band
called Crazy Town. Come come a

lady. Come a lady. That thing.
Oh, yeah. I remember when he

popped back up. And I was that
the same guy. Same guy was Yeah.

I mean, the main squeeze out,
which was Gad, that was great

stuff. And then everything my
brothers listened to because

they were 10 and 11 years older
than me. Doobie Brothers, blood

rock.

And then I would find stuff and
go backwards, like when little

feet hit me.

I was like, Okay, what, when did
that change from it being the

first two or three albums to
Dixie chicken. You know, there

was a change in band members and
a complete seismic shift from

being a country rock band to
being a, like almost a New

Orleans bass second live band.
Yeah. Which led me to Okay,

here's the meters. Oh, well, I
was already hit to think of

Neville Brothers. Oh, Willie
green. And those guys. I was

already hip to that stuff.

And so going back, and that's
how I learned country two. So

when we moved here, when you and
I moved here, and we were

listening to Eddie and Lonnie,
and Jamie croon, and all those

guys, I went backwards to learn
the old country stack like I

would go to skulls with a skull
was still alive and watch Johnny

barber play. And so then I
learned and then Gary Allen was

like, how much Buck Owens Do you
know? And I'm like, well, he

hauls stuff. He goes nah, go
listen to books stuff. And of

course Willie can't do becomes a
huge influence. Yeah, you went

to the source, man, you're like,
I'm going down to schools man,

I'm gonna live it and experience
it. I went down to the Great

Escape and bought everybody's
greatest hits on cassette so on

its Greatest Hits and goes
Greatest Hits and, and I was

like, as I just knew that, you
have to learn the rules so you

can break.

Right? You can't just come from
Yeah, if you're gonna play the

Grand Ole Opry and sit on Eddie
strums and that person is going

to be singing in that spot right
there we're Patsy everyone's

saying you better know the
rules. For sure. Is an acrostic

Is it a stick in a brush? When
do you go to the snare? What

fills are appropriate?

Do they use the ride cymbal and
cut like that early stuff? You

got to know the rules? Yep.
Yeah, man. Pretty interesting

study. Yes. It's not as easy to
play old countries it looks or

sounds Yeah. Now much older room
to this day. I don't know if you

tell me people probably hit you
up all the time, man to like,

hey, you know in this
Nashville's the city I want to

come and experience do the
thing. I say man go to Robert's

Western world. It's my favorite
place because you're gonna hear

those rockabilly bands and
there's gonna be those geometry

that Brazil Billy's with their
Pearl snap shirts and the

upright bass and they're just
doing it right. Yep.

I mean, the that's one rendus
still keeping the older stuff

alive. Yep.

There Aj is across the street, I
guess.

And I just did a gig a few weeks
ago at Music City Bar and Grill

out a music rally. Yeah. And
that was with Jeff Garrus. On

guitar JD Myers fronting it and
Robbie Turner on bass. Wow.

Which of you if you if you ever
get a chance to play drums with

Robbie Turner playing bass. I
know he's known as the steel

player legend that he is

But playing drums with him
playing bass is a treat. Nice. I

mean, I know he's a great
musician, but I'd never knew him

as a bass player. Yeah. And but
wow. Yeah, well, that's cool. Is

it all? And what do you you do
anything special and as we're

aging with your nutrition and
fitness anything? Oh, not really

broken probably sadly. I have
I'm trying to cut alcohol out

honestly. Nice because it's kind
of time. It's, you know I'm

having some success with it.
It's just but it's you know, as

we get older you don't recover
as easily. And it's just better

than longer and you get more
stuff done.

And better for me. Now when
you're doing doing the alcohol,

a D discriminator. Or are you
like a when in Rome guy? Oh, I'm

at a wine bar is wine. I'm

mainly just a whiskey guy.
That's it. Oh, that's nice.

Well, that's really
sophisticated. Especially if you

can couple it with like a cigar
or something like that. Oh,

can't do the cigars

incredible. Yeah, but

fortunately, drumming is enough

of enough exercise that I'm you
know, I'm not 300 pounds or

anything like that.

I do get out try to it's a mile
around my block. So I'll try to

get out and walk that it was
nice out like I got out and did

it

this morning. Nice before the
rain started. Yeah. So just try

to get out get nature a little
bit. Always try to go out walk

around. Yeah, you know, there
was every soundcheck. sure

everyone's like throwing this
term grounding around where you

got to take your shoes off, you
got your bare feet, and you got

to put your feet on the earth in
some grass. And apparently,

there's some sort of a
physiological metaphysical

transformation that happens when
you do this on a regular basis.

And I'm like, All right, cool,
you know, because I try to check

all the boxes, you know,
hydration, supplementation,

flexibility, mobility, you know,
muscle tone, heart health, like

I work at it like a frickin job.
So like, sometimes if I do, I

got a choice between sitting
down on a practice pad. And I

know how to do paradox, right,
we've got the muscle memory. But

if I want to still play rock and
roll drums, the way I play, I

want to make sure that I can go
work out.

That's why I just kind of ask
because you know, we're, we're

now Men of a Certain Age. Hey,
listen, I can't I can't kind of

get behind the the feet in the
grass thing. Yeah. Only because

the feet on the beach thing has
always gotten me since I was a

kid. Yeah, it still does.

So that's, I can get that I got
behind that big time. So my

version of experimenting with
VoiceOver was, you know, going

out to Los Angeles and studying
acting, I figured like, well, I

can go out to a strip mall and
Smyrna and take an acting class

with a bunch of kids. Or I can
go to Hollywood where everyone

is a waiter. And people actually
want to get on Grey's Anatomy,

and I'm probably going to get
much better. So I you know, me,

if I'm going to do something,
I'm going to do it 100%. So I go

out there, I do that grind for
six years. If I had a day where

I was just I needed a break, I
drive my ass to Malibu park the

car along the Pacific Coast
Highway and get my foot in the

sand and then the sun would set
there'd be this beautiful. The

waves are crashing your feeder
in the sand, cotton candy

sunset, you're looking at the
topography there of Malibu and

all those stars in their glass
and Adobe homes and then use the

city lights come up and it was
just like, so relaxing and cool.

Yep. You know? And then you
would go back to the grind the

next day. Yeah, you know, little
less less for where, you know.

Yeah. A little bit less of
aware. So listen, I like to end

here. We didn't talk about Pat
McDonald. But

that guy, he was kind of he was
our graduating class and he

right away. We're like, God,
who's the weckl that just who's

the bald wacko, you know, he was
so precise. Every time I would

describe pass playing as like,
let's wait for this guy to come

up and play. He is a surgeon. He
is surgical. Yep.

Yeah, I remember the first time
he sat in it 16th Avenue. I

don't know if you were in the
room or not. Or Jim was, but I

remember the room stopped. Yeah,
like,

holy shit, you know. And he's
like, blown over a vamp or

something. I believe, you know,
yeah, they gave him a chorus,

which, you know, I would get
lost because I you know, and you

guys can count your heads that
stuff. Yeah, the form. Oh, yeah.

It just

floored me. He was the perfect
drummer for Charlie.

He was I mean, honestly, if you
don't get a guy play with Troy

Daniels, that's the guy. Yeah.
And then Ron Galloway came after

me did a great job too. Yeah.
Oh, Ron's awesome. Like Ron was

awesome. I haven't seen Ron
forever. He was a I'm sure if

same as you but he was that just
very another supportive guy was

like, Yeah, welcome to town kid,
dad. Good luck. Here's my

number, you know, and I'd
already known who he was from

seeing him on TV with Steve
Warner. Right. Oh, that's that

guy. You know? And, you know, he
had already made his bones by

the time we already we were
here. Yeah, man. Hey, so usually

we'll end this thing with the
favorite five and I'll ask you

five of your favorite things.
Your favorite color? Every color

blue. Okay, that'd be good. To
get some some blue and greens

man do you ever have.

Even though I do not have a blue
drum set. I did have a blue

marble AR kit that Ray made me
in the 90s. That was black and

blue marble. They had the red
marble was in the ads.

And out of the blue marble sight
unseen. I still had the snare

drum. But I traded that kit for
my Yamaha absolut hybrid maples.

And that's when I went to like
black and dark drum sets like

you. Yeah, they go with
everything. It's like wearing a

tuxedo on stage. It's never
gonna get old classic. So that

I've got the classic walnut for
the recording customers back

beautiful maps here and I'm
staring at a set of cherry red

long turret. Dave Weckl era
recording custom drums. Oh,

yeah. Oh, they're not set up.
But they're, they're stacked up.

And so if somebody wants that
sound, you know, I could drag it

over and mic it up. But
everybody's got to have one of

those drum sets, you know, and
the good news is they will keep

their value. They do they
really, really do, man. So

that's your favorite color.

Blue is my favorite color. Yeah.
Favorite food or dish? Oh,

probably steak. Yeah. steak or
seafood.

So you'd be set in Vegas at the
you know the buffets? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Or any surf and turf
places halfway decent. I like me

some surf and turf man. favorite
drink? It could be you know,

you're trying to get off the
hard stuff. So

either coffee or probably for
soda. Sundrop Sundrop. Yeah,

yeah. Now that's man.

Well, it's not as much as
Mountain Dew. And the guy who

taught me how to play drums that
lived next door to me. His

family owned the independent
barley company in our town.

Yeah. So it was around Sundrop
Okay, that's very good, man. How

about what about your now this
is?

This is difficult for a lot of
people could your favorite song

if this comes on the radio
without fail? during your

lifetime? You're gonna crank
that sucker up? Oh,

the one that just I don't know
why it jumps forward so quickly.

But just because it always makes
me feel great. Rock and roll

doctor by little feet. Okay.
Yes. There's something about

that song. And there's something
about that band. That if I was

ever in a bad mood, or something
was going weird. I could put

little feet on and I'd feel
better. There's just something

up about that band. Yeah, you
know, man, and favorite movie.

You're gonna watch it.

Even if it's in the middle. Oh,
God, Your God the last 20

minutes. You're like, sorry,
sweetie. I got to finish

watching this. Oh, oh, you've
opened up a because that's one

of my other loves is movies and
books. And you know, there's

music. Like I was listened to.
One of my favorite things with

Apple music right now is the
Discovery Channel. You know,

like you have the your favorite
mix or whatever. There's the

discovery mix, which is stuff
you've never heard on but it's

based on your, your timeline or
whatever. Yeah, I've heard so

much stuff that I've never heard
before that I love.

So that's, you know, sidenote
favorite movie.

Oh, gosh.

Recently in primary killers of
the flower Moon, I got to see

it man. I'm such a Scorsese
Tarantino

Christopher Nolan. You know big
big visuals fan? Yeah, so

Oppenheimer's. Great. Oh,

there would be blood is a good
one. Oh, it's so dark.

Yeah, but I like

I like stuff. That's art. Then
on the other side, you got like

Anchorman and walk.

Hard, or hey, tap Anchorman
through a period where we knew

how to quote every line from
that movie. Oh, for sure. Office

space was another bus movie that
same way. Yeah. You know, so I

can't wait for Spinal Tap to
which they're, they're filming

now. I can't wait to see it
there because everyone is so

much more advanced than age.
They're like Philippe 30 or 35

years older. Yeah, but

somehow friends was, you know,
people were friends on Facebook,

even though they've never met.
But your friends by association,

the music? Yeah. So I'm friends
with CJ advanced and the

keyboard player from there. And
he's,

yeah, hilarious.

And he posted something about
them during rehearsal. And I

wrote under his timeline that
hey, if there's ever if there's

a bid for tremors, auditioning

inspired asset I want in Yes, I
want the original to explode.

Oh, because the original God did
pass away. Rick Parnell did pass

away a couple years ago, rest
his soul. I had actually written

him back and forth being a fan
of that movie. And, and

honestly, he's playing he played
with a bunch of different

people. And Todd

has done it. Yeah, I think it'd
be a funny bit to have that in

the movie. And then all the
drummers have to sign a release.

You know, if they're gonna die,
right.

My family will not sue Spinal
Tap Inc. If I die. Yeah, yeah.

That's a good. That's so many
different specialists. Favorite

Movies, Robo cops, another one.
Okay, that's probably what

they're gonna remake any time
now because it's easier for the

studios. They own the rights to
these movies, it's cheaper for

them to remake them then buy the
access to new content. Right?

Yeah. Which I get the economical
side of it, but I'd rather see

the artistic side. You know, I
know Petey Anderson's making

another movie. And of course,
Tarantino has got his last one

coming in whatever that is.
Yeah. There's another one once

upon a time in Hollywood, or
Jackie Brown, strong. Oh, I'm a

movie. I'm a geek.

Well, they all we've all got
that thing happening that you

mentioned books. Now. You're
talking like fiction,

nonfiction. I'm a little bit of
both right now. I'm reading

Geddy Lee's book my epic life.
Getting through the third shot.

Have you read it yet? At all?
Not yet. Okay. The third chapter

is all about his family and the
Holocaust. Oh, wow. So and and

their time in the concentration
camps of Germany. So that was a

little Yeah, that was a little
tough to get through. Having a

dad who fought in World War Two.
And I have visited Dachau before

any battle yet. And it's really
eerie. You know, there's like

the smells still there. Stuff
like that. Boy.

So I'm reading that. I've got

the Jeff ACARA book on my table.
That Robin flans did yeah, she's

already got a second one coming
out. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. The

Rick Rubin book, which was
pretty cool. Okay. And then I've

got to ask our book I keep
meaning to finish called. He

crashed me. So I crashed him
back.

That's a funny. That's a funny
title. Oh, that's true in

NASCAR. I mean, if you watch any
race, you know, somebody bumps

one other one. Rabins racing,
and they're gonna or if they

wreck them, they'll get revenge
next week. Yeah. So Wow. Okay,

so this is the moral of the
story is I've got some books to

read. And yeah, don't don't
forget about reading rich. You

know what I mean? You can just
get back into it two man.

degrees by degrees in English.
So I didn't I read a lot during

college. Yeah. English
literature, right. English

literature. Yeah. Yeah. And then
almost taught high school until

I went observed. And I went, No,
I do.

Take it from me as someone who,
you know, has taught K through

12 as a substitute teacher.

Patience is a virtue, and you
spend 90% of your time doing

classroom management. And you
know, it's it's very it's very

difficult very frustrating.
Teachers don't get paid dear and

my god Oh, they do not. And it's
it's not a good thing, man. No,

that's not

let me tell you what, man I am
so proud of you. And likewise,

man, we're all right. That's
incredible to be looking at you

and be you know, 26 years down
the line and you've got this

body of work here. You played
with all these people and

brought help them bring their
dreams to fruition, help their

you know, bring their music to
the people and music changes

lives. And

you did it and you bought it.

House and you've got a balanced
life and you're happy and it's

awesome, man. Well, your thing
like what was your focus to be a

studio guy when you moved? No, I
just wanted to take any work and

I knew that I loved teaching. I
loved it. I loved recording and

I loved touring, so I was just
gonna say yes to everything.

Okay? Like my thing was, I want
somebody to pay me for me to see

part of the world.

Oh, yeah, my Yeah, my mantra was
I want to hear myself on the

radio see myself on television
and travel the world on someone

else's dime I wrote that down as
a purpose statement. And that's

a great one too. Man did the
same thing bro.

Just in my head. Yeah. I was
like a pinball bouncing off his

shit like Okay, let's try this.
Let's try this you know? Yeah,

it always landed and you just
stayed busy and you're still in

the game and still learning the
day that we stop learning is the

day that we we die. That's
that's for sure. freely. really

true. Yeah, man. Incredible. So
we'll have to do is we will have

to get finally get into the same
room at the same time in real

time. And break some bread man.
I hope we get to do it this

year. Y'all have gotten to be on
one of those dates, I hope.

Well, I don't even want to do it
backstage one of those things. I

just want to go somewhere where
you and I can have two hours and

we could just like just be in
each other's presence. Well, let

me know. I'm around Powell. I
will make it happen. We'll make

it happen this year. You know,
like I said, it's pretty pretty,

relatively late schedule for
this first six months. Our new

model is that we tour every June
to October so we do about 50

shows between June and October.
You guys are paying through the

year that right? Thank you
Jesus.

Thank you sweet Jesus.

Awesome, buddy. We'll have to
get together and to all the

listeners out there. You want to
keep in touch with li li le

that's ke ll e y on drums li
Kelly on drums.com great

website. You're on your socials.
It looks like this. I just got

things from Primark. Oh, that's
your sig stick. Look at that.

Well, it's their forward five
A's with with my name on them. I

liked I liked the forward
balance as well, man. Yeah, I

do. And you're in Evans guy as
well. Aren't you? Know, I've

been a remote remote guy to
1995. Okay, grazie. I couldn't

remember if you were both or if
you were Remo and I know you're

a pro Bart. Well, I knew I
wanted to go, you know, and when

I ended up hooking up with
GrowMark it was because I had a

friend there that I knew my
calls would be answered. So

it was a regal tip guy and then
a Johnny rap guy and then a

PROMAR guy,

Johnny Reb six. This was good
stuff though. That was good

stuff, man. Yeah, he his office
what used to be where the drum

pad is now, which is the
teaching filled facility

connected to drum paradise,
which is pretty crazy. So are

you open to do some teaching or
consultations or people moving

to town, they want to ask
questions. How do I do it like

you did it? Lee? I'm open to
that. I mean, I don't know what

I would teach as far as drumming
goes because of my limited

education in it. The only thing
I can do is go here's what I

did. That's great. Sometimes
that's all you need the past.

Make sure you play in time. Make
sure you can play a shuffle.

Make sure you're not late. She
show up. No it rehearse at home.

Yeah. Well, the Shuffle was the
key for your key to entry into

the castle. That's how you got
the Gary Allen job and all you

need is one job and then people
start to talk and then before

you know it, you've had 20 jobs.
So great work. Learn the shuffle

kids. Oh, Lee, thanks for being
here, man. Thanks for having me,

pal. It's been a joy. So
casually pleasure to do this.

Oh, God, man, you really, really
inspired me as well. And to all

the listeners out there, and to
my friend Jim McCarthy, Jim

McCarthy voice overs.com. Maybe
he'll be along for the ride on

the next one. Until then be sure
to subscribe, share rate review

and helps people find the
podcast and we'll be here. We're

always here. We'll see you next
time. Thanks, Lee. See you

later. This has been the rich
Redmond show. Subscribe rate and

follow along at rich redman.com
forward slash podcasts.