Randy Houser has been a whirlwind in the country music industry since debuting on the mainstream scene in 2008 with his album, Anything Goes. That album featured two top 20 hits on the country charts, the title track, Anything GoesBoots On. This early success got the Lake, Mississippi native nominated at the CMA’s, ACM’s, and CMT Music Awards. (No. 16) and his first number one hit,
His latest album, They Call Me Cadillac, was released in September of this year and features hit single, Whistlin’ DixieA Man Like Me. This success earned him the spot of co- headliner of the national “CMT on Tour” with Jamey Johnson in 2009. In 2010, he has been on tour with Gary Allan and country up and comer Jerrod Niemann. and current single
We caught up with Houser to discuss his Nashville roots and discuss his Saturday show in Covington, KY. He will be playing the Madison Theater tonight, Decemver 11th at the Madison Theater at 8:00 PM.
CB: I guess I’m a recent Randy Houser fan. I went down to photograph the Tootsie’s 50th Anniversary at the Ryman in Nashville. This was the first time I had seen you perform live. Your duets with Jamey Johnson were great.
Randy: Thank you.
CB: I know you moved to Nashville seven or eight years ago. Did you play at Tootsie’s when you moved? What was your experience like when you first got to Nashville?
Randy : No, I never had a house gig at Tootsie’s but I’d get up there and play every now and then. I was mostly writing songs when I first got to Nashville. That’s kind of what I came there to do, you know. Tootsie’s was definitely a place that I hung out and drank beer. I just kind of made a living as a songwriter when I first got there.
CB: You’ve had some pretty big hits with Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and other songs you have co-written. At first when I started reading song titles, I thought you were kind of obsessed with asses.
Randy: I kind of am.
CB: I saw a theme with Back That Thing Up and Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.
Randy: Well the reason that is, after we had a big hit with Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, anybody that had an idea for a song about an ass wanted to bring it to us, Me or Jamey.
CB: Well it’s good that you’re an expert in an area.
Randy: Well yeah, well a certain area. You gotta be an expert at something.
CB: Right. Might as well be that.
Randy: Absolutely
CB: You guys are coming through Cincinnati. I know you’ve toured quite a bit. Have you been through here before? Is there anything you like to do in Cincinnati?
Randy: I’ve played at the Taft a few times. I mean, of course, I like to eat a little chili.
CB: I’m not a good judge. I’m from Nashville and I’ve been here a while but I’ve never really got the chili on the spaghetti.
Randy: It’s different. It’s something I can do once or twice a year.
CB: I’m like surrounded by Randy Houser this week. I open Country Weekly and you’re in that. You’re in Nashville when I’m there. My brother texted me last night, he was at the Titans game, and said, “Randy’s singing the National Anthem.”
Randy: Yeah I did. It was great.
CB: You’ve been everywhere. I like to be a Titans fan. I’m trying really, really hard to be a fan.
Randy: Wait til next year. They’re horrible!
CB: I’m just hoping, like the Bengals, for a good draft pick.
Randy: Yeah, it’s been pretty bad.
CB: How was that experience last night singing?
Randy: It was great. It was pretty amazing. There’s such a delay from the time you sing it to the time you hear it on the speakers. It is like a second. It kind of freaked me out.
CB: It’s such a hard song to sing and it’s not the easiest to sing in cold weather.
Randy: Well, singing it is the easiest part. Remembering the words to it is a completely different thing. It’s just because you think about that one so hard whenever you go out there, you don’t want to screw it up. It’s not like you’re on auto-pilot. You always think you’re gonna mess up the words. Matter of fact, there was a Kansas City Chiefs game my buddy Mike Eli sang at last week with his band the Eli Young Band and he forgot the words to the anthem. It was horrible. You can see it on Youtube. It was pretty bad.
CB: I’m sure he’ll appreciate the advertisement. It’s got to be really stressful. There are so many people.
Randy: Well yeah… You can hear people in that video of him, “Lord, I’ve never seen that happen.” But they don’t understand how nerve-racking that one particular song is to sing because you don’t want to screw it up so bad and that’s why people do. They’re thinking about it so hard. People who don’t have to stand up and sing it in front of 90,000 people don’t understand.
CB: It’s not something you’re on stage singing every night.
Randy: No it’s not. And it’s so important too. You kind of freak out. That’s what happens.
CB: So you’ve written with a lot of really famous song writers in the past and had some great hits. Is there anybody you would like to sing with or record with that you haven’t had the chance to yet?
Randy: I mean yeah, there are several people. Reba would be one of them for sure. She is the queen you know. I think that would be really, really cool. As far as other artists I really dig, I like Keith Urban a lot. That would be fun to do something. You know Lee Ann Womack sang on my album with me in my newest album.
CB: Her voice is great. She does a lot of duets. I think her voice is very nice in duets with male vocalists.
Randy: Yeah, she’s so good. I’d love to do something with Reba. That would be cool. And I always have a good time when me and Jamey sing together.
CB: That was definitely my favorite moments at the Ryman. I loved seeing Kris Kristofferson in Nashville but the duet with you and Jamey that night was amazing…one of the highlights of the night. Have you toured together with Jamey at all?
Randy: Oh yeah. We co-headlined the CMT tour last year.
CB: You’ve also toured with Gary Allan, right?
Randy: Yeah
CB: I’m actually a pretty large Kid Rock fan. I know you performed at the CMT awards with him. Any crazy Kid Rock stories?
Randy: Nah. He’s pretty laid back you know. He’s a good guy. I’ve hung out with him a lot of nights. He’s a good dude. Nothing I can tell. Let’s put it that way.
CB: I was reading your bio and your background. I saw your dad was a musician and he died when you were at fairly a young age. I kind of had that in common with you because my dad died suddenly too in my mid-20’s. It kind of changed my outlook on life a little bit about living for the moment and life is short. I saw you moved to Nashville shortly after that. Did it have an impact on you? Did it change anything?
Randy: Yeah, I think it was a big part. I always wanted to move to Nashville and do want I want to do which was make a living making music. But I think it did the same thing for me. I think it taught me how short life is. I mean he was only 46.
CB: Yeah my dad was 49 at the time.
Randy: You know then. Then you start thinking about the things you want to do with your life and that you’re just putting off and thinking “I’ll get around to it,” and you don’t if you’re not proactive about it at the time. So yeah, I think I learned the same thing you did.
CB: Especially with him being musical, I’m sure he was a big influence in your life. Did you have any other musical influences growing up?
Randy: As far as people I listened to all the time, yeah. I was always surrounded by older guys. I always played in bands with older guys. I was in my mid-20s, early -20s, but there was always a crop of older musicians. At the time I was coming up through my late teens and early-20s and all, there were really no more musicians my age around. Everybody was into, if they were trying to play something, they were trying to play some heavy metal crap and I didn’t care nothing about it. And they couldn’t play because all they could do is scream. I just wasn’t into it. So I always played with older people. I had a lot of influences, I guess a lot of people teaching me to do what I do.
CB: I have written a couple articles about Jamey (Johnson) in the past. It always strikes me that he seems much older than he is. He’s my age. I always think he’s old and wise from the way he writes and sings. So that’s probably similar playing and being surrounded by the older country music and having that as an influence.
Randy: Uh-huh… A lot comes from that.
CB: What can we expect from the show on Saturday night?
Randy: I don’t know. Who knows? I never know what to expect. Come have a good time. People bring a designated driver and have a good time.
•••••••••••
Christian Kane has a country sound with a bunch of attitude that is about to hit the mainstream. His title track off his debut album, The House Rules, is moving up the country charts and getting video play on CMT. The Oklahoma native has found success in Nashville, teaming up with many of the well-know veteran songwriters and the other fast climbing national acts like Jerrod Niemann.
Christian still may be more known for his role on TNT’s drama Leverage, but his time for hitting it big in the country music scene is upon us. We had a chance to speak with Christian just before his show in Covington Saturday night at the Madison Theater when he opened for fellow rising star, Randy Houser.
CityBeat: I know you’ve been in L.A. Do you still live in L.A.?
Christian: I have a house in L.A. but I’ve lived in Nashville for about seven years.
CB: I know you were the lead singer of Kane, right? Do you still play with the band now that you are solo?
Christian: This is the same band. It’s kind of like Bon Jovi. Steve’s my Richie Sambora. When Jon Bon Jovi plays with Richie, it’s Bon Jovi. You know what I mean. So it’s still Kane but we go by Christian Kane.
CB: That was one of my questions. I was, “Did you leave your band? Go solo? Were they pissed off?”
Christian: Not at all. Same guys. Been with Steve Carlson for 12 years, Jason for 10.
CB: I know you do the acting on TNT and you do the music. You’re pretty passionate about both. How do you fit in the schedule? Do you tour around the shooting schedules?
Christian: We have the weekends off so we play during the weekends. We start touring as soon as Leverage wraps, which it’s only four and a half months. People don’t know that. TNT only does 15 episodes unlike major networks which do 22. So as soon as they wrap, I go back to Nashville, we get out and play. So it hasn’t really become a problem yet. This year, I don’t know, we’ll see.
CB: I saw they just picked up the show for another season.
Christian: Yeah, fourth season. We go back in March. But we’ve got two months of touring to go. So it’s kind of nice.
CB: When you’re on the road, what do you miss the most about home?
Christian: I don’t even have a home. My home is about 35,000 feet in the air.
CB: I travel a lot so I know that… I’m very mobile.
Christian: So it’s kind of nice that I don’t have a home because I am a gypsy. The road is my home which is easier on me than some people that do have a home where you miss something. I don’t have anything to miss. Good question though, I just don’t have a great answer. I’m a gypsy. The road is my home. I literally live in hotel rooms.
CB: I don’t know how to pack though. I don’t know if you pack well. I take way, way too much.
Christian: Well you never know what shirt you’re gonna need. I have 18 shirts for two shows.
CB: So I’ve been listening to the album this week because I had heard you were coming. My favorite song on the album is American Made. I think that’s a hit.
Christian: Thank you so much. That’s our big Chevy Truck commercial. It’s funny because me and Steve wrote that. We wrote that about every state, the girls in every state mentioned are an actual person.
CB: That was one of my questions, I want to know the names of these girls.
Christian: You can’t have the names of these girls. I could get sued or they could find me. It represents each state and the girls we’re talking about are somebody that either me or Steve had hung out with. So it’s kind of a unique story. I’ve never told that to anybody. You’re actually the first person to ask.
CB: That song is the one that jumped out to me. When is that one going to be on the radio?
Christian: Thank you. A lot of people feel that way. We were going to do Whiskey in Mind might have been the second single. But now American Made is coming in a close second. So it could be.
CB: But I did want to ask about the girls.
Christian: I’m not giving you the names. No names. The innocent will be protected. Many people are trying to figure it out. Some people know, some people don’t. They don’t know which one is which. Is it Steve or is it me?
CB: So I did listen to Whiskey in Mind, so what’s your favorite type of whiskey?
Christian: I was in Louisville, Kentucky doing a film and The Woodbridge sent me a couple bottles and I really, really like their stuff.
CB: It’s high caliber and you should go to their distillary. It’s near Lexington.
Christian: It’s high octane. They sent me a couple bottles and I kind of fell in love with it. But I’m a basic Jack guy.
CB: Most people when they go to Nashville they start writing and they write with good people. You’ve actually have found some friends it looks like to write with you. What’s your actual process when you sit down to write?
Christian: I write in visual form. Maybe it’s my background being an actor. But I always write… Some people can hear or maybe see music notes and all that kinds of stuff. Different people, different strokes. I actually write in video form. I write and see the video. As I’m writing, I can see the video happening in my head.
CB: I have interviewed one other person that visually wrote like that.
Christian: Yeah, I visually write. Who was that?
CB: It was the lead singer of Theory of a Deadman, Tyler Connolly.
Christian: That’s how I am. If I can get from A to B in a song, then it’s for me. If I can’t get from A to B, in video form, then the song is not for me and I won’t put it on the album.
CB: Do you think that has something to do with you being an actor and being in film?
Christian: Absolutely. I can see different shot set-ups and stuff like that. With the video for The House Rules, and if you just got the album you haven’t seen the video. I worked on it with my dear friend Timothy Hutton, who I work with on Leverage. I saw the video in my head and I saw what was going on and I gave it to him, my concept, and he made it ten times better. It was one steady cam shot of me getting out of the truck, going into the bar going downstairs, come back up and there were 400 people. When I walk in we do a 360 shot and see the place is empty, then I go downstairs and in less than a minute, come back up and get up on the stage and there are 400 people and it is night. It’s all one shot. No CGI, nothing. As soon as I turn my back, and the camera goes behind, everybody comes rushing in from four different doors. Then I go downstairs and greet the band. I look in the mirror, then when I turn around and when the camera comes this way the room is empty because the band is now on stage. Thirty people had to run upstairs and get on stage. We got it in five shots. It’s really an unbelievable cinematography shot. Jay Franks from CMT loved it because it’s hard to do. It’s hard to do in television and in film and we did it in a video.
CB: Is it on the countdown yet?
Christian: It’s not on the countdown yet. We debuted in the Big New Music weekend and the only person that beat us was Jason Aldean. We came out with Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Sara Evans, my dearest friend Jerrod Niemann, and Brad Paisley, and the only person that beat us was Jason Aldean. He went number one and we went number two. So that was a big weekend for us. I have the best fans in the world. They’ve been with us for ten years and they’re die hard and crazy like me.
CB: What are we expecting tonight?
Christian: With me and Randy Houser, just a good time. A good ol’ time.
CB: Randy said just bring a designated driver.
Christian: (Whispering) He did bring moonshine tonight. There’s gonna be a lot of drinking and a lot of rock n roll.
