Aaron McDonnell - Texas Alt-Country Star with a Timeless Sound | Instagram LIVE | Rugged Revival
Watch on YouTube
Subscribe for new episodes, Grit Sessions & more
Listen to this episode
In This Episode
There's a particular magic in those moments when a musician finally becomes themselves. Aaron McDonnell, one of Texas' most compelling alt-country voices, describes his evolution with the kind of matter-of-fact humour that suggests he's made peace with the long road it took to get there. From corporate blazers and clean-cut precision to the long hair, facial hair, and genuine ease he carries now, McDonnell's journey mirrors something far deeper than a simple aesthetic shift—it's the sound of someone who has finally stopped apologizing for what he actually wants to make.
Sitting in his mobile office somewhere between school runs and Texas traffic, McDonnell talked about how a chance moment on a farm changed everything. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest through the grunge-soaked nineties, he was hardly destined for country music. But then, working a combine across farmland with only an AM station crackling through, Waylon Jennings came on. "I will never forget that moment," he recalls. "It was like a billion times better than the pop country that was on the radio." That single epiphany—the collision between classic outlaw country and a kid who'd been raised on everything else—set the trajectory for what would become a genuinely distinctive career.
I remember driving a combine and the only station that came in was this AM station with classic country, and Luke the Baptist came on and I just thought, 'Oh my god, this is a billion times better than the pop country that was out at that time.'
What makes McDonnell's story resonate in the current landscape is his refusal to choose. He didn't shed the rock influences that shaped him in the eighties and nineties. Instead, he wove them into something more textured, more moody, more honest. It's the DNA of artists like Dwight Yoakam and Chris Isaak running through his veins—those musicians who understood that the best country doesn't need to apologize for sounding timeless, slightly dark, perpetually cool. With multiple Top 40 hits under his belt and over a thousand live shows rattled off, McDonnell has earned his place in that particular tradition.
What's particularly striking about talking with him is how unglamorous it all sounds. There's no mystique-building, no carefully curated narrative about suffering or struggle for the sake of the song. He came from the corporate world. He had bands on the side. He kept his clean-cut look for a few records because that's what felt safe. Then one day, he didn't need the safety anymore. That shift from corporate to committed musician isn't just a career change—it's a permission slip he finally gave himself to look the way he actually felt inside.
I came from the corporate world and did everything we were supposed to do—go to college, get the corporate job—and had bands on the side for many years before doing music full-time.
The conversation drifts naturally toward the practical: favourite boots (eBay finds, mostly, because the modern square-toed offerings leave him cold), stage wear (Wranglers and loose button-ups in the Texas heat, occasional western suits when the temperature permits), and the casual wardrobe of a man who's made his peace with being himself. It's oddly refreshing, this honesty about comfort over image, about buying vintage boots online rather than pretending the contemporary market serves him.
His acclaimed album "Too Many Days Like Saturday Night" sits as proof that this evolved version of McDonnell has something to say that matters. There's no desperation in it, no reaching. It's the sound of someone who has listened to Hank Jr. and Waylon enough to understand what country should do—get under your skin, stay there, refuse to be pretty if pretty isn't true.
The UK's Rugged Revival has carved out space for exactly this kind of artist—those working in country and Americana who resist easy categorisation, who understand roots music as something alive and argumentative rather than museum-bound. McDonnell fits that vision perfectly. He's not trying to save country or prove a point. He's just making music that sounds like honesty filtered through forty-odd years of influences and a genuine gift for melody.
For anyone serious about what independent country sounds like when it's practiced by someone who's actually earned the right to call themselves a country artist, the full conversation is worth your time.
I'll help you. I'll help you start a revolution for this Monday morning situation. >> All right. >> Hey, dude. What's up? >> Welcome to my mobile office. >> All right. >> Running around, sitting in traffic for taking the kids here and there today. You know how that >> Oh, yeah. I know how it goes. Well, listen, you know, I like to keep these uh short and sweet and uh appreciate you setting aside a few minutes to come hang out. >> Wave to everybody that's joining us here. Um so, you know, we take uh we take this video and we'll put it on I'll send it over to the Rugged Revival. They're based out of the UK and they'll put my little segment in between some of their regular streamed episodes. And that's awesome. >> Yeah, I know. You saw the one with Jacob. So, >> yeah, >> you know, they're fun. >> Yeah. >> So, uh let's get into it. I know you got a tight schedule. So, uh why don't you tell me about uh who was the first person that really inspired you stylistically? >> Um man, that's hard to say. I'm old. Um, you know, I'm I'm from the Northwest, so I I kind of grew up in the '9s with all the kind of, you know, for lack of a better word, grunge stuff going on. >> Um, and, you know, before that, an 80s kid that was, you know, into Michael Jackson and Wham when my mom was cleaning the house and stuff like that. >> Yeah, that's cool. Um but uh as far as country goes, you know, I remember um kind of listened to all the stuff that was on the radio and then I worked on a farm for several years uh before graduating and I was driving a combine and the only station that came in was like this AM station with classic country on it and Lukebach Texas came on and I just I will never forget that moment of like oh my god this is like a billion times better than the pop country that >> you know Tim Mcgra, Kenny Chesn, what you know, you name it, whatever that was out at that time. And so that was a real like huge moment. And then from then on it was all, you know, Hank Jr. and Whan and and all that stuff with also kind of the the rock stuff on the side. So >> yeah. Do you feel like you've kind of evolved into like where you're comfortable now? Like I I was looking at some of your earlier album covers and you had like shorter hair uh more of like a real traditional uh country western style with the blazer, no facial hair. >> Yeah. >> That kind of thing. Like for me, like looking at you, I'm like, "Oh, this feels he feels more at home now." Like you finally landed where you where you needed to be. Like like you know, you got the hair, you got, you know, the facial hair going on. It looks good. >> Oh, thanks, man. Um, yeah. I mean, I I came from the corporate world. So, I kind of did, you know, everything we were supposed to do growing up and go to college and then get the corporate job and did that for many, many years and did had bands on the side. So, I guess it took me a while after doing music full-time to kind of transition into a a different look or whatever you want to call it, but I kind of, you know, kept my my cleancut corporate look for a while. put out a couple records with that going on. >> A little evolution is good, you know. >> Yeah, for sure. >> That's cool. >> All right, so >> not done. We'll see what happens next. >> Yeah. Uh, tell me about your favorite onstage outfit. >> Onstage outfit. And it depends on the weather. It's, uh, it gets so hot down here. So, um, uh, you know, summers are usually, uh, some Wranglers or Wrangler slacks with a saw off shirt or some sort of loose button up. And then I, you know, I like, I like wearing suits a lot. I got a couple fun western suits that I had made in in Thailand, you know, a while back and, um, love wearing those. But it's just >> so rare that it's not, you know, you're in a venue where it's cool enough to do that. Otherwise, you'd just be absolutely dying. You know, I look around and >> it's like, man, Marty Stewart looks so cool. And >> got that scarf on. I'm like, how? And it's like, your show's in August, bro. Like, how are you wearing that right now? >> Yeah. He's got the skintight jeans with the bell bottom flare, >> blazer. Yeah, he he's layered up. He He looks He looks great. Him and Dwight, they they uh they go all out. >> So, do you tend to like switch your look when you're off stage? Like what do you wear when you're just kind of chilling around? >> I don't know. Is this a fashion show? >> Oh, could be fashion. It could be. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't know. You're looking at it. It's We're pretty lazy around the house. Um but you know, I wear cut off shorts and rock and roll shirt and some white Chucks usually. So >> Okay. Yeah. Good old good old Chucks. I got to wear inserts in my Chucks these days though. The you know, >> I am so with you on that. Yeah. the flat feet catches up. >> So, uh, who who makes your favorite pair of boots? >> Um, yeah, I mostly buy all my boots off of eBay just cuz everything in the store now is square toaded and that kind of vibe and I kind of like pointier vintage type stuff. I mean, I would love to have a pair of boots made. There's a lot of great companies in Texas. I haven't got around to doing that yet. So, I usually just um wear Justin's >> like so like vintage Justin's off of eBay. >> Yeah, I've had good luck getting some really nice Tony Llamas from eBay. I've got a couple of his and you know, someone's already done the hard work. They broke them in. They're nice and soft. >> Go for sure. >> Uh what about your favorite uh do you have a favorite western hat? Who makes that? Um, the hat that I wear 99% of the time is actually my wife's grandfather's hat. Um, so she's from the Houston area. So he I don't think he had it made, but uh he bought it in like the early8s and it's an American hat. It's like a you know, silver belly color, tall brim. Um, you know, I think it was from like 1982 or something. But it was American Hat Company in Houston, which is different than the American Hat Company that's that we know now, >> right? >> So I they must have gone out of business and um somebody else picked up the name or something. I don't know the story, but um yeah, just somewhere along the way, I ended up picking up that hat and I >> That's really cool. That that's a really cool like legacy piece, too. You know, it's got a whole story behind it. I like that a lot. >> Um >> all right, so you grew the hair out and it looks great. What what are some of your favorite hair care products to keep that thing in order? >> Um, I need to ask my wife because I just put some stuff on yesterday that worked pretty well because I'm usually pretty lazy about it and it gets frizzy. Ghost oil. Does that sound like a thing? >> Sure. >> Yeah. So, I think that's what it is. It's called ghost oil. >> I was waiting for you to say uh main and tail. I think everybody I've talked to so far has been using main and tail. So, I even got >> for long hair from frizzing out or what? >> Yeah. They use the uh shampoo, conditioner, and there's a leave-in conditioner that comes in like a legit like spray bottle, so you >> Yeah. >> And uh so I actually just picked some up. My girls have long hair, so I picked some up for them, too. And I was like, "Well, this check it out." >> Designed for horses, but you know, I guess that's what people are. >> Is it really? >> Yeah. Yeah, people love it. >> Well, um that's kind of the end of the journey here. Like I said, short and sweet. Um I want I want to ask you and I know you've got some stuff in the works. Um do you have anything you want to plug like a tour show album? What do you got? >> Yeah, so actually tomorrow uh we're having our vinyl release for our Live at the White Horse uh record. So, we actually recorded it um last spring and just now getting around, you know, after kind of sort of taking our time with editing and mixing and artwork and all that sort of thing. So, that's coming out um well, it'll be digitally released on Friday, so I guess technically on, you know, Thursday at midnight, but the show's at the White Horse tomorrow and it should be a great time. So, check it out. >> You said there's are there is a uh vinyl pre-order live right now? Um the just the digital pre-orders on my Instagram, the the uh the record itself should be available online next week through FSG Records, Feels So Good Records. >> Okay, cool. >> The little label that I'm with here in town. Um but yeah, it turned out really cool. Let me let me Well, I guess like I guess I could grab one. There's one right here. >> Yeah, take us on a journey. >> Yeah. So, we're going we're having our house remodeled right now, so it's a disaster, but So, um Yeah. So, it's pretty cool. Turned out like this. Um, >> dude, I love the art on this. >> Yeah. So, a guy named uh Fez Moreno, he's kind of a psychedelic um artist, has done posters for lots of people across the gamut. So, he did this and turned out really cool. So, we basically just kind of hit record on a couple of our shows last spring and um and then mixed it. And so, it's, you know, not a lot of fancy overdubs or anything like that. It's uh >> the No Kiss Alive too where you doubled the audience and you had >> we tried to keep it pretty raw. It's I mean it's what we sound like live and it's kind of a it's cool because it's sort of not even really trying to like a greatest hits I guess you would say over the last 10 years since we've been in Austin. So it's >> Yeah, there's like 12 tracks on it and pretty proud of it. So turned out cool. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Well, we're all super stoked for it. I'm excited to get my grubby hands on one of them, too. >> Yeah, we'll get it out to you. >> Yeah, like I said, brother, I appreciate you taking the time and let's >> Thank you. >> Let's do it again soon. >> Yeah. All right. Take care, brother. Later, buddy. Bye.
Stay Connected
Never Miss a Drop
New episode alerts, behind-the-scenes notes, and stories from the road. One email, no noise.
Comments
Keep listening
Related Episodes
Justin Wells
The Time for Bullsh*t Has Passed | Justin Wells on Honest Music in an Artificial Age
Justin Wells is a Kentucky singer-songwriter and former frontman of Fifth on the Floor, known for honest songwriting, a fiercely independent spirit, and years spent earning his stripes on the road. We talk about finding your own voice, the DIY years, life on tour, modern country music, and why making something that actually means something still matters. Learn more about Justin Wells: https://justinwellsmusic.com/ Chapters 00:00 Growing Up, Kentucky & Picking Up the Guitar 05:02 Finding Your Voice in an Artificial Age 07:00 DIY Touring & the Early Fifth on the Floor Years 11:04 Authenticity, Performing & “The Time for Bullsh*t Has Passed” 19:36 Life on the Road, Blown Vocal Cords & Dad Mode Subscribe to The Rugged Revival. Share it with your friends. Support independent music! Listen to the full podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wnHcgA73o1aiiKaz882vH?si=30aabdaa220a4628 Follow The Rugged Revival: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruggedrevival/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theruggedrevival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094507520679 Website: www.theruggedrevival.com Email: ruggedrevival@hotmail.com
Shane Boeker
Inside Life on the Road with American Aquarium | Guitarist Shane Boeker
Shane Boeker, guitarist for American Aquarium, joins Camden to talk about life on the road, playing guitar for a living, and the experiences that have shaped him as a musician. We get into how Shane got started on guitar, touring and playing live with American Aquarium, his approach to gear and playing, side projects, new music, and plenty of stories from along the way. A laid-back conversation about guitars, music, touring, and what life in a working band actually looks like. Chapters 00:00 Meet Shane Boeker & His First Guitar 02:08 From Local Bands to Touring Musician 04:38 Life on Stage, Style & the Road 10:02 American Aquarium’s New Record & What’s Next #altcountry #americanamusic #guitarist Subscribe to The Rugged Revival. Share it with your friends. Support independent music! Listen to the full podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wnHcgA73o1aiiKaz882vH?si=30aabdaa220a4628 Follow The Rugged Revival: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruggedrevival/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theruggedrevival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094507520679 Website: www.theruggedrevival.com Email: ruggedrevival@hotmail.com
Effy Harvard
An Emotional Time Machine Through Vintage Country Music | Effy Harvard
Texas singer-songwriter Effy Harvard joins TJ on the Rugged Revival Podcast to talk about her love of vintage country music, the artists who shaped her sound, and why she describes her music as "an emotional time machine." From growing up on Brooks & Dunn and 1950s oldies to modelling around the world before pursuing music full-time, Effy shares the story behind her unique artistic journey. We also discuss songwriting, stage fright, recording with live musicians, the inspiration behind her vintage aesthetic, and her upcoming single "Heat Wave." If you love Country, Americana, Rockabilly, or discovering independent artists before everyone else, this episode is for you! Chapters 00:00 – Why Music Feels More Personal Than Modelling 00:48 – Meet Effy Harvard & Her Musical Journey 02:59 – Growing Up in Texas & Finding Country Music 07:17 – Modelling, Vintage Style & Creative Identity 12:51 – "An Emotional Time Machine" – Defining Her Sound 22:08 – New Music: Heat Wave & Life Playing Texas Dive Bars 24:46 – Quick Fire Questions: Influences, Albums & Live Shows 29:07 – Songwriting, Mental Health & What's Next for Effy #vintagecountry #50scountry #rockabilly Subscribe to The Rugged Revival. Share it with your friends. Support independent music! Listen to the full podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wnHcgA73o1aiiKaz882vH?si=30aabdaa220a4628 Follow The Rugged Revival: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruggedrevival/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theruggedrevival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094507520679 Website: www.theruggedrevival.com Email: ruggedrevival@hotmail.com
Anna Victoria
Inside North Carolina's Appalachian Music Scene | Anna Victoria
Anna Victoria joins Camden for an honest conversation about growing up in the mountains of North Carolina, discovering her voice as a songwriter and navigating life as an independent Country and Americana artist. We talk about learning to perform live, protecting her voice, finding confidence on stage, the influence of Appalachian music and artists such as Luke Combs, Sierra Ferrell and Dolly Parton, balancing music with motherhood, and the challenge of staying creative in a world driven by social media. It's a thoughtful conversation about music, family, creativity and staying true to yourself while building a career in independent music. Chapters 00:00 – Introductions, Weaverville, childhood. 02:00 – Singing, vocal health and beginning her musical journey. 06:00 – The pandemic, booking gigs and developing as a live performer. 09:00 – Coping with distractions, confidence and performing. 12:00 – Appalachian influences, Luke Combs, Sierra Ferrell, Dolly Parton and mountain songwriting. 15:00 – Family life, being a stay-at-home mum, social media and balancing music with everyday life. #lukecombs #sierraferrell #dollyparton Subscribe to The Rugged Revival. Share it with your friends. Support independent music! Listen to the full podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wnHcgA73o1aiiKaz882vH?si=30aabdaa220a4628 Follow The Rugged Revival: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruggedrevival/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theruggedrevival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094507520679 Website: www.theruggedrevival.com Email: ruggedrevival@hotmail.com