WEBVTT 00:00:01.419 --> 00:00:50.109 Bye. Bye. Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. 00:00:50.289 --> 00:00:55.409 I'm Fedden. This week, we got John Neff from 00:00:55.409 --> 00:00:59.509 Japan Cakes, Bloodkin, Slightly Famous Somebody, 00:00:59.909 --> 00:01:04.349 The Star Room Boys, and then, of course, two 00:01:04.349 --> 00:01:08.750 different time periods as a member of the Drive 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:13.870 -By Truckers, who, if you didn't know... were 00:01:13.870 --> 00:01:17.090 the musical guest on Stephen Colbert last night 00:01:17.090 --> 00:01:21.170 with Jason Isbell reunited with them, promoting 00:01:21.170 --> 00:01:24.069 the reissue of the definitive Decoration Day. 00:01:24.370 --> 00:01:27.310 John Neff played on several songs on Decoration 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:31.489 Day. Jason Neesmith, who was on the podcast earlier 00:01:31.489 --> 00:01:35.989 this season, he mastered the live recording of 00:01:35.989 --> 00:01:40.209 that release. Jay Gonzalez was on last season. 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:43.260 I've actually... I've been trying to interview 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:47.900 John since, and we finally got together back 00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:52.459 in October. Now Japan Cakes, they've got a reissue 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:56.319 that just came out last month. They've got a 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:00.120 reunion show planned at the 40 Watt next year. 00:02:00.579 --> 00:02:03.519 There's ticket links in the description of this 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.680 episode. John has probably played with more people 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:11.770 that I have interviewed than anybody else. Anyway, 00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:15.409 here's my interview with John Neff. I had a great 00:02:15.409 --> 00:02:17.750 time talking to him. Check out the Definitive 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:21.389 Decoration Day and all of his other projects. 00:02:21.430 --> 00:02:25.789 There's links in the description. Hey, bud. It's 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:30.810 Marty. Hey, Marty. Yeah. Yeah, you do have some 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:33.250 dachshund in you, don't you? I'm thinking dachshund 00:02:33.250 --> 00:02:36.789 lab. Yeah, that's what it looks like. My mom 00:02:36.789 --> 00:02:40.289 had... Dachshund Chihuahua mix for a long time. 00:02:40.409 --> 00:02:43.729 That was like the yappiest dog I've ever met. 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:48.689 My last dog was Chihuahua and I think Basenji 00:02:48.689 --> 00:02:51.710 because he did this singing thing. You know what 00:02:51.710 --> 00:02:56.650 Basenji's singing? Yeah. I worked at a museum 00:02:56.650 --> 00:02:59.530 that had, actually it's a lot like the animal 00:02:59.530 --> 00:03:02.069 park that y 'all have here with all the rescue 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:06.210 animals and stuff. Very similar. because it's 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:09.009 all native rescue animals. They had red wolves, 00:03:09.129 --> 00:03:12.189 but they would also have a music fest every year. 00:03:12.689 --> 00:03:14.710 Whenever they would have the music fest, the 00:03:14.710 --> 00:03:17.830 wolves would just howl and sing along, basically. 00:03:18.270 --> 00:03:20.770 That's interesting. I guess it's not as bad as 00:03:20.770 --> 00:03:24.090 fireworks for animals. Oh, for sure. Yeah, they 00:03:24.090 --> 00:03:26.770 don't do that out there at all. Actually, Marty 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:31.030 and Doug, my last dog, both love band practice. 00:03:31.849 --> 00:03:35.360 Nice. Sit in the room, soak it up. My cats like 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.659 to watch concerts. I'll watch a concert film, 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.379 and I'll just sit there and watch it. I don't 00:03:41.379 --> 00:03:44.759 know if it's the lights or what. Anyway, I'm 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.780 here with John Neff. I could sit here and list 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:49.860 all of the music projects that you've been a 00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:51.900 part of over the years, but that would take up 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:55.500 the whole interview. So I'll stick to just a 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:59.979 few that I know of right now. Currently, you're 00:03:59.979 --> 00:04:05.319 in Bloodkin. And you're also working on the rock 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:07.780 opera with Slightly Famous Somebodies. You've 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:10.620 been part of that recording process and on that 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:14.199 record. And then you were also, at two different 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:16.019 points in time, a member of the Drive -By Truckers. 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:23.319 You've also been in dozens of Athens bands, dozens 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:26.240 of bands. You played with the Allman Brothers 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:29.779 at one point. I sat on one song. Okay. I'll take 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:32.829 it. Yeah, you should take it. You've done a lot 00:04:32.829 --> 00:04:36.110 of different things. Played on Potato Hole with 00:04:36.110 --> 00:04:39.689 Booker T. Played on Scene of the Crime with Betty 00:04:39.689 --> 00:04:43.949 LeVette. I love those records. Anyway, so I don't 00:04:43.949 --> 00:04:45.610 necessarily want to just sit here and talk about 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:48.069 all your credits, but people can read about that. 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:52.910 But I'll just sit here. The question I ask everybody 00:04:52.910 --> 00:04:55.850 to start with is, what's the first song that 00:04:55.850 --> 00:05:00.259 you remember loving as a kid? Oh, gosh. i really 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:04.980 like bad bad leroy brown yeah i like puff the 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:09.000 magic dragon a lot love the beatles we had rubber 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.740 soul sergeant pepper and a few others in the 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:16.699 house and bob dylan's nashville skyline which 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:19.339 had some great pedal steel from pete drake yeah 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:22.600 but it would be years before i would appreciate 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.500 that what do you think it was about those songs 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:28.540 that drew you in initially was it like the lyrics 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:31.970 or was it The feel, or do you have any idea? 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:34.550 I don't know. Just the whole vibe, the whole 00:05:34.550 --> 00:05:39.350 thing. Yeah, yeah. So you had a pretty musical 00:05:39.350 --> 00:05:44.410 household growing up? I mean, my sisters, yeah, 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:46.730 my mom had a lot of records. My dad had a few. 00:05:47.129 --> 00:05:50.990 My sisters loved music. They sang. They and my 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:54.870 mother would sing around the house, and the three 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:58.319 of them sang in church. my sister sharon played 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.040 the flute and my other sister debbie played the 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:04.620 clarinet and that's about it we had a i had a 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:08.079 guitar that someone gave my dad and it had four 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:10.360 strings on it and i messed around with it until 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:12.759 they were all broken and then a few years later 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:16.180 i got one of my own and so did you want to start 00:06:16.180 --> 00:06:18.000 playing music like pretty pretty immediately 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.319 when you like started to appreciate it too yeah 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:26.069 sure yeah so what was like the process of getting 00:06:26.069 --> 00:06:29.310 that first, the guitar that, you know, didn't 00:06:29.310 --> 00:06:31.870 have broken strings. What kind of motivated that? 00:06:31.990 --> 00:06:34.350 Do you remember? I just, my parents got me one 00:06:34.350 --> 00:06:37.750 for Christmas. It was a Yamaha acoustic guitar. 00:06:38.310 --> 00:06:41.910 Yeah. So I, I played that and played in bands 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:45.470 in Savannah and eventually my sister was dating 00:06:45.470 --> 00:06:49.370 William Tonks, who she eventually married. And 00:06:49.370 --> 00:06:52.129 he played in a band called Redneck Grease Deluxe. 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:54.879 Yeah. And they had a steel player named Dave 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.680 Phillips. He left the band to move to New Orleans. 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:02.180 And I had a lap steel. I was working at a furniture 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:05.660 store and a guy sold me. It's actually, where 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:08.899 is that thing? I have the exact, where did I 00:07:08.899 --> 00:07:13.279 just put it? Oh, it's this one. Yeah. This guy 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.120 I worked with named Will Hughes sold this to 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:19.139 me for a hundred bucks. And so I messed around 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:20.899 with it and I played it in a band called The 00:07:20.899 --> 00:07:25.000 Stretchmarks. There's this fun band of SCAD students. 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:28.939 And so anyway, I took the plunge and I traded. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:31.620 I knew someone in town who had a student model 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:36.240 pedal steel. So I bought that from him on Halloween 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:40.980 of 94. And then I moved to Athens the day after 00:07:40.980 --> 00:07:44.740 Christmas of 94 and started playing with Redneck 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:48.920 Grease. And did you move to Athens to play with 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:52.779 them? That was my reason, but it was just to 00:07:52.779 --> 00:07:55.259 play music, to move to Athens and play a bunch 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:59.019 of music. Yeah. And was it just like the reputation, 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.000 or had you visited, or had you spent a lot of 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.860 time here already before moving here? I'd come 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:08.339 up to visit several times, and it's Athens, REM, 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.079 B52. So what was the scene kind of like when 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.699 you first came in? Because our REM had already 00:08:17.699 --> 00:08:20.860 blown up at that point. So what was going on? 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.220 What kind of music was being played? What were 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:27.319 you playing in? There were a ton of bands when 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:29.759 I moved to town. The town was a lot different. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.500 I don't know how many bands there are now, but 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:35.860 there were a lot then. So I played with Redneck 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:38.480 Grease, and I think maybe Redneck Grease did 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:42.500 a show where we're on the same bill as the Starroom 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:45.659 Boys. And I met those guys, and they asked me 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:49.440 to play with them. So I started doing that. And 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:53.120 I played at a place called the High Hat with, 00:08:53.179 --> 00:08:55.559 I think I sat in with my brother -in -law, William. 00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:58.860 He was in a band called Hot Burritos. And so 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:01.440 I played with them and I met Patterson. Patterson 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.120 Hood was running sound at the High Hat. Yeah. 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:06.600 And he was, he asked if I wanted to do some playing. 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:10.799 So we did. And had he already, was this already 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.940 after, I know he hadn't like necessarily formed 00:09:12.940 --> 00:09:15.440 the band, but he had already, he had like the 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.730 concept for the band before he even. and the 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:21.169 name for the band before he even had the players 00:09:21.169 --> 00:09:24.789 necessarily. Was that what he had in mind, do 00:09:24.789 --> 00:09:27.490 you think? I don't know if he already had the 00:09:27.490 --> 00:09:30.629 name in mind, but the Drive -By Truckers hadn't 00:09:30.629 --> 00:09:33.230 started playing shows together. And Cooley was 00:09:33.230 --> 00:09:37.769 still in Birmingham. So they used to have a band 00:09:37.769 --> 00:09:42.769 called Adam's House Cat. So Adam, the bass player, 00:09:43.110 --> 00:09:47.110 Matt, the drummer, and Patterson and I. Is there 00:09:47.110 --> 00:09:49.149 anyone else? Oh, and Barry Sell played mandolin 00:09:49.149 --> 00:09:52.070 a little bit at the beginning. We would get together, 00:09:52.129 --> 00:09:54.769 and we played a few shows before Cooley came 00:09:54.769 --> 00:09:57.210 to town, too, under the name Drive -By Truckers. 00:09:57.909 --> 00:10:02.090 Interesting. So have you ever been one to write 00:10:02.090 --> 00:10:04.730 songs, really, or are you strictly more of a 00:10:04.730 --> 00:10:07.210 player? I'm just more of a player. I mess around 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:09.769 with some little instrumental things, and I've 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:11.370 recorded some stuff, but I haven't released any 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:13.470 of it. I don't know. I'm just weird about my 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:19.019 own stuff. a lot of stress for some reason i 00:10:19.019 --> 00:10:22.320 make it i think is this what i sound like yeah 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:25.720 i waited too long to put out my stuff there's 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:29.159 too much expectation or just for myself yeah 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:32.340 sometimes it's nice to just have things that 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:35.379 are just for you especially when you share so 00:10:35.379 --> 00:10:40.139 much of yourself already so at that point were 00:10:40.139 --> 00:10:43.480 you guys starting to tour immediately or were 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.940 you really only playing in the area let's Fast 00:10:46.940 --> 00:10:49.519 forward, by the time Cooley moved to town, are 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.340 you already starting to tour right away? Yeah. 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.720 We would go up and play at Richmond, Virginia. 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:58.500 That was the big place. That's where we met Wes. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:02.200 And he was in a band called Dirt Bowl. Yeah. 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:05.039 We played some shows with them. And we really 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.720 liked the scene up there. And let's see. We'd 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:13.299 go down to Florida and play Gainesville. We played 00:11:13.299 --> 00:11:16.409 Wilmington once or twice. Atlanta, we played 00:11:16.409 --> 00:11:20.190 the Star Bar a bunch. Both the Drive -By Truckers 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:24.490 and the Star Boys played the Star Bar a lot. 00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:27.789 And that was when they had this festival called 00:11:27.789 --> 00:11:32.029 Bubba Palooza. And we were friends with all those 00:11:32.029 --> 00:11:34.710 people. And Greg Smalley, who ended up passing 00:11:34.710 --> 00:11:37.669 away, that's who Patterson wrote The Living Bubba 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:41.789 about. Yeah. Yeah. And that was a fest that happened 00:11:41.789 --> 00:11:45.159 every year. They talk a lot about it. documentary 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:47.799 the secret to a happy ending oh okay yeah if 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:50.759 people want more like firsthand accounts from 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:52.399 some of the people that were putting it on there's 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.960 some stuff in there but what do you remember 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.000 about touring at that time especially i'm thinking 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.000 about all the technological advances that we 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.019 have now that just make like traveling easier 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.840 in general but what were some of the biggest 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.299 challenges y 'all had on the road early on and 00:12:08.299 --> 00:12:12.419 not just like money but logistical problems and 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:17.379 things like that This was my fault, but there 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:19.279 was one night, and it was the first time we went 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.320 to New York, and it was after a show, and I was, 00:12:21.419 --> 00:12:24.279 anyway, I ended up talking to this girl, and 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:30.059 we split. Went to another bar, and I didn't get 00:12:30.059 --> 00:12:33.299 back until late. The band was all already packed 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:34.840 up, and they were driving around looking for 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.919 me, because no one had cell phones. Right, yeah. 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:41.600 And those guys were pissed. Yeah, yeah. Understandably. 00:12:43.549 --> 00:12:45.929 Were you getting hotels back then, or were you 00:12:45.929 --> 00:12:48.809 all sleeping in the van? How was that going? 00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:51.190 Gosh, where would we have stayed on that trip? 00:12:51.289 --> 00:12:53.190 Oh, yeah, there was a friend from Athens who 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:55.750 had just moved to Brooklyn, and I think we slept 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:58.529 on his floor. Yeah, that's how it would have 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:00.929 had to have been. Places in New York are so small. 00:13:01.509 --> 00:13:05.789 It's like living in a closet. So at that point, 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:08.029 were you playing with any other bands other than 00:13:08.029 --> 00:13:11.070 the Starroom Boys, or were you pretty much all 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:13.690 in on the truckers at that point? It was the 00:13:13.690 --> 00:13:15.889 two of those bands, and I had to make a call 00:13:15.889 --> 00:13:18.330 at one point, and I went with the Star Envoys. 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:22.649 So that's how my first stint with the Truggers 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:26.549 ended. Gotcha. Yeah. And you have lived in Athens 00:13:26.549 --> 00:13:31.570 ever since. I have, yeah. Yeah. What are some 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:33.169 of the big things you've noticed change over 00:13:33.169 --> 00:13:37.429 the years, both good and bad? Just all the construction, 00:13:37.730 --> 00:13:42.200 the student housing. In the summer, You could 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.620 walk down the middle of the street downtown. 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:49.240 It was so dead. Yeah. All that's changed. I think 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:52.679 a lot of that had to do with when the university 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:54.659 went from the quarter system to the semester 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.259 system. Yeah. They require them to take a certain 00:13:58.259 --> 00:14:00.200 number of credits in the summer now, I think. 00:14:01.539 --> 00:14:04.539 That's good for the city, too, I think. One thing 00:14:04.539 --> 00:14:07.200 I've talked about a lot on this podcast is AthFest 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.000 and how they've always had it in the summer. 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.460 because it was like a lifeline for a lot of downtown 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:16.740 businesses that really struggled through the 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:21.139 summer. So were you touring with the Starman 00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:24.139 Boys at that point then? So what was that like? 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:29.580 Were you doing long tours, short tours? Our second 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:33.740 record was on a label based in Missouri. So we 00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:37.220 would go out that way and we would play Louisiana 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:41.029 a lot. And I loved that. That was just a whole 00:14:41.029 --> 00:14:45.370 new cool thing for me going out there. Like smaller 00:14:45.370 --> 00:14:47.909 areas, like rural areas? Yeah, we played this 00:14:47.909 --> 00:14:50.830 little place called St. Francisville where there 00:14:50.830 --> 00:14:53.370 was a bed and breakfast and they would put us 00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:56.850 up. We'd each get our own little cabin and they'd 00:14:56.850 --> 00:14:59.090 feed us great, of course. You get fed great everywhere. 00:15:00.049 --> 00:15:04.379 In the South. Yeah, in the South. But in Louisiana, 00:15:04.460 --> 00:15:07.460 especially. Yeah, I bet. In Shreveport, Lafayette, 00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:11.559 Baton Rouge, New Orleans, of course. It was just 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:14.740 so cool going down there and turning the radio 00:15:14.740 --> 00:15:17.419 on and hearing that Cajun music and rolling your 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:21.500 windows down. Yeah, I just love it. So let's 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:23.779 back up a little bit with your personal playing. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:29.259 So you get your first lap steel guitar. And what 00:15:29.259 --> 00:15:32.740 point is this? This is like the mid -90s? Yeah. 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:36.759 At what point did you feel like you had really 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:41.700 gotten somewhere with it versus guitar and decided 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:45.840 to mainly focus on lap and pedal steel? Gosh, 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:50.960 I don't think I'm by any means a great player. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.299 Back then, I was terrible, but when you're in 00:15:55.299 --> 00:15:57.639 your mid -20s and you're just trying to do it, 00:15:57.940 --> 00:16:02.539 I think people are just really happy to see. 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:05.659 a young person playing some weird thing like 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:10.539 that, trying to do it. And those bands I played 00:16:10.539 --> 00:16:13.860 with, I think it was really cool of them to let 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:16.179 me go out on the road and just learn as I went. 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:20.299 So you feel like you were learning as you were 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:25.039 touring? Absolutely. Interesting. Were you doing 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:28.480 things to intentionally push yourself? Or was 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.299 just playing in the band doing that? There's 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:34.840 all the playing and, yeah, just practicing a 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.240 lot at home and playing with as many people as 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:42.659 I could. And I got some VHS instructional videotapes. 00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:44.820 Did you take lessons as a kid? Did your parents 00:16:44.820 --> 00:16:47.279 put you in lessons when they got you that Yamaha? 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.019 I didn't, no. Okay, so you were pretty much self 00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:54.299 -taught. Yeah. There was a jazz guy in Savannah 00:16:54.299 --> 00:16:58.860 that I got with twice named Buddy Owens. Really 00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:03.879 sweet. great guy and we just got together and 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:06.279 he showed me some things on guitar but that was 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:09.960 before I got the pedal steel so one thing that 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:12.420 that I've I talked to Jason Neesmith about was 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:15.559 just the intense focus that that pedal steel 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:19.680 requires what do you think was your like ability 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:22.400 to do that because I feel like that in and of 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.980 itself the ability to focus and stay so present 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:29.930 is pretty unique Especially like a rock musician, 00:17:30.150 --> 00:17:34.029 not that it's unheard of or anything like that, 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:37.089 but I think there's such precision required that 00:17:37.089 --> 00:17:38.829 it really does require a different level of focus. 00:17:39.589 --> 00:17:42.950 Yeah, I don't know. I have a shorter attention 00:17:42.950 --> 00:17:46.250 span than most, I think. But as far as that went, 00:17:46.289 --> 00:17:49.650 I just loved it. I just made myself do it just 00:17:49.650 --> 00:17:54.049 because I just love the sound of it. You hyper 00:17:54.049 --> 00:17:58.710 -focus on it. And as far as looking like you're, 00:17:58.769 --> 00:18:02.509 you see a steel player and they're rarely like 00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:05.569 looking around and smiling. They're usually focused 00:18:05.569 --> 00:18:07.490 on what they're doing. Yeah, I think I've taken 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:09.509 photos of you that you didn't even know I was 00:18:09.509 --> 00:18:13.009 taking. Oh, totally. Like right up. So at what 00:18:13.009 --> 00:18:17.150 point did you, tell me what happens with the 00:18:17.150 --> 00:18:18.710 Starving Boys because I don't think that's a 00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:21.029 story a lot of people know. Where does that go? 00:18:21.109 --> 00:18:23.509 You guys are touring. We put out two records 00:18:23.509 --> 00:18:27.490 and then Dave, The singers, he said he just didn't 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:30.309 want to do it anymore. So we split up. Yeah. 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:32.970 And I'm not even sure what year it was. It was 00:18:32.970 --> 00:18:37.869 like 2002, maybe. Okay. Yeah. And that's the 00:18:37.869 --> 00:18:41.589 time that you start to play with the truckers 00:18:41.589 --> 00:18:43.589 a little bit again, right? No, that wasn't until 00:18:43.589 --> 00:18:47.190 I played. You played on some of the Decoration 00:18:47.190 --> 00:18:49.509 Day sessions. I did. I played on four or five 00:18:49.509 --> 00:18:53.069 songs on Decoration Day. And then they asked 00:18:53.069 --> 00:18:56.660 me to play with them up. No, out in Colorado 00:18:56.660 --> 00:19:03.019 for a New Year's Eve, two or three shows, run 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:08.339 at the Fox. So that was at the end of 2005. Okay. 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:11.460 Yeah, that was like right when I think around 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:16.359 the time I first saw y 'all. Okay. And then they 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:19.460 took one trip to Europe without me because I 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:21.400 guess it had already been planned and they didn't 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:24.089 have money to take me. So they did that without 00:19:24.089 --> 00:19:27.869 me, and then I played everything else from then 00:19:27.869 --> 00:19:30.190 until when I split and whenever that was, the 00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:35.329 end of 2012. Yeah, that sounds right. So let's 00:19:35.329 --> 00:19:38.009 talk about this Booker T record. You said it 00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:40.069 was a highlight for you. Can you just tell me 00:19:40.069 --> 00:19:45.069 how we all approached to do that? What was it 00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:49.269 like working with Booker T? The label that put 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:52.519 out the Betty LeVette record, That's right, that 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.720 was first, right? It was Antti, yeah. And the 00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:58.200 guy, I'm not remembering his last name, but his 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:01.779 name was Andy, Andy from Antti. He thought it 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:05.519 would be a good idea to pair us with Booker because 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.819 he wanted to put out a Booker record. So Booker 00:20:09.819 --> 00:20:12.259 didn't know anything about the band, really, 00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:14.259 other than they were a rock band and someone 00:20:14.259 --> 00:20:17.960 else suggested it. And he was real open to doing 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:23.410 it. So I brought the pedal steel in, and I set 00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:25.170 it up, and then I thought, oh, I should probably 00:20:25.170 --> 00:20:27.849 talk to him about this, because he thinks he's 00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:29.710 getting a rock band, and I have this pedal steel 00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:34.089 here. So I said, Booker, just so you know, I 00:20:34.089 --> 00:20:37.029 have this pedal steel, and we don't have to use 00:20:37.029 --> 00:20:38.950 it if you don't want, but it's just here. I play 00:20:38.950 --> 00:20:40.829 it with the truckers, and he said, he was like, 00:20:40.910 --> 00:20:44.029 oh, okay. Thank you for letting me know. And 00:20:44.029 --> 00:20:47.789 I did get to play on one song. That was cool. 00:20:47.910 --> 00:20:50.509 Yeah. I mean, he was just such a cool guy and 00:20:50.509 --> 00:20:53.130 that was just, the guy just has so much class 00:20:53.130 --> 00:20:56.450 and grace. And y 'all did a 10 show tour with 00:20:56.450 --> 00:20:58.210 him too, right? Something like that. I don't 00:20:58.210 --> 00:21:00.230 know how many shows it was, but it was something 00:21:00.230 --> 00:21:02.589 like that. And we went to Australia with him. 00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:06.970 Right. And the record won a Grammy. Yeah. Best 00:21:06.970 --> 00:21:11.269 instrumental album. Yeah. Yeah. I still listen 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:13.230 to that record pretty regularly. Yeah. It's so 00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:16.660 cool. And I did get to catch. the reunion show 00:21:16.660 --> 00:21:20.380 that was done like new year's eve of 2011 or 00:21:20.380 --> 00:21:23.299 something like that and that was like alabama 00:21:23.299 --> 00:21:26.720 shakes opened okay yeah it was but their record 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.559 hadn't even come out and the next summer i saw 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:33.940 patterson open for them so they played the classic 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:35.759 center they played the big room at the classic 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.160 center like the big conference center thing yeah 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:43.559 yeah they they've blown up what Can you talk 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:45.559 about the Betty LeVette record a little bit and 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:50.880 just how that went down? Okay. I'm sorry. I think 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.480 something's ringing. Is it driving you crazy? 00:21:53.019 --> 00:21:55.680 Do you hear that ring? I hear it a little bit, 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:57.880 but we have these lab mics. It shouldn't get 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:00.940 picked up. Sorry, you can cut that out. No, I 00:22:00.940 --> 00:22:03.720 feel like that's natural. If it's bothering you, 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.220 we can figure it out. If it's not bothering you, 00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:06.279 then it's fine. I don't think it's getting picked 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:08.640 up. Okay, okay. Just because these just don't 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.039 tend to pick up anything. Okay, let's start over. 00:22:12.299 --> 00:22:15.180 No, you're good. You're good. I think that actually 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:19.759 speaks to just how much you are locked into sounds 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.980 and paying attention to things. So the Betty 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:25.900 LeVette record. First of all, she was one of 00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:30.539 these soul singers who had not really gotten 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:34.000 the recognition that she deserved. Had been lost 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.539 to just playing clubs. and never really got discovered 00:22:39.539 --> 00:22:43.099 i think of people like sharon jones is a similar 00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:46.460 story sure and and so y 'all were brought in 00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:49.039 to do this record that i feel like finally gave 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.180 her a lot of the recognition she deserved and 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:55.220 the treatment that she had been should have gotten 00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:58.259 like her whole career so how did y 'all even 00:22:58.259 --> 00:23:00.720 get approached for that that because i feel like 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.589 it's not the first thing you think of right And 00:23:04.589 --> 00:23:07.509 I don't know how that came about. Yeah. And I 00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:11.849 had studio time booked with a band that I'd been 00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:14.529 with already called Japan Cakes, an instrumental 00:23:14.529 --> 00:23:18.309 band. And we were working on two records at the 00:23:18.309 --> 00:23:22.569 same time. One was a cover of My Bloody Valentine's 00:23:22.569 --> 00:23:27.910 Loveless, which was just released on vinyl. Oh, 00:23:27.910 --> 00:23:31.319 nice. Recently, yeah. And then... a record of 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:34.819 our own material called Waking Hours. Yeah, I 00:23:34.819 --> 00:23:38.660 think it was Waking Hours. And so I had to be 00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:40.440 in the studio for that. And I told Patterson, 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.039 I said, I'm sorry, I can't get there when you 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.019 guys get there. So they were in the studio at 00:23:46.019 --> 00:23:51.799 Fame in Florence, Alabama. So they were there 00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:54.619 for like three days before I got there. And they 00:23:54.619 --> 00:23:58.860 had three or four songs they'd already cut. And 00:23:58.860 --> 00:24:01.059 yeah, I showed it with the pedal steel and she 00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:03.759 didn't, she was like, I had to show it to her. 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:06.740 And she was like, oh, okay. And then she didn't 00:24:06.740 --> 00:24:08.859 know what it was. She knew what it was, but she 00:24:08.859 --> 00:24:10.500 just wasn't, she wasn't sure how it was going 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:14.500 to be used within her music. Yeah. And we did 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:17.460 this George Jones song. I'm not sure who wrote 00:24:17.460 --> 00:24:19.700 this song. Pick up the pieces. It's on that record. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.960 And she had a thing in mind. She said, okay, 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:28.920 can you do this thing? Can you go now? And it 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:31.720 is, if you play steel or even if you don't play 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:34.640 steel, it is like one of those licks that is, 00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:37.559 I don't want to say cliched, but it is like very 00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:39.519 common. So I was like, oh, I know exactly what 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:41.380 you're talking about. So I did that and she was 00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:43.640 happy. And it was, yeah, we had a great time. 00:24:43.660 --> 00:24:46.240 Sometimes things are cliche for a reason. Exactly. 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:49.579 No, you're right. Because people talk about that 00:24:49.579 --> 00:24:53.839 in these steel guitar forums. Don't play these 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.779 cliched licks. But I'm like, that's what people 00:24:56.779 --> 00:25:01.910 want to hear. Sometimes, yeah. Right. Yeah. So 00:25:01.910 --> 00:25:04.329 let's talk about Japan Cakes, because that's 00:25:04.329 --> 00:25:06.369 been a band that you've been a part of for a 00:25:06.369 --> 00:25:08.710 really long time. They're still somewhat active, 00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:11.890 right? No, they're not. But it's funny that, 00:25:11.890 --> 00:25:17.170 I guess I brought them up, but we haven't played 00:25:17.170 --> 00:25:21.849 together in over 20 years. Oh, really? But now 00:25:21.849 --> 00:25:28.000 we have a show at the 40 Watt in May 7th. Wow. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.880 KinderCore is doing, the label is doing, a three 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.180 -night 30th anniversary weekend celebration for 00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:39.940 the whole weekend at the 40 Watt. And they asked 00:25:39.940 --> 00:25:41.960 us to play, so we're going to do it. That sounds 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:44.960 awesome. I'll be there. Great. Yeah, no, I'll 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.059 be there for that. That sounds great. Talk about 00:25:48.059 --> 00:25:51.440 the origins of that band. You haven't played 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.140 together in 20 years, but I feel like you've 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:57.309 still consistently put out. When they were released 00:25:57.309 --> 00:26:01.269 in 2016? You're right. I guess I forgot about 00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:03.269 that. And that record is different than other 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:05.549 Japan Cakes records, even though it's called 00:26:05.549 --> 00:26:10.269 Japan Cakes. But it has singing on it. Yes. Yeah, 00:26:10.269 --> 00:26:13.309 it does. So it's different. And I don't know. 00:26:13.430 --> 00:26:17.670 Yeah. It's cool. And the girl who sang on it 00:26:17.670 --> 00:26:20.329 did a great job. And yeah, it's a cool record. 00:26:20.829 --> 00:26:23.190 Sorry, I forgot about that. No, that was a cool 00:26:23.190 --> 00:26:25.490 record. I don't know how you keep track of half 00:26:25.490 --> 00:26:28.029 of the things you play on at this point. You 00:26:28.029 --> 00:26:31.289 do a lot of studio work. Yeah. You do a lot of 00:26:31.289 --> 00:26:34.430 session work. Yeah. That's your bread and butter 00:26:34.430 --> 00:26:35.950 these days, I would say. Yeah, I do a lot of 00:26:35.950 --> 00:26:38.710 that. And I started, during the pandemic, I was 00:26:38.710 --> 00:26:42.069 finally forced to learn how to do it from home. 00:26:42.609 --> 00:26:44.930 My friend Bo Beddingfield, someone else. I know 00:26:44.930 --> 00:26:48.450 Bo. I played in the White Owls with him in his 00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:51.210 band. It was really sweet. During the pandemic 00:26:51.210 --> 00:26:55.470 on my birthday, he upgraded his interface. So 00:26:55.470 --> 00:26:59.170 he put his old one in my mailbox. Oh, nice. With 00:26:59.170 --> 00:27:02.390 a microphone. And then he, more importantly, 00:27:02.549 --> 00:27:05.710 he talked me through getting it set up, learning 00:27:05.710 --> 00:27:08.490 to do it. And it's been great. I have it set 00:27:08.490 --> 00:27:10.549 up in my bedroom. I work on stuff all the time. 00:27:10.650 --> 00:27:14.829 Yeah. Yeah. In some bands, you're known as Pajama 00:27:14.829 --> 00:27:17.230 Neff. Right. Is there anything you want to say? 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.200 Is there anything you want to address about that? 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:21.680 I feel like you've been talked a lot about on 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:23.519 this podcast and I want to give you a chance 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:27.779 to respond. Jonathan came up with that. Yeah, 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:32.160 I like it. There was a song we listened to. I 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.599 went to Nucci Space and we recorded it and I 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:36.819 thought, we were just listening to it afterwards 00:27:36.819 --> 00:27:38.960 and I thought, I could do that better. I said, 00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:41.420 let me give that a try from home. And he just 00:27:41.420 --> 00:27:45.619 said, yeah, sit at home and smoke a J in your 00:27:45.619 --> 00:27:48.920 pajamas and do it. And I said, Okay, sure. So 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:51.079 I guess that's where that came from. He's so 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:54.200 funny, man. He's so silly. Jonathan is like one 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.640 of the silliest people I know. I love him so 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:00.140 much. He's so fun. What's it been like working 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:04.500 with him on this? I feel like he's, I don't know 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:06.400 what he's going through right now, but it's like 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:08.619 all of a sudden he's writing and recording a 00:28:08.619 --> 00:28:13.839 rock opera. He and Laura, he seems super active 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:18.529 and what's the word I'm looking for? productive 00:28:18.529 --> 00:28:21.130 right now in many facets. He's on this Hulu show 00:28:21.130 --> 00:28:23.809 that just came out. Oh, is he? I didn't know 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:25.589 about this. Yeah, he's on the number one show 00:28:25.589 --> 00:28:27.589 on Hulu right now. Really? Yeah. What is it? 00:28:27.769 --> 00:28:30.710 Murdoch, Death and the Family. Oh, okay. Yeah, 00:28:30.769 --> 00:28:35.710 yeah. He plays a reporter named Jerry. It's not 00:28:35.710 --> 00:28:38.789 like a huge part. He's a pretty significant part 00:28:38.789 --> 00:28:42.180 of the story. Cool. He's doing this rock opera. 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:44.039 I also feel like there's still another Slightly 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:46.200 Famous Somebody's record that hasn't been... 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:49.720 I don't know if it morphed into this rock opera. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:53.359 I don't know. I'm not sure. I know I'd already 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.559 played on a few songs before. The last one was 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:00.880 like 11 minutes long. And it sounds very rock 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.539 opera. Yeah. He sent me some early mixes here 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:08.759 and there. I'm loving it. It's cool. I like that 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:12.279 kind of stuff, too. I'm a big musicals guy. Is 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:14.240 that something that you've ever been into before? 00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:17.700 A musical theater or anything like that? Not 00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:23.259 particularly. Do you ever play in any... I can 00:29:23.259 --> 00:29:26.660 think of several musicals where my friends' bands 00:29:26.660 --> 00:29:30.480 have ended up playing in the band for the instrument. 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:34.259 For the orchestra or whatever, is that anything 00:29:34.259 --> 00:29:37.119 you've ever grown up? Were you involved in that 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.339 kind of stuff? Not really, no. So did you start 00:29:39.339 --> 00:29:42.440 performing with bands pretty much exclusively? 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:48.400 Yeah. You seem like such a calm, collected individual. 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:52.339 Is that true on the inside? Gosh, I don't know. 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:55.279 Maybe not necessarily. Like I said, I think I 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.460 have a short attention span. Yeah. Is anxiety 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:02.250 or depression anything? you've ever had to struggle 00:30:02.250 --> 00:30:05.430 with? I have my ups and downs, just like most 00:30:05.430 --> 00:30:08.950 people. Yeah. Not severe depression. Not anything 00:30:08.950 --> 00:30:11.369 that like severely has impacted your life. Yeah. 00:30:12.190 --> 00:30:16.069 I always think it's interesting when, when such, 00:30:16.150 --> 00:30:19.970 so many artists, like it comes from a dark place. 00:30:20.509 --> 00:30:24.329 And so I think it's interesting when it doesn't. 00:30:24.509 --> 00:30:28.049 Do you think that it does to a degree? It may. 00:30:28.210 --> 00:30:31.079 I don't know. I haven't seen a therapist yet. 00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:33.740 I plan to at some point, so maybe it'll all come 00:30:33.740 --> 00:30:42.019 out. Yeah, I think that when you have that creative 00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:45.519 outlet, that usually makes things a lot better. 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:50.180 Absolutely. It can be a preventative care in 00:30:50.180 --> 00:30:53.279 a lot of ways. My brother pointed that out recently. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:56.599 He was like, you're really lucky to be able to 00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:59.400 just sit around and play music. And I was like, 00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:02.759 you're right. It really does help. It's therapeutic. 00:31:03.299 --> 00:31:06.660 At what point did you realize that you were going 00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:10.059 to be able to make a living doing this and not 00:31:10.059 --> 00:31:13.380 have to have a nine to five or work at a furniture 00:31:13.380 --> 00:31:17.799 store anymore? Since I've lived in Athens, I've 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:20.740 had jobs on and off. I delivered water for a 00:31:20.740 --> 00:31:24.299 long time. There was my second year, my second 00:31:24.299 --> 00:31:26.579 stint with the drive -by truckers, which lasted 00:31:26.579 --> 00:31:30.920 about seven years. I didn't work then. I didn't 00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:34.200 have another job. But when I quit, I quit and 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:35.640 then I had the band with Shauna for a little 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:40.660 while. And then we needed money. So I got the 00:31:40.660 --> 00:31:42.779 same job back, delivering water that I'd had 00:31:42.779 --> 00:31:47.019 previously. And it's been, I guess it's been 00:31:47.019 --> 00:31:51.220 four or five years, maybe four years, since I've 00:31:51.220 --> 00:31:54.059 had a job. Sounds like that coincides with your 00:31:54.059 --> 00:31:56.640 ability to record remotely, too. Definitely. 00:31:57.849 --> 00:32:01.029 Part of it was, yeah, I had this really not a 00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:04.289 very good job for about a little less than a 00:32:04.289 --> 00:32:07.490 year, auto parts courier. And I'm just driving 00:32:07.490 --> 00:32:11.829 around doing it. And I just thought, wait a second. 00:32:11.869 --> 00:32:14.750 I should just really try to really make an effort 00:32:14.750 --> 00:32:16.910 to make a little bit more money with playing 00:32:16.910 --> 00:32:21.410 music. Because if you work 40 hours and go home, 00:32:21.630 --> 00:32:25.130 I don't feel like sitting down and playing music. 00:32:25.410 --> 00:32:28.960 Agreed. Yeah, no. Yeah. I can't, like, work 40 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:32.099 hours and then want to go write a comedy set, 00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:34.619 perform it, and then do a podcast, travel and 00:32:34.619 --> 00:32:38.500 do a podcast. Right. Yeah. J. Rodney Walson told 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:41.079 me, if you have a backup plan, like, you're going 00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:44.799 to do it. So don't have a backup plan. That's 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:48.240 funny because David Barbie's dad told him that. 00:32:48.299 --> 00:32:51.039 He said, if you want to play music for a living, 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:54.740 make sure you don't have a backup plan. I think 00:32:54.740 --> 00:32:57.799 it's the best advice I've ever heard. And my 00:32:57.799 --> 00:33:01.079 parents, they worried. They worried for me. They 00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:03.400 worried about me. So I never heard that from 00:33:03.400 --> 00:33:05.920 them. When did you make the decision that it 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.299 was going to be something you were going to pursue 00:33:07.299 --> 00:33:11.839 to do full time? Not just it sounds like you 00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:13.960 reach a turning point a few years ago to put 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:16.500 a more conscious effort to get back to where 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:19.180 you were in terms of not having to do other things. 00:33:19.259 --> 00:33:21.960 But at what point were you like, I want to be 00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:24.279 I want to be a musician when I grow up or whatever? 00:33:24.970 --> 00:33:28.490 Man, I don't know. I didn't do very well in school. 00:33:29.109 --> 00:33:35.009 I didn't have anything to fall back on. I don't 00:33:35.009 --> 00:33:37.490 know. I just kept doing it. It sounds like you 00:33:37.490 --> 00:33:40.130 probably didn't want to pay much attention in 00:33:40.130 --> 00:33:42.869 school. Things that you wanted to pay attention 00:33:42.869 --> 00:33:46.069 to weren't there. Absolutely, yeah. I just talked 00:33:46.069 --> 00:33:48.230 to Danny Bedrosian from Parliament Funkadelic. 00:33:48.250 --> 00:33:52.690 Oh, yeah. When he was 11 years old, He told his 00:33:52.690 --> 00:33:54.869 mom he wanted to be the keyboardist for Parliament 00:33:54.869 --> 00:33:57.549 Funkadelic. Wow. And then he went and did it. 00:33:58.049 --> 00:34:01.769 Wow, that's amazing. It's a mind -blowing story, 00:34:01.849 --> 00:34:04.390 it really is. But I think about that, and it's 00:34:04.390 --> 00:34:06.849 like, he didn't have a backup plan. He never 00:34:06.849 --> 00:34:12.530 even thought differently. That was what he was 00:34:12.530 --> 00:34:16.710 going to do. When did you first start feeling... 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.199 okay i'm like i'm good enough at this to die 00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:22.699 and i know that you don't think you're that good 00:34:22.699 --> 00:34:25.300 but everybody else disagrees so you're just gonna 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:29.019 have to accept that you you said something earlier 00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:31.460 i'm not that great i'm and i literally laughed 00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:36.079 it when i was a kid i wasn't i didn't play the 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:38.579 piano but if there was a piano and there was 00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:41.119 a melody i could figure out how to play it i 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:43.780 couldn't just play it without just cold but but 00:34:43.780 --> 00:34:46.300 i could just tap some keys and oh there it is 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:49.559 You have an innate musical scale understanding 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:52.739 or whatever. Or just a little bit of an ear. 00:34:53.400 --> 00:34:58.219 And then, so among my friends, then I had a little 00:34:58.219 --> 00:35:00.539 bit of a better ear than most people. And then 00:35:00.539 --> 00:35:03.639 I played music in Savannah. And then I moved 00:35:03.639 --> 00:35:06.219 to Athens. And then it's different. Everyone 00:35:06.219 --> 00:35:10.039 came from all these other places. And there are 00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:13.679 all these really talented people. And in that 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:18.429 pool. of musicians uh maybe wasn't i did maybe 00:35:18.429 --> 00:35:21.750 didn't stand out i just kept doing it i also 00:35:21.750 --> 00:35:23.869 think if you want to get better like then you 00:35:23.869 --> 00:35:26.949 play with people that are better than sure whether 00:35:26.949 --> 00:35:30.750 it's music or football or whatever like tennis 00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:35.070 yeah yeah okay that's where i've heard that yeah 00:35:35.070 --> 00:35:37.369 yeah but i think there's i think that's very 00:35:37.369 --> 00:35:40.929 true yeah because it and i've experienced that 00:35:40.929 --> 00:35:45.539 with comedians like when we're all when there's 00:35:45.539 --> 00:35:48.719 a little bit of a competitive edge to what we're 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:52.400 doing like friendly sure but it makes us all 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:56.360 step up and get better and get better Athens 00:35:56.360 --> 00:35:58.659 is such a unique place I think though because 00:35:58.659 --> 00:36:02.159 it doesn't feel super competitive in that way 00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:07.900 it feels more like universal support sure what 00:36:07.900 --> 00:36:11.400 do you think kept you here all these years I 00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:14.389 mean I think there's a lot of things that people 00:36:14.389 --> 00:36:16.030 who live here and people who have spent a lot 00:36:16.030 --> 00:36:19.710 of time here think of as obvious. But I don't 00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:23.349 think it is very obvious to the rest of the country 00:36:23.349 --> 00:36:27.349 what is so appealing about this place. Gosh, 00:36:27.449 --> 00:36:31.510 for me, my sisters live here with their families 00:36:31.510 --> 00:36:37.030 and we're pretty close. My friends, I have some 00:36:37.030 --> 00:36:41.289 friends I'm pretty close with. And then I have 00:36:41.289 --> 00:36:43.929 this house, so I'm dug in with this. Yeah, I 00:36:43.929 --> 00:36:46.550 hear you. This is a cool place, man. Thanks. 00:36:46.610 --> 00:36:50.909 I can tell you've put yourself into it for a 00:36:50.909 --> 00:36:53.070 long time. Thanks. I'm not a handy person, but 00:36:53.070 --> 00:36:56.289 I did do these floors myself. Oh, wow. Yeah. 00:36:56.590 --> 00:36:58.849 I never would have guessed these were. Yeah, 00:36:58.869 --> 00:37:01.570 these are really nice. The camera can't see them, 00:37:01.630 --> 00:37:05.769 but that's fine. That's the most involved thing 00:37:05.769 --> 00:37:08.570 I've ever done as far as watching YouTube videos. 00:37:09.329 --> 00:37:12.590 Yeah, yeah. And when was the last time you toured? 00:37:13.690 --> 00:37:15.769 I know you play some shows with Bloodkin out 00:37:15.769 --> 00:37:18.429 of town, but it doesn't seem like it's extended 00:37:18.429 --> 00:37:24.090 tours. Not yet. Let's see. A year and a half, 00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:26.889 two years ago, I went to Europe with the Pinkstones. 00:37:28.190 --> 00:37:31.230 That's right. I quit playing with them about 00:37:31.230 --> 00:37:36.710 a year and a half ago. Yeah. It's mostly one 00:37:36.710 --> 00:37:38.210 -offs these days with the people I'm playing 00:37:38.210 --> 00:37:42.380 with. Do you prefer it that way? Yeah. I have 00:37:42.380 --> 00:37:46.420 a dog and I like being home. Yeah. I don't think 00:37:46.420 --> 00:37:48.900 Jonathan called you pajama enough for no reason 00:37:48.900 --> 00:37:51.900 at all. That's true. So where do you see yourself 00:37:51.900 --> 00:37:56.860 going with? Do you have goals or do you just 00:37:56.860 --> 00:37:59.380 do what you have the tools to do? I just do it. 00:37:59.539 --> 00:38:02.179 I don't have goals. Yeah, I think having goals 00:38:02.179 --> 00:38:05.820 is... No, a lot of people laugh at that idea, 00:38:05.940 --> 00:38:10.710 but I actually think that's... a lot more reasonable 00:38:10.710 --> 00:38:14.170 and you end up being a lot happier if you just 00:38:14.170 --> 00:38:16.610 do what you can do with the tools that you have 00:38:16.610 --> 00:38:21.269 and right what what were some of the like the 00:38:21.269 --> 00:38:24.590 highlights of going on some of these world tours 00:38:24.590 --> 00:38:27.590 what do you have any memories any stories you 00:38:27.590 --> 00:38:31.289 want to you want to share oh god i'm sure i'm 00:38:31.289 --> 00:38:33.230 sure there's some crazy stuff that happened but 00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:35.010 i don't i'm not trying to violate the code of 00:38:35.010 --> 00:38:38.349 the road either right i don't know Playing with 00:38:38.349 --> 00:38:40.889 Booker was pretty great. Getting to play Red 00:38:40.889 --> 00:38:45.730 Rocks was cool. Playing the Ryman. I played Levon's 00:38:45.730 --> 00:38:51.309 Barn with Levon. I stood right behind him when 00:38:51.309 --> 00:38:53.849 he played his set. We played drums and sang. 00:38:54.110 --> 00:38:58.690 I was right behind him just watching him. That's 00:38:58.690 --> 00:39:02.710 amazing. Yeah, and then Jay and I were asked 00:39:02.710 --> 00:39:05.110 if we wanted to get up and sing on the wait and 00:39:05.110 --> 00:39:06.650 play guitar. They handed us a couple of acoustic 00:39:06.650 --> 00:39:09.809 guitars. So technically, I was on stage strumming 00:39:09.809 --> 00:39:12.030 a guitar and singing on the weight with Levon 00:39:12.030 --> 00:39:15.369 Helm. That's crazy. And Donald Fagan was playing 00:39:15.369 --> 00:39:19.530 piano. Wow. It was cool. Yeah. There are a few 00:39:19.530 --> 00:39:22.190 other things like that, but those kinds of things 00:39:22.190 --> 00:39:25.949 are pretty cool, pretty memorable. Is there anything 00:39:25.949 --> 00:39:29.070 in particular you miss about being on the road? 00:39:29.610 --> 00:39:31.949 Some people love it, some people hate it. I love 00:39:31.949 --> 00:39:35.929 a lot of it. I love going to see a place I've 00:39:35.929 --> 00:39:39.039 never been to. I don't know. It's a little annoying 00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:43.179 when someone says, like a fan says, oh, I don't 00:39:43.179 --> 00:39:46.199 see you anymore. I wish I saw you. And I was 00:39:46.199 --> 00:39:48.260 like, I'm doing all this stuff here. I'm playing 00:39:48.260 --> 00:39:50.559 all these records. You can check me out on these 00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:53.000 things. But I understand how that works. Yeah. 00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:58.039 I also don't understand people that I am coming. 00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:01.179 I do come here and see a lot of shows of a lot 00:40:01.179 --> 00:40:03.780 of people that I like that don't necessarily. 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:06.880 And like Taylor Hollingsworth. Didn't start touring 00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:10.380 at all until a year ago. Two years ago. He would 00:40:10.380 --> 00:40:13.420 only play in Birmingham. So if you wanted to 00:40:13.420 --> 00:40:17.039 go see him, you had to just go. And I think that 00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:21.539 more people should turn Athens into a destination. 00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:26.119 Beyond just things like AthFest or Drive -By 00:40:26.119 --> 00:40:28.219 Truckers Homecoming or whatever even. I think 00:40:28.219 --> 00:40:31.860 just coming for a random weekend. Because some 00:40:31.860 --> 00:40:33.920 of the coolest things, you just wander into a 00:40:33.920 --> 00:40:36.769 bar and you see some of them. like best musicians 00:40:36.769 --> 00:40:41.570 in the world playing covers or originals or both. 00:40:41.769 --> 00:40:44.829 And it really is a magical place. And I think 00:40:44.829 --> 00:40:49.550 you got to what I think is so special about it 00:40:49.550 --> 00:40:53.289 beyond anything is it's the people. Events like 00:40:53.289 --> 00:40:57.530 the Rumpus and AvFest, like the ability for an 00:40:57.530 --> 00:41:00.969 entire community to come together with a common 00:41:00.969 --> 00:41:04.699 goal. make compromises and not everybody gets 00:41:04.699 --> 00:41:07.219 everything they want, but everybody works together 00:41:07.219 --> 00:41:10.139 and makes these things happen. And that doesn't 00:41:10.139 --> 00:41:11.980 happen in very many. I don't want to say it doesn't 00:41:11.980 --> 00:41:14.360 happen anywhere else. It doesn't happen very 00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:17.340 many places. It's really special. It is. Yeah. 00:41:17.659 --> 00:41:19.780 And I don't blame you for just wanting to play 00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:23.340 here. I really don't. I get it. What projects 00:41:23.340 --> 00:41:26.139 have you been working on in the studio that people 00:41:26.139 --> 00:41:29.099 can check out? What are some of the more recent 00:41:29.099 --> 00:41:31.940 things that you've been working on? that you 00:41:31.940 --> 00:41:34.960 think people people that want to hear more john 00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:37.539 neff oh i've been doing this for this recording 00:41:37.539 --> 00:41:41.360 project with jay gonzalez oh yeah called jay 00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:44.460 and the boulevardians okay yeah yeah and all 00:41:44.460 --> 00:41:49.980 that stuff is most of it is on youtube i've yeah 00:41:49.980 --> 00:41:52.119 yeah i've been listening to some of that and 00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:55.019 jay's been on the podcast too oh yeah and and 00:41:55.019 --> 00:41:57.320 he's also playing with eric bachman right now 00:41:57.320 --> 00:42:01.090 which is crazy it's that's what this town is 00:42:01.090 --> 00:42:04.449 like though i was talking to to mary joyce from 00:42:04.449 --> 00:42:07.110 aft fest and i talked to sam lipkin from flagpole 00:42:07.110 --> 00:42:10.809 who's on the booking committee for aft fest and 00:42:10.809 --> 00:42:12.730 like one of the questions i asked her was like 00:42:12.730 --> 00:42:17.730 how do you make sure that all the bands don't 00:42:17.730 --> 00:42:20.610 like the bands that have overlapping members 00:42:20.610 --> 00:42:22.610 aren't playing at the same time like when you 00:42:22.610 --> 00:42:26.760 have a hundred bands playing I imagine just scheduling 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:28.880 your bands is a logistical nightmare. Right. 00:42:29.300 --> 00:42:32.699 I played three shows in one day on this past. 00:42:32.980 --> 00:42:35.199 You were there. Yes, I was. Yeah, I was at all 00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:38.699 three. Yeah, so Troy. Kimberly Morgan, Bloodken, 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:41.860 and Slightly Famous Somebodies. That's right. 00:42:42.019 --> 00:42:45.739 Yeah. Or Bad Ends. It was Bad Ends, not Bloodken. 00:42:45.880 --> 00:42:47.840 Not Bloodken, yeah. Bloodken didn't play at this 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.219 year. That's right. Which was a first. Right. 00:42:52.699 --> 00:42:57.840 So. Troy Aubrey, who puts on AthFest, I think 00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:03.179 he was conscious of when he knew when he was 00:43:03.179 --> 00:43:05.239 involved in the scheduling. Yeah. Because he 00:43:05.239 --> 00:43:07.440 knew I played in all three of those bands. And 00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.880 you ended up playing the first half with Slightly 00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.579 Famous Somebodies. And I looked at John and was 00:43:13.579 --> 00:43:15.500 like, man, Neft just quit in the middle of it. 00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:20.179 Got to do it sometime. Yeah. So what do you like 00:43:20.179 --> 00:43:24.110 about playing live? versus playing in the studio 00:43:24.110 --> 00:43:28.050 is there which you like better your studio is 00:43:28.050 --> 00:43:30.389 your bedroom now yeah that's pretty sweet it's 00:43:30.389 --> 00:43:32.809 different they're just so different especially 00:43:32.809 --> 00:43:36.210 since i'm set up down there now and having it 00:43:36.210 --> 00:43:39.110 at my house is different than recording going 00:43:39.110 --> 00:43:44.329 to a studio and then both are great but man i've 00:43:44.329 --> 00:43:46.769 really liked doing it home recently because i 00:43:46.769 --> 00:43:50.599 can listen to a song and put something down and 00:43:50.599 --> 00:43:53.300 the next day I'll wake up and think of another 00:43:53.300 --> 00:43:56.219 part that I didn't think of before. And I've 00:43:56.219 --> 00:43:58.159 just had some good results doing. You get to 00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:00.019 spend a little bit more time with it. Give it 00:44:00.019 --> 00:44:02.619 a little room to breathe. Yeah. And you're not 00:44:02.619 --> 00:44:05.619 bound by the fact that you're in a studio that's 00:44:05.619 --> 00:44:07.920 costing hundreds of dollars an hour or whatever. 00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:10.900 Exactly. Yeah. I can see that. That would be 00:44:10.900 --> 00:44:14.699 in that being really. So what do you like to 00:44:14.699 --> 00:44:17.559 do for fun, John? I know you love to live crew. 00:44:18.349 --> 00:44:21.289 In fact, you might be the biggest 2 Live Crew 00:44:21.289 --> 00:44:26.170 fan I know. 2 Live Crew? Yeah, yeah. I play tennis 00:44:26.170 --> 00:44:27.730 a little bit. I'm not very good, but I play. 00:44:28.090 --> 00:44:29.849 And I have a ping pong table in the basement. 00:44:30.190 --> 00:44:33.750 Oh, cool. Yeah, and I've got Marty. I like hanging 00:44:33.750 --> 00:44:35.769 out with him. Yeah, he's pretty good company. 00:44:36.030 --> 00:44:38.949 Yeah. Yeah, what's up, dude? So, yeah, aside 00:44:38.949 --> 00:44:41.769 from that, it's pretty much music. Yeah. Yeah. 00:44:41.989 --> 00:44:44.730 You like to get out in nature a lot. You live 00:44:44.730 --> 00:44:48.760 out in it. Yeah, and I... And when I moved out 00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:52.260 here, I was just outside all the time. I was 00:44:52.260 --> 00:44:55.539 doing gardening stuff and little yard projects. 00:44:56.119 --> 00:45:00.920 Anyway, I have this thing called Alpha Gal that 00:45:00.920 --> 00:45:04.199 I got from Tick Bites. Because I would find ticks 00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:06.760 on myself all the time, and I just wouldn't think 00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:09.300 anything of it. And then I found out I have this 00:45:09.300 --> 00:45:11.900 thing that was caused by a tick bite. Ticks are 00:45:11.900 --> 00:45:14.409 so bad. The thing that makes you allergic to 00:45:14.409 --> 00:45:16.769 certain meats? To red meat. Yeah. And red meat 00:45:16.769 --> 00:45:19.909 means pork, too. It means beef and pork. Oh, 00:45:19.909 --> 00:45:22.010 wow. So it's not just that pork. It's the other 00:45:22.010 --> 00:45:24.309 white meat thing. It's just a marketing ploy. 00:45:24.409 --> 00:45:28.829 Right. Yeah. So anyway, it's all poultry and 00:45:28.829 --> 00:45:34.849 fish and, yeah, as far as meat goes. Can we talk 00:45:34.849 --> 00:45:37.150 a little bit more about this? I'd love to just 00:45:37.150 --> 00:45:39.710 spread a little bit of awareness about this disease. 00:45:40.369 --> 00:45:43.699 Maybe more people would. Get checked with ticks. 00:45:44.519 --> 00:45:48.260 I only know a little bit about it. I think a 00:45:48.260 --> 00:45:50.239 lot of people don't realize it because it's the 00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:55.900 only food allergy that doesn't have an immediate 00:45:55.900 --> 00:45:59.539 reaction. It takes three to five hours usually. 00:46:00.099 --> 00:46:04.760 And for me, it causes hives. Interesting. That's 00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:09.000 terrible. Right. So I thought when I started 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:11.420 getting it, I thought that I was getting like... 00:46:11.550 --> 00:46:13.989 poison ivy or something from working in the yard 00:46:13.989 --> 00:46:17.590 i didn't realize what it was and hunters get 00:46:17.590 --> 00:46:20.550 it a lot because they're out in the woods so 00:46:20.550 --> 00:46:24.349 that's ironic yeah i mean it's unfortunate but 00:46:24.349 --> 00:46:27.610 i do love irony sure how has that affected your 00:46:27.610 --> 00:46:31.550 day -to -day life has it or have you just made 00:46:31.550 --> 00:46:34.630 some dietary adjustments and yeah carry an epi 00:46:34.630 --> 00:46:39.199 pen yeah what are the like first signs of And 00:46:39.199 --> 00:46:42.239 remind me the name of the disease again. Alpha 00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:46.840 -gal. Alpha -gal. Alpha -gal. Okay. And gal stands 00:46:46.840 --> 00:46:51.099 for galactose, I think. Okay. Yeah. And what 00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:54.760 are some of the early signs? Is it literally 00:46:54.760 --> 00:46:56.619 just the symptoms of the allergy or are there 00:46:56.619 --> 00:46:59.639 some other signals that you might get when you 00:46:59.639 --> 00:47:03.420 first contract it? Okay. This is really complicated. 00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:05.699 I don't know if you want me to go into it. Absolutely. 00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:08.340 If you're down to it, I'm all about it. Okay. 00:47:08.639 --> 00:47:12.239 Well, it was a new, it was a new thing when I 00:47:12.239 --> 00:47:14.719 got it and not very much was known about it, 00:47:14.780 --> 00:47:18.920 but I was cleaning the gutters on my roof, standing 00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:22.719 on my roof and I got bit by two fire ants and 00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:28.599 I had a severe anaphylactic reaction. Oh my goodness. 00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:31.159 And yeah, I was living with Shauna at the time 00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:33.920 and she drove me to the emergency room. And so 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:37.219 I thought that, yeah, I'm allergic to fire ants. 00:47:37.960 --> 00:47:42.059 And then there was this guy who's a doctor, he's 00:47:42.059 --> 00:47:46.380 an ENT, who lives in Atlanta. He's a music fan, 00:47:46.559 --> 00:47:49.079 and he was at a show at the 40 Watt, and he knew 00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:51.800 about what had happened. And he said, so how 00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:54.199 are you feeling these days? And I said, pretty 00:47:54.199 --> 00:47:57.460 good, but I get a lot of rashes. I think I get 00:47:57.460 --> 00:48:01.039 poison ivy or something. And then the next day 00:48:01.039 --> 00:48:02.860 I get a text from him. He said, you should get 00:48:02.860 --> 00:48:05.519 checked for this thing called alpha -gal. So 00:48:05.519 --> 00:48:11.079 I did. And I have it. That's wild. Yeah. Do you 00:48:11.079 --> 00:48:14.079 know how he knew about it? He's an ENT. Oh, right. 00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:19.460 He's an ENT, yeah. So, anyway, I'm seeing an 00:48:19.460 --> 00:48:23.440 allergist in Athens for this. He's now retired. 00:48:24.079 --> 00:48:27.440 But I told him, I said, I have a gut feeling 00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:32.300 that my reaction to these fire ants are related 00:48:32.300 --> 00:48:35.940 to alpha -gal. I found out I had both the same 00:48:35.940 --> 00:48:38.960 summer. And I just feel like they must be related. 00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:41.280 He said, no, they're not related. He said, you 00:48:41.280 --> 00:48:45.000 have alpha gal and then you're allergic to fire 00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:48.380 ants. And then there have been studies that have 00:48:48.380 --> 00:48:51.760 linked the two. So I've also been in the hospital 00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:55.599 with anaphylaxis two other times. One was from 00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:58.059 a wasp sting and one was from a hornet sting. 00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:01.960 Oh, man. And so I'm just allergic to all the 00:49:01.960 --> 00:49:06.019 stinging, biting bugs. So you don't spend as 00:49:06.019 --> 00:49:10.760 much time outside anymore. Until, like, everything's 00:49:10.760 --> 00:49:13.820 overgrown. I just want it gets cooler and the 00:49:13.820 --> 00:49:16.880 bugs start to go away. I've been out in the yard 00:49:16.880 --> 00:49:20.260 recently. We're in October now. Do you think 00:49:20.260 --> 00:49:22.139 that's part of the reason that you, like, don't 00:49:22.139 --> 00:49:25.079 want to tour as much and you want to stick closer 00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:27.780 to home? I feel like that would be a lot scarier 00:49:27.780 --> 00:49:30.920 when you're hundreds of miles from home than 00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:33.960 when you're... Right. I don't know. Not necessarily. 00:49:34.320 --> 00:49:37.699 Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate you like sharing 00:49:37.699 --> 00:49:40.900 information about that. I think that's one of 00:49:40.900 --> 00:49:43.760 those things. I feel like 20 years ago, people 00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:46.639 didn't know much about Lyme disease and that 00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:52.699 was, but ticks are really scary. Yeah. And what 00:49:52.699 --> 00:49:55.639 are, what do you want to promote? You've got 00:49:55.639 --> 00:49:59.460 the new Japan, the Japan cakes record, the cover 00:49:59.460 --> 00:50:01.440 of my bloody Valentine covers is coming out on 00:50:01.440 --> 00:50:06.000 vinyl. What else is going on? I hear that Strollin' 00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:09.320 Bones, which is an imprint of New West, it's 00:50:09.320 --> 00:50:15.639 George Fontaine Sr.'s personal label, is putting 00:50:15.639 --> 00:50:18.500 out the Starroom Boys records. Oh, hell yeah. 00:50:18.519 --> 00:50:21.659 Next year. That's awesome. Yeah, we don't, I 00:50:21.659 --> 00:50:24.659 don't know if there's a date yet, but it's supposed, 00:50:24.900 --> 00:50:27.440 yeah. If he says it's coming out, then I believe 00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:30.340 him sometime next year. Yeah, that should be 00:50:30.340 --> 00:50:33.429 cool. That's awesome. And, of course, you were 00:50:33.429 --> 00:50:35.690 on several songs on Decoration Day, which is 00:50:35.690 --> 00:50:41.349 the complete Decoration Day. November 14th, I 00:50:41.349 --> 00:50:43.329 think, is coming out. Was it November? I thought 00:50:43.329 --> 00:50:46.010 it was December. Maybe it is. I don't know. I 00:50:46.010 --> 00:50:48.570 pre -ordered it, so it'll get there when it gets 00:50:48.570 --> 00:50:53.250 there. Were you on that show at the Flickr Bar, 00:50:53.329 --> 00:50:55.969 too, then, right? Which one? The one that's the 00:50:55.969 --> 00:50:58.250 bonus disc. Were you on that show? I don't think 00:50:58.250 --> 00:51:01.719 so. Okay. Yeah. I think that's before I got back 00:51:01.719 --> 00:51:05.559 with him. Fair. I also do this thing with Mike 00:51:05.559 --> 00:51:07.860 Mills. I actually do two different things with 00:51:07.860 --> 00:51:11.139 him. So I'm still doing that. We didn't discuss 00:51:11.139 --> 00:51:14.719 that. I would love to hear more about that too, 00:51:14.780 --> 00:51:18.179 real quick. Like I said, you have so many things 00:51:18.179 --> 00:51:20.400 going on. It's really hard. I don't know how 00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:23.400 you keep track of it. So what are these projects 00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:26.139 with Mike Mills? One is called the Concerto. 00:51:27.849 --> 00:51:31.769 That's short for the Concerto with Rock Band. 00:51:32.630 --> 00:51:35.969 Concerto for Rock Band with Strings. And it features 00:51:35.969 --> 00:51:40.909 Bobby McDuffie, the classical violinist. He and 00:51:40.909 --> 00:51:44.710 Mike went to school and church together in Macon 00:51:44.710 --> 00:51:48.889 when they were kids. And Mike went on to be an 00:51:48.889 --> 00:51:53.289 REM. And Robert went on to become a star in the 00:51:53.289 --> 00:51:56.900 classical world. And he has... The McDuffie Center 00:51:56.900 --> 00:52:02.139 for Strings at Mercer. Okay, yeah. So they had 00:52:02.139 --> 00:52:05.739 talked about doing a project together for years, 00:52:05.840 --> 00:52:09.980 and that's what this is. Mike wrote a 30, 35 00:52:09.980 --> 00:52:13.360 -minute piece of original music, and I just play 00:52:13.360 --> 00:52:17.099 guitar in that band. And it features Bobby on 00:52:17.099 --> 00:52:20.460 violin. Okay, so there's that. And then we also 00:52:20.460 --> 00:52:24.300 do this other thing with the same group, plus 00:52:24.300 --> 00:52:27.760 Chuck LaBelle. And it's called A Night of Georgia 00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:32.780 Music. And so Georgia music, it's covers. And 00:52:32.780 --> 00:52:37.039 it's anything. It could be any song about Georgia 00:52:37.039 --> 00:52:39.599 or a Georgia artist. So we do some Allman Brothers 00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:44.840 and REM and B -52s. And we do Georgia On My Mind 00:52:44.840 --> 00:52:47.619 and Midnight Train to Georgia. We play a James 00:52:47.619 --> 00:52:50.800 Brown tune. Gladys Knight played in my city last 00:52:50.800 --> 00:52:54.250 night. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, awesome. I was here. 00:52:54.710 --> 00:52:59.690 Oh, wow. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. I didn't really 00:52:59.690 --> 00:53:02.329 know she was still out doing it, but I think 00:53:02.329 --> 00:53:05.530 she's 86 years old. She must be. Wow. That's 00:53:05.530 --> 00:53:08.610 so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. She really, yeah. 00:53:08.869 --> 00:53:13.610 She's a beast. Yeah. That sounds real. Y 'all 00:53:13.610 --> 00:53:15.590 play live pretty frequently, or is that? It's 00:53:15.590 --> 00:53:18.269 usually, okay, the concerto thing usually plays 00:53:18.269 --> 00:53:21.380 a few shows a year. Our next one is in Macon 00:53:21.380 --> 00:53:26.699 in mid -November. Okay, cool. And the Night of 00:53:26.699 --> 00:53:29.179 Georgia Music thing has a show in Florida. I 00:53:29.179 --> 00:53:32.559 think it's a private thing in South Florida in 00:53:32.559 --> 00:53:36.699 January of next year. Cool, cool. Yeah. And, 00:53:36.800 --> 00:53:39.320 you know, that doesn't happen as often because 00:53:39.320 --> 00:53:43.539 Chuck, he's a busy guy. Yeah. And Mike stays 00:53:43.539 --> 00:53:46.079 super busy, too. He does. Even though REM doesn't 00:53:46.079 --> 00:53:48.400 really do anything. He's got the baseball project. 00:53:48.579 --> 00:53:51.159 He's got all these. And this new thing with, 00:53:51.239 --> 00:53:55.039 it's called Howl Owl Howl. I've heard a little 00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:58.099 bit about this. A little bit, yeah. The name 00:53:58.099 --> 00:54:02.659 sticks. Right. So it's with, oh my God. It's 00:54:02.659 --> 00:54:06.500 with Darius Rucker. Yeah. Steve, the guy who 00:54:06.500 --> 00:54:10.260 used to play drums for the Black Crows. Steve 00:54:10.260 --> 00:54:12.820 Gorman? I think that's his name, yeah. Yeah, 00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:16.539 yeah, yeah. And Mike played me about four songs, 00:54:16.579 --> 00:54:19.789 and it's really cool. That sounds cool. I know 00:54:19.789 --> 00:54:22.630 Darius was having some issues with his voice 00:54:22.630 --> 00:54:25.590 recently on tour, so I hope he's figured that 00:54:25.590 --> 00:54:27.929 out. I heard something about that. He had to 00:54:27.929 --> 00:54:30.510 just stop. He was literally just like, I can't 00:54:30.510 --> 00:54:34.150 sing. He had to cancel the show. This is back 00:54:34.150 --> 00:54:36.550 in July, though, so I think he's probably figured 00:54:36.550 --> 00:54:38.690 it out by now. I think so, too. I heard something 00:54:38.690 --> 00:54:40.670 about that, and I feel like it was resolved in 00:54:40.670 --> 00:54:45.190 some way. Do you have any idea when this project 00:54:45.190 --> 00:54:48.219 with Jay Gonzalez is going to be released? This 00:54:48.219 --> 00:54:52.639 project, it's really weird because it's so cool. 00:54:52.840 --> 00:54:56.000 The guy who writes the lyrics' name is Grady 00:54:56.000 --> 00:55:02.239 Thrasher, and he's a retired lawyer, and he finances 00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:08.219 this project, and he doesn't feel the need for 00:55:08.219 --> 00:55:11.679 it to be a public thing. He made some copies 00:55:11.679 --> 00:55:14.400 of the record that he gave us, and he gave us 00:55:14.400 --> 00:55:18.210 some to give to friends, but it's not. we don't 00:55:18.210 --> 00:55:22.349 really do shows or those videos are on YouTube 00:55:22.349 --> 00:55:25.429 for anyone to watch, but I'll put links in the 00:55:25.429 --> 00:55:28.409 description. Okay. Great. But it's almost like 00:55:28.409 --> 00:55:31.769 it's not, his goal isn't to get it out to the 00:55:31.769 --> 00:55:36.190 world. Yeah. I feel like Jay gets involved with 00:55:36.190 --> 00:55:39.809 a lot of projects that it's like, man, let's 00:55:39.809 --> 00:55:43.329 just make some music and we'll, we'll put it 00:55:43.329 --> 00:55:46.900 out. We don't have to like make it this. thing 00:55:46.900 --> 00:55:50.539 that has to be more than let's make a record 00:55:50.539 --> 00:55:54.519 or let's make some music john it's been really 00:55:54.519 --> 00:55:56.760 fucking awesome talking to you man i really appreciate 00:55:56.760 --> 00:55:59.159 it is there anything else you want to you want 00:55:59.159 --> 00:56:01.639 to mention i thought i could think of yeah man 00:56:01.639 --> 00:56:03.920 uh this has been awesome awesome thank you so 00:56:03.920 --> 00:56:07.320 much hey thank you yeah yeah yeah of course yeah 00:56:07.320 --> 00:56:13.460 that was my interview with john neff uh i i can't 00:56:13.460 --> 00:56:16.170 believe i uh get to do this stuff Thank y 'all 00:56:16.170 --> 00:56:19.110 so much for listening. Hit that subscribe button. 00:56:19.170 --> 00:56:23.369 Still so many of y 'all not subscribed but listening. 00:56:23.449 --> 00:56:27.030 I really appreciate you listening. But next week 00:56:27.030 --> 00:56:30.349 we got Jim Kimo West, Grammy Award winning guitar 00:56:30.349 --> 00:56:35.829 player for Weird Al Yankovic. So go ahead and 00:56:35.829 --> 00:56:38.989 hit subscribe so you don't miss that. We'll see 00:56:38.989 --> 00:56:41.409 you next week. That'll be the season finale for 00:56:41.409 --> 00:56:45.780 2025. We got some cool stuff coming next year, 00:56:45.840 --> 00:56:49.079 too. Don't worry. Take us out of here, Sloan.