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Rich Redmond, Veteran musician and longtime drummer with Jason Aldean, hosts “The Rich Redmond Show”, a show highlighting all things music, motivation, and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them.
Unknown: But music is our way
out, because it's a meeting
place at a time where it's hard
to get anybody to agree on
anything right. A person on the
right sees looks at one thing.
They see it this way. A person
on the left looks at the same
thing, sees it another way. But
music is a place where we can
all meet in the middle, where we
can all meet in the middle. And
the thing about music, this is
an analogy that I use when I do
motivational speaking. If I take
a chair and I drop it on the
floor and I cough, right, two
things got nothing to do with
each other unless I put them on
the beat. Drop, cop. Drop, drop,
drop, right at that point, these
two things that used to be
unrelated, these two things that
used to be unrelated now are in
a relationship, not just that
they're respecting each other's
space, but it's a relationship
that we
can build on. This is the rich
Redmond show. So,
Joe, what was the first thing
that we did together? Well, I'll
tell you this. I remember
playing third and Lindsley with
this West African I think
they're mostly Nigerian cats,
and we had a band called
osadalos, and it was kind of
like a reggae world beat thing.
You walked in one night, and I
was like, Oh, God, I hope we
sound good, because there's
Joseph, and then Paul Chapman
played some bass.
I miss Paul, me too, but really
do really how you got on my
radar and all your brothers was
the old third and Lindsley,
where there was the wall still
there, and the pinball machine
in the corner. And you guys had
a residency every Wednesday
night. And it was like there was
never a question what people in
Nashville were going to do on a
Wednesday night, right? We're
going to see the Wooten
brothers. And you, I think you
guys would play and not take
breaks.
We would the closest thing we do
to take a break is let somebody
take a long solo. Yeah, so that,
like, we always use drummers
that had, you know, a big
repertoire of stuff that they
wanted to say. So Raymond
Massey. Raymond Massey would
walk off for 10 minutes, 15
minutes, and Raymond would do
his thing. Then there was neoshi
Jackson. Neoshi There was, oh,
I'm looking right at him. Well.
JD, Blair, Oh, yeah. JD, Blair,
a bunch. I haven't seen JD in a
long time. Man, yeah, you know
JD did Shania for a long time he
had done Lyle Lovett for a long
time too. And then when he was
ready to stop, he stopped,
that's right. And I was I was
shopping at Publix, and there he
was bagging groceries. Happy as
can
be. Now that is an interesting
talking point, because as
musicians, I feel like we have
this, this pressure on ourselves
to be we define ourselves as
human beings from making money
exclusively from playing music.
Yeah, some of some of us do. JD
was one that seemed to, you
know, as as happens in music.
Sometimes the artist you know
has a different idea of the
band, and before you know it,
there you are out the door. But
he didn't seem to be one that
had a hard time making that
transition. He's working at
Publix. He liked the people. He
liked meeting new people. They
liked working with him, and he
seemed to be doing great, just
fine. Now, I've been talking to
him a bit, and he's talking
about me playing on some
sessions with him again. So as a
musician, you can't really turn
the musician brain off, right?
So he's, I'm sure he's still
ever right with ideas with one
of my favorite drummers to play
with, but, yeah, the other
drummer is getting ready to
mention Marcus Finney. Yeah,
Marcus Finney, just, you know,
lots of smooth,
flip Winfield.
What's his first name? I'm
having the same things. Take our
ginkgo Balboa today.
I'm taking mine every day. But I
don't know if it's making a
difference.
Yeah, I'm taking my but
I forget I know exactly what you
mean, Rob.
That's right. But you know,
there's nice job lots of that
was the closest thing that the
Wooten brothers would do to
taking a break was let somebody
take a long solo, or they'd
leave the stage and I'd sing
some of my songs and or, you
know, somebody else would take a
long drum solo, or Reggie would
take a long guitar thing, and it
would just be four hours
straight, straight music. It
forever. I think when we first
started doing it was $4 to get
it. It. It was $4 to get in.
Finally, Ron said, Reggie, you
got it. Guys need a raise. And
we moved it up to five. And when
the club owner says you guys
need a raise, that means you're
doing a good job. It means
you're doing a good job. And you
know, you could probably charge
a little more. That's awesome,
and we but it was men. It was a
lot of fun. And the good thing
about it is, you find out who
you are, not in the practice
room. You find out like I when I
came to Nashville,
which what year was that? 1990
Okay, so I got here at 96 it
quickly became 97
Well, I was I arrived in
Nashville, September the 18th,
I love the fact that you have
the exact thing, because I know,
I know it was February or March.
Yeah.
So September 18, 1990 and I
moved to to Mount Juliet with a
friend of mine. Now, here's,
here's a crazy story. So I
wasn't married yet. I was with
with who wasn't my wife yet,
Heidi. And we knew that we were
getting ready to leave. We
thought, you know, I'm thinking,
I pretty much run out of options
in Virginia. We were living in
Newport. News, Virginia gotcha,
and I had come Victor had come
to Nashville in the late 80s,
and to be part of the Fleck tone
thing Baylor was. Baylor was
putting together a thing for
this, this special called the
Lonesome Pine special, which
was, you know, kind of like the
other Austin City Limits, kind
of like back in the day, and he
was looking to put together this
special kind of bank, because
Baylor obviously doesn't play
regular old banjo. So Kurt
story, the late great Kurt
story, now, had worked with the
brothers at Busch Gardens in
Williamsburg in the earlier part
of the 80s. He said Baylor, the
best bass player in the world,
lives in Virginia. His name is
Victor Wooten. So on Kurt on
Kurt's story's recommendation,
Kurt gives him Victor's number.
Baylor calls Victor on the
phone. Victor plays some stuff
over the telephone. Baylor says,
come to Nashville. So amazing a
telephone audition. Victor comes
in Nashville, moves in with Jo
Nell mosser, who, at the time,
was married to John Cowan, yes,
you know who's now singing with
the doobies. He's also the voice
of operators. Victor moves in
with him. So Baylor is looking
for a drummer. He's auditioning
drummers. Victor says, Baylor, I
got her brothers doing some
stuff on drums. You nobody's
ever seen before. So Victor's
recommendation, electronic
thing, playing the, I call it
the contraption, yeah, he was
playing the thing, you know, it
was, uh, he had taken the, added
some electronics to the old
synth X, synth X electric
guitar, right? So the scent sent
X drama. So God Roy comes and
and, you know, they hit it off,
and he knew he was going to use
Howard Levy. So, you know, that
was, that was that Victor later,
was there was a competition in
at the old corner music next to
forks, yes, and it was a guitar
competition. They called it the
Wang off. All the rock
guitarists would get there do
their thing, yeah, man, you
just, that's a rough name, man,
that's a rough name. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. You say it on their
imagery. That's right, yeah.
Everybody just kind of ignores
where your brain obviously goes,
like the Wang off if
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So Victor was going to enter on
base, and they were like,
Victor, this is a guitar
competition. And Victor was
like, you know, I want to enter
this thing on base, like Victor,
you can't get into the wing off
on base. So Victor says, Okay,
well, I got a brother. So he
calls Reggie. So Reggie comes in
and he wins the guitar
competition. He still has the
snake skin Randall. And the
snake skin, I think, is the
Randall stack. And I think it
was a baby blue, a black with
baby boo polka dots. Was it a
Kramer guitar? Anyway, he still
has the stuff that he won from
there. So this is that was like
in and so that was somewhere in
the late 80s. So there was a
woman named Alice Randall. Alice
Randall is an author. She's a
best selling author right now,
my Black Country, I think, is,
but she is the name of the book
that she has now. At the time,
she was doing the soundtrack to
an upcoming movie called Mother
Dixie, and she wanted the title
track song, but she didn't want
a normal country voice. So she
was asking Victor, you know, do
you want to sing it? Victor is
like, I'm not really this
singer, but I have a brother. I
got four other brothers, yeah.
So he called, he called me, and
I came in. This is in the latter
part of the 80s. I came in, sung
it. We hit it off. She loved it.
And I'm in Nashville going, I
kind of, I like the feel of
this. I was already feeling like
I was running out of options in
Virginia, sure. And so I called
my then girlfriend, Heidi, and
said, This feels like a good
place. They said, You know,
we'll just consider it if it
looks if it moves in that
direction, we'll do it. So she's
waiting to pick me up at the
Trailways Greyhound station,
because by then Trailways and
Greyhound emerged at Fort Eustis
at the bus stop, and while she's
sitting there waiting for a sign
of whether it was a good move,
sounds like, seems like. It
sounds like something out of a
movie, but it's the truth. As
I'm stepping off the bus next to
our Datsun 210 in the next
parking space, pulls in a U haul
with Nashville, Tennessee on the
side, a moving a moving truck
with Nashville
on the side that's probably had
like a banjo rolling hills. It
had the banjo on the boots. You
know, every every state has had
the banjo on the boots. So not
long after that, a friend of
ours, her name is Patty Bishop.
At the time, I had worked with
her at Busch Gardens. She said,
I'm getting ready to get
married. My husband and I are
going to have a house on the
lake in Mount Juliet. You can
move in with us, if you want,
until you get on your feet,
nice. And it all worked out. So
we jumped in like you realize
how crazy you are when when you
get older. But we jumped in a,
I'm not sure if it was four
doors, but it was a Datsun 210
we had two cockatiels that had
just laid eggs that wound up
hatching as we got to Tennessee,
but we had a half Labrador, half
Collie. We had a half Dalmatian,
half something. Yeah, we had two
cats, two cockatiels, and a big
blue and gold Macaw. Exotic
pets. Yes, we, well, my first
wife, you know, we've had all
kinds of species in the house.
By the time I had kids, it was
easy.
Joseph, you're on number two.
I'm on wife number two, okay,
but I don't feel so bad. But we,
we, we moved to Nashville and
and, and, you know, it all
worked out three years later,
September the 12th, and I'm
sorry, March the 12th. 93 I get
a call from Steve Miller. Ah.
And I was in the Steve Miller
Band for 32 and a half years,
and I saw you out there at the
First Bank Arena with Ron wixoe
on the drums. That's right, it
was maybe two years ago.
Fantastic. Yeah, it's a man
that's a fun show to play. Well,
that's the one that's part of
the slice of Americana, or the
American song. It
really, was really storybook
about it for me, like graduating
high school in 1979 all those
Steve Miller hits that was my
middle school, high school. I
always loved fly like an eagle,
because that's just, that's some
of the best b3 playing in a pop
soul hit in a long time. And I
grew up done it. I'm the guy
that got a chance to do it.
What's it like to get a phone
call directly from Steve Miller?
I mean, how does he open up the
call? Well, some people call me
the space cow.
No, nothing like that. He's,
he's Steve is a pretty off the
stage, pretty straight guy.
Yeah, right. So I was doing a
recording session for a man
named Chris McCarthy. Chris
McCarthy wrote swing town. He
wrote a song called horse and
rider. And I think he also, I
mean, he co wrote with Steve. He
also co wrote, did you see the
light
shoot? Is the song in a minor
I'm looking at this anyway.
It'll come to me in a minute. He
wrote that too and
serenade I was
doing a recording session for
him, two days of recording, and
the first day he said, You Steve
Miller, just lost a keyboard
player. You'd be perfect for it.
And yeah, when you're playing
music, people tell you stuff all
the time. So I was polite. I
didn't blow him off. I didn't
say anything rude, I just didn't
do anything. And the next day,
it came for the next session. My
car was down at the time, so he
came to my house and picked me
up. And he said, You should have
said that audition tape
yesterday. He said, Here's his
mailing address. You need. You
need to do this. You'd be
perfect for this overnight,
overnight. And he said that, uh,
you know, it's the kind of gig
you go out for three months.
You've made your money for the
year. You can do whatever you
need to do for the rest of the
year great, which, when he gave
me his mailing address, I was
like, okay, I'd be really
negligent not to send something
in if I have his mailing
address. So Mike Webb is a
keyboard playing friend of mine.
Love Mike, yeah, from Virginia,
double kick productions. I don't
know why I remember that, but
double kick productions. He also
was in a band with Roy when Roy
had his first prototype strap on
drum set.
That's just really quick before,
just in case people are in the
dark, paint a really quick
picture of who all your brothers
are and what they play.
Okay, youngest brother is
Victor, and most, most people
know Victor Wooten. If you're a
bass player, you certainly know
him. I'm second to the youngest
Joseph, three years older than
Victor, three years older than
me, was Rudy, who used to blow
two sexes at once, and Rudy's
jazz room is named after him. I
did not know that. So if you if
you're in Rudy's and you look at
the stage, if you look opposite
of the stage. On the back wall
is his alto saxophone.
So he did not know that. Yeah,
wow,
yeah. So, and then one year
older than Rudy is Roy, aka
future man, one year older than
less than a year older than Roy,
they're 10 days inside of a year
for 10 days, they're the same
age. Tech, they're the same age
right now. Reggie's birthday is
on the 23rd so the end,
everyone's eight years apart.
The whole cycle from the top to
bottom. Yeah, eight years nice.
And that oldest is Reggie.
Reggie showed me how to play
when I was five. Showed Victor
how to play when he was two. So
he showed us at the same time.
And, yeah, I mean, showed us
well enough that three years
after he showed us how to play,
that was in 1967 Yeah, we were
opening for war. In 1970 we
opened for war in Sacramento,
California at the Memorial
Auditorium. Victor was Victor
was five and I was eight. Older
brothers, 1112, 13. Less than
two years later, we opened for
Curtis Mayfield on on his
Superfly tour. Amazing. Wow,
three different shows. Oh, yeah.
So we, you know, when Reggie
showed us, he showed us really
well. But back to 93 Yeah, he
was asking, what's it like when
Steve calls Yeah, so I sent in
the audition tape. What I did.
By then, the Wooten brothers had
been to Arista Records and had
an unsuccessful record deal. So
we signed to Arista Records the
same time they signed Whitney,
same label, same producer.
Kashif was producing our album.
He was producing his album. Was
that Narada? Narada, no, the
Narada was on the next album. I
want to dance with somebody. He
was on the next album, but
Kashif was. A hit maker at the
time, you know, he had the
Evelyn champagne King hits. He
had the he had the he was an R,
B hit maker at the time. He had
the, so far so fun. You blow my
mind. Boom, boom, the boom,
boom, boom. He had the way I
feel about you. There just ain't
no doubt about it. I'm in love
Evelyn champagne king. He had
some hits with her. He had some
hits with with Melbourne. More.
Bet you see, don't love you. He
was a hit maker. So they wanted,
Clive wanted to launch Whitney R
and B first. So they went to
cashif Kashif had two songs to
do. One was a song called, you
know, you give good love. When
she sang, you give good love, I
was there, right? I watched her
sing it, come on. She was right
on the other side of the glass.
The thing I remember, because
most singers, you pull a
headphone off so that you can
hear. And she would push both
the headphones on tightly and
just sing like you'd never
heard. And at the time, nobody
was really singing like that.
Yet. Now there's a bunch of
them. There's Christina
aguileras, and you know, you
mean, well, yes, sort of that,
that power vocal, with those
riffs, they weren't really
singing just that approach yet,
like Whitney showed another way
to sing, R, B before that, the
singers largely were coming out
of the Aretha school. And then
there were the Chaka singers,
the singers that sounded kind of
like Chaka in comes Whitney
Clive knew what he had, and he
was right. And I got a chance to
see it as it was happening.
Kashif's second song was
supposed to be the second single
was a song called thinking about
you. And because Kashif is
producing our album, Kenny G's
album and his album, we're all,
yeah, we're living. He bought
Jackie Robinson's place, Jackie
Robinson's place in Stanford,
Connecticut. So we're living,
you know, in Jackie Robinson's
old house. Yeah, there's,
there's a picture of when we
first moved in. There was still
a picture of Jackie Robinson
stealing home downstairs in the
game room that became the
studio. There's pictures to him
and all the great athletes of
the time. The coolest thing was,
just before you walked
downstairs, upstairs, you walked
past his National League MVP
plaque that was still on the
wall, like living in
Cooperstown, right? So when
Kashif was recording Whitney
songs, the second song was a
song called thinking about you.
Well, she's singing, I'm in the
booth just singing along,
harmonized. He goes, I like
that. Go in there and sing it.
So I'm on, I'm on that song.
Amazing. Now, similar to my
career, I didn't get paid for
it. I didn't get credit. You
didn't sign no paper, yeah,
well, because she was also the
producer, right? So you know,
you're making your sacrifices
trying to, you
know when, you know when Eddie
Van Halen played on, what was
the big that he played on beat
it? Yeah, they just called him
in, hey, play guitar. So on this
he thought he would never see
the light of day. They said. He
said, Do you want to sign the
paper? And he said, I'm
fine. You know why he did that?
Though? Why? Because he didn't
want the rest of the band to
know he did it.
Well, the cat's out of the back.
Well,
Alex Van Halen told the story in
his books, and he said because
they didn't like anybody
pollinating in other bands, and
Alex never played with anybody
else. He expected the same from
everyone.
Wow. So the footnote is longer
than the story. The reason I'm
telling it is because when I
sent in my audition tape, yes,
with Steve, I sent in I had just
as I'm bringing it all together.
Mike Webb, I had just bought
software from him. Whenever we
see each other, we start geeking
out keyboard wise, because,
like, we were two of the first
that bought the D 50 back in
Virginia, and so I bought his
old sequencing software. I
bought his Master Tracks. So on
his Master Tracks, I did a funky
loop of abracadabra, I put a
piano solo on it, an organ solo
on it, and a synth solo. This
was your audition tape. This was
my audition tape. Also on that
audition tape at the time, more
than gigs surviving, I was doing
a lot of sound alike work where
you go into sound like the K
tell what kind of like? Yeah,
more. It's more you would see it
like, if you go to any place
where they needed the popular
song but didn't want to pay the
licensing of so I had all the
RMB and the hip hop Nice. So I
had done boys to men's acapella
version of. It so hard to say
goodbye to yesterday, so I did
that so that he would know that
I could sing harmony, so that he
would know how I played. I sent
the audition tape, and then I
sent a snippet of me singing
with Whitney, so that he would
know that I had done it at a
high level. And maybe I don't
remember how many days it was
later, but you know, here's a
voice, a speaking voice that
sounds just like his singing
voice. Hi. This is Steve Miller.
I really liked your audition
tape. I'd like for you to join
the Steve Miller Band. He said,
What I remember is him saying,
this is the kind of gig that you
could have for the next 10
years, if you want it, right?
And it was almost 33 not quite
33 congratulations, yeah. And it
was, it was, it was fun. You
know it was fun? Yeah.
I mean, that effort that you
made bought you the 33 years.
Absolutely, you could have just
mailed it and say, yeah, here's
me blowing some changes, blah,
blah, blah, you know, that's it.
But you made a nice
I did, I, uh, I was, I'm kind of
like that. If I do anything, I'm
gonna put my best foot forward.
Perfect. So I sent in, you know,
the three kinds of like
abracadabras, do, do, do, and I
did. Boom. Then I went in and
played like myself, yeah, no, I
did. I didn't. I didn't know how
it was going to go. But after
getting the gig, it was really
the thing that sticks in my head
was he's like, Okay, you're in
the Steve Miller Band. You know,
if you in a day, you'll get your
rehearsal tape. Got my rehearsal
cassette
tape, cassette audio tape.
I got my cassette tape. But the
thing that I remember is, after
getting the cassette, I didn't
know that I was familiar with
that much. Steve Miller music,
yeah.
So you get the songbook, right?
So you got Joker fly like a
needle, abracadabra jet
airliner. Rock me, jungle love.
And I was fortunate enough to
play, living in the USA, at the
Ryman Auditorium for the School
of Rock with your brother
Victor. Cool
man, take the money and run.
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Jungle
love. I mean, wow, yeah, it goes
on and on swing town serenade.
Is there one that's your
favorite? Is it? Would it be the
fly like an eagle? By far? Fly
like an eagle is like, just
right down my alley. Now I get a
chance to take a solo on it
during the show. That's sort of
my big moment. It's how it
opens. Well, sometimes we change
the set list slot. Yeah, we did
the set list at one point with
fly like an eagle the opener.
We've done the set list with fly
like an eagle, kind of, you
know, in the showcase position.
But it's not my favorite,
because I get a chance to take a
solo on it. It's my favorite,
and I get a solo on it. But I
just, I think some of it I like
it because the groove is very
similar to another song I really
like, which is slipping in the
darkness by by war, yes, boom to
boom to boom. Boom to boom to
boom, right? And both of those
just hit me in a good well,
the boom to boom to boom is
coming right from the Latin
American clavie. It's coming
right from Bo Diddley.
Absolutely, there's a lot
happening there.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I
mean, funk is just rhythm, and
rhythm it music is rhythm,
harmony, Melody, by far, the
most important component is
rhythm, because not everybody is
moved by the same harmony.
Melody is not the most necessary
component of music. It's like
the license plate on the car, so
you know, what's the signature.
Hey, now that is incredible. I
have not heard that viewpoint,
but you're, I would, I would say
you're absolutely right, yeah.
I mean, you can, you can still
you can play music without a
melody. You can groove without a
melody, but if you want to know
what groove it is, I mean, you
don't have to play the whole
concerto. You can just go, oh,
yeah, okay, you know what I'm
talking about. The melody is
that, yeah, the melody is the is
that is that is the identifier,
yes. But the most important
component of music is rhythm,
because rhythm is the thing that
puts us all on the same page.
You can have a good beat and not
even have any music. I use an
analogy. There's a there was an
old YouTube clip, and there was
one of the world's greatest
violinists on the corner, and he
was playing, and people were
just walking by, you know,
playing a Stradivarius, people
just walking by, and somebody
was complaining that people have
no appreciation for music. He
was the world's greatest
violinist ever, ever heard and,
and I was like, it's not that
people don't like violin. It's
just that every violin is not
everybody's thing. You. But you
could take a drummer. It doesn't
even have to be a good bucket
drummer. Yes, a bucket. You
could have a drummer, and all
he's got is a kick drum just
going, and he's going to draw a
crowd, because people like, know
something's about to happen
right here, like he's setting
something up. Because music,
rhythm, rhythm is the unifier,
without anybody having to say
anything, and that's what makes
music so powerful. We have a
chance of unifying people
skipping over all the things
that makes barriers, cultural
barriers, cultural language
barriers, seminars, studies on
religion, and we skip over all
of that and go right to
togetherness, right to
togetherness. And that's what
makes music such a powerful
tool. But largely it's the
rhythm that does. It rhythm. It
rhythm is the unifier, because
if you hear a good beat, you
don't even realize it. You hear
a good beat, and your head is
just going, yes, yes, yes, I'm
in for whatever you're selling.
Yeah. So is it safe to say that
every member of the Wooten
brothers plays little drums?
Yeah? I saw a picture on your
website with you behind a kid.
Yeah, I can play some drum Well,
when we were young in 1970 we
saw James Brown. Now my brothers
Reggie, Roy and Rudy had seen
them as children. My aunt took
them to see James Brown, and
their lives were changed. But
Victor and I as a family, we saw
them in 1970 James Brown at at
his best back when Bootsy
Collins was in the band playing
that white finger precision, and
his brother, catfish was on
guitar. Jabo Stark's Clyde
Stubblefield, oh my god, yeah,
Pee Wee and St Clair and Macy o
talk about over sampled and
underpaid. No doubt about it. No
doubt about it. Hey. Really
quick. Macy o Parker, life on
planet, groove. You heard that
record, right? I haven't heard
the whole record. I've heard
some of it. My god, yeah. I
mean, so we saw James Brown, and
our lives were changed. Our
lives were changed. And why am I
telling this story? Oh, about
the rhythm and you could play
drums. So, right? Thank you. So
we, the Wooten brothers, wanted
to recreate a lot of this James
Brown stuff. So Roy, believe it
or not, aka future man, could
move just like James Brown, and
we knew we had to have that in
our show. So he taught me to
play, you know, this James Brown
groove so that he could come
from behind the drums and go out
and sing and dance like James.
So I learned, I learned to play,
and we had the strobe light and
everything. Because James Brown
had a strobe light, we had to
get a strobe light. Yeah. So the
Wooten brothers, to this day, we
are still James brownified to
the to the extent that when,
because Reggie was still our
Victor, and my musical mentor at
that time still is, I mean, to
this day, but when he was
teaching us a play, we go,
Reggie, Reggie. My kids are
there, and he goes in the James
Brown key, which we we knew it
was a James Brown key before we
knew it was D, what keys it in?
It's two down from the James
Brown key. It's one up from the
James Brown key, long before we
knew C and E flat proximity to
the James Brown key, that's
incredible, and that was a fun
way of growing up. Kept us out
of trouble, gave us focus. They
kept other people from trying to
get us in trouble. Yes, because
they recognized that we were
focused. And when people see
that you're focused, other
people want to even the even the
even the the wrongdoers, yes,
don't want to see you lose your
focus and get pulled into that
so they they weren't trying to
get us into gangs. They weren't
trying to get us to drink or do
drugs. We were just focused. You
had your purpose. We had our
purpose, and they knew it too.
So it's what's really gratifying
as an adult, when we go back to
our old neighborhood in Virginia
and people still hold us in high
esteem because we were sort of
for them. We were their local
Jackson Five. Like we won. We
had a we were opening for
Stephanie Mills back in the 80s,
and the tour bus came down the
street and pulled right up to
the house, and like, you know,
we, we might as well have been
in the Jackson fire, and still
to this day, people are still
proud, yeah, to tell other
people, oh, yeah, I grew up with
Victor Wooten. No, I grew up
with Joseph Wooten. Or yeah, you
know, as it feels, it feels
good, but that's what music
that's what music does, and
largely, it's. It's the rhythm
and the things that you attach
to the rhythm that does it notes
by themselves. I mean, without
rhythm, music is just a pile of
notes with no context. But when
you hang those notes on rhythm,
it's the spaces between those
notes that give those notes
purpose, yes, and that's that's
the power of it. That's why I
love being a musician. And
foolishly or smartly, I'm not
exactly sure I think, I think I
have a tool that can help us get
out of this mess we're in.
Because music never fails. It
like never if you go back to the
early 70s or the late 60s,
right? There's the war effort
they're trying to fight in
Vietnam. And here's this hippie
kid with a guitar and a
microphone singing, give peace a
chance. There are these people.
They just skip over the
government mandate. They're
burning draft cards. They're
sitting in peace circles with
love beads, and they burn and
they're just messing up the war
effort. I'm not saying they're
right or wrong. I'm just saying
that music is a disruptor. Yes,
at the highest level, at the
highest level, there was
nothing, there's there's nothing
that Congress could do, so they
just deported him. Gotta get out
of here. We're trying to fight a
war here. And it's not like he
had an AK 47 and a knife. He
had, like a guitar, just to get,
not even always a microphone and
an idea. Oh, we are saying is
give peace a chance. And this
idea from this guy, with some
notes and some beats and a good
idea disrupted the whole
machine. So that's possible.
It's possible coming out of the
out of the civil rights
movement, I mean, they're
arresting them, they're beating
them, sticking dogs on them,
fire hoses. And they sing their
way through the misery This
little light of mine, or or we
shall overcome. They sing their
way out of it. Yes, the worst
oppression always gets rid of
the music. Take the drums away
from the African stop the
Indians from doing the Ghost
Dance, because you'll you will
create yourself free if it's
allowed to happen. And
then you have Congo Square, and
then there's an outlet for that,
and then there's this whole
other art form that's born
Absolutely. It's like, it's
incredible. I love the I love
that you
put rhythm on a pedestal, like
that,
man I do. In fact, James Brown
did too. So James Brown was a
drummer, right? So the beat that
you learned was everything?
Well, yeah, absolutely.
Drummer that one, yeah, I mean,
but that's, in my opinion, in my
opinion, that's when, that's the
turning point where James Brown
goes from playing R B to playing
funk right at that point. That's
just, that's not just R B, it's
swinging a little bit. Oh yeah,
that's funk and that. And from
there, you know, James Brown
becomes not just a R B soul
artist. He becomes a funk
artist, and then Sly Stone
electrifies it, and then
Parliament electrifies and then
takes it into space.
But that
Do you know brother Paul the
keyboard player? Brother Paul,
Brother Paul the water boys,
absolutely. He's got a funny
story about thinking that he was
gonna go see kiss in his youth.
And he's goes to the, you know,
the convention center, wherever
they were playing. And it was,
it was wrong, it was people. And
he said, I went inside, and it
just changed my life.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,
for a reason, yeah. Interesting
thing is like that those guys
knew what they were doing like
James. Let me hold that point.
The point that I was getting
ready to make is James Brown
would challenge his band. He
would ask them what instrument
they were playing. You know,
this is a trumpet. Mr. Brown,
no, no, that ain't right. It's a
guitar. Mr. Brown, no, no, that
ain't right. All of you are
playing drums. He would tell
him, all y'all playing drum you
play because he knew that he and
Bobby bird used to talk about
the funk like, you know, they
get over in a corner and they'd
be talking to each other like it
was a government secret.
Somebody else came in that they
didn't feel belonged in the
conversation. They stopped
talking. But he knew that he had
this potent thing, because what
made James Brown different is he
was doing it for a purpose. He
knew his people were in trouble,
and he knew he had a vehicle for
getting him out, and he knew
this rhythm and this
togetherness that he could do to
get him. He also knew that money
with you had enough money you
could do anything. So when we
saw James Brown, he was
performing 300 35 nights a year,
30 like out of the year. He only
had took off Christmas. He only
had the month up. He had
literally two bands. One band
was traveling and one band was
playing, and he was in the jet
playing every night. Wow, he
knew that he was bigger than the
promoter. What do I need a
promoter for? I'm the promoter.
I'll pay some, you know, some
little hungry cat, you know,
from college. I'll give him a
few 100 make flyers, yeah, to
sell it, to get on the radio and
make sure they know, make sure
they know I'm coming. And he
would take all those suitcases
of money out. And his plan was,
his plan was to buy up enough
radio stations so black people
could get on the radio, because
radio was really segregated back
in those days. That's where the
term crossover artist comes
from. Black people could only
play on black radio, which was
limited, you know, just a
limited clientele. If you
crossed over on the white radio,
you could be a national hit,
like, I feel good. Was a
crossover hit. You what I mean,
I didn't, wasn't Alan Freed, the
guy that would play African
American artists. Yeah,
there was a few of them. Alan
Freed was the one we know about
the most. There were, there were
a few of them that would there's
always throughout history,
there's always some people that
bucked the system. I think it
was, I think it was Betty
Wright, I think when she was
younger, I hope I had the actors
right who dared to let this
black tap dancer, you know,
stand beside her. I don't know
if she held his arm or kissed
him on the cheek or something,
but it was like, super taboo,
like for a minute. Nat King Cole
had a 15 minute show back in the
50s. Just 15 minutes, and
somebody can't remember they
kissed him on the cheek or
something, and boom, he's gone.
It's a different time in the
country, but music could always
cut through, yes, and that's
what James knew. So he was all
those nights he's playing to
make enough money so that his
people could play music like the
rest of it. He had a grand
vision. He did. He really did.
That's why he took, he took a a
lot of heat when he endorsed,
when he endorsed Richard Nixon,
because Richard Nixon knew he
needed some black voters. How do
you get black voters? You caught
James Brown. We made a bunch of
promises to James, and James
knew a president could help his
people. What? Of course, Nixon
didn't live up to any of them.
And you know, word was calling
the White House just causing up
a storm. Yeah, because, you
know, not only did you make me
look bad, but you didn't deliver
on what you said. That long
story to show the power of music
and moving culture with the
right person. Because it's easy.
It's easy to be unfocused when
your music is powerful and
people start telling you how
good you are, it's easy to lose
your focus. A regular, sensible
person, it's easy for you to
lose your focus and think, I
don't know what you think, but
to be unfocused. But music is
our way out, because it's a
meeting place at a time where
it's hard to get anybody to
agree on anything right. A
person on the right sees looks
at one thing. They see it this
way. A person on the left looks
at the same thing, sees it
another way. But music is a
place where we can all meet in
the middle, where we can all
meet in the middle. And the
thing, the thing about music,
this is an analogy that I use
when I, when I,
when I do motivational speaking,
if I, if I take a chair and I
drop it on the floor and I
cough, right? Two things got
nothing to do with each other
unless I put them on the beat,
drop, cop, drop, right at that
point, these two things that
used to be unrelated, it's
awesome. These two things that
used to be unrelated now are in
a relationship, not just that
they're respecting each other's
space, but it's a relationship
that we can build off of. We got
a baseline. I can add some keys.
We can bring a rapper in before
you know this choreography, you
know we're signing release forms
based off of these two things
that you should be unrelated, a
chair and a cough, organized in
a specific manner, the
foundation of the house,
respecting, essentially, though
the moral of that story are
sounds that are different,
sounds that are different that
now respect each other's space
in an intelligent way that
applies to sound. It applies to
people. So what happens is with
people, when we're different,
rather than finding a way for us
to. Respect our space
differently. I mean, I'm sorry,
intelligently. Instead, we do
more like competition, like
sports, like sports is
entertaining. Sports is
entertainment, but it's not a
way of moving culture forward,
because sports is always
creating new losers along with
the winners. We win at
somebody's expense, and that's
good for entertainment. It's a
terrible way to move culture
forward. I mean, that's why war
is the most lethal form of it.
We win. You know, it's a lethal
competition, yes, but if we
could learn the lesson of music,
music takes things that are
unrelated and have them respect
each and has them respect each
other's space intelligently, and
it gives sounds that are
incompatible, a path forward
that we can build on. And the
way that we do it culturally is
just to sell respect, rather
than trying to get you to think
like me, right? If G and G and a
flat. You know, they're the
picture of tension. They're
right next to each other, yes,
but if one of, if one of those
notes, I call it, take the high
road, you're still a G, just be
a higher version of a G, right?
And now you got to a flat and a
G, we can maybe play A flat
major seven, and we have more of
a chance of harmony if we if
they're not competing for the
same space, you should. I mean
in terms of civilization, if we
can learn the lesson of music,
the lesson is put respect
between the two of us. You don't
have to stop being conservative
or liberal or whatever it is, I
don't have to stop as long as if
I need to move a couch, if I can
call you, you know what I mean?
Yeah, then hopefully your
conservative self will come over
and help me move this couch, or
your liberals or whatever. But
instead, we're still competing.
We're still trying to make the
other person be more like us,
and that's not a way to move
society for which is why
politics is necessary, but it's
not the answer, because politics
is competition too. Yeah, trying
to the right tries to, you know,
the we're right, you're wrong,
yeah, then they're right on the
right. The right tries to own
the left. When the tool that I
use with people, I'll say, if
you want, if somebody voted for
candidate A, you voted for
Candidate B, before you tell
them why Candidate A is wrong.
Make that point first, like
I was talking to a person, I
said, Okay,
you thought the last leader was
weak. You wanted somebody
strong. You knew he wasn't
perfect, so you went with this,
with the strong leader, even
though you knew he wasn't
perfect. You didn't like the way
the country is run. Businessman.
You see a business you thought
you say a businessman would be
better at it. I understand that.
Here's my concerns. Now we're
having a conversation, and that
person knows that they're heard.
They know that whether I agree
with them or not, they know that
I don't disrespect them and I
don't think that they're
unreasonable. And those are the
things that everybody needs.
Those are the part of the basic
things that we need in life, to
feel like we're reasonable and
to feel heard. Now we can, if we
do it that way, we can move
forward even if we disagree.
That's me taking the high road.
That's me being G up here. I
could be G right next to a flat
and go, Hey, man, you're in my
space. You know what I mean. And
we do that tug of war that we
see everybody do, but we we're
so convinced that that we have
to succeed at somebody else's
expense, and it's not the truth.
And because we don't do that
with notes. That's why we can
make music. Music is a path
forward for all of these sounds
that don't match what I what I
do. And then I'll let you get a
word,
because you're opening up
Pandora box. You know, for you
as an author and a speaker, and
you've got some great concepts
on things that I want to
address. The point that I'm
making is what I do is so people
can feel the beauty of music.
I'll tell somebody to say
something positive that means
something to you. And then,
like, one time somebody said,
you live and you learn. So, you
know, I went to the key well,
you live and you learn, but
you live and you learn,
or you crash and you burn, and
you know everybody sang the
refrain, put a verse on it. And
I said, I do that so that you
can see how music can take
something ordinary and make it
extraordinary. Turns it into an
anthem, turns it into something
we can all join in on. But then
I said, but this is what I make
music from. And then I go to the
piano and press all the keys
down. I says, Make music from a
mess. That's that's the source
of music is a mess, and so is
the life that we're living. It's
a mess, but like all these keys
down on the piano, it's a mess
with potential. It's what the
reason that is. Beautiful is
that you hear that I've given
this mess, you can hear that
I've given this mess a path
forward. That's what music is, a
path forward for the mess and
civilization can be that too. We
just have to undo it in a
different way than competition.
Competition is not it's not the
way. It's entertaining. If
you're winning like people will
say, Nothing brings people
together like sports, because
they'll see a Super Bowl winner,
and everybody's together. But
meanwhile, on the other bus,
it's the worst
day. The other side of the Super
Bowl Shuffle was like the
Patriots. They weren't so happy
going back to New England and
whatever that year is, and life
doesn't have to be success at
somebody else's expense. It's
also the reason I don't really
like music competitions, because
music is really we don't really
sing to make somebody else lose,
and that's what we have now with
American Idol and the voice. We
have these gamifications of
people's talent and
dreams. And I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying that it's a bad
thing. It's given us some great
artists. But also, the detriment
of it, it has us listen to music
going, Oh, that person's not as
good as that person. That's not
what music is for. Well, how do
you describe how do you define
good? But everybody defines it
from where they sit. Yeah,
right. It's like, if I'm sitting
here, that mailbox is behind the
tree. It ain't behind the tree
from where you're sitting, but
for me, you know, you can't see
it. It's in the wrong place,
because I can't see it. And
everybody's everybody's
perspective, is different. I
would love. And then I'll let
you get a word
in. This is highly educational,
and we're getting a glimpse into
your talks, man,
but I would love, I would love a
music show that's not
competition, a music show that
just highlights a person's
positive things and gives them
more ideas of where Their music
is good. Get us out of that this
person is not as good as that
person. No, that person can't
sing. This person can sing. It's
like, there's, there's not
really a reason for that, and
that's music. We don't learn
music to make somebody else lose
I mean, that's, that's why the
music business is anathema to
the music because the music
business is there to make you
bigger than somebody else.
It'll, it'll make you kick
somebody else off the stage if
you can, you know, get this, get
the headlining spot. That's not
what music is for. The music
business. That's a music
business. That's why musicians
make such terrible business
people, because we're more
creative brand, yeah, well, also
because you get good with your
humility. You get good by
knowing, by by seeing how far
you are away from where you want
to be. That is humbling. Yes,
it's only, it's only the ego
test that goes, Man, look how
good I am, right? You're, it's
like counting to infinity,
right? You can, you can count to
5 million. You're no you're no
far, you're no closer to the to
the goal than when you started.
And if you're an arrogant
counter, it doesn't make any
sense, because you're no closer
to the distance. I mean, you're
no closer to the end. But the
quality, the quality of what you
do is available to everybody
really what what you should be
chasing, or what you could be
chasing that is fulfilling every
every individual has a unique
perspective that nobody else
has, and once you find it,
you're out of the competition
like it was my brother Roy that
said nobody will compare Stevie
Wonder and Ray Charles. And
they're both blind piano
players, singer songwriter, you
know what I mean? You don't
compare them because they're
both. They're so individual that
they don't overlap. And the
hardest thing, the hardest thing
on the planet is to find your
voice and express from there is
like, it's such a paradox. The
most unavoidable thing in life,
which is to be yourself, is the
hardest thing in the world to do
something that was taught to you
when you were young. Because
that's funny, we brought up the
Van Halen brothers. That was
like, that was their foundation.
Their father was a musician, and
they said, as long as you, when
people hear you, they know it's
you that was very important,
really well for us, it wasn't my
parents, it was my brother,
Reggie, for whatever reason. You
know, he's Victor's two,
Reggie's 10. And Reggie, as a 10
year old, is looking for
something that he and his
brothers could do together
forever. So he said he was
young, he always loved running
fast. You know, at one time, he
wanted to be the fastest in the
world. He realized couldn't do
that forever. And and I, I. I
remember hearing we were living
on a military base in Hawaii,
and I remember how exciting it
would sound that somebody down
there, you know that you could
hear the bass guitar carrying
and you could hear the drums
carrying. It was so exciting.
And it was his idea to teach
Victor and I to play because he
was already playing Roy's
ukulele. Roy was already beating
on things, and Rudy was playing
the recorder. They were all
really good. I never remember
them sounding like they were
learning. I only remember them
sounding like they could play.
So Reggie, you know, essentially
said, you know, Joe, if you do
this and Vic, you do that, you
can be part of the band. Well,
of course, we want to be part of
whatever our older brothers were
doing, because we looked up to
them. And he taught us, you
know, how to play one note. What
he the first thing he did is
pretty ingenious. There was
little Schroeder piano in the
house, and he said, just play
this note, ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding. And I
remember not being enthused at
all, right, but I'm doing it
because he asked me to Ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
ding. And he let Victor pick up
the little Mickey Mouse guitar.
He's just playing along. Not
really notes yet. He's just
playing along. And then as I'm
going, ding, ding ding, he picks
up the ukulele, ding ding,
dating. And in my I remember,
and because my ears have always
been good. I can hear this note
staying the same, but it's
changing, you know, as he goes
from the one to the four, ding,
ding, ding, ding, you know,
that's and then he starts
singing Midnight Hour, you know,
I loved Wilson Pickett. And
instead of learning to play, on
day one, I'm playing, I'm on the
bike riding, and the next day,
we played a little concert out.
I think my brother Roy called my
mom at work, mommy, mommy,
mommy, we have a band. We have a
band. We have a band. She said,
Well, okay, practice. When you
get home, I'm going to want to
hear it, and I want you to be
good at it so. And she got home,
and we did our little thing, and
the next day in the front yard,
all the neighbors were playing
our little stuff now. Mind you,
Reggie's carrying most of it,
but Reggie taught you music
theory through practical
application. He taught went
right to the song. He taught us
music before he taught us
theory. I mean, that's but you
were learning it in a very spoon
fed practical way, pragmatic.
He's given us the joy of playing
before you get to through the
Drudge to the drudgery, not so
much a practice, but of learning
the terminology, yes and the
same. Now, Victor is the one
that uses the analogy of you
learn to talk long before you
learn English. Learn the rules
of it. You just your parents
allow you to say it wrong.
That's actually really I met
Reggie when in 1997 playing gigs
of pizza perfect. You know what
I mean? I'm like, This cat's
over in the corner at a pizza
parlor just loving life. Yeah,
you know what I mean, amazing.
And then he had the thing, the
muffling device, yeah, the
hairstyle, or whatever,
whenever, whenever I see because
now they have, they have
official ones. But I know that
somebody, at some, some kind of
way, has grabbed the elbows with
the wounds, some kind of way,
because it was a, it's a thing
for Reggie, you know, doing all
that tapping, it helps to muffle
the back strings to make it
cleaner. So he did it. Vic said
I did it because my brother did
it. And people saw Victor and
Reggie do it. And now they're
all over the place.
So, so this is what's beautiful
about the commitment to the
family band, is that you guys
all have your other musical like
money making outlets, right?
That you have your
responsibilities and you have
your schedules, but then you
make it a priority to look at
that schedule and say, All
right, now we're our family band
is going to Europe for two
weeks, right? You found the time
to make it happen. We
leave tomorrow. That's awesome.
That is, thanks for squeezing us
in here. Man, oh, it's
so cool. I'm so glad I could do
it. But yeah, we, we do. We
know. We know that that we are
each other's largest priority.
So everybody does other stuff.
Yeah, no, I have people that are
helping me. I'm getting ready to
come out with a Christmas
record. Okay, should be, should
be released on December 1. Now
that you know, I'm freed up from
the Steve Miller thing, it's
kind of exciting having, having
you're a phoenix rising. This is
like another chapter of your
life, which is really, I love
your song Nashville. I actually
used it on Instagram post the
other day, because it's very
appropriate. Because, you know,
I don't know when you wrote it,
but Nashville is so popular
right now, like all the that's
where I party. Here are coming.
I love that you rhymed demon
brewing. And do
mom brew on demand?
Bouillon, yeah, this place to be
Nashville, Tennessee, yeah, um,
I'll probably re release that at
some point, yeah. But it's, I
think Nashville is a great city,
yes, and music is a great thing
a city whose foundation is
music. I. Love being a part of
it. I love our greatest export
from this city is music. Is
music, and I love being I love
being from Nashville. I love
saying that I'm from here when
I'm out of town. Everybody holds
our city in high regard. I love
being a part of it, not just
being country music. Yes,
because the export oftentimes
makes it look like it's that
Country Music City. Yeah, I like
being a part of showing people
that it's not only that, because
there's all kinds of things
going on, but a city whose
identity is music, I love that.
Yes, I love that. So I wanted my
my goal there was to write a
song that really highlighted,
you know, Nashville, the Music
City, where the girls are
pretty, where you can listen to
the hands of soul, or hear
Conway Twitty, yeah. Now that's
another
thing for you. Is that you have
another project. Joe fought
hands of soul, right, right,
right. And you always have a
birthday bash
every, every, every December, I
do. So my birthday is December
the 15th. Which is I also like
December the 15th, because I was
born on the 170th anniversary of
the ratification of the Bill of
Rights and the First Amendment.
So I have a First Amendment,
Bill of Rights, birthday Second
Amendment too. But I like that.
So every Christmas I do, every
December, I do a birthday slash
Christmas concert that I did the
first one when I turned 50, and
I obviously skipped one during
covid, but this one will be at
the Hutton hotel in the analog
room, beautiful room, December
the 14th, nice and working on
some some special guests. It's
going to be fun. I'll have new
Christmas music that I can
present that's incredible to
everybody. Oh,
you know what? So I'm thinking,
because I could picture my
schedule my mind's eye. I'm
going to be in Cincinnati
teaching a bunch of young kids
how to play drums, darn it, but
I have to brag on you. Okay,
this book. Whenever we have a
guest that's an author, I
immediately download the book,
and I try to consume it, because
I realize how difficult it is,
what a major task it is to write
a book. And you wrote a book in
2017 you can get it from Jeff
Bezos. He'll you could download
it to your your Kindle. It all
matters, what I believe, words
that I live by. So I got my
coffee today. I ended up
drinking a pot of coffee, read
this book, and I got I got
really emotional, man, because
you're a man who's lived many
lives. You definitely have some
philosophies, things you've
learned from music, and I love
it. It's just this, all these
little, short phrases, these
wisdom nuggets, one of the
things I remembered was you have
an idea about what the
difference is between the blues
and funk, and there might be
even something before the blues.
It's, what do I say?
It's a musical style that that
preceded the blues, and then the
difference between the blues and
funk. And I wanted to have the
book on my iPad and then, like,
highlight everything, but I just
consumed it on this little
device right here. But anyways,
it's I learned a lot, man, and
it made me do a lot of thinking,
which I assume is one of the
goals.
Well, yeah, absolutely. The
reason that I did it was because
my mom was full of so much
wisdom, like just so much, and
she would give you these
nuggets, like, what you what you
read, wisdom nuggets, wisdom
nuggets that you could just hang
your life on, yeah, and we
didn't write down enough of it.
I wish that she had done it. So
when I'm talking to people like
I'm talking to you, you wind up
saying some things that could
use saying again. So I started
keeping track of them. I have
this book that has a bunch of
them in there. Somebody saw it
and went, you should publish
this? And I was like, Man, I
don't know. And it was a
publicist that I was using for a
while. He said, if you put it
into a document, I'll get it
published. So I put it into a
document, and he got it
published. Yes, and it's, I wish
that my mother had done it,
because so many of them I use on
my kids, and in just a matter of
days, I'll be a grandfather. All
right, yeah, I just, I just saw
my, my my younger son and his I
just saw my younger son and his
girlfriend for the last time
before their parents. I wanted
to say it one more time, because
when I come back from Europe,
there'll be parents amazing. But
when the day comes and they
wonder who they who her
grandfather was, here will be
this thing that shows who I was.
Same thing, same thing with with
my mother. We we know who she
is, and we share her with so
many, yes, so many people. In
fact, the brothers are getting
ready to get together and and
just share the things that we
can remember for from her.
Like, it's like writing your
mom's like my mom's got the
recipes, you know what I mean.
So I'm gonna have to collect
these little, you know, stained
olive oil, stained recipe cards,
put them in a book or something.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I've got podcast episodes
like my kids will all my
grandkids will be able to find
out who their
grandfather, yeah, listening to
this body of work, Jim,
there's lots of there's lots of
gigs, and there are lots of
people that have met you on gigs
and stuff. But this, you know,
this is a concrete thing where
they can go, Well, what did,
what did he think about? And
then here's the thing that I
also wish, like, when, when my
mother was around, I wish that
my mom had gotten a chance to
meet Stephanie, the one that I'm
married to now, like, I wish
she, like Stephanie, loves to
dote over people. And my mom
would never admit it, but she
liked being doted on you. And I
mean, ah, you don't have to do
anything.
And you know, I wish that I had
gotten a chance to see that it
didn't work out, you know, but
I, I know she'd be she'd be
pleased, very, very pleased and
very proud. Oh, she'd be
pleased. I knew that this would
be super challenging. We're on a
time constraint today, because
my co host, we have to have him
back. We really, we really
should have a part two, because
I knew it would be so
challenging. Because you're a
keyboardist, you're a
keyboardist, you're a singer,
you're a songwriter, you're an
author, you're a philanthropist.
There's something happening with
the Olympics that you're
involved in. Maybe we'll address
that next time, absolutely, but
I just nothing but respect and
reverence for you, and I thank
you for what you've done to
music in Music City and around
the world. And yeah, we got to
have you back on part two. Yeah,
we'll come back and we'll do it
again. It's, it's fun watching
your star rise. When I first met
you, you were just one more
drummer in town, but you were
even motivated back then. Like,
you appreciate it. You had a
plan back then. And like, every
time I see him, he's like, he's
now I'm doing motivational
speaking, yeah? Now I got a
podcast. Now I'm playing a jet
every time I see him, you know.
So it's, it's inspiring, though,
because, because I like to mode,
I like to do motivational
speaking, following you as an
example, you've given me some,
some tools.
Yeah, well, I mean, everybody
check out. I checked out your
TEDx talk, and that you guys
filmed in Memphis, Tennessee.
It's on the internet for all to
see. The talk is called why it
all matters. And there's this
hook about the relationship
between one zero, and you've got
some concepts on that
absolutely. So I've done a deep
dive in Joseph Wooten in the
last couple of days. If people
want to get in touch with you,
what's the best way for people
to get
in touch? Well, there's Joseph
Wooten down. There's Joseph
wooten.com he's go to the Wooten
brothers.com my wife and I have
a charity called I matter you,
matter nice, so you can go to I
matter you, matter y, o, u,
matter.com. I'm on Facebook. I'm
on Instagram. The letter J, the
word Wooten soul. Jay Wooten,
soul is me. I'm on Tiktok.
Joseph Wooten with the kids,
right? Yeah, I'm trying. I'm
trying. I do a daily positive
message on social media. Every
day. It's on Tiktok and it's on
Instagram. It copies over to
Facebook. So if you want to,
I've done 600 and I'll be on, I
think today will be six, number
658, that
is a great idea, yeah, because
you can impact a person, like,
frame right over their morning
coffee, yeah. And then you've,
like, dropped the mic. Your work
is done for the day. You know
what I mean, that's, that's,
that's very impact.
It's impactful. It's, it's more
work than it, you know? Then you
would think it is, because you
do it, and then you do all of
that, but it's, he's trying to
make as much positive impact as
possible. Is it a podcast as
well? It's not a podcast, but
yeah, being here,
yeah, but yeah, I would love to
come back.
I'd love to have you come back
and, you know what? We bring
little, little micro keyboard,
and sometimes I'll jam with my
guests. I'll get a little hand
drum or something and, and you
know that happens a lot on the
show, so So maybe we'll do that
thing. But we really appreciate
your time, man. Thank you,
Europe, my
pleasure. Thank you for having
the maps of pleasure. Meeting
you. Yeah, vice versa. Thank you
for having me. I look forward to
coming back. I get back on the
10th of November. So nice. Yeah,
okay, time for
some pumpkin pie. Yeah, pumpkin
pie.
Well, let's just label this part
one and do a part two.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's
Joseph Wooten. Joseph hooten.com
I'm going to this camera to tell
all of you out in podcast land
to be sure to subscribe, share,
rate and. View. It helps people
find the show. We appreciate
you. Joseph, thank you, Jim.
John Rob, Jim, thanks, buddy.
We'll see you next time. Thanks,
folks. This
has been the rich Redmond show.
Subscribe, rate and follow along
at rich redmond.com forward,
slash podcasts. You. I do.