223: Randy Rogers

Thomas Mooney: Hey, Unknown: welcome back y'all. I am music journalist Thomas Mooney, and this is new slang. We're on to Episode 223 where I am joined by Texas singer songwriter Randy Rogers. I sat down with Randy a few weeks back during William Clark Green's cotton fest. You know, obviously I have not released a new episode in quite some time, but it just felt like the right time to get back in the groove of things. So these past few weeks, I have gone out and recorded quite a few episodes. I did a few here in Lubbock during Will's cotton fest with a few other people who played. And then I went up to Okemo, Oklahoma and recorded a bunch of stuff up there during woody fest. We did this during cotton fest here in Lubbock during the the night that Randy headlined, and you know, when he was playing, I was I was kind of thinking about a few things, one of which I feel like we kind of take Randy for granted. You know, he's been doing this for about 25 years now, and releasing just about as many albums, if you kind of combine the the studio, the live and the collaborative efforts over that time. That's, you know, consistency, that's longevity, it's growth, it's perspective. And like I said during the show, you're just kind of doing that whole, yeah, they just have nothing but hits thing, you know, for 90 minutes straight, it is nothing but hits. And, you know, Randy, he's not going to be one of these guys who's like gallivanting around on stage. There's not a whole lot of you know, story time with the with the crowd, and he's not slinging beer all around and all that kind of stuff. But I think his showmanship is is a lot more focused, and there's this real subtle intensity about it all. And that intensity is just like where there is no lag time between songs. It is just, let's go on to the next one. So here's another hit, and then five minutes later, here's another hit. It's 90 minutes of fastballs. Now, as you can tell, this episode is right around that 30 minute mark, and while short, we do pack in a lot of conversation. Here, we touch on the 20th anniversary of roller coaster, working with the likes of Radney Foster and Sean McConnell over the years, what it is that makes him gravitate towards certain songs that are outside cuts, what is around the corner release wise. And then we touch on, uh, you know, this up and coming kid named Parker McCollum, which, if you've been paying attention to the last few releases from Randy, they are co writes with Parker. That would be break itself and Is this thing working? Now, before we get on to the episode, let's just go and state the obvious. If you haven't subscribed to new sling just yet, go ahead and do so while you're at it, go ahead and give us a follow over on all the social media stuff that you can it is new slang basically everywhere, but those links will be in the show notes as well out here. 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Visit og lonestar.com give them a follow while you're at it over on Instagram at OG underscore lone underscore star, to see exactly what I'm talking about, those links will also be in the show notes. Again, that's og lonestar.com All right, let's get on to the interview. Here is the one, the only Randy Rogers. Randy Rogers: Let's roll. Hey, it's Randy Rogers. I'm sitting here Cook's garage, hanging out Cook's garage. Cotton's my radio voice. Do you ever think you want to do radio with a voice? No, Unknown: uh. I wanted to start off by bringing up 20 years. Last year was the 20th anniversary of roller coaster, which was, you know, such a big record for y'all, but a big record for a lot of like, the not just the scene, but like, for people that they look at that record as like a touchstone for where they were in life. 20 years is like for me, I feel like it snapped by. But also I can feel that 20 years as they rolled by. For you, does it feel like kind of a blink and then we're already 2025 Yeah. I mean, I don't feel old yet, right? So I feel like I'm in the middle. It's really interesting, right? That record, to me, it does feel like yesterday, in a sense, right? I would love to say that I would go back there, but I don't think I would, because we were broke, we were scared, we were young, and so many uncertainties were involved with making that record, and so it was really nice to kind of revisit that moment in time. And I've had so many like you said, so many young artists come up to me and say, Man, that record was it, you know, like that convinced me I could do this. And that makes me feel really, really good. Makes me feel like I did something good. Yeah, I think, like I was thinking about when I was driving up here, even just half an hour ago. It was like, back then we listened to CDs. And like it feels like we didn't like you, didn't just attach to the big hits or anything like that, or a single release. It felt like if you liked that record, you liked the whole thing, and you listened through all the deep cuts on that record. I feel like one of my favorite things about you as a songwriter and as an artist is that it's been so easy for a lot of artists to just feel maybe like every song has to be a co write or a write for themselves. I feel like a big testament for you is that you've not been afraid to take outside cuts or songs that meant something to you, that were great songs, and didn't put necessarily pride or ego over the fact of making a cutting a good song. Yeah, right. I mean, like, we would have to Google it. But like, if you looked at Willie Nelson's, you know, Greatest Hits, you know, a lot of them he didn't write, you know. And a lot of the artists that you think or you know, known as songwriters, if you go look at their catalog, even Stapleton. Stapleton is a good example, right? Like, yeah, biggest song that changed his entire life, Dean Dylan, you know. So, yeah, you know. I think as an artist, and any young artist listening to this, I think you have to put ego aside. You know, if a song speaks to you and you feel like you can get after it, you know, and make it your own. I think that's really an important part of being an artist, is being able to understand that, you know, kiss me in the dark was written by Rodney Foster and George Ducas and Rodney did I believe in his whole heart. Wrote it for me because I needed a banger, you know? And I made it a banger, right? Like, yeah. And so, so much of the song is, is who delivers it and who writes it right? And this doesn't have to be the same person all the time. Yeah, I think, like, that's, you know, a lot of people right now. I think it's kind of in vogue to be like, Oh, George Strait, he never wrote any of his songs, and I always go, but like, he interpreted these songs, like he arranged these songs, and he put a voice to those characters. And the idea that he didn't resonate with those songs is, like, preposterous, you know, like, that's why, like, 100% being able to interpret a song is that that's it for you. Like, what is it that grabs grabs your attention when it's not necessarily a, you know, even when it's in CO Writing Situations, that's not your idea. Yeah, I'm a melody guy. So, like, an infectious melody for me is always what I gravitate towards. So something you can't get out of your head. I don't feel like I am a Bob Dylan typewriter. I don't feel like I am a poet. You know, I like a really catchy, melodic hook, you know, that's, that's what always gets me. I love those big choruses that everybody can sing along to. And also don't take myself very seriously, right? So I'm not gonna sit there and try to be, you know, Ralph Waldo Emerson or something. Saying, like, like, it's okay to just be brokenhearted and and try to write about it. I think the one thing about, you know, telling stories with songs is just being real. And somebody else saying, Well, damn it, that's me. You know, that's exactly what I just went through. And I think that's the best compliment I've ever gotten. And when somebody says that song is me, you know. Well, actually, no, you're wrong, because it was me. That was what I was, the shit I was putting myself through, you know, right? So, you know, I think songwriting is just so complex, and it's not easy. And you know, a good song, though, I think always, you know, the cream rises to the top. And so I just try to, I always try to listen, every time we go into the studio to make a record, I try to listen to everything that I wrote 10 years ago. I try to listen to everything that someone pitched me 10 years ago. I try to listen to everything that people are pitching me now. I mean, I give everything a good listen. Yeah. That's interesting right there. Because I think, like, you know, the idea of, you know, oh, I wrote 10 Songs when it's time to go cut a record. That's not necessarily how records are made, even though, like, I think some, especially when you're up and coming, you know, oh, I wrote 10 Songs, let's go cut a record. I like that way of thinking right there, of, like, actually kind of going back through the pile. It's fun, because I'll have on my computer save, like, you know, record 2021, or 2018 or whatever, go back and listen to everything I was listening to then, and thinking, Damn, that's good, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Those moments of the shit, man, when did I write this? And the songs we passed on, yeah, like, drink a beer. Like I passed on that song when we were on major label. I argued with the band I'm on a sit right here on the edge of this beer. Disappear, drink beer. I wanted to cut that song. Is that, like, Stapleton wrote that, right? Yeah, and it was, like a number one for Luke, I think, but, yeah, um, wow. I mean, I'm so glad I didn't cut it, because he had a number one on it, right, yeah, but, or I wish I would have cut it, but I don't know if it would have been a number one. But, you know, you go back and those songs you were pitched, it's like, dang it, yeah, I've been fortunate to interview some of these, like 90s guys like clay Walker and Clint Black. And now Clint, like, wrote a hope, like, almost all his stuff. But you know, my favorite questions, like, Well, what did you almost get? You know, it's like, clay, I guess, like when we were talking, you know, he's kind of, well, you know, I was, I was kind of down on the totem pole, like, if I had to, like, wait for George to say no and Jackson to say no, and it's pretty stacked back then, yeah. But it's always interesting to see, like, hear the stories of, what would you almost get, you know, yeah, I think there was a few others. I mean, just through the years, looking back, I mean, and that's another thing too. It's like, who knows what's going to be a number one song? Quite frankly, never had one, so I have no clue, right? So I have no clue, so I don't even know what is and what's not anymore. And I don't think I knew back then either. But I think that's part of life, right? It's like, to me, songs are just snapshots or just pictures, you know. And I know that's people say that all the time, but it is really true. It's just where you're at in your life at that time, and then magic really happens when it's the right artist at the right time with the right song, you know, like right Brandon Lambert house that built me, you know what? What's like a song for you and your catalog that you know you cut it, and obviously, if you cut it, you it resonated with you, but time gave you more appreciation for that song or that you saw it from in a different light. Well, it's interesting, because, like, Mr. Arms instead, just had this recent resurgence, and it was a tick tock thing, yeah, and I've always loved that song, but it wasn't our biggest song. You know, kiss me in the dark was our biggest song. And Mr. Never even performed well at radio back in the day. And so it's very interesting to me now that it's become and evolved to our biggest song, and not even a re recording of it, just the original Randy Rogers band, eponymous record that it was on. It's just interesting that here I am, 46, years old, and these 16 year old kids are singing that to me, right? I'm like, this is interesting. Where did this come from? How did this happen? And so, and that's another thing you young artists out there that are listening, it's like, you never know. It's like, this. Song that you wrote yesterday, you know, and 20 years from now, could be the jam, yeah, yeah, yeah. What I find most interesting about that song is how, like, it leaves, and then you have that little pause, and then it comes back and, like, I think you know that part of, like, when it comes back with just the fiddle at the very, very end, that outro part, it makes you feel like that. It is that like longing of like just looking more into the sunset, a little bit longer, you know? And right when you think the sun's about to go down or something, whatever it is, you're, you're still out there going like, well, it's, it's still here, you know, yeah, that's great. Maybe we should make more songs like that. Well, I think, you know, sometimes we get stuck, and I say we like, I'm recording stuff, but in that, oh, it doesn't fit the the single, the two minute, 22nd deal, yeah, it doesn't fit, you know, it doesn't, uh, you know, yeah, it's three verses or four verses, versus, you know, just two and a good chorus or whatever. And, like, you know, just, I think sometimes we we overthink it in the I'm going next week to Nashville, next week, the week after, uh, back to Sean McConnell. So Sean McConnell and I've written right songs that have been staples of our live show. And I'm just so excited he's got this studio now that he works out of and writes out of at his, you know, place. And I'm so excited to go back and spend time with him and and I've told him too, like I said, we need to re, re, you know, go back and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite some of these, you know, half songs and ideas that we had when we were like, 26 you know, a long time ago. And maybe not 26 maybe 31 but, you know, go back and let's just dig up some old vibes, you know, and see what's there. Yeah, that's, is that how? Like, maybe not that, not that songwriting gets old or boring or stale or anything like that. But you know, if you're doing it for a long time, it can maybe stagnate. In a sense, is that, like, one of those ways to make it where you know it's it's new and fresh again. I wish I could tell you I knew, you know. I wish I could explain it. I don't, and I'm not really 100% sure that I know what I'm doing. Every time I start writing a song, it's, it's so bizarre, because there's no blue, you know, blueprint, right? And it's, it's just crazy. It's like, sometimes they fall out of the sky, and sometimes they take years. It's It's crazy, and I wish there was an easy way to explain it, but there's not. Yeah. Now, like, traditionally, like, I've been more of a journalist, writer, journalist style, and same thing every right everything. Like, I have had that feeling too often where I finished an article and been like shit, am I gonna be able to do this again? You know, like, am I gonna be able to put those words to describe somebody, especially when it's really good? Yeah. And like, you kind of feel like shit, okay? And, you know, I think, like, sometimes songwriters, probably they have to feel that same little bit of anxiety attached to it. Yeah, I've been lately, I've been on this, like, really weird health journey, and, you know, just trying to kind of get cleaned up and figuring things out, and, you know, become a grown up and, you know, a better person, you know, all these kind of, like self help things, right? But what's been lacking is, like that creativity. It's very interesting, right? So I'm like, when's it gonna come? When's it gonna come? When's it gonna come? And the thing about it is, and I know it is, that I have no control over it, right? When it happens, it will happen. And I think for some writers, and I was just talking to a young writer earlier today, and he was like, nothing's coming. I'm like, well, you're 20 years old, bro. Like, not a lot has happened to you yet. So you gotta have, you gotta live life in order to write life. And so even right now, and you know, I'm about to go to write, you know, potentially for a new album, and I have no clue what I'm gonna write about, you know, but I've been living a heck of a lot of life, and so I think that will eventually get painted into a song, right? It has to. I've been doing it for so long, it's gonna come out. Yeah, I always kind of think of like, or maybe subscribe to the theory that, if you're a creative person, all of it, even if you're not sitting down for you with a guitar and a pen and pencil and and writing down stuff, the living part and the being aware of like the moments that's, you know, that's investing into that creative process one way or another. Other, yeah, my wife says I'm a horrible listener. And it is true, because, right? Because she'll say something and I'll be like, you didn't tell me that. But, you know, I think a lot of songwriting is listening. It's like a friend group, you know, you got a buddy going through something that's hard or something that's great, you know, and just listening to that experience, right? And being able to relive that with Melody, with the story. Think that's I think it's what it's all about. Made for the dance hall, the dive bar, the fire pit and the front porch. OG Lonestar is your go to spot to grab vintage inspired attire and gear nothing pairs with a cold, crisp Lone Star beer quite like a comfortable lone star t shirt, a sharp trucker hat, that smooth satin jacket, a bold belt buckle or a host of other goods by OG Lonestar officially licensed gear. Og Lonestar is the absolute real deal. Visit og lonestar.com now let's get back to the episode. Yeah, is it? Is it harder, like as you've gotten, you know, as a bigger artist, as an older artist, where you're not necessarily able to be that, like wallflower, you know, and like, pick up on other people's stories in that, like people watching kind of way. Or is that kind of, you know what I'm saying, you know, I think, like bigger artists slash older artists, I think it's a, you know, a seasoned veteran, if you want to call it that, right? I don't think it's harder to pick up on that. I think it's the it's harder to pick up on the trends. Right? For me, when I see somebody blow by me because of Tiktok success, I'm like, Okay, wait a minute. Was it the song, or was it the Tiktok that got those people to be the headliner? Like, yeah, sometimes I think music gets lost in translation because of the way that we consume music now, and maybe that confuses me sometimes, as a you know, older, bigger artist, right? I'm like, What am I not doing, yeah, at this stage in my life, what am I not picking up on here? Like, what am I not grasping with this new generation? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that's a rabbit hole in itself, right there. Going, sure is, yeah, okay. I think, like, the funniest thing about social media is, like, you know, there's been a whole lot of like, turmoil, I guess, over Twitter, right about Musk buying it and going to x and, like, there's all these little Twitter offs kind of thing and, and people were like, Well, I'm gonna go on to this instead, because of Elon Musk and whatnot. And there is this real funny hesitation for a lot of journalists out there to go, Well, you know, I've cultivated this following on here on this platform, and how do I move these 10,000 people to another platform? And then you kind of think about it for a minute, and you're like, it's all made up. Anyways, sure. Like, like, what are we doing? Like, what are we thinking? Like, what? Why are we so worried about the the numbers of analytics. Yeah, the analytics of it all. Yeah, it's interesting, because I'm telling these youngsters. Are three of them that you're about to interview, I think Ashton nailer, Hank Weaver and Cameron Albright. I've been telling them, you've got to stop comparing yourself, first of all, to each other, because you're all buddies, but you got to stop looking at the other guys and girls that are blowing past you with these numbers, whether it be following numbers or their streaming numbers, like we live in a day and age where it's so easy to see and visually see the difference between who's got the most streams on Spotify and Who doesn't right. You've got to stop, you know, focusing on someone else's success, you know. And and Ty was just on the bus with all those young guys, you know. And Todd's a young himself, right? But Ty's having all that success. It's like, you can't, you guys can't be looking at each other like, competitively, yeah, you gotta look at each other, like we're in this, like we are a part of the scene of music from Texas, and we were all very proud of our product and what we're doing. And every night you go on that stage, you got to put your best foot forward and be excellent and be gone. That's what I always told, you know, all the younger artists, be excellent, and then get the heck out of there, you know, and and quit looking at man, I could easily say, well, Randy Rogers band didn't have any number one hits, and Eli young band has had 10 or whatever it is, right? I could easily say, Billy curry Tim was in the same label as me, got all these beautiful songs and had 10 number ones, whatever he has, right? But what good does that do? I'm about to jump on stage. Not in front of 6000 people, or whatever it is like you got to do your job. Your job is to get up on stage and sing like you can't sit there and compare and compare and compare. And I think, unfortunately nowadays, social media and the way that you can view streaming, and all the ways it just puts everybody at, like, some sort of odds with each other. It's interesting. Yeah, I think 100% on all that. I think the the one thing that I for a comparison, as far as you know, I don't know, whatever, eight years ago, 10 years ago, here in Lubbock, when we had a couple of guys like Claude Cordero and Randall King, and few of these guys, all coming out of blue light, who, at the time, you know, no one really knew there was, like this healthy competitiveness of, Oh, I know cletto is going to come to songwriter night with a new song. I need to get myself a new song. I think, like that kind of healthy competition is, is breeds better songs. And that's kind of the thing where, you know, it's, if you're all focused on all the numbers, you're putting the cart before the horse, right? You're doing the I've seen so many, and I'm sure you've seen a million more than me, but the people worried more about their merch, you know, then having the set list of songs to do Sure, all that kind of stuff. One thing I want to say about a set list is, like I played so many covers in the beginning. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't play covers, but you young artists that are listening to this really try to focus on your own material. And even it is, you know, a song you didn't write, but make it your own. And just like my live show, I really like deviated from those cover songs at a pretty early age, and try to solidify the Randy Rogers band as like an original artist. It's hard to do when you have no you know, you don't have four albums or whatever, right? Right? Yeah. You know, as quickly as you can gravitate to your own shit, I think it's a better, yeah, I remember, let's see probably like 2005 six going on Limewire and Oh, Randy Rogers cover of, come pick me up. Hit me up. Yeah, I feel like I found that song before anybody except Ryan, and, you know, he wrote it. So, yeah, I remember thinking, like, this is the fucking best song ever, and playing it live, and people just losing it. And then I was like, Okay, it's not mine. Yeah, man, I haven't met Ryan and told him. I was like, Dude, I'm just like, every night playing here. So that song, or the first time I heard, I was just first time I really heard, like, Ryan Adams. I was like, geez, okay, this guy just also, just how many records he was putting out at the time, like, I think, like, you know, 506, he put out. That's the year he put out three records. And it was just like, yeah, man, this huge fan too. It's like he was brilliantly creative quickly. And it was like, how was he doing this? Yeah, yeah, drugs, you know, you know, one of the things I was going to mention earlier about roller coaster is, you know, you have Kent's. They call it the hill country on that record. And so when I first heard Charlie stout working on the song West Texas, in my eye, like, that's the first thing I thought of was like, oh, that's his. They call it the hill country. That's same thing that, you know, John Prine doing paradise, or like Sturgill doing pan bowl, or, you know, something about even like red, I was thinking about it earlier, red doing like Culberson County, tapping into that preservation of a of a place and a time so integral when the first time you, you know, heard that song and came across that summon up something that maybe you hadn't thought about or even could put into words, what was that like? And knowing that it was important for you to cut that song? Well, I love Kent, and he would play that song often at songwriter night. And I didn't know it at the time, but it was about to come true. You know where we live, and New Braunfels and San Marcus area and the Hill Country area now it's just overrun with people, right? And it was just like a foreshadowing at the time he wrote it about his experience as a child. And so I think that song is one of those that's important to be saying for a long time, because it does put you at the place of. Of kind of The Land Before Time, right? It's that song will be around forever. So to me, it was my job to cut it, and we used to play it when Kent was alive, and he would get up and sing it with me. And it was gave me so much joy. I have so many pictures of us singing it together, and hopefully the next and we'll William Clark, green, we're here to this event. He gets up and plays it with me and sings the verse and stuff with me. And, you know, it's just the passing of time. I think that's what songs are. And, you know, and that, that one particularly, is about our beautiful land that we have here in Texas. And unfortunately, it's all becoming concrete, you know, yeah, very rapidly, quickly, even more so now than when Kent wrote that song. So it's interesting, and I've had a lot of groups attach themselves to that song. A lot of preservationist groups, a lot of, you know, anti quarry groups, yeah, a lot of pushback groups. Attach themselves to that song. And that's one of the songs are way bigger than me. It's way bigger than Kent. You know, it embodies maybe an entire movement that can't be stopped. Yeah, I think, like, what it's, what's so interesting on, the writing of that song, kind of thing is, like it being so personal, but again, like, as you say, so big, like, it's kind of, I imagine, intimidating putting, like a voice to that entire kind of the preservation of a place. Yeah, it has to be kind of intimidating the first time you, you know, start writing a song like that. Yeah, I wish I could write 10 of those. I'm gonna try in the next couple weeks. Yeah, well, I was gonna say you May, May. Now you've mentioned, you know, you'll be writing with Sean here pretty soon, but like, you've released a couple of singles just in recent couple months or so weeks. Those were co writes with Parker McCollum, who just released new record. Yeah, obviously Parker just blew up in a way that, I think, in a way that, like, if you said that you knew Parker McCollum was going to be a big star. Like, Congratulations, everyone did, you know, like, you could see the writing on the wall as far as that guy being prolific and going to do big things, as long as he, you know, kept on partner to I was with him the other day, and, man, he's become a really great guitar player, like little known fact Parker's a better guitar player than me. It really pisses me off. What is it? What is it like of writing with a guy who you've seen, you know, start now and then, like, become a guy who's, you know, accomplished. Well, I look at him like a little brother. You know, I was part of his management team at the beginning, and proud of him, very proud of him, and now getting to write songs with him. And I've got a new I've got a song on his new record. It's called killing me. I'm just really proud of the way that he stayed true to his family, to his friends and to himself. Really hard to do when you have all that noise in your head, right? Yeah, and success. But he is really stuck, and this new record is really down right to the heart of himself. I mean, he named it after himself. So makes me proud, you know, to be associated with them and you know, as what we were talking about earlier in the competitiveness and the jealousy kind of happens and comparing yourself to others, and, man, it just, I'm just so happy for him, you know, that it feels like it all relates back to these same ethos, these same touch points. But again, I think it's important that he, you know, he put that Chris Knight cover on, yeah, yeah, on the record, because, like, that tells me, one you know, a song like that's important to him, an artist like Chris Knight's important to him that maybe you know, a lot of his crowd doesn't know, because they weren't necessarily around when Chris Knight was cut that record. Or, yeah, disco. Listen to love and a 45 you know, yeah, listen, that's all Chris man. Chris night, like, his oil patch town, yeah, like, so I grew up in Fort, Stockton, little, tiny town, and that just felt like, oh, shit, man, you were in the you're riding around with us, you know. Like. Of thing. Just in the back seat. You captured that moment. I'm still kind of scared of Chris Knight, by the way. I think, I mean, that's you. I think you kind of have to be right. Hi Chris, if you're listening, you know, that's the same thing with the three guys you were you're talking to earlier. We're talking yesterday about James McMurtry, and I said, I mean, you, you kind of have to be a little little scared. I mean, like he Choctaw bingo. Yeah, anybody that wrote that I'm scared of, yeah. I told Ray one time, man, if I ever had like a band, I would like the band name would be Bo dark fence posts, but uh, so anyways, you put out these two singles is, is that part of like a new record right now coming up? Or you okay about to drop an EP? We made it with Jed Hughes. Jed Hughes is fabulous artist, singer songwriter, guitar player, mandolin player, just fabulous musician. He's on the road with Vince Gill right now. We talked to him today. He was actually in the studio with Vince, so we made a EP with Jed, and we're going to go back in the fall with Jed make some more songs. So really excited about that new collaboration with him. He's actually played guitar on the record we made with Jay Joyce, so like fuzzy and and maybe several other albums we've made, but this always been a friend and confidant, and I really believe in Him. And it's, it's good, it's, it's different. So I feel like the Randy Rogers band has always been so safe, so I'm kind of feeling like it's time to get a little bit wicked. Yeah, well, that's go look up on like, all your liner notes. Jed Hughes name is going to be all over the place on all these records that you love that you didn't necessarily know he was on. Yeah. So is that been kind of one of those things, I guess, like throughout your your catalog, you have worked with different producers. I jumped around producer to produce, you know, and so on and so forth. So I think we learned a lot from working with each individual and take took away different things from each producer that we work with. I don't think it was necessarily a bad thing for the career. We never, like, hit a zinger and had a number one and had to stay with the same producer. So I think it made the band better, honestly. Yeah, I think sometimes, like, obviously, you have a lot of these relationships where you artist, producer, and they do 25 years worth of records. And sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes that can be like, Oh, we're just listening to the same record over and over. Feels, though, like, I know you said safe is what you felt. But you know, I think like that, it's kind of important to at least have another, a different voice in the room sometimes, just the Yeah, you know, get what you're Yeah. I mean, I think I'm in a spot where I could take a creative turn, right? I'm not afraid of that. Like I liked sounding. I like to sound like some of those crazy, wicked 70s, you know, David Allen co records, like, psychedelic, weird, country, I don't know. I mean, like, yeah, does it really matter anymore? I don't even think we're in a genre anymore. I don't even know what we're in. Like, music has become, so, yeah, I mean, Trap Beat and rapping is now number one country. Like, I don't really know where we're at. So, yeah, if I want to go make a record that sounds like redneck mother, then I should be allowed to, right? Yeah? Well, I mean, I think genre, of course, was just made by guys like me, hard years ago, saying trying to describe something right, like, what's outlaw country? You know, what's, uh, yeah, everything that you're right on, on the genre, thing i I've kind of always compared it to, especially now, is like a rope that's being like frayed, and like on one end, it's getting like tighter in which, if it's on top of it, top 40 radio, it's all becoming homogenized the one sound, but on the back end, because Everyone can produce a record at their house. We're getting more specific sounds. So if you want to do a record that sounds like, you know, David Allen Cove, there's room for it because, yeah, there's just room for it, yes. I mean, it's, I think it'd be fun to experiment. That's all I'm saying. Coming soon, fun to experiment with music, yeah, well, I think that's about, about it I have on for right now. But, well, oh, actually, give me a give me a date on that the EP when? Yeah, so I don't have exact date, but maybe October, right? So, okay, I think Is this thing working as the last. Latest thing we put out, we just sit on the music video with Parker. He was nice enough to come up here in my music video. So that's the new thing. And then we've got three or four more in the can that will be out from this EP. And then we're back in studio. Yeah. Well, sounds good. Well, we're looking forward to the all these new co writes with new old COVID rights with Sean McConnell, yeah, and whatever else you got going, getting back to the pen and paper sounds good. Well, we'll see you down the road. Good to see you, brother. All right. That is it for this episode. Be sure to check out our proud partners OG Lone Star. Be on the lookout for the next thing from Randy Rogers, which should be coming in the fall. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and yeah, we'll see you next week, same place, same time you.