Unknown: Mike coming to you from crash studios in Music City,
USA, Nashville. This is the rich Redmond show on
this episode, Legacy Nashville drummer Lonnie
Wilson and now rich Redmond.
What is up everyone? Rich Redmond here. This is the rich
Redmond show. As always, I'm joined by my co host and CO
producer Jim McCarthy, how are you pal? Yes, still so hot here
in Nashville, it is. I'm ready for it to cool off, of course,
by the time this airs, it'll probably be pretty frigid. It
might be because at night, nice fall, feel we're way ahead on
our podcasts, which is great. I feel like an overachiever. We've
actually got 23 of these in the can, and we did that in six
weeks. Yes, see what happens when you set your mind to
something. I never knew that, and I never set my mind anything
you're highly accomplished. For those you guys that don't know
Jim McCarthy, Jim McCarthy voiceovers calm. He has worked
at a million radio stations. He does station ID, imaging, call
waiting, what's like? Press one for That's right. That's right.
Press one to speak to a real person. I've done over 200
million appearances. Mike,
well, who is my guest? My guest today is an award winning
musician. Mr. Lonnie Wilson, how are you? My friend? It is just
wonderful to have you here. Thank you so much at my studio.
And the idea if I had known this 24 years ago, when I moved to
Nashville, that that you and I would become friends that hardly
ever see each other, because we're always so busy swatting
the drums in different parts of the town or different parts of
the country, that you would be here and we'd be sharing some
bubbly water together. Cheers. This is so fantastic. Your
success. Thank you just it's awesome. I mean, you're killing
it well, that absolutely thank you knocking down, man. Well, it
is, it is. It's such a fun story because, like, one of the last
times I saw you was, you know, backstage at the Academy Country
Music Awards in Vegas. And then before that, I said, Lonnie, I
take acting classes, like, right next door to your studio. I'm
coming over. We're gonna break bread. We're gonna do something.
So you made a pot of coffee. We drank that entire pot of coffee.
Oh yeah. And we just, you just told me stories of the old days
about the music business, when it was like the red the velvet
rope studio, 54 era of the music business, which you experienced.
It was fun firsthand. So thank God he was fun. It is fun.
Absolutely, you printed out some of your accomplishments. This is
incredible. I guess you got
bored one day. It's pretty crude. Bored, and said, let me
print out all my accomplishments.
As a drummer. You have recorded drums and percussion on 118
number one songs so and then, addition to that 282
top 10 singles, 345, top 20 singles, and 446
top 40 singles, all adding up to over 200 million units sold. So
your heart, your soul, your groove, your musicianship, help
the careers of countless people that have been recording and
writing songs in Nashville for over three decades. Thank you.
Pretty cool. Thank you, man, thanks. It's been awesome. And
in working with so many different singers and artists
and being on the ground floor, yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, I
mean, with you, with Aldean. I mean, that's in that a great
feeling. It's wonderful
because, you know, you see lives changed, and families and just
the ripple effect of it is crazy. Yeah, I tell people all
the time, you know, my purpose in life is to affect people in a
positive way and change lives. So if I can, so that gets me out
of bed every day. The drums are fun. Playing music is fun, but
it's also ultimately in line with that purpose. I'm in line
with my purpose. And you are. You are such a multi talent
because you you're a singer, you are a songwriter, you are a
producer, and you've done all those things at the highest
level in this Music City, USA, you're like some of your
drumming. You know your drumming helped define a sound of modern
country. Of course, our friend Eddie bears, both of you guys
amazing. So sweet to me when I moved to town and two, two
different styles. Of course, obviously, what you would have
in common is servitude of the song, staying out of the way,
painting the picture, bringing the song to life, and you had
almost like this,
kick butt loose. Hi Hat, more crashes, aggressive style that
brought the rock to country. Now, who are some of your
influences as drummer, because you're, I feel like you're a
rock drummer.
Sure. Man, that's very insightful. I mean, you know,
you're a teacher. And
I mean, I grew up in the 70s. Finished high school in the mid
70s, 76 so the music was so good. Yeah, so many great
players. I mean, gosh, so many good drummers. Chris McCarthy,
no doubt. Yeah. I mean, who, who hasn't been influenced by Sure?
And then there was, like, local. My dad is a great drummer.
You're from Monroe, Louisiana, yes. And I grew up watching him
play, listening to him play, from the time I was, well, like
a baby. That's incredible. So it was in your blood. They my
parents had her top 40 cover band for years, and
my uncle played in Monroe, Louisiana. So, yeah, I was, I
was going to rehearsals from the time I can remember. Yeah, so
that, so dad's number one, no doubt. Bill Wilson. Shout out to
Wild Bill Wilson, right? Wild Bill, where's he in Monroe? He's
in Monroe, Louisiana. You ever get back? Oh yeah, yeah. Great
singers. Are Nancy Wilson's her name, and they're 84 and 81
years old. Still Have your parents. I love Yeah, and
they've been playing. I mean, up until about three or four years
ago, they were playing regularly. But they're proud of
you. God bless them. They're amazing parents. Did they ever
tell you to get a real job?
Well, kind of
probably because they realized how difficult it was. Well,
yeah, my dad was a chemist in a hospital and played on the
weekends, so it was good role model, and they encouraged me to
go to college, which I did, and I majored in marketing, of all
things. But I played in a great top 40 cover band based out of
Natchez, Mississippi, which we played all that area,
Mississippi, Louisiana, parts of Texas, parts of Arkansas, and we
played all that fun. I mean, Commodores, Bee Gees, just that
era. If you don't move to that stuff, you're dead. Yeah, yeah.
It's just and then, of course, all the, you know, the 60s and
50s rock and stuff, which, if you go to parties now, you still
what people want to hear. Did you like no, yeah. Did you like
Motown? I love Motown because they're there you have for the
drummer nerds out there. You have a vocabulary idea they use
a lot the six stroke, roll, get out, boom, which is like, you
know, which is the start of this. No, you want to leave me.
I just hear that is a vocabulary. Now check this out.
Why used to be in the predators house band, and we would go and
we would, we'd get a hot meal, we'd have a chance to be on
ESPN, and we make 100 bucks, and it was like Jay al Dean's band.
And we would, we would go play for the predators, and we would
back up chick singers. Emily West was one of them, and we
would do this song. I stole this right from you, and I put it
right into my back pocket. You.
Okay, that track, I have to tell you about this track. So
I had the flu that day, yes, I mean, I was, I was literally in
the drum booth, laying in a fetal position. I hate that, and
and trying to tough out the session, you know. And Dan Huff
comes and opens the door to the booth and slams it because he
sees me on the floor, is sweating, and then he cracks it
back up. He says, Hey, man, we're ready to track this song,
man, I gotta. And I just, I just got up and that came out, yes,
and I was in one take, yeah, oh, yeah. Oh, thank God, yeah. It
had to be, thank God. Now Lonnie, that Phil, others gonna
Don Corleone.
It
was a desperate feel. It was like, I've got to get this, you
know, desperate feel it was, it was like, I've got to nail this,
because I got one take in me and and I did, I love that you went
to the session, you know, that you didn't send a sub. You just
like, I got this. I'm gonna go do this well, man, you know,
you hate to cancel on people, and Martina was so gracious and
loyal for years to me, and I'll always be thankful for her for
that. Well, that's how you got on my radar. Was a lot of those
Martina McBride records. But you know, a lot of times when I
teach my crash concept for success, one, you know, one of
the parts of the acronyms is relationships. And you seems
like you have this career defining track record with all
these people that you have made music with, not on just one
single or one album, but all their albums. So Brooks and Dunn
Tim McGraw, John and Michael Montgomery, Tracy Lawrence,
faith, Hill, Martina McBride, year.
After year, album after album, hit after hit, they kept
inviting you back to the party, yeah? And they eventually change
up, and that's cool. I mean, that's part of the evolution,
yeah, and, but, but you're right. I had many artists that
were incredibly loyal for a long time. And of course, it's
reciprocal, yeah, you know, I'm gonna bring it for those people.
We, we bring it for everybody, right? I mean, that's, that's
our nature. We're it's such a competitive business, and
there's so many great players. You have to show up and be on
every time. Once you crack the door and get in, you want to
stay in the party. You don't want to get kicked out or be
like, No, this guy isn't very funny. More fun. Let's get a
more funner guy. That's true, right? You once you want to stay
there, you want to stay relevant. You want to, you know,
once you taste the the blood of the guys from drum paradise
coming up and setting up your drums, and you go get a hot cup
of coffee and drink your water, and you can catch up with
everybody in this session. Drum paradise, yes, yes, yes. We
actually Harry and John Michael, Harry and John Michael. We had
Harry on. Yeah? That was a great the great episode. The man,
yeah, go check it out. You don't have to go back to schlepping
your own drums. You don't want to have to do that. Do, yeah, I
still do the
rich Redmond show. We'll be right back.
Learn by Doing, I definitely think resonates with what we're
about here at the School of Rock.
I'm Angie McCarthy and I'm the owner of the School of Rock in
Franklin and Nashville. I would say that the majority of kids
that come in have either been sitting in their bedrooms
watching YouTube, learning how to play, or they've taken music
lessons at some point in their life. We do have a lot of
beginners. It doesn't matter what level you're at, you can
participate in our programs, whether you're a beginner or
you're advanced. We don't teach music to put on shows. We put on
shows to teach music. Connect with School of Rock today.
Search School of Rock Franklin or Nashville.
This is the rich Redmond show
we have the aging brain.
What was the guy saying last night? You're old. What was his
name? Vance, right? What was that Jim, he was talking about,
we were at the party last night, and he was talking about how,
because he's been playing bass. Oh, that's Vale Johnson. Vale,
bass player for Kenny G, Kenny G for 30 years. And you know you
were talking about your cataract in your eye. And he's like, you
know why that is rich, you're old.
I mean, what did you think that when, when I moved to Nashville
at 26 years old, I was this young buck, I had a fire in my
eye, reached out to you and what I would have a cataract? No, I
gotta get it lasered off. Man, it happens. It looks like I'm
looking through milk. It went from a fire in your eye to a
cloud in your That's horrible.
So yeah, the petty junkies is one of the funnest bands. And
Mark hills, our band leader, and we were doing a session a couple
of years ago, and he were talking about petty and he
brought up doing a cover band, and I sort of filed it away, and
I called him up one day, and he's, I said, Hey, are you
serious about that? So anyway, great band. Lot of fun. That
stuff, so much fun. It's fun to get out and play live. And I
know that for you were telling me for around 30 years, you just
went to the session every day. Drum set up, air conditioning,
make magic for that artist. And then in recent years, you
started doing a Vegas residency with Reba and Brooks and Dunn,
and now you're playing for Mr. George straight, King George
man, yeah, 60 number one songs. Oh, god, yeah, it's amazing. I
mean, you can't play 60 songs in a show. There's no way. There's
no way do all this hits, yeah, but it's, it's a, it's a joy
working a great band, those guys, they've been with him for
years.
And so Mike Kennedy, God, rest his soul. Tragic. Was with with
George, a phenomenal drummer for 30 years, yes, and
about a year ago, lost his life in a car accident. And I never
knew Mike. You probably, you probably knew Mike. I met him
when I came to town right away, because there was a jam session
down at this nightclub that is now the Sixth Avenue Shoe
Warehouse on the roundabout, you know, yes, and right there that
was a nightclub. And so Jim or me, Jim Riley and Patrick Pat
McDonald and all these new guys that had moved to Nashville
would go and do jam sessions there. And Mike was the house
drummer. Oh yeah, yeah. Great player, yeah. And so I got the
call Glen Whorf, bass player, well known studio bass player,
yes, he's out with Mark Knopfler right now. Okay, great. And he
called me up and and said, Hey, man, you know.
This. This might be a good fit for you. It's going to be tough,
you know, going into that situation, but
if you, if you want to do it, I think you have talked to George,
and so he sort of laid the groundwork, and it's nice. So
it's worked out great. Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Do you guys keep
the same set list for the entire year? He changes it all the
time.
He changes it from gig. Big George changes up the show quite
regularly. Keeps me on my toes. A little, little chart book up
there, or, like, what do you have it on? My little, little
stick man charts, you know, with the drum talk on it, I do the
same thing. Nobody else could read, yeah. Drum talk, yeah. So
it just and then you have it alphabetized, and so you could
pull things up on the fly. Or, No, I'm not that organized.
Well, if he gives you the set list, you know, the day of, or
do you guys sound check? We do, and we usually get a set list
three, four days ahead of time. No, okay, so it's not bad.
That's really cool, yeah, because we kind of usually, at
the beginning of the year, we rehearse for about two a week or
two, and miss, set it and forget it. And the only thing that
happens is, as a new single comes out, we'll run that at a
sound check and stick that in the show, right? And, and Aldean
just likes to have a nice, tight, 8990 minute show leave
and wanting more. You know, yes, it's crazy. Oh, you guys are
great, man. I love I am so grateful, you guys. I am so
grateful because, you know, one of the things that brought me to
Nashville, and I forget the story super specifically, but in
addition to, like, playing around Dallas, you know, I had
graduated with my master's degree from North Texas, and I
had moved into Dallas, and I was playing smooth jazz and big band
music and top 40 stuff in Super churches, and I would teach drum
lessons. And I taught this kid that was good friends of yours
that knew your brother, yes, yes in Dallas, right, right, yeah.
And then he goes, Well, I know Lonnie Wilson. I said, Who's
that? And he goes, what? How dare you? You don't know, where
is your head under a rock and so then I look up your discography.
I was like, Oh my God, this guy is making the sound of modern,
modern music in Nashville. He goes, you want to meet him? Give
him a call. And I called you, yes, and you answered the phone,
and you said, Hey kid, it's almost like you had a cigar.
We'll see you when you come to Nashville and you and Eddie
listen to my demo tape, and you were like, it's okay, man,
you'll do okay. You might have to work some day jobs for a
while, which I did well, but, I mean, I remember your package
being very impressive. Oh, man. I mean, I put it on like, wow,
this guy's I always like when girls tell me my package is
impressive. I knew that.
Yes, thank you. Sorry,
but, but then I ran with it, you know, and then it's so crazy. I
was probably,
I was probably, you were probably around my age right
when I moved here. I'm, well, maybe younger. I'm 49 see, when
you would have been younger. I moved here 23 years ago. So
maybe you were, maybe you were
60 now, okay, yeah, you were 40 years old killing it, or you
were like 3030, or something like that, yeah, oh, my god,
yeah, yeah, you know what? I can't remember anything. I can't
remember my band members. I can't
but you know what, look at this. I put a little just so people
can get a sense, and I'll just take play little snippets of
this. But it's like this, Brook since I got a chance to play a
television show with Brooks and Dunn and these iconic voices, I
mean, looks to this.
And fire in your church and the flame in your
eyes, I'm born. That's gorgeous. And then you got,
yes, that's you
okay now, but this is how you got on my radar, right here.
Martina, the beginning of the Sean Hannity show.
Now is
now,
feta, yeah, hey baby, let's
go to Vegas.
I really like this one.
Yeah,
such good songs. I mean, this define an era. Mr. Cries out
now, Jason is such a huge fan of Tracy Lawrence. We do an
acoustic show before the like the VIPs come to and we play an
acoustic version of time. Let's go like a Jim Bay. And then, as
a songwriter, I believe if wiki is correct, you wrote this.
You wrote this.
Has co wrote
it, my clothes thrown
everywhere. I think it's Paul Ryan. What about this? You wrote
this now, Holly Dunn, lot of records. Holly Dunn, like a
decade and a half of being a recording artist.
Go
that's beautiful. And then I saw I did the Earl Thomas thing
yesterday, we did the Earl we did like an Earl Thomas
Connelly, benefits, slash tribute, slash funeral. Event
yesterday at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and I got this, I
saw Joe Diffie. And then how about,
is this you? Or is
this Paul? Yeah, check sugar tree now. Now, Pam, tell us that
was my first job in Nashville, right? So I got to play, forget
that track. It was, it was the last song on a demo session in
tree at the old tree studio, Sony tree for Chapin Hartford.
She wrote it, and it was just this wacky little song, and she
threw it, she said, I don't know. And Blair, Larry Paxton
was on it, yeah, I don't remember who else was. I
remember Larry, and we just cut it was like, one take, just like
running out of time, yeah. And next thing I know,
Pam was cutting right? And then I get word that they took the
demo and used it as the record. So that's that's actually a
house kit at tree studio.
Last song or a demo session, just kind of everybody just
winging it. Well, a lot of great drum parts and musical parts
happen in those last minute slots as demo sessions where
you're not overthinking things. Oh, bingo, right. And then
sometimes the guys that are playing on the masters have a
hard time beating the demo because the general guys were
under the clock, absolutely right? Yes, yes. I've seen that
happen a lot of times. Yeah. Now that demo industry that we that
we thrived on for years, I mean, I had like, a, maybe, like a
eight year window where I was sometimes doing two demo
sessions a day with two different drum sets set up in
different parts of Nashville. Was, like, awesome. It's not
happening anymore, because all the kids are using virtual
instruments and loops and trigger pads and all that kind
of stuff. It's a treat for them to book a rhythm section like it
used to be, yeah, but occasionally you'd probably
doing some my son's a songwriter in Dallas, Dallas, and he's
there's a group of them that'll they'll book they'll book
sections and but it was it, typically it might be one or two
songs, because you're right most of the time they're building
tracks. Yeah, and a lot of our tracks sound great, but it's
nothing like real players. Man, yeah, you know. And I've been to
your you've got, like, a nice commercial studio. I love my
place. Your drums are all set up again. Nice Pro Tools, Rick,
great microphones. You got isolation, cozy and fun. Nice
coffee. Gotta have a coffee. Yes, nothing special, but yeah.
So what's that process for you? Like for somebody who's doing
four different things, you know what? You started out as always
playing drums, but you were the lead singer of a group called
bandana from 1981 to 1986 right? I was, and that was awesome to
to have that situation come up and have a record deal, and
because I was torn
on being a singer when I moved here, but I had a lot of
encouragement to do that, yeah, and accidentally wound up with a
record deal so long, too long a story to tell you, but it worked
out, and it was a great way to meet tons of people, writers,
producers that I would have never met that quickly had I not
been a singer, because I had great songwriters pitching me
songs, so I got to know them. You're front man, so you're
going to attract the people that are like, oh, right, this way,
Mr. Wilson.
But it was, it was we had enough success to where I really got to
feel like what it would be like to go to that next level. And
for me, it was like, Man, I miss playing drums. I just, and I
think, you know, I was looking at session players, and you
know, we'd be tracking that certain studios, you know,
soundstage being one of them, you know, Eddie bears and Larry
London and those guys, you know, having a ball down the hall,
tracking and like, man, that's, I kind of want to do that,
right? It's so it just kind of eventually worked out. What
happened
I was, I mean, your music isn't on Spotify bandana. Like, how
can people find that? Is it vinyl somewhere? Like.
It's, yeah, I don't know. I don't know where it is. You
don't want in the bargain bins at Walmart, because that was
like 81 to 86 and you guys had 10 singles on the hot country
charts. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. We, we had
enough. We had we never cracked the top 10, but we'd like to
1317,
you know, right in that era of where we could, we could open
shows for bigger acts like Millsap and experience that
whole thing. So it served its purpose. Who was in your band?
Who was your drummer? Jerry Ray Johnston, okay, great drummer.
He's from my hometown, yeah. Great singer. His son is Jaren
Johnston, you know Jerry, songwriter, yeah, and singer in
front man with Cadillac three, oh, yes, yes, great. And he
produced some rock band, yes, yeah. And I think he's doing
some country acts too. Now, it's great, but yes, see, we had a
Tim Menzies, phenomenal singer songwriter, Joe Van Dyke on
keyboards, Jerry Ray on drums, and Jerry Fox played bass. Wow.
And are you in touch with all these guys till this day? Keep
in touch with them pretty well. But you were the guy that went
to like, mega success. Well, you know, all the guys went on to do
good things. I mean, Joe Van Dyke played keyboards for Randy
Travis for years, and understand he's moved back to town. He
moved away for a while,
and and every guy has gone on to play and do other things music
related.
I see who? Oh, Tim, phenomenal. Tim Menzies, one of the best
country singers I've ever heard in my life. I'm just amazing
tone, great, great songwriter has written quite a few hit
songs.
Check him out sometimes. Sure he's, he's doing gospel now,
wow, yeah, I've done it's so funny. Nashville is like, a
steady diet of, like, obviously, it's the home of country music.
All of contemporary Christian music is produced here, and
there's southern gospel. It's funny how there's these little,
like, cliques of people. And it's like, I always joke about,
like, well, where all the contemporary can Christian
folks? Because I never run into them. You never, like, see them
at a watering hole. And, you know, at the red door, I don't
know if they get out, you know, I don't know if they get out. I
don't know if you find the Christian folk at the red, yeah.
Why not? You know, Jesus drank wine. It was his first recorded
miracle. What's that? Turning water into wine? Yeah, wedding,
a Cana. I'm looking through, and I literally, if you watch the
video of the show, I had a spent, I think the last like, 15
minutes, thumbing through the
never a list of stuff that you've played on, and it just
keeps on going. It's like, I'm like page after what comes to
mind memory wise. Because really, if you look at an era,
these are the sounds that define that era. So Brooks and Dunn
brand new man. Tim McGraw, Indian outlaw John. Michael
Montgomery, I swear. Tracy Lawrence, time marches on Faith
Hill. This kiss that Independence Day, huge. Martina,
and you were the ACM drummer of the year in 2002 and 2004
amazing. Thank you. So what is that? What is for somebody that
does wears four hats like I know that you'll produce records,
you'll go in and you'll co writes songs with people. You're
doing the session drumming thing. What is a typical day
that you're not booked on a recording session playing for
somebody else to make their dreams come true? Is that the
days that you decide to write, do you have hobbies? What? What
is, yeah, I love the lake. Yeah,
golf a little bit. Okay, he listens to the radio and goes,
That's me,
that's me,
and that's me.
That's cool. No, it's, it's. What else do I do?
I'm a homebody. Yeah, big time homebody. But you know what? I
love my kids love I'm having a ball with with them, you know.
And my son, Dallas is doing well, has a publishing deal and
has a very successful videography company. They do
weddings, two weddings. And my daughter's working full time
with him. She's doing all the editing, doing phenomenal job.
Family business, yeah,
singer, too. They probably need some voiceovers. Oh yes, yeah,
yeah. Connected Jim mccarthy.com
where someone's getting married,
yeah, man, this day is the last day of your single life. All
right, Dallas, okay, I can bring it. I'll bring the thunder.
Bring it thunder. But my daughter's a great little
singer. I use her own background vocals all the time, and so we,
you know, music's always running. Yeah,
I'm looking at all the Tim McGraw
cuts here, and I'm thinking of all the songs that I've played
on the drums that unbeknownst to me, I know, you know, you.
Were the one who, you're the one who forged the fabric.
Yeah, I was there, and, you know, all the songs, like even
the rascal flat stuff, harkens back to when my wife and I
couldn't agree on music, until we went on vacation to Florida,
Tampa, and we started listening to country music, because moving
to Nashville, at the time, became a prospect for us. And we
were coming from Las Vegas. I was going to be working for mix
92 nine and Jack FM here before Jack FM kicked off. And so in oh
five, we went on vacation to Tampa, and because it's
Nashville, we started listening to country station down there.
And all the hits at the time were like, bless the broken
Road, fast cars and freedom. A lot of that kind of stuff was
out, you know, obviously having no idea that it's the same guy
playing on all these things. So I thank you for that. We
actually have Music Week at a ground. I love rascal flats,
man. Those those records are so much fun. Yeah? I mean, really
dynamic. Yeah. Those guys very talented. So if somebody is
producing a record in this town,
you were in the room on some of that stuff. So we're talking,
who are these producers for those eras? Dan Huff who else?
Don cook. Don cook? Scott Hendrix, yeah. James Stroud,
Mark. Bright Mark Wright, yeah. Gosh, we had so much fun. Oh, my
God. I love the Brooks and Dunn stuff, and then so much and then
little, you know, our buddy Trey gray goes out there. Trey ball
of fun, yes, man, you know, he's killing it, you know. And he was
one of the first live drummers in Nashville that really brought
that youth oriented rock energy. It wasn't really happening in
live band. Yes, yes. And you know, then he's playing with
Aaron tip, and he's playing with Faith Hill. Is like, Who is that
guy? He's having a ball back there. And it really kind of
changed things. Yes, absolutely. Well, you asked me earlier about
other influences.
Gosh, man, look, of course, Larry London. I mean, when, when
I got here in 1980 Yeah, I was 21 I was just like, listening to
country radio and trying to, trying to learn how to play the
current songs. And because I was really, I was a rocker, you
said, I mean, I was grew up on funk and rock and roll and
Louisiana and soul music and country stuff I played would be
more like Merle Hackard Mama Tried you like stuff we do as a
cover band, you'd have to do some country, but it was
primarily rock and soul, right? So when I moved here, I really
had to dig deep and listen to country drummers like that
could, because it's an art that's amazing to hear that. You
say that because I did this. I went out and I bought Merle
Haggard's Greatest Hits, and, you know, all the stuff, yes.
And I went down to this place that's no longer there. It's
called two beat two boots pizza now, but it used to be called
The Great Escape, and they had used cassettes, yes. And I went
and bought Tammy wine. It's Greatest Hits and everyone's
Greatest Hits. And I kind of studied that buddy Harmon stick
and brush things. I was like, if I ever end up playing the Grand
Ole Opry, I wouldn't be able to speak this language, you know,
no. So when I got the job with Tillis and Pam and I got to back
up, you know, Vince Gill and stuff, was like, I could speak
that language, and we could break the rules. And you broke
the rules. You're like, All right, we're gonna use a piccolo
snare drum. Yeah, I'm gonna have 20 inch crashes, big block to
block. The fills, big six stroke rules, huge gated second, no
double bass riffs,
right? That'd be this guy.
Before I came to town, I saw, you know, hick town on video,
and I was like, opposite of you guys, like coming into being
humble and learning the language. I was all like, Oh, I
could totally do this, yeah, and that's why I wanted the radio.
Yes, you know. But Jim is a, he is a hobbyist drummer. I say
he's actually a wonderful feel. He actually, we shot a video of
him playing the song kick down from memory. He did a great job.
Yeah, I'm sure you did. You know, if I say, okay, great. Do
you want to vote devote 20 years of your life to go out and
riding a tour bus and bringing that to life every night? He
goes, No, no, no, yes. Was that different for you going out from
being a session drummer for 30 years and then going out with
Now George Strait
living out of a suitcase? Well, that the the
first gig I took was Reba and Brooks and Dunn in two in 2016
Yeah. And
literally, what happened I was, I was barbecue joint, next sound
Emporium,
the one, yeah, yeah, I'm eating barbecue. And I heard old Brooks
and Dunn record. And I'm like, oh man. I texted Roddy. I said,
Man, I just heard one of the records. It's so cool. Just wow.
Where's time going? And he called me, yeah, and he said,
Man, I can't believe
you called, because I was with Reba last night and we were
talking about.
Uh,
we need a drummer. And in your name, came up and thought, you
might want to go to Vegas. And that's not, I thought, sure. Why
not? Man, why not? Let's do it. I mean, that is the way the
universe works. Yes, that law of attraction, where you think
about someone and the next thing you know that you got a text. It
was pretty wild, yeah. And of course, you know, it was
perfect, and it was, it was like, riding a bike. It's like,
oh man, okay, this is fun. Let's get back out here. Do it? Was
there anything that you really wanted to do that you haven't
done?
Like, you know? Yeah, a lot, a lot of guys that want to be you
wanted to aspire to be you. But I mean, sometimes that are you
guys that are you like, did you ever just want to be a welder?
I would be terrible anything with my hands so bad,
Rich. Just gave me the look of like, Why? Why do I have you on
this show? I picked this up and I was gonna, I was like,
tightening up this thing, right? And Jim looked at me like, I
always wanted to ask somebody like Keith Urban, you know, and
somebody of, like, you know, a list status, yeah, like, Dude,
you ever just want to be the guy that just gets to do his his
thing at night and stocking the shelves at Home Depot? You know,
it's just anonymous, wow. You
ever want to not, you know, not be recognized? I can tell you
this. I wish Uber would have been around when I moved to
town. Yeah, I think about that every time I could you be an
Uber driver? I would, man, yeah, that's a great way, a great
little funny video series. You were starving, bro. Oh yeah, I
was a kid because, you know, I parked cars. I didn't know
anybody. I was like, I waited tables, yeah, and I was a
substitute teacher. And I felt so bad at myself. I said to
myself, Oh, my God, I worked on my craft so much, and now I was
a big fish in Dallas, and now I move here, and I got to start
all the way at the bottom,
like you humble, yeah? And I've never forgotten that feeling,
man, I don't know about you, but for me, it's like, Man,
I never I'm sorry. Man, it's cocky is not allowed in our
business. Yeah, there's too much talent. That's why I didn't make
it. You know, no, it's not that. It's to know that someone as
successful as you had to kick and claw, and it didn't land in
your lap. And most successful people don't make it through
that nice separatism.
I couldn't read music, man. I just never got into it. You
don't do a lot of that. I just had a funny video idea, like,
having, like, would you, would you drive for Uber? I mean, is
that kind of something that you would do back then? No doubt.
Yeah, of course, right. That's a perfect gift. But the funny
thing is, what if he didn't you, like, had, like, you know, maybe
your son sets up, you know, incognito cameras, and you just
have nothing but country radio on and, like, for everybody that
gets on the in the car, that's me, Hey, do
you like country music? Yeah, you ever heard of my team
McCarthy played on this? You hear the song, that's me, but
you pick them up in something like a gremlin from the 70s. Oh
yeah. It's got, like, rust. It's got rust. It's all that's
kind of what I had.
That's a great little viral video. It is the new barista
waiting tables. I tell everybody, try for try for Uber,
because you're going to learn the city, and you're going to
set your own hours. It's pretty good money, and you're going to
meet people. And people are the key to anything. Yes, you know.
I mean, who knows if I hadn't had you and Eddie give me that
little letter of recommendation and listen to my tape and pump
me up and tell a few people about me. You recommended me.
You got me a job
with a girl named Amy Dally. That was my first Amy, she's so
good. She got you. She was signed to curb records. Who's
about to be signed a curb records. Now, Amy is married to
our guitar player, Jack Sizemore. They've been married
for like, a decade. You're kidding, and that crazy. Okay,
so I can refresh my memory, because I remember getting your
package, okay? And I remember being very impressed. Oh,
thanks. And then we talked, right? Did you call me? Think I
called you? And you're like, yeah, man, come to town. You
know, this is how it works. I recommend you to Amy, because I
can't remember, yeah, and then I, and then I, then I reached
out to I was like, Hey, there's this girl named Mila Mason Dark
Horse. She just re recorded the Amanda Marshall hit called Dark
Horse, and she's looking for a drummer. Can you get me? I don't
know what happened. It never happened. But guess what? Years
later, I ended up meeting Mila Mason, because I got a
publishing deal writing songs for magic Mustang publishing for
five years. But the very first writing session I ever booked
was through Myla Mason, because she became a publisher, and she
connected me with one of her right and I did a right for one
of her artists. And so, like all these years later, I was able
to, like, give her a hug. It was like crazy, but that was a you
thing. And then Eddie got me something, like you got me my
first job. Wow, that's so cool. And that's the thing that I'm
noticing about both of you guys. And I wrote this down early in
the show,
you guys are so, you know, based on the stories that you've been
telling, so warm and accommodating, you know is that
something you always practiced in.
With
anybody who came to town.
But just just as far as is dialog and hanging with you mean
helping people, yeah, yeah, man, I think, you know, I think
musicians and writers are the are the
lifeblood of this town, of course. I mean and real estate.
Most giving and most humble people are the musicians and the
writers, because I truly believe that and and we're just, we help
each other.
We're we're friendly competition, but we still help
each other. We look out for each other, and I think it's a big
part of what makes our town really cool. You see that in the
voiceover business, too? Yeah, a lot of people just help each
other out. It's not so backstabbing, like acting and
stuff like that. You know? It's they just write. They're just
it's a good community because they're not based on their
looks. They're based on their their vocal performances, yeah,
and they understand what parts will be good for somebody else,
maybe not necessarily them, and they'll champion somebody else.
Well, you know, with this being the songwriting capital of the
world, you know, the the the writers, without the writers,
the musicians have no jobs. Oh, yeah, you know, it's like, we're
hired to bring those things to life. That's right. So for
someone like you, you're you're a muse, you're a song writers,
drummer, you recognize the power of the song and the storytelling
and staying out of the way and knowing what's going to work on
the radio when you're actually writing songs. What's your
process? Do you write in guitar, keyboards? You've melodies,
lyric. I'm like more. I'm like, a lyric guy, big picture guy,
it's all of the above, yeah, depending on what you got, yeah,
sometimes it's a track, yeah, sometimes it's a title, yeah,
and, but usually I mean,
I love it when somebody has a great idea. So a title or an
idea that just lends itself to writing itself. You know, just I
remember I had a co wrote a song with Ronnie Dunn and Kim
Williams, who was we lost him a few years ago, amazing writer.
And so I will give away the title, because here's, here's
how we found the title. We've started writing a drinking song
with Ronnie, always works a couple days, you know, prior,
and I was kind of questioning even writing a drinking song at
the time, you know, for the radio at that time, so like, mid
90s, and because she should never question a drinking song,
because she music. But I was that night on the phone with
Kim. And Kim's reply to me was, yeah, but you know what, man,
that's that's the honky tonk truth. And when he said, write
that down, he said, Kim said, Honky Tonk truth. That's a great
title, and that's a great title. And then Kim goes, ooh, you know
what the honky tonk truth is? It's a lie.
It's a crazy town full of neon dreams. Should we crank a little
bit of Honky Tonk? Oh, yeah, man, that was a good one. That
was fun. I
I'm
the life of the party, baby. Since you said goodbye,
just ask Oh Joe, he knows I'm here every night, I said, don't
tell a piccolo you
every
night,
so much I put my
right hand
are. You can go into any Honky Tonk in the world
change,
and then if they slow it down and people want to get cozy,
real cross stick or a sample. That was a sample actually good
call, yeah. That was back when we were still using
samples, yeah. And it was a little error that we we all did
that, yeah? Well, I remember with with Pam, I had a trigger
bed, and I would have a nice from the Elise's nice sample,
super clean. That way the front of house guy could affect the
way he wanted, keep the snare drum the way he wanted. And I
said, You know what? If I'm going to do this, I'm going to
make a show out of it. So I put that pad.
I.
Of course, you are
really, really high, you know, I'm gonna do that with straight,
yeah, I need to do that. You need to hanging bass drums
behind you where it says, advertise here,
slaughter. You know, in light of the angel right before we
started
touring with Aldean the, basically the Aldean band,
backed up a girl named Amber Dotson, and they were, they were
trying to make her the next Leanne Womack. And we did the
straight tour, and we got to do four songs in front of straight
for months. And it was so cool. And I got to play on Mike
Kennedy's drums and and just a really, really fun time. It was,
also was Amber Dawson, Dirks and George Trey. This was 2000
Wow, yeah, man, I bet that was fun. Lot of fun. Can I tell you
my kicks Brooks story? Yeah. So we went to a Vandy game one
time, long time ago, and he was walking around the perimeter. I
recognized him when I walked up to him. And, you know, I'm an
idiot, so I'll tap him on the shoulder and say hello, and he,
you know, he turns around and he kind of looks at me
like, I love your wine. He's like, Thanks. It was, like, so
refreshing to it, man, yeah, have you been out there? I
haven't been out there. You gotta go. It's all right, buddy,
my friend Mike, goes out there all the time, does meetings out
there. Yeah, amazing. Let's go. Let's we'll get an Uber out
there, perfect. And can we call him right now, make him a
sponsor of the show? I think we need to. Yeah, I got his number.
We'll call him. Yeah, we can actually do it for the board, if
you want to do that. I don't think so.
You know, my experience like, like, backing up celebrities.
You know, it's like, I got to back up Keith Urban on
television show. I got to back up Brooks and down on a
television show. And you see all these people backstage year
after year. And you know, after being here for 20 years, they'll
give you the, you know, Reba will always like, or, how are
you nice to see you? Or like, I don't think she they know my
name. It's like, it's nice to be in the same building with these
celebrities, and they give you a head nod. Like, year after year,
this guy keeps showing up, so he must be someone. But you never
got gurmy with people. I know that. You know the limit. I'm
not that person. I'm not gonna be like, nah. You're not gonna
go up and tell them about your latest business venture in
Haiti. You know, I love this guy's passion, man, yeah, I
just, I just get the biggest kick out of you. Man, it's so
cool. Ronnie, what do you want to find out about rich
interview? Rich? I know a lot about rich interview. Rich.
Hey, rich has got it going on. I'll tell you what. I tell you
what? There's no secrets. I share everything.
You know when I, when I meet people that are like, hey, my
I'm, you know, I'm a private person. I don't and I don't do
social media. I'm like, that's amazing. I want to be you. That
would be so great. You just find it exhausting sometimes. Well,
just keeping social media happening, keeping all the balls
in the air, and doing all the different things that I do,
yeah, it does get a little time. Does get a little time. You
cover a lot of ground, bro, yeah. Now you when I went to go
drink that entire pot of coffee with you, and when we were
hanging out, we were checking out your Tama drums, all miked
up and everything you said, you might get into doing some
teaching. I have done that. Yeah, I've got, I've got my
camera, yeah, above it, I'm getting there. Yeah, I'm kind of
slow. You mean, like doing Skype lessons and stuff like that,
yeah, but I'm gonna count on you when I just can't imagine
something. I'm calling this guy right here when I'm ready to
Skype lesson. This is the guy I just can't imagine some kids
sitting in their bedroom in Fargo, North Dakota with a drum
set, looking at it and going, oh my god, I can get on Skype. I
can connect with a guy that's played on 118 number one songs.
I could pick his brain. I can ask him about what piccolo snare
drum he used on, Hey, baby, we're going to Vegas. Crazy. No,
I love that, you know, I just got to do it. That's the world
we're living in. And it's funny that you're, you're, you're
endorsing tama, which is like, you know, the heavy metal you're
with a Yamaha drums for a long time. And I remember having,
when I moved to Nashville with that same drum set. It was a
Yamaha maple custom with the gold lugs. Yes, I had the smokey
black one with the gold looks. You had a green emerald green is
nice. Yes, still have it I do. Yeah, absolutely. And then what?
And what happened with Tama was that Aaron vishrio, or one of
the guys that asked you, it was that at a Nam show, or, Yes, it
was Aaron and yes, it drum paradise guys got me hooked up
with that, Harry and John, yeah, John, Michael, so they took care
of me.
Oh, man, they're my guys. Now, have you been able to get a Tama
vintage Bell brass out of them? Not yet, yeah,
$5,000
I'd have to pay a little bit for that one. Yeah, the bubinga, is
that? What it is? The bubinga, I don't have a bubinga, maple,
maple, yeah, I was used to Maple, so I didn't want to
change too much.
Yeah, did you do you mingle with some of the other town artists
on occasion? Yeah, I was just down visiting the guys at forks
drum closet. They were here a couple of weeks ago. Was down,
great guys, and
so there weren't many other drummers that particular day.
They were there for three or four days. So it was great
hanging. I love the new drum shop too. Yeah, Steve Maxwell,
acquired it from hair Gary, and we just had Gary on the show. So
we had Harry and Gary on the cons, and Franz, yeah, it was
like Sean paddock is the drummer for he plays. And then our buddy
Jeff Marino with
one of my hoodie, who's Hootie? One of my favorite all time?
Tama Hootie in the blowfish, no, Harry's Rucker, sugar,
favorite all time. Tama artists has been Charlie Benante, yeah,
from anthrax. Loved his play. Did you great? Oh, he's a great
player, you know, yes, not crazy about that music, but you know,
it's colorful music, you know, and he writes a lot of it.
You're colorful.
I'm wearing all black. I'm wearing from my unstylish jMv,
ocean. Now, we just had us, we just had a stylist, a custom
tailor. I don't know if you know McGill. He runs only one
tailoring down on Wedgwood and eighth. And
very stylish man sitting next to these two. He's very stylish,
stylish. And I come in looking like, you know, Mr. Dad Bod over
here, with my collared shirt and my jeans and, you know,
whatever, right? You know, I mean, it's, you're more stylish
than I am. I mean, my codico shirt on this, you know, at the
end of that show, I felt like I had to crawl into my ashtray.
Are you tequila guy? George Drake gave us these shirts
because he is part our owner in this company. Oh, really, yeah,
all these celebrities are buying up vodka companies and tequila
companies and wine you need to start your own cigar company.
Rich. That'd be great. You know, I don't know if you're a cigar
guy. The red moon, not
it's not a good habit you want to pick up, but think of the red
moon. It'd be great. And it's like a drumstick. I don't know,
but
I'm gonna, I'm gonna make that's a, that's a great idea.
I have a lot of great ideas. Couple other names. James
Stroud, James Brown, James Stroud, great drummer. Played on
rock and roll, right? Didn't he think he did? Yeah, and he also
played on, remember Eddie rabbit, those? Eddie rabbit, I
love a rainy night. He played on that, yes, he produced,
oh gosh, he played on Paul Davis records. I'll go crazy. Remember
that? Yes, I'll go crazy, man. I go crazy. I go crazy. Let me
pull that up. Paul Davis, check out. I mean, James man, so who
played on a lot of like Willie Nelson and Eddie rabbit stuff.
It was it like Larry London and Larry
some of that, probably. But James was the cool thing about
James, he he wound up being producing a lot of records, and
I wound up working with him, which was a thrill, yeah, and
it's fun working with a drummer producer, because he's, you
know, it's like, we're, you know, we're on the same plane,
but, yeah, I'll go crazy. It says that record was cut to a
Lin drum, and then James, and then went back and replaced real
drums. But that particular record,
I remember being in college when that record was out, and it was
like, man, it just freaking didn't move. It was like, this
is when this list on you put on you want to score. No doubt.
Yeah, there's the chorus. Chicken.
Why don't we light some candles?
I mean, man, want to sit down Paul Davis's voice. Forget about
Yeah. Now, when I moved to town, also, another gig I picked up
pretty early on was a group on giant records called Regina.
Regina. Oh, yeah, and James strat produced him. Did you
play? I did. It was like, a lot of back, yes, boom, yes,
student of all that stuff. And I would, I would play along to
your recordings, and I would transcribe the recordings, and I
would steal the, you know, they say the good composers borrow,
but great composers steal. So as a drummer, I would steal from
you and Eddie and Paul and everyone you put it in. And you
know, I remember also when, you know, Jim Riley and I moved here
the same week in the same year, 1997 and we were listening,
watching CMT and the Dixie Chicks had their first single
out. We were like, is that Eddie? Is that Lonnie? He goes,
No, it sounds a little different. We looked up awesome
guy named Greg Moore, another great player, you know, yes,
yes, you guys are responsible for so much Sonic identity on
the radio. For the last 30 years, it was, it's been great.
So much fun, man and Eddie, man, yeah, man, Eddie bears. Gosh, we
had so much.
Fun. Well, Larry took him under his wing. Yeah, you mentioned
Larry, yes. And he said there was this big, burly guy that
came and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and he said,
you're my guy. Yes, you know. So he mentored him absolutely, I'm
going blank guy who played on all the James Taylor hits back
in the Oh Russ Kunkel, Russ, dude, yeah, I've been trying to
I love see it's, I need more coffee. I'm not awake.
Sorry, Russ, you're one of my biggest influences. Yeah,
seriously. Russ Kunkel, come on, man. Big surfer, oh my gosh, big
surfer. And I met him the first George Strait gig I did in
Vegas. Yeah, I love it. And
I hadn't seen Russ in a long time, but he's cool. He's got
the shaved head now, and yep, and he was kind of sitting his
drums up. And I went and introduced myself. I didn't know
who he was, and I just like I was, became like a drum germ
immediately, because James Taylor and big Linda Ronstadt,
yes. And who else?
Jackson Brown. Jackson Brown, running on empty. Out, yeah,
running on Russ. Force gun on me. Good job. I mean, big, big
influence. Good job. Russ. And I, you know, he's asked people
what their hobbies are, what their interests are. He's always
been a big surfer. And I asked him, I said, you ever worry
about the sharks? And he goes. They're always there. They'll
always be there. Like I'm in the music business, yeah, you need
your arms, you need your legs. But some people love it so much.
They love surfing so much. They will risk life in limb sky,
doing it. Look at skydiving. Yeah, I don't know very many
drummers. I dive.
Well, you look at I have, I have a guy that cuts my lawn. I make,
I make phone calls, I don't change my oil.
Check for that check that makes the people do my things.
So what is what what is on the horizon for you. What are you
excited about?
Well, what am I excited about? You got a good pension, right
from the union all those, not bad, yeah. I mean,
I still got to work, bro. Yeah. Still have to Yeah. Gotta show
up. Gotta show up. Coming off those 200 million spins you got.
You got $1 recharge. I wish. Are you married to the same woman?
Yes, my sweet wife, Donna. That's beautiful. I remembered
her name. So yeah, you better not forget that one. I need to
write down all this stuff. What's the anniversary coming
up? 28th of September. Get out around the corner, sir. 22nd for
us, it'll be Yeah, good. And how many years was that? Let's see
3434
man, amen. You guys will see that 50th. Easy man, I hope so.
My parents are celebrating this month their 51st wedding.
Congratulations. And I need to get them something big, because
for the 50th that's a big party. I'm the first born that is a big
party, so I set up this amazing party. All my relatives were
coming in. Al Dean. We had a show that got rained out, and
the makeup date was on the night of the party. I had to scrap the
whole party. So I got to do something epic for my parents.
Brick of sticks, signed drum head, signed photo and a 30
minute coaching session with you. So silly. No,
my parents are gonna kill by that. I need to send them on a
on a cruise. I need to buy them diamond encrusted something.
Yes, you do to send them a car. Definitely do. I love hard. I
love you. No, that's not good. What's going on with you, man? I
mean, the Aldine thing is just kicking obviously. What else
we're on our ninth record. So that's a body of work there. I'm
super grateful. You know, talk about a team of people that keep
champion. You heard the new single? We back? I have not
heard it. Oh my here. It's a great tune. And Jim and I just
we have a contest where we are getting the kids to play their
own version of the fill in this song. There's like, a part of
the song where there's, like, one of those sexy films
gotta loop on everything, right? Oh, yeah, I love loops.
Where's a guy in steel toes covered in dirt, just back in
black, getting blasted into bleachers.
It's probably true what my mama said. I do it just like my daddy
did. We back, we
back, we back in
a saddle back on stage, making the whole place rail back
with the A train on the track. Thought we were gone, but you
wrong. Where's the fill? You got that coming up?
Yeah, it's coming up. Everything good comes.
Back around to stretch the two bars.
We're asking the kids to, like, what would you do during those
two measures? Right? And then we pick a winner, and then they'll
get, like, some fun stuff. Yes, a brick of sticks, a signed drum
head, a signed picture and a 30 minute coaching session never
gets it doesn't get old hearing yourself in the supermarket or
in an elevator or in somebody's car. It's so cool, man, because
we worked our whole lives. It was fun. We went camping last
weekend, and my Jim's thing, you like camping. My kids come that
we went to a potluck at the campground with a group of
people that we went with, and the kids went into their camper.
They had the TV there, so they were watching TV, and they come
running out. We're going, dad, yeah, we just heard you on TV.
Your voice, yeah, for a commercial, commercial that came
on. That's a big deal. You were talking about mesothelioma. And
I'm going, I said Bart Durham. They go, yeah. I'm going, Yeah,
that's right. I got a great story about Bart Durham. So you
know, you see here around Nashville, you see Bart Durham's
face on park benches, on the side of busses, on the side of
billboards. So here I am, one of my favorite places on Earth, my
favorite little eatery in Malibu, California, right? So
I'm getting something that's green. There's greens on top of
greens. And I go to the bathroom to wash my hands. And peeing
next to me is bar Durham.
And I said, mistaken from the camp mannequin. He goes, he
goes, he gives me one of these things. And I go, Hey, Bart, I
recognize you man from all over Nashville. I live in Nashville.
I said, What do you live in Malibu? Yeah, you know, my son
took over the business and I moved here. So he's just, like,
just wiping his hands with $100
pretty much. That's a small world. And, yeah, it's just, you
know, it's, it's, whenever my kids hear me, it's a little bit
of ambulance chasing, ambulance chaser disclaimers that I do
totally. Jim actually inspired me, like a couple, like, 11
years ago, I met him on MySpace, and I said, I want to kind of
see if there's anything to this voiceover thing. So I took some
lessons with a another guy, because I don't know if I think
I could take him seriously as a teacher. It's like a parent
trying to teach their kid. So I went to someone else, and I took
a voiceover lessons, and I have a reel, and it's me doing
disclaimers and financials and car commercials in a faux
McDonald's commercial and a faux target commercial. Yeah, it's
pretty fun. I need to put a best of Jim McCarthy video together,
like we Oh, Lonnie, has you have a great video on on YouTube of
all your your baby boy did? That,
man, I sat there, I think you sent us to me because you wanted
a video similar to that, and you wanted me to check this out.
Yeah, and I go, I watched it, and I was going, Oh my gosh. It
just kept on going. I know that's Thank you, Dallas, you
guys out there in in radio land. Listen to look up on YouTube,
Lonnie Wilson drums hits 2016 it's got four and a half 1000
views. And there's also another one that's got 10,000 views,
that's called Lonnie Wilson session drummer radio singles.
Yeah, that's one you sent them. And you can get a real sense of
every all the Martina, all the faith, all the Joe Diffie all
the rascal flats, wow. Let's just put in the description that
was my baby boy. Dallas did that for me. It's a little gift. And
I would have, you know, never done anything. So Dallas writes
songs, and he's in the videography business. And your
daughters, he was in college in at the time, yeah, doing
projects. And so he might have done it for a class project or
something. So
do you know who my dad is, type of project? Yeah, he's, it's
fun, you know, it's fun having kids that.
I mean, the music business is tough as y'all know, yes, tough
man. But you know, he's with a good bunch of guys, his own
business. Mitchell 10 Penny. Want to give him a shout out.
Mitchell was has a very he was basically the connection for
Dallas and his publishing deal. And Mitchell's coming off a
number one single, drunk me, phenomenal record, fantastic.
And I've played on a couple of Mitchell's new tracks on his new
record, right? So, so Dallas is also writing songs. Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah. He's actually pretty, pretty much full time
music. You guys write together. We do a little bit. I need to
jump in there. He's getting hot, man. I got to get in there, in
the room with him. Yeah. You say hey, you know, I raised you
writing session. He keeps trying to, he's like, Dad, come on, you
got to show up. I said, I know, I know. I've written songs so
long, yeah, it's just I've taken quite a hiatus, probably pretty
much for the last 10 years. Yeah, I haven't written near as
much. And just trying to, you know, enjoy, slow down, get out
and play live.
And what Lake Do you like to go down on?
Well, center Hill was our lake for a long time, but we're at
temps forward now. That's a popular destination. Yeah, it's
great. It's deep. Yeah, it is. It's similar center Hill, but
yeah, a little closer to where we live now. So you have a
Stingray, or we have, we're members of the boat club. So,
right, okay, a member of a country club. I'm a member
these.
Speaking of songwriting, I ran this by this idea, by the guys
in Parma Lee, and they thought it was a bad idea for a song,
a song about writing a song, I think it's too inside.
Oh, that
was
trash.
I'm guessing.
Steve Turner,
another great player. Great player. Played with Dolly for a
long time, played on all of Travis's records back then, just
great. Turner kills it. We're friends on Facebook, but like,
sometimes it's like, you know, Facebook is a wonderful tool to
like, open the door to relationships, but it takes the
effort to like, meet in real time. But, you know, always wish
him a happy birthday on his birthday. And I know that he
would love to get together sometime, but we just are all so
busy running around. You know, you definitely should introduce
him. Great drummer. Yeah, killer harder and Tommy wells, God rest
his soul. Tommy. Well, sweet to me absolutely. I took a drumming
class with Tommy wells and Jerry croon. And I thought about
another great player, Jerry crew man, had a big influence on me,
on
the Vern Gostin records and all the Earl Thomas, yeah. So I
thought about him yesterday, funeral, yes. And I was
wondering if he was out there in the audience when. And I haven't
heard from Jerry in a long time, you know? I hope he's okay. He's
doing okay. Yeah, yeah. Saw him in a union meeting recently.
He's looking good, man, still, you got a lot of energy. Because
I remember when I met him 23 years ago, he said, I'm gonna
retire. And that was 23 years ago. He's not gonna retire.
Yeah,
well, I mean, who's? None of us. What creative person. What are
we gonna do? We love what we do. I mean, you know, hey, you have
your you have your day in the sun in this business, if you're
fortunate, you know. And you just, you know, eventually
you're, you're gonna wind up here or wind up there, and
you're not, maybe the guy that you were at one time. But man,
if you, if you even come close to being
a first call on anything in this business. Enjoy it and and be
grateful for it, you know, and be humble about it. Gratitude
and humility are something that Jim and I talk about a lot with
nearly every guest. You're one of the product ideas you had was
gratitude rocks, a gratitude rock, like gratitude rocks,
potential rocks, it's a rock, and you put it in your in your
in your pocket, and when you go to grab your change or your
keys, you feel that rock, and it reminds you to be grateful for
everything you have. That's right? Like this other idea I
have for a song, right? I brand this by the guys at Parma, Lee
again, yes, bearish, rich again, yeah. But what if you were to
make a song about the most mundane of things, like ironing?
I think it'd be good for like a children's show, but I don't
think people, like soccer moms are gonna want to listen to
that. They want us. They want to listen to see that shirt over
there. It's really wrinkled.
You got to get the iron. You should get right jingles. You're
a jingle right? Jingles? Yeah, you cannot get this mind out of
marketing and advertising. You're a marketing and
advertising jingle stuff. Oh, my God. Well, this is so fun, dude.
I could sit here all day. You know, I'm leaving out so many
people. That's the thing. I mean, I've tried, I've got a
million names, you know, like, Russ cockle, like, I sat here,
like, who's one of my big but you know when, when you're
sitting there with you guys, you know you're on the spot. I need
my cheat sheet. Is Neil one of the influences? Oh yeah. Well,
definitely. I mean, gotta say I, you know,
I like guys. I'm a fan of of
of guys like Russ and James and and Picard, who was to me that
John Robinson, maybe, oh, studio, great player. Love Jr,
yeah. I mean, those kind of guys that just freaking lock it down,
yeah, that's, that's what, that's what moves me, you know,
and makes gets me excited. And, I mean, I love guys. I could sit
there and watch guys who, you know, can burn and Lister and,
you know, like this guy, I mean, it's just like, like, Virgil
Donati, yeah, there's guys that play was way denser than, I
mean, like, the years go by. Thomas Lang play less and less.
Oh, who are some other greats that come to mind that are just
like, level Well, you know, for tutor missions, yeah. I mean,
when I think of Thomas.
Lying. You know, I taught one of his camps. There's those
kind of guys. These guys can do anything with their Steve Smith
with their feet. Yes, yeah,
a castron ovo. And it's funny, this is a very unpopular I put
this out on Facebook one time, and it just disturbed the pot. I
said, you know, I got to say it, guys, I know Smith is the
defining drummer of journey, but Castronovo blows him out of the
water
well, and I'll say that you guys, he brought it like a
visceral, sweaty, oh my gosh, he too, yeah, he brought energy to
that band, and then, like, it's Carmen efficacy. I love Carmine.
I saw him when I was a freshman in high school. He came to our
local
music store, and it was just like a freshman in high school.
Oh, Tommy Aldrich, yeah. Oh yeah. Black Oak, Arkansas, yeah.
Let me
ask
you this, yeah. Do you listen to Jason Bonham stuff he's playing
with Hagar? Yeah? He's great. Or Hagar
son, oh, Zach Starkey with the who, yeah, yeah. And my bum, one
of my buddies from college, is playing bass with the who right
now. It's like everybody went out. I was in college with Keith
Carlock. I mean, imagine filling in
place. I watch him play, and let's go. I mean, it's amazing.
It's mind boggling. Business. Dad, I love Greg the other, the
other one that comes to mind that blew my mind. Never heard
of the guy before? Tony verderosa, you was the
triggering guy? Yeah, he did amazing. Disappeared off the
face of the there's a guy that played on he did a Twix
commercial.
What's his name for your love I got back in the 70s. Gino
Vannelli. Gino Vanilli. That was That dude, Mark Craney. That
dude, Mark crane big influence of, you know, that era. Here we
go to Stevie Dan records. You know, I really come to
appreciate since I I've been able to sit down and talk with
him quite a bit. I did a podcast with him as well. Sandy Gennaro
last night, seen him on Facebook. He's living here.
Yeah, just old Italian guy crashed in that room right over
there, living in Long Island and teaching at the drummer's
collective. I said, You gotta move here, man. He crashed in
the bedroom for a week, and he's like, yeah, here's President
brother.
Yeah, see, that's what I was. What kind of style would you
love to be able to pull off? Like, I mean, I love that stuff,
yeah. I mean, I'd have to, I'd have to wit shit. Oh yeah, I'd
have to, I'd have to pick it up to play that stuff. Play it
right, you know? But I love that town and power dude, Tower of
garibaldi. Garibaldi come off. You know what's really funny,
Steve Ferroni,
I and who was the guy, who was the first guy on average wife
passed away. He was, he was amazing, too. Average white fan.
Those were, I used to know all this stuff, like most people
know football teams. Yeah, I used to be able to call up. I
mean, I could see the the images in the magazine. I could tell
you what drummer played, what
symbols, sticks, everything, whoever played, who the dude who
played with three dog night.
Man was a great player still, probably still is,
anyway, that guy I got to meet, what's
going around? Yeah, yeah, this is normal guy I saw Carmine my
freshman year of high school, too, with a band called King
Cobra. Was like it was the height of heavy metal. Yeah, it
was his own little side project. But speaking of drummers that
write songs, Carmine wrote the bridge on this song.
No way. If you think I'm sexy, no way. God Stewart, so let's
see if we can find the bridge. He's probably played on that
right. Carmine, yes, Carmen,
here we go. He came up with this
melody.
He did
that melody. Wow. What a hook. That was a big old hit.
This reminds me of the movie.
So I Married an ax murderer where Mike Myers is the Scottish
father. He's like, if you like my body, and it's like the guy
playing the bagpipes along with it, we got a Piper down. We got
a Piper down. Yeah, so you guys remember, okay, Grand Funk,
railroad drummer, oh, Don Brewer,
there's another one of my biggest influence. I met him in
Vegas. Phenomenal player, real nice guy, thank you, yeah. See,
I should have made my list. You guys are bringing up great
names.
One of the things that you know, one of the most underrated
drummers that we think in the longest time doesn't get us due
is Alex Van Halen. Oh yeah, gosh, great
drummer.
How could that not be a saying? So good. Oh, great singer. And
then this is what got me really, really stomping music, making
play foot stomping music, okay, grandfather, let me say here,
Van Halen, 1984 this right here. What is that one? This, Van
Halen. Are they gonna play fat Gilly? Are they on Spotify?
Who's here should be Van Halen
and this really, I mean, say what you want, but that just got
me I want to play music for my life. I agree, iconic. It's a
great record. Now, what do you
want? What was it?
Fat Killy was stopping music? Yeah, fit something music.
Grandfather, that was my radio name fat Kelly. Oh, my God, foot
stomping music, yes,
shuffle. We don't hear shuffles a lot anymore. That was
van halens. Got one like that too.
Well, there's nothing new in music. It's all been done.
Everybody. Done. Carl Palmer,
for those of you listening, you got to watch this part of the
video, because they're just grooving to this right now. It's
hilarious. They're really loving this beautiful Oh, but that's,
that's center swing from Van Halen to Doom, Doom to doom to
doom to doom to do. It's the same groove. Yeah, yeah. All
right, gotta find some, some rust. Kunkel, here. Wow. Okay,
here we go. Let's say, let's see.
Let's do running on empty. I love running. I think of the
forest, Gump, everything every time.
Running On Empty, this is a song I just got the front cell on i
95
you just come on and be like, it's another little 40 minute
long set of i 95 rock coming up here. We're gonna get the
weather coming up next, and I'm gonna hit the post on this song
eventually, when he starts coming in with the vocals you're
listening to, 95.1 the home rocket roll.
Oh man, I missed it, miscalculated. That's an eight
bar intro. So good.
Love it. It makes me think of Forrest Gump every time when
he's running across the country, Yes, yep, and then he did this.
Oh, good one, yeah. Doug Dan, Doug, more on steel.
When's he come in. Here we go. You? Bye
syndrome,
syndromes, pre Simmons.
I have a Dan dugmore story. So for those out there that don't
know, right, we usually keep this show at about one hour.
We're having so much fun with this encyclopedia of musical
history. Lonnie Wilson, Dan dugmore is saying, well, because
he was a side man with Jackson Brown,
James Taylor and Linda Ron said, yes, all three, yeah, some of
the best music ever made incredible, yeah. And one time
he said he was in the studio and they were having cocktails
during the session during the day. No, like, like, it happened
all the time in the 70s. It was just a thing. And it just like,
his wife called, and the wife's like, Are you drinking? And he
said, Of course, I'm drinking. I'm working. It wasn't
frowned upon. It was just part of the music making process. You
know, Doug Moore's treasure man. You know, great when we listen
to this, to the old faces music, when I listen to early Rod
Stewart, and I think about these guys that went to the pub,
right? And they it's like they went to the pub and then they
went and made the record, and there's flams everywhere, but
they kept it. It was so, yo, yeah, cool. Every picture tells
a story. Here we go. So when this happened, when the band
comes in, it is a flam
of all flams, and they just keep it. It
doesn't happen anymore.
I'm sure they just came back from the
pub, right?
That would never happen. But dude, for.
Voice
comes in, it's over. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a level of
forgiveness for that. Golly, I love me some rods too. Well.
This could go on and on forever. Jim, let's play our new game.
What did we learn today? What did we learn? What did you
learn? Rich? I learned that I have a deeper love and
appreciation for my friend Lonnie Wilson, and much like
having
a cold martini with Eddie bears. I've got to do something fun
with you. Yes, I don't know what's gonna be, but maybe we'll
it. Yeah, it's gonna be, say, win man, I'm there. I'm coming
on the boat. Yeah, let's get Eddie. Just get him to come. Get
the whole yeah, let's get them all. Get all these drummers. You
know them all. We'll do a podcast on a boat. What did you
learn? Drummer? Round Table on a boat.
I learned that, and I appreciate this about Lonnie. He's not
above driving an Uber to make things happen. I drive I drive
over tomorrow. I might have to, I think, talk to you.
I don't know. The thing is, I have a lot of really good ideas.
Trouble is most of them suck. So what we got to do is actually do
that idea of the hidden cameras, and as you does, you know, put
on song after song after song, and that's me.
What do you mean? That's me and drunk. Oh, yeah, you you
deepened. I also learned that, you know, you deepen that notion
that the show must go on. And I think there's a lot of people
out there that have pride in their job well done, and they
want to keep their job, and they want to stay relevant, they want
to keep getting asked back. So when you have the flu or you're
jet lagged or you're dehydrated, or you have diarrhea or
explosive diarrhea, the show must go on. The latter one might
be that's hard, a good excuse to go home. Yeah, I've done I've
done it. Man, you put a bucket next to the drums and you just
got, oh yes, you're right, though, show up, man, pop a
modem like chicklets. Yes, that's what I learned. I just,
for some reason, I still think I see Don Corleone coming through
the door and going, dear man.
Little bit, yeah, yeah. Dan, no one. Dan, it was more. Paul
early was producing, yeah, it was kind of like, Hey, dude,
come on, man, we need you.
Ed. C was engineering, yeah, we lie. We still laugh about that.
I'll get a call from Ed every now and then, dude, I heard wild
angels every time I know, man, I was sick over at starstruck Ed's
over there a lot, right? Yes, man, yeah, boy, what a great
engineer, producer. Are we gonna let Lonnie play the game? What
did you learn? What did I learn? Yeah, man, I learned that I'm
gonna start coming over here and hanging with you guys, because
this sure, like a cool place. It's like a drummer. Can I say
this? Sure, yeah, drummers live in this house. Yeah, nothing,
but drummers, yeah, no. You guys are kind. Thank you for having
me. I appreciate it fun and help me remember names. Where can
people find it calm or anything? Or Lonnie Wilson, musician,
calm, beautiful. Yeah, think that's what it is. Yeah,
it's easy to find. Are you
on the Instagram and Facebook? Instagram? Think it's Lonnie
Wilson, 01, okay, on Instagram, right? Um, I'm gonna look you up
and follow you. Follow me. Follow me back. Yes, sir. Jim
McCarthy, voiceovers, Lonnie Wilson,
calm. Believe it's what it is.
I've had an idea for a video. There it is. Lonnie Wilson,
musician.com, fantastic. What's your idea, Jim, I go around
narrating people's lives.
Oh, that could be something, but, yeah, we should do that
with you one day. Okay, let's do it. All of a sudden, you know,
rich enters the coffee shop and walks up to the barista and
places his order, and
then you place your order, and I go. Now, rich walked over and
patiently waited for his order. Huh? I don't know, buddy, a lot
of good ideas. Most of them suck. Nine out of 10. Yeah,
blueberry, I see the picture there. And the other game that I
always I've been playing for some reason, late. Oh,
doppelganger game. Yeah, the doppelganger game. I have a an
odd propensity to pick out people that look like other
people, so and sometimes it may not be flattering. So there was
one time it's gonna be flat. This guy helped me out years
ago. Come on, man, Throw me a bone. Over here, there's a guy I
worked with you almost look you guys look like you could be
brothers. And I can't remember his name, but he's amused. He
used to be a musician here in town, but moved to Austin, but
he looked like Russell Crowe, and that's great. Yeah, he'll
take her, right? Yeah, I need to get a kilt. Gladiator. Yeah,
Gladiator. I love that. I'm into it shadows and dust span. Yet
this was so fun, guys, we'll have to keep this drum party
going. Thank you, man. Learn so much today, guys. Lonnie Wilson,
who was a real treat today, we appreciate you stopping by. Keep
coming back for the good stuff. Be sure to subscribe, share,
rate and review, and we'll see you next time this has been the
rich Redmond shine, subscribe. We're.
Eight and follow along at rich redmond.com forward slash
podcasts you.