Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
It is invariably a rented vehicle or a tour bus with 12 bunks, bad air conditioning and poor internet. On the West coast, it’s a sprinter van and a rental car. Once in Chicago, the bus broke down and the lease company flew a mechanic up from Florida who rebuilt the engine overnight. Once on the Down From The Mountain tour, the bus Emmylou Harris and I were traveling in caught on fire in the middle of nowhere. The driver sent out an SOS and, as luck would have it, the crew bus happened to be close by and had two empty bunks. Another time, the air conditioning went out in Florida in the summertime. It was sometime after the space shuttle blew up and we renamed the band the Fabulous O-Rings.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I’m a foodie with an eye for good restaurants. I rarely miss. In Dallas, I eat at my friend Dean Fearing’s five star restaurant. I also get tips from other musicians. In a pinch, Subway will do and Whataburger in Texas.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I used to have drums in my monitors and would break strings right and left, but I rarely do now. I change strings myself every third show. How much does it cost to replace them? It doesn’t cost a dime, one of my oldest and closest friends owns Ernie Ball Guitar Strings and Music Man Guitars.
Where do you rehearse?
My rehearsal space is my home studio. Unless you consider Tom Hiddleston spending six weeks running ten miles a day and eating like a bird while he was becoming thin enough to play a convincing Hank Williams in the film “I Saw the Light”. Mine is pretty much your garden variety home studio and rehearsal space.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Are you kidding me? That’s a state secret.
Describe your first gig.
I was an eleven-year-old and my father brought home a set of pawn shop drums on Tuesday (bass drum, snare and ride cymbal), showed me how to play a simple country shuffle, and on Friday night I was playing in a beer joint with the rest of his honky tonk band. I played terribly and no one seemed to care.
What was your last day job?
Dishwasher
What was your favorite day job?
Paperboy
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
The internet has shrunk royalties and airplay income down to nothing. The laws governing such things were written in 1998 when nobody in Washington knew what the internet was. They still donâ’t. It’s a crime. Five years from now, I’ll be alright because I had a good and kind hearted business manager looking out for me. Otherwise, I might have been destitute by now.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I’m a pretty good singer.