Randy Houser: LP Field Press Conference CMA Music Festival 2010

Randy Houser LP Field Press Conference CMA Music Festival 2010

Q: Can you tell us how it feels to be out there on that big stage and interacting with the fans this week?

RH: It is so amazing for me since I am making the stretch from playing the River Stages the last few years to playing the big stage this year. I’ve always pictured a big tall building with a ladder and I feel I am just getting to the bottom of the ladder. It is amazing to see all the people out there supporting country music as a whole and then to finally be one of those artists that they came to see. It’s pretty cool.

Q: You have a new album coming out in September titled “They Call Me Cadillac”. Talk about that and how you got the name “Cadillac”

RH: Yes, all my friends call me “Cadillac”, that is my nickname. I think my buddy Dallas Davidson, a songwriter around town, was the first to start calling me that. People ask Dallas why he calls me “Cadillac” and he always says “’cause he’s smooth”. I like everything to go real smooth.

Q: People are still talking about your opener at the CMT awards with Kid Rock. Can you talk about what it was like being on stage with him?

RH: It was amazing. You look around and see the amazing backup band Kid Rock had. We were all at rehearsal; I have to call it an unorganized chaos for the two days of rehearsal. The best part was being together with all our buddies for two days and catching up because we are all in different parts of the country at different times. We rehearsed with the pyro and all during that time. Trace (Adkins) and I were standing off to the side and we heard Kid Rock say “throw your hands in the air”, you could see the light switch go off in Trace and it was like we went into a fighting mode. We went out there and flipped the “switch” and it was time to have a good time.



Q: You mentioned on Twitter that you had just gone in and recorded some acoustic versions of some of your songs. Can you tell us what that is about?

RH: There are some things we want to do online and some things my label wants to do; some exclusives. There is one project on the new album that I recorded acoustic also; it is a song that was on Jamey Johnson’s first album that I wrote called “Lead Me Home”. A song that I wrote about my Dad when he passed away. It is fun for me to sit down with my guitar and play songs just like the day I wrote them. I think that is a perspective that fans don’t get a lot of times from artists. Me, as an artist, I love to go to the Bluebird and hear those songs the way they come out of the person that wrote them. There is no truer form of music than hearing the songs the way they were written. I still love to sit with my guitar and play my songs the way I wrote them. I think that is part of the idea behind that.

Q: Can you talk about your new single and the inspiration to release it?

RH: The inspiration is summer and we needed something fun and up tempo.

Q: You and Jamey Johnson collaborate and work together a lot. Do you think you will ever put out a live album?

RH: We have talked about it. One of the things that a lot of people don’t know about is when we did the CMT tour, we had a truck come out and record us for two weeks. On those shows, we would each do an hour and then come out and maybe do another three hours together. There are a lot of things we have in our hip pocket that aren’t mixed yet that could make a great live album. No one knows about them, but I guess you know about it now. We have talked about it, but maybe not just the two of us. We have a lot of good buddies we love and appreciate as artists that came up with our bunch and wrote songs with us and I think that if we ever do that, it will include other guys.

Q: On your new album, you do a song with Lee Ann Womack. Talk about that collaboration.

RH: Lee Ann is probably one of the best singers we have in our format. I wrote this song with Danny Green and it is called “Addicted”. From the time I wrote it, I could only hear one voice singing harmony parts with me and it was Lee Ann Womack. It is a cool song, but probably could never be a single because is it about five minutes long and that won’t work for radio. It is one of those moments on the record that I truly love. I called Lee Ann and told her basically I had to have her on this song. She was great and said she would. I had gotten to know Lee Ann from doing a few radio shows together. We would sing together on radio events and found we sounded pretty good together and so I asked her and she agreed to do it.

Q: You recently helped Southwest Airlines kick off their Nashville to Panama City route with Little Jimmy Dickens. You called him a very inspiring teacher; can you tell us what you learned from him?

RH: Jimmy is 89 years old and such a cool guy. He moved to Nashville in 1948. Think about the wisdom he has gathered through the years. That was a pretty impressive time. There wasn’t any digital media and all the things we have going on today. To watch a guy still embrace the things that are coming along at 89 years of age is great; he could easily not “get that”. At his age, he still cares about going out and doing shows. He has a lot of fans. I promise you that when we went down to Panama City, there were a whole lot more people there to see Little Jimmy Dickens than there was to see Randy Houser. He is embracing digital media and he is taking care of his fans. When I said he was a teacher, it is not like he sat down and put a ruler down and taught class, but to see the class he had and to have been doing it that long is amazing. He told me things that I can’t share, but basically he told me to be good to folks.

Q: Reba was here last night and was asked who is the new country artist she is most excited about and she singled out your album. How does it feel to get the stamp of approval from some of these legends?

RH: It doesn’t get any better than that and Reba is obviously the queen. She is another one that I have grown up listening to. I started listening to her music as a child, around 1981 or 1982. She is a great singer and artist. She has her performance down and to watch someone like that work; a true professional. That is one of the things we aspire to be as artists and here I am, I am a baby act. To have someone like her say she likes my music? You can’t get any better than that and it means the world to me.

Q: Jack Ingram caught your amazing laugh on tape. Is there any thought of making that a ring tone?

RH: I think there already is one and how I know this is about three days ago, my girlfriend’s phone rang and there it was. It freaked me out. I don’t know where it came from. I think some of my people took little clips of me giggling and stuck it together and made a ring tone.

For additional photos of CMA Music Festival LP Field Backstage visit http://MomentsByMoser.zenfolio.com/lpbackstage

Transcribed by Pam Stadel for Digital Rodeo