Hey everybody, this is Walter Trout and you are
right here listening to My Weekly Mixtape with
your host Brian Colburn. Here we go! Welcome
to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that takes the
classic mixtape approach to building a modern
playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn. Tonight,
I am so grateful to be joined by a blues rock
legend, Walter Trout. Walter, it's an absolute
honor to have you on My Weekly Mixtape. Thank
you for joining me. Well, thanks for having me
here, Brian. Glad to be here. Glad to be anywhere
at this point of life. Amen. 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? Well, I'm 72 years
old. I'm going to be 73 in a month here. So to
me, it's when you used to make cassettes and
you would record off of your vinyl records, but
you would record songs in a row that you wanted
to hear. On your cassettes, and then you could
actually play the cassettes in your car if you
wanted. So it goes way back. I don't know if
that's what you're getting at, but that's what
it means to me. That is exactly the mindset that
this show was based on creating memories based
on music from all different albums, sometimes
all different artists. And what I've done tonight
is I put together a mixtape of some of my favorite
Walter Trout songs. And then we're going to transition
that into your brand new album that is just dropped
called Broken. But the first song I'd like to
touch on is going way back. It's the song that
introduced me to your music. And I'm going to
take. you back to my early days in radio some
two decades and change ago i was jamming out
to some music on mp3 .com that was definitely
a site and i stumbled across a little track called
looking for the promised land and i was immediately
blown away breaking the fourth wall here we're
actually recording this episode the day after
martin luther king day and with that i felt like
That made this song extra fitting to kick things
off. Can you talk about the message of this song
and how it still remains relevant almost 25 years
later? It's amazing you bring that up because
yesterday was Martin Luther King Day and I actually
posted that song, which I do every year on that
day. You know, I had the idea for the song. I
mean, it is an old song of mine. It's got to
be at least 20 years old. But the thing of looking
for the promised land, I don't know, I might
have been watching a movie or something, but
that became kind of a metaphor for me. I think
everybody is sort of doing that in their life.
Metaphorically, they're looking for a better
life. They're looking for a happier life, a more
stress free life, a fulfillment in their life.
So I started off to write it like that. And then
it became. There's a couple of Bible stories
in there. I started off with Moses, and then
I went to Daniel in the lion's den. When it was
time for the third verse, I went right to Martin
Luther King, who I think was a modern, amazing
hero that we need to look up to. He gave his
life for what he believed in, and you can't ask
for more than that of a human being. And also
recently before I wrote it, I had played in Memphis
and my wife and I had gone to the National Civil
Rights Museum, which is located in the old Lorraine
Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated.
So it just seemed to all come together when I
wrote that song. Well, I want to take this moment
to personally thank you because way back in the
late aughts. 2008, I saw you perform at the Mexicali
Blues Cafe in Teaneck, New Jersey. Yes. You were
out promoting the Walter Trout Power Trio CD,
Hardcore. My buddies and I were sitting front
row and in between songs, I elbowed my buddy.
And I thought I whispered to him, here's to hoping
we get promised land tonight. My wife has informed
me many a times over the years that when I think
I'm whispering, I'm actually yelling at the top
of my lungs. And apparently you heard me from
the stage. You looked me dead in the eye and
said, promised land, huh? All right, boys, let's
give it to him. Two, three, four. And you went
right into the song. I've been waiting. Some
15 years to thank you for that moment. That was
just absolutely unreal. Oh, well, thank you.
But you got to watch that whispering math. It
doesn't get any better. But I want to stick with
that hardcore CD for a moment as there's a version
of a song that really opens up from the original.
It's a track called Gotta Leave This Town, which
was originally featured on your Go The Distance
album. In this live version, you incorporate
volume swells into the guitar solo. And as a
guitarist myself, who's not good at that technique
in any way, shape or form, I'm completely blown
away when you pull it out in a live performance.
I'd love to know your thought process behind
incorporating volume swells like that. Well,
there actually is no thought process behind it.
When I start playing guitar solos, I don't want
to think at all. As a matter of fact, I tell
people if I had wanted to think, I wouldn't,
you know, have played music. I played music so
I can stop thinking this overly active brain
of mine here, you know. And the one that kind
of gave me the idea to do that was when I was
a kid, I was a huge fan of Roy Buchanan. And
I went to see him many times. He played in Cherry
Hill, New Jersey in a little bar. And me and
my buddies went to see him. And after the gig,
we carried his Fender amp to his car for him.
And then when I was with John Mayall, Roy became
a friend of mine. And there's actually another
guitar player whose name was Mike Deasy. And
he played on a live Cannonball Adderley album.
And he was doing volume swells. And I just found
it to be such an amazing technique. Now, if we
have time, I would like to go back through the
history of the Stratocaster. Sure. Because Leo
Fender had the Telecaster and he had a friend
named Bill Carson who played guitar in a country
western band. And Bill Carson said to his friend
Leo, hey, if you move the volume button. right
under my pinky and you put a whammy bar vibrato
bar on the guitar i can imitate a steel guitar
so the stratocaster was actually the first stratocaster
was actually invented with that technique in
mind wow learn something new every day i love
it yeah The next album I want to focus on is
one of my favorites of yours from across your
whole catalog, and that's Relentless. It was
an album of brand new original material that
you chose to record live in concert in Amsterdam.
So the first time any fans heard songs like The
Life I Chose, Jericho Road, and I'm Tired, it
was in a live setting, which is an extremely
unique approach to releasing new music. Can you
talk about the mindset behind that approach?
Well, I'm going to give credit where it's due
here. For the last 32 years, my career has been
very well managed by someone who also happens
to be my wife. And she came up with the idea.
She said, Walter, what would you think about
your next album doing it live in front of people?
And I was like, well, that's interesting. She
goes, you do all original songs. But you go in
front of people. And we had first come up with
the idea that we would rent out a big recording
studio in Los Angeles. And we would set up chairs
and we would record it in front of people sitting
there. And we'd actually gone to the studio and
we're setting that up when Elton John rented
out the studio for a month. There was a huge.
studio where sinatra and these other people had
recorded so at that point we're like let's just
do it in the venue and the man who owned the
record label thomas roof said what's your favorite
venue in the world and i said paradiso in amsterdam
he said well let's do it there so that was my
wife's idea let's call her my manager my manager
came up with that as sort of something different
Let's try something, you know, not many people
have done. I think Neil Young did that once,
one or two other people, but it was high pressure.
And we did two nights there and we ended up using
the second night. The whole album is the second
night because we were much more relaxed at that
point. Well, I absolutely love the album. I've
always wondered, and I'm guessing the answer
is because it wasn't an original, but on the
DVD, you actually open up with a cover of Elmore
James dust my broom, which you had included on
your no more fish jokes album. But this version
to me is my all time. favorite version of dust
my broom and i was always curious why it didn't
make the cd was that because it was a cover yeah
because it was a cover and let me tell you one
thing about my live performances i always start
off with kind of a up -tempo shuffle jam and
the reason we do that and i play a while and
i sing a while and the keyboard solo and it's
to kind of Sometimes you can get so adrenalized
before you get up there to play. That first song
is a way for us to just kind of blow it out.
Also get used to the crowd, get used to the sound
on the stage. And so I do that at every performance.
I do just a kind of a shuffle jam to start the
show. And that's our way of just easing into.
OK, we're going to play for two hours here. Here
we go. And not being completely overdosing on
adrenaline, you know. Well, I want to take the
approach you used on Relentless and move up a
couple of years to your 2006 Full Circle album,
which you recorded live in the studio all in
one take. And one of the songs I'll just mention
right off the top of my head is Clouds on the
Horizon that you did with Joe Bonamassa. Did
the experience of working on Relentless live
on stage make you want to take that energy and
bring it into the studio for that Full Circle
album? You know, I don't know if it did that,
but that was an album that I came up with the
concept. I mean, I'm always up for trying new
things. And I came up with this idea, like, how
about if we go into a studio? We invite people
to come into the studio. And with that special
guest, we sit down right there and we write a
song together. We show it to the band and we
record it live. Warts and all, however it comes
out. So with every one of the guests on that
album, they had to come in and they had to be
in the studio with us. And we had to write the
song together. That's unbelievable because Clouds
on the Horizon is such a monster. I think I read
somewhere that there was only one take on the
album where your headphones fell off and they
stopped it right there because you couldn't hear
anything at that point. I can tell you Clouds
on the Horizon, Joe came in and he was going
to play through one of my Mesa Boogie amplifiers.
And he went over to the amplifier and he was
testing it, trying to set it. So he was playing
the guitar with one hand and turning knobs on
the amplifier. And he was going, then I went,
what's that lick? And he said, it's not a lick
I'm trying. And I said, let's take that lick
and we'll make a song out of it. And so we sat
down, we put that song together. And what you
hear on that album is the rehearsal. Now the
drummer, was Richie Hayward of Little Feet, one
of the greatest drummers in history. Richie was
playing, and that was the rehearsal. And at the
end of it, he said, okay, let's record it now.
And I said to the producer, Eric, I said, hey,
did you just record what we just did? And he
said, yeah, I did. And I said, well, then that's
it. And Richie's like, no, let's do it again.
I said, we're never going to beat that, man.
So what you hear, we only played it once. That
is the rehearsal. Unbelievable. And Richie was
kind of like, come on, man, we can do better.
And I'm like, I don't think we're going to do
better. You know, considering that's a top three
favorite of your songs for me, I'd love to hear
what a quote unquote better version of that song
is. But moving on to some other tracks that I'm
a huge fan of. Fast forwarding a couple of years
later on your album, The Outsider. You have a
track, Welcome to the Human Race, which is just
filled with this monster swagger to it. And on
the same album, you have a gorgeous ballad, A
Matter of the Heart. Every album that you've
created over the years, I've noticed truly strikes
a perfect musical balance between the blues,
the rock, the acoustic ballads, the shuffle blues,
and all of the styles that have incorporated
through your whole career on every album you
put out. Is that something that when you're going
into write an album is always on the top of your
mind, or is it just the songs that come out?
Those are the songs that come out, but I can
tell you. I love ballads. And if I could get
away with it, I'd just do a whole album of original
ballads. I could sit down and write you a ballad
very quickly. I find them just a perfect way
to express feeling. And Matter of the Heart,
I love that song. And that song basically says
that love is an emotion. It's not something in
your brain. It's something in your heart. But
then Welcome to the Human Race, you know, I think
I was a little maybe annoyed. It's a few things
when I wrote that. I don't know. But I do like
if I have a ballad that I like and I put it on
the album and I sing it very quietly, then I
want to do a song where I'm screaming, you know.
I want to kind of explore my vocal range. And
so it's funny. They just end up that way. But
I do like to try to, like my wife says, my albums
are like a roller coaster. You know, they got
the up and the down. And, you know, like on the
new one, you have this rocking song with Dee
Snider. And then. Right out of that, you have
an instrumental that has an orchestral harp on
it, and it's very quiet, you know. And for context,
for those listening, the track with Dee Snider
is called I've Had Enough, and the orchestral
instrumental is Love of My Life. Since we're
talking about Broken right now, let's just dive
into the new album, starting with the opening
track, a blistering ballad. with the amazing
Beth Hart that just so happens to be the title
track of the album, Broken. And all that I have
Can you talk about how that collaboration came
together and what Beth brought to the song's
kind of overall emotional arc? Man, I'll go back
a little bit through history. I had a song a
few years ago called All Out of Tears, and it
was written with the great blues singer Teenie
Tucker, and it was also written with my wife,
who is also an award -winning songwriter. And
that song was about... Teenie had lost her son,
and the song was about grief. And it won Song
of the Year at the Blues Music Awards that year.
But it had a line in it. It's a very emotional
song. It had a line in it, I know I'm broken.
And every time I would sing that on stage, I
would think, I need to write an answer to this,
which is, I don't want to be broken. I want to
get out of this mental box that I'm in and I
want to get past this grief. And so I started
writing that song and it started. I had the first
verse pieces of myself seemed to break away.
I lose a little more each and every day. And
I realized it was really about when I was thinking
about it, it was about my years as a drug addict
and an alcoholic. and my ears with mental issues
that I had to go into therapy for. And then some
of the lyrics, it was hitting too close to home.
And I told my wife, I'm stuck. I want to finish
this song. And she's never been a drug addict
or an alcoholic, but she's been with me for 33
years. She sat down and finished the lyrics for
me. And I went in and sang it in the studio with
the band. And the whole time I was singing it
in my head, I could hear Beth. And Beth is a
dear friend. And she's been through a lot in
her life. And I figured she could relate. So
I sent her the song. And the next day she said,
oh, I want to be part of this. This speaks to
me. And she came in and sang with an emotional
impact. which few people, few artists on the
planet have. She is one of the greatest artists
on the planet. Nobody sings like her. And she
came in and she elevated that song emotionally
to an entirely new level. And I've played that
song for a lot of people and a lot of them have
wept at the end. including one well -known musician
who I won't name, but he was at my house with
his wife. And I played them that song and they
embraced at the end and they both started crying.
Her emotional impact is one of a kind. And what
she did with that song, that's something when
I'm on my deathbed and look back at my career,
that's one that I'm proud of. And the same with
my wife who wrote it with me. We think we did
something there with that song. And people who
are going through those problems, maybe they
can realize you're not alone. And that is an
extremely powerful sentiment to put out in music.
And for one, I thank you for that because your
music has helped me through tough times in my
life for various reasons. I relate to the lyrics.
I relate to these songs. And that's what's made
me a fan for so many years. Another track I'd
like to touch on off the new album is the first
single, Bleed, featuring Will Wilde on harmonica.
You know to be prepared for love, you must be
prepared to bleed. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you must
be prepared to bleed. In the press leading up
to the album, you were quoted as saying, I've
always tried to write positive songs and this
album is not quite that, but I always hold on
to hope. I think that's why I wrote this album.
Could you elaborate on that? Because you've dealt
with some extremely heavy and powerful themes
over the years. Just throwing out there for an
example, a song like Almost Gone from the album
Battle Scars, which chronicled your battle with
liver failure and the weight you endured for
a donated liver to become available. And yet
there was still hope. Why is this album different?
Here's the thing with Battle Scars. It chronicles
that whole thing. But it ends with a song called
I'm Going to Live Again. So it ends with hope
and it ends on a positive note. This one, I have
to say, I was kind of looking around at the world
and at my life and life and different people.
And when I said that this album is not that,
I mean, this album starts with a song called
Broken. It is with a song called It Falls Apart.
I have a song on there, there's no more magic
on the street anymore. It kind of, I don't know,
man. I took a look at what was going on around
me and in certain people, and I still want there
to be hope. And if you read the liner notes I
wrote in the record, you'll see it ends with,
I choose love, I choose hope. But it is, I am
trying to, I think. point out some things you
know the song falls apart as a line of lyric
i tried so hard to find peace but it's just too
difficult you know but there's got to be hope
um without hope we all might as well jump off
a cliff you know i i try to look at the future
and and be positive about it but i can't say
that i this album is full of feel -good songs
you know Well, there are songs that make you
feel good, even though the message is definitely
critical. And this is one you mentioned earlier,
the hard rockin' track, I've Had Enough, that
features Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, which is
a very interesting collaboration because one
doesn't usually put Dee into the blues. You usually
think hard rock and metal. Too many fools Too
many lawyers Too many banks Too many soldiers
Yeah, Walter, I'm going to have to ask to hear
the story behind this amazing collaboration with
Dee. Well, I can tell you two years ago, Dee
Snider on his Twitter put up a song of mine and
said, who is this guy? This guy is just blazing.
He's my new favorite guitar player. So I just
answered him on Twitter and I said, thanks a
lot, man. And he sent me a message and said,
give me your cell number. And we started talking
and we become great friends. We talk all the
time. And he's an amazing guy. And he said, man,
I would love to sing on your record. And I thought,
well, that would be a really interesting collaboration.
So then I thought, OK, I got to write a song
to do with D. And I thought, well, his big hit
is We're Not Gonna Take It. And in keeping with
the theme of broken and falls apart, I kind of
looked around and I thought I've had enough.
It's easy to relate to, you know. And so I wrote
that tune and he came in the studio and he sang
his ass off, man. He's singing great on there.
And shortly we're going to do a video of the
song, he and I together. He's an amazing guy,
man. It was really fun doing this music with
him. And I think that song came out really good,
too. And I listened to the rhythm section. I
mean, my drummer, Mike Lazor, this is his 10th
album with me. But before me, he was with Edgar
Winter. And the bass player on this album, Jamie
Hunting, he was with Roger Daltrey and David
Lee Roth. And Eddie Money. I mean, these guys
are rockers. So we're rocking. Well, I want to
ask about over the last decade and change, it
seems like not every year, but almost with every
passing year, we're getting new Walter Trout
music. And every album has been just as good
as the last, if not better, each and every time.
How do you keep up this consistency with each
and every album? You know, that's an interesting
question, Brian, and I don't know how to answer
it. I sit down to write. I'm not somebody that
writes all the time because I have to get into
a certain zone emotionally and mentally. And
the best way for me to do an album is my wife
goes to Denmark, where she's from, and we have
a house there and my kids are over there. I will
stay in this house in California for a couple
of weeks. by myself and get into that zone. And
my wife and kids know that when I'm in that zone,
I'm very hard to communicate with. As my wife
says, okay, she used to tell my kids, dad's writing
an album. He's not on the planet right now. But
if I start writing a tune and it doesn't grab
me, I get rid of it. So as far as the consistency,
that's a tough one. I don't have any way, and
I'm glad you think that they're good and they're
getting better, because it is part of me that
I want to keep creating and I want it to improve.
I want to get better at what I do. So it's not
something I know how to do consciously. I just
set out, okay, I'm going to make a record. Let's
see what I can come up with. Here's an interesting
story. Every time my wife who managed me says,
okay, you got to make a record. I go through
a couple of days where I sit down and I get very
morose and depressed and go, I don't think I
have anything more to say. I don't know how I
can do this again. Am I out of ideas? And I get
into this kind of depression. And then. I hear
one day, I'll try to get this out without losing
it. It happens all the time. I hear the voice
of my mom and she says, Walter, from the time
you were five years old, all you wanted to do
was be a musician and you are a musician and
you make music and that is what you do and it's
easy for you. So quit bellyaching and sit down
and make some music. And as soon as I have that
epiphany, man, I can write an album in a week.
Wow. Completely floored by that. That's just
a beautiful story. A few weeks ago on episode
55, we had Jax Hollow on the program, who's an
up and coming female blues guitarist. Her and
I curated the ultimate modern blues rock playlist.
And one of the song choices, without spoiling
it for the My Weekly Mixtape listeners who might
not have heard the episode yet, is your song
Wanna Dance from your Ordinary Madness album.
Whoa, cool. This song to me is distinctly a Walter
Trout song. But when I listen to the guitar tone.
And you mentioned them earlier, which is why
I'm bringing it up now. I hear elements of Neil
Young and Crazy Horse in the sound of the guitar
on that song. And I'm curious, was that something
that was in the back of your mind? Because to
me, it's distinctly Walter Trout tipping his
hat to Neil Young on that track. Let me tell
you, I did not do that intentionally, but I've
had many people tell me that. And when that song
was released as a single, a lot of people commented,
who does this guy think? Is this Crazy Horse
or what is this? But an interesting story behind
that song was out here in California in Long
Beach some years back. There's an old hotel from
the 30s. It was owned originally by Conrad Hilton.
And he had a restaurant up on the top of the
hotel with swing bands. And it's where he and
Elizabeth Taylor had had their honeymoon. And
there were photos up of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren
Bacall sitting in the booths. And there were
swing bands that played. And my wife and I would
get suits and clothes from the 30s. And people
would go there on Saturday nights. And the swing
band would play and we would have dinner and
we would dance. And we actually took swing dance
lessons. Wow. And the beautiful fun of it was
I went there and nobody knew who I was. We just
had dinner and we'd go out and dance and nobody
watched us. The fact that we couldn't dance very
well, but we had smiles on our faces and it was
something that we loved. And whenever I was home,
we would do that like every weekend. And that
song is that's exactly what that song is about.
That place has since closed and there's no place
like it around here. And we miss it. Well, earlier
we talked about your cover of Dust My Broom,
and I'm a huge fan of cover songs. In 2015, you
blew my mind with an EP of five covers called
In Session, which included your take on Jeff
Beck Group's Blues Deluxe, ZZ Top's Gimme All
Your Lovin', The Black Keys' Tighten Up, Stevie
Ray Vaughan's Say What, and Leonard Skinner's
Gimme Three Steps. When you're covering someone
else's music, how do you strike a balance between
honoring the original song and putting the quote
unquote Walter Trout stamp on it? Well, this
is very interesting because all of those covers,
I did them. There were tribute albums and I played
on all those tribute albums and I had no idea
they had all been released as an EP. Really?
So I have a feeling that EP is a bootleg, but
I'm OK. It doesn't matter. But I did those on
tribute albums and I did a lot more than that.
Actually, I did a whole lot of tribute albums
for a while and it was great. I'd go up to L
.A. and do these tunes that I love. They always
let me pick the song, too, which was great, you
know, except for one time I played on one called
Blues on Blonde. which was Blonde on Blonde by
Bob Dylan, but done by bluesers. And they made
me do Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, which was my
least favorite Bob Dylan song of all time. As
far as covering those songs, I've always tried
to do it, but make it my own. I'm not out to
be a tribute band, you know, and tribute bands
now are huge. It's something that I don't quite
get when guys dress up like Tom Petty and they
come out and they put on a wig and they do it.
Because what's missing is the original spark
of genius. Tom Petty had the spark of genius.
And when some guy comes out and imitates him,
it's not Tom Petty. So I'm not really a tribute
band aficionado. But so when I did those albums,
I very deliberately tried to do them my way.
When I did the ZZ Top tune, I didn't try to sing
like Billy Gibbons or, you know, I didn't try
to play the guitar solo like was on their record.
I do it my own way. And I've done that from the
beginning. First album, I had a live version
of Red House, but I didn't do it like Jimi Hendrix.
My second album, I had a version of Girl from
the North Country by Bob Dylan. And I did it
my own approach, you know. That version of Red
House, I told you that Looking for the Promised
Land was the song that I discovered you with.
Red House is my favorite blues song of all time.
from the jimi hendrix experience that was the
song that my father said if you want to hear
guitar playing when i was growing up he said
you need to listen to this song and the first
time i heard red house i fell in love with the
blues and when i heard your nine minute version
of it i said this guy speaks my language when
you're tackling something like red house by jimi
hendrix which everybody has kind of ingrained
in their musical dna how do you set yours apart
but still show that you're a fan that you could
tell in your version that you love the original
how do you strike that well when you get to when
you get into the song once again you have to
consciously do your best to make it your own
i also did a cover on an album of i shall be
released by bob dylan but i approached it completely
different than every other band I've ever heard
do it. For example, when they get to the chorus,
they have harmony. I decided not to do that.
And I told the band, I want to approach this
song as if it's Otis Redding doing it or Wilson
Pickett. And I tried to sort of sing it in my
own way, but it's like the way Wilson Pickett
did Hey Jew or Sonny. You know, make it your
own. And so with Red House, plus that was recorded
live in front of about 80 ,000 people. So I was
off, you know, that was at a festival in Denmark.
And I was getting off, man. Plus, we went on
right before a little feed. So my buddy, Richie
Hayward, was standing in the monitor booth watching
me play. So I'm like, I got to. I got to go here,
man. I got to play. Well, we have talked about
a lot of my favorite songs tonight, and I feel
that's a little selfish. So I'd like to kind
of turn the tables a little bit as all of the
songs we are talking about tonight are going
to be embedded in a playlist over at myweeklymixtape
.com for the listeners of the show to go listen
to the songs after. If you had to pick one song
from across your entire body of work, all the
songs you've recorded, that truly stands out
to you, and I'm not saying it's your favorite
song, but it's a song that holds a deep personal
meaning for you, Walter Trout, the person, which
one would you pick and why? Number one, I would
pick The Bottom of the River. I don't know if
you've heard that one, but that's one of the
heaviest things I've ever come up with. The reason
is this. I was dying of liver failure. And I
was down to about 110 pounds. And my body was
racked with cramps from head to toe. And I was
determined to make one last album before I died.
I expected to die. I was dying. And I had part
of the liver failure. I had it. thing called
ascites and that is where your abdomen fills
up with fluid and I would go in once or once
every two weeks and they would stick a drain
in my abdomen and they would take out literally
25 to 50 pounds of liquid out of my abdomen and
it was pressing on my diaphragm and my lungs
and I could not breathe and my wife one day said
to me oh Walter dear Dear Walter, it's like you're
drowning because I couldn't breathe. And I got
this image in my head of a man who falls into
a river and the current pulls him to the bottom
and he starts drowning. He can't breathe. And
he looks up. He can see the light above him out
of the water, but it's too hard of a fight against
the current. And he's ready to drown. But then
in a split second. As the lyrics say, I saw all
the people I had loved and all I had done wrong.
The places I had left behind and the places I
belonged. He starts seeing his whole life and
he sees people he did wrong, all the people he
loved, what he had been through. And he decides,
I'm not going to die today. And he fights with
all his strength. that he can muster, and he
forces his way to the top. And when he gets above
the water, his head pops out, and he's gasping
for breath. It says, I cried in realization as
I was gasping for my breath. I cried in realization
that I had cheated death. And then he swims to
the shore, and as he crawls up on the beach,
He sees the beauty of the world in a way he has
never seen it before. He looks at the world completely
different. And the last line is, that day I changed
forever from who I was before. And that song
to me is like a short story. And I did that song
on that album. And I had to, it was so hard to
catch my breath. The only way I could do the
vocals. I would have to sit. I'd have the microphone
in front of me. The producer would be in the,
and I would gather my breath and I'd point to
him and he'd push record and I would sing one
line. And then I had to stop and I had to gather
my breath again. And I'd point to him and I'd
sing the next line. And I was determined I had
to do that whole album like that. But that song
to me is, Something that I don't know where it
came from. It was given to me, but it is an optimistic
song because in the song I live, even though
I expected to die. And that is one of the, I
have a hard time listening to that one. Wow.
I don't get speechless often, but I'm speechless
after that story. Well, sometime now that I've
described it, give that song a listen. Oh, I'm
a huge fan of the blues came calling. It's an
amazing album. And as soon as we're done recording,
I'm going to have to go listen to that song again
and hear it with that story in mind. Cause now
I'm going to hear that song in a completely different
light. Yeah. And that came from my wife. Well,
I am just grateful that you're here making incredible
music to this day. So thankful for. decades of
amazing music. And I'm just going to say it for
decades more to come, because considering the
output that you've done over the last decade,
I can't expect that you're slowing down this
train anytime soon. Thank you so much for joining
me on my weekly mixtape. It's been an honor.
Well, thank you for having me, Brian. This has
been a pleasure. Anytime you want me to come
back on your show, I'd love to do it. You've
been a great interviewer and I've enjoyed this.
And just a reminder to those listening, all of
the songs we've discussed today, I'm embedding
in a playlist over at myweeklymixtape .com. And
while you're there, be sure to check out the
full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape episodes. 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 mixtaper at
patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape. That's
all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.