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Tracer Rounds with Artist Troy Cross · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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MBR giving veterans a voice. And welcome back to the Tracer
1:15
Rounds show. And this is Terry, your host.
1:18
And usually I'm on a Tuesday night, but I have a special
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interview. So we're on a Sunday when we're
1:23
live with Troy Cross. Welcome, Troy.
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Thanks for having me, it's great to be here.
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I'm so excited to have you. You reached out to MBR because
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you're a singer and you had a song that you wanted us to play
1:36
or asked us if we would be interested in playing.
1:38
And we definitely are. So we're going to talk about
1:40
that. But first, I'm kind of want to
1:42
talk about your childhood, how you got into the music, kind of
1:47
where you grew up and and what was your inspiration as you were
1:50
growing up to maybe become this person you are today.
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Well, I've kind of bounced around a little bit, which
1:57
probably isn't too unfamiliar for military folks, but I grew
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up just South of Chicago and Northwest Indiana and I lived
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there for went through high school.
2:10
And then after that I moved down to South Florida for a short
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period of time was down there. Well, not too short.
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I was down there for almost 20 years.
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That's where my wife and I had our our first child or our
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daughter. Then we moved from there to
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Wisconsin. We were there for about 2-3
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years and that's then I moved my wife from South Florida, where
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she had basically lived her entire life to Wisconsin and she
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was like, when does it get warm here?
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So I was like, so we lasted there about 2 1/2 years, and
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then we decided to come halfway back and landed in East
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Tennessee. And we've been here for the last
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21 years and we definitely call this home.
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This is where we had our second child, my son, who's now 20, and
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we just love this area. Very nice.
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So at what point did you start singing and what were you doing
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as a career prior to singing? Or is that your which is your
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career now singing? Or is it something else?
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Well, I start, I've been singing for ever since I was little, you
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know, probably in church, different things like that.
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My first career was I was a teacher.
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So I did, I did that for seven years and then I kind of got
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into the entrepreneurial world and started doing some
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businesses on my own, got into real estate where I would became
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a real estate agent and then could do that because those were
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all things that I could do in tandem with music.
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You know, if I had my own thing, I could make my own hours and
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then leave time to create music and write music.
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And the majority of the time, I was just a songwriter.
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I wasn't necessarily an artist. So I've spent years and years
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and years as a songwriter, written thousands of songs,
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given songs to other artists. And it wasn't really until last
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Thanksgiving that I decided, you know, sometimes this can be
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difficult to get your songs in front of other artists and get
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them to cut it, you know, And I have all these songs and I
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really would love people to hear them because I think maybe it
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could mean something to them. So I decided, you know what, I'm
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going to go ahead and release some of this music myself.
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So as of last Thanksgiving, I released of my very first single
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and I've released and since then until now, I've released a bunch
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of them. So it's been exciting, It's
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there. The feedback has been great.
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Love to see what Ultimate Sacrifice is doing because
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that's a perfect example of a song that I've had sitting and I
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knew that it meant it would mean something to somebody just like
4:58
it meant something to me. So it was exciting for me to get
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that out and let let everybody hear it.
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So what inspired Ultimate Sacrifice?
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I I understand what the song is about and everybody else will
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too when they hear it, but was it a particular event or do you
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have family members in the military?
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Was there some kind of context that relating to that or was it
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just an overall tribute? Well, I have family in the
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military, so there was that always in the back of my mind.
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But what really inspired it was, and this happens to songwriters
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all the time, you could be out and about and you could hear
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something and it triggers something in your mind and you
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write that down, you're like, oh, that could that would be a
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great song. So last, not this past Memorial
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Day, but the Memorial Day before, I was sitting in church
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on Sunday and somebody got up and they were saying something
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in church, saying a prayer. And as they were talking and
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what they were saying, they said one line that really stuck with
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me, and it's in the chorus of the song now.
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They said they were willing, but they didn't want to die.
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And that when they said that, that line really hit me hard.
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So I wrote that down. I was like, that needs to be in
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a song. And then I came home that night
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and I wrote that entire song that night.
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Sometimes songs could take weeks, months.
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That one came out, just flowed right out of me that night.
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And I was able to actually do like an acoustic version of it
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the next day for Memorial Day and then released it a year
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later for Memorial Day. Wow.
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When you come up with the lyrics, how do you decide what
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the music around it sounds like? I mean, how do you decide the
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chords? How do you decide the pace?
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Like, how does that come about? I'm just not that creative, so I
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really wouldn't have that skill set, I don't think.
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Sure. I mean, there's a song can come
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about a lot of different ways and that it often does.
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Sometimes it'll start like this one, maybe with a line or a
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lyric, and then maybe you'll build build the rest of the the
7:10
lyrics of the chorus around it. And then maybe you'll try and
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put it to music with some chords.
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Usually that's what happens for me is I'll maybe get an idea on
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a lyric and then I'll try to build the chorus, put some
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chords to it. And then once I have the chorus,
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then I'll go and write the verses to go along with the
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chorus to kind of help tell the story because the chorus is what
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kind of holds everything together and you keep coming
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back to it. So that's typically how it
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works. But then other times you, I may
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just be playing my guitar, fiddling around in the studio
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here and you know, I'll just be playing some chords.
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I'll be like, oh, I like that, that chord pattern.
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And then I'll say, OK, let's try and put some words to it.
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Or maybe you don't even start with words.
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Maybe just start humming a melody and try and get a good
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melody to go along with the chords you're playing.
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And then you're like, OK, that's a good melody.
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Now we got to put words to go with the melody.
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So I could it could come from all kinds of different
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directions. Wow, those guitars in the
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background, are they vintage or they just guitars you use?
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Or where'd you get those? I'm curious some.
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Some are the one. That one there on the very end
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is the very first guitar I ever saw.
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When I was a little kid, my sister got a a guitar.
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She brought that home from the music store probably when I was,
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I don't know, four or five and and I got my hands on that one
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and then just kind of going down the line.
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These are all just they're all different.
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Some are older, some are newer. This one right here is the one
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that I right, right there is the one that I play most when I go
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out and play in gigs. It's a it's a Martin.
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I love it. It's kind of like my go to, but
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you know, sometimes just want to pull a different one off the
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wall if you're in a different mood and it it can bring a
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different kind of song out of you.
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It's. It's interesting how that works.
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Yeah, they all sound a bit different, so you do get a
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different vibe when you play it. I'm sure especially people that
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know music would understand that better than anybody that you
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know. Just because it's a guitar
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doesn't mean it sounds like any other guitar.
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Yeah, and it works great too for 'cause I also, this is also my
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recording studio that I'm in, so I can get guitar sound different
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when you're recording them too. So maybe you want a different
9:32
sound in a recording, so you pull the one that's appropriate
9:35
off the wall to record. That works.
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Oh, so my, we have a comment from the audience, it says
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what's that one on the far end? So maybe it's the little one
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he's talking. About Oh, the little one's a
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mandolin. A mandolin.
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Yeah. It's hard to see that guy over
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there. That's a mandolin on the end.
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Yeah, it is small. I wasn't sure what it was
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either. I just knew it was a little bit
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smaller than everything else. Well, so I think we should just
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play the song so people can hear what what you sent to us and why
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we're so proud to play it on our platform.
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And I think everyone else will resonate with it as well.
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Yeah, he that that's the one he was asking about.
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So now we'll play Ultimate Sacrifice.
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So we'll get on there and play it and then we'll we'll talk
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about it afterward. Hey, it's Troy Cross, and this
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next song I wrote to honor all those heroes that laid down
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their lives so we could live ours.
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This is ultimate sacrifice. The station where our veterans
14:26
voices are heard. MBR talk.
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Hey, thanks for supporting our channel by watching and
14:32
listening. Find us on the web at NB radio
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dot and welcome back to tracer rounds on a Sunday.
14:40
That's usually on a Tuesday. So I'm, I'm glad we have some
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viewers on and they're asking or making some comments.
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And one of them is she's a host of the world of conscious
14:53
positive thinking on Mondays at 9.
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And she said what I love about guitars, it can play any genre
15:00
music, which is true. I mean, a guitar is very
15:02
versatile and it can play rock, it can play ballads, it can play
15:06
bluegrass, it can play jazz. It's, I don't think there's not
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much it can't do, I think. And you can take any song and
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play with guitar and have it sound like any genre really.
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Well, that's true too. And she says she loves mandolin.
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So yeah, I, I'm a big guitar fan as well.
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I wish I could play. Everton.
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How How did you learn to play guitar?
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Just self-taught really. Just got a guitar when I was
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younger and just fiddled and fiddled and fiddled around on
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it. Learned to play a couple songs.
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If you can learn three chords, you know, you can probably play
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10,000 songs with just three chords.
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So you just start with those three and then you'll Start
15:53
learning some songs and then eventually you want to learn
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some more chords. But I mean, if you just want to
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get into it, just grab yourself a guitar, learn GC and D and
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you'll be off to the races. All right, what was your first
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song you learned? Oh boy, that's a good question.
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Maybe. It's probably like Country Roads
16:14
by John Denver. That's a good one.
16:17
That's a good one. So that song, ultimate
16:21
sacrifice, I mean, it really speaks to the heart of what it
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is to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, whatever,
16:30
whatever service you belong to, because it is the ultimate
16:34
sacrifice if you were to, to pass, defending your country,
16:38
defending freedoms, defending, you know, the nation's people.
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So I appreciate that tribute because it's heartfelt.
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It, you know, it's very meaningful.
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Every time I hear it, I really listen to the words.
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I really hear what you're saying.
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And really it really resonates with me and hopefully with our
16:54
audience as well. So thank you for writing that.
16:57
Thank. Thank you for sharing it and
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that's the reason that I wrote it.
17:03
That's amazing. Yeah.
17:05
So for that one, did you have studio bands to come in and help
17:10
you with all those different instruments and what all were,
17:13
what all instruments were included in that?
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So if you're listening to it, you probably heard some
17:18
mandolin. There's definitely mandolin in
17:21
it, there's banjo in it, there's a couple different acoustic
17:24
guitars and there's upright bass and there's actually even a
17:27
little bit of fiddle in there as well.
17:29
Oh, wow. And so we were kind of talking
17:32
before the show and you'd said that you don't necessarily
17:35
travel with a band, but you have willing participants.
17:38
If you need somebody, they'll they'll come to the rescue and
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they all you have to do is make pick up the phone, call or pick
17:43
up the phone and call and they'll show up.
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One of the benefits of living in East Tennessee is we have plenty
17:51
of folks that are excellent at playing bluegrass instruments,
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which are all those ones I just named.
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So we just love to make music around here, so.
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It is the music capital, I think, you know, Tennessee and
18:05
and Nashville and all that, and it's definitely full of music.
18:07
It says Troy, learning guitar. Have you tried to transition to
18:11
big bass or other types of string instruments?
18:13
I love John Denver too. One who died too soon.
18:16
Yeah, absolutely. Died too soon.
18:19
Yeah, I do play bass. I have a bass over there in the
18:22
corner. So you do.
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I don't, I don't play upright bass, which is what you heard in
18:28
that song. I have somebody come in and play
18:31
upright bass. But I do play regular bass
18:34
sometimes on songs if I need to do that.
18:37
And then mandolin, I'll play the mandolin.
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I haven't learned banjo yet, but I usually kind of stick with the
18:44
with my guitar. That's that's my bread and
18:46
butter. Right.
18:48
Yeah. So who all have you sold songs
18:50
to or given songs to to play and when?
18:53
So in in in that line of thought to when did you learn that you
18:57
had a voice and could sing? And then you said, I know you
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said that you said some songs were harder to like, get people
19:07
to cut. And so you started doing it
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yourself. So I mean, you were hiding that
19:12
voice for a long time. Why?
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That's that's my whole question. I know it's a lot.
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When I was in my 20s, I had like there was a time where I had
19:24
like four or five bands going at the same time.
19:28
I live down in South Florida and I had a had a rock band and I
19:34
had a rock cover band. And then there was a point point
19:38
in time where swing was really positive popular.
19:42
So I had a swing band with like a nine piece horn section and I
19:45
was the the singer and all those bands.
19:48
Then we had our daughter and babies and gigs until 2/3 in the
19:55
morning didn't mix. So I kind of, I, I put that
20:01
career on the hook for a while until, you know, when my
20:06
daughter was like 5, she. Really loved music and she
20:12
started writing songs so it kind of drew me back into it and and
20:16
she's an amazing songwriter in her own right and artist, so she
20:21
drew me back into it. We've been, she and I have been
20:24
writing songs together for a long time.
20:28
And I had never really thought about, you know, doing an artist
20:32
thing until, you know, I was like, OK, you know, I've got too
20:36
many of these songs and they aren't getting out there.
20:38
I just need to do something. And in this day and age, it's so
20:42
much easier than it used to be to release music.
20:48
In the process of my daughter, I learned how to produce music
20:51
because I've produced her music ever since she was 16 and she's
20:55
25 now. So.
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So I learned how to do everything I needed to do inside
21:00
of a studio. So then I thought, OK, maybe I
21:03
just need to do it for myself. I already know how to do it all
21:06
and I've got all these songs, so let's go for it, you know?
21:11
What is what kind of music does she sing?
21:13
I'm curious. She she is like a pop hip hop,
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Christian pop hip hop artist. Oh wow.
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Yeah, her, she goes. Her name is Xandria Cross.
21:25
Xandria Cross? Yeah.
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So she's on Spotify and all those places just like I am.
21:32
That's awesome. I love that something that you 2
21:34
can share and that you share in music writing and you just kind
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of share in that love of putting positive messages out there.
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Yeah, that's really neat. It's been a blessing for sure.
21:47
Definitely. So I want to play another one of
21:51
your songs, and then maybe you can tell us about that.
21:53
So I think we'll play shovel. OK.
22:00
All right, All right, here we go.
24:57
shovel. The station where our veterans
25:02
voices are heard MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
25:06
channel by watching and listening find.
25:08
Us on the web at MB Radio dot. I love that song.
25:15
I was listening to it a couple nights ago and I was like, you
25:18
know what? I think God gave me a couple
25:21
shovels too. I told him to move some
25:23
mountains or move a tree and he gave me a wagon to move the tree
25:26
so and a chainsaw so. So I think I can resonate quite
25:32
well with that song. What was the inspiration on that
25:35
one? Well, I wrote Shovel during kind
25:40
of one of those tough seasons in life where your faith is being
25:45
stretched and, you know, maybe in ways that aren't comfortable.
25:52
And I was going through a difficult time where I felt like
25:56
maybe I was facing 1 mountain after another and all my prayers
26:02
to God to fix everything weren't being answered the way that I
26:06
hoped. So the song kind of came out of
26:11
that raw, honest place of trying to figure out exactly what it
26:16
means to follow Jesus when things aren't easy.
26:20
So that opening part about wearing the cross around my
26:23
neck, that kind of came from a moment from looking in the
26:26
mirror one morning. And just, you know, kind of
26:29
sometimes you, you look in the mirror and you feel like you're
26:32
a fraud. You know, you're like, OK, you
26:35
know, I'm saying that I've got this symbol of faith around my
26:39
neck, but inside I'm wrestling with the same doubts and
26:42
failures that I've always had haunting me.
26:47
And I think a lot of Christians know exactly what that feels
26:49
like, kind of the disconnect between the person that we show
26:53
everyone at church and the one that we know that when we're
26:57
dealing with things. But the chorus, especially that
27:02
line when I asked God to move a mountain, he gives me a shovel
27:05
that came from something my wife and I always used to tell our
27:09
kids all the time. They would pray that, OK, if
27:14
they had something hard, expecting God to kind of
27:17
magically solve their problems. And we'd explain that God
27:21
usually works through partnership.
27:23
And I'd tell them, look, God wants you to put in the effort
27:25
first. He'll help you when you finish
27:27
what you couldn't do alone, but He's not going to do for you
27:30
what you could do yourself. So that little piece of
27:32
parenting wisdom came right back around and hit me in the face
27:36
when I found myself facing my own mountains.
27:41
Well, I mean, that's true. You know, we have to put in the
27:43
work if we if we want results, we have to do our part too.
27:46
We can't just sit back and let you know, expect things to
27:50
happen when we're not willing to do anything to help ourselves.
27:52
So. Exactly.
27:54
Yeah, that's that's a a great message.
27:56
I think. I think it resonates well with a
27:58
lot of us. I know it does for me for sure.
28:03
So how would you classify your music to other people that are
28:07
saying well what type of music do you play?
28:11
I think kind of an all-encompassing is maybe like
28:15
roots music. It's it's got a little bit of
28:18
it's got some country, it's got some bluegrass with a lot.
28:21
I like to use a lot of organic bluegrass instruments like the
28:25
mandolin and the fiddle and the banjo and the upright bass,
28:29
maybe some drums, maybe not drums, depending on the song.
28:33
It's also, you know, it's all very positive music.
28:37
You know, it's, it's it's trying to send a good message.
28:41
Some of it is faith-based. Yeah, I mean, it's all
28:43
faith-based, but some of it is more faith forward, others
28:48
aren't, you know, like songs like Ultimate Sacrifice.
28:52
Wasn't is not necessarily faith forward, but it's a positive
28:56
message. Shovels a little bit more faith
28:58
forward making a dollar, which was one that I released
29:03
recently. That 1 is really just about life
29:07
in East Tennessee growing up, you know, so completely
29:11
different. So it's I think roots kind of
29:14
encompasses all of that. Definitely.
29:18
So who would you say shaped your music early on?
29:21
So who did you listen to that you kind of said, yeah, I want
29:25
to do that? Boy, I had a pretty wide range
29:29
of music that I listened to growing up because I had a older
29:33
brother and older sister and then my parents and everybody
29:36
kind of listened to different music.
29:39
John Denver was was a staple. I said that earlier.
29:43
But you know what, you know, my sister and my brother, you know,
29:47
it was like The Doobie Brothers and you know, ELO and you know,
29:52
just it was it was all across the board.
29:55
So I think kind of growing up listening to different kinds of
29:59
music and country music, I like, I like to take all of it and
30:04
just kind of infuse it all. Like that last song Shovel has
30:08
almost a little bit more of a Little Rock edge to it along
30:12
with country. So I don't mind.
30:15
That's a beautiful thing about being an independent artist as
30:17
you know, you can experiment and you can do things, do what you
30:21
want to do really, and just put stuff out and see who gravitates
30:24
towards it. And that's that's kind of the
30:28
fun thing about it. Yeah, I agree.
30:31
So what's a vocal challenge you've overcome that made you
30:34
stronger as a performer? Which what challenge A.
30:40
Challenge. Vocal challenge.
30:42
Vocal challenge. That you've overcome that made
30:45
you a stronger performer. I would say I think the thing
30:55
that definitely makes you a stronger performer is getting it
30:57
out in front of people more often.
31:00
So being continuously getting out in front of people, you
31:05
know, early on, you know, there were probably nerves and
31:09
situations like that and that can definitely affect your vocal
31:12
performance. But I think the more comfortable
31:15
you get in front of a crowd, then the easier it becomes.
31:21
And I've gotten to the point where I've done enough shows
31:25
where I can now just kind of get in front of a crowd and have fun
31:28
and try and draw them in and bring them into the into the
31:32
performance. So I think that's probably been
31:34
the number one thing that's helped is really just getting
31:37
out there. Yeah, I, I don't, I mean, being
31:41
in front of a crowd giving a talk or something is one thing,
31:44
but being performing music is another.
31:46
And I, I would have to say I would have a lot of nerves
31:49
around that. I mean, I'm not a performer, so
31:51
I wouldn't, I wouldn't be doing that in the 1st place, but I, I
31:55
could see that would be very intimidating the first time that
31:59
you're playing live for somebody.
32:02
I can't imagine what that's like.
32:04
So what do you have coming up or what?
32:07
What things are you going to be involved in in the next months
32:12
or years to come with your music, do you think?
32:15
Well, I'll definitely be playing a bunch of singer-songwriter
32:19
shows around East Tennessee. I'm playing and teaching at the
32:23
Cumberland Mountain Songwriters Festival next month.
32:29
I am. I do a regular every 3rd
32:33
Thursday of the month here in East Tennessee.
32:35
I host something that I started called the Genesis Sessions,
32:40
which is a Christian songwriter night.
32:43
So we do that every 3rd Thursday of the month here where I bring
32:46
in three other songwriters and we do.
32:50
I'm not sure if you're familiar with with what a Nashville style
32:54
writers round is, but it's basically 4 songwriters and you
32:59
just get up and you kind of like we're doing now.
33:01
You tell a little bit about song, where maybe where it came
33:05
from, the idea that it came from.
33:07
And then you just play the song and then it goes to the next
33:10
songwriter and they do the same thing and it kind of goes in a
33:13
round. And that you do that for a
33:15
couple hours and it's just a good fun time of storytelling
33:19
and letting people hear the stories behind the songs and
33:25
just be lifted up. Good time of fellowship hanging
33:28
out. So it's been a good time.
33:31
So do they have people just come to listen to that, or is it only
33:35
performers or potential musicians that would come to
33:38
something like that? Nope.
33:39
It's anybody, anybody that wants to come.
33:41
So people from our church come, people from all over the area
33:46
will come and listen and other songwriters will come and
33:49
listen. So it's, yeah, it's for
33:52
everybody. I think that would be
33:54
interesting to be a family on the wall to just hear, hear the
33:57
music and then hear where the song was inspired or how it was
34:00
inspired. I'm always curious about that
34:03
because, you know, a lot of people tell me that I've talked
34:06
to that inspiration tends to hit them and in their quiet moments,
34:10
like when they're trying to sleep and so they can't sleep,
34:12
they have to get up and they either voice record whatever it
34:15
is they're thinking or they have to record it on a little
34:17
notebook. They have to bring a notebook
34:19
with them. So do you find that you are more
34:22
inspired when things are quiet and it's the middle of the
34:24
night? Or are you more inspired in the
34:26
morning? Or what's the inspiration like
34:29
for you when it comes to writing and recording music?
34:33
I'd say the. Inspiration for songs can come
34:36
at any time. A lot of times it's what I you
34:40
could be in the grocery store and you'll hear somebody say
34:42
something is there in the cart passing you and be like, oh,
34:45
that's a good line And you I'll get my phone.
34:47
I've got like a laundry list of in my notes of like lines that
34:52
would be great songs. So that from that standpoint,
34:57
anytime I have had woke up in the middle of the night from a
35:01
dream or with an idea and wrote something down and done that
35:04
before. But as far as like actually
35:07
digging in and doing the actual songwriting, I'm, I'm a night
35:13
owl. So it happens to me at night.
35:15
So it's usually when everybody else has gone to bed, You know,
35:19
I could be up until 2/3 in the morning if, if I get going.
35:24
Because once it starts coming, you don't he just going to keep
35:28
with it until you you know, you can get to a point where you can
35:31
stop. So right, Yeah, you don't want
35:33
to. Stop the creative flow, you
35:34
know, that's when that's when I work the best too is, is late at
35:38
night because you know, when my kids were all sleeping, because
35:41
otherwise it's, it was chaos in the early years of them being in
35:45
the home. And now they're all grown for
35:47
the most part. But the middle, you know, when
35:50
that's when I would study, that's when I would do anything
35:52
I had to do. So I understand, you know, being
35:55
able to, like, connect with that quiet time in the evening when
35:59
everyone else is kind of doing their own thing in their space.
36:03
So yeah, that would be my time as well.
36:04
So I completely get that. Let's go ahead and play Making a
36:10
Dollar as your newest 1. So you want to tell us a little
36:12
bit about the song before we play it?
36:15
Sure. So this song I have a a good
36:18
friend of mine that I Co write with.
36:20
And when you Co write, you know, a lot of people don't even
36:24
understand what Co writing is. But I would say when you're
36:28
listening to the radio, 98% of the songs that you hear are Co
36:34
written, meaning 2 writers or three or four have gotten
36:37
together to write the song together.
36:40
You listen to pop songs. You could have 20 people that
36:42
are Co writers on a pop song. But this buddy of mine is he was
36:47
an author and he's not really a songwriter, but he's a great
36:52
storyteller and he grew up here in the hills of East Tennessee,
36:57
and he has the best stories from the mountains and growing up.
37:01
So he'll send me stories or ideas and I love taking those
37:06
and turning them into songs. So making a dollar is a story
37:11
about when he was basically him growing up in the mountains when
37:15
he was young and what he would do to earn money, like by going
37:19
out and sitting on the Creek bank and and catching, catching
37:25
things to sell for bait and how he would make a dollar doing
37:28
that or other things that he would do in the hills of East
37:32
Tennessee. So he and I have written quite a
37:35
few songs together. A lot of them that I've released
37:40
are songs that he and I have written together, and it's
37:42
always just so fun to take those actual true stories of his life
37:46
and turn them into songs. Well, let's hear it.
37:50
Here we go making a dollar. veterans.
40:30
Voices are heard. MBR talk.
40:34
Find us on the web at MB radio dot web and you're back on the
40:39
tracer round show with Troy Cross.
40:42
And that was his song making a dollar.
40:44
So that song for some reason I hear Dukes of Hazzard.
40:47
I don't know why it has a little Dukes of Hazzard vibe to me
40:51
that, you know, that would. Make total sense?
40:53
You know, Hazzard County, Kentucky's not that far from
40:56
East Tennessee, but and. Both have those type of
41:01
backwoods growing up vibes too. You know, Kentucky's a little
41:05
depends on the area you're from, obviously, and the same with
41:08
Tennessee, depends on where you're from.
41:09
But there is those growing up in the in the backwoods of those
41:14
states that's just all kinds of fun, you know, just kind of
41:19
finding something to do out of nothing, you know, I mean, cause
41:24
kids that live kind of rural in town, you can find something to
41:27
do. There's always kids to play with
41:28
that kind of thing. But when you live out in the
41:30
rural areas, there's not always a lot of stimulation except for
41:35
what you find for yourself. So fishing, climbing trees,
41:39
hiking, whatever, those are all things you find to entertain
41:43
yourself versus, you know, being entertained by others.
41:46
So I think that kind of growing up really lends itself to being
41:51
pre pre. This right?
41:54
Right. Exactly.
41:56
Yeah, We had to figure out how to entertain ourselves.
42:02
Let's see, MJ said Dukes. I thought I was crazy.
42:07
Yeah, she said. Just some good old boys.
42:10
Yeah. I thought I just kind of heard
42:12
that in there. I'm not sure.
42:13
Like, I mean, I I could tell it's definitely a different
42:16
song, but I just had that vibe when I heard it.
42:19
I was like, Yep, that sounds like the Duke boys.
42:22
And and they're growing up and then getting in trouble and
42:24
running around like, you know, creating mayhem wherever they
42:28
went. That that.
42:30
I hadn't thought of that, but that is a that's very much so.
42:36
If they do a remake. I'm sending them the song.
42:39
I would, I would. Definitely do that.
42:41
You know, they might do something.
42:42
You never know. You know, they're always
42:44
bringing these old shows back and you know, they're they're
42:47
kind of reviving them or revamping them to the modern
42:51
day. But you never know.
42:52
I could see it happening. Yeah, no, for sure.
42:55
'Cause I know that. What is his name?
42:58
I just forgot the actor's name, the blonde one.
43:01
John Snyder. John, thank you.
43:03
John Snyder. He has General Lee.
43:05
That he has. And apparently it got misplaced
43:09
at some point and he had to go find it.
43:11
Somebody, somebody took it. So I was just being kind.
43:14
Somebody took it and then he had to get it back.
43:16
But, you know, so he still has a General Lee.
43:19
So it could happen. We could.
43:21
We could make it happen. Definitely.
43:24
So you said that you're going to be introducing, well, you're
43:29
going to be in these songwriting sessions and you're still going
43:33
to be doing some writing clinics, that type of thing.
43:35
But where do you hope your music is going to go from here?
43:39
Do you have any plans to like market it to anybody?
43:42
Are you just planning to put it out there yourself and then
43:45
trying to, are you trying to like branch outside of Tennessee
43:49
with your music or, or what? What is the intent?
43:52
I think it's. Probably a combination of all of
43:55
those things. I'll definitely keep doing stuff
43:58
around home. I've got a lot more songs than
44:01
the ones that I'm releasing, so I definitely am still trying to
44:04
put songs in front of other artists.
44:08
I'll keep releasing songs that I think would be a good fit for of
44:13
what of the songs that I've been releasing, I've got.
44:16
I've basically have a year's worth ready to ready to roll as
44:23
as I keep releasing them, so probably have another.
44:27
I just released one a couple weeks ago.
44:28
I should have another one coming out.
44:31
I try and do it about every six weeks because they're already,
44:34
they're already done and that's a good amount of time in between
44:39
releasing songs. So just keep doing that.
44:43
Keep writing new songs. I, I never stopped writing
44:46
songs. So it's like every week, you
44:48
know, we're definitely trying to write, trying to write new songs
44:51
and you know, they're like babies.
44:53
But then the new one comes along and it's like, oh, I like that
44:55
one better. And then it's like, so it's
44:57
like, it's, it's fun, though. It's, it's, it's one of those
45:01
things like if you have a hobby or if you have something that
45:04
you love doing that you can't envision yourself not doing it.
45:08
That's songwriting for me. I have to do it.
45:12
It's cathartic and it's, you know, it's also, I'm a creative.
45:17
Yeah. I mean, I think it.
45:18
Is, you know, something to help with healing, just writing,
45:23
getting the words out there, just, you know, music in
45:25
general. I think it's healing either if
45:27
you're writing it or listening or just, you know, just somebody
45:30
in enjoying playing an instrument and there's no words.
45:32
It's just, you know, just the music.
45:35
So M JS asking do you play any Janis Joplin asking for a
45:39
friend. I don't, but I could see that
45:43
happening at a you know, I, I do have some of my other
45:46
songwriters are female singer songwriters as well.
45:51
So I could, I could see a, you know, collab going on.
45:55
There you go. That'd.
45:56
Be kind of cool. How many songs would you say
45:59
you've written? Do you have?
46:01
Do you have a number that you it's well over a?
46:04
1000 easy, yeah. And so some.
46:09
Of them, you don't. They're not out in the world
46:11
yet. They're just written and then
46:13
you're waiting to put music to them.
46:14
Or do they already have music to them?
46:16
Most of them have. At least basic chords you know,
46:21
not fully produced, but even you know most of them at least have
46:27
the chords written down so you could play it on an acoustic
46:29
guitar. Nice.
46:31
So who have you gotten to meet while you're doing your music
46:35
that you're like, wow, I can't believe I just got to meet that
46:38
person? Let's see, last year from some
46:42
great songwriters that I've been able to meet last year I met met
46:51
the person that wrote the dance for Garth Brooks.
46:55
Oh yes, I love that. Yeah, that.
46:58
Song's amazing and actually got to watch him play it, which was
47:03
which was neat. Then I've got another person
47:09
that I've been dealing with a lot who wrote a bunch of songs
47:13
for George Strait. Oh, wow.
47:19
Yeah. Yeah.
47:21
I mean, you did, absolutely. So he's, so it's been fun to
47:26
kind of get to know him and kind of pick his brain a little bit
47:31
and you know, you just run into different people, you know, run
47:34
into people. We're not, I'm, I'm in East
47:37
Tennessee, but we're only about 3 hours from Nashville.
47:40
So you run into people over there when you go over, I'll go
47:43
to Nashville and do songwriter shows over there and I get a
47:48
chance to meet people over there.
47:49
And you'll, you'll bump in all kinds of people in Nashville.
47:52
Nashville is a great Nashville, unlike, from what I've heard,
47:56
unlike some other places like Los Angeles, they'll leave.
48:02
They'll leave people alone. It's like it's not that big of a
48:05
deal. When you see somebody that's
48:07
like famous, they just kind of let let them be, which is I
48:11
think why a lot of people like to move to Nashville.
48:14
Yeah, that. Makes sense because I don't you
48:15
know, I'm sure people get bothered by being bothered so
48:20
much, you know, like, Hey, I I know who you are.
48:23
Will you take your picture with me or you find this or whatever,
48:26
you know, then just and letting them just, you know, be normal
48:29
people and, you know, go out to eat and do their laundry and
48:33
stuff like that. Yeah.
48:36
So. Do you enjoy going to Nashville
48:39
and and being in that space or would or are you more like, no,
48:43
give me the quiet, give me the the peaceful Knoxville type
48:46
situation. I I prefer.
48:50
Peaceful Knoxville, East Tennessee, But I will go over
48:54
there for spurts, but it's usually like, OK, got my fill,
48:56
let's go back home, right? 'Cause I mean, you don't see
48:59
yourself going there and, and staying and and then trying to
49:03
be in that space. Yeah, I know this is home.
49:07
Nice. Well, I'm gonna put your website
49:11
up. Does there?
49:13
Well, is there somewhere else that people can catch your music
49:16
or find out what you're doing or find out where you are?
49:19
Is that the best place or is there somewhere they can go to
49:21
the website? Or all of my socials are at
49:25
Troycross Music. So you can go to, you know,
49:29
Facebook, Instagram, all the music that I've released is out
49:34
on all the streaming platforms. So Spotify, Apple Music, you
49:39
name it, it's out there. You can find it.
49:43
But yeah, actually if you, if you're interested, definitely
49:46
reach out to me and say hi. I would love to love to, you
49:51
know, get in the conversation with anybody that's interested
49:54
about the music or anything else that we've talked about.
49:58
You know, I'm about the reason that I do this is for the people
50:02
out there. So and if they have any song
50:06
ideas, it's like, hey, that I had this idea, send them my way.
50:09
Maybe we can write a song about it.
50:11
You know, I'd love to do that. Well, definitely.
50:15
Operation Song is in Knoxville. I mean Nashville, sorry, not
50:20
Knoxville, Nashville. And they write, they partner
50:24
with songwriters to write music for veterans so that a veteran
50:28
can tell their story through song because sometimes that's
50:32
the easiest way to get it out versus them having to actually
50:35
tell it to you. Letting someone else put some
50:39
music to the, to their story is easier.
50:42
And that way the story you can tell the story, the song can
50:45
tell the story instead of them having to like replay it or
50:48
resay it. And so I think you'd be a
50:50
perfect fit for that. Since you're so close.
50:53
I think maybe I maybe I can connect you to Operation Song
50:58
and maybe you can be involved in that as well.
51:00
Because I think that the type of music you play and write would
51:07
lend itself nicely to partnering with a veteran for their story
51:12
or, you know, for us for something and they, they wanted
51:15
to share some of their feelings and whatnot.
51:17
Yeah, that would be great. I.
51:19
Actually have met somebody else that actually does that as well
51:24
and they've told me about it and they just say that it's amazing.
51:28
And I almost to the point where I thought about doing it with my
51:31
father-in-law just to just to go and try and do it because he's a
51:35
96 year old, Vietnam, Korea. And he got in the very, very
51:41
end, right before the end of World War 20.
51:45
Wow. Yeah.
51:47
He was a pilot, Distinguished Flying Cross.
51:51
So and he's got all kinds of great stories.
51:53
So he might be my first, my first victim, right?
51:58
Yes. I think you ought, definitely
52:00
ought to write his story or through a song, something.
52:03
It sounds like he had quite the career if he's been through all
52:07
of that and you're just the person to do it.
52:10
Yeah. Definitely.
52:12
Well, I'll, I'll partner you up with Mike Byer, who is the
52:16
Operation Song person. So, you know, maybe you guys
52:22
can, can do that. But yeah, I think I'll, I'll be
52:24
looking forward to hearing something about your
52:27
father-in-law and about his service because I think you're
52:30
just the right person to tell his story.
52:32
So I'll be definitely looking forward to that.
52:36
Well, we've got probably about another 5 minutes left in the
52:39
show. Is there anything else you
52:40
wanted to put out or anything I didn't ask you about that you
52:43
wanted to tell us about? I don't know.
52:48
Let me. Let me.
52:49
Think, I think we've talked about most of the stuff the the
52:55
songs that are out, there's plenty more common.
53:01
So keep an eye out for those. I think the last one I put out
53:04
was called was called Save Everybody That but that one came
53:09
out a couple weeks ago. But yeah, I mean, we're just
53:14
trying to be consistent about putting songs out and writing
53:17
songs. And I am all about, you know,
53:21
writing what the people want. So if if anyone has an idea or
53:24
if there's any topic or subject that someone feels like would be
53:30
good to get out there in front of people, I am up for the
53:34
challenge. Nice.
53:36
I love that I was going to ask you another question and now
53:41
like my, my thought left, which is unfortunate, very
53:48
unfortunate. But so I, I really think that
53:55
the way you write and the, and the type of music that you play,
53:58
it really resonates with all kinds of audiences.
54:01
I don't think you have to be a fan of one genre or another in
54:05
order to enjoy what you've written and the, and the
54:07
messages you relay through music.
54:10
Because I think music is such a great tool to really tell people
54:14
stories or really communicate how alike we are.
54:18
Even though we think there's so many differences, there's really
54:21
not as many differences as there are similarities.
54:24
Cause at the end of the day, we're all human and we all have
54:27
the same basic needs, regardless of where we come from.
54:31
We all do. So you writing music that kind
54:35
of transcends all that, you know, he said, she said, they
54:39
said, you know, whatever faction, whatever party,
54:42
whatever, whatever people are talking about in this time
54:48
that's so volatile at times. I, I love that your music can go
54:53
past all that and it can really speak to each one of us and
54:56
really say, you know what? We're not that different.
54:58
We all kind of grew up with this understanding that, you know,
55:02
we're human and that we all make mistakes and that we can recover
55:05
from these mistakes and that we all just need to to be a little
55:09
more understanding of one another and then we can all get
55:11
along. Yeah, absolutely.
55:13
And that is really is a big mission with my music is to put
55:19
music and stories out within the music that transcend all of the
55:27
junk out there and let let people know that, hey, we're, we
55:31
are humans people and we're going to make mistakes.
55:34
But you know, that's what grace is for.
55:38
And you know this, I found this hat at A at a convention and it
55:44
says hold fast on it. And I love that it says hold
55:47
fast and that it has the American flag on it.
55:50
And you know, when you read and in scripture about holding fast,
55:55
it translates basically just to truths about humans, which is
56:01
what I want to put out in my music, which is like, OK, what
56:05
do we need to hold fast to? We need to hold fast to God
56:09
first and foremost. We need to hold fast to truth,
56:14
and so we need to seek that truth out.
56:16
We need to hold fast to hope and faith, and we need to hold fast
56:21
to choosing good over evil. And those are all things that,
56:25
you know, I try to put out in my songs.
56:29
Some songs may just be more fun than others and just be about
56:33
that, you know? But people need that too, you
56:35
know, they need to, they need to be lightened up a little bit.
56:39
Especially people when they cling too tightly to something,
56:43
they need something to loosen their grip on it.
56:45
And maybe that's a song that just changes their atmosphere a
56:48
little bit. I don't know.
56:51
But it's my hope that that can happen with some of the songs
56:53
that I put out. Yeah, definitely.
56:56
It takes us out of like the when you get in the wrong headspace
57:01
where you're just concentrating on all the negative you're
57:03
hearing. Then when you hear a good music,
57:07
some good music or a good melody or a hook that really brings you
57:10
in, it kind of brings you out of that mindset and reminds you to
57:15
just take a pause and don't focus on that.
57:17
You know, there's a lot more good than there is bad.
57:19
And we just need to remember that instead of, you know,
57:22
listening to the news all the time and listening to what all
57:25
the politicians are saying or they're not saying about about
57:29
what's going on. So we really need to refocus and
57:33
reset and think about, OK, this is a problem for another day.
57:36
Let's just enjoy life. Let's just, you know, sit back,
57:39
enjoy the music, enjoy some company and some friendships and
57:43
some talking with friends versus all this negativity that's going
57:47
on. So I love that you can do that
57:50
with your music because it's happy music for the most part.
57:53
And it just sets you in a good mindset, I think.
57:57
Yeah. Sometimes.
57:59
You just got to turn off the. News and turn on the radio.
58:02
Absolutely, I listen. To the radio, well, I listen to
58:05
MBR all the time and so we play some really good music on MBR
58:08
and you're, you're one of the ones that play.
58:09
So we appreciate your music. Well, Troy, it has been a
58:12
pleasure having you on. I thank you so much for coming
58:15
on the show tonight. I really enjoy your music and I
58:18
enjoy Ultimate Sacrifice. I really think it resonates with
58:21
our audience and I really appreciate you sending that to
58:24
us and bringing that to our attention because it's something
58:27
we feel like we can do do to honor those that have given the
58:30
ultimate sacrifice. So thank you very much.
58:33
Oh, it's my pleasure. And I.
58:34
Really appreciate you all, not only playing it, but everything
58:38
that you do for the veterans. And you know, I can't say enough
58:44
about how grateful I am to them and also how grateful I am to
58:49
you about what you're doing for them.
58:51
So thank you. Oh well, thank you.
58:53
We appreciate you. Well, this is Tracer Rand
58:56
signing off. Hi, I'm Beaker with Military
59:01
Broadcast Radio TV. We're your virtual MWR bringing
59:05
veterans radio, podcasts, gaming, animation, 3D printing
59:10
and a community that never leaves you behind.
59:13
Download our Roku or mobile app today.