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00:00:39.031you, hello, loved ones, and welcome, welcome, welcome to my podcast, random Acts.
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00:00:46.314I'm Chris Keaton, okay.
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00:00:48.375So normally I do this.
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00:00:57.277You know five things that you don't know about me, but today I'm a little bit distracted by a couple of things.
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00:01:07.082But I am going to do five things, but they're not necessarily going to be things that you don't know about me, because I'm running out of shit to say that you don't know about me.
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00:01:08.525I'm just saying First thing.
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00:01:26.355So I'm at a party the other night for a member of my family, my extended family, and the guest of honor got onto a tirade during dinner about plastic bottles and drinking water out of plastic bottles.
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00:01:30.709Now, I understand, I get it.
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00:01:34.207I know there's that island just off the Indian Ocean, that's nothing.
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00:01:36.612But you know plastic bottles.
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00:01:42.492Well, she's talking about the fact that, like 90% of the plastic of the bottles ends up in your body.
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00:01:45.396Well, shit freaked me out.
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00:01:46.740I mean, I don't mind telling you.
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00:01:52.951So that's why now I have this bougie ass water bottle.
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00:01:58.849It's actually Lenox Crystal from my friends at Macy's and Kate Spade, and I'm thrilled to have it.
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00:02:02.302But if you see it, that's why I have it.
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00:02:03.885I just wanted to get that one out of the way.
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00:02:09.051The other thing I want to talk about is I love being here at Blue Ridge Television.
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00:02:11.420This is the greatest studio in the world.
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00:02:12.804They make me look great.
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00:02:18.764They make me look like a rock Well, I already look like a rock star, but they make me look even more like a rock star.
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00:02:28.175But the thing that I love the most about it is the clock on the wall is permanently stuck at 420.
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00:02:30.383Now, I don't really know what that means.
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00:02:37.860Yes, I do, but I think it's humorous and I hope that you do too.
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00:02:39.343Okay, let's move forward.
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00:02:42.131I got five things I want to talk to you about.
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00:02:42.290Now.
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00:02:50.727This is not really five things about me, but these are like five big or medium-sized ideas that I'd just like to share with you right here.
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00:02:57.213Number one you have to claim who you are and what you're about.
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00:02:58.485You have to be you.
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00:03:11.139I mean you could be somebody else, but it'd be kind of like riding a bike blindfolded at night while you're hitting on a vape pipe or something.
00:03:11.139 -->
00:03:19.473I mean you could do it, but I wouldn't even dare to suggest that you try to be somebody else.
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00:03:19.974I wouldn't do it.
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00:03:25.551Number two if you don't want to claim who you are, you should change it.
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00:03:28.147Now again, change is kind of the same thing.
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00:03:29.002It's like this time.
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00:03:36.890It's like riding a skateboard down a blind alley in the middle of the night while you're smoking a cigarette and checking Instagram on your phone.
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00:03:38.907But you could do it if you want to.
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00:03:42.348You can either claim who you are or change who you are.
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00:03:46.049I'm just saying Okay, now, also, I love this one.
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00:03:48.986There's no need to invite drama into your life.
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00:03:52.121There's no need at all, because it'll show up on its own.
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00:03:56.266I'm just telling you Okay Now.
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00:04:04.487You may know from things that I've said, like on some of my podcasts where I talked about how I became a sax player.
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00:04:12.352Well, you know, I was a sax player, and I still am, and a singer, and I still am, and you know.
00:04:12.352 -->
00:04:25.189But I always wanted to be Lou Graham, the lead singer of Foreigner, or Junior Walker from Junior Walker and the All Stars, absolutely one of the best sax players who ever lived.
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00:04:30.170As far as I was concerned, well, I never made it to either one.
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00:04:34.547I mean, I was a half-ass singer, nowhere near Lou Graham.
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00:04:43.107I still am a half-ass singer and I'm about a quarter-ass sax player, not nowhere anywhere near Junior Walker, but I still enjoy doing it.
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00:04:45.867I still bring joy to people when I'm out there playing.
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00:04:46.810I have a new band now.
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00:04:54.632Actually it's called Chris Keaton and the Millennials, because the three guys in my band are like half my age, but we have a good time.
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00:04:59.934So that's my Lou Graham, junior Walker thing.
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00:05:07.088But there's this whole controversy that I'm kind of in the middle of and it kind of freaks me out a little bit.
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00:05:27.288But there's a faction of folks on the Internet who firmly believe that Kevin Cronin, the lead singer from REO Speedwagon, and me are like twins, like separated at birth or something like that, and we're going to throw a picture up in a few minutes so you can check it out.
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00:05:50.410But at any rate, if you follow me on Facebook it's facebookcom Chris Keaton Music or Instagram Instagram slash Chris J the initial J Keaton you can check it out and then you can let me know if you really think that we look alike or whatever, or which side of the controversy you'd like to be on.
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00:05:52.127But anyway, that's what I got right there.
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00:06:06.091So I've been sitting here telling you stories, you know, because I believe that we're all storytellers, we all have things to contribute, stories to tell, and that's really like the real reason that we're here.
00:06:06.091 -->
00:06:08.487I feel like it's my purpose.
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00:06:24.011I've got all these stories of people I know, things that happened to me, shit that I made up, you know, but all this stuff and I just feel compelled to tell those stories because we're all characters in each other's stories.
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00:06:27.610And my guest today is no exception to that rule.
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00:06:35.492He's actually originally from the Roanoke Valley, although I met him in Nashville when I worked for Barbara Orbison.
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00:06:37.528She was Roy Orbison's widow.
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00:06:41.069That's a whole other story and I'll get into that another time.
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00:06:48.101But my guest today is a great songwriter, hit songwriter named Tommy Lee James.
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00:06:50.387Now here's the interesting thing about him.
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00:07:02.288Well, there's a lot of interesting things about him, but first off, his name, because if I mentioned, hey, yeah, today I'm going to have Tommy Lee on the show, it's a whole other thing.
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00:07:05.353You know, it's just a whole other thing.
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00:07:13.721And the other one is for those of you of a certain age to understand this one it's not Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells.
00:07:13.721 -->
00:07:14.803No, it's not.
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00:07:17.809This is Tommy Lee James.
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00:07:22.562He's a storyteller, he's a creative, he's a very cool guy.
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00:07:29.483He's semi good looking not as good looking as me, but you know I mean he does okay.
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00:07:32.992So at any rate, he's going to be coming up in just a few minutes.
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00:07:41.266So, like we all know, there's some kind of through line to every story and my through line has always been, and always will be, music.
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00:07:42.528So hang on a minute.
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00:07:44.622We're going to have Tommy Lee James in just a minute.
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00:07:50.744Thank you, thank.
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00:07:52.305You can't say no.
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00:07:55.326What's wrong with feeling?
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00:07:59.629It might be better than it was before.
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00:08:02.072What's wrong with feeling?
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00:08:14.228Hey, my dear friend Tommy Lee James.
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00:08:16.862Hey man, how are you, chris?
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00:08:17.425How are you?
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00:08:21.026You know I'm feeling pretty good.
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00:08:22.829I want to show you what this is.
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00:08:26.334This is my bougie-ass water bottle.
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00:08:36.875Well and I told the story earlier because my sister-in-law was on a rampage the other day about if you drink water out of plastic bottles, you're getting all the plastic Well, it freaked me out.
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00:08:39.408So this is one that I have from Macy's.
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00:08:43.844It's actually Lenox Crystal, so I'm sure I'm going to break it within a frigging week.
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00:08:48.630That is very boozy, you know, I tell you, man, you know your problem is you're reading stuff.
00:08:48.630 -->
00:08:54.581You know, if you want to have fear, all you have to do is read anything.
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00:08:55.746Yeah, no, you're right.
00:08:56.321 -->
00:08:59.385But plastic, plastic is the new boogeyman.
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00:09:01.644Yeah, no, I totally get it.
00:09:01.644 -->
00:09:04.669And see, you're cool too, you're drinking out of a Yeti or something.
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00:09:05.932Way cool, see.
00:09:06.139 -->
00:09:10.865Well, it's not as cool as the what's the Stanley's, the one that all the cool people drink out of.
00:09:10.865 -->
00:09:13.672Oh yeah, well, yeah, I'm not old school, I'm still Yeti.
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00:09:15.767I'm so three years ago.
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00:09:20.900No, you're not.
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00:09:21.881No, you're not Okay.
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00:09:24.104So I want to kind of just start at the top.
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00:09:34.332So to me it's kind of interesting that we both grew up in the same area in the Rohnert Valley, never met each other until we're in Nashville.
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00:09:55.923I happened to get hired by Barbara Orbison to run a company and one of the first things I did was try to take all of the writers to lunch, you know, on a solo lunch, and you and I went to lunch and you started telling me you're from Salem and this and that, and it was just like small world.
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00:09:57.527It was.
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00:10:06.919I'm actually from Roanoke, yeah, but my dad's business was in Salem, that's right, that's right, yeah, but yeah, it is crazy.
00:10:06.919 -->
00:10:10.248And one of my all-time best friends.
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00:10:12.493You're friends with his brother, right?
00:10:13.139 -->
00:10:17.984Well, I'm friends with his brother, and my brother was your roommate's best friend.
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00:10:20.284That's what I meant.
00:10:20.284 -->
00:10:31.874But it goes even deeper than that is that, jay, the guy you're talking about, his mom and dad were very, very close with my wife's grandparents.
00:10:31.874 -->
00:10:34.895So go figure, that's sweet.
00:10:35.155 -->
00:10:36.878Yeah, that's amazing.
00:10:36.878 -->
00:10:42.549Well, yeah, and it's cool, and I know that we have so many other just kind of.
00:10:42.549 -->
00:10:43.913You know, we both grew up.
00:10:43.913 -->
00:10:48.783We saw the Beatles, yeah, yeah, you know, and the Beatles changed our life.
00:10:48.783 -->
00:10:51.591Yeah, and you know, we both wanted to be in bands.
00:10:51.591 -->
00:11:06.336You know, I I don't know what resort to playing in bands.
00:11:08.701 -->
00:11:13.272You know I will, I will share this with you and I will ask you this question.
00:11:13.272 -->
00:11:28.663So in the friends that you have, the guys that went that way playing sports and all that kind of stuff, they don't look as well preservedpreserved as you and me, I mean.
00:11:28.663 -->
00:11:29.788I'm sorry.
00:11:31.187 -->
00:11:33.879Well, I would say that's a matter of opinion.
00:11:34.461 -->
00:11:36.347But we don't really know what's on the inside.
00:11:36.347 -->
00:11:38.908Well, yeah that's true, and thankfully so.
00:11:39.048 -->
00:11:39.610Well, you know what?
00:11:39.610 -->
00:11:42.284I don't think it's just music.
00:11:42.284 -->
00:11:52.611I think when you do something that brings you joy, I think that really does help you age in a graceful way.
00:11:52.611 -->
00:11:55.307You know, and both of us were lucky enough.
00:11:55.307 -->
00:12:00.989You know, I remember all those years in Nashville I couldn't wait to wake up in the morning and go to work.
00:12:00.989 -->
00:12:05.221Yeah, yeah, and not too many people can say that, and I feel very lucky about that.
00:12:06.403 -->
00:12:10.168So your songwriting journey.
00:12:10.168 -->
00:12:15.056So, yeah, did you like start writing in high school, or was?
00:12:15.139 -->
00:12:36.066it later yeah, you know I probably started writing in middle school, high school, you know I was trying to write kind of like I wrote some pretty bad kind of like Dan Fogelberg kind of acoustic guitar, heartfelt songs to, you know, girls, you know that kind of stuff, typical thing you know.
00:12:36.066 -->
00:12:41.481And then so it was kind of that kind of Southern California.
00:12:41.481 -->
00:12:42.844I loved all that stuff.
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00:13:35.793Yeah, lomstead Eagles, and I was Jackson Brown, joni Mitchell, I liked all Neil Young, I liked all that and so, yeah, that's what it kind of developed there, kind of stopped in college for a while because I was just too busy getting drunk, yeah and yeah, and you know I was a music major in college and you know I guess I wrote some songs here and there but, um, and I played in bands and that's kind of where I met this rock band and they, they really changed my life because I was a very mainstream kind of guy and they, um, they kind of like took me to, had a big influence on me because they took me into the world of kind of like not really heavy punk rock, but more like like I just love the first elvis costello album.
00:13:35.813 -->
00:13:45.903There were things that were like it was exciting because there was the 80s, all of a sudden got to be really kind of mush a little bit, got really uh, saccharine and generic.
00:13:45.903 -->
00:13:51.878And then there's this, all this music kind of from England and New York and in LA.
00:13:51.878 -->
00:14:00.812There was just a little bit more edgy and I never really even been into edgy music but I it really appealed to me and I started.
00:14:00.812 -->
00:14:03.159You know your friends have influences on you.
00:14:03.159 -->
00:14:16.683You know this is cool, you know, and I was influenced and a boy influenceable, and I kind of went there for quite a while and actually just got up on stage and did two songs with those guys up in DC.
00:14:16.683 -->
00:14:17.567That's great.
00:14:17.567 -->
00:14:24.663We were pretty horrible but we had rehearsed and you know that was 45 years ago, yeah yeah.
00:14:25.697 -->
00:14:32.739And those songs, you know, they all seem a lot higher and faster than they were oh yeah, I understand that, I totally understand that.
00:14:32.840 -->
00:14:35.701But it was fun, you know, and so you know that was.
00:14:35.701 -->
00:14:39.274I still love a lot of that music, but that was also a phase.
00:14:39.274 -->
00:14:44.788And then, you know, I get to the point where I'm playing piano bars in Washington DC area.
00:14:44.788 -->
00:14:46.201I did that for four years.
00:14:46.201 -->
00:15:03.981I really honed my skills and you know, I played like Elton John, beatles, a little bit of Billy Joel, you know all that kind of stuff, and I think that was kind of a good education for me because you kind of see what works, what doesn't work, how songs are constructed.
00:15:03.981 -->
00:15:11.845I think I knew like 600 songs at one point to play and sing and I sang four hours a night, six nights a week.
00:15:11.904 -->
00:15:16.866Wow, so you got your 10,000 hours, oh yeah.
00:15:16.947 -->
00:15:18.388Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.
00:15:18.388 -->
00:15:23.230Also, I did a brunch and two happy hours on Wednesday and Thursday.
00:15:23.230 -->
00:15:26.250So you know I was and I did that for four years.
00:15:26.250 -->
00:15:37.080I played the same room for three years straight down in Old Town, alexandria, called the Fish Market, but you know that was.
00:15:37.080 -->
00:15:50.804It was quite an education, but I knew it was kind of a well, I knew I wanted something more than that and I was making demo tapes and sending them off in my basement and knew I had to move somewhere.
00:15:50.804 -->
00:15:55.027And I moved to Nashville and thought I was a good songwriter when I moved there.
00:15:55.027 -->
00:16:06.221And you know, you get there and it happens pretty, I would say to everyone, almost everyone, 99.9% of people that move there and they go.
00:16:06.221 -->
00:16:11.816Well, there's something here, but I'm definitely not where I need to be.
00:16:11.956 -->
00:16:29.860Yeah Well, when you got there, did you have people who sort of mentored you, not really teaching you stuff, but you're able to be in a room with them and glean things from them, which is the same thing, I mean, you're learning from them.
00:16:30.000 -->
00:16:30.923Well, not at first.
00:16:30.923 -->
00:16:32.086It takes a little while.
00:16:32.086 -->
00:16:33.327It took me a little while, you know.
00:16:33.327 -->
00:16:35.599Basically I went to open mic nights.
00:16:35.599 -->
00:17:05.569Yeah, you know it was like I remember lining up I think I'd been there three days and I lined up to play the open mic night show at the Bluebird and it was different back then because it was before the show Nashville, yeah, and it was different back then because it was before the show Nashville, yeah, and you know it was all like songwriters and you know you basically play in front of your peers and it was almost like the class of 1987 of songwriters and they would always kind of support each other and you kind of networked through there.
00:17:05.569 -->
00:17:07.279And one advantage I had is I could sing pretty well.
00:17:07.279 -->
00:17:10.273So even though my songs were mediocre or, you know, even bad, through there, and one, one advantage I had is I could sing pretty well.
00:17:10.273 -->
00:17:17.037So even though my songs were mediocre or, but you know, even bad, they didn't sound horrible, you know.
00:17:17.037 -->
00:17:23.346You know so, which can be a kind of a curse as a songwriter, because you can kind of fudge and make everything sound pretty good.
00:17:23.346 -->
00:17:30.384Yeah, they maybe don't improve or don't think you need to improve as much as you do, you know.
00:17:32.167 -->
00:17:35.393So it took me two years to even get a publishing deal and I got.
00:17:35.393 -->
00:17:41.654I got a publishing deal at Reba McIntire was starting a new company and I hadn't okay.
00:17:41.654 -->
00:17:45.263So by this time I'm 29 or 30 years old.
00:17:45.263 -->
00:17:50.136Right, my parents are like, okay, what's going on?
00:17:50.136 -->
00:17:53.017I hadn't had, you know, I hadn't had a job in two years.
00:17:53.017 -->
00:18:01.317Uh-huh, you know, because I didn't want to play piano bars or do anything there, because I thought I'd be typecast as a guy that played other people's music.
00:18:01.317 -->
00:18:09.546So my wife basically supported us and um and her, her job.
00:18:09.546 -->
00:18:20.824And uh, I, uh, I got a job, you know, working for reba for 75 dollars a week and I was happy to have it.
00:18:20.824 -->
00:18:28.424Yeah, there's such a big difference between being on the outside looking in and being on the inside and it.
00:18:28.424 -->
00:18:32.457It took me another couple of years to get anything going after that.
00:18:32.457 -->
00:18:35.767So you know, I was definitely a baby stepper, you know.
00:18:37.111 -->
00:18:44.537But yeah, it took a couple years to really, you know, get someone in my corner, who, a few people in my corner who really believed in me.
00:18:44.537 -->
00:18:52.489You know, because there's so many people doing it and you know, I mean, people were nice, people tried to help, but you also get a lot of bad advice, you know.
00:18:52.489 -->
00:19:09.009So you have to take everything with a grain of salt and I think one mistake that I made because I wasn't that self-assured I mean, I was maybe in all the wrong ways, but one reason I wasn't that self-assured is I tried to take all their advice.
00:19:09.009 -->
00:19:14.720Self-assured is I tried to take all their advice and so I feel like I did.
00:19:14.720 -->
00:19:15.402This happens to a lot of people.
00:19:15.402 -->
00:19:16.924I lost myself, right, right, you know you lose.
00:19:16.924 -->
00:19:25.449You know you really have to know what your talent is and what you do best, and instead of trying to fit into what they do all the time.
00:19:25.449 -->
00:19:28.982So it's really easy to lose yourself in the, in the chaos.
00:19:28.982 -->
00:19:30.747You know, because you want it.
00:19:30.747 -->
00:19:34.642I wanted it so badly, um, so um.
00:19:35.083 -->
00:20:02.313You know, I think that that was part of the deal, you know, just trying to trying to figure it out, you know right and it's a moving target, yeah, yeah, well, so you've been doing this now professionally a long time and I'm sure that you've seen changes, not only in the music or the record business, but tell me about how different it is for songwriters now.
00:20:03.775 -->
00:20:09.663Well, it's so different, I mean it was always subtly changing, you know, yeah, I mean it was always subtly changing, you know.
00:20:09.663 -->
00:20:15.050Yeah, I mean in the early days, you know we didn't even have to write hits, you know we could write.
00:20:16.875 -->
00:20:17.738The 10th song on a CD.
00:20:17.738 -->
00:20:19.284I remember the days of getting one of our friends going.
00:20:19.284 -->
00:20:21.644I don't really feel like writing an up-tempo hit today.
00:20:21.644 -->
00:20:22.859You know that's how like I was.
00:20:22.859 -->
00:20:28.364I mean, we used to think like that yeah, you know, let's try to write that really cool last song on an album.
00:20:28.364 -->
00:20:30.969You know that everybody vibes out to at the end.
00:20:30.969 -->
00:20:37.519Well, you know, nobody does that really anymore, except the artists will do it.
00:20:37.519 -->
00:20:43.950So you know, you can make a living writing album cuts when music sales were really high.
00:20:43.950 -->
00:20:57.025These days, you know, first of all, almost all artists are writers or songwriters, so you almost always have to write with an artist.
00:20:59.336 -->
00:21:02.566Not only that streaming has changed everything.
00:21:02.566 -->
00:21:05.160Streaming has some positives where it curates things for people, I mean, I use.
00:21:05.160 -->
00:21:07.306Spotify has some positives, you know.
00:21:07.306 -->
00:21:09.712Where it curates things for people.
00:21:09.712 -->
00:21:13.726It, you know, I mean I use Spotify, you know.
00:21:13.726 -->
00:21:20.023You know, I know some songwriters don't, because Spotify is terrible.
00:21:20.023 -->
00:21:31.557It doesn't pay songwriters fairly, yeah, but which is horrible, songwriters are the ones that got the short end of the stick, not artist.
00:21:31.557 -->
00:21:39.038Songwriters, artists it's helped artists, but it's just pure songwriters, which is a dying breed anyway.
00:21:39.198 -->
00:21:59.800That's the thing I still write quite a bit, mostly on Zoom, but I go to LA some to write and Nashville occasionally to write, and you know, if I'm writing with a young artist or whatever, or just a young writer, part of me feels really sorry for them.
00:21:59.800 -->
00:22:02.105Yeah, I just don't know.
00:22:02.105 -->
00:22:04.696There's just, you know, it's like the rich get richer.
00:22:04.696 -->
00:22:10.587It's like it's really a small, very small percentage of people who are really killing it right now.
00:22:10.709 -->
00:22:11.108Yeah.
00:22:11.976 -->
00:22:14.042And then there's everybody else.
00:22:14.443 -->
00:22:26.066Yeah, something you just said just made me think of this too, because it is true for songwriters that it first.
00:22:26.066 -->
00:22:37.084It never was easy, but there was a point where there were different ways that you could make it work For a burgeoning or an emerging songwriter.
00:22:37.084 -->
00:22:39.167Now, where in the hell did they learn how to do it?
00:22:39.167 -->
00:22:49.234Because, like you're talking about, you used to play six nights a week, four hours a night, in a place where you were customer fronting, if you will.
00:22:49.234 -->
00:22:53.326I mean, you got to see if what you were doing was working for somebody.
00:22:55.038 -->
00:22:56.502Those places don't exist.
00:22:56.502 -->
00:22:59.561My band started playing out when I was 14.
00:22:59.561 -->
00:23:02.942Yeah, I played in bands all through high school and college.
00:23:03.123 -->
00:23:06.481Yeah, me too, but I mean that's not around anymore.
00:23:07.586 -->
00:23:14.244No, well, I think you know, honestly, now they they do have tools like.
00:23:14.244 -->
00:23:19.781I know this isn't the same, but I mean there are tutorials on youtube.
00:23:19.781 -->
00:23:20.403Yeah, you know.
00:23:20.403 -->
00:23:22.367You know kids can learn how to play any.
00:23:22.367 -->
00:23:24.923That's why there's so many prodigies now.
00:23:24.923 -->
00:23:28.355You know kids can learn how to play any song on youtube.
00:23:28.355 -->
00:23:30.738Basically, you know if they have any talent.
00:23:31.219 -->
00:23:39.808You know, I remember having to pick up the needle to get lyrics for a song that my band was learning and try to figure out the chords.
00:23:39.808 -->
00:23:43.698That's what we did, but now it's all on YouTube.
00:23:43.698 -->
00:23:46.385You know, and you know, all colleges have songwriting courses.
00:23:46.385 -->
00:23:48.782Lots of colleges have songwriting courses.
00:23:48.782 -->
00:23:53.259You still have to do it and do it over and over.
00:23:53.259 -->
00:23:54.181I do like things.
00:23:54.181 -->
00:24:09.159I just did a thing at American University last year for a class and the thing I always say is okay, you wrote a song today, don't obsess about it, write another one tomorrow.
00:24:09.159 -->
00:24:10.763You know, know what I mean.
00:24:10.763 -->
00:24:14.040Just yeah, just right, because you really do have to go through that.
00:24:14.040 -->
00:24:20.380You, the 10 000 hours thing really kind of applies to songwriting, to any craft.
00:24:20.380 -->
00:24:24.667Yeah, I agree, um, but so luckily, you know enough.
00:24:24.667 -->
00:24:27.621I did that and you know, I mean I'm, I'm a better songwriter now.
00:24:27.621 -->
00:24:28.143It doesn't deteriorate.
00:24:28.143 -->
00:24:28.703I'm a better songwriter now.
00:24:28.703 -->
00:24:29.326It doesn't deteriorate.
00:24:29.326 -->
00:24:32.815I'm a better songwriter now than I was five years ago, that's awesome.
00:24:33.597 -->
00:24:48.806In my humble opinion, you know, just because I feel like if you work at it, you just keep getting better at it and you do have to stay in touch with what's going on, and then you also have to know when not to care about what's going on.
00:24:48.826 -->
00:24:49.166Yeah.
00:24:50.115 -->
00:24:51.642You know, you lay it all out there.
00:24:51.642 -->
00:24:55.344I know my skill set and I know myself better.
00:24:55.344 -->
00:24:59.001I'm wiser, I know what I want to say.
00:24:59.001 -->
00:25:03.515You know all these little things and it helps, it expedites things.
00:25:03.515 -->
00:25:10.163I'm still getting a lot of good dance cuts and you know, other things are going on.
00:25:10.284 -->
00:25:21.923Yeah Well, speaking of other things going on, you've got a couple of songs that you just wrote and released as an artist too right dream girl, and deep as you, yeah.
00:25:21.923 -->
00:25:23.949So thanks for picking that up, chris.
00:25:23.949 -->
00:25:38.885Oh well, I mean I want to hear you tell me about it, because I sort of feel like this you know, none of us age out unless we decide we're going to age out, and none of us, none of us should ever lose.
00:25:38.885 -->
00:25:42.580The only way you lose a dream is if you physically kill it yourself.
00:25:42.580 -->
00:25:44.884So I think it's awesome.
00:25:44.884 -->
00:25:53.769I mean, when I saw it pop up on social media, you know a month ago that you were releasing something, I was like this is like the coolest thing ever.
00:25:53.769 -->
00:25:55.200So please tell me about it.
00:25:56.375 -->
00:25:58.644Well, I'm so glad you said that and thank you so much.
00:25:58.644 -->
00:26:07.476Well, life is interesting and you know I'm not writing as much as I did because I'm really picky, I have.
00:26:07.476 -->
00:26:12.167You know, I'm not writing as many songs for other people is what I mean.
00:26:12.275 -->
00:26:20.901I'm not co-writing as much because I have a handful a very small handful, less than a handful of people I work with and I had free time.
00:26:20.901 -->
00:26:25.523So I live here in Charleston now in South Carolina.
00:26:25.523 -->
00:26:33.262I love it, near my kids and grandkids and I in 2024, in the spring.
00:26:33.262 -->
00:26:39.614I'm kind of a private person so I don't want to go into too much detail.
00:26:39.634 -->
00:26:39.855No, no, no.
00:26:40.276 -->
00:27:10.496But there was just like a like, there was like a one of those life things that happens and it made you think about more your mortality, yeah, and the people you care about, and um, all that stuff and um, it was one of those things and I, and just you know it got me thinking and, you know, I think you can do one or two things when something, when something like that happens.
00:27:10.496 -->
00:27:12.478I think you can do one or two things.
00:27:12.478 -->
00:27:23.823When something like that happens, I think you can just succumb to it and you know, and just be dominated by it and sometimes you have no choice.
00:27:23.823 -->
00:27:28.586But you know, my wife really encouraged me to.
00:27:28.586 -->
00:27:36.250She says, you know, we need some normalcy in our life and and and she goes the one thing that's normal is you working?
00:27:36.250 -->
00:27:37.891Why don't you work on a project?
00:27:37.891 -->
00:27:39.371This is my wife's idea.
00:27:39.511 -->
00:27:41.653Yeah, that was pretty cool.
00:27:41.653 -->
00:27:42.432That's great.
00:27:42.432 -->
00:27:45.980Yeah, so, yeah.
00:27:45.980 -->
00:27:53.186So she really encouraged me to start writing songs and you know I haven't written that many songs by myself, you know.
00:27:53.186 -->
00:28:02.505You know some believe it or not, maybe five, you know my whole time in Nashville, because there's just not much a point.
00:28:02.505 -->
00:28:05.423Co-writing was the way to get it, oh yeah yeah.
00:28:06.234 -->
00:28:13.125So I started writing songs by myself here and I wrote one and it's the first time I've really written more personal songs.
00:28:13.125 -->
00:28:23.365Like you know, most people, I didn't want to write songs specifically dealing with what I was doing with or what we were dealing with.
00:28:23.365 -->
00:28:27.561But you know, if you read, you can read between the lines.
00:28:27.561 -->
00:28:30.067Sometimes on I have more songs coming out.
00:28:30.067 -->
00:28:33.465Cool, I'm gonna really song every six weeks, good for you.
00:28:33.465 -->
00:28:39.723Yeah, so I've got I have 12 songs recorded, written and recorded, and I'm gonna keep keep going.
00:28:39.723 -->
00:28:41.728I'm gonna do it as long as I can.
00:28:41.728 -->
00:28:44.676But it was one of those things it was.
00:28:44.676 -->
00:29:42.221It was basically inspiration and, um, this project means a lot to me in a lot of ways and it was about survival and you know I wanted to tap into things like my you know, my relationship with my wife heavier things that were more like adult things and you know I didn't want it to be in as much as I love Nashville and I appreciate Nashville and I'm very much a product of music row Nashville, yeah, in some ways, but I also wrote songs before then and had a lot of musical loves before then and you know I wanted to write songs that were influenced by what I loved in high school, what I loved in college, what I loved in my 20s and 30s, the music that made me want to move to Nashville.
00:29:42.221 -->
00:29:44.166That's what all of these songs are.
00:29:44.166 -->
00:29:50.126I wouldn't say none of them were really like what I would call a Nashville song.
00:29:50.126 -->
00:29:57.025I wouldn't say none of them were really like what I would call a Nashville song, because I was never just smack dab in the middle of what Nashville is.
00:29:57.025 -->
00:30:09.376Right, I made it work and I respect Nashville so much, but that just wasn't the full me and I just wanted to do this.
00:30:09.396 -->
00:30:12.987And you know, I'll tell you one other quick story.
00:30:12.987 -->
00:30:28.913This doesn't really equate, but my dad, he was an eccentric man, he was cool, but he was part of the Roanoke area Experimental Aircraft Association or whatever.
00:30:28.913 -->
00:30:31.580Oh wow, my dad was a private pilot.
00:30:31.580 -->
00:30:34.358Yeah, I think it's called the experimental aircraft.
00:30:34.358 -->
00:30:44.226But my dad built a couple airplanes, you know, in our garage, you know, kind of those small like experimental ones, yeah, and um, I think when he was about he.
00:30:44.226 -->
00:30:55.805He died when he was 80, 89, but when he was about 86, you know, know, he wasn't in good shape and my mom had passed away and he had this airplane in our garage.
00:30:55.805 -->
00:30:57.732I'm like Dad, why don't you just sell that?
00:30:57.792 -->
00:30:58.154airplane.
00:30:59.938 -->
00:31:00.259Come on.
00:31:00.259 -->
00:31:01.961Yeah, I mean, let's get real here.
00:31:01.961 -->
00:31:10.119You know we were in the car talking and you know he said something.
00:31:10.119 -->
00:31:15.489You know, because he goes if I don't have that airplane in my garage and I don't go out.
00:31:15.489 -->
00:31:20.948And basically he was going out there and putting like one rivet in a wing every day.
00:31:21.075 -->
00:31:24.396That's all he could do, basically, one rivet in a wing, he goes.
00:31:24.396 -->
00:31:25.962Why would I want to get up?
00:31:25.962 -->
00:31:28.762Why do I, you know, why would I get up?
00:31:28.762 -->
00:31:30.657You know, and he goes.
00:31:30.657 -->
00:31:43.579We have to have a purpose, you know, and I feel like that always stuck with me I, I totally get it okay one rivet a day from now on.
00:31:43.800 -->
00:31:45.508That's, that's what you and I are going to do.
00:31:45.508 -->
00:31:47.855It's I talk about it all the time with people.
00:31:47.855 -->
00:31:49.977It's baby steps, know it's keep moving.
00:31:49.977 -->
00:31:52.478It's do 1% a day.
00:31:52.478 -->
00:31:59.442If you can do that, man, thank you for being on here with me One more time.
00:31:59.442 -->
00:32:04.526Friends and neighbors out there, check out Tommy Lee James on Spotify.
00:32:04.526 -->
00:32:10.869He's got two songs out now and you just heard one more every six weeks till we get to number 12.
00:32:10.869 -->
00:32:12.652And then you're going to do another project, right?
00:32:13.372 -->
00:32:14.712Another set of rivets, right?
00:32:14.712 -->
00:32:16.518Keep it going, man.
00:32:16.518 -->
00:32:28.386Chris, I would just like to say thank you so much, and I'm really jealous of your hair, your hair, you've got your hair going on, man, you still got it, buddy.
00:32:28.768 -->
00:32:29.469Thank you, man.
00:32:29.469 -->
00:32:44.327God bless you, and thank you so much for this, for not only the the little trip down memory lane, but just being able to hear you and your insight into things, and also the the new rule for me of one rivet a day.
00:32:44.327 -->
00:32:46.376If you don't do it, why the hell would you get up?
00:32:46.376 -->
00:32:49.582I love it yeah, tommy lee james.
00:32:49.622 -->
00:32:50.242Thank you, man.
00:32:50.242 -->
00:32:54.009Thank you, chris, take care, oh yeah.
00:32:54.009 -->
00:32:59.905So once again, please don't forget to go online and check out tommy lee james's new music.
00:32:59.905 -->
00:33:00.807It's on spotify.
00:33:00.807 -->
00:33:02.097He's got a couple new songs out.
00:33:02.097 -->
00:33:03.301They're really wonderful.
00:33:03.301 -->
00:33:04.605Please check them out.
00:33:04.664 -->
00:33:05.326He's a great guy.
00:33:05.326 -->
00:33:06.878You just heard him talk.
00:33:06.878 -->
00:33:07.921I mean, you know he's, he's great.
00:33:07.921 -->
00:33:10.788So I have another story I have to tell you.
00:33:10.788 -->
00:33:15.280So I'm not a very tall guy.
00:33:15.280 -->
00:33:19.748I mean, I'm like five, six on a really good day.
00:33:19.748 -->
00:33:26.221Usually it's like five, five and, like I told you before, I'm like a quarter ass sax player.
00:33:27.262 -->
00:33:29.285But I did have the opportunity.
00:33:29.285 -->
00:33:38.143In the middle 80s yes, I am that old In the middle 80s I had the opportunity to audition for Hall and Oates.
00:33:38.143 -->
00:33:40.007Yeah, daryl Hall and John Oates.
00:33:40.007 -->
00:33:46.195Well, their sax player, charlie Deshaun, had decided that he wasn't going to go on the road with them anymore.
00:33:46.195 -->
00:33:48.760So they were auditioning sax players.
00:33:48.760 -->
00:33:53.576Well, a friend of mine, phil Romano, got me the audition.
00:33:53.615 -->
00:33:54.458I flew to New York.
00:33:54.458 -->
00:33:58.286I got to the studio where they were, rang the buzzer.
00:33:58.286 -->
00:34:01.357I said hey, I'm Chris Keaton.
00:34:01.357 -->
00:34:05.246I'm here to audition for the band Phil Romano sent me.
00:34:05.246 -->
00:34:06.734The guy says hold on a second.
00:34:06.734 -->
00:34:15.409A couple seconds go by and John Oates gets on the intercom and says hey, this is John, who are you?
00:34:15.409 -->
00:34:20.715And I said my name is Chris Keaton and Phil Romano sent me to audition for the band.
00:34:20.715 -->
00:34:27.208He went oh, we thought you said Phil Ramone, you know the producer.
00:34:27.208 -->
00:34:28.996And I'm like no, no, no, no, no, but anyway.
00:34:28.996 -->
00:34:30.782So he said, come on up.
00:34:30.782 -->
00:34:37.619So I went in, sat down with him, we got to talking, I played a little bit, it was all nice.
00:34:37.619 -->
00:34:41.706You know, john was nicer than Daryl, which is a whole other thing too.
00:34:41.706 -->
00:34:48.721But he did say look, thanks for coming up, appreciate you hanging out with us, t-bone walk.
00:34:48.721 -->
00:34:50.947The bass player was just a prince the whole time.
00:34:50.947 -->
00:34:55.206Not prince but a prince, and it was really great.
00:34:55.206 -->
00:35:02.481So then I left and I flew back to north carolina and I never heard a word, nothing, crickets.
00:35:02.481 -->
00:35:13.315So I go to see hollow notes play about a month later and mark revera, who had been with Billy Joel, is playing sax for him.
00:35:13.315 -->
00:35:18.867Now Mark is a great sax player, also plays keys, I do too, and he's on stage with him.
00:35:18.867 -->
00:35:25.969Well, I finally figured out why they hired him Because he was as tall as Daryl Hall.
00:35:25.969 -->
00:35:29.400He wasn't short like John Oates, like I am.
00:35:29.400 -->
00:35:32.085So that's my story.
00:35:32.085 -->
00:35:33.947I'm sticking to it.
00:35:33.947 -->
00:35:46.057Okay, once again I want to remind you and this is the hard sell portion of the show I do have a new program for people who have always wanted to be a songwriter, but life got in the way.
00:35:46.760 -->
00:35:47.702I've got a thing set up.
00:35:47.702 -->
00:35:51.755It's kind of like baseball fantasy camp or rock and roll fantasy camp, except this is for songwriters.
00:35:51.755 -->
00:35:53.661If've got a thing set up, it's kind of like baseball fantasy camp or rock and roll fantasy camp, except this is for songwriters.
00:35:53.661 -->
00:36:03.777If you're a songwriter and you probably got a great guitar collection in your basement if you're a songwriter who has always wanted to do it at the highest level, I've got the program for you.
00:36:03.777 -->
00:36:06.101It's called the Song Inside you.
00:36:06.101 -->
00:36:14.157It's at thesonginsideyoucom or you can reach out to me, chris, at chriskeatoncom, and I can tell you all about it.
00:36:14.199 -->
00:36:17.907But essentially what it is, we invite you to come to Nashville.
00:36:17.907 -->
00:36:19.438You get yourself to Nashville.
00:36:19.438 -->
00:36:21.884We put you up in a five-star hotel.
00:36:21.884 -->
00:36:23.367It's killer, I mean it's great.
00:36:23.367 -->
00:36:30.842Right there on Music Row, right across the street from there, is Sony Recording Studios and we have a session booked for you there.
00:36:30.842 -->
00:36:37.731But before that, you get to sit down with a hit songwriter oh yeah, a bonafide hit songwriter.
00:36:37.731 -->
00:36:44.297You guys co-write a song together.
00:36:44.297 -->
00:36:47.864The very next day you take it into Sony Music Recording and record a demo with A-class players that play on everybody's record.
00:36:47.864 -->
00:36:51.800I mean, if you read liner notes of albums, well, they don't have those anymore.
00:36:51.800 -->
00:36:56.760But if you could read liner notes from albums anymore, you'd see all these people's names on there.
00:36:56.760 -->
00:37:03.425They're going to play on your demo and then the next day you're going to fly home with a recording of your song.
00:37:03.425 -->
00:37:04.047How cool is that?
00:37:04.047 -->
00:37:05.757Thesonginsideyoucom.
00:37:05.757 -->
00:37:06.998Reach out to me.
00:37:06.998 -->
00:37:08.021I'll tell you all about it.
00:37:08.240 -->
00:37:11.025Also, while I'm on the subject, I have a weekly newsletter.
00:37:11.025 -->
00:37:12.288It comes out three times a week.
00:37:12.288 -->
00:37:20.376First two are all about songwriters and songwriting and who's looking for songs and that kind of thing.
00:37:20.376 -->
00:37:24.121But the third one is called the Badass of the Week, where I shout out to somebody and tell the world what a badass.
00:37:24.121 -->
00:37:27.505They are like to subscribe to my newsletter.
00:37:27.505 -->
00:37:43.155Please go to chriskeatoncom, or, as we say it down south, wwwchriskeatoncom.
00:37:43.155 -->
00:37:45.197Go there, sign up for my newsletter and you'll get it three times a week, just like that.
00:37:45.197 -->
00:37:51.282So with that, again, I want to thank Tommy Lee James for being on the program today, yay.
00:37:51.282 -->
00:37:56.768And I'd also like to thank you for being here for my podcast Random Acts.
00:37:56.768 -->
00:37:58.050I'm Chris Keaton.
00:37:58.050 -->
00:37:59.331Thank you, yay.
