Latest / Takin’ A Walk Nashville / Exploring Nashville's Music Scene: TG Sheppard’s Journey Through Five Decades of Country Music History

Transcript

Exploring Nashville's Music Scene: TG Sheppard’s Journey Through Five Decades of Country Music History · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Walk Nashville. I hope everyone is having a great summer.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Give us a follow on Instagram at Taking a Walk Nashville.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: You can find us there. And you know, we talked
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: to Kelly Lange and now today we're going to talk
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: to her husband, TG Shepherd. I also got to sit
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: down with him. Did you know that he left home
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: at the age of fifteen in West Tennessee to pursue
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: a career in Memphis. He initially recorded pop music and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: toured as an opening act for groups like The Beach Boys,
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  Speaker 2: and then eventually he had a close friendship with Elvis Presley.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: He adopted the stage name TG Shepherd around nineteen seventy four,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: and his very first single, Devil in the Bottle, It
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: went straight to number one in nineteen teen seventy five. Wow.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: TG.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Shepherd has been in Nashville for a long time, and
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  Speaker 2: today he is going to take us through Nashville music history.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: songwriter Sarah Harrelson.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: Hi, listeners, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of the
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Ticket Walk Nashville Podcast, and today we are taking a
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: walk with a true legend of country music, a man
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: who has spent five decades at the top of the charts,
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: and this year we are celebrating a massive triple milestone
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: in his career, the fiftieth anniversary of landmark albums Motels
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: and Memories and Solitary Man, as well as the forty
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: fifth anniversary of the iconic crossover smash I Loved Him Everyone, TG.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: Thank you so much for being podcast today.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: That's wow. What intro? Where do I send a check? Well,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: it's been Sarah.
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: It's been a heck of a ride, I mean. And
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: to still be here like today, gusting with you all
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: these years later. I never would have dreamed in my
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: life that fifty years later I'd still be here doing
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: this and still on tour every week.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: It's incredible.
• 2:21
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you continue to tour release music.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: As I mentioned, this year's the forty fifth anniversary of
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: your hit I Loved Them Everyone.
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: What was it about that specific song that you think
• 2:34
  Speaker 7: allowed it to cross the gap and bridge country fans
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: and pop audiences together.
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  Speaker 6: Musically or melodically. When you heard that song, it was
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: in a minor key when it started.
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  Speaker 3: That caught your ear.
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  Speaker 6: Because it was a little different than other songs you
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: would hear, and it was just.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: With me.
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: When I get ready to record songs, I always try
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: to pick songs that hooked me melodically, and then I
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: take the time to listen to the words to make
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: sure they connect. But that melody has got to be there,
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: that melody that you catch yourself whistling or humming through
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: the day after hearing a song a few times, you know.
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: Funny thing about loved them everyone. I remember the day
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: that we left the studio. I remember saying to myself,
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: I believe we hooked magic today.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: It was just something that I felt, and I just
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: in my gut, I.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: Knew that we had cut something that was going to
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: alter my life, and it did.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: That was my first big, big crossoverly Yeah, so it
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: was one of the little songs you know, we were
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: very fortunate to have.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: I definitely love that song. And nineteen seventy five, that
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: was a monumental year for you, with motels and memories
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: and solitary. Man, when you looked back at that one
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: doow of time, what was the energy like in Nashville
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: and did you have an inkling that those records would
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: be celebrated you knows a century later?
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: Oh gosh, no, I never thought my career of lasts
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: more than a couple of years.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Uh. Well, Neil diamond was a friend, and.
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: That song was always one that I love, Solitary Maid
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: and Motails and Memories. There's a there's a story behind
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: every song, Motils and Memories. I hear a knock on
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: my door one night in Memphis when I was living there,
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  Speaker 6: and the guy was standing there and he said, Uh,
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: I'm Don Miller, and he said, I am a high
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: school teacher or high school principle, and I've written a
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: song that I think they would be ahead for you.
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  Speaker 6: And normally I wouldn't invite a stranger into my house
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  Speaker 6: to hear a song. Yeah, but something told me to
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  Speaker 6: invite him, and I invited him in, and I heard
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: Motels and Memories and I said, you've written the number
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  Speaker 6: one record.
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  Speaker 3: I recorded it, and sure enough it was number one.
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  Speaker 6: Of course, Solitary Man was just one of my favorites
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  Speaker 6: for years.
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  Speaker 3: With Neil Diamonds.
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  Speaker 6: I had to do a remake on that, but it's
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: exciting to still be able to celebrate that part of
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: my life and career all these years later.
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  Speaker 5: It's such an incredible story. And as you mentioned, you're
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: still very actively touring with new shows being added.
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  Speaker 2: At your website.
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  Speaker 5: What is it about the live performance aspect that keeps
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  Speaker 5: you energized for the road after all these years?
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  Speaker 6: You know when you stand on stage after doing it
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  Speaker 6: for fifty years and you look out and you see
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  Speaker 6: the Crown singing your songs back to you that were
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  Speaker 6: number one before they were born.
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  Speaker 3: So that is a miracle.
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: Then, I'm sure you see it when somebody assist what
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: is longevity in an artist's career?
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  Speaker 3: That is longevity.
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  Speaker 6: That's what creates longevity is when you've got people and
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  Speaker 6: young people in their teens that are singing your songs
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  Speaker 6: that are forty and forty five years old. So that
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  Speaker 6: keeps me energizing, keeps me going, and makes me have
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: more fun now than I've ever had in my life.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: On say, I love perform I hate the traveling, but
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  Speaker 6: I love performing.
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's so special that you still get to tour
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: and you also continue to record and perform some of
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: these shows with your wife Kelly Lang. You have had
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: and you recently released a do at Christmas album last
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: year together, titled Tender Tennessee Christmas. What's your favorite Christmas
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: song to performed together.
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  Speaker 6: I kind of like, uh, Christmas would withoutue.
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  Speaker 3: A song that she wrote. But I kind of like
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: the standards too.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, I've always have yourself am Merry Little Christmas.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Yes, I've always loved that one.
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: It's hard to pick one because it's all in the
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: fabric of my life as a.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Child, you know, hearing those songs.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: But we we Tender Tennessee Christmas is probably one of
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: my favorites, which is the title of the You know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: funny thing is we shot the video for that first single,
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: Johnny Cash cabin over on his property and it was
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: just a hoot.
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  Speaker 3: I can almost feel Johnny Cash in the room. It
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: was weird.
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  Speaker 5: But it has to be so special performing and recording
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: music together. As someone who has navigated the industry through
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: vinyl and cassettes and CDs and now streaming, what do
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: you think is the most important thing that hasn't changed
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: about making a great country record?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Good questioned me, That's a great question.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: Everybody's ever asked me that what hasn't changed is the heart.
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: I think that goes into when a performer is singing
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: a song. I think the people out there who are
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: listening and know if your heart's in it, are you
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: just singing it for the buck?
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Are you just singing it to be singing it?
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: That part to me, has it changed I every song
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: I sing or every word that comes out of my mouth,
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  Speaker 6: I truly mean because I'm afforded a great luxury of
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: having a platform to be heard, and the people deserve
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: for me to be honest with them when they hear me,
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: to really believe what I'm singing is real.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: And so that's one thing that as they changed and
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: they'll never change for me.
• 9:05
  Speaker 7: Yeah, that's great.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: I definitely agree that authenticity is so important no matter
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: what platform is.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, TG, thank you so much for being on
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: taking a walk in Nashville today. My last question for
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: you if we were to take a walk through one
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  Speaker 5: specific era of Nashville seventies, eighties, nineties, or today, which
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: decade would you like to revisit for an afternoon and
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: who would you want to run into on music Row.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: It'd be the seventies.
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  Speaker 6: I'd want to run into the studio and see Wayland
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: sitting behind.
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  Speaker 3: The console recording.
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  Speaker 6: I'd like to run into another studio and maybe see
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: Christofferson singing and writing one of his monster hits. That
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: was a very magical era that the seventies on Music
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: Row when it.
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  Speaker 3: Was Music Row. Of course, Music Row as we.
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: Knew now gone skyscrapers and the condos and office buildings.
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  Speaker 6: So I'd say the seventies is probably the time that meant.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: The most of me and I reminisce the most. Whales.
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that and taking us
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: back in time today.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: We are looking forward to your.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Upcoming shows and new music. TG Sheppard, thank you again
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: for being here today.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Oh Sar, thank you for having me.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and Take It a Walk hosted by Yours Truly buzz Night.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: part of the iHeart podcast network