Chris Cagle Interview in 2002

[Music] [Music] [Music] hello again and welcome to another dent in the southern country hime herb says and welcome to the show I'm very happy to say I have capital recording artist Chris kegels on the show welcome how you doing I'm all right we're doing all right good well let's find out more about Chris Cagle but before we do that what the Kegel had well I'm not sure I know no Kegel had it's it's kind of it was a phrase that was coined by a DJ in the Midwest in you know the my fans I've been very fortunate they're very very passionate about what I do and almost as zealous and passionate about it as I am and they kind of deem themselves Kegel heads you know it's like I guess the definition would be a follower of Chris Cagle they even have a dictionary I know it's kind of wild I've heard like yeah delicious and cable kids and a good yeah it's you know it's it's pretty it's pretty funny if any of your fans want to log on and add to this dictionary they can do it by Chris Cagle com that's it that's it that's the website huh you know it's funny I've been there in a while guys I promise I'm coming back I'm gonna come in and post I'm actually getting a new computer but I love going on there and just kind of taking time to see what folks have to say about the shows their experiences with us and they mean a lot to me absolutely feedback is always important to anybody yeah absolutely alright let's talk about play it loud in the tradition of Charlie Daniels and Travis Tritt blends of soul and rock and country to create a new sound it remains a rough around the edges is that the sound you wanted to create no I wanted to make sure you know when I first started the record with with Robert Wright who I give he you know I'm listening on the record as a co-producer but I give him credit for the for the sound and for the for the tone of the album and kind of the stage that was set for the beginning of his career you know he he set me down one day I was in there cutting some stuff that was a little more on the traditional side and he said you know what I don't believe you what are you talking about he said I don't believe you you're singing this stuff to me and I don't believe you it's like you run around the studio and you're you know you like a kid pushing buttons and having fun and and then you get up and behind the mic and all of a sudden you settle down or he said let's create music that has that that's who you are that you know and and that's kind of where we started we went back to you know counting to the drawing board to the Ground Zero and start it over and I just started making music that made me feel good and by the time we got done with it in the studio it was pretty it was pretty heavy yeah the music you play now the traditionalist will head for the hills huh they're not to traditional huh well there's there's here's the thing what we call traditional music now you know is like Merle Haggard young you know Charlie pride Charlie rich I know Willie Nelson but the thing is this that music was traditional to them because they sing about where they're from and the traditions they had in their lives okay this music is traditional to me because it's about where I'm from and what I've lived technology came along and changed my life and I mean I have no idea what it's like to walk barefoot in the snow uphill both ways just cool my grandfather used to say Ryan bacon and stuff like that but but this this is you know and when my kids are older my traditions are gonna be different from theirs because of the age of information so this is kind of traditional to me okay billboard described your music in an all-out assault on the senses what was that all about well you know I it's it's hard to kind of go and say what somebody meant when they don't get it but you know as far as one of the things that's important to me in my records that I'm allowed to take people to either a point of pain or a point of pleasure because that's kind of what music does I mean it'll take you back to a memory or it'll get you over a heartache or it'll just let you have a good time will you get emotional on some of your songs - yeah there's something that there's something that the fact I wrote one yesterday about my wife and I called it takes two and when we were writing it there's a line in the opening of the second verse it says sometimes my work in the world gets the best of me and then I come home and try to give you what's left of me and when I when I wrote that I kind of told - the man I'm gonna need a minute because it you know because it's the truth she she kind of gets the leftovers in my life right now yeah oh I got him for due day yeah exactly it's it's you know what though she gladly gives that to me because she knows that I wouldn't be the husband or the demand that I am in her life without being happier I am and what I do you put a lot of emotion and passion into your music yeah yeah I really do I that's but you know and I don't even know I don't know why I'm and I don't know that I want to know why because then it's you know how humans you start messing with it don't ask yeah I just I'd rather just this is me this is what I do and what comes out of the pen is on the paper that's it that's it hey playing loud is a pretty good track record my love with top 15 top ten and breathe in breathe out right to the top of the charts man yeah how about in one video my favorite video that I've ever done is Loretto and it's it's because of the fact that it was right at the time of my label change from virgin Deanna's IR and there was not a we didn't have all the sudden the treatment was thrown off the window we had to come up with this on our own and my director and I came up with this in like 24 hours Wow so I feel like we made we made hay while the Sun was shining there yeah I know yeah hey Chris what happens when you plug that CD into your computer we have a an interactive CD you can plug it into the computer and you can actually see footage of the live show you know I had so many people asking questions what am I gonna get when I come to your show or what's it gonna be like they're cool and so I thought we'd put some of that in there we also have some some interview stuff too you know so folks can kind of get to know me a little bit autobiographical or biographical material as far as where I'm from where I've lived what I'm about that's pretty cool it's it's pretty cool we only used eleven percent on the CD of the available material and this one I'm gonna try and I just got a Sony or no Canon XL one the 3c CD it's not like a broadcast quality camera huh and I've been filming stuff like the only scrapbook yeah you know the entire year and stuff and when we go to do this record I'm actually gonna put a bunch of footage on there so it so the folks can kind of follow the career from behind the scenes is that common among CDs right now I think it's starting I kind of got the idea from kept MOU he had it on his and I thought they did a really great job and so I thought you know what I'm gonna try and see if I can't pull that off I don't know who else is doing it but I think it should I think it'd be it'd be great if more artists would do it just because the fact that it kind of gives them more to the fans I think so for more feedback they get to know you hey David Kirk first recorded the song breathe in breathe out in 1998 what inspired you to write that song you were doing game yeah we were at a hockey game and there's a there's a girl that I've gone out with a couple of times and we were standing in the line and one of my buddies we were sitting there and he goes man check this too now and I looked up I was like dude you know and the friend of mine said man you know cable kind of dated her whatever and so you know he was like hey she's pretty high five you know all this stuff and I said man you know could you just leave it alone and he said well how you doing you know I said you know I breathe in breathe out put one foot on the other and take one day at a time and John grabbed my arm he's like and I said I'm with you so we went out we went out to the parking lot put the tailgate down in my truck and got my my guitar out of the back cab and sat down I wrote the song came back in the second period just excited we knew we'd had one yeah yeah what'd you put that on as a bonus track on player playing it loud right well you put you changed it a little bit how did you change it well the thing was when we had the first stop on virgin we only had ten songs okay and then when I went to capital capital was like look let's go in and add some things to it let's give the folks a little more value let's give them two more songs let's do the interactions on the CD let's recover the package and you know I think it was capital I think capital felt like they may have wanted the opportunity to not only to give the fans more but to put their put their stamp on me and you know treat me as their own artist and not necessarily go with the cover in the record from another label and I completely understand that I'd wanted the same thing if I was in their shoes and I think it worked out well my best song was the one of the 2000 so you put it on yeah number one song absolutely absolutely you co produced this album recorded nine songs that you wrote on yes and the first three were hits yeah that's yes it's pretty exciting to go out to a show and to have written songs and to have folks come to the show and not only not only know the songs that have been on the radio but know the songs that you wrote that are not on the radio but on the record to actually listen to the record and sing it back to you it's it's a great feeling that it has to be how did you come about writing songs knows yeah when I was a kid yeah I took piano lessons in high school and my dad wouldn't let me play rock and roll so I wouldn't learn like journey songs and Elton John songs and I would make up lyrics from the Bible to end the thing was inadvertently I didn't realize it but what was happening was the melodies were already there yeah but I was learning the rhyme schemes and the metering programs and kind of putting that in my head and not even realizing what I was doing and then when I went to start writing songs for myself it was just like you know what you've done this before you just didn't have to make up the melody alright so it was one of those deals where you know I thought okay now get good at writing music and making a melody and things that go together because you know you can put the words kind of flawed and Panter down huh yeah man I got busted one time in church it was funny I played but I faithfully by journey and I made it all up about God and you know his son and their faithfulness to us and this guy came up he said that's not you didn't write that man that's a journey song and my dad was just like journey I said dad I have no idea what he's talking I mean I stood there and lied flat out in church so God's probably don't get it but hey you're right your songwriting skills got better after you met Harlan Howard yep yeah a little bit yeah you know Harlan Harlan God rest his sweet soul he has done he didn't have to do anything with me and he set me down one day and it was only about a three and a half hour meeting but I played some music for him and he was very polite but he told me it was really bad and my grandfather used to have a saying if you're gonna tell a man he has a problem be sure you have the solution for him and so when Harlan told me and I said well how do I fix it you know how I do and he he drew out a little graph chart thing or whatever it's like a wheel and he went from the axle to the hub to the spokes and to the outer rim and he said if you can get all the way to the end of this and roll that wheel down the road without bumps you got a song that's not and he said but the difference is between just a regular wheel and a wheel that you're going to kind of ride for the rest of your life is the idea you can't have a hit song without a hit song idea period that's I mean if you don't have a hit song idea it doesn't matter what you write I mean you may write it's like there's a lot of really good songs in this world like for example loving you loving me on my record it's a it's a good song you know it I don't know that it's a big hit and it's because of the fact that it's just it's a simple idea of I'm loving you loving me there's no major twist here it's just me being honest and saying you know what look at me and please tell me what you want is what you see you know I went through the thing with insecurities and men and and relationships and all those things and it's a very simple song I don't know that it's a really big hit ideas you know that's probably why I wasn't on the radio that's an example of that how about my love goes on and on and off yeah that was a blast this is something about tell me wanted something about they'll never known what you don't you know it's funny the first they were looking for what they call the location to shoot the video and they had guys scouting all these different places and there's this it's a heavy metal rock and roll bar in Nashville called hysteria and I went in there and I saw it and it had the like the John Travolta disco floor it had the zebra stripes on the wall and then it had the cross dimpled chrome like on the tailgates of trucks and I thought man that's who I am and this is what you know this song has got to have this and so that's where we shot it out of Virgin Records get to hear about Chris Cagle I was working at a place called slackers and I met this very sweet lady named Donna Dewart a we became friends I ended up I didn't realize it I worked with her husband at the golf course during the day yeah and and for about two and a half three months I didn't I didn't know what Donna did she never told me and of course it wouldn't matter because she's just really a neat lady and she came in I was playing actually this is kind of neat I was playing on and on the Laredo play it loud and who needs the whiskey as they sit on the record those were the demos that we cut and you know most songs most records they spend like five ten thousand a song we spent a thousand dollars per song on those four songs home maintained yeah little studio and I was playing them in the in the at the bar yeah and she's like man who's this I said oh it's this guy I know I just felt really weird talking about myself so I try and then finally she goes can I get a copy of it I was like sure is she she says is this you and I was like yeah she said how did you get such great material I was like I wrote it she's like you wrote this and I said yeah she goes who produced it and I was like a friend of mine and I and so she she called me I'll never forget this it was it through the greens at Highland Rim I was on the I just finished 18 holes I was teeing off again on the first tee box I was gonna play 36 I get a phone call on my cell phone it was Donna she said on to put mr. Scott Hendricks through and I was like you know so he got on the phone I said this isn't even funny man I said I mean who I don't even know you know who you are that uh I'm playing golf leave me alone she called me back she's like Chris this I work for Scott Hendricks this is this is Scott in and I knew Scott I mean I was a big fan of his work you know I mean he shaped a lot of country music when you know producing John Michael Montgomery now in Jackson Faith Hill Brooks & Dunn all those guys big name and natural absolutely and so he finally when he got on the phone I was like mr. Hendricks you know I'm sorry dinner done he took me to lunch and we talked he said man you just might be dysfunctional enough to be in our I'll never get caught and I said well I hope that's a good thing you know and he asked me he said are you sure you want this and I said man absolutely and so he pulled the trigger and gave me my first shot and I'll be forever grateful to him for that he let you make your own music absolutely yeah it's you know it's not that's not me yeah it's not it's not a normal thing there's one of those deals where I told him I said look I'm 30 years old fix it be 31 said I can get these songs cut yeah you know I'm to the point in my life where I just want to find my place in music and if it's sweeping out a studio and get me that's fine but I'm not gonna let you try and tell me who I am and what I need to play and how I need to do it so if you don't like what you hear don't sign me you know cuz you'll be wasting your money in my time and I'll be heartbroken and he said actually man I you know I didn't think it was broken I don't want to fix it just to make me a record I was just like pretty close yeah before we wrap up this show what pick another song we're going out with a song man we got it we got at least top it off with my first number-one song it's I breathe in I breathe out all right here it say something real quick about that they won't know anything about what was unusual about taping it there wasn't really anything unusual about taping it it was probably you know what it was personal to me to be able to make a video on this song because I knew it was coming out on the radio because I actually fought and believed in this song for so long to finally get to see it come to fruition and to finally get to see it get what I felt like was it's just do that meant the world to me so that's that's one of the interesting things about that thank you sir thank you very much on the show here's Chris Cagle we're wrapping up now and breathe in breathe out [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: herbsudzin

Views: 583

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: chris cagle, herb sudzin classic, sudzin country, cagleheads, laredo, chicks dig it, my love goes on and on, breathe in breathe out, play it loud, what kinda gone, back in the saddle, singer, songwriter, entertainer, vocals

Id: fDm748oR9ec

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 03 2019