0:18
This is the Rugged Revival podcast. We your home of the UK's country Americana and Roots music community. Uh we've not
0:24
been back from Texas very long. Um I've spent a week with Ronnie. Uh, can you
0:29
believe he's still alive and I haven't strangled him with his own freaking cowboy belt? So, uh, I think that's an
0:36
achievement in itself. So, hello Ronnie. How are we doing, mate? Hello, TJ. Um, I'm okay. I I you know
0:42
what? I have missed getting up in the morning and seeing you in your pants walking around the room.
0:48
Uh, two separate beds obviously, but um, yeah, two and it was very close quarters, wasn't it? Um, and watching
0:55
you wander around in the morning just makes your stomach turn to be honest. But anyway, it's nice to see you. I've
1:00
missed you very much. Well, that was that was heartfelt. Thank you for that. Anyway, okay, moving on.
1:05
We've actually got a a guest on uh this week. I sound like we never got a guest on. We've actually got a guest.
1:11
Actually got a guest. Can you believe it? And it's our our good mate who we met in Texas, Alex Rogers. And some
1:17
people some people probably just us call him a modernday Michael McDonald. I
1:23
think that's a fitting tribute to you, Alex. But um yeah, welcome to the show, mate. And thank you so much for coming on. We know
1:29
you're you're super busy at the minute, but uh yeah, we really wanted to catch up with you properly away from the bright lights where we were. So, how are
1:35
you, mate? All the media crews. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doing great. I uh that was a
1:41
quite a time in Texas. I uh thoroughly enjoyed myself. Seeing seeing Texas
1:48
through your the four eyes that I'm looking at here was amazing. I might as
1:55
well have like been taking my kids to Disneyland. Like it was beautiful. It made it exponentially better for me. Um
2:03
so I appreciate that and I'm happy to be back. Yeah. In front of you. When did you get back? Was it pretty
2:09
much straight after us or did you stay a little bit longer? Uh, let's see.
2:14
What? Yeah, I got I came home for like three days and then I went straight to Nashville. Uh, so I wasn't
2:20
home very long, but I've been home for the last week now, which is a good good
2:26
little stretch. And I'll be here for most of November. Um, just playing
2:31
around here, the general vicinity. So, a little bit of a holiday break, pre-H
2:37
holiday break. Happy days. Happy days. Well, welcome to the show, mate. And uh welcome.
2:43
It's going to be fun. We'll see where it takes us. Yeah. This is going to be interesting.
2:49
This is going to be very interesting. Anyway, well, Ron is the professional one, apparently. So, I I'll let you kind of uh kick off with with the kind of intros
2:56
for the show and set the scene. So, over to you, mate. I'll leave that to you. Setting the scene. Well, um I noticed
3:03
you already done that. Uh and we haven't even got halfway through the podcast yet. So, uh Alex, good evening to you.
3:10
to the one and only Alex Rogers. What an amazing amazing uh time we had with you
3:16
over in Texas. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Um again, what an incredible name. Uh you have Mr. Rogers.
3:24
Uh obviously related to someone we had on the podcast recently. Um son of Lance
3:30
Rogers. Uh well known and everybody knows. Um yeah,
3:35
he's not. He's just Do you know what he's doing? Such a nice thing just nodding along there. great uh great
3:41
nephew to to Kenny as well his lyrics. Yeah,
3:47
pretty pretty wild lineage over here. Yeah. Anyway, uh moving on from that.
3:52
So, uh it's an an absolute honor uh to have you join us here on the Rugby Revival. Um I know you were really
3:57
nervous turning up to this one. So, you had to do two pre-podcasts. Uh, one for um, Country V's Metal uh,
4:06
and Texas to Tennessee before you got to the dizzying heights of the Rugby Revival. Um, because I know obviously
4:12
we're the best. Sure. Yeah. I had to pass through the prerequisites to just
4:18
get vetted, learn, you know, get used to doing podcasts and all that stuff. Honestly,
4:24
um there's lots of love to our good friends, Talbo, Soul, Gravy, Lady Gravy, uh and Patrick. Uh we love them all. Uh
4:32
we spent lots of time with them in Texas. It was great. Um, so Alex, um, when I was explaining the podcast to you
4:38
in Texas over lots of beer, um, and and whiskey and whatnot, um, I said to you
4:45
that when I start the podcast, uh, I like you to share your alltime secrets
4:51
and your fantasies with us. Mhm. So that was one of the conditions for you joining. Um, so if you wouldn't mind
4:57
just 10 of us
5:03
secret and fantasy DJ. Um, I was waiting. Yeah,
5:08
I know. Nothing. I didn't get I thought he was going to say Oh, yeah. Yeah. When we No. Um anyway, so uh as
5:16
you well know, Alex, I I like to do all the all the deep level personal stuff about you to give people an insight into
5:22
you and how Alex Rogers thinks and what you do and where you've come from and giving everybody a bit of a life
5:27
experience. So if you wouldn't mind sharing with us where did you grow up, what where was your journey, where did
5:33
you come from, what did you do, who are your influences, if you wouldn't mind sharing that with us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, so I
5:40
grew up in super small town. Uh, it's called Loris, L O R I S, South Carolina.
5:48
Um, it's just like 20 minutes inland from
5:53
Myrtle Beach, where I'm sure most listeners have at least heard of at this point. Um,
6:00
and yeah, grew up there, super small town, sort of, uh, went to school there
6:08
or went to middle school in North Myrtle Beach and then went to high school in Loris. So, I kind of bounced around
6:13
between the two. So, I occasionally will use those hometowns
6:20
intertwined. Um, just in case anybody hears me say something else and they're like, "This guy's full of [ __ ] or something." Um I
6:28
claim them both, but um yeah, so South Carolina
6:34
um grew up playing in the church um the Baptist church uh pretty much every
6:39
Sunday, every Wednesday. Um you know, sort of I feel like that's a
6:45
relatively common story for for a lot of us. But um but yeah, grew up doing that. um you
6:52
know started taking it more seriously as I got into high school. Um you know was
6:59
in several like smaller bands that like really didn't amount to much but um then
7:05
I went to college. I went to Clemson University also in South Carolina. Um
7:11
started uh started a band there and kind of you know played all the bars there.
7:17
Um, we sort of did mostly covers at that point. Like I hadn't started really writing my own stuff at
7:23
that point, but um, what sort of covers were you were you doing? Um, man, so we would do anything from
7:31
like Almond Brothers, we would do like Macy
7:37
Gray. Um, Oh, wow. We covered a lot of different, you know,
7:43
because we're playing in a college town, so you got Yeah. college girls, college guys. Like we
7:48
tried to sort of bring something that everyone could enjoy and dance to. Um,
7:56
so yeah, we just we cover like a lot of Black Crows and um, you know, sort of
8:02
around my voice. We tried to like pick stuff that either kind of fitted already or that I could kind of work around and
8:08
fit into. um from a cover perspective uh which was a lot of fun obviously and
8:15
then um graduated moved to Atlanta and then I
8:20
was in a band there. Um disco tendencies was the name of that
8:26
one. Um, wow. That sort of was a a joke that we had a tendency to disco, but um sort of sort
8:33
of similar thing kind of started out with covers and then that's sort of when I started writing
8:40
um lyrics mostly for that one because I in that band I was basically just a a front man. So I wasn't even really
8:46
playing guitar in that band. I was just up there singing and shaking my ass a little bit, you know,
8:52
disco beats. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We really in a minute.
8:58
Weren't even close to disco, but uh I don't know, that name stuck and and people liked it. Um but yeah, I started
9:05
writing for for that band and we ended up releasing two albums. Um
9:12
but you know, we were all kind of like all over the place genre wise and didn't really know it wasn't like super
9:18
cohesive and um anyway, all good, but we all just kind of like moved elsewhere and that's kind of how it phased out.
9:26
And then um so now I live in Northwest Florida um and am attacking the the solo thing
9:34
have been for the last you know five or six years uh writing
9:40
a lot and um as you guys sort of got to witness and uh singing and performing
9:47
just as much. So um that's sort of in a nutshell I guess.
9:54
Does that answer your question, Ronnie? It certainly does and uh and it's very much appreciated. But I I think that
10:00
just to just to pick up on two bits um that that you mentioned. So, you said
10:05
about it's weird. I was talking about Macy Gay last weekend. I haven't heard that name in years. Uh and when you when
10:12
you said about it, I can just Yeah, I can picture it now. Um, and uh, and and when you said about, you know, looking
10:18
for songs that sort of matched your your vibe, your voice, um, I've got to say, and I was going to wait until the end to
10:24
say it, but your voice is mind-blowing. Um, I've never really heard anybody, uh, that has got the same tone, uh, power as
10:34
you. Um, so, you know, definitely definitely go and check you out, um, on, uh, on some of the songs you released
10:40
already. Uh, but yeah, mind-blowing, unbelievable. So, thank you for sharing your your experiences with us, your
10:46
early experiences. Um, is there is there anybody that specifically you saw as
10:52
influences in the music industry or certain artists that you more inclined
10:57
to go towards any certain genres? Yeah, you you know, it's funny like you
11:03
get you sort of get this question a lot and I' I've realized recently don't answer.
11:10
This is nothing new. No, but um I I was thinking about it
11:16
recently actually because like you're or at least myself I find myself
11:23
like becoming more aware that I was influenced by people later like
11:30
I I I never have a really good answer for who's influenced me but I'll be writing or doing something or hear a
11:37
demo that I got back you know and I'll be like wow that is straight down the
11:43
middle so and so or whatever. So, it's funny. It's like retroactively I I realize who has influenced me and it
11:51
like clicks later, I guess. Um, but my answer to that always is like the the
11:57
initial question is the Almond Brothers. uh more specifically Greg Almond's voice
12:03
and just like the emotion that he you know put through
12:10
to everyone, you know, on on all the live albums specifically. It's just like I don't know, it's imprinted in my
12:16
brain. My dad was like an enormous Almond Brothers fan and it was
12:22
like basically the soundtrack of my childhood um
12:28
were the Almond Brothers and just you know southern rock. Um now people like
12:34
Marcus King and things like that, people that are keeping that sort of genre and
12:40
feel going. Um I sort of kind of gravitate to
12:46
um yeah um and there's some I mean some newer ones too like uh Cashes Co Pepper
12:54
I love what he's doing um his voice and like the the uh you know
13:02
lyrical content and things like that of uh like Stephen Wilson Jr.
13:07
And uh Jason Isbel like literally will
13:13
always be in the back of my mind. I don't know that I'll ever write a song like a single song as good as one of his
13:19
worst, but um I think he's incredible. Like the way he can just tell a story
13:24
lyrically is unbelievable. Fun fact, his league guitar player went to North My
13:31
Beach High School. Yeah, nice. We We didn't We didn't cross over, but
13:38
Jason always calls him out on the when he's in Just lie about it. Just claim it. Just claim the fame.
13:43
Yeah, just lie. He calls it out. Say he's your lead guitarist. Yeah. Yeah. He's like He's like from Northport
13:49
Beach, South Carolina. And always flash him. So So hopefully he hopefully he at least
13:54
knows who I am. If you flash him then he might do. Yeah. Yeah.
14:01
My eyes are up here, buddy.
14:06
Anyway, moving on swiftly from that. Um, I'm probably going to ask you another question that everybody always asks you.
14:11
Um, so, uh, I wanted to know, uh, I didn't actually. No, I did. I've written
14:16
it down. Um, when did you think at what point cuz I know you you were saying
14:21
about going through high school and doing the bands and everything else. At what point did you think, boom, this is
14:27
me. This is what I'm going to do. This is everything that I want it to be. This is I know I've got something unique
14:33
here. I know I'm going to share it with the world. This is Alex. Yeah. Um
14:40
I don't know that I had like a an aha moment per se because I've like
14:46
I've sort of always consistently done it, but it like towards the beginning it was sort of like in the back of my mind.
14:52
Um like something I know I can do, could do, whatever. Um, but
15:02
yeah, I guess I guess whenever I started going to
15:09
Nashville more often, which is, you know, probably three or four years ago at this point, um, and started doing the
15:16
first few writers rounds. And
15:22
because, you know, that setting is like designed for people to listen to you.
15:27
It's not it's not always I mean occasionally there's like a bar setting and it's loud and nobody gives a [ __ ]
15:32
but other times like people are there to you know listen and in those rooms when
15:37
there's like no real barrier between you and the the crowd
15:43
um the feedback you get from that or I guess this is the answer for me like the feedback that I was getting from that
15:52
you know even initially like in the first few times was like,
15:57
yeah, it was sort of an epiphany like I I could do this. Like I think I think people
16:03
may want may want to hear more of this. Yeah. Um so yeah, long answer, but that's sort
16:10
of No. Yeah, that's sort of when it hit me. People do um people do want to hear more
16:17
of it. Uh, and even, you know, we've only met when we went over to Texas. Um,
16:23
and we were talking over there and I started listening to your music and listening to what you were doing. Uh, I've brought it back over here and
16:28
people are like, I want to hear more. I want to hear more. It's incredible. It's nuts. Mind-blowing, you know. So, yeah,
16:35
it's um it's incredible and and thank you very much for for sharing it with us, even though most my questions are
16:41
repeated, but that's okay. I'll let I'll let you listen. Um, yeah. Uh, so now I'm going to hand
16:48
over to our very own gloomy Turbet. Uh, his name is TJ.
16:53
TJ TJ. Only one TJ mind. No other TJs exist. Only one TJ. I think
17:00
you need to make a thing of that. Yeah. Some people have an argument online.
17:05
Yeah, that'll be the weirdest argues. So, yeah, exactly.
17:11
Well, first of all, I kind of regret moving my room around today. I moved all the lighting and whatnot and I've got
17:17
this unfortunate kind of mic shadow or fortunate depending how you you look at
17:22
it. So yeah, that might be a bit distracting um as as we go. Stop.
17:27
I didn't see it until you pointed it out, but now I can't look away. I know. Well, it's the effect I have. I
17:34
know we joked at the beginning, you know, about the Michael McDonald stuff, but um but like Ronnie said, you know, I think there's a real kind of need for
17:41
that southern southern soul, we can almost call it, can we? with the Orman Brothers. I think we had you know a few
17:46
whisies by the point we did our top five uh you know favorite bands of all times
17:52
and we we kind of crossed over quite a bit I found with the Orman Brothers, Leonard Skinnard and and a lot of the old the old kind of Soul and Mottown and
17:58
and things like that and you know can certainly hear uh that in the tracks that you're putting out. Hear that in
18:03
your voice and like Ronnie says you know I played that some of your songs to my my family. My sister loved your your
18:10
songs she's into like Leon Bridges and and things like that. I think if you're into that sort of vibe, you know, people
18:16
need to tune in to Alex Rogers and give your your stuff a spin, mate. Um, but I
18:21
suppose dialing it back slightly, we talked about some of the bands that you you were in previously, some of the
18:28
cover bands. People probably should be aware that you were also in a a Zack
18:33
Brian cover band, isn't it? Right. So, I did Yeah, a b a brief.
18:40
Yeah, we'll give people a bit of a flavor. Um,
18:49
needs a bit of work. I'll be honest. Totally forgot the chords. And
18:59
I don't know the chords. Sorry.
19:08
So, there you go. You know that's a little known fact surface. It's just the way she come out. You sing
19:14
too. I was like sort of. Yeah. He's singingish. So uh
19:19
I'm mumbling. We were both at the back screaming. Woo. We were like got to light users out. Go on. Go on Alex. Give it some. So um we
19:28
we had a great time in Texas, mate. Like you said, it it was like Disneyland for us, you know, and uh we we it was just I
19:34
think we probably got on Tobo's nerves by the end of the week cuz we were just having such a laugh and giggling like a
19:40
couple of 12year-old girls throughout the week. Um just having a laugh really and and seeing the sides. you know, we
19:46
we're very fortunate, very lucky to have someone like Tailbo to invite us out, but not just do that, but you know, I
19:51
suppose like yourself take you to some places that you probably would never go and see yourself um had you been kind of
19:58
on your own experience out there. So, you know, to go to these historic venues to to these songwriter venues to see
20:06
certain people that we know and love, you know, it was just an incredible week. you know, we we talked a lot about our
20:12
own experience, but for you, um, was that your kind of first real time, uh, spending, you know, an amount of time in
20:20
Texas, shall we say? Yeah, that was the first, uh, I've been
20:25
to Austin a bunch just for, you know, just to go, never for like music stuff
20:33
as of yet. But, um, but yeah, that week was the first the longest time I've been in Texas. And then um also the first
20:40
time I had ever been to like DFW area. Um but yeah, I loved it. Um just as much as
20:49
y'all did, I think. Um we uh I was I talked to Taba the other day actually.
20:55
We were talking about how uh like how is everything an hour and a half away from each other. Um, that was kind of a
21:02
learning curve, but um, but no, I had so much fun. And again, to your point, Tabo
21:08
like set up so many writes for me and introduced me to so many people, I feel like I doubled my writing network in the
21:17
course of like four days. Um, and then came back with, you know, four or five songs pretty much done.
21:24
Um, so yeah, it was incredible. And then the uh obviously the event was
21:31
off the rails fun as well. It was incredible. Couldn't have been better. Yeah, it's it's probably one of the best
21:37
nights I've I've ever been invited to. So, uh we'll talk about that in a bit
21:42
because there's some some bits from that particular night I think that are interesting and you know it'll be good to kind of uh dive into that. But yeah,
21:49
Texas was a strange place. I think America's odd for us. Everything in England is little. the roads, the
21:55
houses, you know, I felt like a [ __ ] Is that the PC term? Before I start getting myself in
22:01
trouble there a little. Hold on. Anyway, you know what I mean. Everything
22:07
just seems What's the word, Alex? Help me. Say it.
22:13
Say do it. Do it. Go on. Say something. It's too late. I did it. Um, but do you know
22:20
what I mean? It it just felt like I was in a computer game sometimes, you know, in in like Grand Theft Auto, going to
22:26
some of the gas stations, just just anywhere we went just seemed really weird, didn't it? We just ended up
22:32
and everything. Oh wow. Oh wow. Yeah, that
22:37
Oh my god, they've got Mountain Dew. Oh yeah, I need it now. I'm I'm having withdrawal symptoms from Mountain Dew.
22:44
That'll happen. Anyway, but uh but for you, what was kind of the the oddest thing about Texas
22:49
that that is different to where where you're from? Oh, wow.
22:59
I don't I don't I I don't think I find anything that odd. Um,
23:09
yeah. I mean, it's pretty similar to the Southeast, like where I kind of grew up
23:15
as well, like just everybody drives a truck and yeah, everything is big. Everything is
23:21
obviously bigger in Texas. Um, but yeah, nothing nothing really stood out
23:27
to me as super odd. Um except um that I had a a couple of Brits
23:34
following me around everywhere. We're British giggling behind you. Yeah. Everywhere
23:41
you went. Yeah, we did spend a lot of time in the car. It was it was an experience.
23:47
Yeah. Okay. Well, if we if we talk about, you know, where you are right now. So, it's the Florida panhandle, isn't it? Um
23:54
North kind of west. So, I'm I'm sort of familiar with that. haven't been to Pensacola previously. So, so what is the
24:00
the music scene like there? The only kind of artist I think we've had on from that way have been Leon M. Um, who seems
24:07
to be gaining a lot of traction in the kind of folk uh arena and that sort of things. But yeah, from your experience,
24:13
what what's it like over there? It's it's pretty quiet honestly. Um
24:20
there's a good amount of like private type gigs like in terms of
24:26
playing out and stuff. Um there are a lot of good musicians. Um I would say
24:33
not as many like writers. There are there are several like I have a really good friend who's
24:39
technically based in Nashville but he spends a lot of time here at the beach
24:44
as well. So, he and I kind of like we trade places often, which is weird. Um,
24:51
but I will say there's like a big like this is a big Nashville and Texas
24:56
vacation spot. So, I don't know. It's like a weird like you
25:02
can still make connections and still like see people while you're here. But short answer is like there's not a huge
25:08
scene here. I wouldn't say. um I sort of like I just happen to already live here
25:14
by the time I decided to kind of hit hit this full throttle. So that's why I I find myself, you know, in Nashville a
25:21
lot and hopefully back in Texas a lot more um for things like that. But yeah,
25:27
it works out for me because it's sort of like it's it's an escape for from
25:33
city living. Y it's more of a it's more of a a laid-back beach town. Beachfulness. Yeah.
25:39
Yeah. Yeah, totally. Oh, I'm jealous, mate. Yeah, as soon as we kind of landed back in the UK, it was
25:45
a gray, cold, our holiday was over pretty quick.
25:50
Yeah. Grabbing people's ankles. Take me back, please. It hit you fast. Oh, it did, mate. It did. So, when we
25:58
talk about your your kind of your current music and going into your solo stuff, um I don't know if I'm making
26:03
this up. I could have made it up completely, but I'm sure you told me that um your band are also the backing
26:09
band for Laney Wilson. Is that true? That is that is correct. That's amazing. So, uh how did that come
26:15
about? um friends of friends. um sort of got
26:21
introduced to the guitar player um through a friend of a friend
26:27
um and more or less just kind of asked him like or it might have been sort of a
26:36
mutually a mutual conversation about like you know I'm getting into the studio
26:42
um and they were very you know generous with their time and and uh wanted to
26:48
kind kind of come in and get on there. So, the whole uh basically
26:53
the whole band outside of um the girl who plays fiddle and um some acoustic
27:01
guitar and stuff for her uh were all there. So, bass, drums, um acoustic
27:06
guitar, and then Kevin's like an auxiliary player. He can play everything. Um I was joking. He's
27:13
like he like ping pongs around the studio while you're in there recording. So he'll go from like one instrument to
27:19
the other and you like you don't ever know where he is until he like pops in into the room over the over the talkback
27:26
and um yeah he's just a he's just a legend. You can play anything
27:32
uh a modernday Beethoven or something a sick I'm in awe for all that talent. Yeah,
27:41
na Nashville in general is like that. Honestly, like I play guitar, but I don't know what the hell's going on on
27:47
the guitar. Numbers, letters, whatever that whatever. I was surprised when you said that.
27:54
Yeah, in terms of key, I just assumed that every guitarist could or or would
27:59
know what key. I mean, I'm saying as if I do. I don't, but uh No. No. Yeah, I have like a very vague idea
28:06
of my own songs, but like if you were to ask me what key something like, you
28:12
know, what key I Try by Macy Gray is in, I would be like, "No idea, brother." But
28:18
here are the chords. Sounds a bit like this. Yeah.
28:24
Oh, that's hilarious, mate. But uh Okay, so you've been trip feeding kind of singles um for the past year. So, we've
28:30
been going through your your Spotify and you know, ever since we come back home, we were just kind of blasting your tunes
28:35
out and I I think it's kind of a sort of an EP that you're putting together. From what I can see, it kind of follows a bit
28:41
of a pattern in terms of the songs that you put out so far. There's a collection there, there's a sound there. So, in
28:47
terms of of those songs, um, what kind of inspired the stories to to those that
28:52
you've put out so far? Yeah. So, I mean, in general, it's
29:00
So, the the first five would fall under the EP, which is titled Hand Me Down,
29:07
and Hand Me Down is the title track off the EP. Yeah. Um, Highway Nine would be the first
29:12
that's like not technically included on the EP. Um, but yeah, those five songs
29:21
are more or less kind of like a chronological
29:28
story of my life and some of the things that, you know, I experienced in order to like
29:35
be where I am today. Um, some of it's, you know, some stuff that I just felt
29:41
like I needed to get off my chest. Um, And
29:47
yeah, one's a one's just your uh one's a love song to my wife, you know. Can't uh
29:54
can't do an EP without that. Um brownie points there. Yeah.
30:00
Yeah, totally. Um and I guess so I say that, but Understanding
30:06
was the first single I put out. It's sort of
30:12
I don't know. It doesn't have like a specific story, but um I don't know.
30:18
I've hit this point where I have friends that are like getting divorced and stuff like that and it started like
30:24
I don't know. It just made me realize that you know that can happen. I don't know. I guess I'm I'm young enough to
30:31
where I it's not like super common for your friends to be getting divorced. So like
30:37
I don't know. It's sort of like more shocking at this time in my life. I suppose
30:43
but anyway it started happening like here and there. Um so that one I don't want to say the song is about divorce
30:50
but it's more or less like I was kind of thinking like what he
30:56
could have done differently or what she could have done differently or you know what exactly happened and how how can I
31:03
avoid that. Yeah. Um, so that's the only one that's not like,
31:08
you know, I guess autobiographical to the max. I mean, that's my favorite one, um, so
31:15
far from from your kind of body of work. Um, I I think there's a pattern with the songs that you put out. There's just so
31:21
many catchy hooks. And I think I remember saying to you, I was like, there's a song I heard, one of the songs
31:28
that Talbo put on the radio when we first uh, when he first picked us up. It was in my head all week until we met.
31:34
And I was like, "Oh, that's your song." You know, and I think that's got a habit in all of your songs that there's some
31:39
sort of hook that is so memorable that, you know, it just kind of gets ingrained. And I think that's a real
31:46
kind of talent to to to have, mate. Um, and it's interesting, you know, I always like to ask, you know, how people come
31:52
to their kind of inspiration for the songs. And you mentioned being autobio bio, I can never say autobiographical.
31:59
Um, some people, you know, it's fictional kind of work and it's historical stuff that they they get
32:04
inspired by. So, it's cool to kind of learn uh the backstory. And I I I must admit, you know, I'll come clean with
32:10
this particular one. Um, I did kind of sneak some previews of of your past interviews with Patrick and other
32:17
people. So, I'm stealing this. Um, but the Highway 9 story is really
32:22
interesting. The the the kind of theme to that particular song. And I didn't have a clue because uh I put out a video
32:28
recently to say I'm pretty shocking at listening to lyrics at the best of times. I hear the melody more often than
32:34
not. Um yeah. Yeah, man. So it it was cool to have someone explain it and say, "No, this is
32:41
this is about a a real story." So, you know, Rob, let me kind of bumble my way through it. Do you want to kind of
32:47
reveal what Highway 9 is about? Yeah, for sure. Um, so I wouldn't say
32:54
it's more I guess biographical in in ways. Um, but yeah, so I mentioned I'm
33:00
from a super small town. Like when I say super small, I mean like there's maybe 2,000 people there. Um, and so this
33:10
Highway 9's like kind of outlines from what we from what the uh media has
33:17
gathered in terms of like facts, what happened during a road rage incident on
33:25
Highway 9 that kind of goes through my hometown. Um, I didn't know, you know,
33:32
anyone involved, but when I heard about it, I was just I just couldn't believe that it had happened in, you know, my
33:37
small town. Um, and it turns out I I did end up knowing like some of the cops involved and um I don't know. It's it's
33:46
a it's a wild wild story that just kind of kept unfolding. Um, and but
33:53
effectively the uh this guy about my age was followed for
34:00
nine miles and shot in the back um by
34:06
two guys um like upwards of 30 times and
34:12
what they were let off on like stand your ground self-defense
34:18
sort of situation. And then obviously the the victim's sister who I've you know
34:26
become like gotten to know since um releasing the song. She
34:33
like basically quit her job and put all of her energy into figuring out like the
34:38
facts and like what actually happened because she couldn't accept that. She couldn't and shouldn't accept that, you
34:45
know, it's a a self-defense or a stand your ground type scenario. Um, so the
34:50
case is ongoing. And like I said, it I I have no skin in the
34:56
game other than the fact that I was like it it angered me, the story, and the
35:03
song just kind of popped out of the air and I wrote it within like 15 minutes.
35:09
Um, wow. And then it was one of those things I was like, I I don't know if I have any business like
35:16
releasing this song. like I have nothing to do with it. But um you know I ended up you know talking to his sister who
35:22
that's who I cared most about in the grand scheme of things. Like I didn't want to
35:28
overstep in any sort of way. Um, but no,
35:34
she she loved it and she thought it was a, you know, a good synopsis of like to
35:40
give everyone an understanding. People that may not know about the case or may not have heard the story or, you know,
35:45
may not be from South Carolina or have any, you know, reason to know about the
35:51
story. Um, it sort of gave it a more like digestible way to at least become
35:56
aware of it. And that was uh that ended up being sort of the goal. And then um
36:02
I will say about that that Highway 9 did get featured in a Wall Street Journal podcast.
36:08
Uh it's a four-part like miniseries called Camp Swamp Road. So if Yeah, if
36:14
anyone, you know, listens to the song and takes interest in it, I'd recommend listening to that because it's it kind
36:21
of outlines everything um you know, in way more depth obviously. Yeah, I I think I think
36:27
people should and perhaps we can put that in the the link when we release this uh episode so people can check the
36:34
full story out and you know give some more context to your song, but I I just thought it was incredible. I had no idea. Um obviously it's not local to us
36:41
but to to kind of hear that story it's um yeah so interesting. There's lots of
36:46
uh media stuff online about it. I think people have put YouTube and uh kind of miniseries like you say. So, I think
36:52
it's good for people to kind of watch along and, you know, really grateful, mate. You know, I know we had a few drinks uh on that particular night and
36:59
when we came back and I drunkenly asked you if you wanted to record a couple of tracks, but we did Highway 9 as as one
37:05
of them. Would you mind if we played a quick snippet of that so people can find Yeah, for sure. that as the grit sessions on YouTube.
37:11
So, have a listen to this guys and uh you know, make sure that you're following Alex off the back of it.
37:19
Nine miles down highway nine
37:24
hunted and down. That boy was running for his life.
37:32
Standing your ground with no ground to stand.
37:37
Fire rounds Jew back.
37:44
That was sweet, mate. You know, really enjoyed recording those sessions. It was something a little bit different. Uh normally we do it around the UK and we
37:50
we find you know the these kind of nature places but um you know when in
37:55
Rome uh we did it at a secret top secret location. That's right. Obviously it was George Straight house.
38:02
We ran out of sunlight. We did. I'm too scared to go outside in Texas
38:08
because there's bugs and stuff. So moths obviously moths. Yeah. Massive
38:13
moths. I was quite happy to stay indoors. Awesome. But yeah, go and find it out on
38:19
YouTube. We got we got two tracks there and we'll play a little bit of the other one uh later on if you're okay with that as well, mate. Um
38:25
Oh, yeah. Um but yeah, I mean it was you I think your week was really cool and we kind of got to follow you around in Texas for
38:31
that um period of time that you were there and sheep like sheep drunken sheep
38:37
in the back of a car. Um what are you doing? But you you had some time with some amazing artists and you
38:43
know I think Jared Morris is one of them. I think you had limited time with him on that particular day just because
38:49
of the events. Um but other people I love listening to like Dustin Massie,
38:54
Drew Haracle, uh definitely Zach Wilkerson and and Tim Lightyear and I
38:59
don't know if I've missed anyone off of that but you know just uh just awesome dudes all around there. There's
39:05
definitely a couple I've missed off I think on one of the last days. Um, no. I think that was everyone. Trying to
39:12
think. Remember we went through that dodgy little town? Um,
39:18
yeah, I recall it. But, uh, anyway, we'll come back.
39:23
But in terms of um, you know, we we I loved I mean, I think Ronnie nipped to the to at that point and we we took a
39:30
decision to ditch him as we did anytime he left us um cuz it was just funny. But
39:35
that was a point that you were you were with Drew and Dustin and uh I overheard a song I think you were writing at the
39:42
time called I don't know if it's called Here and Now but it was you know had that in the lyrics. I thought that was
39:47
an amazing song. Um is that something that you're still writing with them? Is that something in the pipeline or is
39:53
that just something you were messing around with? No. Yeah, we uh we pretty much finished
39:58
it. Um I actually talked to Dustin the other day. Um, I don't know if he he
40:05
recorded like a demo of it, like a an official demo with Tim Lightyear, but I
40:12
don't know if he I don't know if he's going to actually do it or not. Um, but no, it's it's
40:19
pretty much done. Um, yeah, at minimum I'll I'll probably be
40:24
filming a a little snippet of it at some point. Um, trying to do like maybe a little Texas
40:30
recap. Um, yeah. Be interested to see what photos you've got on your phone, mates. Um,
40:37
can't be as dodgy as ours, but maybe they are, you know. We'll we'll we'll wait and see what
40:43
you've got. But, um, but yeah, I mean, with those songwriter kind of sessions. Um, yeah, we we heard some of the demos
40:49
that you you kind of put together. So, we're fortunate enough to listen to that in the car. Um, Ronny was obsessed with
40:55
one of the songs and requested it from Tobo. And we're going to release it everywhere just without your permission cuz that's what we do.
41:02
Johnny Woods. Johnny Woods was the guy. Johnny Wood. Yeah, as well.
41:07
I I just um Yeah, I My my brain is getting like mush the older I get. So, yeah, I do
41:14
apologize. We We've kind of missed anyone off the list. No, you're good. I I blanked on that one, too, cuz we went to that one place
41:20
more than once. Yeah. Yeah, we did. We we locked the car doors as soon as Salo got out because it
41:27
was that type of uh Yeah, we went Oh, I remember that place. That was the place.
41:34
That was tough. Uh but it was interesting. You know, we we popped to some people's houses and we we kind of got a a a small segment of
41:40
what you guys do behind the scenes in terms of pulling these songs together, the arrangements. Um, you know, it's
41:47
just super interesting for people on the outside that aren't musicians like us to to kind of see how you the building
41:53
blocks really. I found it um absolutely fascinating just just being also number one they're
41:59
letting two weirdos with a dodgy accent that sound Australian into their house
42:05
and welcome us in offering drinks and whatever else. but also listening to that whole process just in the
42:10
background because we obviously we come into the first part of the studio or garage or whatever you want to call it.
42:16
Um, and you're all doing your bits in the back. I I just found it fascinating and listening to that and then being
42:21
able to listen to some of the stuff that you haven't released uh in the car and TJ's right. I've repeated it over and
42:27
over and over again and everybody only one person's heard it. Um, but when
42:34
I've played it in the car, why why isn't this being released? What is what, you know, what's going on? What is he doing?
42:41
He needs to get more stuff out there. And I said, you're right. He does. And I said, so listen out for the podcast. Um, because uh yeah, it's
42:49
everybody's screaming to get you to release more stuff, but it was just incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it. So, you know, I
42:56
know all these guys are from Texas, but I suppose being around the Texas music scene for that period of time. Um, is is
43:02
there anything in terms of their distinct sound or the way that they do things as influenced to your your
43:08
writing in that time? Uh, yeah, totally. Well, actually, I
43:15
kind of I got the feeling that they a lot of them were wanting to enter a
43:24
more like soul realm. Okay. Um, so I I don't know. I don't know if
43:31
that's just because I was I was there, but it seemed like we kind of clicked on
43:39
like the end goal um of being like, you know, injecting a
43:45
little more more soul than what maybe some of them were more used to or even
43:52
me. I mean, I write, you know, I write all sorts of stuff. Um, but if it's for myself, you know, I kind of lean a
43:59
little more soul influenced. Um, but yeah, I mean, even before going
44:05
there, I've been, you know, I've been influenced by, um, you know, Texas in in
44:10
general. Um, I think one of my top five of that night was Steve Rayvon, like
44:17
just that gritty, in-your-face.
44:22
Um, I don't know, just blue, Texas blues
44:27
really like even if it comes down to like just the feel of the um of the
44:33
song. That's a great way to like start a song um especially with a bunch of
44:39
guys from Texas. So um no, it I guess to answer your question, it felt very
44:44
natural and easy to write with all of them. Yeah. No, that's a good answer, mate.
44:50
It's um yeah, it's interesting. They're looking to inject some more soul in terms of what they do. Um they they've
44:56
got a great sound. We've we've been fans of the Texas music scene for a long time and to get that opportunity to come out
45:01
was just, you know, mind-blowing. Um and that kind of leads us into a good segue. I always like saying that word. Makes me
45:07
sound intelligent to someone. Yeah. Like you planned it. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I wrote it down as well. It's right in front of me. Uh this
45:13
is why I don't like this angle. Gives away my secrets of what I'm, you know, writing down too. secrets. Gives away my
45:20
secrets. My secrets. Shut up. Anyway,
45:27
so Stocktober was obviously the event that we we certainly come out for. Um, and this was held at the Rhinestone
45:34
Saloon um in uh the northern part of Fort Worth, I want to say. Um, I'm not
45:39
overly familiar with Fort Worth in itself. It's the first time we went out there, but um yeah, put together by our
45:46
good mates Albo as part of his cowboy distortion brand. Um which is awesome. We've got some koozies in the background
45:52
and other stuff with with that on. Um so yeah, amazing opportunity to come out. I think there around like 30 plus artists
45:59
out there. Um and the kind of gist of it was that everyone got what say everyone everyone got pulled out of the hat at
46:05
random. Uh they got two songs and a great idea. It was amazing. Yeah. So, there were some people that didn't play. Um, but
46:12
that was okay cuz the people that did play were amazing. And I think kicked off the night was Mint Steel. Never seen
46:18
Mince Deal before with Drew Arle on the on the tinkling the Ivaries, as we say.
46:24
Uh, as I said, tinkling the tinkling the right, we'll go for that
46:29
anyway. Yeah, it just reminds you of you tinkling the ivories at uh,
46:34
Legacy Hall or wherever we were. Mary H. Anyway, but they they were awesome. such a fun
46:40
band. You know, if you're a fan of Vince Gill, um then, you know, go and listen to those guys, put a couple of videos
46:46
out and uh just kind of showcase it. But for us, it was like just watching people that we've we've either had on the
46:53
podcast like yourself, you know, we've spoke before, we're massive fans of or just massive fans
46:58
that we haven't got around to speaking to yet. And we were just kind of sat there in awe. It was like, "Oh my god, that's Presley Hill. Oh, that's" and you
47:05
got Zack Wilkerson kind of pacing up and down like a madman, you know. um love that guy, you know, and it's just like
47:11
the who's who of the Texas kind of independent music scene. And and then we found kind of more people
47:17
throughout the night that perhaps we weren't so familiar with. Um you I was familiar with the Teague Brothers band,
47:22
but you know, hearing John Teague on stage, Early Doors, that was just I was like, "Wow, this guy is so good." Um and
47:28
we we've kind of gone down a rabbit hole and he's going to come on soon. So Oh, nice. It's it's just great that like
47:34
you said, you know, in terms of going out, networking, finding kind of more people as part of
47:40
your vibe. And it's uh yeah, it's definitely one of the best nights I've been to. It wasn't just artists, it was
47:45
industry folk. It was media podcaster weirdos like us, you know, that, you
47:51
know, snuck through the back door with back door Brenda. Uh may we add, um she's awesome. Yeah, we had a picture
47:57
together. There you go. You haven't shared that one. Um kept that one to yourself. Secret one. Um,
48:03
so for you, Alex, um, were you familiar with many of the artists there? If not,
48:08
you know, what kind of memorable connections did you make that particular night?
48:14
Yeah, so I, uh, I was more like relatively familiar with
48:20
a lot of the names. Um, I've been following Zack Wilkerson for a long time
48:25
uh, just on socials. Um, mostly through Talbo. Um, but no, he was uh so he was I
48:34
I basically got off the plane and wrote a song with him. I think that's before
48:40
y'all got there. Are y'all I think that was the first day. That was Legacy, wasn't it? Yeah, Legacy.
48:45
That was the before Dustin and Amazing. Yeah. But no, yeah, he was just
48:53
so laidback and um it was just a really
48:59
great like first write of the trip cuz it was very relaxed and easy and more or
49:06
less just got to know each other and then kind of knocked out some lyrics towards the end of it. Um
49:12
but um no, great great to meet him. um everyone I wrote with really. Um I was I
49:20
was familiar with Drew Heracle as well. U but that's the first time I had ever met him in person. We had spoken a few
49:26
times. Um but he's another one of those guys that's just like a savant and can play
49:32
everything and is just like so in tune with what's going on musically that like
49:39
having him in the room is just a a secret weapon. Um,
49:45
it's unreal. Um, um, so I hope to continue that for sure.
49:51
Um, I mean, really everybody I met, most of the people that I wrote with obviously I spent the most time with and
49:57
had the opportunity just kind of to be with. Um, and then
50:04
um, what was I gonna say? Oh. Um.
50:13
Oh, Tim Lightyear. Um, we kind of we we kind of ran short
50:19
on time, so we like only got to start a song. But, um,
50:24
I just feel like, you know, it felt like we were getting on to something but had to had to leave. So, we've already, you
50:32
know, talked on the phone about, you know, getting back together and doing that. And then I'm also hoping to get
50:38
some time with him to get back in that into his studio for a change of pace
50:43
um for me because I I've only recorded in one place so far um for solo stuff um
50:52
get back out to Texas for another week and and try to knock out uh four or five more songs with him.
50:59
So that'll be cool. That seems like a that seems like a good um
51:05
sort of connection, mutually beneficial connection that uh that'll keep going.
51:10
Yeah. Yeah, definitely, mate. I I know you kind of had a a brain fart just then and I did earlier. So, and the person I
51:17
was thinking of was David Trimble, I think, at the the other he's an awesome dude. I I love his music. He's got some
51:23
great tunes out. So, uh yeah, it comes back to us eventually. I think it's an age thing like the cogs kind of kick
51:29
back into gear. That's me anyway. I'm not describing you, mate. So, uh,
51:34
anyway, Ronnie, you've been very quiet, mate. I feel like you need to, um, answer some. I haven't. I've been adding little bits
51:40
and whatever. Have you been writing? You do waffle on a bit, though. Yeah, I do a little bit. I have. I have been writing. I've been making lots of notes uh, to bring up at
51:48
the end. But, um, yeah, it's been it's been really interesting uh, listening to some of the questions that TJ has asked
51:54
you and and they're not repetitive either, like mine. Um, so uh I just um I
52:00
wanted to uh I wanted to just mention there was something that you said that you said early on TJ's bit is around
52:06
that you've um you wrote a love song for your wife. Uh we we didn't we bought
52:12
back two BY phone holders um and delivered them. So that's even
52:18
ours got that got thrown in the bin straight away. In fact, I think I've got it in my
52:23
desk somewhere anyway. But um yeah um yeah so uh there's a couple of things
52:31
that we covered when we were in the long long drives uh in Texas. Um and one of
52:37
them you're probably not aware um but it's mental health men's mental health
52:42
month uh this month in the UK. Um, and we've talked a lot about mental health
52:48
on the podcast. Um, and how people deal with it and how people um, get themselves in the right mindset. Um,
52:55
even just having a little snippet of the sort of road life to be on on the road
53:00
and um, and seeing what you do from, you know, one place one minute, the next day
53:06
another place going halfway across the the states and what have you. How do you
53:11
how do you keep yourself grounded? How do you I know you've got a obviously your your family. Um how do you keep
53:17
connected with them? How do you keep your mental health grounded? How do you look after yourself in such a busy time?
53:23
Yeah, I just try um well obviously, you know, FaceTime is a huge
53:31
thing. Um that's pretty pretty much every day when the I have two sons, one
53:38
of which is in school. Um, so when he when she picks him up for school, typically they'll FaceTime me right
53:44
then. So it's like, you know, that's a always a good little checkin. Um, and I
53:52
mean really just, you know, as much open communication as possible. And then, um,
53:58
just my myself wise, I just try to get as much sleep as I can. And
54:07
um I don't Yeah, just try to just stay
54:14
focused like like especially in the morning when you wake up like I feel like it's important to just like start
54:21
doing something whether it's writing or outlining or sending emails or whatever
54:28
but just don't let like don't just become like not a morning person just cuz you were late the night
54:34
before. Um, yeah, just try not to waste the day. You
54:42
can easily do that in a hotel room or whatever, wherever you are. Yeah.
54:47
Yeah, absolutely. And and I think just checking in with yourself. You know, everything that you've just been saying is just having a bit of a a short sharp
54:54
check uh and making sure that you're you're looking after yourself and again staying in contact with your family.
55:00
Yeah. Is a huge thing. TJ, what about you? How do I keep myself a lot of time?
55:06
Yeah, I don't know why I just asked you that, but what what about you? Seeing as
55:12
it's mental health month, uh men's mental health month, you know, what what what do you do? Well, you know, I like to keep myself um
55:19
physically active. Um that's a lot, I'll be honest with you. Um I don't know.
55:25
I've never really thought about it. It's obviously important and I spend a lot of time on my own because I I work for
55:30
myself. uh I work from home so I don't see a lot of people in the day. Um so when it when you know people do come
55:37
home I've got to come out of this kind of shell almost to to be be dad be husband you know and and kind of click
55:44
back into things you know from being isolated all day to to then you know having people around me. So I think it's
55:51
just um I don't know I I think you've got to be present. So when people are there I think it's being present. Um and
56:00
I For me, it's having a laugh. You know, if I'm feeling a bit pissed off, I'll ring Ronny up and vice versa, and then
56:06
we'll just wind each other up even more. Um, and make it worse, probably. Yeah.
56:11
So, yeah, I think having a good, you know, bunch of mates as blo as well. I think as bloss, you know, and, you know,
56:19
for me, I think having that having that laugh, taking a piss out of each other, and, you know, sometimes it's going for
56:24
a pint down the pub. That that's that's all I need personally is to kind of if
56:29
you're having a bad week, just an evening with your friends or family can
56:35
kind of kind of see you right. So yeah, everyone's different, mate, but that's how I that's how I do it.
56:41
Yeah, I I think that's great and thank you for sharing uh both of you on that. I know it's a a bit of a taboo subject
56:48
sometimes, but it shouldn't be. you know, you should be able to talk openly about it and see how you do it and what
56:53
you do in the industry and what you do here. And so, yeah, thank you very much for for sharing that. And, um,
56:58
obviously, if anybody's listening that needs to, you know, go and talk to anybody, we're always at the end of a
57:03
end of a phone or end of a message or whatever, uh, we're always all here. So, anyway, um, so on the on the subject of
57:10
mindsets, uh, when we were at Stocktober, it was really interesting. You know, I like looking at people's body language and what they do and
57:16
prepping themselves, getting ready to to go on stage and and do what you got to do, especially in that environment because you've got people's hat um hats
57:24
being pulled out of names, names being pulled out of hats, uh where you don't know when you're going to go on, you don't know if you're first, you're last,
57:29
you're middle, whatever. How do you prepare yourself to go on stage? What do you do to get yourself in the mindset?
57:37
Man, that's a good question. And especially in that scenario, I I pretty much went into the night
57:46
uh having convinced myself that I was going to play um regardless,
57:52
you know what I mean? Yeah. Um so I mean I just started I started thinking about it the day I was invited.
57:59
I was like I I'm I'm playing. I mean I got lucky in now.
58:04
Yeah. I I got lucky and I and I did, but I I sort of started preparing
58:10
instantaneously upon being invited because I was like, "Huh, they're going to pull names out of a hat.
58:16
Interesting." Um, but no, once I figured out I guess we had like I guess he told
58:21
us like while I think we knew like we were on deck um
58:29
a little early. So, I mean, I did what I always do. I went and sipped a little
58:34
bit of whiskey to get get the vocal cords juiced up and
58:42
that was that was pretty much it. I started thinking about what I was going to play. Obviously, that's always a big thing for me. I'm not I'm never much of
58:49
a set list guy. Like I can't I always make a set list and never follow it. um
58:56
just because I I try to read the room like you know when you write a set list you have no idea what the room is
59:02
going to be feeling or or looking like or whatever you know um
59:08
so yeah really I don't know I started I I start early on the on the preparation particularly that's the first time I've
59:15
ever done anything like that where your name gets pulled out of a hat so I was just like yeah I'm just gonna
59:21
Well I think it was unique for you guys as well because it wasn't just playing to a crowd of of people like us. It was
59:27
a room full of your peers almost, wasn't it? And yeah, totally. For you particularly, mate, and I would
59:33
say it's a good thing because I'm sure you followed immediately after Presley Hale race and Nick and and Niles and I
59:40
was like, you know, a lot of people like, you know, I don't want to be the guy that follows those, but uh
59:46
but you did. And I think that was good cuz they captured everyone's attention and people's attentions were held and
59:52
they loved you. you know, I could hear people talking going, "Oh, this guy is awesome." Um, so I think it was a good thing that you
59:58
went on at that point. It's funny you mentioned that, TJ. We when we're looking at the people in the
1:00:04
cuz it was a very hybrid room. It was like lots of people making noise at the back cuz there was a bar and you've got
1:00:09
little groups of people that normally go there and then at the front people were listening. They were they were danc I mean you have people dancing when you
1:00:15
started singing there people getting up and dancing. It was unreal. It was nuts. I know. Yeah. It's But
1:00:22
Yeah, it it was a it was an eclectic crowd for sure. Like, you know, some people were there to
1:00:28
to network, which is what it was for, and then other people were there to listen. Um,
1:00:35
so I don't know. It was like maybe less pressure than a regular
1:00:43
gig would be in ways. Um, outside of the fact that it was like my
1:00:49
first time playing in Texas, so I was kind of like, you know, I need I need at least a few
1:00:55
of these people to remember me. That was that was kind of in the back of my mind.
1:01:00
Um, but no, it felt good. It felt good. I And I'm also pretty used to
1:01:08
playing for peers, I guess. Um,
1:01:14
again, not to talk about Nashville again, but that's like like everybody and their mother is a peer in Nashville.
1:01:20
Like when you're out at a bar. Yeah, you're right. Everyone's a musician. So, like I I don't know that that wasn't really a
1:01:27
a factor for me. It was more so just like, you know, being in a new place and Yeah.
1:01:32
And also just not really knowing whether or not you were going to play or not. So, um, but no, it was great. It kept
1:01:38
everybody on their toes and, you know, it kept everybody there and engaged and stuff like that. I thought it was
1:01:44
awesome. Yeah. And I They will certainly remember you. I mean, I I've I've got some video
1:01:50
footage that um from you playing actually, not not from Don't worry. Um don't be worried. Just
1:01:57
just to clarify. Um but there was uh we we we sat down. There was lots of people sitting around listening. And the more
1:02:04
and more you you started playing, the more and more people coming to sit down. And it was like this weird hush over the
1:02:09
back. It was like there was they done that for Prey Hail and then they done that for yourself. There's a couple of others that they were sort of still
1:02:15
making a bit of noise and whatever. And then all of a sudden there was that hush over the room and I thought that's that's what that you mean you mean
1:02:22
something. You mean business. Um and we've got some footage of that um that we recorded. I haven't released it yet
1:02:29
um because you won't release any more songs, but I haven't released it yet. So, um I I'll put that together and I'll
1:02:35
make sure I send it to you. Um and hopefully we might be able to give some snippets out on the rug revival. Who knows? Yeah. Awesome.
1:02:40
A little bit of uh secret material. Um but yeah, so uh and and just leading on from that, what why do you play to
1:02:48
people? Why do you play to crowds? Why do you what do you enjoy out of it? What do you what do you get out of it?
1:02:55
Bit of a random question, but why not? Yeah. No, it's it's a good question. I
1:03:02
I don't I I've just I've fallen in love with songwriting because I've
1:03:09
I not to sound arrogant, but like I I've just I've always been able to sing in
1:03:14
some way in some place. I can sing someone else's song till I'm blue in the face. Um, but uh the my goal for being
1:03:24
up there is for people to hear what I'm saying. Um,
1:03:30
and if not, if they're like TJ and don't hear lyrics, at least to feel the correct emotion for
1:03:38
what I'm trying to convey. You know, I failed to mate who who's got any sort of clue about music.
1:03:46
Yeah, pretty much. No, no, no. It's so it's so common for people to not hear lyrics. I hear that all the time, honestly. Um, but for me,
1:03:54
like the reason I'm doing it definitely is to get a message across. Um, and that
1:04:01
could be like a serious message or it could be, you know, I I write songs to where I'm
1:04:07
like, you know, I'm looking for a laugh. like
1:04:13
one line in a song could be, you know, designed around getting a smirk out of
1:04:20
somebody. That's what I'm looking for. So, it's like I don't know. It's kind of a a weird game. Um,
1:04:31
but yeah, and specifically for my EP, like it is, speaking of mental health, like it's pretty much all about, you
1:04:39
know, either growing up with, you know, in my case, alcoholic,
1:04:45
you know, addict parents and things like that and how that
1:04:51
shaped you or like, you know, like Hand Me Down the Song is
1:04:57
about more or less like the fear of handing that sort of thing down now that
1:05:03
I have my own kids. Yeah. Um so
1:05:09
yeah, it's it's a broad range of of why I do it, but I
1:05:16
feel it gives me it gives me purpose in a in a short answer. Um, it's the only
1:05:24
like I'm no public speaker, but like it it gives me a platform to try to convey
1:05:31
something that hopefully someone can relate to. Um, yeah. Yeah.
1:05:38
I mean, I I just from from your songs I've listened to already, uh, you've got
1:05:44
a million words in them songs that that that will mean the world to people. Um, and you've got a very powerful voice
1:05:49
that comes with that. uh being able to sing about it and being able to put your your views across on that and and about
1:05:55
your history. So, um yeah, thank you. Um so, talking about your songs, uh we've
1:06:02
got an exclusive playlist. Um this is the point we always have a fight cuz I say you can have many songs
1:06:08
you um you can do whatever you like. My hair hanging down for some reason. Um so, uh
1:06:15
it's horrible. Uh but we've got an exclusive playlist. Uh it's for um it's
1:06:21
for everybody that listens to to the rug revival. Uh they can go on listen to some of our favorite tracks. So two of
1:06:26
your songs, what's the two of your songs that you would like to add to that to reflect accurately who you are, what you
1:06:33
do, and your style? Okay. Um
1:06:41
I'd have to go with hand-me-down. Um, I just love how it came together in the
1:06:48
studio. It's, you know, sort of unlike
1:06:55
like the instrumentation specifically is just sort of unlike anything that I've heard recently. Um,
1:07:05
yeah, I think that's a good good place to start. and the lyrics, you know,
1:07:11
at least the feedback I've gotten have have meant a lot to many people. Um, so that that
1:07:18
combination I think is playlistw worthy. And then um
1:07:30
yeah, I'd have to I'd probably have to go with understanding for the second one. Um,
1:07:37
I would say Highway Nine, but it's like, you know, again, it's a pretty specific
1:07:44
subject matter. I mean, it can be in, you know, it can be attributed to a bunch of different
1:07:50
things. Um, but no, yeah, I think understanding is uh more soul leaning. Um, and I like I
1:08:00
like that I was able to like lead off with that one. Like having the first one out there is is cool.
1:08:06
Yeah, good choices, mate. Perfect. We'll add that. Yeah, TJ's going to lock them, load them. Uh,
1:08:12
and then you get an extra bit because we've we've obviously got the video that we're going to do little snippets for
1:08:17
you as long as you agree and let us put it out. Um, so you've got some extra bits that we can push out for you as
1:08:22
well. So there you go. It's going to be a whole advertising campaign around Lis Rogers. Yeah, I love it. Oh, I should
1:08:28
speaking of Segways, I have a I do have a new song coming out next Friday. Yeah. Or Thursday.
1:08:35
Thursday at midnight, however you want to look at it. Um, perfect. It's uh it's called Last I Heard.
1:08:42
And um yeah, I'm excited about it. It's a it's it's more it's a little more alt
1:08:51
rocking. Yeah. Than some of my current stuff. Um,
1:08:57
but it's a fun one. The drums Awesome. Yeah, the the drums are very fun. Like it's uh
1:09:04
it's an immediate sort of air drum situation on the steering wheel. Um, at
1:09:10
least for me. Yes. Yeah. I think this was one of the ones that uh you played as a demo in the car. It was
1:09:17
I'm sure there was three tracks. It was one of That was probably the last one you played and I thought that was the the my favorite
1:09:24
one anyway. I said the best one. Everyone's got their own favorites like Ronny, but uh I thought that one was my
1:09:30
favorite. Um again with the hook, you know, it's just something that uh kind of sticks in your brain and I think
1:09:36
that's going to be an awesome song to release, mate. So that that's out on the 14th, did you say?
1:09:42
Yeah, the 14th. 14th. Okay. So yeah, we'll watch that. I just realized I've been on mute for
1:09:47
the whole time. So I was trying to add some conversations that realized I mute myself. I could see you doing anyway. Lovely.
1:09:53
You just shut him up for a bit. Shut up. He's over there.
1:09:59
For [ __ ] sake. Uh I I was just saying I can't remember which one that was. Um but anyway, we'll
1:10:07
have a conversation afterwards and I'll work it out. Uh cuz I know I've got my favorite one as well. Um brilliant. So 14th coming out. Um
1:10:15
last I heard. Brilliant. I can't wait for that. Uh that really good and I can't wait to get everybody to
1:10:20
to listen to it over here because they're still as I said earlier. They're all screaming for more. So um amazing.
1:10:27
Uh so where am I? You don't know what you're doing there, do you? I don't know what I'm doing. He's talking [ __ ] then cuz he didn't
1:10:33
know what he was. I wasn't talking [ __ ] I was advertising it. Anyway, uh right. So the Rugger
1:10:40
Revival apparently we're here. Uh, the Ruger Revival started as a community to
1:10:45
uh to give people a bit of a step up to give people a bit of a voice uh in the UK as as TJ goes through the the intro
1:10:52
at the start. The UK's home of Country Americana Roots Music Community um and
1:10:57
we want to give people the opportunity to listen to people or to go and find some people that they've never heard of
1:11:03
before. So, Alex, would you share with us um anybody that you think is an emerging talent? anybody, you would
1:11:09
definitely say you need to point these people in that direction. Um, just to give them a bit of a a shout out on
1:11:15
here. If not, don't worry about it. Yeah, let's see.
1:11:24
Um, let's see. She's kind of in my
1:11:32
solely realm. um just as a disclaimer, but um her name
1:11:39
is Carile Griffin. Um I write with her a bunch in Nashville and she's
1:11:47
unreal. Um definitely someone you should check out.
1:11:52
She's she just recorded a fulllength album. Um, so I don't know when that'll
1:11:58
be out, but she has she has stuff out currently and she's um releasing some acoustic type stuff over the next
1:12:05
couple months. Um, very like Fleetwood Mac
1:12:12
inspired vibe. Very cool. Um
1:12:22
uh
1:12:27
um I'll just stick with that one. Something else will pop into my head eventually,
1:12:33
but No, perfect. And thanks again for for sharing that with us. I know that it's a bit of a random question, but we like to
1:12:39
do that all the time when we got artists on. um because because it is a community. We're trying to push as many people out as possible and we we find new people this way as
1:12:46
well. It's it's something to add to our playlist and think actually let's a cool artist. So yeah, thanks man.
1:12:53
Yeah. Yeah. Um I'm not going to ask the last question cuz it's boring. So um I'm we're going to go into a game.
1:13:00
That's what we're going to do. We're Yeah. We're going to go into a game. You've only got a little while left with us, Alex. You can disappear.
1:13:06
I'm all good. I promise. Yeah. All right. Um TJ, soon as you're laughing your head off, there
1:13:12
you go. Let's play the game. You finished babbling now.
1:13:18
Right. I don't know if you remember this one, Alex, cuz we we were probably like um you know, several whisies deep at our
1:13:24
secret location, obviously. Um so we we like to play a game. Well, we only played it once because uh we were scared
1:13:31
to play it again with with more serious people, but now we've got a friend on the show. So, we called it the uh the
1:13:38
kiss challenge. The prince kiss. Oh, no. I was talking about the other game. Doing the other game in a minute. Go on. All right. Play that one.
1:13:43
[ __ ] you. This is my game, mate. So, uh [ __ ] you. So, I I think I've explained it before.
1:13:50
So, I I remember listening to, you know, Prince is an awesome artist and he's probably in your wheelhouse being, you know, quite a soulful dude and but I was
1:13:57
listening to Kiss one day and I thought this is just a hilarious song. You know, you can sit down, listen to it. It's
1:14:03
it's a good jam, but it's quite hilarious. So, I'm going to play a couple of bits for you. Um, so this is
1:14:10
the original. Particularly the opening, it makes me laugh. So,
1:14:19
it's quite a famous opening uh track. So, I thought, wouldn't it be good a
1:14:25
challenge to see if you can mimic that opening? And I did a pretty good go of
1:14:31
it. I know you're a professional, but try and try and beat my attempt. So,
1:14:36
this is me. So, that was me. You probably thought I
1:14:43
played the original. Yeah, I couldn't even tell the difference. No, you couldn't. So, would you like to have a go? Or would you like Ronny to
1:14:50
kind of kick things off so you can see how it's done and then add your flavor
1:14:55
to it? Would you Would you like to do that? Let's Let's give Ronnie a go. Yeah. Right. Right. Ronny, you ready? You had to
1:15:02
prepare yourself last time, but I do. I've got to prepare myself all the time. I'm in the room with artists.
1:15:08
Do you have to warm your vocal cords anyway? Right. Let's go. Go on.
1:15:16
Timing's off again, mate. It's your timing that's the problem. I like how you did the freeze frame,
1:15:23
too. Yeah. So, Alex, are you ready, mate? No
1:15:29
pressure. I'm ready. Okay. After three. One, two.
1:15:45
Well, 10 out of 10. Smashed it.
1:15:53
I wasn't expecting. I wasn't to be honest.
1:15:59
There was I think I we myself a little bit to be honest. I think Alex did
1:16:07
Oh, thanks for playing that. I told you one of the more serious podcasts around here. So,
1:16:12
yeah. Yeah. I would give that I mean what would you give that Ronnie? Should we start rating these as we we do them?
1:16:19
I'm giving it a 10 out of 10. Smashed it. It's got to be Yeah. I put my heart and soul into it.
1:16:25
Yeah. I'm not going to give 10 because that's perfection. So, and that's only me. I get the term, but uh
1:16:30
Oh, yeah. 9.5 for the next game. Five. I'll treat you, Alex. So, well done, mate. That's uh treat you. I'll
1:16:36
treat you. He treated us, I think. Welcome to Uncle TJ's. I'll treat you.
1:16:42
I'll treat you. Go down the wrong route. Yeah. Anyway, you uh you crack on with Have you got a
1:16:48
game, Ronnie? Have you? Um I've got a game. Yes. Well, so we play the Ruger Revival. True or false? TJ, hit it.
1:17:07
Buckaroo. Buckaroo. Um, so we do rugger revival. True or false? Um, TJ hates it cuz he goes, "Um,
1:17:15
just lose all the time and it's always fixed." It's not fixed. It's It's true. So, I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions.
1:17:21
Uh, and then you say true or false and then I'll score it at the end. So bees can recognize human faces, TJ. True or
1:17:29
false? True. Cuz these little [ __ ] sting me all the time. It's like they're
1:17:35
home in on me. They recognize my face. So that's true,
1:17:40
Alex. True or false? True. They got all those eyes. I mean,
1:17:46
they got to see something. You'd think so. Yeah. Beady little eyes. Beady little eyes, aren't they?
1:17:52
Beady little eyes. Uh, the first alarm clocks could only ring at 4:00 a.m. Alex, true or false?
1:18:02
False. TJ, I want to go true. It's got to be
1:18:09
something to do with farming, maybe. I don't know. Next question. The fingerprints of
1:18:15
koalas are almost identical to humans. True or false, Alex?
1:18:24
True, TJ. True.
1:18:31
There are more fake flamingos in the world than real ones. Alex, true or false?
1:18:40
True, TJ. Yeah, I'd say true cuz I think I've seen lots of inflatable flamingos. I don't
1:18:47
know why. Never bought one person. The example was flamingos on someone's garden. So like Florida, there's a lot
1:18:54
of flamingos in people's garden. So I don't know. Alex could answer that one. Is there Have you got one in your garden?
1:19:00
I don't. That's some sort of Alex just like just I'm going to say it wrong, but that's
1:19:06
some sort of like tradition that people put pink flamingos in your yard
1:19:12
for something. Yeah. Is it like a certain plant maybe
1:19:18
that attracts certain people maybe? Yeah.
1:19:23
So, have you got one in your garden? Yes. From it.
1:19:28
Um, you can taste food better when you hold your breath. True or false, TJ?
1:19:38
No. I'm going to say false. Alex, I'm going to say false.
1:19:49
Uh, I've lost my place now. So, uh, Coca-Cola was originally green. True or
1:19:55
false? TJ, uh, I'd say false.
1:20:00
Reckon it was murky brown. Alex, did you say Coca-Cola?
1:20:07
Yeah. Yeah. The actual liquid? Yeah. Is there an alternative?
1:20:14
False. Interesting. And then one last green. Um
1:20:21
Okay. Uh can't have that though.
1:20:27
I'm winning this qualifying. Um so, uh last question. Humans share about
1:20:34
60% of their DNA with bananas. Humans share about 60% of their DNA with
1:20:41
bananas. True or false? TJ, I say true.
1:20:47
Alex, I'm going to go fast.
1:20:53
Right. Thank you very much. So, scores.
1:20:59
So, we have to wait half an hour for him to uh add them up. Do you know what?
1:21:05
I was going to do something nasty then. So, you've lost, but you haven't. So, actually, for the first time, Alex, I'm
1:21:11
so disappointed in you. Uh, for the first time, TJ is the Rugger Revival. True or false winner on the on this
1:21:19
episode. Well done.
1:21:25
Well, that's a long applause, isn't it? So, the answers, bees can recognize human faces. True. Uh, the first alarm
1:21:31
clocks could only ring at 4:00 a.m. True. Uh, the fingerprints of koalas are almost identical to humans. True. There
1:21:38
are more fake flamingos in the world than real ones. True. Uh, you can taste food better when you hold your breath.
1:21:44
False. Smell is essential to taste. Uh, Coca-Cola was originally green. False.
1:21:49
It's always been caramel colored. Caramel? Is it caramel colored? Anyway, uh, and humans share about 60% of their
1:21:56
DNA with bananas. It's true. So, play it, TJ. Oh god, forgot. Hold on. Hold on.
1:22:04
[ __ ] sake. No, no, the other one. Nice to see you.
1:22:10
There you go. Nice to see you. Anyway, uh thank you very much for
1:22:16
entertaining me on that game. Much appreciated. Uh I loved it. But I won. So you failed. There you go.
1:22:23
I won. Anyway, me. Over to you, TJ. Over to me. Have I got anything else?
1:22:29
Yeah, you got loads. Apparently. Okay. Well, now we've only got a little bit out cuz I know you're a busy man, mate, and you've you've entertained us
1:22:35
for a while, but uh yeah, so you talked to us about your next single out on the
1:22:40
14th, which is cool. Everyone needs to kind of plug in. There's a pre-save link as well, and I'm pretty sure we
1:22:46
pre-saved that to put on our official playlist as well, and I think the pre-saves help quite a bit just to kind
1:22:53
of help you guys with the algorithm, so you perhaps you can get on other playlists with Spotify and things like
1:22:58
that. So, yeah. And and those links are on your Facebook. Are they?
1:23:03
Um not on my Facebook, on my uh I can put them on my Facebook. I probably should do that. Um but they're on my
1:23:10
link tree, which is on Instagram and Tik Tok. Cool. So head over to that. Make sure
1:23:16
you pre-save Alex's new song and, you know, download the rest while you're there. You might as well. Um because it
1:23:22
does help. It helps a lot. And I always like to ask the question, you know, in terms of artists and for us as regular
1:23:28
fans, what what else can we do apart from pre-saving and turning it up to gigs? Is there anything outside of that
1:23:35
that actually you found really helps you as an independent person?
1:23:40
Have you done your merch yet? Yeah, I I sell merch at shows. I just
1:23:46
haven't done it online yet. I I feel like I I'll get there, but I just don't have the time to like ship it out. Um,
1:23:54
I'm gonna send you guys a hat though. I didn't forget. Um, sorry, Mike.
1:23:59
Yeah. So, buying merch for sure, whether it's online or at shows, is super
1:24:04
helpful. Um, yeah, I would say
1:24:11
definitely pre-saving, like TJ said, is is
1:24:16
it just helps Spotify or whatever you use. You can pre-save on basically any service, but it just it gives that
1:24:24
service a barometer of like interest for
1:24:29
your release. Um, so the more pre-saves you get, the more like interest it shows that the the
1:24:39
song is getting basically. It's like a quantifiable interest. Um, and then also
1:24:45
like following on not only on social media, but like more so on on Spotify and like Apple Music or
1:24:54
whatever whatever service you use. Um, that follow
1:24:59
helps a lot just because it pushes new music. Like if you missed an
1:25:04
announcement for new music, it pushes new music to you automatically if you're if you're following the artist. Um
1:25:12
I am guilty of like not thinking about that myself um for my friends and the
1:25:19
people that I like and should follow. Uh but I've gotten better about it since I have started releasing more stuff. Um
1:25:27
yeah, that's that's all you could do really. I mean,
1:25:32
uh, and obviously like organically spread the word as much as you can or, um, playlists, if you have, if you're a
1:25:42
hobbyist with playlist curation, you know, obviously if you like a song, um,
1:25:50
throw it on there. You should like, um, make random stuff up as well, like put an ad in the
1:25:56
newspaper, you know, with my new song on or, you know, right in the shop window.
1:26:01
take out take out a an ad on a billboard. Yeah, why not? Yeah, I think that should
1:26:07
be a thing. Um, but yeah, definitely the playlist. Um, I I like that personally because at the end of the week, as we
1:26:13
know with Spotify, you got release radar, everyone that you're following, if they release a new track, it puts
1:26:18
into a nice little compilation for you and, you know, you can, you know, spend your Friday or your weekend listening to
1:26:24
that. So, um, yeah, definitely go and follow Alex and pre-save, you know, get on there, get on a link, pre-save, put
1:26:31
on a billboard and do what he says. So, there you go. Um, so great. You've got
1:26:36
some, so new music coming out. Um, and we've recorded another track called Birds and Bees. Um, when is that coming
1:26:43
out, mate, or is that something you not thought about? It's uh, yeah, I've thought about it.
1:26:48
It's not recorded yet. That's one um that I was probably gonna try to do with Tim in in Texas uh potentially in like
1:26:56
January or early, you know, 2026. Um
1:27:03
but no, I so I have I have songs like I have songs
1:27:10
recorded to release throughout, you know, basically all of 2026. So, I've been just kind of like stockpiling.
1:27:18
Um, and that one I just sort of wrote randomly pretty quickly
1:27:24
with a friend actually. Um, his name's Tommy Ciphers. He's the bass player on
1:27:30
all of my songs. Um, we wrote that one day and I just started playing it out
1:27:37
because it's just a lot of fun. Um, and it's one that can kind of get a laugh,
1:27:43
you know, if you're if you're listening. So, um, no, I just enjoy it. But fully fully
1:27:50
plan to release it, you know, probably I mean, definitely next year earlier part
1:27:56
of that next year. Yeah. Would you mind if we play a little snippet of that um from the sessions that we we filmed?
1:28:01
No. Yeah, not at all. Cool. Let's play a little bit for that.
1:28:08
Girls, are we eating dust? Looking for gold, coming up with rust. Are we born
1:28:14
to love? Are we born to run to the birds that will fly for fun? Are we running
1:28:20
wild? Are we feeling stuck? Living high on the high, the low on look. I'll be on
1:28:27
the fence. do it just because the bees have time to catch your buzz.
1:28:34
Yeah, it was cool to see all the uh comments on YouTube and the other platforms as well. Everyone loves it.
1:28:39
Everyone's, you know, amazed by your writing, your your your voice, obviously. Um so, yeah, it be
1:28:45
interesting and and cool to see you you release that one eventually, mate. So, uh fantastic. And I suppose the the last
1:28:52
question for me, Alex, is um when are you going to come to the UK and hang out with us,
1:28:58
dude? Y'all let me know. Get a uh get a get a show on the books or we'll just or
1:29:06
we'll just hang out the old fashioned way. But yeah, we'll get you some shows. Yeah, if you
1:29:11
want to do something like that, we'll do it. I'd be happy to do it. Um,
1:29:16
yeah. I feel like there's a lot of, well, at least like my
1:29:24
analytics and things like that, there's a lot of UK listeners. I think there's a
1:29:29
big like soul contingency there. Um,
1:29:36
but obviously also country Americana, thanks to you guys probably. Um, that
1:29:42
it's all down to us. Yeah. Um, Laney Wilson, it's down to us, you know. Um,
1:29:48
yeah, naturally it's this podcast. But no, you you're right.
1:29:53
Kenny Rogers. Kenny Rogers. Uncle Rogers. Uncle Kenny. Uncle Kenny told me about
1:29:58
Uncle Kenny. Um, but Polly, but your sound definitely translates to what we listen to here, whe that's on
1:30:05
the radio. um you know the there's some more soulful guys that have come up over the years that have become huge names
1:30:11
like Teddy Swims and you know th those sort of names um going off pie slightly
1:30:17
but um but yeah I I can definitely see you being really successful with UK
1:30:22
crowds and building an awesome fan base. So you're welcome to to come over anytime and if you ever want to play
1:30:29
somewhere we'll we'll help you out as best as we can with our our vast connections obviously. Um,
1:30:35
yeah, I appreciate it. I'd love that. Yeah. Did Did one of you, sorry to interrupt, did one of you mention uh Palo Nini at
1:30:41
some point when we were in Texas? Uh, maybe. Yeah, maybe. Depends on what time of the night it was that we we
1:30:48
discussed it. Do you know who that is? Yeah, he's a Scottish guy. Yeah. Oh, is he Scottish?
1:30:54
Yeah, he's I'm certain he's Scottish. Yeah. My bad.
1:31:00
Is that uh something you're into? No, I just I just he just popped into my
1:31:06
brain because he's like, you know, so so soulful. Yeah, he was um weirdly Paulo Natini was
1:31:12
big in the UK kind of mid 2000s. Um and then he just
1:31:18
kind of I don't know, maybe it's because I don't listen to mainstream radio. He might still be around, but for me, he
1:31:24
No, I don't think he is. I uh I I cover or I you know, occasionally I'll cover his song Last Request.
1:31:30
Yeah. And sometimes people come up be like, "Is that did you just play a Palo Nutini song?" Like they just
1:31:36
that's random. It's just like a blast from the past from a lot of people. So it was like I don't know why that popped in my head, but
1:31:41
yeah. No, I can see why you you play those sort of songs though because he he's got a very soulful sound and yeah,
1:31:48
it's interesting that he's Scottish as well. Um because he he's I'm sure he's Glaswegian or something so he's got a
1:31:53
quite a quite a thick Scottish accent. So uh yeah. Yeah. Got it. There you go. Anyway,
1:32:02
Ronnie, do you want to do the Thanks for that, TJ. I don't know. I made it all up. He's actually from Florida.
1:32:10
I lied. I just love it when he's from Texas. Yeah. Yeah. We actually passed him on
1:32:17
the way out. Um but uh yeah, when someone said Scottish, everybody just went,
1:32:22
it's not because he's Scottish, by the way. There's nothing wrong with Scottish people. They're they're great people. So wrong. Um, not as good as Irish, but
1:32:29
they're they're great people and and to be told. Um, anyway, so, uh, I, this is
1:32:35
the part where I normally, um, TJ says to me, "Right, you need to do your final messages." I hate saying that word,
1:32:41
final. It's like end of, that's it. Um, but I I just wanted to It's normally
1:32:46
nice messages or quotes you found about the artist. We talk about the notes. We got notes in front of us. We talk about
1:32:52
it and we say, you know, just for structuring the the interview. So, I love it because he's mentioned it so
1:32:57
many times and you can tell when he's really uh enamored by someone. Uh, but
1:33:02
maybe just maybe just say some nice things uh from us as as as new found
1:33:08
friends. Friends, we're British. Um, so I thought I'd read
1:33:14
that out to you as one of our secret notes behind the scenes. Uh, but do you know what? Um, I I don't need to say
1:33:20
nice things about you because if if people have listened to this whole podcast, which has just been nuts and
1:33:26
bonkers and fun and a bit serious at some points, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you have, Alex. Uh, and I
1:33:33
know TJ has. Um, but we've had, you know, we've had a lot of repeated
1:33:38
questions. We've had a lot of pointless questions uh from TJ. Um, but you have
1:33:43
been so incredible um the whole time we've seen you in Texas. Uh, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for
1:33:48
putting up with us for for a few days, for a week, whatever. Um, thank God we didn't find a karaoke bar after that
1:33:55
night in Stocktober uh in Stockyards cuz that would have been a disaster for me um singing Shai Twain or something.
1:34:02
Um, and you've just got such uh you've got such um incredible qualities
1:34:08
uh in personality, voice, style, and just everything. Alex, uh we really appreciate you coming on to the Rug
1:34:14
Revival. Uh don't forget this is where all the cowboys come uh on the rug revival. Um but most importantly the the
1:34:21
biggest thing for us is having you as a friend. So if you haven't already started uh following Alex, you've got to
1:34:28
um you're obviously living under a rock. So please make sure you go and follow Alex. Please make sure you download all of his tracks, listen to his uh his new
1:34:36
release coming out on the 14th. Um and check him out on all the socials possible. Um but honestly, it's been an
1:34:43
absolute pleasure. It's been an honor. Thank you very much, Alex. Um, now for the last bit, and I haven't said it for
1:34:49
a while, so I'm probably gonna [ __ ] it up. Um, but we're going to raise a toast. So, please, if you got a drink by
1:34:54
you, good old buckies. They made a fortune out of me. Um, so we're going to raise a toast to
1:35:02
the grit, the grind, and to the revival. Cheers to everyone for listening and thanks for joining us, Alex.
1:35:08
Cheers. Thanks for having me.
1:35:15
Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. You're such a spot. You really are.