The Rich Redmond Show

Unknown: Want to get cowboy
boots, like work boots. You play

in cowboy boots? Ever? I've
never played in cowboy boots. I

don't, yeah.

In fact, there's a band I play
with regular regularly, the cow

pokes, and we have kind of a
dress code where everyone has

the same boots that me, yeah,
and they bought me a pair, but I

don't want to get used to
playing in high heels. And now

I've tried the shoes on, and
they hurt my feet, yeah, so I

just don't wear them. And

yeah, looks like they're playing
in high tops. You got to have

some dexterity in the ankle,
right? Yeah, yeah.

I've known a couple of guys that
played barefoot, yeah? And I've

tried that and that, Oh, that's
weird. That's hard, even

with socks, I can't do it, yeah?
You got to have some sort of

traction, some

sort of a Chuck. Chuck Taylor
has been my modus operandi. The

best shoes

I've ever played, and I never
went back to him, wrestling

shoes.

Oh, I could see that. Yeah, they
were amazing. Well, I could see

wrestling too, yeah, pinning
guys whispering in their ear

from

behind. This

is the rich Redmond show.

What's up, folks? Yep, it is
that time. It's time for another

exciting episode of the rich
Redmond show. We talk about all

things like music, motivation,
success, and today, yet another

brave, daring drummer has made
the trip to Spring Hill,

Tennessee, my new home for the
last five months. Jim McCarthy,

dude, I love it. It really

is. Have you been to the New
Mexican restaurant?

El something Elle, something el
mocha hectare. It's

in the old car dealership. I
haven't tried it yet. What do

you think we had lunch there
today? Courtney and I was it

good? Does it kind of just
tastes like Mexican food?

Well, that's good because we do
have a lot of Mexican

restaurants in time

and mattress stores, yeah. And

what are the other things? I
just

like that, all the stuff, the
Publix, my bank, the Walgreens,

the cigar shop, everything is
less than a half a mile

that cigar shop is. Is just
world class, world class. I was

there last night. Yeah, don't
mind me. I'm actually fixing the

background while we're Oh yeah,
don't, don't

worry about that. So, so Jim,
what is, what has been happening

with you since we talked an hour
ago. Oh, do you want to get

deep? Okay,

sure. Yeah,

you know this. You know, need to
make money and all that fun

stuff. Oh, yeah, it

is a sad part of life that is,
you know, money isn't

everything, but we do need it,
and it does make things a little

basic needs, yeah, yeah. It's
always being in that situation

of trying to cover your basic
needs.

It's fun, but you're a hard
worker. I don't know anyone that

works. I don't know how you
multitask and juggle the things

that you do. Insanity. Yeah, we
get a good hey, we're gonna have

another great conversation
today. A maniacal edge. Hey,

this gentleman is a staple of
the Nashville community. I mean,

if you if there's a drum set,
he's going to be playing it. I

see him all the time the last 28
years, playing down on lower

Broadway. He plays with a
variety. He's a world class

musician hailing from
Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania. He's

a graduate of the Berklee
College of Music. He's called

Nashville home since 1988
currently playing drums for

Emmy, Lou Harris, Don McClean,
but he's also worked for let me

put on my readers. These are
just a few of the names. Raul

malo from the Mavericks, Rodney
Crowell, Steve Cropper, Hank

Williams, the third bombshell.
How Ketchum, Shannon, Lawson,

Rosie Flores, buddy, Jewel
Mandy, Barnett, Chuck Meade. I

mean, this list goes on and on
and on. We're talking about our

friend John McTighe the third
What's up, Buddy Rich, how are

you? Dude? I am so happy to have
you sitting here, because all

the years of knowing you,
knowing of you, knowing of your

work, seeing you play, we have
never been able to have a

conversation longer than sound
great, man, I'll see you just

waving.

Yeah, no red door. Time.
Nothing. Yeah, I spent

way too much time mixing
business pleasure at a little

watering hole called the red
door. And I don't know if you

have a watering hole, but I
would never run into John there.

No,

I used to run into Henry go all
the time there, who

is a big week at KHS music now,
yeah, running sonar, really,

yeah, picked, I guess, yeah,
yeah, very cool. I love

him so. And you were, in
addition to all this, you were a

founding member of Brazil,
Billy, that's right now is, is

that band still happening or?
No, it's

still happening. Okay, still
happening? Yeah, it's, it's

completely different than it
used to be musically. Before it

was probably 85% Latin or Cuban
grooves, yes, with traditional

country music, and now there's
almost none of that.

So it was a mix of almost like
Latin rockabilly,

yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hence
Brazil. Bill, yeah, that's

great, man, yeah, it's fun. Very
cool. Yeah,

you know what? And a lot of the
playing that you do downtown, I

don't know, you might work some
of the other rooms, but I always

see you at Roberts. And Roberts
is the one place when I go down

there that is, like, top of the
list. It's my favorite place.

And when tourists come to town.
And let's face it, they're all

coming, and they're like, where
should I go? I was like,

Roberts. You can get the crinkle
fries and the fried baloney. You

can get a Coors and a can, and
the band kicks ass, and they're

wearing their Pearl snap shirts.
And it's music from the 1950s

It's traditional. You're gonna
love it.

Yes, the quintessential
traditional country music, Honky

Tonk, yeah, number one in the
world. Got a baby? Yes, right.

Never gone there. You haven't 20
years living here. I've never

been

there. Jim, we're gonna do a
guys night, and we're just gonna

go to Roberts, yeah, just on any
weekday. I mean, there's always

a killer band come

down on Wednesday, late shift,
10 to two, okay, yeah, I'll be

there. That's your

shift. These days, that's my

shift. Yeah, these days, with
the cow pokes, traditional

country music band, we started a
thing on Tuesday nights that

we've moved up to the east side
bowl in East Nashville, yeah,

and that's worked out really
well, but we've been doing

Wednesday nights at Roberts for
six or seven years now. Oh, wow,

it's fun. Yeah, I think you dig
it. Yeah, yeah, it's,

I can't believe you know, it's
because you, you kind of have a

an avoidance these days for

downtown, lower, broad, it can
be a hassle parking and

tourists, tourists, and, you
know, it thinks you can get kind

of crazy.

Woo girls, yes,

the cabs, but the

tips have gotten better. You

can make a living now you could.
Yeah,

yeah. So, I mean, years ago,
well, you know, I don't know if

I would ever want to play this
much. I mean, I love my

instrument, but you would
probably be bordering on

burnout. But you know, if you
work that scene down there and

you get the right rooms on the
right days, their guys are

making six figures playing down
there, that's true. I mean,

that's crazy. That is, yeah,
that's a lot of schlepping.

That's a lot of Yeah. Bon Jovi,
what does that mean? You know,

it's like Roberts is one of the
few rooms where you're gonna and

maybe laylas, maybe legends,
where you're gonna hear the

traditional stuff, 5060s, 70s,
country, right? And everything

else is going to be a bunch of
guys with in ear monitors and

iPads and rolling kits, and
they're playing very current

stuff, and a lot of just rock
and roll, yeah, like Bon Jovi

place. It's got that multi, he's
got the big stage, and it's,

like, the, you know, the sneeze
guard, and a big double bass

Kent, and just everyone's got in
ears. And just, they're just

rocking,

yeah, yeah. They're playing,
like, all the Bon Jovi hits and

stuff like that, yeah, just

top down journey rock, classic
rock stuff. And we went

down there on a Monday
afternoon. Yeah, it was Monday

or Tuesday, and my brother had
come to town, yeah, and my

brother's a musician from he's
in Detroit. He's been there for

last 2530 years, but he's been
playing keys since He's seven

years old, no, even earlier than
that. But he, he basically, it

was like a dog hanging out the
window enjoying the air. How

bad? On a Monday, Tuesday
afternoon. And I said, dude, and

this is the afternoon shift.
Yeah, you know, there is

no place on Earth, right, like
there. I think there's 60 clubs

or something down there. It's,
it's a lot. Yeah,

there's nowhere like Nashville
to be able to do it is unique.

What people do to make money
downtown, yeah, it's one of

those things like you could have
Vegas. Vegas is known for, you

know, I'm the gambling is not
even the the number one draw

anymore. It's all the
entertainment. It's a city of

entertainment, yeah, but
Nashville definitely has a

niche. I mean, it's a unique
experience, for sure. For sure.

Yeah, and Robert's Western
world, I would say definitely my

favorite, totally, for if you
want to get you know where the

locals go,

Yeah, John England and the
Western Swingers, that's one of

the best western swing bands on
the planet, yeah, for sure. You

know, yeah. And what was the
scene like in 1988

Well, I played down the first
time in 93 Yeah. And it was with

Gary Bennett from br 549 right
before br 549 and I'll put it

this way, I I went down there, I
said yes to a weekend's worth of

gigs, and I never went back till
95 because it was like the worst

place you would ever want to be.
It was all pawn shops, sex

shops. Uh, prostitutes, drug
addicts. You're kidding, like

Times Square in the 70s, yeah?
And like there were no lights.

There were no arc lights. They
were either shot out or they

just didn't work. And you could
park right in front of the club,

wherever you were playing, yeah?
And there was a across the

street where rippies is. There
was a club called the turf, and

that was the worst place that
was, like, the kind of place

where people actually got
murdered in the club.

I'm sorry, but I mean, but yeah,
before the tornado of exactly

what was 2010

No, that was the flood

98 Okay, yeah, and that it was
the, it was the tornado of 98

took out a lot of that stuff on
the wolfies Rippy side. Remember

wolfies? Wolfies was killer, but
there was, and there was, like a

little club next to to wolfies,
Music City, the Music City

lounge in

between that and the turf. Yeah,
I have a brick from the turf.

Was it thrown at you? No, it was
after the tornado hit the

building. Oh, wow, yeah.

Remember hearing about that
tornado. I used to play at

wolfies with, uh, buddy Spiker,
yeah, you had to play. So, so,

yeah, he liked it that way for
sure. So soft it was, it was a

good challenge.

I remember seeing Dirks Bentley
play there,

yeah, man, yeah. And it's so
funny that that side of the

street never seemed to have the
cache or the success as the side

with tootsies. You're

exactly right and all that.
Yeah, I don't know why strange

deal with that. I have no idea,
but that is so true.

And kid rocks was a place called
Shauna Ki, yeah, and somebody

got shot in the face outside
that club.

Wow. I did not know that. Yeah.
I remember that club. I played

there a couple times with a
blues band. And then after that,

it became like cowboy. It was
like a cowboy dress in drag.

Wow, kind of theater, yeah, that
didn't go over very well. Oh,

wow. That ended quickly, yeah,
can't imagine why, yeah. And

then it is what it is now, yeah,
man and all

the shootings have moved up to
Opry mills.

No, that was not what I wanted.

There we go. Nice, Jim, thank
you. Completely

ruined it. Should I do a take
two? No, well,

you know, and there's also,
there was, you know, Virginia's

market there, across from the
old Omni in Midtown, murder

Mart, the murder mark, yes. And

so there's a theme going on in
this episode. People were

shot in front of that place.
Yeah, how about

the Kroger east side, the murder
Kroger. The murder Kroger.

There's T shirts you can still
find that have that now,

which now? What street is that?
On Gallatin road. It's

on Gallatin road, and it's the
first Kroger you would pass on

the way out of town towards
Madison. Yes, that was

considered the murder Kroger,
because somebody was murdered in

the parking lot. Oh

my gosh, this is dark. It's
really dark, right? But now,

so Nashville is a little bit
more new and shiny now. I mean,

it really is. Yeah, it's
beautiful. They kind

of wonder, if you compared the
numbers from then and now, are

they still the same? Murder

wise. Murder wise. You know, I
don't know. No, we're not

Memphis, and that's not,

we're not Memphis. That's good.
Robbery Mills, yeah,

let's pepper things with kids,
yeah. So, so you, you're the

rare, one of the rare guys that
graduates from Berkeley. But

when do you start playing music?
Do you have a musical family,

because you are the third in a
lineage,

which means rich, yeah, I come
from money. Jim, that's right. I

want

you to know that John McTighe,
the

third, not much money, but it's
money.

Good Irishman, right? Yeah, yes,
100%

English and Irish. My mom was
full blood English, yeah, yeah.

Dad, Irish, yeah. His father, I
never met, but apparently he was

a cement Mason and also a boxer.
Wow, tough guy, yeah, and he was

a smaller guy, and my dad was my
size larger, and my dad was a

cement Mason most of his life,

wow, yeah, most drummers are
hugging the earth. What is it

like up there? I mean, you get
to see if people are losing

their hair. There's all sorts of
things.

You know, concerts, better
positions, you can see, you

know, more people better air,
yeah, yeah. And, of course, how

tall are you? More expensive
clothes, though, you guys, I'm

six, four

more fabric, more fabric. Yeah,
and you like the dress, what I

do? Like? I like the fact that
you put lots of thought into

what you wear. It's very nice.

Oh, well, thank you. Yeah,

you never tell me that part of
it. Well, you're on a car heart

kick now, which is great, man.

You're so full of it. No. I
think Rich is like, whenever I

get, you know, he'll if he if he
doesn't like what I'm wearing,

he goes, it's a new shirt.

Their hoodies are big and
athleisure. They're very just,

you know, you just sink into
them when you're watching TV.

It's nice. I'm more

of the Steve Jobs. Okay, just
simple. I don't want to think

about it. Just put it on and go,

Yeah, but no, you actually look
very well constructed. You got

the dark denim with the black
boots and, yeah, man,

the very stylish shoes. Yeah,
yeah. I want to get cowboy

boots, like work

boots. You play in cowboy boots.
Ever? I've never played in

cowboy boots.

I don't Yeah. In fact, there's a
band I play with regular

regularly, the cow pokes, and we
have kind of a dress code where

everyone has the same boots, but
me, yeah. And they bought me a

pair, but I don't want to get
used to playing in high heels.

And now I've tried the shoes on,
and they hurt my feet, yeah? So

I just don't wear them. And
yeah,

looks like they're playing in
high tops. You got to have some

dexterity in the ankle, right?
Yeah, yeah.

I've known a couple of guys that
play barefoot, yeah? And I've

tried that and that. That's
weird, that's hard, even

with socks, I can't do it, yeah,
you got to have some sort of

traction some summer

of a Chuck. Chuck Taylor has
been my modus operandi, the

best shoes I've ever played, and
I never went back to him,

wrestling shoes. Oh, I could see
that. Yeah, they were amazing.

Well, I could see you

wrestling too. Yeah, pinning
guys whispering in their ear

from from behind. They were,

you know who Neil Pierre used to
play in was dancing shoes. Okay?

He would tuck his pants, I guess
he would. He would wrap them or

bungee them to his ankles so
they wouldn't get caught out of

the pedals. Yeah, and, but he
says, because you know, you're

pretty much dancing and you wore
dancing shoes,

wow. And Steve Gadd was a great
tap dancer. I heard that. I

heard he, he

studied tap Yeah. And Troy,

look at it. Is a good roofer.

What now, I know he is, no, I
made that came up

really, yeah, he does roofing.
Doesn't he live in Murfreesboro?

Um, he used to or something.
Yeah, Troy's always moving

around. Where is he living now?
Um,

I love those odd stories,
though. Yeah, come in these, you

know, that came out of that,
that that episode with him, and

I was like, What dude, you guys
should get up on roofs and

everything is,

like, that's hard work. It

is hard work. I think he's got
crews of people now. He's just

bossing around. Hey, I want this
done by five. Oh, yeah,

slacker, what is like, you know?
And that kind of brings up that

kind of a notion, even though
you spent a majority of life

playing, what was something else
that you might have done, that

you were like, Okay, this could
be something, if the drumming

didn't work out,

that I would have been
interested in, yeah,

you know, I've had some day jobs
years ago, and one of them was

making vinyl tilt in windows.
Oh, wow. I found that

interesting, huh?

Yeah, manufacturing them, yes,

yeah. Well, the thing, and the
funny thing is, is that you're

known as a, you know, roots
country, Americana drummer, you

know, mostly, um, but you
studied 20th century

composition, yeah, which is so
interesting, you know, because I

I love that too. I mean, I have,
I'm an over educated rock

drummer. I have my masters and
in percussion and music

education. But, you know, I
mean, I love various and I love

Stravinsky, and I love, you
know, forward thinking, you

know, avant garde music, yeah,
you would never be able to tell

from, you know, the gigs that we
get called that we like this

stuff. That's true, but it's in
there. It's baked into the cake.

It's part of the the root, yeah,
you know, you're right, yeah,

absolutely. What did you have to
do to get that degree? Did you

have to create compositions?
Yes,

yes. We had to do fugues,
motets, Choral arrangements,

string quartets, yeah, a
symphony. Piece, a piece for a

symphony, writing,

we're scoring for a symphony.
Wow, yeah, big job. Did you get

to hear it performed?

Not that piece. Some of the
other ones I have, yeah,

yeah, well, there's still
there's still time. I mean, that

would be really cool,

yeah, if I could find a symphony
to hire. Yeah, yeah,

it's Prague. Prague.

They're cheaper. You know what?
When I first came to Nashville,

I had a friend that knew some
people at the Nashville

Symphony, and they were doing
local composers pieces, and he

approached me about having my
piece played. And I was like,

totally into it, and I started
writing out parts, and it took

me about a month to finish all
the parts, and in the meantime,

the symphony went bankrupt. I.
Completely, Oh, wow. This is

before the skirm a horn, that
whole deal. And so when I

approached him again, he was
like, man, we're not doing that

anymore. We're sticking to
Beethoven Mozart, you know, we

got to make money

give the people what they want.
Yeah, that was a

little discouraging at the time,
yeah, yeah,

yeah, man, but that's so do you
remember all of the, you know,

the ins and outs of the, you
know, the ranges of the

instruments, the clarinets and
all. It gets rusty if you don't

use it, it

does. It really does. Yeah,
yeah. Nobody likes a rusty

clarinet,

the rusty trombone, rusty
trombone. Yes, it's a big

one in San Francisco. Anyways,
give me a Get up.

Damn Jim label, those things
that a good one. Damn

we have one of Johnny at one
time going Shazam my drum tech

from the last 14 years,

I have that on another machine.
Yeah, I might have, I

have that road caster in a box
at my place, you know. But since

I come and you push all the
buttons, that's great. Do I sell

it?

So what was the first job you
got when you moved to town?

First music job, first drumming
job.

Let me see,

it was probably with Gary
Bennett, yeah, before. Br, five

Yeah, and it was on Broadway.
Now

explain to the listeners, so
somebody's lit in Des Moines,

Iowa, and they don't know the
legacy of br, 549

okay? Br, 549 was a band that
started playing at Roberts

Western world, and this would
have been early 90s, yeah, and

young guys playing traditional
country music and dressing like

the traditional country music
stars dressed back in the day,

and they were doing this
downtown Broadway in Nashville,

which was the one place you
would never want to ever be at

that time, it was very
dangerous. And I think that's

what made it kind of exciting,
yeah, because because of the

music and the way they looked,
people of all ages, sizes, uh,

rich, poor would go down to this
weird little club to hear this

crazy little band do this music
that you you couldn't find

anymore. Yeah, they created a
scene. They did, and they those

guys, as well as Greg Gehring,
uh, changed the face of

downtown. That was the, yeah,
the nucleus. That was what

started it,

yeah. Man, yeah, yeah. It's kind
of like, you know, our, our

engineer that has done all the
Aldean records, Pete Coleman. I

don't have you ever worked with
Pete Coleman over at treasure

Isle, but he was, you know, he
was the guy. He actually

recorded my Corona for the
knack. And, you know, at the

time, you know, the knack was
playing around. La, this was

probably 8081, um, six nights a
week, they were so sharp, and

they were so tight, and all the
celebrities and the hipsters and

Hollywood would go see them, and
it was a scene, man. And that's

what I kind of park into that,
yeah, yeah,

it was fun. It's a really cool
thing. Yeah, it's exciting, one

of a kind. It doesn't happen
every

day. No, it's a hard thing, and
you can't force something like

that.

No, it just happens. Yeah, yeah.
You can't really create it. You

just do your thing. And this
evolved out of that, yeah, yeah.

Now you're

currently doing dates with Don
McClean, bye, bye, Miss American

Pie. That's correct, wow. Long
song, like seven or eight

verses, eight

minutes and 21 seconds. That was
our bathroom song in radio. I

used to play in a band called
uh, you know, I used to play in

a band called uh, Frito pie, and
we would in then that became

Eskimo pie was in college, and
we would pass out freeze dried

Eskimo pies to all the drunks at
the clubs. And we would do,

like, songs by a lot of one hit
wonders. But, I mean, this was

kind of, this was, I'm sure
Don's got some other things, but

he is so known for that,

yeah, iconic, icon standard.
Yeah, that's

so when I got in the radio, when
I was a jock, back in the day,

we were transitioning from
actually pulling CDs and

stacking your hour to everything
going automated. So at that

point, you know, you could, we
had 40 minute long sets of I 95

rock. You had entire time just
to goof off. You didn't have to

really fire anything off. But
typically that song, or knights

and white satin, okay, was was
the song? Wow, yep, by the Moody

Blues. So

he's got to

be a good number two,

fun guy to work for, or very
interesting. So Jerry Kroon was

playing with him. Yeah. And now,
for those folks that don't know,

I. Uh, in 1998 I took a studio
Nashville studio drumming

workshop with Tommy wells God
rest his soul and Jerry croon.

And it was, like a month long
course. I mean, we go, like

twice a week, and we'd talk
about tuning and playing house

kits and the Nashville Number
System and scribbling out your

own charts. And just it was
really fun. Wow, yeah, yeah. So

I got to know Jerry croon a
little bit, and I haven't seen

him much really since, yeah, you
know, yeah. So how'd you get the

call? Who's in the band? All
that fun stuff.

Tony migliorne was the band
leader, yeah, and I had played

with Tony through Mandy Barnett,
yeah, and Brad Albin was the

bass player. And I played with
Brad regularly, and had been

playing with him for 21 years.
And Brad would always say to me,

like many times, he's like, man,
if Jerry ever needs a sub, he

would be perfect. And I've, you
know, of course, I was like, Oh

man, let me know that'd be
great. And then Jerry needed a

sub and but at the time, Brad
was not playing anymore with

Dawn, so Tony approached me and
said, Brad, always said, you'd

be great for this. You know,
I've worked with you, with

Mandy, and I went to one of
their shows at the Ryman because

I had never met Jerry, and I
watched the show. And when they

were finished, I went up to
Jerry. I said, Hey, I introduced

myself. He's like, Oh yeah,
you're Brad's friend. He's like,

look, I've got some stuff coming
up. I need a sub. And Brad said,

you'd be perfect. Would you be
interested? And I said, Sure,

yeah. So that's kind of how it
started. That's

awesome, yeah? And something
tells me, You guys play those

delightful, you know, on the
square of a downtown theater

seats 1500 people, kind of a
thing, yeah, yeah, a lot of

those. I love that kind of
touring, because the bus pulls

up right to the theater. You're
on this beautiful little

downtown square, and you you
could support the local economy.

There's the indie record shop,
there's the mom and pop coffee

shop. I can go over here and get
a martini, and it's all right

there. It's all walking
distance.

Yeah? You get to see these cool
little towns and have more of an

experience. Yeah, you know to
take with you, because

the sheds that we do, you know,
with Aldean, are always 30 to 40

minutes outside the city limits,
and you know, to do anything,

you know, you got to get a
runner. And it's the whole

thing, you know, not
complaining, but that seems like

it would be a delightful kind of
touring. Yeah, it's fun. Very,

very cool. And so you have more
dates coming up with him. Yes,

we do. And one thing I really
like about your playing, because

I, you know, when I try to
research all my guests and kind

of consume stuff they've played
on, I look, looked you up on

YouTube, and so there's videos
of you out there. Um, you play

very controlled, like you let
the mics do the work, and

everything's just really you got
spot when you play your crashes.

It's like this little whipping
motions This is great. You know,

that's fun. It just makes me,
like, want to play like that

sometimes, and say, Wow, up
here, like, must destroy drum.

It's just, yeah, you just got
tons of dynamic control and a

great feel. And

thanks. You're very kind, man. I
appreciate that. Oh, yeah, very,

very,

very enjoyable. And, well, let's
look at this list here. And if,

as I'm naming some of these
people that I named before, you

know, the Rodney crows, the
Steve Cropper, Hank Williams,

the third I did that job in 1999
Okay, yeah, and it was what I do

remember about. This is a this
is bosephus son. That's correct,

yeah. So you know both Cephas.
Where did that come from? Monday

Night Football. How did he get
that name? I do not know,

because they actually,

I think when Sammy joined Van
Halen and it was on the live

without a net VHS, their first
live video. He calls him Alex

bosephus mode, heylon, huh, did
you not? Did you ever catch

that? I didn't catch that, man,
yeah, if we ever get Sammy on

the show,

I'll have to ask him that dude,
Sammy, yeah, he seems like a

very approachable guy, 58 years
old, killing it crazy. Wow, I

know. Well, he goes. I mean, he
was in Montrose. Yeah, that was

Sammy man, going way back. What
a voice? Yeah, he's like a Paul

Rogers, where it's like, God,
Paul Rogers, you've been around

forever, like David Coverdale,
they like he was in rainbow

before, White Snake, yeah,

yeah. Did you ever, did you guys
see that? You, I know you didn't

go see them, but did you see uh,
Sammy, when he came through here

in the summer, it was in August.
No, no, what a show was Kenny?

That was the second show that
Kenny did. Nobody was the first,

either the way Kenny had the sub
with 24 hours notice, yeah, for

a two and a half hour show, wow.

Well, he's the guy to do it. He
can thrive. Is on that. He loves

that kind of stuff, but I do
remember Hank Williams the third

not never wanting to rehearse.
He's like, no, that's just gonna

mess us up. Yeah, let's just
keep it raw and real, baby.

Never rehearsed. Never
rehearsed. No. And he would

record every show, and then we'd
listen to it on the bus. Oh,

wow,

yeah, that's nice, yeah. Well,
so when did you work with him?

If I played with him in 99 it
would have been like 97 part of

98 Oh, yeah. He seems like he
was going, going through

drummers me at that

time. It seemed like it's funny
because he he listened back to

every single show, yes, wow,
yeah. That's crazy. You don't

hear that too often, yeah, but
it's almost like, uh, you know,

Aaron Rodgers, quarterback. He
watches all his game tape. Game

tapes. Oh, really, after every
game, yeah, that's how you get

better. It is good. That's

true. I get sick of myself. You
ever get sick or something?

You're like that. Phil, again,
yeah, damn.

Anymore. Are there any original
fills anymore?

But the ones that don't get you
fired and are appropriate? Are

there's only a couple of you got

to use the standards. You can

put your little little slant on
them. You can add a drag here,

or a flam there. That's true,
but Dutch Ducato is always going

to work, right? Yeah, I've been

actually employing the floor tom
crash,

okay, oh, the floor tom with

a China is a nice color too.

Yeah, right, yeah. What

was that in the Huey thing,
where he Jim's

in a gym, is in a Huey lose
tribute band, and they're gonna

play the city winery on May 28
we

don't do your the housekeeping.
Oh, we

didn't do the housekeeping
because it towards the end,

yeah. Was it towards again,
sure, but

in heart and soul, yeah, here we
lose in the news, there's a

there's a breakdown in the
middle of the song, and it's

like a got a hand clap going
over, and it's and he goes like

that. You know, into the mic. I
hit the China on that. I'm

hitting the cowbell, and they

see this Jim, because I've
never, you know Jim and I talk

drums, interview drummers. I've
never seen him play in a musical

setting. Get

ready to be disappointed.

Gotta be self deprecating.
Somebody has to.

It's fun. Humility is a good
thing. That's right, yeah. I'm

just trying to think of any
expectations, any fun stories

from working with the, you know,
the rosy Flores, I mean, legend

Mandy. I'm curious

about the Raul. Yeah. Here's the
thing is that I wasn't really

familiar with the Mavericks up
until recently. My in laws have

friends, and these people are
die hard. I mean, they, they,

they're borderline doing the
Grateful Dead thing and

following the band around. Wow,
you know, I never realized that

existed, that people had such
fervor, you know? And I just

it's probably my naivete, but,
you know, it is just

because you've been calling me
out on my SAT words I've been

using. That was really good
buddy.

So what was it like with him? I
mean, he's, he's a prolific

artist, you know, yeah, yeah.

It was a lot of fun. He's great
to work. Great musician, yeah,

phenomenal bass player. I mean,
he can play drums, keys,

obviously, guitar, and there's
no better singer. Yeah, he's

probably one of the best singers
I've ever worked with in my

life. Yeah, and just the music
that he does, I've always leaned

towards the Latin, yeah, right
grooves and stuff and so. And I

think he recognized that right
away. So we did a lot of that

stuff. My first gig with with
him was at the skirm a horn and

it was with an 11 piece band. He
had brought out a lot of the

trumpet players and some of the
players from the Mavericks, not

the main core of the band, but
like the horn players and

percussionists and so it was, it
was cool. It felt really good.

And super guy nice to work with.
Lot of fun. And when we

traveled, man, he knew, like the
best local restaurants in every

city to hit. So, man, we got to
check out some amazing places.

Just by his memory. Was he
Googling them? No, by memory,

really? Yeah, this is like,
before cell phones, before Yelp,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you

worked with him before cell
phones, yeah, so I got my first

cell phone in 99

I started working with him in oh
six, wow, I don't think we had

cell phones,

yeah, in 1999 I had one of those
Verizon flip phones, the star

tech,

okay, yeah, I might have had one
of those. Yeah,

yeah. Remember the first time
you were able to get your email

on your phone? Yeah? I thought
it was the

coolest thing with my little
Blackberry. Yep, you had her

pagers. Oh, yeah, I remember all
the pagers.

The codes used to if you had a
like Courtney and I were dating

at that time, and she she found
it challenging to say, I love

you, but she was good with
saying it through the pager. And

it was done by saying 143,

Wow, I love you. Oh,

one letter, four letters, three
letters, oh yeah. They're like,

the t9 texting, yep, oh yeah,
yeah. You ever see that

documentary on the death of the
Blackberry? Yes, pretty good. It

was pretty it was interesting.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, they

had the world by the, you know
what, and then Apple came

around, Steve Jobs came and just
crushed them.

But I think they had, there's a
lot of hijinks that went on too,

right, yeah, lot of corruption
stuff like that. Because it was,

who was it come it was a Gosh.

I liked my Blackberry because it
was tactile. Yeah, I remember

the first time I got the iPhone.
I was like, This is awkward,

yeah, because there's not real
buttons. Now the kids are like,

and

you still miss the buttons,
yeah, yeah, you know, because

they're virtual. But the
blackberries, I think you came

when you and I were beginning to
be friends. You were in the

production studio at the radio
station. You had just got the

BlackBerry with the roll ball on
it, yeah? And you described it a

certain way. I was like, this is
not, yeah, no, you liked it

because it was, it was a kin,
yeah, God, the man in the boat,

right? Yeah, you were flicking
the beam

the man in the boat.

Jeez. I was like, that's really
descriptive.

Hey, so you got, you got
something there is, then you

take us a trip down memory lane
with your invention, yes, oh,

the webs, yeah, so that. So we
were both Johnny Rab artists in

the early 2000s and you created
a product that would allow you

to play brushes, but very loud,

very loud, yes, is where you
could do rim shots and crash

cymbals. Is one of the first
brushes, I believe, with like a

heavy wooden handle, yeah. And
it was great, like working on a

snare drone, doing a groove,
like for train beats and

shuffles, you could get more
volume, you know, out of the

brush. And one thing, when I
played with Brazil Billy, I

would tune my snare like a Tim
Bali, Oh, yeah. And when I

played these brushes on that
snare, it made you sound like

you were an old recording while
you played like it sounded like

an old record. While you were
playing, the sound you were I

was getting, yeah, and that's
one of the things that I think

Johnny Rabb thought was cool. He
was playing next door at laylas.

He would come over on break, and
he heard me playing, you know,

these these these songs, with
these brushes and more of a

homemade version, yeah, yeah. I
started making them myself, you

know, with, like, milk cartons,
pieces of plastic, yeah. And,

you know, he was like, Hey, man,
what are you using? I said,

Well, I'm making my own brushes.
And he wanted to get together,

and I was doing, like, a certain
type of technique. He's like,

Man, I want to, want you to show
me that technique. But we never

did get together for that. But
at one point, he's like, Man,

I'm putting together my own
drumstick company, and I'd like

to make your brush. And so over
a few years, we ended up making

that happen together. It

does take a little bit a while
to bring these things to

fruition. Oh, yeah. So did it
come to you one night you woke

up in a cold sweat, plastic
brushes, giant wood handle, no.

What had happened was

br five was playing Roberts and
Brazil Billy was warming up for

them. And the owner of Roberts,
Robert Moore, older gentleman,

when we were playing, there
would be nobody there yet, and

so you had to play soft, yeah,
you know, he wanted to hear

country music, and that's what
we were doing. And by the time

br five was getting ready to
play, the place would be packed,

and brushes were not enough. You
were lost. And so I was

thinking, Man, how can I make
this happen? How can I make

these louder? So I just started
messing around with stuff at

home and bringing it in and
trying it and it, you know, it's

like, wow, I can be heard, yeah.
And I remember Donnie heron, the

fiddle player, steel player for
br five. He would sub with us

sometimes, and after a while,
he's like, Man, those brushes

need to be heard. You need to
mic that. So I started putting a

mic on it. And, you know, I
think that's what attracted

Johnny, because you could hear
this sound. Yeah. It was

distinctive,

yeah, I man, so, uh. With them
not being, you know, Johnny Rab

went out of business,
unfortunately. So with them not

being manufactured anymore. Do
you have, like, a nice cachet of

them where, you know, you got
them still? I

have a few. I don't have a huge
supply. Talk about the rhythm

songs, uh, no, the webs, okay,
yeah, yeah. Are you looking to

kind of bring them back? I

would love to do that, because
you went to ProMark after that

for a little pro Mark approached
me, said, We love your brush. We

don't want to make it. We want
you to make it. We want to

distribute it. Yeah, and so I
did that for a few years, and

then that that kind of ended,
and I haven't done it since, but

I would like to do that again.
What

would be a good angle is there
is this musical drumming,

auxiliary product distribution
company, Big Bang distribution.

So if you they don't do a lot of
manufacturing, but if you have a

niche product like that, they'll
distribute it. So they might be

the guys to talk to.

I need a man of manufacturer,
yeah, sure, yeah,

yeah. Who do you like? Who,
gosh, where do you begin with?

Is

it a China thing? I

think so China.

Well, then you got the tariffs
to worry about. Oh, god, that's

right,

yeah, that's true, yeah.
Nowadays.

I mean, is there a market for
it? And was there any sort of

proof and proof of concept?

Did it sell? Well, it was Johnny
RABs best selling accessory

product. Look at that really,
yes. And, and Greg could affirm

that. Greg Lowman, yeah, he was
just in here? But anyhow, and

I've seen videos of like Harry
Stinson playing them with Marty

Stewart, Johnny Barber, I don't
know if you remember him. Sounds

familiar. He played with Loretta
Lynn, and I supplied him

throughout his entire life. Rest
in peace, but he loved them.

Yeah, yeah. I

think it's a great thing. And
I've got some somewhere, because

I I always take, you know, Lee
Howard Stevens, the marimba

player. He's always got these in
these giant mallet bags, right,

that you would hang on the
bottom of the marimba. So, so I

stick all of my keltnerism type,
shaker, brush, hybrid things

into this bag. And I always
shows up at the session. And

usually the, you know, the stuff
I get called for, it never gets

on opened, but it's there, yeah,
if you need it, which is, it's a

great thing. They're awesome.
Man, congratulations. Thank you.

Yeah, I think you could, you
know, the thing with

manufacturing is, is, is the
wood being the wood part being

assembled somewhere, and then is
the plastic coming Great, or is

it? How does that like
manufacturing? Just it's so

mysterious. Yeah, I learned a
little bit about it from my gal,

because she's a fashion
designer, and so she was always

over in China and sourcing
fabrics. Oh, wow. And then Los

Angeles, downtown, Los Angeles,
has tons of factories, you know,

making, you know, overpriced T
shirts. Right now, you could

probably find a place. Lewisburg
seems to be turning into quite

the manufacturing hub. Oh, yeah,
really, yeah, yeah. There's a,

there's a company we use for a
bunch of our products down there

that they do, fabricating
aluminum stuff like that. Yeah,

okay. But you know, for this,
you you'd need some sort of a,

you know, plastic manufacturer
with the wood combo. You have it

here, yeah, yes, it looks good.
You want to take it out of the

bag.

You could actually, I'm sure you
could buy, like I used to buy

the plastic separate, and I
used, I had a die cut made to

punch out this plastic. But you
know, you could buy your plastic

at one place, get your wood from
another place, and just have

someone to put them together.
Yeah.

Where'd you? Where'd you get
them done last when Johnny was

doing his thing, you said it was
south.

Johnny had a company. They did
them. Yeah, was he actually

doing?

He was doing he was doing his
own manufacturing.

No, he he had a guy in tune
Tennessee that owned a lumber

yard, right? And that's where
they got all the wood from, and

they hired people to put to do
the rhythm saws and put these

things together. Yeah, they're
hard to get out of this bag.

Yeah,

man, it's worth the wait. Need
to get a case for him. Yeah,

look at that. Yeah, that's

great, man. It's

funny upon like, just seeing it
almost like

a got a nice double stroke roll.
Jim, that's right, yeah, see,

that's what happened. That's
what he did with his youth

practices. Rudiments,

yeah, they're great, man. I
mean, I have to say, even though

I invented them, they did a good
job at making these at Johnny's

company, and they last a while,
and it's something, you

know, kind of unique. I think
you put that on the to do list

to like, you know. Don't abandon
that, because I think it's a

really great thing. And, you
know, there's just so many fun

little bells and whistles. Now,
everyone's attaching things to

their drums and muffling their
drums in so many different ways.

Now, yeah, you know, it's

so crazy just to try and, you
know, introduce a product into

the marketplace, because you see
a lot of them at the Music City

drum show coming up in July.
That's

right, Jim is going to be there
on the Saturday, and I'm going

to be there on the Sunday. We're
going to have a little booth.

It's going to be awesome. Yeah,
we're going to sell you stuff.

Have you been to the drum show
in the past? I have,

it's the one suggestion I have.
And I've told the powers that

be, Landon and JC, I, you know,
I just said, when you do the

clinics, you got to have a more
moratorium on all the booth

noise, yeah,

because they're going to do
that, yeah, because, uh, if I

was doing a clinic and all that
was going on, I would have a

really hard time. It's a
cacophony.

Just like, anyways, this part
right here, come up, young man,

I want to show you this. Like,

it's like, oh my God, it is pure
white noise.

Yeah, have you? Have you gotten
into the clinic thing? Ever have

done it? An interest in it? I
haven't

gotten into it. Yeah, still, you
should,

because you have so much to
share. Oh, much knowledge, so

much experience.

I would be into talking about
stuff. You know, do you have

such? Do you have endorsements
time? I do have a few. I don't

have as many as guys like
yourself. Yeah, that I've got,

like, stick drum head. Yeah,

those are the what do they? Call
them? The Expendables, the

consumables, consumables.

I would love to have drum and
symbol, and I've tried before,

years ago, uh, but I'm not, I
don't really chase that.

Well, what drum manufacturer Are
you passionate about? Like a

Ludwig or

I like sonar, okay? And I like
Ludwig. There you go. I like old

Ludwigs. Yep, that I like sonar
and and I like Pisces symbols,

feisty. There is something to
Pisces, man, yeah, yeah.

Well, we know all the people.
It's pretty easy. It's just to

be an introduction. You're like,
Hey, this guy has been here for

since 1988 crushing it. You know
what I mean. He's playing, he's

playing American pie with Don
McClain, like Hello, because if

you crack a symbol and you don't
have any support, you know, it's

400 bucks. 500

bucks. Man, yeah, you know,
well, if you can help a brother

out, yeah.

I mean, Ludwig is, is very and
sonar is like, Chris McCue just

signed up with sonar. Matt
Nolan, who's coming in from

Lainey, Wilson band is with
sonar right now. Todd Superman

near Z, they're having another
gigantic resurgence. I mean, and

their stuff is wow. I mean, I've
had the I've had the S Class,

I've had the SQ twos, I've had
the delights. I've had the all

the different series, and it's
just such well made stuff. Yeah,

it really is, yeah,

that one kit you had that was a
red and black sparkle, yeah,

gosh. I think it was a beast. I
know. Yeah, those are tubs. They

were

good. And the SQ twos it was, I
it was a 26 inch bass drum. It

was supposed to go to Mickey D
with, with Motorhead. And he

some, he's like, I know he
didn't like it, so they ended up

giving it to me. It was 26 Wow,
by 20,

how much did that weigh? People
were, like, compensating.

But, I mean, it's like, it's a
cannon it.

I had a huge case made for it,
with all the lining, and you put

it in there, and then, you know,
it had like, stereo knobs, like,

like, dot you dial really?

Yeah, to tune it very unique.
Oh,

yeah, that's right, because they
had little instead of drum keys.

Wow, that's right,

we'll have that drum. No, I, I
was with I stayed with sonar for

about a decade, and then when I
moved over to dw, I kind of

cleared house and I kept one
drum set, the s, the s class kit

that I recorded with Kiefer and
Shauna on that, are you gonna

kiss me or not? Song from 2011 I
was like, Wow. I was a little

piece of, you know, country
music history. Let's keep the

kit, right, you know. But I
thought

you'd use the one you gave me on
that was that not it? Did I give

you a sonar kit? No, you it was
the the one for the spasmatics,

oh, that was a

little mom and pop operation
called DMR custom neuron. That's

right, that's right. They're
good sounding room. Yeah, they

are, dude. They really are, you
know, ever I think a lot of

these companies are getting
their wood from a lot of the

same places. So it's really
Keller shells and stuff. Yeah,

it's just kind of what they do
with the the number of plies and

the wraps and

you gotta, what does it make a
difference?

You know, you can take a pearl,
you know, vision or a entry

level $600 drum

set. It sound like a million.
Sounds. Great. Yeah. What

is the. Kit. What's the house
kit at at Roberts sonar? That's

sonar kit. Really look at that.
Yeah,

of note, like a good one.

Yeah, it's the, is it the
vintage series? So

it's a more it's a newer kit.
Yes, okay, because you remember,

you know, all of lower Broadway
would go through a phase where,

for a while, like all the clubs
had may picks, then they had

tie, and then they had, let's
see Pearl, and then now we're on

a

is sonar supplying drums for

a lot of the a lot of the
places, yeah,

they're really, they're going on
the offense.

They're going to, yeah, man,
right. And then, of course,

we're here to take back some
market share. There's a bunch of

Roland kits, and I'll end the
corporate then the corporate

clubs.

No, weren't the D drum kits.
Back in the day when they made a

coup, they weren't bad. Have you
tried the D drum kits?

I don't think they were good,

no, but they weren't bad. Yeah,
they were good value. They were

definitely a good value. Yeah,
yeah, no. But kind of like how,

you know, PDP makes a good it's
a value priced kit, but it's

like, when you're buying a PDP,
are you really? Are you buying?

Gosh, I don't what, what's the
metaphor we can use? I think the

thing with PDP is they're making
them they I don't want to speak

out terms of production. I think
that they're, they're more

product, and they might make
them

in Mexico. Okay, yeah, that's
the only real legacy. I mean,

dude,

I have a PDP kit with the wood
hoops, so affordable, so sexy,

and it's just got a gorgeous,
warm sound. It's be great for

Americana singer songwriter,
because it's got the wood hoops,

you know, it's just mellow. It's
want to

hear something so like, pathetic
that I could never wrap my head

around makepex drums. They make
gorgeous drums. They I think

they were the first ones that
kind of spearhead the bird's eye

maple. I like the Saturn series,
right? Yeah. And every kid I've

played that maypex, I can't get
the name, just sounds so cheap.

And I actually put that up on a
Facebook like one of the

Nashville drummers, somebody was
talking about kits, or maybe I

even put the post up, I said, I
said the same thing. And I got a

lot of, you know, hate for it,
but it was, it was one of those

things. But I just, is it me? It

resonates either the company and
the product resonates with you,

you know, or it doesn't. But
that was one of the, also one of

the, also one of the companies.
So there was a tie period, there

was a pearl period, there was a
maypex period, and now we're

running this sonar kick with all
the clubs downtown, yeah,

even, uh, the East Side bowl has
two or three sonar kits.

Wow. The sonar is, like the
Mercedes. It's German, yeah? So

well made you kind of look at,
you know, dw is, I guess, a BMW,

yeah, right, sure. Sonor kind of
like, you know, getting into

that exotic level. As far as
price point, you know, Tama and

Pearl was like your Ford and
Chevy for the longest time,

right? Jim was in car sales for
a while there. But that's, I put

that equation on it because you
have luxury to, you know,

baseline and stuff like that.
Sometimes

the baseline is the workhorse.
You know what I mean, if you

just, like, sometimes you play,
like, budget kits, or like the

midline I sometimes I prefer the
sound of those.

Yeah, yeah. That happens, yeah.

But I mean, a lot of these guys,
their marketing game is getting

the that, that brand logo, and
DW did that in the 90s. I mean,

they just crushed it and got
their drums. And everything is

getting on television as much,
television movies, movies the

whole night, all the award
shows. Because you remember when

they first came out with drums?
You're like, all right, you

know, yeah, that's and

then 40 something years later,
you're rocking.

They're the 50 years later,
yeah. But, I mean, they were,

they were a hardware company.
They made the pedals, yeah, they

were known for, and then they
started making the drums. And it

was one of those things where it
was like, you know, when I first

saw them advertised in Modern
Drummer, I was like, okay, you

know, it's like, when Remo made
drums, oh, they were like, I had

those.

Did you ever have any of those,
the acoustic cons? Yeah,

I remember seeing those. I never
had any. Well, what

do you show up to the studio?
Say you got a recording session?

What do you take it to the to
the studio? It's

funny, everyone has their own
house kit, so I don't take show

up snare drums and, yeah, I
bring some snares and some

percussion stuff and just use
whatever they have, because

usually they have it tweaked in,
yeah, but I have a Yamaha cherry

wood recording, custom,
beautiful that I like to use a

lot if I'm going to take a kit,
yeah, but it depends, like, if

you know if it's something like,
if they want the music to if it

calls for vintage drums, I'll
take something different, like

that. But yeah, yeah, what rooms

do you find yourself in? A lot
there a couple of rooms where

you're like, you're on the call
list. A lot you had you end up

in these certain spaces. No, no,
no. It's the luck of the draw.

Luck of the draw. We're just
waiting for this thing to go to

light up.

You're just, like, free flowing
through life in a way with that.

I mean, you kind of, you're not
planning anything. You just

things just happen, because it's
a great way

to live. Last Yeah, I was 88
let's do the math. That's, uh,

35 that's you've been here 37
years? Yeah, I've been here 28

years. Happens fast. That's a
lot of presidencies. It is. I

you know what? But I never
thought of it. But we are, we

are we're Hashtag blessed. I
mean, we are Hashtag blessed.

Uh,

very thankful, yeah, yeah, for
sure,

I'm kind of digging the
conversation about the drum

manufacturers, though, yeah, do
you

remember PV drums? Yeah, yeah.
Bobby rock.

Bobby rock. They had the
suspension like that that,

yeah, he had the Sistine Chapel
painted on his shells of his

kit, yeah? But

they had the, they were like
reinforcement hoops around the

edges, yeah, yeah, that we're
supposed to give the shell more

reverberation, yeah. And then we
forget about, you remember

premiere, Premier? Premier's a,
you know, a British drum

company, and they were always
known for having slightly

smaller diameters, like you
could put a 22 on there, but it

would just be, there would be a
little bit more overlap. Ah,

wow. Did you know that?

No, but premiere, it didn't,
didn't Keith Moon play Premier?

Yes, and then who else, I think
maybe Rod morganstein with the

Dixie Driggs,

okay? And, and winger, yeah, all
right, but you have Premier and

all these different things like
tama, they need to make a

comeback.

Yeah, they've got their their
marquee guys, your Kenny's and

your Simon Phillips's and your
Charlie Ben

says, All metal guys. And even
knowing Pearl, back in the 80s,

I remember just coming up, and
Pearl was just the pinnacle

crazy icon, the best reason to
play drums. I never liked the

hardware first. I know that was
the fan either, yeah, yeah, the

tube that stabbed into the yeah
drum,

you know, it's, it's, you know,
it's, uh, you find your thing,

but yeah. Man, you should, you
should have some drums and

cymbals.

Man, you need some drums and
cymbals. John, we

gotta get Ludwig on it, man,
yeah, yeah, you

scream Ludwig. You know what? I
mean, like, yeah, vintage, you

know, okay, you know the
psychedelic, oh yeah, that'd be

cool. The

finish, yes, yeah,

and the VISTA lights, I haven't

I have a set of those. Oh yeah.
Which ones? Clear? Just totally

clear. Yeah, I used to take them
out with Raoul. One of the

things I loved with Raul was he
loved vintage drums. So every

tour we did, I would take a
different kit nice. And for

Christmas, I would take the
VISTA lights, and we'd put

lights in them, ah, and he would
bring, like, vintage Christmas

lawn ornaments, like these trees
from the 50s. They're worth a

fortune now. And we, you know,
we'd have the stage full of this

stuff. Wow, yeah, it was, it was
really cool. I

think it'd be cool to hear him
sing Christmas music. You got to

bring your sleigh bells. Bing,
Oh, yeah. The thing, yeah. Now

we can't not talk about this
amazing solo record. Do you This

is really inspired me. John
McCarthy, the third it's about

time tell us about this awesome
project. Alex

man, I,

this is a few years ago. I was,
I was playing somewhere, and I

started thinking, like, Man, why
did I get into this in the first

place? And I just thought back
when I was young, like I liked

playing drums. I liked getting
together with other people when

I was a kid. And it didn't
matter if you were in a band or

not, just you'd find somebody
else in the neighborhood that

played something, and you'd, you
know, go over to their basement

or whatever, and jam, and you
you weren't even good enough to

play cover tunes. You would just
make up songs, yeah, and you'd

memorize them, and you'd do them
all the time, and it was fun,

yeah, man,

that's, I mean, that's going way
back, right? And,

and I was, I had a conversation
with Kenny Vaughn about that,

and I said, Man, I would like to
do an album, and I would like to

capture that on the record.
Would you be into it? And he's

like, yeah, man, that's a great
idea. And so some time went by

and I was doing another gig with
Kenny, and he approached me.

He's like, dude, what about that
idea you had to do this record,

and what's going on with it? And
I was like, oh, man, you know, I

I'm looking for a studio. I'm
trying to find something on the

east side that I can afford. And
he's like, dude, Dave Rowe, I'll

call him today. And Dave's bass
player had a great studio out in

Gallatin, and I'd played with
Dave for years. And so can he

call. Them, made the
arrangements, and we started

recording there. And most of the
album is built off of duets, and

it's between myself and another
artist, and I always liked old

school blues, like Hound Dog
Taylor T bone or T model Ford.

Or is this like a guitar player
that sang and a drummer, yeah,

and so I based the whole record
off of duets, and I got

different people that I played
with over the years, that I

admired, that I thought had the
right energy to go in and do

this. And then some of it is
completely arranged, string

arrangements where I'd play a
drum pattern to a song that I

wrote, like a piece that I would
write. And one of them, one of

the pieces on there, Billy
Contreras played. He brought in

four different fiddles and
basically did a string quartet

arrangement that I had
completely written out to a drum

part, yeah,

yeah. And the one that seems
like the biggest, if I was a

record company suit with my
cigar, keeping time, ah, with,

uh, Tim Carroll, yeah, I love
his rock and roll. Man, me too.

His, his ver, his version of
rock and roll. He, it's just

great. Yeah, that's a cool tune,
man, the cool video. Thanks.

Very, very cool. So how long did
this take to do it? You just not

like you just went into the
studio for a week and locked

yourself. You just did it over
slowly, yeah,

probably took like, a year and a
half doing bits and pieces here

and there, yeah, but, uh, and
you mentioned

Dave Rowe, God rest his soul.
This was right before he passed.

Right, yes, yeah, yeah.

And it was kind of ironic to do
this, you know, I went out, we

went out there to do to start
recording, and Dave's a bass

player, and it's like, Hi, Dave,
I want to, I'd like to come to

your studio and do a record with
no bass guitar. What do you

think now? And he was totally
cool, yeah, yeah. I used some of

the drums that he had, like the
house drum kit that he had

there, and supplement it with
some of my gear. But yeah, and

he was, he was, when it was
finished, he was kind of proud

of it. He's like, Man, this,
this ended up really being a

nice record. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So

it's definitely a publicist
stream, because there's such an

interesting story there was it?
Were you able to get some nice,

like, reviews and good magazines
and stuff

I did the Wall Street Journal?
Holy, did it write them? Holy,

wow, yeah. And it's like, I'm a
drummer. I'm not even on a label

that is great press. It's kind
of unheard of, yeah, wow. So

your publicist, she's good
Karen, like Zeger. She opened

some doors there. She totally
did. That's great, yeah, and had

a lot of other nice The thing
is, it's like, because I'm not

Springsteen or Elton John,
they're not going to write

anything bad about me. If they
don't like it, they're just not

going to not gonna say anything.
So for them to say anything at

all, that's like a good thing.
And I think we there were

probably, like, 10 or 12
magazines that said something

about it. Very nice. It's very
cool. Yeah, congratulations.

Thank you. Thanks, Rich. And who
knows, there might be some more

down the line that is true. Um,
for sure. I've got one that's

finished, and it's going to be
released the end of May. Okay,

yeah, and yeah, and I like how
you did music videos for all the

tracks. Thanks. Yeah, very cool.
Whoever that video videographer

was, I noticed it was the same
videographer in all the videos,

I guess. Joshua Smith, yeah, put
all that together. Very good,

different footage that I had,
some that he would get off the

internet,

like, like,

stock footage. Yes, exactly.
Very cool, yeah. Jim,

yeah, I was thinking about going
to the Fave Five. The Fave Five,

yeah, you

want to do the the, like, new
questions, like we did in the

last one. You want to stick to
what you want to

stick to? My old boy, to my old,
boring ones. Then you hit them

with the new ones. The new ones.

Okay. What's your favorite
color? Blue.

We are on a Why are we so
surprised 10

drummers in a row? But for a
while, we are getting the

weirdest things. You know,
Indigo. Yeah, we're getting some

strange stuff. Oh, wow. What's
your favorite food or dish?

Pizza. You can't screw it up,
right? Even the Red Baron is

gorgeous, yeah,

yeah, you know what I mean. Like
the frozen pizza, bread, cheese,

sauce, sauce, yeah. Do you think
they cover complicate pizza

sometimes? Well,

yeah, I don't. The meat lovers
is like, that's gross. I don't

want all an amalgamation of me,
amalgamation, yeah. What is the

what's your favorite? Like,
what's your go to for pizza in

Nashville? Yeah, five points.
Yeah. There's also another

place, Roy's tavern. It's a
newer place. It's by the

Inglewood post office, and they
have killer square cut. You.

Pizza.

Oh no, is it like Detroit style,
where it's like a It's

not super thick, yeah, but it
has air pockets, oh, and crispy

crust, like flaky. And my
favorite there's the tavern.

It's like a sausage and
gardenia, so it's a little

spicy. Oh, wow, yeah, it's
really cute. It's kind

of like a pasty sound edge. He's
got pockets. It's got air

pockets, nice.

Or Sapiens Sabians have that
too. Sapiens,

no, the pasty sound edges they
had, like the little, yeah,

I have a set of hats like that.
Yeah, that's, those are

cool. What is your favorite
drink?

Uh, you talking alcohol or, I
mean, it's usually more fun. But

yeah, anything I like matcha. Oh
yeah, like a matcha tea, yes.

Can you make that at your at
your house? Like, yeah, okay,

yeah, boil water and you get the
mix,

yeah. And I use almond milk, oh
yeah. And

I'm highly lactose intolerant.
That's, I don't know. I say, do

you do it for health reasons.
The almond milk,

yeah, it's just, I think it's
better than regular milk, yeah,

yeah, yeah.

Now this is a tough one favorite
song of your lifetime, or at the

moment,

it's a John Lennon song.

What's it called? I was just
thinking of it the other day.

I just saw Ringo Friday. So all
Oh, did you go to the Ryman or

Grand Ole Opry? Grand Ole Opry,
yeah. So right now I've got,

with a little help from my
friends, in my mind, yeah, this

is another song by John Lennon.
Oh, in my life, okay, yes,

amazing. Love that song. And

so what is it about it that
resonates with you?

Just, I think the lyrics, yeah,
what he's saying, yes, and the

fact that he's passed away,
yeah, makes a difference, yeah,

yeah. Are you a lyricist? Do you
like to write lyrics? First song

I do, but I don't do a lot of
that. Yeah, I

don't know if you ever jump into
the deep end of the pool and CO

write for you know, traditional
lyric songs.

Do you not do that? But on my
next record, there's a song that

I have written with lyrics, and
I'm singing, oh, that's I was I

was about to ask, it's my debut.

So are you nervous about this,
or because it's something?

No, it's something that I like
to do. And I'm making records

because I like to do this stuff.
Yeah, if somebody else doesn't

like it, or, you know, doesn't
sell a million copies like it

should. It doesn't matter. It's
it's fun for me. And I like

making music, creating things,
so I think it's cool to do

something, to be able to do
that. Yeah, I feel very again,

blessed.

I'm very motivated because I,
it's Jim, this has been on my to

do list. It's like, I, you know,
I did a 120 high definition

videos as a part of a training
course, you know, for drummers.

But I haven't done a solo
record. I gotta do a song. I

gotta do it. Yeah, you've
totally inspired me. What's your

favorite movie of the moment or
of all time?

I don't know about all time, it
is a tough question, but I like

how you're just facing it
bravely, and you're just like,

because a lot of people are
like, Oh man, you really caught

me off. You're just like, I got
it.

Give me a second. Well, there's
a there's a movie with Anthony

Hopkins, and I can't think of
the Thor, hmm. Thor, no, but

this is about the ninth train.
It's, it's kind of a dark thing.

It's a, it was a he. It was a
story about a gentleman. I can't

even think of his name right
now, but he was helping children

escape during the Second World
War, and there was a had gotten

away with eight trains, and the
ninth train didn't make it. And

it's, I saw this the last time.
I was flying to a dawn gig, and

it's like, wow, this is
heartbreaking, but a beautiful

movie.

Well, he's such a great actor.
Oh my god, and he's composer, is

he? Anthony Hopkins, has written
symphonies.

I did not know that, really. And
he paints,

you know what movie became, the
prominence in what silence of

the layer?

Yeah, fava bean, that's right.

Yeah. So Jim, ask your new
questions that you got going

on, okay, what's the most
useless talent you have? Useless

talent.

I'm very good at growing
vegetables. Maybe that's not

useless.

Useful. That's great in your
backyard. You got a little

garden? Yeah?

Nice. Yeah. I'm really good at
it.

I guess that's not useless.
Yeah. Know, I don't know about

useless,

tough question. Yeah, I don't
know what I would ask or answer

with that. Oh,

so if you had to play an
attribute band, if

you had to play in a tribute
band for the rest of your life,

you couldn't do anything else,
and you had to play the same

songs over and over and over
again until your dying day, what

band would you be covering?
Rush? No, wow, that was out of

left field.

So you're a rush coach.

I was, yeah, I was, so

you went from the idea of a lot
of drums, now you and I play

four piece drum sets. Yes,

a lot of that because is because
you have to carry it, or you

used to, yeah, now all the clubs
and the studios have their own

kit so, but, man, when I first,
when I was younger, I would

bring every drum I owned. I'd
bring a Glock and spiel, you

know,

yeah, it's and why would why did
we do that?

Because we admired guys like
Neil Purdon, yeah, you know, I

had a pearl red satin Neil pert
Kitt, even though I don't think

he had ever used pearl at that
point. But it was like, from the

666, inch tom down to a 16,
yeah, one bass drum. So you

had, you kind of had the nickel
Mcbrain kind of thing going on,

I guess, yeah, yeah, from Iron
Maiden. But he's just retired.

He just retired. Yeah, he's done
the Yeah. That's, I had a pearl

export, similar setup, and it
was, I didn't have a six inch

drum. I had an eight, 210s, 12,
1316, looked like a roller

coaster. Yeah, yeah, wow, yeah,
I would, I would bring it

around, and I packed every
single drum of that kit I

probably had like nine symbols
on it, wow, into a Suzuki

samurai. I think

my favorite record of theirs was
signals. Okay, I like that,

subdivisions and all that. Yep,
boom. Just great stuff in the

press role, man, yeah, great. I

like power windows. Yeah, that
was a good album. I

forgot to ask you, who did you
study with at Berkeley? Who was

the teacher back then private

lessons? Yeah, I started with
Bill Coffman first year, and

then John Ramsey, the
restaurant. Ramsey, yeah, John

was the shit, yeah,

yeah. And I love that you love
Latin rhythms, because it's

like, who says that a good
English Irishman can't play Cha

Chas song goes Samba, Bossa
novas.

Man, when I was in Berkeley, I
would come home and I my parents

were great dancers. They didn't
play instruments, although my

dad, when he was young, I guess
he wanted to play drums, and his

mom bought him pieces of kits,
wow. And he would try, yeah,

nothing ever happened. But they
were dances. And I used to ask

her, like, Did you guys ever
listen to Latin music? Because,

for some reason, I have this
heartfelt thing for it. It's

like, it's, it's very
distinctive towards this kind of

music. And she's like, No, we
were ballroom dancers. And, you

know, your daddy likes a little
bit of swing, but not even

hardcore jazz. So I don't know
where that came from, but it's

there. Yeah,

my dad loved that. Gene Krupa,
yeah. And then my grandparents

would go, and they would dance
at the Savoy Ballroom in New

York City, really, to Gene
Krupa. Glenn Miller, Tommy

Dorsey, Chick Webb, wow. Yeah.
Where are you from? I'm

originally from Connecticut,
okay. And then when I was 11, I

moved to El Paso Texas, and so,
you know, I played in cumbia

bands, and, you know, kind of
kicked around. Got my education

in Texas, and I moved here in

crazy. What was your nickname
you played with the guy who

called you certain. Oh, yeah,
thunder.

Thunder, right? Yeah. He was a,
he's a Puerto Rican coro Tim

Bali guy, and he said, I solo,
you play time. And I was like,

you know, it's like, 19 years
old. It was the summer between

my freshman and sophomore year
of college, and I just wanted to

get some real work experience.
And man, did I get it. It was

like, he's like, stay out of the
way. Too complicated, simple

play time was like, wow, it was
good, yeah, it was good for me.

You know, yeah, really was.

He didn't break the cycle, huh?
He didn't break the cycle.

I had a great time. Man. Is
anything else you want to

discuss in a public forum
that'll be captured for all

time? No pressure forever. You
wanna say anything to your ex

girlfriends or anything out
there? No,

I certainly do not. Yeah,

kids that you may or may not
have. Yeah, no,

I don't think, I don't think I
have any unknown children. Yeah,

I don't have any children, do

you No, I've been so busy doing
this thing. Yeah, you know,

yeah. Takes

time. To do this, I always

pull out, okay, Jim mark, that
we got to get rid of that. But

no existing is all encompassing.
It's really,

it's hard, you know, it's not
that I've avoided that. It just

hasn't happened,

yeah? You know, never seen ever,
yeah, yeah, man,

it's never too late. It is never
too late. But I met a chapter in

my life that I I don't I don't
think I would want to chase a

kid around a house. I want to
slow down, if I can. Yeah,

I know what you mean, just a
little bit. You know, smell the

roses. Be comfortable. I get so
much joy

with my cup of coffee in the
morning. It's the I just look

forward to it so much, the
smell, the aroma, the ritual

that is my time. Love it.

I totally understand. Sure,

yeah, what's that like?

Jim wakes up to a house of just
screaming

energy. No, we're weird. It's
pretty chill. Just, you know,

got to get off to work. There's
a lot going

on. Yeah? Well, you know how
they say, try to, you know,

ground yourself, put your put
your feet on grass or in the

dirt. Try to meditate. A little
bit exercise every day. Read a

couple of pages of book of
every, you know, a couple of

pages of a book, you know, just
for your mental health. So,

like, if I can in the morning,
and I don't have to go running

out to get drum sounds at nine
in the morning, I'm gonna have

the coffee and just a couple of
pages of a book. You know, yeah,

nice, yeah. And

I'm watching adult cartoons
right now. I highly recommend

primal on

so you probably shouldn't say
that publicly. HBO, Max adult

cartoons, wow,

yeah, I'm like, Adult Swim.
Adult Swim. It's totally

an adult room cartoon.

Okay, yeah, wow. It's weird.
Jim,

thank you, as always for You're
welcome for your natural

inquisitiveness

and big vocabulary. Yeah, you
hit me

with two big words today, buddy.
Now, what were the issues I

don't forget, but ambiguity. He
said regularly, yeah. He did

several times. And that's

a tough word for him. That's a
bane of my existence. That word,

okay? John McGee, the third.com

Yes, everybody, check that out.
And then do you go? Do you do

the Facebook, Instagram thing?
Yes, okay, yeah. We're probably

friends. We are, yeah, see, it's
like, no these 5000 people that

follow you around for the rest
of your life. It's pretty

amazing. It really is. But hey,
thanks for doing this, man,

thanks for having me. I'm really
glad we got to chat, and I think

that the record is fantastic and
correct. Congratulations. Thank

you so much. And bring those
things back. Good to meet you.

It's a pleasure. Jim, yeah,
thanks for having me.

Thanks. John, thanks, Jim. Hey
to all the listeners. We really

appreciate you guys and gals. Be
sure to subscribe, share, rate

and review. It helps people find
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