Hey, what's up, you guys? It's Drew Copeland
from the band Sister Hazel, and you are listening
to My Weekly Mixtape with Brian Colburn. Hey,
it's going to be hazel -fied. Check it out. Welcome
to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that takes the
classic mixtape approach to building a modern
playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn. Joining
me as guest curator is Drew Copeland, guitarist
for Sister Hazel. Drew, thank you so much for
joining me on the show, man. Hey, Brian. Good
to see you, man. Yeah, glad to be here. Well,
I'd like to start by asking you the same question
I ask all of my first -time guests, and that
is, what does the word mixtape mean to you? You
know, so mixtapes for me were not necessarily
something that I made to give to someone else.
Most of the time when I made a mixtape, It was
for myself, whether it was going to be something
that I was going to be working out to or a playlist
to drive to the beach, or if we were going to
have a party, it was something I thought that
everybody would want to listen to at a party.
So my idea of a mixtape is normally gearing towards
an event that I'm going to be doing that I want
to hear specific tunes. So that's mixtape for
me. Well, we are going to be gearing up. For
an event tonight, because you and I are going
to co -curate the ultimate Sister Hazel playlist.
Coming from a member of the band and a fan of
the band, as in myself, I would love to know
from the band's perspective, what angle are you
coming at this mixtape with? Because you have
memories of every single song this band has ever
recorded deeper than any fan could ever have.
Right. Well, and honestly, there are some songs
that I have forgotten that we have. And in fact,
a recent story, I was in a department store over
the weekend and I heard a song over the speakers
and I knew I recognized Ken's voice, but I could
not tell what song it was. And it was in the
bridge of the song. So that makes it even harder
to pick out what the song was. But it ended up
being a song of ours called Vacation Rain that
I totally forgot about. And when it kicked into
the chorus, I was like, oh, that is us. And that
is Vacation Frame. We've been a band for 30 years,
man. 30 years later, there are songs that we've
recorded and put out on records that I just don't
even remember unless I hear them. So, yeah. So
what are you looking to bring to the mix this
evening? Well, like I said before, it would depend
on what we were gearing the mixtape for. But
I will just try to just gear it from a band perspective
and touch on. the important things and the emotional
things and the things that have a good story
behind them. And maybe songs that have a little
bit of a, maybe they're a deeper cut, but they
meant something more to the band. Well, let's
get down to business. Tonight, as I mentioned
at the top of the show, Drew and I will be curating
the ultimate Sister Hazel mixtape, and we're
going to use the old cassette deck approach.
Drew, as my special guest, will begin side A
with his first song choice, and then I'll add
a song that I feel best follows up that choice.
We'll then flip -flop choosing songs until we've
mapped out 10 songs for side A. We'll then give
our mixtape a proverbial flip, and we'll map
out side B. Only this time, I'll kick things
off. with Drew choosing second. Our overall goal
for the episode is to craft the best Sister Hazel
mixtape possible through only 20 songs. And at
the end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the episode page
at myweeklymixtape .com where you can give our
final mixtape a listen via the embedded playlist.
And if you like what you're hearing on the show,
you can help me out by either telling a friend,
leaving the show a five -star review wherever
you're tuning in, or... becoming a Patreon mixtape
or a patreon .com forward slash my weekly mixtape.
Now, Drew, I'm officially going to press the
record button on our mixtape and the floor is
yours. What song are you going to kick off the
ultimate Sister Hazel mixtape with? Well, look,
man, I don't want to be like obvious, but at
the same time, there's a song that if you're
going to have a Sister Hazel playlist, it has
to be on it. And. It's a song that opened so
many doors for us that I know it's going to be
there. And I don't know if the order that we're
recording these on the mixtape, whether that
matters or not, but you got to have all for you.
All for you has to be in the mix. I mean, that
song, Ken wrote that song way before the band
was formed and before we had our first song on
radio. Ken was, you know, he had written that
song a long time ago. So the song was when he
and I were a duo, we played it out acoustically
before the band got involved. And then years
later, that thing just started kicking doors
down and the rest is kind of history. So any
mixtape of Sister Hazel has to include All For
You. So I'm going to follow up with the first,
hey, this will at least prove I'm a hazelnut.
I like it. With the question, are you going with
the version from 1994's White Album or are you
going to go with the... full band, somewhere
more familiar 97 single? I would go with the
97 single. I would go with the full band version.
That's the one. Honestly, man, there were some
really cool live versions that we did later on
that if I could get my hands on those, I would
include that. But yeah, the 97 version is the
one I would go with. All right. Well, following
that up, I think we're going to start this off
being a little bit of a hit fest to kind of...
wet people's appetite a little bit. All right.
And for me, I saw you guys perform last year
in New Jersey at the Skyland Performing Arts
Center, otherwise known as the Newton Theater
in Newton, New Jersey. And this was the song
you ran with second in the band set. And the
more I thought about it, when you kicked into
the song, I said, this is literally the perfect
slot for this track. And while it works so perfectly
in the band's live set, I think it's going to
work perfectly here because All For You ends
and then you kind of build up this little guitar
intro and kick into the lead track off of 2000's
Fortress. And I'm going to go with Change Your
Mind, one of my. Favorite songs from Sister Hazel.
And also with that, I'm happy to say I'm not
alone because Patreon mixtaper Cactus Pete also
chimed in with Change Your Mind, citing the blending
harmonies. Although he said there's plenty of
great stuff to choose from from the band, and
I couldn't agree more. But back to Change Your
Mind, the song was also featured in the 2000
movie, Wait For It. Bedazzled with Brandon Frazier
and Elizabeth Hurley. This song simply means
so, so much to me. One of my favorite things
about Sister Hazel is the vocal harmonies, and
they truly come to life in this song, making
it one of the highlights on an otherwise amazing
album. This is the song that, all for you, made
me a fan of Sister Hazel. Change Your Mind made
me a fan of the band for life because this is
the kind of song that spoke to me from a musical
and lyrical perspective. And I just don't think
you can have a Sister Hazel playlist without
it. I fully agree. And that song ends up in that
slot quite often in the live show. It's just
something that kind of sets people's minds in
the right direction for the Sister Hazel set.
Okay, that's a great pick. I'm going to follow
that up with a relatively newer song. but it
has become kind of a staple for us at live shows
because our fan base just gravitated towards
this song. It's another upbeat song, and it's
a little bit different for us. It's funny because
through our career, a lot of people have tried
to not necessarily pigeonhole us, but they want
to put us in a category, and we don't necessarily
fit in a single category. We've been all over
the map. But this song itself was on a record
that that we put out and I think it charted on
the country albums. But this is a song called
That Kind of Beautiful. That's a song that people
have gravitated towards and you see people singing
that song with us. And it's also become one of
those songs that if we don't do it on our live
show that they're kind of disappointed. So I
would go with That Kind of Beautiful. Now, Lighter
in the Dark was... Kind of a foray that you guys
had been touching on in the past. I know you
said it was like a little bit of a foray in a
country music, but I hear elements of country
on Heartland Highway. Hell, I hear elements of
country on Somewhere More Familiar. Absolutely.
And the White Album. Yeah, when people were,
I don't want to use the word shocked, but when
people said, wow, Sister Hazel's putting out
an album that sounds more country. I kind of
wanted to reply with, have you been listening
to Sister Hazel all these years? Because I feel
like there's always been that element in the
band. Is that the case? No, that's totally the
case. I agree. In fact, when people were questioning,
and not in a bad way, but when they were just
questioning, are you going this direction? I
was like, you know, if you go back and listen
to someone more familiar in the White Album and
albums like Release and Heartland Highway, and
there's always been a touch of that. Yes. Was
there a little more instrumentation that could
have been considered leaning more country maybe
a lot of the writing that i'd been doing during
that time period was in nashville our management
company is in nashville we've been recording
the records in nashville so certainly there could
be some influence there but honestly we did not
deviate a whole lot from what the band sounds
like you know all the time well following that
up i'm gonna stay with a little bit of that quote
unquote country -esque sound, but I'm going to
pivot it in a little bit of a direction. I'm
going to go off of 2010's Heartland Highway.
We had just mentioned it earlier. All right.
And this is a song that you wrote with Stan Lynch.
Okay. Drummer for my favorite artist of all time,
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for over 18 years.
Yeah, man. You two have written a bunch of Sister
Hazel songs together, including... In the Moment
from Lyft, Hopeless from Chasing Daylight, Beautiful
High and This Kind of Love from Absolutely, I
Believe in You and One Life from Elise, Where
You're Going, which was also from Heartland Highway.
But I feel like coming out of that kind of beautiful,
the song that immediately I'm gravitating to
is Let the Fire Burn. Man, that is so funny that
you're saying that. So I just listened to that
song recently. And one of the reasons why I listened
to it is because Ken, for some reason, was singing
it at a soundcheck. And I was like, man, I forgot
about that song. I want to go listen to it. And
I really love that song. So yeah, that's an interesting
pick, man. We played it live briefly, but it's
another blessing and a curse of being a band
for as long as we have. You have so many songs
that fans want to hear at a show that you can't
play for, well, I guess you could play for four
hours, but I'm not really sure how many people
can sit through a four -hour concert. But yeah,
you have to make choices. So that's a great pick,
man. Let the fire burn. I really, I dig that
too. And I'd love to ask, because again, being
such a Tom Petty fan for so long. Anybody who
has some connection to that universe is something
I'm always enthralled with. Can you talk about
that working relationship with Stan Lynch and
how it's kind of blossomed into this ongoing
co -writing situation? Well, Stan reached out
to us way early, like back when we were just
getting a record deal. And I kept his number
and he and I stayed in touch. And literally,
we're like brothers. I mean, we are very close.
He still has a place. just outside of gainesville
and one over at crescent beach and him and uh
and his significant other come over for dinner
occasionally and and uh stan is um i'll just
being straight up honest stan is one of the reasons
why i managed to stay in the music business for
33 years because he had been through a ton of
stuff with the heartbreakers And then he went
on to be a writer, a very successful writer and
producer, produced a bunch of Don Henley stuff
and worked with Eagles on a lot of stuff. So
the guy, he had been around the block. And anytime
that I had a problem, he was there with some
common sense about the whole thing because it
can get kind of crazy. And Stan is, I would definitely
give him a lot of credit for being one of the
reasons why I've managed to stay in the business
for as long as I have. But working with him,
that band was full of talent. I mean, Tom, obviously
was exceptional in so many different ways. Stan
is also exceptional. He's a super smart guy.
His drumming, he's one of the few drummers. I
mean, there are, there are drummers out there,
but he's, he's one of the few drummers that when
he's playing, you can tell it's Stan Lynch. You
can, I mean, you can hear him on any, I don't
care whose song he's playing. You can go, dude,
that sounds like Stan Lynch because he has his
own thing, which is rare and awesome. But he's
just a soulful dude, super kind. And it's been
a complete honor to get to work with him. And
look, man, I'm from a band out of Gainesville.
Hearing him tell stories from the old days is
a blast. I mean, I love it. I love hearing the
stories. It's fun. We don't do that a whole lot,
but occasionally things will come up. Maybe it's
to give me an example of some of the things that
he went through. But yeah, I love that relationship
with Stan. Amazing. I'm throwing it back to you
now to follow up that kind of beautiful and let
the fire burn for track five. What do you got?
Okay. I would go, and I don't want the title
to mess me up, but those are some upbeat songs.
I would probably slow things down a little bit.
And this is a song that I wrote. Man, it was
years ago that I wrote this song. But when we
put it out and people heard it, I did an acoustic
version online one time. of just being a guitar
playing this song. And it seemed to connect with
people quite a bit, but I would slow it down
and I'd put a song called fire after that. And
I know that it's led the fire burn and putting
fire right after it is going to mess up our,
our song title list, but it's still, I think
I would put that slow down a little bit and put
that song in there. And that song live for us
now. is a lot of fun when we do it. We don't
do it very often, but when we do, it's a lot
of fun because it takes us to this place where
Ryan takes off on the guitar and it just ends
with this super powerful guitar solo. So we have
a lot of fun playing that live and it's connected
with a lot of people. And that came from the,
I'm going to call the album now Elements, but
it was from the Fire EP that became part of the
Elements single album release. That four EP into
one album approach was definitely treading new
ground for the band. Looking back, would you
consider that release schedule to have been successful
for the group? And is that something that may
shape how the band decides to release new music
moving forward? Yes. And yes to pretty much all
of that. I do find that it was successful. It
was very creative. Jet Barris, our bass player,
is a behind the scenes he's kind of a creative
genius he comes up with some great ideas and
this was one of his babies and um we all collaborated
on how it turned out but putting those those
series of eps out was a lot of fun and it gave
us a place to take these songs and kind of just
find the right fit for just a few songs and see
how that felt and then put them all together
it was just a really cool thing And I love the
artwork from those records and how it combined
at the end. It was really cool, the whole thing.
Not that anybody cares about artwork as much
anymore because you download everything now.
But the artwork from that album was really cool.
I was going to say, not all of us are downloading.
I still got the CDs. Well, you took things down
with fire. So now I want to pick it up a little
bit. And I'm also kind of looking at the list.
Thinking, okay, we've touched on Somewhere More
Familiar, Fortress, Lighter in the Dark, Heartland
Highway, Fire and Elements. I want to keep kind
of picking from some different albums here to
kind of give a nice varied approach. So I'm going
to go back to Lift from 2004. And I'm going to
use a song that I think picks it up from Fire.
And it shows the band flexing some, dare I use
the word, alternative rock muscles. But this
song has a massive chorus. And the guitar work
that you and Ryan do combined on this track shines
because the track is big and bold, but the harmonies
never get overshadowed by the louder guitar.
And I don't know if that's a testament to you
guys as musicians, you guys as singers, the studio
work that went into recording it, or the fact
that the song is just extremely well written.
It was written by Ken Block along with Richard
Marks. paired together on songs, World Inside
My Head, which was also from Lyft, Meet Me in
the Memory from Absolutely, and Life Got in the
Way from Chasing Daylight, among others. But
I'm going to go with, I'm a sucker for album
opening tracks. I'm going to go with Surrender,
the opening track from Lyft. Over the years,
the band has started to work with outside writers.
In the beginning, it was Sister Hazel kind of
writing as a collective. And over the years,
outside writers have kind of... come into the
fold i'm curious how sister hazel decides on
what songs should be written internally versus
hey let's bring somebody from the outside in
for this one and kind of how it comes together
and then along with all that just your thoughts
on surrender because it is kind of a deeper cut
it was not played very often but i absolutely
adore the track yes it we did we did play it
live occasionally but it was another one of those
songs that kept getting pushed kind of to the
bottom of the of the set list where where it
just would fall off so but but that yeah that's
another one and i've heard that one in stores
before too and gone wait a minute i love that
that's that's our song what song is that again
but uh as far as songwriters go later in our
career we began collaborating with more and more
people and they were part of that was because
of the band's success more doors were open for
us to be able to write with writers, which was
a lot of fun. I don't think there's ever been
a specific target as far as, Hey, for this one,
let's bring in this writer. I think what happens
is all of us kind of branch out. Sometimes we
write with each other. Sometimes we write with
outside writers and we just serve the song. So
if, you know, Ryan or Ken, or if anybody came
in with a song from an outside writer, if most
of us were attracted to the song, then we would
just try to serve the song. It didn't really
matter who co -wrote it. You know what I mean?
And we're thankful for co -writers because it
makes us spread our wings a little bit, you know,
stretch our writing a little bit to try to be
more creative. So that's always been a good thing
for us. All right. We're throwing it back to
you to follow up surrender. Okay. That's a tough
one. I'm going to go off of an album that we
recently. I recently saw a post on Facebook from
a fan that kind of broke down what albums we
play songs off of most of the nights at live
shows. And sadly, we don't do a lot of songs
off of this record, but I like the record a lot.
In fact, as I'm looking through it, I'm like,
man, I could pick eight of the songs off this
record. But I'm going to go with the title track
off of our album release, and I'm going to say
the song release. Nice. I like that song, and
it's one that we used to do live. We don't do
it live as much anymore, but I feel like it kind
of fits in. That's a good place to go after Surrender.
So I'd go with Release. Hey, I'm a sucker for
album opening tracks. Now, Pat McGee and Emerson
Hart co -wrote that with Ryan. Yes. And I will
just say that, spoiler alert, there might be
another song from Release getting talked about
later this evening. All right, good. I love this
album. To me, this is a ridiculously underrated
Sister Hazel album all the way through. I agree.
I think all of us, after seeing that post, want
to take a look back and see, well, like I said,
Vacation Rain. I mentioned Vacation Rain earlier.
That's on this record, too. And see what songs
could fit back in the live show. Maybe it's time
to give a few other songs a rest for a while
and pick up some of these songs. Well, here's
one that I'm going to follow it up with, and
it is a cover song. I'm a sucker for cover songs.
I love cover songs. And I love when the band
brings something new to the cover song and makes
it their own. And to me, the song I chose is
one of the 90s defining cover songs, one of my
favorites of the whole decade, because it lands
on pretty much every single mark I can think
of. In the 90s, they did a lot of compilation
tribute albums. They were huge across the board.
And one of my favorites was Legacy, a tribute
to Fleetwood Mac's Rumors that came out in 1998.
And I am running with Sister Hazel's contribution
to that album, the closing track, your cover
of Gold Dust Woman. Look, the band does amazing
covers across the board. I mean, I'm just thinking
about... we could talk about The Car Is Just
What I Needed. The Car Is Self -Titled is my
favorite album of all time. I could have easily
chose that cover because I love that tune. However,
the band's version, totally gender flipping the
song, having the vocals come from a male perspective,
which is normally a Stevie Nicks sang song, to
me was a gamble that paid off so well. And the
fact is, Rumors is one of those albums that is
considered by a lot of people to be a quote unquote
perfect album. There must have been a huge challenge
stepping into this song and trying to bring something
to the original that would leave something to
be desired. And not only did you do that, the
harmonies on it make the hair on my arm stand
up. I just think it's an iconic cover and I feel
like it belongs in this list. I know it's not
an original, but you guys truly made Gold Dust
Woman your own on that album. Thanks, man. We're
very proud of how that turned out. And we actually
did play that song live for a while as well,
too. It was a real honor to be a part of that.
And we all got handwritten letters from Mick
Fleetwood. And that was really cool. I've got
mine framed and hanging up in my room over there.
But that was an honor to be a part of that. And
Ken did such a great job singing that song, too.
He really delivered the song. So that's a good
one, man. That's a good one. I thought you might
go with the Cars song. And I will tell you, the
story behind the Cars song is this. We really
felt like, hey, man, this is the time for us
to do a cover. Maybe it'll be one of those that
piques people's interest and all that kind of
stuff. And we were so proud. We all agreed on
that song, which I will tell you. Anytime we
all agree on something, we should not do it.
That's just the way it is. Because we very rarely
all agree on something. And although I love the
way that song turned out, it just totally missed
the mark. Like, I don't think our label liked
it. I'm not sure if anybody liked it. But we
felt good about it when we got done doing it.
But yeah, Gold Dust Woman, that's a good one.
I'm not going to lie. I do enjoy the cover. I
will say that. I am too. The Cars self -titled
album is my favorite album of all time. And I
still give kudos for a job well done on your
version. You know, man, and I'll tell you, dude,
I don't know. Yes, there are bands that do this
for me, but I'm not sure many do it as well as
the Cars do. It takes me back to that time. It's
almost like it. I don't know how to explain it,
but it almost. transfers me back to that time
period, like right then, like I'm back in that
body in that time when you hear the car songs
kick on. It's so powerful. I love that. I love
the old car stuff. It's great. All right, where
are we? Track nine. Last one for side A. Side
A. All right. I'm going to go with, you know
what? I'm going to save that for side B. All
right. Give me a minute. I'm looking. Wow. So
we just had, we just had gold dust woman. And
this is the second to last song on the side.
All right. Oh, I know what I would do. I would
do. I believe in you. You know, that one, that
one's off of, I got to look and see maybe heartland
highway. That was off of release. It's off release
as well. Yes, sir. Okay. That's the one I would
do is I believe in you. That's another song I
wrote with Stan and I'll never forget going up
to, we went up to me and Stan went up to Ryan's
house to do the acoustic guitars for that record.
And it was so important for those to be right.
And if you listen through to it and talk about,
you know, some of the petty influence, if you
listen to the guitar, the acoustic guitar specifically
on that song, you'll recognize some of the petty
slash, uh, I'm blanking on the name of the, when
he went and did the stuff with Roy Orbison and
traveling Wilburys. Yeah. The traveling Wilburys.
You'll hear like some of that influence in the
acoustic guitars when we did that song. So I
enjoyed writing that song with Stan and I felt
like that it was one of those songs. I think
it's an underrated song as well. That's one of
those songs we played a couple of times live,
but it's hard to like. You hear it and you're
like, oh, that's really simple. But it's hard
to, all that stuff has to lock exactly. And so
there was a lot of, it was a labor of love. But
when it got done, it was like, man, that's it.
That's how I wanted that to sound. So that's
what I'd go with is I Believe in You. Well, I
think the person that did the social post asking
about some love for release is going to feel
happy. Because closing out side A. All right.
I am also going to go with that song. I told
you about a few songs ago from release. Cause
I feel like when you're closing out a side, this
is the perfect side closer. Now, a few years
ago, I interviewed Ryan Newell on my old podcast
tune styles. And when we were talking, I really
made an effort to try to get the band to slide
this back into the set list rotation. It hasn't
happened yet. So I'm going to use. This moment
to throw it out a second time, because I truly
think Take a Bow deserves a spot in the band's
rotation. And to close out a side just lyrically,
it's very fitting. And to me, this just fits
under one of those songs that I would give anything
to hear the band break back out again, because.
To me, it's, again, one of my favorites. I don't
know if it's the minor chord progression or what's
going on in there, but this was written with
Ryan, Pat McGee, and Mike Daly. There's something
about the groove of this song that really resonates
with me. Yeah, that song, there's a lot of personal
meaning behind that too for Ryan. But I know
that during that time period also, I don't know
what it was about what we were doing right then,
but Ken and I... on Harmony -wise, like what
we were doing vocally together was locked. I
mean, it was like locked in. And I remember it
being honestly, and I'm not saying this to brag,
but it was almost effortless during that time
period. Like we got in and we were, I knew where
he was going. He knew where I wanted him to go
vocally so that the harmonies would just hit
just the right way. And that was one of those
songs that really benefited from that. Well,
there you have it, Mixtapers. Side A of our ultimate
Sister Hazel mixtape, which consists of All For
You from Somewhere More Familiar, Change Your
Mind from Fortress, That Kind of Beautiful from
Lighter in the Dark, Let the Fire Burn from Heartland
Highway, Fire from the Fire EP as well as Elements
LP, Surrender from Lift, Release from the album
of the same name, Gold Dust Woman from Legacy,
a tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, I Believe
in You from Release, and Take a Bow. from release
head over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all
the songs we've discussed in this mix through
the playlist embedded on the episode page now
drew before we flip this mixtape over to side
b i want to talk about the band's latest single
love you more Now you wrote this song along with
Ryan Newell and Jack Sizemore. And when I read
the press release for this song. Some podcast
host named Brian Colburn said, Sister Hazel is
back with a breezy rock song that gives you warm
summer vibes on a cold January morning. A funky
riff leads to an infectious chorus that you find
yourself instantly singing along with, a song
that's sure to please Hazelnut fans both new
and old. And in the many listens I've had since
writing that statement, I still 100 % feel the
same way. I'd love to hear more about how this
track came together during the writing process
and who brought what elements to the song. Because
like I said, it's kind of this breezy island
thing, but there's this funky riff over it. And
on paper, it sounds like they would conflict,
but they come together so, so well. Yeah. I will
tell you that. So when we came out of the writing
room, First of all, Jack is a, I mean, he's a
longtime friend. Like I've known Jack. In fact,
Jack and his, the guy that he used to sing with
Britton Cameron, they were Jack and Britton back
in the day before we were Ken and Andrew. So
we started out as an acoustic duo. And honestly,
we would go watch them and be like, wow, man,
they are so good. You know, and then we would
go do our thing or whatever. We used to go do
four -part harmony stuff with those guys, Jack
and Britton. And Jack is now a guitar player
in Jason Aldean's band. And so we've known Jack
forever, though. Great guy and an incredible
songwriter himself. We sat in the room and we
spent probably half the day just laughing and
catching up on whatever. And then eventually
we got around to writing a song. The song that
came out of the writing room, although melodically,
Chord structures, lyrically, is the same as what
you're hearing. The feel was completely different.
And we were all committed to recording the song
in the studio the way that it was. We were like,
yeah, man, I like it. It's got something to it.
There's a good hook. The chorus is solid. Let's
go do this song. But when we got in there, we
kind of were working through it. And Barris goes,
man, let's open our minds for a minute and throw
all the rules out. And what would be the most
interesting thing we could do with this to take
it to the next level? Just not that it's not
good where it is. Let's just try something different.
And Ryan's initial thought was that thing at
the mo, mo, mo, mo. That was his first thing
was at the end of the chorus to tag that on it.
So Ryan came up with that and we were like, oh,
that's awesome. That's awesome. You know, we
loved it. Now we're like, okay, well, it's got
to take, you know, it's going to be a different
groove. And to his credit, Ryan started doing
that. So he came up with all that stuff in the
studio. And then Mark and Barris got on, you
know, the rhythm section and just completely
changed the feel of the entire song. So the lyrics
and the melodies were still kind of from where
it came from. But now you're putting it on top
of this. Totally different feel. And that's how
we ended up with the song the way it is. And
there's a lot of excitement about it. It's a
fun song. Like you said, I think people are digging
it already. 100%. Now, along with Love You More,
in August of 2023, the band released, I'll say
Jimmy Buffett Island inspired tune called Coconut
Trees. Yes. You wrote this song with Kyle Jacobs
several years back and then the band tracked
it this past year. Can you talk about how that
came together? And then to follow up, are these
two songs, both Love You More and Coconut Trees,
part of a larger project that the band is working
on or is the current focus singles right now?
So I'll answer the last question first. And the
answer to that is yes. I don't know what it's
going to look like or how it's going to end up
all coming together. And to be really honest,
there is talk about what you're talking about
that I hear. I'm just not involved in the conversation.
conversations pretty much to be honest with you
so i think that is the ultimate goal is to put
these songs together on a record once we get
there we still have a we have a vault of songs
that we sift through and go in and record when
we're ready that song that i wrote with kyle
who sadly passed away yeah we lost a great guy
in kyle jacobs he was a heck of a human incredibly
talented singer songwriter producer but just
even a better human being So that was a tough
one. Me and Kyle and Lee Bryce would write a
lot together, along with a guy named Billy Montana,
who I co -wrote a lot of songs with. But this
was during Kyle and I got together. There's a
time period between the end of October and the
middle of March in Nashville, where it's just
gray. It doesn't snow all the time, but it's
wet and it's cold and it kind of stays that way
for like a long time. It can be pretty depressing.
And so we got together somewhere in the middle
of that time period. And we were like, man, let's
ride our way out of this. Like, you know, what
would feel good right now? We were talking about
white sand beaches and blue water and coconut
trees. And, you know, we went for it with that
song. And as we were sifting through the vault.
We found that song and we were like, man, there's
something to this that I think our fans would
gravitate towards. Would it have been better
to put it out at the beginning of the summer?
Maybe, but things don't always work out that
way. So we put the song out when we did and people
have enjoyed it so far. And I think it will become
one of those summer songs that people go back
to once they start putting their baggies and
their bikinis on and head to the beach. I like
the song. It's a lot of fun. We're heading off
on the rock boat here soon, and I'm sure we'll
be playing that song somewhere. Well, to kick
off side B, I'm going to do a 180. All right.
From the Island Vibes and go with a song that
I think is very important to the band's history,
but also one that I truly love. And the song
was originally featured on the 1999 soundtrack
to the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. Song
was written by Ken Block. Back on episode 44,
I had the pleasure of speaking with Kay Hanley
from Letters to Cleo. And she talked about the
impact that being on soundtracks had for their
music. Now, Your Winter, the song that I'm choosing,
was on the 10 Things soundtrack before it was
released on Fortress. So Long was featured in
the movie Major League Back to the Minors. We'll
Find It was featured in The Wedding Planner.
The earlier mention from Side A, Change Your
Mind, we talked about it being in Bedazzled.
And your cover of the Bellamy Brothers' Let Your
Love Flow was featured in Clay Pigeons. So I'm
kind of curious. First, I'd love to hear the
story behind your winter. But on top of that,
did soundtracks have an ROI for Sister Hazel
the way that Kay said? Soundtracks truly helped
Letters to Cleo make a name for themselves. A
hundred percent. A hundred percent. And not only
that, but there's a sense of pride when you look
at the soundtracks that you're involved in and
you see the other artists that are included.
I know this is going to sound cheesy, but it
makes you feel like, oh, I belong. Like, look
who else is doing this. Like, man, and I'm right
there. There's a sense of pride in seeing your
name alongside. A lot of other really talented
artists that are listed on soundtracks. So that's
something, as well as there are people that went
and got the soundtrack because of something else
that maybe never heard of the band. And by the
time they get to our song, they go, oh, man,
I got to check them out. Next thing you know,
they're hopefully a hazelnut. That song, Ken
wrote that song at a, we were staying somewhere
in Alabama. And he wrote that song sitting out
by a pool. And we went back to Gainesville. I
had a little house off of 23rd. I had a little
recording rig with an ADAT machine and all that
kind of stuff. I was the only guy that had the
rig at the time. And we went there and recorded
that song at my house. And the right people heard
the right song at the right time and asked us
to be a part of the soundtrack. So that was a
lot of fun for us. And to get to see that on
the big screen, even though the small amount
of the song that is in the movie is just Canada
Acoustic Guitar. I'm not bitter. but it's still
a thrill. So that was a pretty special moment
for us. And that also, that soundtrack went gold.
So that was, that was kind of fun. I'm not sure
where it is now, but I remember back when they
sent us a gold record, I was like, Oh, look at
that. That's cool. So, yeah. Well, following
up your winter, what do you have for your first
song on side B? All right. I'm going with the
song off of bam, which is B sides and more. I'm
going to go with the song that I wrote. The recording
of the song that you hear on that record was
in a rehearsal space that we went in and maybe
touched up a little guitar here, something there,
but not much. It's pretty much a raw track from
a rehearsal space when I brought the song in
and played it for the guys. We worked it up and
played it. We recorded the rehearsal that we
were doing at the time. And that recording is
pretty much what you hear on the record. And
that song is a song called Can't Get You Off
My Mind. It's track 13 off of BAM. Nice. So that
was actually a quote unquote live rehearsal version
of this song? Pretty much. Yes, it really is.
I did not know that. Well, I'm going to follow
that up then with another song from BAM. because
i actually i really love this album and it also
comes with a little bit of a if i'm gonna say
it's not an actual gripe but just a little one
because i had bought this song in 2007 on itunes
when it was the bonus track to the absolutely
album and i'm gonna go with little black heart
okay yeah I guess my question is, because people
don't remember this iTunes bonus track thing.
There was a point when everybody was trying to
pump everything into iTunes. Bands would release
bonus tracks to iTunes, but not put them on the
CD. Right. And this was one of them. So I was
so thankful when BAM came out that I could finally
get my hands on this song on CD as opposed to
just the MP3. But I'm curious. This is a. fantastic
tune. And I was shocked it didn't make Absolutely
initially. Did the band feel like it just musically
was slightly a little different than the rest
of the vibe on Absolutely? You know, it's not
always that because a lot of times it could be
that there was a song that already kind of filled
that space. In fact, more times than not, the
songs that you see surface later are songs that
would have made albums all along the way. But
there was a song or two that already kind of
filled that space on the album. You don't want
to have a record that's all changed your mind.
You know what I mean? You got to have a flow.
We still are old school. We're still the kind
of people that when you put a record in, you
want to kind of go on a journey. And that's kind
of how we've always felt. Now, obviously, with
the way that we're putting out songs now, it's
not quite the same. But ultimately, if we do
put together a record. Then we're going to sit
down and make a set list. So if somebody does
want to listen from top to bottom, it does take
them. We don't want them to hear all the upbeat
songs at the beginning of the record and then
everything. So, you know, so we will do that.
So a lot of times that's what happened. And that's
what happened with that song is that most of
the time it was because that space was already
occupied. Well, I'm just going to throw this
out into the universe. You're doing this exercise
with me here tonight. Maybe we get the whole
band to come on when you're about to release
this album and we sit there and sequence it together
because you've got all this experience now. Yeah,
that's a thought. So what are you going to follow
up Little Black Heart with? All right, Little
Black Heart. I think I'm going to go to. Oh,
I know what I'll put on there. And forgive me
for putting my songs, but they're the ones, you
know, you're talking about me making the playlist.
So some of them are going to be my songs. This
is a song that the guys, we played this every
night for, I don't know how many years. And I
finally got to the point where I was like, hey
guys, I don't want to play that song tonight.
And it got pushed off the set list. And now it
fights its way back on every once in a while.
But this is a song off of Fortress. And it's
a song that I wrote called Strange Cup of Tea.
Why did you not want to play it? It's a great
tune. We did it literally every night. And granted,
a lot of it was because I wanted to play it every
night. But then it got to a thing where we just
did it every night. And when we were touring
a lot, I would literally find myself halfway
through the song going, did I already sing this
verse? I needed to freshen things up. I just
needed to freshen things up. And I'm not kidding.
I would be like, man, I think I just sang this.
Am I singing the wrong verse? So yeah, so that's
what happened with that. Has that mindset changed
on the song? Yes, yes. We play it occasionally
now. But again, we've got a catalog of so many
songs. Sometimes it finds its way on, sometimes
not. Well, following that up, I'm going to slow
things down a lot here. And I am going to go
back one more time to your co -writing with Stan
Lynch. And in 2006, the band released arguably
what I think is one of the band's most beautiful
ballads, This Kind of Love. It's just an absolutely
gorgeous song that makes the hairs on my arm
stand up when I listen to it. Now, there's a
full band version of the song that was released
as a standalone single. And then you've got the
quieter piano laid back stripped version on Absolutely.
My question to you is, as the writer of that
song with Stan Lynch, is there a version that
you prefer? Because that's the version I will
include. on this mixtape because I think they're
both amazing. I can go with either one. So here's
what I would tell you. If you can find a live
version later, when Dave Legrand became a member
of the band for, you know, I don't know if you
know of Dave, but Dave was in the band for about,
actually, you know what? He was never really
in the band. Although he was, he just never really
wanted to claim that. Not that he didn't want
to. He just never claimed that he was, you know,
he's always the side guy. But anyway, you find
a live version of this kind of love with Dave
LeGrand playing the saxophone. That's the version
that I would put in the mixtape. I prefer the
broken down version. Every time that we tried
to go full band with it, we couldn't get out
of the 80s rock ballad land. And so. The acoustic
piano version is always my favorite, but the
versions with Dave playing the saxophone are
my favorite by far. Okay, so what I'll do is
I'll put the piano version on the mixtape, and
then I will find that live version somewhere
on this internet and embed it on the episode
page. I guarantee you that it is out there, because
that was, when Dave would come out with the sax
solo, it was, honestly, it was a moment of our
live show. He would come out, and the crowd loved
the sax. And I kind of was always like, wait
a minute, it's my song. I wrote this just because
he's playing a saxophone. No, it was cool. It
was always good. All right, so I'll follow with
this kind of love. Yeah. Okay. All right. So
I'm going to go to, you know what? I'm going
to put coconut trees on the mixtape. All right.
Little lighthearted, feels good, steel drums,
a little diversion from Sister Hazel's normal
kind of stuff. I like that. Throw that in there.
Yeah. And it comes out of the really slow moment
of this kind of love. Then you get people up
and you get that kind of groove going. Yeah.
Well, I think I know what I'm going to follow
that up with then. All right. And I'm going to
go back to 2018's Water as well as 2020's Elements.
And I'm going to go with a track that was written
by you, Ken, and Michael Logan. And the track
is Roll On By. When I first heard this song,
the first thing I turned to my wife and said
is, this is why I love this band. The vocal harmonies
in this song. are absolutely frigging perfect.
So much fun. Now, I'm going to ask a question
here, and I hate being this guy, so I sincerely
apologize for this. And please, tell me to take
a long walk off a short pier if I mess this up.
But look, the band has covered the Eagles in
the past with peaceful, easy feeling. I've always
felt like Roll On By was Sister Hazel's hat tip
to the Eagles. Oh, absolutely. So I'm not wrong
with this. No, you are not wrong with that. In
fact, as we were playing the chorus to that song,
and I was proud of the fact that it felt so Eagles
-y. I was like, yes, that's exactly how I want
this to sound. So yeah, 100%, huge influence.
So yes, I'm proud to say, in fact, I wish it
was even close. I wish they would even call me
and go, Hey, we're going to sue you. Cause that
sounds too much like us. I'm like, awesome. Wait,
so we get to be in court together. So when you
sign, when you sign these documents to get me,
I could get a copy is like an autograph. That's
awesome. All right. Well, we've got three songs
left for side B two of which are yours. So what
are you going to follow roll on by with? You
know, man, I want to go with. I want to go with
something a little harder. A little more rocking.
I'm going to go with shame. Nice. Yeah, I'm going
to go with shame. We have had a ton of fun playing
that song live for a long time. And that's one
of those rockers. And I just I love the groove
to that song. And I think that as we're winding
up. here on side b we'll hit that and then we
got two more to close out so so where are you
gonna hit we got shame which is a rocker and
you're gonna come behind that with first i want
to just say you totally scooped me on shame i
had it in my bank of songs people that listen
to this show often know i'm a sucker for album
opening tracks and that one just hits the nail
right on the head i love it absolutely i i totally
agree but i think to follow it up i'm gonna go
with a song that Well, we've talked about pretty
much every single Sister Hazel album, except
for one, if I'm looking at my notes correctly.
And that is Chasing Daylight. Now, as much as
I'm a sucker for album openers, we've used a
few tonight. And I love the song Your Mistake,
which Patreon mixtaper David Owens chimed in
with saying that's the song he. immediately goes
to because he spun that cd quite often on his
bus trips home during college but we've used
a couple of album openers tonight so while i
love the pick david i think i'm going to go with
something a little bit different and i think
coming out of shame this is a song that the band
has tend to lean towards in the latter half of
the set list Although there's been a couple of
times I've seen it pop up early, so I might be
off here. But regardless of setlist placement,
it's an infectious sing -along that gets people
up and moving no matter when it's played. So
I am going to go with Swan Dive to follow up
Shame. And my only question for you is, how the
hell was this not a single? This song is so amazing.
And people, that's one of those songs, if we
don't play that song, we hear about it. And that's
what gets hard, man. I'm so thankful that we
have such loyal fans, but you have people that
are like, in fact, Ken and I just did an acoustic
show last night and I didn't play This Kind of
Love and we didn't play Champagne High. And literally
some people were pretty upset enough so that
they came up and we went, okay, wait, wait. And
we made them turn the PA back on and we played
both those songs because we were like, you're
right. We can't leave here without playing those
songs. Yeah, that's a good one. So I'm thankful
for that song. It's a lot of fun. Okay, I'm going
to throw you a total curveball for the last song
on side B. All right, I'm all here for it. Because
I think that a lot of people would want to stay
up for the last song. I'm going to throw you
a song that I wrote with, I remember I mentioned
Jack Sizemore and Britton Cameron. I wrote this
song with Britton Cameron. And this is a, another
song off of, and this is funny that we don't
play any songs off release, but this is another
song off release, but I'm going to go with one
life off of release. And if you, and for anybody
that's familiar with that song, they know that
the end of the song, it really kind of tails
off. So to finish our playlist, our mixtape,
it'll be something that just kind of takes you
off into the sunset. Well, if you haven't figured
it out, release is one of my favorite albums
from the band. And like I said, I've been, I've
been pushing for maybe this is the, the jumping
off point that release starts seeing more love
in the set list because we've made a good case
for it. It could be. Cause as I'm looking through
it, I'm going, why don't we play that? Like we
need to play that again. Like we did. There's
so many songs on here that we need to be playing.
So yeah, that could definitely happen. Well,
there you have it, folks. Side B of our ultimate
Sister Hazel playlist, which kicked off with
Your Winter from the 10 Things I Hate About You
soundtrack, as well as Fortress. A back -to -back
from BAM Volume 1 of Can't Get You Off My Mind
and Little Black Heart. Strange Cup of Tea from
Fortress. This Kind of Love from Absolutely.
The new single Coconut Trees. Roll On By from
Water as well as Elements, Shame from Absolutely,
Swan Dive from Chasing Daylight, and One Life
from Release. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear all the songs we've discussed in this
mix through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Now, Drew, what can the Hazelnuts look
forward to throughout the rest of 2024 from the
band? Well, we're going to continue to put out
songs. We've already got Love You More. We're
going to follow that up and continue to introduce
that to our fans. And we already have another
one loaded, locked and loaded, ready to go. So
there'll be another song following that up and
hopefully several more throughout the year as
we continue to put these songs out. Well, Drew,
this has been an absolute honor. Thank you so
much for joining me on My Weekly Mixtape. Absolutely,
man. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
And remember, Mixtapers, you can find My Weekly
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Thanks again for listening. And until next time.
Enjoy the tunes.