Tracy Lawrence - TL's Road House - Mark Wills (Episode 55)

[Music] all right hello everybody Welcome to TS Roadhouse good to have y'all with us again my old friend Mark Wills is with us today how are you pal man I'm good it's good to see you bro good to see you too man love the love the bus love the uh love I you know see it on the see it on the different episodes but didn't know if this was kind of a A mockup or this was really the bus it's really the bus it's really the bus man this is where we live and travel and and uh it's taken us a little bit to get off all the camera angles and everything but it's we're finally getting there dialed in it looks good looks good I love it it's got a warm homey feel to it you know there's been a little tequila shot in here you know oh you think you think I mean well I'm you you talk about tequila I got Willie Nelson sitting next to me I'm not sure wiie don't drink though Willie Just Smokes no that's what my point you said tequila but I got Willie Nelson sitting next to me my wife don't let me Smoke On The Bus well you know it's it's probably it's better for the vocal cords it is better for the voal better for the vocal cords not to do that so we go way back man I mean we've known each other since the early 90s it's been years years3 did we meet at the buck board the first time you had you had already started your I did one of my early showcases at the Buckboard you did the buck board and I I didn't I wasn't for I wasn't there for that but do you remember you came down to Stockbridge and you did a show at the high school uh oh yeah did you well you did a show down at the high school and one of the teachers down there you had you had become friends with and that's actually where I met you for the first time was in 93 somewhere somewhere in that neighborhood you know and uh and and that's where I met you and then and you know then like everything else starting my record deal 95 uh recording the new record we run into each other doing rubb golf tournaments you know all that kind of stuff rhubarb and Moby and all those guys so we so our our paths had continued to cross and of course you knew Darren Norwood yes uh Aon had been the the lead singer at the Buckboard before I you know before he signed his record deal with Warner Brothers and then transitioned to Giant so there was there was all of that I think I even think at some point y'all were doing something in Atlanta together like maybe a private show and you came into the Buckboard and kind of hung out with us one we did quite a few things there over the years man different label events and different functions but but it's been uh it's been quite the journey hasn't it has man it has it's good to see you good to see you you know doing well and here we are some 30 years later and both of us still standing we're the Elder Statesmen now yes we are we started out as the kids and now we're the old men I was always the youngest in the band D were you always the youngest in the band oh absolutely I mean you think about it when I was when I signed my record deal I was 21 when I when I started out on the road in January of 96 doing radio tour I was 22 years old really I didn't realize you you were that young cuz I got signed mine at 23 so you were young younger than me when you got your deal yeah I was I was 22 and you know and all of a sudden you're you're the boss you're the you're the 22y old boss of 12 morons running up and down the road and I say that I say that in a loving sort of way because we were all wideeye and just in it for the experience like it was crazy well and it was an exciting time too because there was so much great music uh so many really good bands I mean there was great musicians and the camaraderie was so much different back then man I think everybody was proud for everybody's success it's like I don't think people overlapped into each other's Lane you know everybody kind of had their own musical thing going on and it was just a really fun creative time man well I think I think like everything else see I grew up and and I say grew up I was you know 17 18 years old started singing at the Buckboard so I sang a bunch of Tracy Lawrence songs that were that was the stuff on the radi and you know and before you sign your record deal before you are doing your songs you're showcasing Every Act that's coming through town that's playing there so I I got to sing a little bit of everything like in today's world where you're playing down on Broadway and you're having to play you know the the top 40 of today I was getting to play everything from you know Jean Watson to you know the new stuff like you to uh to Alabama to Brooks and dun to what was the favorite give me your top five favorite artist of the period when you were cutting your teeth that you love to emulate that you thought you did really good representations of man I would I would think I don't know I I feel like you always picked great songs and that's what I always loved so I always love singing your music I always love singing trit stuff trit with right down the street um I always loved G you know because I I met G the first time I came to Nashville when I was 15 16 you know something like that um that was you know and I always loved Alabama that's the music truly Milsap and Alabama that's the stuff that that I really feel like the Slicker stuff see for me it was like the Haggard and the and the George Straight those were the guys and I I did you do this I remember sitting in my room man and I would be listening to songs you know trying to figure the chords out and I would listen to it so much and I would try to get everything down to the phrasing I mean to where they cut the note off where you took your breath I mean that was I remember working on songs so intently like that did you did you do all those things too I I probably did um I don't I don't remember it like that because when you're before you have your own style you you know you're you're emulating everything and and and I wanted to emulate it exactly like the record was that was my go well I remember I remember Allan Reynolds and I don't remember where I saw this interview and I don't remember at what point in my career but I do remember this interview he was talking about G when G first came in to record his first record and he said uh he said you know here's G Brooks you know nobody nobody knows who G Brooks is at the time this is 89 8 88 89 something like that and you know and he's and he's and he's and G's in the studio and and Allen leans over and hits a talk back Mike and he goes what are you doing and he goes I'm trying to do my I'm trying to put a little George Straight on this and and and Allen says to him says man we've there's already a George Straight I need G Brooks on this record yeah and I literally I remember that as as a young act you know 92 993 when I was really starting to develop who I was or my singing style I I took a little piece of everything but I also tried to make it sound like me yeah you know and and and and good or bad you know better or worse I I feel like I was I was pretty successful with that because that way I didn't have to that way I didn't have to try to always you know match a Travis trit kind of you know Timber or whatever it was so much for me about developing the chops of being able to have that wide variety of being able to do things whether it was a Travis trit or Hank Williams Jr whatever and I I I was talking with somebody uh in an earlier podcast you know you think about all the the influences that we have you know we're able to draw from those things and we're able to emulate them and we're able to develop a style of our own because of the the the overwhelming different influences that we have you know it all just meshes together but what about a Hank Williams Senor man he didn't have all that stuff to digest from the radio to be able to develop that it was just all him man well I I think that's where you saw I think you can go back if you go back to like there's um there's a time frame in there where like Ernest tub if I listen to Willy's Roadhouse a lot yeah driving you know driving back and forth from Atlanta to Nashville and you'll hear a lot of that stuff you'll hear some of those guys that that when you know like Ernest tub was really big there was a few artist that came along that tried to sound like Ernest tub yeah nobody sounds like Ernest tub right but you understand what I'm saying absolutely you know there was there's and and and literally if you listen to some of the Stonewall Jackson stuff you can I I swear there's sometimes that you know Stonewall Jackson they'll play a record from Stonewall and I'm like that's a young Hank Williams Jr yeah you know there's there's there's different things that that you can hear in some of those vocals that really just sort of take me to a to a place of like dude that sounds just like a young who whoever and you know one of the things that frustrates me about the the day that we live in now and I there's so much that I appreciate about the oh you and I are getting ready to go down an absolute rabbit hole and we're going to piss off half of the viewing audience and we're going to become Heroes to the other half of the viewing audience so go right ahead sir the floor is yours I I really believe that we overtune everything I think just because we have the technology to make perfect records all it makes everything sound all the same to me before there were Pro Tools we used Pros yeah we used Pros to come in and actually deliver the goods we we did what we did and you know go back to Sticks and Stones go back to what you know your early career my early career Jacob's Ladder places I've never been those type of songs we didn't have any of that stuff I recorded on 2in tape and if you go back and if you went back to like a lot of the the old classic records and could you imagine going in in Pro two on a Hank Williams Jr record it suck all the life out of it like from the 70s like Whiskey Bent and Hellbound those little imperfections made those records what they were well I so here's here's where we are here's where we are in 2024 what's the biggest Resurgence in music right now 90s country well vinyl yeah everybody wants a vinyl right think about how imperfect vinyl is is think about the pops and the cracks and all of that kind of stuff right but but the music that was on those vinyls wasn't wasn't perfected it wasn't tuned it wasn't any of that sort of stuff but but they did have mixed techniques that would mask things and and kind of massage through but the masking is different than manipula but also the warmth of analog tape compared to digital tape gave you a much wider pocket get that sound across I remember I remember putting records on when I was a kid you remember laying the speakers down in your floor and putting your head in between the speaking my mom and daddy wouldn't let me have headphones and said it make me death un that's all I I live in headphones and earbuds and they never come out of my ears these days but I would lay down and just crank it up because I wanted to hear every little freaking thing man did you ever I mean I have those great memories like that oh well I mean the the first record that I ever had in my life was a Conway Twitty greatest his record I think Cony people get mad M me for saying this too but con Conway was one of the nastiest artists say some nasty songs don't take it away okay here's I I actually talk about this in my show I talk about this in my show sometimes when when you know when I'm at when I'll say hey what do you want to hear and you know somebody say Conway okay now I want you to picture this picture this in your mind picture like you or you know whoever picture your four-year-old sitting 5-year-old sitting in the back seat singing I can almost hear the Stillness as it yields to the sound of your heartbeating oh yeah and that song is straight up filthy when you when when it gets to the line about as my trembling fingers touch forbidden places no mama wants to hear their five-year-old sitting in the back seat singing that I can remember my mom saying you don't need to sing that song Oh dadd Daddy didn't even let let us listen to swinging he said that's just nasty swinging there's a little girl our neighbor I love his vocal man I'm I'm so dagam happy that that he's going into the Hall of Fame he deserves it I think that I think that that's I think that that's where I think that that's where the music industry really needs to to look at itself I think we need to start doing more of the living people into the Hall of Fame oh without a doubt joh man but guys like John had such a huge impact on so many of think about he what when was when did swinging come out 82 uh yeah it was the early 80s because I remember listening to it on on buses going to to a shows and FFA trips and stuff when I was like a freshman in sophomore and high school and I graduated in ' 86 so that was right on that 82 to 86 window I think it's I think it I want to go back to like 9 10 years old you know cuz my sister I I remember my sister Amy loved that song and I remember she was like six you know five six somewhere in that neighborhood so you know I mean that's that's where I that's where I put it in my brain but I'm pretty sure you know that's that's where it goes back to or or kind of in that area you know so I I love the fact that he's going into the Hall of Fame and I love the fact that you know that here we are and and and we're getting to see we've been around long enough to see the people that were big influences on us you know going into going into to receive accolades like that oh without a doubt man and John was one of the great ones he was one of the first people I met when I got to town too because I I was working with James Stout at the time and and he was he was cutting that record that brought John's career back and I got to meet John in the studio I I think I'd cut sticks and stones but I was working on my second album of Alibi and I got to spend some time with John what a cool experience to get to know him back then and know the musicians in his band guys like Joe Spivey I'm sure work with years all the time well I used to see him all the time when I would go downtown and uh and see the Time Jumpers and stuff like that and I think all those guys have all those guys have since departed and went and done well V is an eagle now you [Laughter] know hey you got to do what you got to do he said it the other day he said he said something like uh you know well I never thought I'd be 60 and joining a band so singing singing cover songs yeah singing cover songs yeah but dude I that's that's amazing too you know yeah you know it's it's been amazing uh we we were products of the early 90s and had great careers to see what this industry's done you know G was kind of the Pinnacle back then doing stadiums and the kind of show that g was putting on now there's a lot of young acts that are filling up Arenas and amphitheaters and stuff now it just seems like it's just exploded country is bigger than it's ever been it's a massive format around the world you know huge in Europe more so than it's ever been yeah and and and which is funny because have you did have you ever traveled over there oh yeah I've done some stuff I've never in my entire career done anything I feel like Elvis to a certain degree I've never really done anything States and I would like to go do more and we talk about it every year but it seems like the times that they want to go you go over there and you you take a couple of weekends and you do three or four shows and the money's way down and and you don't not only don't make as much but it's the money you lose over here in the to get over there it's it's you know but but I think it's changing I think they're playing bigger venues I think there's more Big Show opportunities for country artists and I think Legacy artists like us are are can get some pretty good traction let's put together let's put together a three- week European tour uh Germany bararia they're huge Market Switzerland is a huge Country Market uh uh England is a huge Market uh Ireland is a huge Country Market so who me you who oh Tracy bird let's go let's take dude I I was with bird just a few just a few months ago yeah he's doing great man sounds just like he did I'm with him and Neil McCoy this weekend well you that Neil McCoy guy yeah he just yes he keep him out of keep him out of the deal but you know but yeah dude I mean that's that that well we got and we've got to we got to find how about this how about because we got to you know to be politically correct now we got to have a female act but it's got to take Dina Carter well I was going to say Leanne wac I love Leanne she's one of my favorite I love because I'm with Dina Carter tomorrow yeah tell I tell DEA I said hello but I would I would say because you know some of those some of those great oh dude I could listen to the fool I she got such a pure pure voice man I could listen to the fool like daily for the rest of my life and never get tired especially when you have it in the in the cans and it's right here and you can hear those those little the little bitty the little squeak you know you don't know like Chris ever Lloyd when you ten oh my God son if that don't bring Memories Back to You Well I don't know I don't know what I don't know what memory it brings back for you so who who out there uh intrigues you artist wise these days what's happening out there currently that that interest you you um are we are I'll tell you who I really like um have you met the girl may Estes I have not met her May is a girl uh a young girl that made her oery debut uh with me uh probably about a year ago and uh she loves the music that love yeah she is a huge Haggard huge whitly her her bio on Instagram is trying to make my mama and Keith Whitley proud uh great singer um Cody works with a young girl named Tiara Tiara Kennedy um she's a great singer I've heard her some of her stuff you know um man there's there's a lot of great sing out there right now but I don't like the way the records sound because of what we were talking about a minute ago I tell you a record that does sound good and and I've known her since before she really blew up as Lenny Wilson's new oh yeah that record's a good record well I'm not see I I wasn't even talking about I was I was talking about brand new I thought that's what you were talking about well I am but lany's exploded so hard I mean we're in in 2024 and 2020 she was was out opening for being Justin Moore with an acoustic guitar riding around in a van isn't it amazing how her overnight success took 10 12 years yeah I was going to say I mean you know to for her to for to listen to her story and talk about how she moved to town and lived in lived in a camper you know in the publishing parking lot and and and plugged along and did everything she could to get started and then all of a sudden you know here we are and it's your reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year boom you exped so hard so there's a new kid I don't know if you've heard this kid I had him on the podcast a while back his name is Zack top yeah Zack is Zach's produced by my original producer Carson Caron Chamberlin Carson and I right together but I what I was blown away by him you know you talk about really good talent I sit and I I'll listen through some of some of that EP that that several songs you can hear Keith Whitley you can hear Ricky skags you can hear Daryl single ter I mean prominently there's little sections where it just jumps us like wow he has studied those things in minute detail but he's he's just a really talented kid well see you have to be you have to you know the the poster child for add we were talking about Leanne W and then you asked me who my favorite so I went directly to the girls you know but but yeah I mean he's he's phenomenal uh Zach's phenomenal uh May phenomenal uh I was going with brand new because you know that's that's where that's where I feel like our our saving Gra R of country is right now because a lot I feel like a lot of the people that are out there right now they're they're they're sort they're they're kind of in that world of of autot tunist King world and I feel like we're kind of ready for the Resurgence of the music coming back to not being do you feel do you feel like that's going to be like more of an Americana thing is it going to get a little earthier and you know I can kind of feel the mood of the country wanting to get back to a place that's less doctored well I would love that yeah I don't know that the kids of today you know I don't I don't know what they want I don't think they know what they want well that's that's a great point you know when I when I look at what when I look at what's out there right now and I and I think about what I listen to as a kid you know and and what we were talking about you know back at the beginning of this yeah we listen to similar stuff you know I listen to the Haggard and I listen to The Joneses and I listen but I also listen to Kenny Rogers and I also yeah so so you know you know whan all of that sort of stuff culminated in making me what I wanted to do and what I still do and where I feel like we are right now is that you've got you know with the invention of the internet and with Spotify and with all of that kind of stuff the way that people discover the music or whatever they're listening to now I feel like it's just so different and I feel like there's so many more um influences than than we were ever open to you know I I I just I feel like that I mean h yeah I agree when when when you and I were growing up we really had you really had two ways of discovering music that was either if you had an older brother or sister yep or you had like for me I had older cousins you know cuz I was you know or the radio right or and the radio that's what I was going to say you had your older your older family members and the radio and you know today you've got people that are listening to stuff that have millions of streams that's never been played on the radio one time oh yeah and and that are packing Arenas right yeah yeah with with demos with with with um what we would have considered when we were cutting our first records board tapes yeah you know boom push record on a boom box and record it and here you go and now you've got oh by the way here's 100 million streams off of that song and you're like what I that was the thing for me that just sort of blows my mind in our in our world today that I always love the taking the song and going in and perfecting the song and recording the song the evolution of getting the best vocal on the song that you could and getting everything you know making everything perfect because to me that was the art and that was the craft and today it's almost like people don't want that and and I can tell a difference too uh at least me personally there's something about taking a song you know going through the infancy of writing a song getting the idea hammering a song out whether you do it by yourself with co-writers and everything going through the demo process getting a section of players together and going in the studio instead of Peace mailing it out to all these people going in because you never know what's going to be something that's going to flip the switch with one of those players in there and they're going to come up with something amazing that really changes that from a good record to a great record and it happens all the time but having the best players in the world sitting in a room together focusing on what you bring to the table to enhance it and make it the best it can be there's magic that happens in those situations I've heard you talk about songs that you wish you'd recorded and you talk about 19 something yep and we're and as we're talking about that that what you were describing brings me back to the day that we were recording that song right over there and you know uh in the in the church on Music Row I think it's called ocean word yeah it's ocean w Church yeah and and I remember JT corn floss sitting in there absolutely uh we were we were talking about Nostalgia stuff and you know and and he we're sitting there and he goes he goes you know what would be cool is to have this like you like Jackson 5 ABC dink dink dink dink you know and and and and he just kind of throws that in the beginning of 19 something and I would venture to say for the last 20 plus years you could hear moment dtin dink in your life and and you either and it either goes Jackson 5 abc123 or 19 something yeah you know it depends on where you are depends on who you know so yeah I mean the the magic of the studio is what I always loved you know come on man I mean cool about it isn't it well you know this because like I said because we come from that era of where every everybody was together I mean man I can I could go back and tell you a hundred stories of sitting over at County Q in Barry Hill uh with the Hamin guys and recording demos singing demo tapes that that were sent to other artist that I would go in and I and and I'm not joking you know and I'll say this in front of the camera because because I think that anybody that knows the guy would he you know and he would laugh about it too Tony Martin one of the greatest songwriters oh of what I feel like is is my entire catalog My Generation but not what you would considered to be a great singer by any means and I could you know and I remember going in and and Tony you know get a board uh you know a boom box tape of like Jacob's Ladder and if you you know and he would he hit the G Court Jacob was a dirt poor farm boy raised at the fork in a road and a clapboard house you know and I would come in and it was like okay here we go you know oh so I get to write the melody Jacob was a dirt poror F boy but you think about kristoferson and those guys Chris Christopherson didn't make great demos either neither did Bob Dylan right no and they and and well and you can argue that they didn't make great records no but but but there was something special about absolutely I mean it was just the honesty and the way that it was delivered it doesn't have to be perfect to strike a cord with people out there and then we come to this day and age after that leads me to something that I've been wanting to bring up have you seen the uh have you heard the new Randy Travis record I have how do you feel about it I mean let's let's talk about that with what AI bringing to the table cuz from what I understand about that whole process they you know they they've had the guy that's been out singing doing the Randy Travis tribute thing and singing Randy songs and Randy's always at the show so they went in and cut the track and he he ghost tracked he he did the the voice over the track and then they take ry's vocals from the old records and dump them down into Ai and then it reings it over the top of what the the ghost singers laid out and it's ry's voice with the inflections all mapped in right what does it what is that opening up for where we're going now where you don't even have to sing anymore at all well that's that's what I was going to say see that I think it's it's a hard line right there because for somebody like us that grew up with Randy Travis as being one of the voices of Our Generation yep I love the fact that I kind of get to hear a Randy Travis song oh me too but you know but that's not Randy sing and but here here's my I'm glad that Randy is getting to experience it because Randy still there I mean and but what about you know the first thing I did I read that article and saw that video and everything and I sent it straight to Lori Morgan she hadn't seen anything about it how great would it be to hear a new Keith Whitley record too but but what but what kind of power does that get to a label if they own those Masters and they can recreate uh new material from an artist that's dead and gone right uh who owns it right or or because it's not really them but it's mapped from them or if they decide that they want to do a new Tracy Lawrence record and you don't want to sign that contract yeah and they've got this body of works in the vaults over at Warner Brothers and Atlantic and they can take and dump them down to but because there's no contract there it seems like they would have to do a new a new contract with if you're alive but what if you're not alive you would you would think so it would be who who controls the estate and that's that's where that's where that's what I was saying with Randy like I'm I'm I'm I'm beyond like you you remove the personal feelings away from that because as the artist side of it we're kind of like well that's the that's the body of work yeah you know but I love the fact of getting to hear a Randy Travis song me too and I love the fact that he's able to hear it but but when I but but when I know but when I know that it's a computer that's doing it for him it's scary it's very scary it's like do they even need us anymore well they don't well it's the same it's the same argument and it's the same kind of well it's B isn't that what the whole big strike was out in Hollywood uh that they were talking about with wrers with taking Ai and you know and taking and writing writing storyboards and right and being able to put people in movies write me a 100 pages in this theme and it'll spit it out in 30 seconds right and it's like then you can go through and tweak what you WR it's like there's a lot of that that's it's dumbing down Society because it's taking our creativity away from a whole lot of people it's like it's you remember the movie the Disney movie Wall-E yeah we're like so close to Wall-E right now that you know it's it's yeah and it's it's it's about to get out of control well it's been out of control yeah um and does the general population really even care well you know I think there's I think there's a large part of us or a large group of us that do but I think that the people that view it strictly as entertainment I I don't you know I guess if so what is the next thing are we going to have holograms on stage are we going to create stars in the box and create a voice for them and then just do Holograms and people just go and get trashed while they watch all that I mean what's next we kind of we kind of did that we we kind of did that in a roundabout way when they put Elvis back out on tour and took the band out and the band played and they put Elvis up on the screen and he sang to everybody I I I didn't see that but I can imagine I mean they did that and they did the same thing didn't they do the same thing with Michael Jackson they did the same thing with Michael Jacks they did the same thing you know and and and I don't I don't know that we're at the point of of it being a big Stadium tour but who knows as technology increases I mean it could could get to the point that it's almost like Willie sitting right next to you it's almost I know with I mean it could be just like that with u with um Randy Travis was actually part of that oh he was there he was there I think almost like if that's sort of the most responsible way to use AI as like almost like a prosthetic and that's why I don't have a problem with that but but it's but it's like it's an entry point uh that we can all be comfortable with because Randy's there and he's agreeing to it and he's cognitively aware enough to say yes no yes no but what is beyond just getting your foot in the door and saying this is what we can do what just because we can don't mean we should well see and that and and I like I kind of like the what you were where you went with it with a Whitley record yeah because that does I mean do we do we have the ability to take the stems from you take the vocal of every record that he did and take a Zack top in the studio do your best whitly version of of your Melody through five new songs or six new songs we're going to make an EP and then we're going to make a new Whitley record it could be done it could be done really freaking quick you're just going in with a stunt singer in a band pick the songs and then you just put Whitley's voice over the top of yeah it's that easy that's that's where that's where our that's where our world well we've we've kind of we've kind of set that up over the last 20 plus years of autot tuning it anyway yeah because how many times have you heard from other people or friends you know about somebody that would go to a show and they would say man I love the way XYZ sings on the record and then you go see him in the show and it's like not even remotely similar to it well and then there's the other side of it I have a very good friend of mine and I'm not going to mention the name uh that was performing at the Bridgestone and uh several other friends that are in the business that went and saw him and they told me that he was lip syncing to the original vocals from the records from the 90s and there were everybody's saying how great it was all the reviews were great and and we sat down and talked he said I'm really tight lived about saying this he said but I don't think he sang One note he said it was Flawless everything was Flawless that night and it didn't just sound Flawless it sounded like the record vocal from the 90s yeah so I mean it's it's I don't know I I I like I would rather go hear the flaws and the imperfections and uh see an artist give me everything that he have has on a bad night then see it polished up like that well you and I are on you and I are on the same team because you know it's like it's like me right now I've got a cold um I'm going to go I'm going to go tomorrow I'll be in you know Dallas Texas or Arlington Texas and uh you know and then I'll be in Missouri with Dana then I'll be at the Opry y um I got three shows and I'm going to sing it with a cold yeah and so people are going to hear me and and they may go he sounds a little different you know I'm human element right we need that you know contact with each other for you know information it's the same with musicians do you remember you do you ever see the clip of Stevie Ron playing guitar when he broke a string and he kept singing he he he put a new string on it and strung his guitar while he's still playing and singing and tuned it live in the show and never stopped oh see I didn't see that one I did see I did see the one where he's playing and the tech comes in and one over him yes and he drops the guitar and goes and and never like never missed a beat I've seen one where he restrung the put in but it's like I when you have killed to be there when you see those things those are magical moments when there's a true Talent there that can just overcome just throw whatever just throw it at me I got this I ain't worried about it well you know that's I'm GNA I'm gonna I'm G to fess up right here to your viewing audience um I I won't I don't I don't run any tracks I don't run any vocals I don't run anything in my show I'll say I I want when when people buy a ticket to come see Mark Wills I want them to hear the guitar player I want them to hear the drummer I want them to hear the piano player I want them to hear Mark Wills you know um it it's not always it's not always perfect but I would say more than not I sound as as close to the record as as I did when I recorded it 25 28 years ago I I feel like I actually sound better than I did as a 22y old kid because I feel like as we get older you know like like Haggard go back to Haggard's early days and Haggard's vocal sounded really thin and then and then got you know it got thicker and it got beefier and you know matur right and I kind of feel like that's how my vocal has done but I want people when they buy a ticket to come hear music and see the show I feel like they ought to get the live version of that you know we we've traveled and we've done shows with you know a lot of a lot of let's just say the new kid kids and then we've done you know with some of the Heritage acts and we you know I've I've seen it I've seen it on both sides I would I don't ever want to be the guy up there uh seeing tracks I I don't mind going out there and opening for an acting we've done it for a bunch of kids go out there with our little old band and it's just us doing what we do and then see a four-piece band walk up there that sounds like a 20 piece Orchestra yeah yes but I we can we can hold our own well let me tell I you know you say that and I want to want to throw props to you on something that you probably don't even remember but I want to say this was like 1998 1999 Detroit downtown hdown oh I remember that well what a bouquet of smells came out of that place well Wily knows all about it I don't know about that what I do know is that you know we had had like Jacob's Ladder and places I've never been maybe I Do Cherish You something like that and and we get there and and we're told that you're going on ahead of us and I was like what why is Tracy going on ahead of us and they were like well you know I don't know I don't know what the reason was but that that right there you and and you went on and completely blistered our ass with hit after hit after hit after hit after hit and and I I'll you know I have I have that story and the George Jones going on before me in jaal Island those are my two stories of like of being horrified to go on stage and play my little songs after somebody went up there and just kicked our ass for you know for 60 to 75 minutes because I it was it was it was so it was so great in my cuz I've always been a fan man I always try to watch whoever's you know whoever is is headlining that day I always try to watch I try to watch some of every show and uh and that was that was so it was so cool because you were like I don't care when we go on don't never mattered me just tell me what time I'm supposed to start I don't care Jones was that way too Jones Jones would rather open he he'd rather so he'd get back the bus and turn Western on or something he did not care well I played you know this because you've obviously done shows with him I played a show with him in Jackal Island and we come rolling in and uh I guess that was the days before you know anybody really Advanced shows you know who your promoter is and you know where you're going so you just get there and then they're like oh yeah you know yeah there'll be a PA yeaha and so Ron Simpson I mean Ron was our guy our Georgia guy and we knew Ron you know he was he was great he was the guy that did Stone Mountain and we did a bunch of shows with him so we weren't overly worried about anything we knew what we were going to be dealing with we get there come rolling in Ron comes up Marcus how's everything going I'm like I'm good Ron he goes okay so uh y'all go ahead and load in and then George's going to load in and he'll go on at 5: and you'll go on at uh 6:30 and I was like whoa whoa no no no no no no no I'm like uh-uh I ain't signing up for that and he goes yeah that's that's the way he I'm like uhuh no I went over and knocked on the bus and I'm like Nancy comes open the door she goes hello honey and I'm like can I talk to y'all for a minute and she's like yeah I come in and George is sitting right right here like in his recliner oh yeah watching something on TV and I said I said listen um I got a little bit of a problem with uh today and and George Goes watch that and and I said well you know they uh they're telling me that you're going on before me and that's just not that's not acceptable and he goes yeah I got a football game and I was like no no you're you know about this and he's like yeah and I was like uh and you're okay with that and he goes yeah he didn't care and I was like well I'm not you know because again I'm going to go out there and play one maybe two songs that people might have heard and you're going to go out there and play every 50 years of hit yes every hit that everybody's going to sing every word to uh so yeah dude I've I've I gotta tell you I got to tell you my favorite George Jones story I I got George was the first big tour I was on so I spent a lot of time with him in the early 90s and there uh right before George retired George passed in 2000 I can't remember the year that he passed it's been a while but it's probably three years or so before George passed away and Nancy had had gotten they were doing some charity project for military or whatever and I I Met George Fireside and we were going to do this record together and uh and so I went in and I knocked my vocal out and George was sitting there and George came in the booth and he called me in there and he said son he said he said I used to knock us out so easy he said I can't see the lyric and I can't hear anymore and I had to go through line by line and I'd sing the line for him and George would put his line on there and I spent all that time in the booth with George singing that record that was one of the most special things I've had absolutely how cool is that get that moment when your hero is is kind of fragile like that and you get to share that moment that nobody else ever gets oh see but I can see it in your eyes it's awesome I can see it in your eyes how much how special that is to you yeah because you and and never get that again you'll never get it again and you'll never forget it no and that's what that's what's cool that's what's beautiful about our jobs yeah is is that you know we grow up with our heroes and and to get to know them as a peer like what we get to do you know it's very special everybody doesn't get to do that well I was telling you off the you know before we started here you were telling me about Willie and I was telling you about my June Jam jacket yeah uh and you know and and how like you know my my jacket kept disappearing and I would and then there would be a photo album show up and it would have you know a hundred pictures in it of people that I was at the exact same place that my jacket was that you know they would they would have and and the culmination of a year and a half of searching for my jacket uh turned out that the last picture from a for this June Jam jacket that I bought myself that kept disappearing was a Randy Owen photo yeah in that jacket I mean man if you'd have told if you'd have told seven 8-year-old me that Randy Owen would even have an idea you know know that I existed on this planet yeah I would have been like you've lost your mind if you'd have told me that you know Ronnie Milsap would know who I was or Kenny Rogers would know who I was or you know I mean any of any of that kind of stuff I would have I would have there's no way there's no there there was nothing in my brain that would have you know allowed me to believe that kind of stuff when you and and I love asking this question when you were a kid and you were dreaming the dream of doing this what was the dream was it the Marquee was it riding on the bus was it being on stage what what was the dream when you visualized when you really realized that I got a voice and I think I could I could do this for a living what was your dream I think my dream was to sing on the grandle opery I remember when I was a little kid it was before TNN was was out there yeah but I can remember um maybe PBS or something did you know maybe ran some opery things uh occasionally or it might have even been when TNN came along yeah but I can remember my papa talking about going to the grand old oery and uh you know and me being a five six seveny old kid dreaming of you know maybe even a 10-year-old kid dreaming of of singing I I just wanted to sing yeah I you know I didn't necessarily want to make records I didn't necessarily want want to have gold or platinum albums I didn't necessarily want you know any of that kind of stuff I I think it was later on that I realized along with a platinum record comes you know touring and and a bus and being on stage and all that kind of stuff I wanted to sing at the oery I wanted to you know you know what's amazing the dreams a little bit different for everybody that's what I enjoy about this so much about sitting down with my peers young old yeah AC cross platforms whatever no matter the differences that we have there's still a common ground of a passion about the music and and and those little variations you know on the path that we go down it it's none of them are the same they're all a little bit different what was yours mine was the bus I just wanted to be on the bus I wanted the lifestyle I mean that's I mean I wanted all of it yeah I mean from about 12 years old well now you got three of them yeah I know I mean so you just like choose one for the and go no it's just this is more like an RV these days it's just me and the wife pretty much and you know I've I don't uh I don't drink and party and do the things that I used to do quite as know talk so I've I live a much calmer existence at this stage of my life I have never witnessed any of that my my wife keeps me on a leash about that long I remember I remember one of the first first shows they ever did with you was part of the TNT tour you and you and bird oh yeah up in uh Indiana right there right outside Chicago uh that big theater in Indiana Nashville Indiana yeah Nashville Indiana and uh and man you know I I go back to you know talk about our influences talk about all that kind of stuff I mean you and and bird uh you know Clay Walker um single Terry um John Michael John Michael Neil McCoy Chestnut yeah Diffy absolutely you know I I was never around Chestnut as much and I don't know why but but you know you guys McCoy I mean Neil used to come in Neil played the Buckboard literally I swear he played the Buckboard every eight or nine months he just wanted to dance on the bar and he did it he did you know but but like for for me as a kid starting out and I say kid you know 18 19 17 18 19 20 getting my feet wet and y'all were y'all were the y'all were the idols y'all were the guys that had it you know yeah you may have only had one song on the radio but you were you were the living embodiment of what that dream was and you know and y'all were always so good it was fun man and it was so fun back then and that's what I try to remember now when as a 50-year-old man I'm you know I've got these kids that are that are doing the same thing I try to remember just how nice it was to have to to come in and have a Tracy Lawrence or you know or or whoever it was be like hey man if y'all need anything you know don't hesitate to let me know you know this is my production guy this is our LD you know let them know if there's anything we can do to help you I I I truly I truly believe that that I learn from some of the best in our industry about you know about about just about just being kind and you know we we always tried to be very gracious too if somebody if uh you had a console go down or an amp that blew up or a piano or something went down I've always never hesitated to ask share anything we have with anybody it's not we've run across some people it's not quite that way across the board anymore there's so it's just not I I I want yeah I'll leave that there man H how how did your kids do growing up under the spotlight with a with a dad in the spotlight there they do nothing different M mine struggled a little bit we I mean we had our challenges along the way man but it's you know it's it's it it doesn't it's not an easy thing for a kid to grow up in the shadow of your dream yeah I think for I think for malie and Macy for both of them they never knew that their dad was anything other than their dad until until somebody said it does that make sense it does like mie had a friend yeah mie had a a friend that came over to our house one day and they were they were good friends until she came to our house and then this friend like put two and two together and then they changed the way they treat them yes and that's what mine had problem and that was that was weird for her um and and mine got to the point that they really struggled by not knowing if when when they met people that were nice to them if they were really truly wanting to be their friend or they just wanted something from them right so there I mean it does come with his challenges it does I I think that I think the beautiful thing about um about the way our family was the way that we tried to do it was we always tried to make family and I say family not you know Road family but but family family I I never moved uh I never moved Kelly and the girls to Nashville oh you didn't you still live in Georgia I I kept I kept Kelly close to her mom and uh her stepdad and her dad and stepmom which meant that all of Kelly's brothers or brother and sisters were all there and their families were there so you had a family work still in place and I'm sure that helped a lot we didn't have that here well that's and that's what I was going to say I hindsight looking back I was a genius because I did that but you know but but but my reasoning behind it was they didn't have anything here yeah you know if they if they if they moved here then it was always going to be running back and forth but you had kids before all would no you started pretty but you were still living there you never moved here yeah so 96 96 is Jacob's Ladder and 98s when malie was born I had the number one song in the country the week maie was born and I had the number one song in the country the the week Macy was born so so both of mine were born you know in in right in the middle of everything um and so you know keeping them in Georgia was a blessing for them but it was a blessing for me too because I didn't have you know they kind of had their life and they had they were surrounded by Kelly's family stability and the stability of that made life a lot different um than you know than than being somewhere that they didn't have anybody else and they were having to latch on to something else yeah what's uh what's how long have you been married what's your next anniversary uh 28 28 getting ready getting ready to have my 25th would you've ever believed it you know I I want to say I want to say I was with you I want to say I was with you um somewhere when I met your wife for the first time um I'm trying to remember where it was she introduced me to her and um and I was like you know I knew I knew that I knew I'm trying to remember there was some show that we did what uh was it like a television taping thing that was over in Hendersonville maybe so I just remember I remember that I remember that I saw a a look on your face of of being a happy guy oh man I've got a great wife she's awesome she puts up in my craziness well we all need that as we as we all do buddy you know uh listen listen just because I sing uh some nice love songs doesn't mean I'm always loving you know we're a chall we always have every every single one of us has our has our challenges and we all have our craziness and uh you know we all have our we all have our things that that make us who we are without a doubt and you know and and the Beautiful Thing behind beautiful thing behind all of that is that in in the craziest of crazy worlds we find somebody that that puts up with our BS and you know and and lets us be loves us In Spite of Ourselves that's for sure what uh what do you feel like you hadn't accomplished yet what's do you still hunger to do something more is there anything else you want to stick you stick your toe in man I I still feel like I still feel like I can make great records and sing great songs that that the people of today want to hear yeah you know um I I feel like I feel like our era of country music fans I feel like they are still wanting great songs I feel like they're still wanting great music and I feel like maybe maybe there's maybe there's enough of the youth out there that want that they love that 90s country that they want some new stuff you know I want to I want to keep making records I want to keep making music I want to continue to travel I want to play as much golf as I can amen I want to I want to be uh I want to be a better husband than I've ever been because God knows that we can all look in the mirror and say we all weren't the best you know husbands that we should have been try to be better as I'm as I've gotten older that's sure that's right as we as we get older we can say you know we're we're better people now than we than we were um I want to I want to be the best I want to be a the best grandpa that I can be oh you got grandbabies now well Junior back there he just celebrated his first Father's Day wasn't that Awesome Con his little girlfriend's got three kids so he's he's about to be a step down I do not have kids at all that I know of but hers are precious there they're they're awesome yeah what do they call you dare bear my name d bear D bear did sweet well you know my my oldest daughter has a we just celebrate on Father's Day we just celebrated my grandson's second birthday so his so his birthday was on Father's Day and uh and she surprised us uh two days before that telling us that we were going to have another grandbaby so I got my I got my second grandson on the way uh later you know at the end of the year first of first to 25 so you know so so priorities have changed a little bit oh without a doubt but you know and I and I told I told my manager and I told you know all of my all of my people I'm like listen I'm not running around the world doing a 100 shows anymore I don't I don't want to no you know I missed you missed we missed a lot so much of our kids' lives we missed so much of of everything else yeah and and and I want to I want to participate in that part of it you know with my grandbabies I want to go to ball games I want to do stuff like that but I also want to to continue to make music I want to do you know I want to I don't think I ever want to retire yeah I I feel the same way I just don't want to be on the grind as much as you know we're still how many dates you do in a year you know it it fluctuates you know 60 70 yeah I want to get down to that I'm still doing 85 90 yeah and that's a lot I didn't want to work that much this year and then you get to looking at the dates on the books and it's like didn't want to work that much I said I wasn't going to do that after Co and then it's just it's just kind of gotten out of hand again well I mean I would I would do 80 if you know if they if they all made sense yeah but if they all make sense you know it we yeah it is what it is yeah you know we say Fe or famine you wor wor we say less but then you know when it comes up we're like okay well let's let's do this yeah you know Craig Morgan is like the complete uh opposite of that he's like I'm I'm only going to do 30 dates this year you know and then he looks you know he looks at his schedule he's like I don't have any dates yeah he's got 80 dates he's like I told him I wasn't doing that you know well then say no well I can't you know that's That's the Way It Is Well you got to pay for these buses yeah yeah everything cost something y so what's uh what's coming up next you got new music you working on anything in the studio man I have uh I have done something um I've done something that I always wanted to do and I can't go into a lot of detail about it right now but what I can tell you is that if you know what's important to me and you know what we um what we discussed a few minutes ago I got to do something that to the best of my understanding has only been done twice in the last 50 years um got to do something that is uh it's going to be very special very and getting to incorporate a bunch of my friends uh folks that you know that we have you know from this part of the world from this part of the world from this part of the world from this part of the world get to incorporate them into uh into some stuff you know on on a new record and and and I've I've also done a new record that uh I'll share I'll share a couple of songs with you CU I know how you like great story songs too oh yeah so uh I'll share a couple songs with you that I've I've tracked uh we've got another record that's done as well and so we're just kind of once we get this other thing done we're uh we're going to find the home for for all of it and kind of uh head down that direction very cool so maybe you know maybe there's a maybe there's a new Venture for Mark Wills in the next I'm I'm talking like gar now I'm referring to myself in the third person but you know but good job Mr gains by the way that was actually a cool record it was a great record you know yeah it was it really was really was a good record a very talented guy oh absolutely but but yeah who knows who knows maybe there's a maybe there's a new new uh Venture for that brother I appreciate you and respect you so much thank you for taking a little time for me I'm so glad that you spend a little time with me on the podcast today anything else you want to talk about I have we not we've talked about everything and everybody well and as soon as the mics turn off we'll talk about other stuff absolutely all right bu thank you my friend Mark Wills [Music] [Applause] a