Latest / The Scene Projects / Johnny Hastings on Songwriting, Sobriety, and South Dakota's Music Scene

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Johnny Hastings on Songwriting, Sobriety, and South Dakota's Music Scene · The Scene Projects

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  On today's show, we have Johnny Hastings, Black Hills blues guitarist and frontman of Johnny
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  Hastings in Stillhouse Down.
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  He's also the winner of the Wild West Songwriters Festival regional songwriter
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  contest.
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  Known for his expressive road tested riffs and a tight Americana blues sound.
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  We're gonna dig into his songwriting, his tone, and life on the circuit.
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  Let's get into the show.
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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome into another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host Bubba Sartz, and with me today is my brother Johnny Hastings.
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  Johnny, welcome to the show.
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  Hey.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Finally, I'm here.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, it's a long time coming.
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  Coincidentally, that's what I named the album that you helped me record this year.
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  So
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  Alright.
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  Because it is, man.
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  But no better time than the present.
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  Obviously, we mentioned off the top, some really big things have been happening around
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  you this year.
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  But before we get into all of that, I just wanna give you the floor and allow you to give
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  us a little bit of your backstory.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, I was born and raised in the Black Hills and have been around music my whole life.
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  My mom's a musician, a teacher, and, you know, she got me into it early, and it and it just
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  clicked to know when I picked up guitar.
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  It just kinda took off from there.
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  I started playing bars when I was 14 and went to college for guitar in LA.
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  That was a great experience and came back, and now I'm just playing guitar and paying my bills
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  that way.
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  So in my mind, I've made it, you know, whatever that is.
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  I mean, to to make it, right, is to be doing what you love and to be, you know, affording a
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  life of that.
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  Now what that lifestyle ends up looking like, I think there's different levels of that.
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  But, yeah, big shout out to Candy off the top, man.
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  Yeah.
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  That's right.
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  Not not only instilled that love in you, but in a lot of members of the Black Hills music
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  scene.
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  I had not realized it.
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  I actually just met your mother, not this summer, but the summer before, and getting to
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  talk with her.
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  And she's like, yeah.
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  I had all these kids in music class growing up.
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  And it's like, wow.
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  Like, so many people that are big players in the Black Hills music scene now probably got
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  that love from your mom and that instilled in them.
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  So really cool.
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  She's the godmother of the Black Hills music scene.
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  Man, I just had a crazy idea since you were we should do a Candy Hastings festival.
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  Like, everybody she's taught that's still playing music, bring all their bands together
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  and just have a festival.
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  Let's you know?
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  Anybody she's taught, that could be a thing.
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  That would be one of the most brilliant festivals ever.
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  And everybody knows each other.
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  Right?
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  That that it would be a a big jam.
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  The music would never stop.
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  No.
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  No.
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  But she's not thinking.
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  I know that, you know, these last these last few years have been, especially important.
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  I think a lot of people around the Black Hills music scene would obviously recognize you as
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  the guitarist for Camp Comfort, one of my favorite bands.
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  A shout out to Nevada and the rest of the crew.
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  But, you've really stepped out as a songwriter.
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  Me and you got to share around at the twenty twenty four, Wild West Songwriters Festival.
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  And, you put me into tears then because that was one of the first times that I've I've heard
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  you really step out as a singer and as a songwriter.
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  And when I saw you as part of the regional songwriter contest this year, you know, I
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  didn't get to see you receive the award, but I had a really good feeling that you were gonna
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  be the winner.
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  Home turf advantage being what it is as well, but it it was really a coming out party for
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  you.
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  Can you talk about kind of the the year between songwriter festivals from really just coming
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  out and taking part in your first festival as a songwriter in last year's event to now this
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  year being really focused in on and then obviously winning the contest?
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  Yeah.
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  You know, when we played in in 2024, I was shaking.
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  I was so nervous.
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  You know?
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  It was my first time playing those songs in front of people.
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  Everybody knows me as the guitar player, you know, or, you know, I can sing with the band,
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  but this was, like, songs I wrote from the heart.
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  There wasn't a lot of guitar playing going on.
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  It was more about lyrics and and melody.
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  And, you know, that first day before I played with you, I almost couldn't get on stage.
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  And I've, you know, I've not really had a deal dealt.
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  I haven't dealt with stage fright really until that moment, so it was a very foreign thing for
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  me.
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  And, it did I didn't like it.
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  It was I was scared.
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  But the next day when I played with you, I sat into my seat a little bit more, and and I think
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  having you there actually helped because you're good at making people feel really comfortable.
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  You know?
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  That's one of your one of the things I love about you.
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  But that day, it felt a lot better, and I was like, oh, I can do this.
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  Okay.
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  I'm not gonna give up.
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  You know?
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  Otherwise, I was just gonna keep playing guitar.
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  And from that weekend up until this year, I every time I would get on stage, I thought
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  about the moment when I was really scared, you know, and I've just been working on that.
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  And what I've come to find in the last year is that what what calms me down and what is most
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  genuinely what I'm trying to do is connect with people.
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  And when I re when I remember that, all that anxiety and fear kinda goes away, and I'm just
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  able to express my songs in an honest way.
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  And that was my goal this year was to to sit into my seat.
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  I was talking to Mark Joseph.
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  Love that guy.
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  He's always giving me good advice.
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  And I was you know, I saw him on Thursday at the pre party, and I was like, man, I'm just a
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  little nervous.
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  You know?
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  He's like, dude, just sit into your seat, play your songs, and and have fun.
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  You know?
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  And and I did that.
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  And but I really you know, what's going through my mind is I wanna connect with people, whether
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  that's, you know, through my lyrics, through the melody, through a, you know, little joke I
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  can tell in between.
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  I'm I'm not a very funny guy, but every once in a while, I can get people to laugh.
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  But I just wanted to be really genuine and honest, and and I think that show that happened
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  this year.
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  And I think I connected with people.
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  I had a lot of I'd I'd hometown home turf advantage, but I met a lot of people that I
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  don't know and that are not from here that that really enjoyed my songs, and that felt really
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  good.
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  Because you're as a songwriter, you're always like, shit.
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  Are people gonna like my songs or what?
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  But I just didn't care this year.
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  I just played from the heart, and and my goal was to connect with people.
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  Then I won the award.
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  You know, I didn't expect it, because I was just there to to connect, and and it felt I was
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  happy.
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  You know?
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  I I felt accomplished a little bit.
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  I felt, like, my honesty and and my connection with everyone was real in that moment because
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  they voted for it.
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  But what a great experience.
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  All the songwriters were incredible.
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  I was so inspired.
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  I got home you know, on the Friday night after the first show, I got home and was writing
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  starting to write new stuff just because, you know, it's an inspiring event.
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  I don't know about you, but it's I still have some of that, you know, happening now.
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  That's where I fill my cup, Johnny.
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  I say it's my favorite weekend in Deadwood in a town known for events.
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  It is by far, for me, it's my favorite.
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  And and while I enjoy being a songwriter, I enjoy being surrounded by songwriters even
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  more.
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  It's why starting this show a year and a half ago was such a natural fit, and it really gave
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  me a a chance to flex those superpowers.
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  Right?
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  Making people comfortable, helping them to sit into their chair a little bit.
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  It's a reason I have the songwriter showcase as one of our programs as well because I want you
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  to feel comfortable on that stage because when we can sit into that energy, that nervousness
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  shout out to my old wrestling coach, Bob Forcucci, where he told me because you get that
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  same thing.
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  Right?
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  You're stepping into that ring as a wrestler, as a young person.
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  I, you know, only wrestled that one year, but that nervousness, you can't shake it.
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  But it's how you turn that around and into the energy that you need to succeed that's
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  different.
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  It's just excitement leaving the body, he would say.
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  Right?
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  That nervous, that sweat, and that energy.
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  And I've been able to turn that into a career, you you know, twenty spanning twenty five
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  years.
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  I've been on stage, you know, since I was 14 as well, playing in smoky bars back when you could
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  smoke in bars Yeah.
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  And turning that nervousness into connection.
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  Right?
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  And, Johnny, I was just as I had to play my first round next to Tyler Bills, and he made me
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  No.
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  See you.
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  Behind him.
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  Right?
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  My leg is bouncing around all over the place, and, like, Tyler just awed this crowd.
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  And And you're going, well, how the hell am I gonna follow that?
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  Right?
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  I I'm not.
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  And this man's been on stage on huge stages performing in front of, you know, I don't know
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  how big the crowds have been with Judd Hoos, but a ten plus year career performing on some
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  of the biggest stages in South Dakota on national television.
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  Right?
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  How am I supposed to, you know, hold a candle to that light?
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  And it was settling into that and just delivering the songs.
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  And that's really what Wild West songwriter festival weekend is like.
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  Shout out to Scott Jacobs and the gallery there.
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  What an amazing place to sit surrounded by his amazing art and to have people right on top of
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  you.
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  Right?
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  Like, I was afraid I was gonna spit on somebody as I'm singing and, you know, an extra added,
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  nervousness, but a beautiful place to share my songs because connection is what I've always
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  tend to do.
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  Connection with myself.
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  Right?
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  And I know you can speak from that.
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  My songs are very personal.
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  Every single song that I've written, I'm not, you know, someone who spends a lot of time in
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  Nashville writing songs to get famous.
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  My songs come from a stroke of inspiration, a heartache, a moment in, you know, my past, you
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  know, my my granny passing away or something that's rung me like a bell that the only way I
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  have to get it out is through my songwriting.
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  So I think, you know, watching you this weekend, I I was so proud of you, and and
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  sharing your stories behind these and your your sobriety and and how some of these songs were
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  written at a time when you weren't sober and how they kind of, you know, have so much more
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  meaning to you now maybe or or it completes the story now where when you wrote the song, it it
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  didn't necessarily have that to it yet.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  The songs are very personal.
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  You know, a couple about a girl or something, but, they're they're about the hardest times of
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  my life for sure.
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  And that's comes with that connection.
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  You know?
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  People people wanna connect.
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  They wanna know you.
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  And, the the cool thing about that festival is that you have the opportunity to explain your
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  songs in a room where everybody's listening.
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  You know?
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  You're not in the corner of a noisy bar trying to play Sweet Home Alabama again, you know,
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  because that's the only thing that'll get people listening to you.
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  You know?
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  They're there to to hear your story and and connect.
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  You know?
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  I, I know that most of your life has been very hard.
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  Right?
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  And these last two years are probably the best two years of that life.
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  I wanna shout out a mutual friend of ours, Lisa Huffton, who, shared some personal stories.
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  I'm not gonna share the stories that she told me on the air, but, you know, we all remember
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  you being a very young man.
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  And we remember, you know, those early times of your life.
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  I mean, I was in Dublin Square back in the day when, you know, you were a kid, and Oakley was
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  sneaking you in to play shows and and to be hanging around the scene at that time.
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  And it was so important then and more important now, I think, to see, the man that you've grown
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  into and the man that you've become, especially with sobriety now, to be able to connect with
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  people.
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  Because I think there's something to that.
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  I think there's something to, you know, not just being a musician, but being someone who's
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  seeking out that connection.
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  And I think that's hard to do if you're, you know, on stage, you know, throwing back shots
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  and and maybe coming at it with a little bit of an edge, you know, whatever that edge may be or
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  a chip on your shoulder.
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  I don't feel like you're the same Johnny now that you were twenty years ago playing in bars,
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  and I still know obviously, we're still playing in bars.
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  That's just where our work takes place.
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  Can you talk about, you know, the the struggle of still working in a lot of these areas but
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  being sober?
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  Are there challenges to that on a daily, nightly basis?
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  You know, you you say, I'm not the same Johnny as twenty years ago or whatever when I when we
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  were playing in the bars when I was really young.
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  But I honestly feel like a couple of year ago years ago years ago when I sobered up, I kinda
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  started over at that point when when I was a lot younger.
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  Like like, my brain just started to think like I did when I was before I started drinking or
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  getting into drugs, which naturally happens in this industry.
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  I mean, you go play a show, you might make 50 to a $100, but you get free drinks all night.
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  You know?
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  Like, that's something that just happens.
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  And then and, naturally, I know it's I it runs with my family, but, I you know, I'm an addict.
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  But so it it ended up not being great.
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  Now that being said, I I had a lot of fun, and I still knew how to I mean, I could throw back
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  shots and have a good time on stage, but it it wasn't I thought I was trying to connect with
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  people, but I was I was just trying to have fun, you know, or or feel something.
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  So a couple year it's I guess it'll be a little over two and a half years ago when I sobered
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  up.
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  I had to relearn how to be on stage and and remember why I was doing it.
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  You know?
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  I it wasn't to get fucked up anymore.
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  It was to, yeah, I had to figure that out.
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  And what I figured out, it was to connect with people, and it was to make people feel
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  something.
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  But the struggle was getting past my own head without the substance.
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  You know?
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  Getting back into the music and and enjoying being on stage.
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  And that's hard for me because I think I drank a lot on stage because I felt uncomfortable up
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  there.
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  So coming with sobriety, I had to figure out how to be comfortable on stage, and that that
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  was tough.
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  And it's you know, in the beginning, it was tough to be because I didn't stop playing.
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  I kept going to the bars and and playing when I sobered up.
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  But and it was a little difficult.
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  I would have the I would see everybody drinking and thought I was missing out on everything.
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  But, you know, the next day, I was waking up and picking up my guitar or going for a run or
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  or doing something that bettered me, and and that feels so good, man.
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  I I wish I would have done it years ago, but, I don't even if you don't have a problem with
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  alcohol, it it you know, the next day it affects you.
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  You know?
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  You're not the same.
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  I don't care who you are.
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  You know?
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  It it blocks something, and I was able to get through that and figure out that it blocked my
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  my my real self.
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  You know?
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  It was I became somebody else whether I had a one beer or 10 shots, you know, which was could
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  happen for sure.
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  But the struggle was more how to be on stage and how to how to play music rather than just
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  be in the bar and around it.
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  That that didn't seem too hard for me, especially after you start to notice these
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  patterns of the same people doing the same stupid shit all the time, and you're just kinda
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  like, alright.
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  I'm not doing that anymore.
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  You know?
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  I've got things to get done.
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  And, once I realized that, was like, alright.
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  I gotta figure out how to be on stage, be comfortable.
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  And I don't know when that happened, and maybe it hasn't yet.
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  I still get butterflies.
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  You know?
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  But it's a constant thought process.
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  You know?
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  And like anything in life, you have to work at it.
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  And but it's the best thing I ever did for sure.
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  My relationships are better.
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  My music's better.
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  All my money problems went away.
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  So, yeah, I don't know.
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  It I've sometimes I feel like I make it sound like it was easy, but, it wasn't.
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  But I'm I'm I'm happy where I'm at.
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  And, you know, if anybody else is feeling like you're just not yourself while you're drinking,
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  it's because you're not.
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  And, I guarantee if you just step away from it for a while, you might never go back.
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  No.
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  And and I stepped a lot.
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  I mean, when I was working at the factory, before I I quit my job and really took into
• 19:15
  this media thing I mean, I was coming home and drinking a six pack of Miller Lite Pounders
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  every single night.
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  Right?
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  Like, it was just grinding on me.
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  I I was bloated.
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  I was, you know, twenty, thirty pounds heavier than I am now.
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  And, you know, I I haven't gone completely sober, but I don't drink like I used to.
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  And I I I can definitely have one and stop.
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  Right?
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  Like, it's never been a problem for me, but I stopped drinking at shows a long time ago.
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  Right?
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  And even when I was performing, you know, back in back in the day where I just couldn't keep
• 19:46
  up.
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  If I was gonna do shots and especially with me where I was doing four hour bar shows and it's
• 19:50
  not like I was throwing songs back and forth with multiple singers.
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  I was literally singing for four straight hours.
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  It's pretty hard to do if you're dehydrating yourself, throwing back shots and beers the
• 20:00
  whole time.
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  It just wasn't happening.
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  So so I learned that lesson fairly early.
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  I've forgotten it several times over the years, and I definitely feel that the music especially
• 20:13
  is always better if I'm sober.
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  My connection with the crowd, whether they're drinking or not, is better.
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  Right?
• 20:20
  I don't I've never needed it.
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  Because I've been on stage and been in front of people most of my life, I've never had that,
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  you know, that stage fright necessarily.
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  Hell, yeah.
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  I get scared, but it's never to the point where I'm not going to perform and have it scare me
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  off of the stage.
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  Right?
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  So I've never needed that buffer between myself and and the performance side of it.
• 20:45
  Now my dad who played in the band with me for years, Jim has a two Bacardi and Coke minimum
• 20:51
  before he can even get up there and strap a guitar on.
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  Right?
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  I love your dad, mom.
• 20:55
  Yeah.
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  And shout out to Jim, man.
• 20:58
  Yeah.
• 20:59
  You know, he he, you know, doesn't perform as much as he used to now, you know, getting
• 21:05
  older, but just not having the guys around anymore.
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  Right?
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  You know?
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  As people have grown up and moved on and, you know, especially, you know, guys his age, I I
• 21:14
  know a big shout out to Pat Milos as well, another kind of, you know, godfather of the the
• 21:19
  music scene, especially in the Northern Hills where Pat was the guy who put me on stage for
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  some of my first times and always encouraged me.
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  Just go out there and and have fun.
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  Right?
• 21:28
  Like, it's just about the music.
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  Have fun.
• 21:30
  Who cares if you screw up a note or or whatever?
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  And I feel like, you know, it was good for me to learn that stuff early on.
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  And to have those early experiences being sober, being a teenager.
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  Right?
• 21:44
  Like, I couldn't drink in the bars for the first five years of my career.
• 21:48
  You know, it just wasn't a reality.
• 21:50
  So I I love that, you know, finding it again for you, and you mentioned that.
• 21:55
  Was gonna ask, but you already said it.
• 21:57
  The music is better.
• 21:58
  And where most people, musicians, especially, if they're gonna quit drinking, they might stop
• 22:03
  booking gigs and start playing less because they're scared of it.
• 22:07
  You actually ramped it up, and you're playing more now than you ever have before.
• 22:13
  And some pretty big stuff, not just, you know, more bar gigs, but I know you were featured at
• 22:19
  the Deadwood Blues Festival this year, the inaugural event.
• 22:22
  Shout out to Randy Brown and his whole team that really threw that thing together.
• 22:27
  And, I know, did you guys do the jam this year, or was it just the Blues Festival?
• 22:31
  No.
• 22:32
  We did the jam in 2024.
• 22:34
  So Right.
• 22:35
  You did the Blues Festival this summer.
• 22:37
  Yep.
• 22:39
  Talk talk about that experience a little bit.
• 22:43
  Well, the jam, you know, that was our first year of being a band, I think.
• 22:52
  2024.
• 22:53
  No.
• 22:53
  Maybe second year.
• 22:54
  Yeah.
• 22:54
  We're on our third.
• 22:55
  So that was our second year of being a band, second summer of shows.
• 22:59
  And, you know, Jesse Allen, he's a badass.
• 23:02
  I love that guy.
• 23:04
  He, you know, put in a good word and and pushed for us, and we got to play the the Deadwood
• 23:08
  Jam, which was my goal from from starting that when I started the band with Caleb Beaum and
• 23:14
  Oakley Rathman and and, we you know, my goal kinda I don't know if I said it out loud to
• 23:19
  them, but I was like, it'd be that's kind of the stage I wanna play this year, you know, or
• 23:22
  with this band at some point.
• 23:24
  And, I got the call for that, and it was it was kind of a great moment.
• 23:29
  And from that, I mean, it just once you do something like that and you get in front of the
• 23:33
  right people, other things start to happen.
• 23:35
  So from that show, we got the Levitt in Sioux Falls, a headlining show, which was the biggest
• 23:40
  show I've ever played, especially with my name on it.
• 23:45
  And thanks for being there.
• 23:47
  And, you know, then the Deadwood Blues Festival last year last summer after that.
• 23:54
  So it was a it was a summer of great shows, but the Deadwood Blues Fest was unreal.
• 24:02
  I mean, hanging out
• 24:03
  with
• 24:03
  Kingfish and Samantha, Fish, they're great people.
• 24:09
  It's so nice to meet them and their band.
• 24:11
  All the other musicians, I've got friends all over the country now more so that than I did
• 24:18
  because of this festival.
• 24:20
  And it was just I talked to all of them a little bit about this on the final night after
• 24:24
  the big shows.
• 24:24
  I was like, wasn't this just the simplest, easiest, smoothest festival you've ever been a
• 24:30
  part of?
• 24:30
  And they all agreed.
• 24:32
  Randy and the team did a great job.
• 24:34
  Nobody had questions about what was going on.
• 24:36
  We all had we were all taken care of really well.
• 24:40
  You know, hotel rooms and and, passes and all kinds of fun stuff, as well as they did the
• 24:47
  right advertising and marketing.
• 24:50
  They got people there.
• 24:51
  It was full.
• 24:52
  You know?
• 24:53
  There was people at everybody's show all day.
• 24:57
  It was kinda like a songwriters' fest, but for blues bands.
• 25:00
  You know?
• 25:00
  We were all at our own little location, and people would go around and find us.
• 25:04
  And, you know, then the big show was on Saturday, and it was just a, you know, great
• 25:08
  experience.
• 25:09
  I can't wait to be a part of it next year.
• 25:11
  I know they've got big plans for, for some big artists.
• 25:14
  So, yeah, it'll be great.
• 25:18
  It's, it's such a joy for me, to watch you and and the band grow.
• 25:25
  Shout out to that Deadwood Jam in '24.
• 25:28
  Vince Converse, obviously, up there coming back and kind of you know, I got snuck into the 10
• 25:36
  when I was way too young to go watch Vince play back when he had hair and to watch him tear it
• 25:42
  out.
• 25:42
  It was probably about a 100 pounds lighter too, but he was a kid.
• 25:46
  Right?
• 25:46
  He he was, you know, 21, 22 at that time, could absolutely tear it up, but he he was so much
• 25:53
  better and brought a killer band out with him.
• 25:56
  I know that, you got to jam with him later in that evening over at Deadwood Tobacco Company.
• 26:02
  Huge shout out to a to a great bar and a live music venue in Deadwood.
• 26:08
  That was amazing.
• 26:09
  And, it was a little too smoky for me to hang out inside all night.
• 26:13
  I did get some awesome video kinda popping in and out, but I was standing outside with a
• 26:17
  mutual friend, Sofia Beatty, and we're just standing out back and listening, and you're
• 26:22
  just like, can you believe the sounds coming out of that little bar?
• 26:26
  Right?
• 26:27
  Like, it's not a big place, but these are all, you know, what I would say local musicians.
• 26:32
  Right?
• 26:33
  And I know Vince had brought the the band up from Colorado, but, man, these are people that
• 26:38
  aren't necessarily headlining national tours out there with and some of the best music I've
• 26:43
  ever heard in my life.
• 26:44
  And I've been around.
• 26:45
  Right?
• 26:46
  Like, I've seen some incredible bands play, and and you're talking about people that have never
• 26:51
  even been on a stage together just laying it out there.
• 26:54
  And I imagine that the Deadwood Blues Festival was much of the same, in that respect.
• 27:01
  Yeah.
• 27:01
  You know, the show you're talking about from the Deadwood Jam twenty twenty four, the After
• 27:06
  Jam, is one of the best things I've ever been a part of musically.
• 27:12
  I met Vince fifteen minutes before we went on stage, but I've been watching this guy since I
• 27:17
  was 14, 13, 14, you know, when he played Dublin Square for randomly here and there.
• 27:23
  So I knew of this guy, and, so I'm I was like, alright.
• 27:28
  I'm gonna do this.
• 27:29
  Randy set it up, so I'm gonna do this jam with Vince Converse.
• 27:32
  It's his band.
• 27:33
  Perfect.
• 27:34
  So I meet him fifteen minutes before we play, and I'm just like, alright.
• 27:38
  I gotta I gotta be cool, man.
• 27:39
  I want this guy to like me because he's you know, Vince is a legend, man.
• 27:43
  And, you know, so I was cool, and we're about to play, and I'm like, I gotta either I gotta
• 27:50
  make a choice here.
• 27:51
  I have to be sit into his band or just, you know, kick it into gear and and be right there
• 27:59
  with him.
• 27:59
  And first note, we start the song, and I don't remember what it was.
• 28:04
  It was a blues.
• 28:04
  And he played something, and I just was like, shit.
• 28:08
  Here we go.
• 28:09
  I cranked my guitar up.
• 28:10
  His his amp was so loud.
• 28:12
  I was like, alright.
• 28:12
  I went back, turned my amp up, played the exact same riff, and just tried to trade with him.
• 28:17
  We hit it off right away, man, and he's like a brother now.
• 28:20
  And that night of music, I people still come up to me and talk about it.
• 28:26
  I get goosebumps thinking about it, and it was I can't even believe it happened, and I'm so
• 28:32
  grateful that I got to be a part of it because I don't know if it'll ever happen again.
• 28:37
  You know, this year was awesome again after the Blues Festival, but there was something that
• 28:42
  happened after on in 2024.
• 28:46
  You know, you just have those nights.
• 28:47
  Some of them are really on, and some of them you know, sometimes it's just like, oh, well,
• 28:51
  that was fun, but, you know, you don't really think back on it.
• 28:56
  But that show you're talking about, you're standing outside of is one of the best nights
• 29:01
  of music I've ever played in my life, and I'll always remember it.
• 29:05
  Yeah.
• 29:06
  I actually need to go into my iCloud and download all those videos, because they're not
• 29:11
  on my phone, and I'm just around so much good music.
• 29:13
  And I'm always capturing it, but it's like, like, oh, I gotta go make sure I grab that and
• 29:18
  save those in the archive.
• 29:19
  Video?
• 29:20
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:21
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:21
  I got a bunch of videos from that night, and I'm glad you just reminded me of it.
• 29:26
  But it it in a lot of ways, it felt like for people that knew, that was a little bit of the
• 29:33
  Johnny Hastings coming out party that weekend was.
• 29:35
  And I have video of you on stage at the jam, you know, that middle of the day set, always
• 29:40
  not a ton of people there, but I knew.
• 29:42
  And it was a lot of people's first like, oh, yeah.
• 29:44
  Johnny's really got something cooking right now.
• 29:46
  I was like, yeah, man.
• 29:47
  You guys should have been you have been following along.
• 29:49
  And I've been following the journey at that point.
• 29:51
  And then I felt like there was only a month in between the jam and then the songwriters
• 29:55
  festival.
• 29:56
  And and seeing you in those moments and we had talked about the jam, you know, at songwriter
• 30:01
  festival as well, but I could see the trajectory you were on.
• 30:05
  I could see that spark and that light inside of you really flip on.
• 30:10
  And, I mean, you've just been so busy.
• 30:13
  You've done so many cool things.
• 30:15
  Now what is the future?
• 30:16
  Like, is it taking the band on the road and starting to do more touring around the country?
• 30:23
  I mean, you've kind of played all the big stuff in South Dakota at this point.
• 30:27
  The Levitt's a great gig.
• 30:28
  I've got to open it three times, in the past three, four years.
• 30:32
  I've never headlined it, but I've been on that stage and felt that.
• 30:36
  And the last time we played it, we opened for Armchair Boogie, Wisconsin based kinda jamgrass
• 30:41
  band, and it was packed, man.
• 30:43
  And we did forty five minutes of all original music.
• 30:46
  So it to me, it felt like a headline gig.
• 30:48
  Right?
• 30:49
  Like, it's as headline as I'm gonna get.
• 30:51
  I played nothing but my music for these people, and I kinda felt that way.
• 30:54
  It's like, what's next?
• 30:55
  Like, playing the buffalo chip maybe, right, is that you know, can can step up to that level or
• 31:01
  is a step above what I've done.
• 31:04
  But, I mean, what's what's next for Johnny Hastings and Stillhouse down?
• 31:10
  Well, like you said, you played original music.
• 31:14
  You know, our our band is primarily covers.
• 31:19
  You know?
• 31:19
  We've wrote some songs, but, you know, when people come to see us, they wanna hear old
• 31:22
  Albert King, BB King, and Clapton and all the crap we play.
• 31:26
  Not crap, but, I mean, you know, just the covers we do, which I will always love.
• 31:30
  And I I have a deep connection with them, I can my interpretation of those songs is is very
• 31:37
  personal and and something usually nobody's ever heard, and they're different every time we
• 31:41
  play them.
• 31:42
  Nothing's ever the same.
• 31:43
  So that's another cool thing about them.
• 31:45
  But the next thing with the band is to is to get you know, we and we're all so busy, but to
• 31:52
  get together and and keep writing and put some put a great EP together and send that out to
• 31:59
  the world.
• 31:59
  And, naturally, the show has just kinda come to us, at this point, which is really nice.
• 32:05
  I've reached out to some people, but, you know, it's a lot.
• 32:09
  I I book and I manage and I front this band, and it's like, it's a lot of work.
• 32:15
  You know?
• 32:16
  You know?
• 32:17
  I order the merch.
• 32:18
  I'd I'd sell the merch.
• 32:20
  I drive to the gigs.
• 32:22
  You know?
• 32:24
  I do all the social.
• 32:25
  It's it's a lot of work.
• 32:26
  So booking a tour or something is is hard, especially when I can, you know, book shows
• 32:36
  locally and we can make a lot of money, but I think it's necessary.
• 32:40
  So also hitting the road, that'll be something we do a little bit more in 2026.
• 32:46
  I'm hoping to record the end of this year, beginning of next year with the band.
• 32:52
  I wanna be able to have something, a physical copy of something of ours to to, you know, have
• 32:58
  to show people, to send to people, to sell, and, you know, and then see where the road
• 33:04
  takes us.
• 33:05
  I've already got a couple of big shows booked for 2026.
• 33:09
  I don't know if I can say them yet, so I won't.
• 33:12
  But, they're gonna be fun.
• 33:13
  You know?
• 33:14
  We'll be back at the Blues Festival, I'm sure, and that's gonna be killer this year.
• 33:19
  They think you're gonna do two days instead of one.
• 33:22
  Very excited for that.
• 33:25
  But, you know, just staying, I don't wanna overdo it either.
• 33:30
  You know?
• 33:30
  I can get I have an addictive personality.
• 33:33
  So no matter what I'm doing, whether it's drinking or running or playing guitar, I can I
• 33:39
  have a tendency to overdo it?
• 33:40
  So last summer, I played 96 shows.
• 33:45
  Yeah.
• 33:46
  About that.
• 33:46
  Maybe a little more in in three months.
• 33:50
  That was playing two a days, sometimes three a days.
• 33:54
  You know, I had about sick maybe six Mondays off.
• 34:00
  And I that might be overdoing it.
• 34:03
  You know?
• 34:04
  Although I I like it.
• 34:05
  It it gets my fingers working all the time.
• 34:07
  It helps with me singing.
• 34:08
  My voice is always ready to go.
• 34:11
  But and I have a different project, so I'm able to play every day.
• 34:16
  I can book everything.
• 34:17
  I can do my solo act one day, camp the next, my band the next, and rinse and repeat, and it's
• 34:23
  great.
• 34:24
  But I'd like to do something different this year with the band, and that's instead of just
• 34:30
  taking whatever gigs we can, deciding, you know what?
• 34:33
  We're only gonna play this city rapid spear fit, you know, these local cities or towns one
• 34:41
  time during the summer, and we're gonna charge to get in.
• 34:44
  You know?
• 34:44
  It'll be a ticket, and we'll put together a show.
• 34:48
  And maybe that involves having a bigger band, maybe a horn section, you know, that kind of
• 34:52
  stuff.
• 34:53
  But that's all you know, that's something I have to kinda put together because nobody else
• 34:56
  is gonna do that.
• 34:58
  You know?
• 34:58
  So it depends on how much work I wanna put in and what I'm feeling, and we'll see where it
• 35:04
  goes.
• 35:04
  But a lot of things are gonna be happening.
• 35:09
  The Black Hills can be and South Dakota in general can be a blessing and a curse.
• 35:14
  Right?
• 35:15
  And and I've kind of equated, especially the Black Hills, while it is an island on the
• 35:20
  prairie.
• 35:21
  It can be an island for the music scene.
• 35:23
  It's so good out there.
• 35:24
  Right?
• 35:25
  You're getting paid very well, especially when you talk to bands from other areas that you
• 35:29
  know, a lot of areas, you're still having to, like, pay the venue to play there.
• 35:33
  Right?
• 35:33
  Or you're having to
• 35:34
  Mhmm.
• 35:34
  Sell tickets to to get in and and and to have those different situations that we just don't.
• 35:40
  Right?
• 35:40
  But I will say, you know, because I moved to the East Side of the state and started playing
• 35:45
  in the cities and to do more, that you can find a little bit of money.
• 35:49
  The problem becomes traveling with a whole group of people and being responsible for the
• 35:55
  guys, you know, in the band and having all of that.
• 35:59
  I found a lot of success in traveling solo, you know, because I play a lot of covers as well.
• 36:04
  I found a lot of success hiring local people to play those gigs so that I can travel solo and
• 36:11
  still do that.
• 36:12
  Not everyone has that capability or just playing solo gigs.
• 36:15
  Right?
• 36:15
  But I I will say that you you have to get out, and you have to take those risks to get out and
• 36:22
  play, even when it, you know, means sleeping in your freaking car most of the summer.
• 36:27
  I mean, I had a while I didn't play 96 shows, Johnny, but I put 40,000 miles on my vehicles
• 36:32
  going all over from Duluth, Minnesota to Austin, Texas, you know, Chicago, St.
• 36:37
  Louis, Kansas City, you know, Memphis, Little Rock, you know, just getting out and touching
• 36:43
  all these areas, playing maybe one little solo show, but now having somewhere that I can come
• 36:48
  back and put my feet down in the future and realizing that it's a long it's a long process.
• 36:54
  Right?
• 36:54
  You you don't necessarily book that 26 city tour, overnight.
• 37:00
  It can take you years to build up that repertoire to make it worthwhile when you land
• 37:06
  there.
• 37:06
  Right?
• 37:06
  To just go do it and to come home broke and tired isn't always the goal.
• 37:11
  That's what I did this year, but I just was scouting territory.
• 37:15
  Going, introducing myself, and realizing that not only is my brand of music accepted
• 37:22
  everywhere, but that I'm accepted everywhere.
• 37:26
  And I think that sometimes the the validation, as musicians that we're looking for is, like,
• 37:32
  are people gonna like me?
• 37:33
  You know?
• 37:34
  Like Yeah.
• 37:34
  Are they gonna like me here?
• 37:36
  And I will tell you, Johnny, that they're gonna freaking love you.
• 37:39
  Wherever you go, whatever you do, they're gonna love it.
• 37:43
  Whether it's solo or it's with the band or it's, you know, anything you do, people are
• 37:49
  going to like it.
• 37:50
  And, I hope that you do get out on the road, and I think where you're trending with the
• 37:56
  local shows is a good idea too because there's definitely a there is something to
• 38:03
  oversaturation both on the crowd side, but also on yourself.
• 38:07
  You find that you're just kinda playing for the same people all the time.
• 38:11
  And and while that attention and that adoration is is nice, it feels 10 times better where you
• 38:17
  can go out of town.
• 38:19
  And when you have the ability to market yourself and to go out and to play for a 100
• 38:23
  people that you brought into a new building in a town that isn't your hometown, there's
• 38:28
  something to that too.
• 38:29
  And then you build on that.
• 38:31
  Right?
• 38:31
  It's like Legos, man.
• 38:32
  They all start connecting, and before you know it, you have this beautiful thing that you've
• 38:36
  built.
• 38:36
  So you always know that I'm here to help you in any way.
• 38:40
  And, brother, I know I know the struggle of booking and running the show and doing all the
• 38:48
  things and and wearing a lot of hats, man.
• 38:51
  It's, it's hard.
• 38:53
  It's the hardest job, that you'll ever have.
• 38:57
  You're not only, you know, a performer, but you're an entrepreneur as well and running a
• 39:02
  business and making sure that everyone's getting paid and feeding, you know, in some
• 39:06
  cases, their families, not just themselves.
• 39:09
  Right?
• 39:09
  So it's a lot of pressure, man, but you're gonna thrive in this.
• 39:12
  I promise you that.
• 39:15
  Thank you.
• 39:18
  Now to close the show out, go ahead and share, where everybody can find you.
• 39:24
  I'm gonna play a a special track for everyone, a a song that you, really brought to life with
• 39:30
  your guitar playing, and, I'm gonna play one of my songs that we worked on together.
• 39:35
  But, I wanna give you the opportunity before that to, share all your links and all that
• 39:39
  stuff.
• 39:41
  Of course.
• 39:41
  Yeah.
• 39:42
  Well, I've got the website, which is a new also, the other thing you have to do running
• 39:49
  the business and or the band.
• 39:51
  You know?
• 39:51
  So there's a whole another side of it.
• 39:53
  The website is johnnyhastingsmusic.com, and that's gonna have any of my shows, whether it's
• 39:58
  still house, solo, or camp comfort.
• 40:01
  I I post on there about it.
• 40:04
  Johnny Hastings on Facebook.
• 40:06
  Johnny Hastings on Instagram.
• 40:08
  Maybe it's Johnny Leslie, my middle name, on Instagram.
• 40:11
  I think if you type in Johnny Hastings, it'll pop up.
• 40:15
  And, you know, we've got some songs recorded with Will Waller, that are on Spotify, Apple,
• 40:21
  YouTube, all the all the things.
• 40:23
  I'm also gonna have the Levitt live show coming out with it before the end of the year, so
• 40:28
  that'll be something to look out for.
• 40:29
  We got all the video and audio and just finishing the editing on that.
• 40:33
  So we'll have the full live show coming out, which will be sweet.
• 40:38
  But, yeah, I post on socials quite a bit.
• 40:41
  So if you wanna come see us or or know what's going on, just check out Facebook probably.
• 40:46
  Yeah.
• 40:48
  Awesome.
• 40:49
  Yeah.
• 40:49
  And, we got this song and others coming out, on there.
• 40:54
  I got Johnny Hastings Blues included in the, music.
• 40:58
  This song for everybody.
• 41:00
  We've played it a couple of times on the show.
• 41:02
  This one's called Drifter.
• 41:04
  That's not a great picture of it.
• 41:05
  Let's, let's, get it back here.
• 41:08
  You gotta be able to see the, the Johnny Hastings blues on there.
• 41:13
  We're editing on the fly here.
• 41:15
  I, I just I appreciate you, man.
• 41:18
  You've done so much for me over the course of this year and this song.
• 41:24
  And the reason I wanted to share it was a big a big part of that.
• 41:29
  You know, I've written most of my songs in a vacuum.
• 41:32
  I haven't necessarily written them with other people around me.
• 41:37
  And this, I cried the first time I heard this, and I really wanna share it with everyone and
• 41:43
  with you here.
• 41:54
  Once I was a drifter all alone, for an answer in my soul.
• 44:09
  I'm gonna put that one out here soon.
• 44:11
  It's going on to streaming.
• 44:13
  It's already available on the website.
• 44:15
  And you changed the song.
• 44:17
  You know?
• 44:18
  Over top of that over top of that guitar lead, I never had a background, you know, like,
• 44:26
  harmony vocal to that.
• 44:28
  And me and shout out to Tom Freer, D'Ami Drew playing bass on that one as well.
• 44:34
  Me and Tom are in there doing the vocal tracks, and I was like, man, like, I'm I'm seeing
• 44:39
  Johnny Like, this whole choir or, like, I got such a visual out of your playing that I was
• 44:51
  like, we gotta layer these vocals in here.
• 44:53
  Right?
• 44:53
  Because that that wasn't a part of the song.
• 44:55
  And, that's really why I wanted to share it.
• 44:58
  We haven't had an opportunity to really talk about it.
• 45:01
  And, I just I'm so blessed to know you, Johnny.
• 45:05
  You're such a phenomenal musician.
• 45:07
  You're a great songwriter, and I feel like the rest of the world is waking up to that, you
• 45:14
  know, especially with your, you know, winning the the songwriter contest and and getting that
• 45:20
  recognition that you deserve.
• 45:22
  And that is going to help you propel to that next level.
• 45:27
  Right?
• 45:28
  And and having, and I've seen it winning the content creator of the year award, how much it
• 45:33
  means to people outside of South Dakota now to have that award.
• 45:37
  Maybe it doesn't mean a whole lot to us internally.
• 45:40
  Right?
• 45:41
  The award is just you know, it's just inside the mantle here.
• 45:44
  But having that recognition outwardly from someone else helps a lot when you're going to
• 45:49
  book that tour.
• 45:50
  And I go, look.
• 45:51
  Hey.
• 45:51
  I'm Johnny Hastings.
• 45:52
  I'm the winner of this award.
• 45:54
  And it it you watch their eyes light up a little bit so that when you're asking for a
• 45:58
  couple thousand dollars, they they tend to just write the check and to move on.
• 46:04
  So, brother, I appreciate your time today.
• 46:06
  I appreciate you being a part of my life and my musical journey.
• 46:10
  And, I just wanna thank you so much for being my brother and, for being part of the scene.
• 46:17
  Hey.
• 46:17
  Thank you so much.
• 46:18
  Love you, man.
• 46:20
  Love you too, dude.
• 46:20
  Can't wait to get together and play some more music soon.
• 46:24
  Let's try it.