The Zak Kuhn Show

Brad Tursi talks Old Dominion, solo career and guitar playing

Brad Tursi is the lead guitarist in Old Dominion. He just released his debut solo project Parallel Love. We break down what it's like to play guitar in one of country music's biggest acts and what finally pushed him to release music under his own name.

Duration:: 50m
Broadcast on:: 24 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

where do you go for your haircut though because uh i go to i think i'm going to the same place for 10 years now it's called dandelion salon it's over east yeah east like you know i can be there in like one minute i had a great spot in wedgwood uston went out business oh yeah so when i started going to another place the guy who put my hair moved out of town moved to like pennsylvania or something see what i do is yeah i'm always like i never make an employment so i'm just like is there any room today for a haircut and if they're like no i'm like okay forget it and then i'll like all that's like do you guys have anything do you know like yeah so i think i just go to whoever is available how do you not have a guy i like to think if i was you i would have a guy that will clear their schedule to give me a haircut how is that not you like and why and you pick up the phone and you go hey it's brad from old dominion yeah can you fit me in that doesn't happen like you don't pull that card oh man people did you know why would you be a man of the people though i feel like you spend your whole life trying to be a rock star you finally get there why would you choose to be a man of the people i don't know i don't know i do maybe i see i tried an assistant for a little bit but i didn't have anything to let her do i was like i just feel like i was trying to find stuff to like but like tell her to do just if i already do she didn't go pick up your laundry or your dry dry cleaning or like do other band members of the band have assistance or it is no one really does yeah couple of like i'm so great i'm an assistant like you know like i i get it if you got like kids and a whole bunch of shit you gotta be like dealing with and i also don't cook any food you do what you do or you don't cook i don't i'm trying to get better but i'm mostly like a go out to eat guys so that's kind of my thing but then you read all these studies that you go out to eat you're gonna live shorter because of all the ingredients that people play in food when you go out to eat versus if you're cooking you can see what you're putting into the food so that kind of inspires me to want to cook but i don't have time to cook yeah it's one of those things where you have to like really try to enjoy it you can't just be like oh kind of like just to eat yeah so what would you cook if you had to cook something the last thing i cooked it was actually good it was uh it was a salmon and like um vegetable dish but it was all in one pod it was i got i've got a bunch of those nice lake who say um pans and stuff oh yeah yeah yeah and uh those are classic every it's a stable every i've got two of them every kitchen needs those so i go i went on their website and they have all these recipes so i just like cook recipes off their website and they're really good oh we'll take it but you don't have a chef coming over or not a chef but like you don't have someone preparing meals or delivering like remade food like i feel like i know people who are just like really into fitness who have this done who have things delivered to their house like i know and it just saves it's so much easier because then you don't have to cook yeah you're right i don't do this either so i was hoping you would be able to do it yeah you're talking to me how to do it yeah no i just thought you give me some advice on how to do it no man i i don't i should have asked her to do that for me before i thought there was nothing else to do yeah that would have been great there's something about pre-made meals that i don't know maybe they're awful yeah that's why i want to try it there they're always horrible and they always say no these are actually really good but they're never good they're horrible yeah that's what you're like oh the blue whatever that's the one that's the one that's the one that's like that that one's actually really good no they're horrible yeah they're all awful um brads got a new album out right now parallel no it's yeah it's gonna by the time this comes out it's gonna be out when's it going on next friday the 19th what is that that's next friday parallel love you and i have talked about this before which is we both came up as guitar players loving guns and roses that's right is that why you started playing guitar was because you want to be like slash yeah pretty much i mean i mean you remember those magazines like hit parader and oh yeah i literally would like cut like little picture of them out and like you know i think and you know in the four walls of my bedroom i think like three and a quarter three and three quarters were literally covered in cutouts of like hip parader and really yeah yeah it's pretty obsessed because you wanted to be a musician or you just like the culture or like yeah everything like i definitely guns and roses was the first one i was like damn like i mean i i remember even down to like i'd be like oh like i like veins like in this arms and like the way that like when you play it's like you know i was very inspired how do i get my veins to help out what doesn't mind i don't know what i think what's up with that exactly yeah that was where you were trying to figure out exactly um and you know i just remember seeing like that paradise city video and being like but was that the one like is that because it wasn't your first guitar or less paul or you found your dad's yamaha yeah my acoustic which i just literally got back a few days ago like the binding was coming on dawn and had a couple little holes in it so i brought it to glacier and they fixed it up what they do there were holes in the like i think i spent 1400 bucks yeah like doing everything it needs to be and they're like are you sure you want to do that i was like this is like a target lineup like a tarot so yes i want yeah and now does it play really oh yeah i think i'm actually gonna use it uh no way next week for this show for the show yeah oh you're bringing on the show like for my own thing yeah oh dude that's gonna be incredible yeah wait so you found this guitar in your in the attic well why did your dad have it was does he play too well he played growing up uh um he actually played in a band i'm gonna tell you this with uh steven tyler from eros what in high school because you're from kinetiquette or that area right yeah so he knew steven yeah tyler or i'll show you this uh i'm not that it matters for the pod connection no but if you send me the image we could fly it in the that's crazy yeah i know it's at the top of these ten thousand pictures so i can find it really easy so there is my dad and there's steven tyler right there wait that's outrageous you know dressed up like the Beatles what was his name steven tylerico steven tylerico exactly so so he did he take guitar seriously like is he a guitar player i mean i no he can play like the sambar courts and stuff yeah you know he can't really doesn't really play much but uh i actually wrote a song several years ago with marty frederson who used to produce um some of the i guess later erosman stuff yeah and i showed him that picture and he was like oh my god he goes he got some that's me so he sent it to steven and then like after i left the right he texts me he's like all right give me your dad's number as steven wants to call your dad so he's like i'm like told my dad like hey you're gonna be getting never a call from we're never in so it's now an hour later he's like oh my god he's like steven tyler call he said we talked for an hour about all these people we used to know it's tough he's like he goes you know who he reminded me of he said me he started to suck me wait what do you get from steven tyler yeah steven tyler yeah i was just like they're like both kids from the Bronx you know like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah wait so you find the guitar in the claw in the attic and then do you start playing is this before you you were so into guns and roses or actually right around that time like i remember some of the first uh songs i was trying to learn were like patients and like used to love her and stuff like that yeah i mean we're like my fingers hurting trying to you know figure out how to play but you just felt like okay slash is playing an acoustic guitar this or at a guitar this is a guitar so i guess i'll figure i'll guess somehow the songs have to be in here like you had no idea how to do this no i i tell myself you were just how do you know how you can tune the guitar though like well i might have got like you know a basic book of like here's how like the dots you know like yeah you make those chords uh um i don't know i guess i learned how to tune i don't even remember learning how to tune it but uh i used to try to learn the songs like on cassettes like you know you like i'd be in front of like a set player like rewinding it back like we're running back or running back trying to figure out and then of course i'm learning till i'm like he's obviously playing i can't play these songs on the acoustic guitar you know most of them because they're on a Les Paul right so after i think you know i showed you know you have to show your parents that you're serious you know uh they finally let me get an electric guitar that's what you got Les Paul right because of his first guitar because of Slash right yeah was it what you thought it would be because my first good guitar was a Les Paul i think because of Slash and Jimmy Page but when i got it it wasn't really what i thought it was gonna be well i got a studio you got a studio in cherry yes yeah right like the red wine card yeah where you see the grain through the guitar that was that's everyone's first Les Paul i feel like i was pretty stoked out of though but yeah i mean it's not a really it's not you know it's not the kind of is though like yeah i mean i still play a studio uh on one song uh in the old dominion set uh that my college roommate saw me for 400 bucks on like for just a little slide part on uh Hawaii that's on why i play that on the road why because it was because it's a guitar that i have that you have and you need a guitar you need a guitar to that slot exactly we're gonna do the studio yeah yeah yeah is that so do you basically just learn endless songs or you try to learn endless songs is that have you figured out how to play guitar that's how that's how i did it yeah yeah because then i also went there was a thing called the national guitar summer workshop uh up like an upstate Connecticut it was like a tar can basically yeah so now i went there for a week two different summers where you know you sign up for like blues licks one-on-one and then like whatever jazz theory and like you have a like a roommate that you know he gets from jammin and you know and then every night they'll have like a staff performance and they'll bring in you know a crazy guitar players and stuff um did you strive to because i feel like your superpower as a guitar is playing a lot of like more rhythmic parts and just nailing them and playing more parts around the vocal and but you're like i don't think of you as a shredder no i i'm not did you aspire to be at any point no that that's like that was never interesting to you when i like kurt van hale and us just like first of all it didn't like capture me like uh like the allen brothers just like the sound of it but i was also like there's no way i'm going to be able to do that that's kind of how i felt so i'm like i'm not even going to try to do that yeah yeah so what would you spend your time focusing on uh i mean i would learn i would play along you know in my room to a lot of the guns and roses records i've played uh you know some of the like that first black crows record shaker money maker i remember playing to that and then like cv rayvon stuff i was i had a definitely a window where i was into that you know i've been and then i got when i when i was going to college i was i think i was already into ithaca and i was out of the on the waiting list for james madison and i think ithaca was like 27,000 bucks and james madison was like 12 or and my dad was like i was like if you go to james you i'll buy you a new uh guitar and a new amp and i'll pay for your spring break and i was like what cool done yeah you didn't care so he somehow got me off the waiting list there and i ended up going there but he bought me like a nice like a vht that was the first like nice kind of tube amp actually not the first tube amp but that was that was a nice amp uh and i had it i got a checter like a strap model which was actually kind of a nice guitar uh i feel like everyone's playing checters now i said they're not like i don't know maybe this one almost looked like uh um mark nafler looking in guitar like very like bird's eye maple he uh i don't know anyway uh but i remember being down at the basement you know playing steve rayvon loud and then most dinnertime they flick the light turn the lights down that was my experience too that's that's exactly what happened because that that was the only place i could play was in the basement yeah and then they would flick the lights in the room over but i could see the room and then i would come up stairs or signs i'd just ignore it and i was looking the other way yeah that's the wait but did you think you were going to be a guitar player was that or did you think you were just really into guitar oh no like i was like i want to be a rock star yeah right of course when you joined old dominion for those first couple gigs weren't you originally subbing yeah in the band yeah i was uh subbing for another guy that i went to college with devin malone who uh still plays guitar a lot in a lot of records in town now um he was playing for hunter haze at the time also so he was an old dominion for a while uh then they were abandoned many years before i joined and um you know i guess they didn't really have a whole lot going on so i would i would just play number one because you know i would need it to 75 bucks or whatever they were gonna they're gonna pay me and uh i also really liked their music and i was as a songwriter i moved here to be a songwriter and i swore that i would never be another band again when i moved here because i was just tired of the entire of it you know i decided but in too many vans and stuff that when i moved here i was like that's it i'm just gonna write songs but um but a party you want to be like when i had matt on this shit on the podcast i was like matt was like i moved here to be a songwriter and i was like i don't believe that for a second how do you move here not expecting or not wanting to be a rock star like you guys are good looking guys all of you can sing you can all write you can all play how are you thinking like why are you not moving here to be a rock star i mean i literally because i was i was just i almost quit music like when i finally i was living in uh new york city and i quit the band and i was in from dc i was like that's it i'm like i can't take it i can't get another van i can't you know we that was a lost record deal and i was going to be like a i don't know my my uh ampala's uh boyfriend at the time was like a video editor and i was like when in studio with him i was like reans of books i'm like maybe i'll be like a video editor guy or something yeah and then my dad was like you should just be like don't give up now he's like the moods national are you know there so i was like i caught him one day i was like i'm on my way go down you know so like and i i just really was like i know i can make money writing songs down here that's why what did you think the path was gonna be to get a publishing deal yeah and that was gonna basically be the way you were gonna make money which is what i did yeah and then but how did you figure out so then so who calls you and says hey old dominion needs a guitar player uh i guess i guess Devin did you know so then then they dumbest thing he ever did right you know who knows but you know after a while they they asked him hey man you know you got to decide you're either in our band or you're in hunter haze and you know to his credit he'd been in the band for a while nothing was really going on and hunter haze was pretty big at that time and he you know he had bills to play and stuff so he was like he made the decision that he wanted to do that so and they asked me to be in the band and i was like shit i'm not gonna be getting paid on a boxer show i'm gonna come get again that was why they asked you join the band that was gonna be cheaper because if you were in the band they weren't gonna have to pay you basically that was the was the situation but they had just at that point gotten management with uh with clean hyam um and you know like i said i liked i liked their music i really liked the songs i were writing and i was really interested in writing with them you know and and so i was like you know what well that's a big turning point because we're in you guys first really big in like weird country markets like you guys were big in which like chicago and boston well like you're big anywhere big but you were like you're bigger markets were not like traditional country markets originally right am i right about that or is that yeah i don't know like chicago is is notoriously a kind of a big country market i feel like which i never it didn't make any sense to me at first but now i realize you know that a lot of there's a lot of rural areas around chicago that yeah feed it and and you know uh it warm is like such that's such a great job of building the country's market yeah and i mean jose on weed and all that stuff so you know that was a great that was the first place we ever sold out was jose did you guys strive to be i mean you were in nashville and i guess you guys were country fans but were you like hey we're gonna start country band or did you just think that country was the space where you guys could actually have a band i think that's what it was it was just like we're here like you know we're all writing country music you know we we can't help like we're gonna put our own spin on it you know our own sort of rock rock and roll spin and you know they definitely had a thing going on you know before i joined that lyrically was pretty cool pretty fresh pretty pretty clever and so i think you know that's always kind of stuck by our by you know our songs and has been a thread in the band for sure so yeah i don't necessarily think we're the most country of the country bands but yeah we are you know i get into a band is it just the greatest to be in a band do you know how many people say they want to be in a band like old dominion like i hang around a ton of people who are like yeah the only way i go on the road is if i was in a band like old dominion that's so fun i swear to god people say that all the time i hear that all the time wow that's great like do you is it just the greatest to be in a band or is it like suck because you're always around the same guys and you get sick of them no we actually get along pretty well yeah you laugh our asses off pretty much all the time you know of course everyone gets on each other's here and there but i think it's pretty minimal you know we have a great time together and it's amazing man 99.9 percent of musicians don't get to where we are you don't get to be if i'm complaining i'm uh or someone needs to be smacking me yeah it's pretty awesome do you guys because matt said he almost thought it could be an interesting idea to almost have like an old dominion band development program where he was like i think we should figure out how to bring more bands into country music and that you guys could be the one to help do that maybe you could find a young band or put a young band together do you feel like you'd be well positioned to do that uh yeah i think i mean you know i i think we could if we really wanted to turn our attention to that yeah i mean especially with uh you know roxy she's always showing me all the all the you know she has to look at all these new artists so i'm always seeing all these people that aren't signed and you know got being a great position do that i feel like you could take you know a good you probably know a good young guitar player in town you probably know a great art vocalist i think you can assemble like the next and you can have some yes and i think you can have back end on it forever and make a ton of money i think that made a great idea that's a good idea think about it just just think about it okay see how it sits oh okay wait brad's got a new album power little love is this your like debut project as like as a story like i had one little other thing called uh malibu blue that i think was before old dominion it was just like a little ep that i i do like some of the songs on there though but this is the first real thing that like is actually yeah was this like itching for you to put something out or to write something yeah i mean there's just so many songs that you write over the years and you know there are just songs that don't sound like old dominion there i'm more of a folky sort of jade chiller singing songwriter kind of kind of dude and uh you know i just because of the band i had the ways and means to to just kind of pay for myself and take my time and do it and make it sound how i want it to sound and uh i didn't really have any grand aspirations for it that's what was kind of funny like when i handed it into management and the label i was just like hey made this you know check it out do you expect them to put it out like because that's not really is that part of the deal well i know i mean i think contractually like they have the right of first refusal if they want to put it out or whatever but i don't know what they're going to do you know like i have no following this note you know yeah they have a million other artists they're trying to break or whatever but they want to keep you happy that's kind of my takeaway they want you to be happy with them well yeah i mean i i guess but i mean like they were like this is great you know what's your plan and i was like well if you guys didn't like it that was the end of my plan i was just gonna like send it to my mom yeah i wasn't like gonna go shop it around did she like knew when you said her music oh yeah she's like the biggest all-dimensional panel oh see that makes sense so okay so you turn in and why do they push you to put it out or they say oh you know they just really liked it they were like we should we should put this out and i was like awesome you know like wow that's what a great reaction so from there it's it's just been so fun already what did you turn in because you have like there's the song oh darling that like you've had a song for like 10 years right it's not even a song though what is it it is a whole song it is that the point i just broke it up why do you do that well that was actually uh my girlfriend roxy's uh idea also she was like you should split that up into like make it an inner room i was like that's actually a good idea why is that a good idea that why did she come up with this it's just this thing that's like picked it comes up three times over the album you see the lat like this is the first verse and then i forget if it goes to like the last when it does the last version of it yeah at the end of the record it goes to the chorus so is that the first time you hear the chorus that's the first time you hear the chorus yeah wait wait here's the second version this is the old darling interlude different key this is verse two so i'd modulate it i changed it so that it will go into the next song in in the same key well i don't understand why this is a good idea i think it's a good idea i mean i like it it's very creative but i don't understand how roxy heard this song and she goes you know what you should do you should split it's genius it kind of is why is that incredible i don't know i just it was kind of weird and again i just was trying to just do something that was a little more artsy and weird and i was like i think it's cool yeah yeah wait so how did you write this or what like what is this what is do you write this about someone you wrote this 10 years ago you can say all this right yeah i picked up my guitar one day and like went to just like play a g chord or whatever yeah and it was like he had tuned into some weird tuning which i i think was an open e now that i but i was like what the heck is going on it's guitar and so then like it just kind of it was like a new instrument you know i didn't really know how to play it and yeah right right so it kind of spawned to that lick and then yeah i mean that's just a song about um i don't know why i even wrote it at that particular time but you know i think every musician's fear is you know uh you're gone a lot are you gonna is life at home gonna pass you by is and do people like you for who you are or what you do or sing you know so no that makes sense though yeah and i mean i i think that i think that's another reason that uh you know it kind of works as an interlude like the you know it's about being a musician it's about you know singing traveling and then it goes into that first song church bells and train whistles which is basically about that also yeah i love that song the uh i got right here let's see if it works what is your what's the course you're a little more church bells and train whistles i'm a little bit church bells like i'm both you're both i wonder what a train want to go to but you got to go you know like the sound of the train was inherently uh is sound of traveling yes you know yeah yeah this song and i love the way the interlude comes into this the oh darling flows into it it is good right yeah it just feels a little more theatrical or a little more intentional right or it just it bonds the work together yeah where it's like oh this is actually an album as opposed to totally not just like a collection of songs wait but the song that i really love is is this one yeah crazy life there's a line in here that i love that maybe we'll get to is um just the sunglasses line no no no let's just listen up have you ever been here before and we're on set marquee no where is sunset marquee in l.a. no it's this line right here coming out this just sounds great who played drums on who did that right dulce and the girls you know why is that a great line because it because it's you're crying with pretty it's you could easily say pretty but why is it better to just say oh you know why is that better as a songwriter because is it just cool yeah because you don't even have to say it yeah it's like it's like uh he touching his chest now she takes off her chest you know the killer song that he couldn't say dick but he doesn't he rhymes it he doesn't rhyme it wait i've never thought about that when i've listened that song yeah now you're sick and it's on my belly she's touching his chest now she now was your inspiration first of all i've never put that together probably because i've been hearing that song so long that i just know that line i've never thought about that but it was that i mean it crossed my mind i don't know if it was like i want to do something like but did you write oh pretty like oh that's line pretty and then did you go wait a second this would be would sound less yeah whatever if i just said it's such an obvious rhyme like oh you know yeah that is such a genius lyrical thing isn't it not like but why like is that the kind of thing you do when you write a hundred songs you just go i don't even need to rhyme anymore i'm just because i'm just gonna say yeah you know well yeah because maybe i'm overthinking it i don't know no there is a certain thing like of you know breaking the rules that is actually the interesting parts and usually the interesting thing in songs you know if you if everything the song unfolds and you're expecting it does what you're expecting it to do it's usually not that great it's not that great right yeah that's the okay wait this last one i got point out okay this is lover and a friend i don't know who you wrote this for i don't know when this was written but is this is this the best part about being a songwriter is that if you're with someone you just write them a song it doesn't hurt it's such a turn on like i can't do this right because i'm not a songwriter like and i couldn't even if i if i was dating someone and i wrote a song for them they would leave me because the song because the song would be that would be horrible but you can actually pull this off is that just the greatest thing to have that ability it is it's uh it's how much of a labor of love is it really to write a song or is it so easy because you're writing them every day it's pens this song should it took a long time to finish really why um because i don't know i i started on the guitar accused the guitar and i had it for a while i couldn't figure out you know like it weird to land a hook and stuff i don't know i was just always messing around with different chords but then when i finally took it to the piano is when it's sort of like i was like oh but what were you chasing were you chasing writing a song for someone or you just thought it was a cool concept and you were like i mean i i think at the time i mean you know i obviously have a someone in my life that is uh you know and has definitely inspired some songs probably that one also uh but i think i was listening to Nick Lowe at the point at that point and he's like uh he has this one song it's like you look like but a good mouth in your mouth and then just like this giant space it's like i don't know what you could like super like at the opposite of like you know a lot of like these like modern country songs have so many words and it's always like rapids so i was like i wanted to do a song that you know this is i can't stop that maybe yeah just like super spaced out so i think musically that may have been the inspiration for it and then lyrically you know it is are you writing these songs just for artistic expression because you just like writing them or do you go in thinking maybe you'll write an old Dominion song but become something else and you go old Dominion we never kind of like why do you what motivates you to get up and write these songs no especially i'm pretty much like i mean church bells and trade muscles is a song that i did write like in a co-write with Stephen Wilson jr and Ben West and that song has been pitched around nobody wanted to i actually tried to get the band to record it and they didn't want to record it really what did they say to you how did they say where they're this song isn't going to work for us i think i think like take me into the room you go hey guys ringo over here i i got a song no i'm kidding you know you pitched them a song and and what they say or they don't say anything and that's the no i think they're i think i think ramsy had a problem he's like the fool for uh uh a fortune to feel like i'm like i'm really a fool for i'm like it's just a metaphor anyway anyway everyone's got their reason yeah yeah now when i get it it's not like the most obvious old Dominion song of all time yeah but um most of these songs now you know like i wrote most of them by myself and it's like i know pretty immediately especially now which i've read i write by myself more than ever like like 75% of his record i feel like he's running around so it's like i know immediately um that it's not gonna i want to i want to write it myself and it's not going to be anyone else's song you know i used to i used to start these ideas and then i would bring them in and then they would i would finish them in a regular car ride and they would always be like not what i wanted to say but then also like not commercial enough to like be it would just be like a waste of a you know uh an idea yeah right right it got pulled into just the wrong ways you know yeah so how far are you gonna take this like you're doing a show next week i think which may have already happened by the time everyone listens to this you miss the opportunity to see Brad you should have stayed up to date if you missed it but like would you do a couple of dates so we're gonna be like yeah i think i have like i have too many dates already actually uh as a so i like doing your own solo stuff basically yeah like all of october and a little bit of november we're gonna be you know nation wide all over the place from new york wait but as solo yeah really with a band are you gonna be able to deal with the fact that the amenities are gonna be different i don't know so then with uh i got to say the only thing that's important is we are on a bus and you are gonna be on a bus yes and our tour manager from old dominion and our sound guy have agreed to do it so i'm like that because he's really all they're really good friends right so oh yeah i love those guys and i mean they just we're gonna plan best at what they do um we're playing like actually there was supposed to be a show at the franklin theater that was supposed to be the first uh show but we had to cancel it because we got a private and all-dominant show but uh you know we're just playing like little theater i think like grammarser grammarsie theater oh yeah it used to come out like old dominion fans fancy i think you have no idea no i mean like are you taking support with you i'm just you i'm gonna come to one of these shows it's evening with brad turn i'm gonna come in new york yeah is there really a new york date yeah there's also uh you ever heard of the leavitt pavilion in canada game yeah i've played the leavitt pavilion i won't play in there that maybe i'll come with that show did you see shows was that round when you were growing up there yeah it was like a little wooden shag that's like an amphitheater yeah it's like a little tiny amphitheater it was like oh my god i think dawg's played their resources like yeah it was literally like yeah when i was going there it was just like a plywood shed yeah it was crazy that's crazy is there a difference in your mind between like do you have to develop a skill to be a session guitar player versus being a live guitar player because you play all the old dominion tracks play everything on this no actually i don't play i only play acoustic on this i don't wait on what on this record yeah these are all those the electric guitars are all i don't i think i played a couple of rhythm parts wait wait why would you not play the electric guitars on the side because i just you just seem more distressful for me to do that even in the studio with all the many and i have to it's always kind of like uh and i just don't want it to i didn't want it to sound like me playing the i wanted to be the guy that was playing the acoustic guitar acoustic guitar is my favorite guitar like when i'm around the house i'm never playing electric guitars i'm always i'm always playing acoustic guitars so that's kind of what i gravitate towards anyway and i just wanted some other people to play on it you know so who do you call to do it uh chris donnigan okay yeah yeah uh he played on the floor uh he played on lover and a friend um parallel of where you've been and the other one i did there which i is escaping my mind right now anyway uh and then marx abelia he produced um christen universe and afraid to lose and he's like a freaking mad scientist like he played the on christen universe he played every instrument except for i played the piano and i played the acoustic guitar but he played like organ, early, crazy, laugh, steal thing, drums, bass does that make it way easier too uh that actually took the songs with him took way longer just because when you're in a band when you're with like studio guys it's like after the third time they're like can we move on they're like pretty much nailed it yeah yeah i mean they'll do a lot more notes is that kind of you though too like when you're in with old dominion is that the case what do you mean you don't nail it with within a couple takes no but let me ask you this if it wasn't your band like if you were recording for another artist would you feel like it was nailed like is the reason you don't nail it is because you feel like this is so personal to me i want to go and make sure this is as perfect as it can be like is that attention to you too i think we just i think we are just way less experienced in the studio and i think it just takes us a longer time to like find the vibe of of what the song is yeah and i mean not that professional studio musicians don't miss from time to time i'm sure they do but when you like you guys just about that music video for your new single coming home you guys are all in the studio was that not is that not the first take are you faking man studio like like we did that took we you know that was one song it took us like a day and a half i think i think the four songs i did on this took one day took one day okay yeah yeah because you had the band because you were like we've got the session guys it's easy right so then when you go out and play this are you take are you gonna learn the guitar parts or you're gonna play acoustic guitar i'm playing acoustic i mean i think once i'm like this week i'm just doing the record i'm just gonna play acoustic it's like i'll play piano too but when we um when we go on the road for the full show i'll probably end up playing an electric just on a couple songs just to you know so that people can be like oh it does not do he's so so so versatile i mean so talented it's funny when people go wait wait you play acoustic and electric like as if they're two totally different instruments i always think that's funny people are easily pleased is the wait but when you're with old dominion what are you playing through like do you have do you have real amps oh yeah i can't i can't you haven't moved over to the no me too what's wrong with us why is everyone dude it's not us we're we're we're we're the we're what's right yeah is the world but have you tried any of that stuff like we have like our b-rig where if we have to fly somewhere like quickly that we can't bring the whole gear there's a Kemper that models like it's what you do yeah but it's it actually sounds fine but it i'm like i'm always surprised my cousin sounds good but then by the end of the show i'm like i don't i don't think it is anymore how are you hearing it though through monitors or ears so and so you think the Kemper sounds worse through your ears than your amp does yeah it's just different it's just different and i don't you know i haven't had time i don't i haven't like spent a whole lot of time dialing it in but it's just a little more brittle doesn't quite have this the power um but i mean like i was watching a show the other day um somewhere in the band had uh whoever the band was had digital amps and then lucas nelson came up to play and he like brought his like a real amp up there and just to sit in for like one song and i was like oh yes like he sounded amazing yeah it was like oh now i can hear your guitar and it sounds awesome wasn't that funny i was at a show recently and i was like the guitar sound horrible and then i was talking to them afterwards i was all one of these modellers i don't know if i'll say the brand leave the brand name out of that you can't i mean it's it's like why would you do that to yourself i mean i guess i guess it's easier for if you you know it's definitely lighter if we had the team to set up the right though and do it why would you not bring yeah the stuff wait what do you play through i feel like you've told me uh on the road it's a dc 30 matchless dc 30 it's just one plugged in and just one i know i honestly i i look i've had that name for so long i kind of want to get something that has a little more um headroom in it that thing breaks up a little too uh soon so um i'd like to get something that like is a little cleaner but i'm also like i'm just not like a superhero and you're at home like it sounds fine do you collect any of this stuff or you're like you care about this stuff i've been starting to buy some some uh some you know some bigger guitars for sure like what's a big guitar for you like like what like what are you getting that's i just bought a 63 335 uh like a few months ago that's that's a real that's a really good hour so i was like yeah i actually bought it from romek milli who's a special guy of course yeah i've just brought i just bought a uh 54 j 45 like a few weeks ago or a couple months ago in texas i have a nice old martin d18 um i have a i think a 61 strat with a 63 neck that i don't even that that guitar sits at home it's it's kind of finicky so i'll bring it in the studio but it doesn't really that it's not working live yeah but do you do you collect these because you just like the fact that they're old and they're historic or do you think they really sound like does that 335 really sound incredible i'm sure it does yeah i i mean i i have another 335 that uh i think it's i don't know maybe a 65 like but the 63 has the like the paf pickups which are very sought after yeah um and do you like the way they sound or they almost thinner than you would think they would well that guitar is actually a little darker than the then the 65 that i have that doesn't have pafs in it um when i when i brought first brought the the 63 home i i was playing it through a deluxe and i was like this thing sounds insane like and it's a little dark on the road but so i'll go back and forth like if that soundcheck um i like one over the other i'll one 335 yeah like for that day i'll make i'll tune that one down and use it more like i'll use whichever one sounds better in the room that yeah yeah that's good to have right yeah but i feel like you're a strike guy right do you consider yourself struck oh yeah that blue yeah i think just the band yeah i think like in general i i'm uh i'm more of a Gibson guy i have a less paul that they gave that they gave me it's like i have one of those reissues high burst like maybe it's a 60 or so it's it is such a nice guitar you know a lot of times new guitars i don't know i don't really love them that much but this Gibson is badass it was really good yeah when i had matt on he was telling the story about how one man band you guys wrote it backstage minutes before going on yeah we started the idea yeah what how much of the idea did you have in that moment right before you went on i think like what do you come up with literally just like i don't want to be one man man we were just like like the groove and then was like okay we gotta go like it was literally like that soon and do you almost think that writing hit song which may be more important than going on and playing the show like we've always delayed the show to finish that song it was too far i mean like 20 minutes on music was playing oh god it was time to go on and you were worried that if you had gone and played the show everyone might have forgotten that idea basically oh yeah for that song no i think he might have recorded it like while we were so where's that recording that would be a fun thing to have it's probably on his phone somewhere that would be a fun thing and then when'd you finish the song we finished it in um god i don't know the dressing room of some uh stadium maybe it was denver um yeah we finished it with josh house born and it was kind of this like reggae like it was i was kind of the why you gotta be so like that vibe like yeah it's supposed to be like an uptempo which we should cut it like that just for fun one time but uh then later i was like playing the that lick and the dressing room i was you know exactly like going into the studio soon to record it and i'm like oh what am i gonna play like i gotta think you know i'm like we're not even in the studio at all i'm already like nervous about so i was just missing this is weird to me that you get nervous going to the studio but i'm serious because i feel like you would be confident but i i hate going in the studio like i um i feel like i'm not a session guy but i'm not anything like when it comes to guitar but i feel like i'm definitely not a session guy but i feel like you would be comfortable in the studio i'm more comfortable now for sure i mean after you know the six records or whatever like i'm confident that uh you know i think what what helps sometimes is not playing at first like thinking about what you want to play what do you mean like if people are like playing in the vibes going on like instead of just like i mean sometimes it works just kind of jamming along like if i'm like singing like singing like what do i sing apart like think about what it would be because sometimes if you're really an exceptional musician you can do that simultaneously you can like just be like i want to do that but you know i'm not quite at that level i mean i would sign with certain parts but um you know if you think of it and then you're like okay that's cool and then you kind of chase after it to figure out yeah yeah sometimes that works better wait so is that you can't wait so that's what was happening with one man band oh no one man yeah i was well i was just kind of trying to figure out what i might play on the song yeah and it was what do you have just cowboy chords that's someone's strumming or someone's strumming chords that's what's that like Trevor i think has the work tape of it um somewhere and it's just kind of like once jamming but that do do do do do do do like the way it starts now let's just me sitting there in the dressing room and Trevor was like that's actually cool we should do it like that i'm saying perfect we got we got the part yeah and then you go and you just what you do your record on i found them when you get on the studio you play the part um for up see this is unbelievable i can't do any of this i can't come up with anything to play on a song i'd never be able to do it the uh but but so you go in the scene you do it and then who so do you just play that and then do you just know when you have it basically or does someone say okay that's the take like how who tells you when you have the right take or not i mean the producer Shane yeah so Shane tells you that was the take yeah i mean he's not necessarily listening to me or like he's not like oh you messed up on that bar or whatever yeah yeah uh that's kind of more my i have to keep track like gosh i need to like redo bar four whatever yeah but he's there for just gonna the general vibe like what felt good what in the whole band you know so anything because i always listen to you know your music and like most music that gets commercially released and it always sounds perfect to me is there anything anywhere on old dominion song that drives you crazy that's not true oh yeah there's a there's a moment in a hotel key where like it's just like this ran on like couple notes that like stick out i think if any was in verse two or something no what are you talking about i'm like literally that was like i wasn't even playing that was like that wasn't even doing a take like i don't even know how it ended up in there it was like just some noise like some notes i was playing actually is it really in verse two i think so and wait what when people go back and they listen to the song where they listening for it like it's very subtle i mean you're not gonna you're not gonna notice it right i i'd have to like i don't i don't i can't tell you right now like oh it's it's minute one you know one 20 or whatever like i i'd have to listen to it but there's definitely some notes in there that we're not intentionally supposed to be in there that's hilarious yeah who puts that in i don't know someone smart because i was a hit so whatever it worked yeah somebody they're gonna look back and they're gonna say it was those extra notes in verse two that really propelled it to the second chorus yeah that was that really made it all work that made it all happen uh what's been on set here we did new albums out now on spotify parallel love yeah you're touring that's sick yeah how fun is that gonna be i hope really fun i'm having how big's the band gonna be uh i think it's going to be five and me so drums bass uh guitar steel like and guitar uh utility guy uh keys and then me you're gonna get some merch i think so can i get something can i get your face on a shirt yeah i'll wear it all the time i was thinking about putting the record cover on there i think that's probably about right now yeah let's you get two of my faces because it's a double inch the double image thing number is that gonna be that's right all right so we're hanging the road we've got boss got tour manager it's gonna be like a big deal huge why i feel like when you're off the road from old dominion the last thing i want to do is go back on the road no i think trust me i'm fine about that but but you like being on the road ideas to take what i mean this is just it's gonna be a completely different experience you know it's like number one there's no pressure like i'm like oh i have to make it with this or whatever i know it's just like for fun uh hopefully get a bunch of guys together that uh are my buddies and we'll just go ending up i've never went on the tour playing my own song before so you know i'm singing my own song are you gonna be able are you gonna have good banter between all your social health so i'm trying to figure i don't know i'm trying to figure out what i should i can help you with us maybe we can figure it out the uh are you gonna do oh darling broken up but it throughout the set are you gonna play and maybe you'll end the set with oh darling is that what's gonna happen well i was thinking about starting it the whole thing by myself for a little and then bringing like some bam members on and that's supposed to be an intermission so and i'll play some songs like probably some songwriter songs that i wrote for the people and then the second part of the show will just be the record i think and then some other you know maybe it's you you're gonna do an intermission that's what i'm supposed to do i wasn't that's what i was told that i was supposed to do an intermission because you got to sell beer dude that's really why we're all here why they're all there it's why i'm there it's to drink the beer no i just to make it to sell to sell the beer yes god this is how long is this gonna be like a two-hour show no it's like i think it's gonna be two 45 minutes sets i think two 45 minutes that's i hope i can't do anything i'm more than that's too much you can't do anything else would you throw any covers does any crazy covers yeah i'm gonna play like a dang teller song or something or maybe some other brother songs so like later on with the band i'm gonna come to one of these shows i don't know which one where you're doing it naturally when you're playing where you're playing where do you end up playing uh we're playing it's at the blue room oh and third man and that's just you acoustic no that's where the band oh i got it come with us yeah let me know i'll put you on the list it's gonna be in crap put me on what when is it it's next friday seven now the 17 when is that what day is that someone told me what day is it yeah uh wednesday next wednesday mm-hmm i'm not in town there we go oh my great though some some videos roxy so someone on your team will send me some videos i think they're actually filming it oh my god they're gonna do a pro shot mmm great first show why not filming i'll get that yeah yeah yeah could be historical i wonder if it was my voice right now it's strange don't get me sick brad i swear to god no i'm not sick if you can't get me sick i walked into um tod sharp amplifiers earlier today hmm than earlier to pay you say a guitar uh amp repair guy and he was like oh i should be wearing a covid mask i was around someone who got covid and i was like first of all if you're not wearing it just don't say anything yeah yeah because they are putting that stress on to me mmm i was like everything's fine until you brought that up like like no one's sick you're probably not gonna get sick i'm not gonna get sick yeah now i'm in my head about it it's like just don't even bring it up that's the brad tursey on the podcast have we left anything out what's been on set i don't think so man we talked a lot we're doing a layer you're playing some guitar later uh i think i'm gonna go out to dinner with ryan heard actually uh yeah where are you guys gonna go i think we're gonna go to st vito what's that i've ever been it's like a focaccia like focaccia like bread i think it's more of a restaurant yeah it's a restaurant but i have a lot of this he called you up and he says dude we're overdue to catch up yeah let's go he called me about this record and he was like oh so i did and then we hadn't caught up in a while so i heard you you had a dinner with us but the other night right yeah yeah did you guys do you guys really get along right i love that guy why he's the best right the best what are you doing them you just talk about wine and just try not to get hammered which i didn't succeed at because i was throwing up all day yesterday no you weren't because of espo yeah oh my god hmm does that he's he's a tough one do you think can you have drink anyone oh yeah some believable yeah i love espos the best all right brad tursey on the podcast dude thanks so much for coming on the records incredible no thank you it's really great i really enjoy the listen to i don't always like times i listen to records and then they suck this one was actually really good thank you this one was very listenable i think it was all great the guitar plays great the acoustic guitar sounds growing up thank you i thought the electric guitar sound great too but now you know now that i know it's not you i think it's sound awful trash should i do on it all right we're done wrap it