Oh, here we go.
There we go. Perfect. Hi!
Bingo. Hey, how are you?
Not too bad. How are you?
I’m doing good. I’m in California. I’m playing Los Angeles tomorrow.
Oh, that’s so cool.
Yeah. What are you up to?
I’m just here. I’m inbetween homework right now, so this is great for me.
Okay.
This is an awesome, super cool break. I’ll only take like, fifteen minutes of your time today at most if that’s cool.
Have we met?
I don’t think so, but—
‘Kay.
—I do follow you on Instagram, so.
Okay. You look familiar.
I do kinda get that sometimes.
(laughs)
So, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve seen you perform live before. I don’t think so. I think I’d remember.
Okay.
But, I have been following you on Instagram for … I think a little over a year now? So, when I got the email from your promoter being like, “Hey, do you wanna come review this show?” I was like, “Dude, I’m out of town, which sucks.”
Yeah.
I was really bummed about that. But I was like … interview? Interview? So, it’s so cool to speak to you.
Yeah, same. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, no thanks for agreeing to this. I guess for everyone reading this in the future, hi, I’m with Stephen Day. Do you wanna talk about yourself a little bit?
Sure, yeah. So, I have been in Nashville, Tennessee, now for like 10 years. I’ve been writing and making records and touring the country now for maybe—touring for six or seven years, but making music now for 10 years in Nashville. I grew up in Buford, Georgia, which is northeast of Atlanta by about 45 minutes, and started playing guitar when I was in middle school. I did high school choir and started writing songs in high school.
Some of my first recorded music in Nashville, half of it is songs that I’ve written in high school, and half of it is songs that I’d made once I got to college. So, yeah, I’ve been doing it for a minute, and I’m stoked to keep going. I just put out a record called Gold Mine, and I’ve been on that album cycle tour, and it’s about to close down here in Austin.
Yeah, it’s what, like eight days now or something like that? Eight days away?
Yeah, something like that. We have four shows left, and it’s LA, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin.
That’s so exciting. And you started your tour off in Minneapolis, right?
Correct. It was so cold.
Where else have you been? Any really, really big cities that are now some favorites for you?
Yeah, so this whole album cycle tour, the Gold Mine tour, we started with an East Coast leg, and now we’re on a West Coast leg. I would say, obviously—I mean, I don’t wanna get too cliché, but it kinda just is how it is sometimes, but like—the crowd in New York City is always just lights out. I love playing in New York. I feel like that city and my music for some reason [clicks], for some reason, I guess. I don’t necessarily understand why, but the shows I’ve played there have always been so wonderful.
I have a weird love for Ann Arbor, Michigan. There’s a venue there called The Blind Pig that has been a favorite of mine over the years. I’ve opened for some folks there, and then I just headlined it, and I feel like the energy at that little dive club is amazing. I love playing Seattle. What’s one—oh, one that really kinda shocked me. I just sold out a club in San Francisco, and I didn’t expect that. That was sort of a surprise. And it actually sold out early on, once shows were up for sale. So, I was kinda just shocked that I had a crew in San Francisco that had been dying to see a Stephen Day show.
That’s so cool. So, let’s see, it’ll have been over two months on the road for you.
Yeah.
How has performing this album live been? How’s that experience been for you?
Amazing. I feel like these songs—and old songs too—of mine, I kind of just built the most mega, best version of that I could with old music and new music and was just tryna think about what people coming to these shows would wanna hear of mine, and but I think the new songs from the record, they just have this new life to them now. […] I’ve been traveling with, it’s me, plus three: keys, bass, and drums, so it’s kind of just a rock ‘n’ roll show, and I think people have really been enjoying hearing these songs in that style.
I grew up loving live versions of songs and studio versions of songs as well, so I love to kind of make them different, just by nature of being live and in the moment. So, it’s been a really fun tour, because I feel like every night, you might hear a note played differently on the keys, or, y’know, the melody is sung differently. So, it’s been really awesome, bringing new life to these songs.
Are there any songs that are super different when compared to the studio version? Anything that really sticks out?
Honestly, in my brain, yeah. There’s a song on the record called “4321,” and we kind of did a version of it that feels a little more like a—I don’t know. The record version is a little more like baritone or nylon-acoustic-feeling, and then the live show version somehow turns into heavy electric, but also it kind of starts in this Dire Straits or Fleetwood Mac lane.
That’s awesome. What was writing Gold Mine like for you?
Yeah, that’s a great question. It was more than I’d ever written for an album before. I think I wrote, like, 60 or 70 songs for the album, and then chose 10 or 11.
Wow.
So, I was really excited and determined to dig in on the craft side of the writing for a record, more than I ever had, but I think—emotionally and personally, and when it comes to the actual writing—it was the most I’d ever really thought about choices in terms of, what do I want to share with the world? What do I really love? What do I feel like the world of music is missing? What do I feel like are the songs I want to give to the world right now?
And so, I think that was sort of the MO, and I love the record, and I love how it ended up feeling. It sort of started with this idea of mixing the things I love or like the subgenres. […] The way I’m describing it is not the way I was thinking about it, but looking back now, it’s kind of like I was taking parts of soul music and parts of country music that I loved and sort of melding them together, and it sort of culminated in the song “Gold Mine,” which kind of became the title of the record, because it was this Western, sort of country title with soul guitar under it and this sort of like modern-feeling rhythm to it. I feel like it’s been my favorite album I’ve made yet, so you can’t ask for more than that, y’know?
That’s a lot of songs to write, and then … not put on an album.
I know.
Do you think you’re going to do anything with those moving forward, or do you think that your next project is gonna be a clean slate situation?
I am…. There’s a possibility I could put out a few more songs that maybe I wrote for this record, but it wouldn’t be for another album, if that makes sense.
Gotcha. Mmhmm.
Like, who’s to say maybe another few songs would roll out or so, that I wrote for this project as some sort of edition. I usually start with a clean slate for an album, but you never know. There have been songs that my manager or friends have sort of brought up over and over again over the years that may find a spot in the future. I’m not closing the door to that idea.
Awesome. That’s really cool to hear. What are your plans for when you finish tour and are back in Nashville?
Yeah. Uh. Sleeping? I’m hoping to get some good sleep and to hang with my wife and dog, and I’m hoping the weather is amazing when I get back, ‘cus it’ll be like—I’m sure it’ll be rainy somedays, but it’ll be like everything’s blooming, springtime. And then we got summer coming. So, I’m hoping to get some good walks in and go to the gym, but I’ll also be writing for another album. […] I’ve started writing, a little bit, but nothing’s really grabbed me as like, “This is the next thing!” So, I’m excited to be surprised by that feeling when it happens.
I think that’s a good way to go about it. You’ve been in Nashville for quite some time now. Did you go to university there, or did you move there after university?
I went to Belmont.
Okay.
So, I moved there when I was 18, and I’m now 29.
Okay. I was gonna say, I thought you went to Belmont, but I didn’t wanna be like, “Oh…. A songwriter from Nashville. So you went to Belmont, huh?” Didn’t want to just accuse you, straight up.
Right, right.
So, how do you like the music scene in Nashville?
I love it. I love it. I think it’s a town with the most amazing songwriters and the most amazing musicians. To me, it’s unmatched in that world. The best songwriters and the best musicians live in Nashville, Tennessee. In my opinion. And I think I wouldn’t wanna live anywhere else, doing music. It’s kind of like, I think I feel a little different than maybe the industry standard of country pop, is kind of the industry in Nashville, but I do think I’m inspired by the writers and the artists and musicians that live there and make music there. I don’t see myself doing the country pop thing, but I do think I’ve sort of been accepted by the country community there as something they appreciate that is also in Nashville, if that makes sense.
Yeah, no, that makes total sense. I’ll leave you with one more question, and then I’ll let you get back to your busy day, your pre-tour vibe.
Yeah.
What do you see yourself doing a year from now?
Man, I would love to be getting close to putting out a new album, and getting ready to put that album out, and then do another tour. I mean, I want to—my goal has always been to make albums that withstand the test of time and if I’m around to see that happen, that’d be awesome, but also, like I just wanna keep making records, and if I’m 80 years old and the records are still doing as good as they are right now, that’s cool, but the dream is to make some music that people really cherish and make—accept as something that becomes a part of their lives, and so I’ve seen that happen with fans that are coming to these shows, and I hope it continues to happen.
That’s awesome. I think that’s a really good goal to have. I hope the rest of tour goes well for you. I hope you enjoy the sleeping and the gymming and the dog and the wife when you’re back in Nashville, and yeah, really, really excited to see what you end up putting out hopefully a little over a year from now, so, thanks for speaking with me today. This was really cool.
Of course, Olivia. Thank you for having me.
Yeah, okay. Good luck with your show to—tomorrow night, did you say? Or tonight?
Yes, tomorrow night at the Troubadour.
Okay. Tomorrow night at the Troubadour.
And then Dallas is at … what’s it called.
It’s the 11th, so I think it’s … is it Club Dada? Or is it the Echo Lounge?
Let me look.
Yeah, I think you’re in Deep Ellum, which is a great place to be.
It is at Deep Ellum Art Co.
Ohhh, sure. That makes sense. Yeah. Also a great venue to be at, so—
Can’t wait.
—good luck, break legs, and have a great rest of your tour. Thanks so much, and have a great day.
Of course, same to you. Thanks for having me.
