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Singer Songwriter Michael Veitch Discovers The Secret O Life From James Taylor · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I really do love it when people say, your podcast
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: is all over the place. You're not focused. I know.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: That's exactly the way that we lead our lives, right?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: What are you doing today versus what you did yesterday?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: How about five minutes from now? How about in maybe
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a quarter of an hour to three days? We're all
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: over the place. So why shouldn't your podcast? It's about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your taste. Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net. Enjoy your exploration. There are 21
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: different podcasts to explore. Now, it's time for you to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: accept the journey and go grow forward. Hello and good morning, everybody.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: North Carolina. Yes, it is.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: What do you know about North Carolina?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I've been through it a bunch of times.
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  Speaker 1: That's a good thing. It's not like one of those
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  Speaker 1: one-horse pony towns with only one traffic light. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I met somebody yesterday that says, yeah, I live in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: one of those towns that has no traffic lights. I said,
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  Speaker 1: I want to live there.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I have a lot of friends from From up
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  Speaker 2: here that moved to Asheville. Oh. And, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: haven't been to Asheville yet, but I really, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's on my list of places to visit and catch
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  Speaker 2: up with some old friends.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, Michael, once you go to Asheville, you're
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  Speaker 1: not going anywhere else. You might as well just bring
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  Speaker 1: your whole entire house with you. You will not leave Asheville.
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  Speaker 2: They never came back, so you must be right. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's the Hollywood or the California of the East Coast. And,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, once you're there, there's a vibration like California.
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  Speaker 1: And you just feel like that no matter what you
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  Speaker 1: create in art, you are accepted.
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  Speaker 2: Well, in Woodstock, New York, there's a vibration as well,
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  Speaker 2: which is the reason I'm here. But what I've learned
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  Speaker 2: over time, that it's a very complex vibration. And it's
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  Speaker 2: not necessarily... all positive. The town is built on the
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  Speaker 2: site of a huge massacre, basically an Indian massacre. And
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  Speaker 2: I think we're still paying off the debt, to tell
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  Speaker 2: you the truth. I mean, it's rough sometimes here.
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  Speaker 1: I can so relate with that, Michael. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: why is because, I mean, being here in Carolina, I'm
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  Speaker 1: down here in the Catawba Nation area, as well as
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  Speaker 1: the Cherokee but there's so much history there. Just, just
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  Speaker 1: not even two miles from my home are these huge
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  Speaker 1: rocks that back in the 1400, the native Americans lived in.
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  Speaker 1: I do believe the land is speaking. And that's the
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  Speaker 1: reason 32 years of my writing will go right back
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  Speaker 1: into the earth because I'm just here to borrow it
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, but it's going back in the earth.
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  Speaker 2: We're all just here to borrow it.
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  Speaker 1: It's so true.
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  Speaker 2: It's absolutely true. I'm, We're on the same page with
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  Speaker 2: that one, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: You do so many things with this album in the
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  Speaker 1: way that, I mean, it's so inspiring and it really
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  Speaker 1: got me to explore even deeper. And that's what I
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  Speaker 1: love about what you're doing here. I mean, because, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: all the years that I have played Walk Away Renee,
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  Speaker 1: did I ever think that this was a true crime song?
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  Speaker 2: Never. Never. You know, look, she spoke to me from
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  Speaker 2: beyond the grave. What can I say?
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  Speaker 1: Oh.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I you know, look, we were finishing up
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  Speaker 2: the record. That whole thing in Minneapolis happened. I have
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  Speaker 2: family out there, you know, and there's a you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's personal with me. And, you know, it just I
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  Speaker 2: looked at Julie. I said, you know, something keeps telling
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  Speaker 2: me to listen to Walk Away, Renee. I didn't even
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  Speaker 2: know the song. I mean, it was a it was
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  Speaker 2: kind of like before my time a little bit, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and and we put it up and we started listening
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  Speaker 2: to it. And we both started like, you know, geez,
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  Speaker 2: this is. holy moly, we really have something here. We
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  Speaker 2: have to get this out. And so we did.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you inspired me to do a show. I do
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  Speaker 1: a show, a podcast with Alexa from Amazon, and you
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  Speaker 1: never know what Alexa is going to say. And the
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  Speaker 1: thing is, as we were talking about, you inspired me
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to go in and do research about what are listeners
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: really asking for when it comes to these songwriters. And
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  Speaker 1: I said, are we going back into the albums and
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  Speaker 1: listening to the lyrics of the songs and we have
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  Speaker 1: the inside sleep. And I feel like that that's what
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  Speaker 1: you did, Michael, is that you went in there and
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  Speaker 1: you said, look, I'm going to look a little bit
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  Speaker 1: deeper than what the average listener does because people need
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  Speaker 1: it right now. And I mean, my God, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what you do with the music you do. I mean, you,
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  Speaker 1: you take me to a completely different level and I'm
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  Speaker 1: a jock of 47 years here.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Well, thanks. Yeah. You're making me feel like I
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  Speaker 2: hit the lottery here.
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  Speaker 1: You did. In my book, you did. I mean, even
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  Speaker 1: with the Secret O' Life, I mean, were you thinking
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  Speaker 1: of James Taylor when that came together? Because, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I got that James Taylor vibe. And once again, that's
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  Speaker 1: all Carolina. He lived here.
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  Speaker 2: I got to meet him afterwards. And I had already
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  Speaker 2: opened a whole bunch of shows for Livingston Taylor.
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  Speaker 1: Oh.
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  Speaker 2: And I was friends with Kate Taylor, who lived on
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  Speaker 2: the vineyard. I spent a lot of time on the
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  Speaker 2: vineyard for a while. And, you know, so I said
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  Speaker 2: to James Taylor, I said, you know, you know, I've
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  Speaker 2: opened for Livingston and I know Kate. And he says, well,
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  Speaker 2: now you've got the hat trick. And I just, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I had grown up, you know, listening to
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  Speaker 2: his records and and wearing them out. Okay. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that was, that was the thing. And actually, you know,
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  Speaker 2: 20 years, 25, 30 years later to be sitting there
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  Speaker 2: talking to him, you know, I have to feel something,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a higher power that is pushing, pushing
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  Speaker 2: things along. And so, you know, secret of life, I
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  Speaker 2: went looking for a James Taylor song and I wanted
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  Speaker 2: something that really kind of spoke to the spirit of
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  Speaker 2: the record, you know, and, and that song is, uh,
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  Speaker 2: I've never covered it before. I've never performed it before,
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  Speaker 2: but I just said, Oh, this is it. This is
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  Speaker 2: the one.
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  Speaker 1: So didn't you like being with Livingston Taylor? He's been
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  Speaker 1: on the show so many times and I just love
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  Speaker 1: the way that he embraces a vision that we tap into.
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  Speaker 1: It's like he, it's like I I've been to the
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  Speaker 1: field in the top of the mountain. I've got something
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to share. And he puts it in his music.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, he's a teacher, you know, and that comes
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  Speaker 2: across in his performance. But when you sit backstage and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, talk about the news of the day, he's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's the same person. I mean, he is a,
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  Speaker 2: he's a brilliant guy. The whole family, brilliant. And, you know, it's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're blessed. I mean, being a songwriter is,
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  Speaker 2: and having done, done it as long as I have, um, and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, being able to work through, I mean, look,
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  Speaker 2: I'm the guy, I had to write 200 really bad
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  Speaker 2: songs before I wrote my first good one. I, they
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  Speaker 2: didn't come pouring out, you know, and, uh, uh, and
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  Speaker 2: then to find myself sort of circling back and hanging with,
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  Speaker 2: with people, you know, that, uh, They were my influences.
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  Speaker 2: It's just, I mean, that's the gift. That's my reward
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  Speaker 2: for this whole, all this effort I've put in my
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  Speaker 2: whole life.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Michael Veach coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. The name of his album, Discovered. We are
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: back with singer-songwriter Michael Veach. All of your gifts have
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: then become gifts to us on this side because you
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  Speaker 1: gifted my life with a quote from Bernie Sanders that
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  Speaker 1: I did not know until you shared it. And if
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  Speaker 1: you don't think I don't want this on a poster
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: or a T-shirt or something, songs can be beautifully built
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and socially awake. Why did it take all of these
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  Speaker 1: years for me to hear that quote? And I'm going, amen.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly what music does.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Bernie, you know, Bernie's a gift. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we forgive him for having grown up in Brooklyn, being
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  Speaker 2: a Vermonter. We let him in. And I'm glad we did,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: because he not only did he shake up Vermont, but,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he continues to shake up the country. And
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  Speaker 2: we need more people like Bernie. And I think we're
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: seeing more people like Bernie coming forward. And You know,
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  Speaker 2: I gave it a shot. I mean, I ran for
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  Speaker 2: state Senate when I was in Vermont. You know, I
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  Speaker 2: endorsed by Bernie Sanders, no less. I mean, I got,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he came down and campaigned for me. But,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I had to make a decision at that
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  Speaker 2: point in my life. I had to say, look, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if I win the election, I'll go politics all the way.
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  Speaker 2: And if I lose the election... I'm going to go
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  Speaker 2: music all the way. And of course, I lost the election.
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  Speaker 1: Well, do you not think that the music has a
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  Speaker 1: bigger impact anyway? Because in this way, you don't have
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  Speaker 1: other members of the House or Congress that are going
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to sit there and try to veto a song. You
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  Speaker 1: can put the song out here and all of a
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  Speaker 1: sudden we're all for that. I mean, for generations, we'll
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  Speaker 1: find it and we'll come back to it going. So
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  Speaker 1: who was this, Michael? Let me tell you. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I got a conversation with him. You're not going to
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  Speaker 1: believe how cool this guy is.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I agree that, you know, once you create the
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  Speaker 2: sound waves and you send them out into the world,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to resonate forever. I mean, just look at
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  Speaker 2: the Beatles. You know, that's the prime or Elvis or
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Frank Sinatra. They're still resonating. And, you know, it's, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's the gift of doing art. Politics is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's more of a chess game. politics and i'm a
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  Speaker 2: chess player as well so that appeals to me but
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  Speaker 2: you know it's the music is, you know, I think
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  Speaker 2: it keeps me young.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Whereas politics kind of. ages me prematurely.
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  Speaker 1: So are you like me though, Michael, in the way
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  Speaker 1: that there are times that you find yourself going, ah,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: let me just go back about 10 years and find
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: out what I was putting down. And then you listen
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: to it and you go, oh God, what was I thinking?
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  Speaker 1: Oh my God. And then, I mean, do you find
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: yourself in a situation like that? And do you let
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: just time have its own place and not touch it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I'm finding when I go back and listen
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  Speaker 2: to stuff I did years ago is that I was
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: actually I'm doing a little bit of time travel and,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: you know, I hear these songs and I, some of
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  Speaker 2: them resonate today. I mean, you know, I have a
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: song called happy 4th of July that, uh, you know,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: it's got a line about, they shoot us on main street.
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  Speaker 2: And I wrote that song, you know, 10 years, 12
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  Speaker 2: years ago, you know, it's like, and here we are
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: today and they're shooting us on main street. And I'm like, Whoa,
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  Speaker 2: you know what? You know, part of the goal of
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: a songwriter or an artist or a poet or whatever
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  Speaker 2: is to tap into that, you know, universal consciousness. And
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  Speaker 2: sometimes we do it and sometimes we don't. And the
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  Speaker 2: good songs, the ones that kind of write themselves, I think,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: are cases of where, you know, you've actually tapped in
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  Speaker 2: to some bigger thing. And, you know... I've been lucky.
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  Speaker 2: I've been lucky over my career. I've got some songs
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  Speaker 2: that I think truly have tapped. And, you know, I mean,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: that's the goal. You know, that's what I set out
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: to do. And, you know, you hope that it works.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Well, you tapped into a big one here. God bless
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Johnny Cash. Hell yeah.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Well, my next door neighbor here in Woodstock, New York,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: is Ed Sanders from the Fuggs. And Ed is a
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: co-writer with Steve Taylor of that song. And they've had
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: a long career. My older brothers were big fans of
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: the Fuggs, but I was more of a fan of
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: the solo Ed Sanders. He had a record, and I
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: urge you to pull that out and listen to it.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: he had a record called Ed Sanders truck stop. And,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: you know, I, uh, I was about 15 sitting in
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: my bedroom with my little turntable listening to that record.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And it was one of the first records where the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: lyrics like literally hit me over the head, you know? And, um,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And here I am in Woodstock, New York, living next
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: door to him. And he's a great guy. And so
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I went looking for a Fuggs song. And I ended
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: up finding God Bless Johnny Cash. Because, I mean, what's
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: not to like about that song?
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: So true. Where can people go to find out more
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: about this project and really dive into what you're doing here?
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Because it is really quite the journey to experience.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Well, we've got a release date of October 12th and
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: it's going to be out on all the digital platforms
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: as well as band camp.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And so and I'm working with a publicist who's helping
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: me to kind of guide me through. She found you
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: and sent you to me. And, you know, and we're we're.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: you know, we're guiding ourselves forward to this release date
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: on October 12th. And that's when, you know, hopefully we really,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: you know, put the word out at that point and
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I post it all over Facebook and that sort of thing,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: you know, and we get it out there. It's been
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: a two-year project, so I'm quite proud of it that,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: you know, I was able to finish it through. I
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: had some adversity. I had some health issues and had
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: to overcome and so forth. And here I am, I
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: came out on the other side and I'm in great shape. Wow.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Well, you're going to have to come back to this
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: show and share even more stories in the future, dude.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open. So that
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: PR person, get her on that map and say, get
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: me booked again. He wants to talk more. He's got
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: more questions.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And with, uh, With Livingston Taylor, I'd like to get
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: caught up with him after all these years.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, my God. He's got some stories, dude. I swear
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: it was less than a year ago that we were together. Oh,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: my God. That man can talk. Oh, my God.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: We were backstage one time, and this is a great story.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Jimmy Buffett had flown in, and he was a friend
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: of Livingston Taylor's, and he had flown into Boston. And
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: flipped his plane. Oh, no. And it was on the
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: front page of the Boston Globe. Jimmy Buffett, he flew this, like,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: antique airplane. Yeah. And, of course, Livingston's a pilot. And
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Livingston flies all over the place, you know. And I
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: said to Livingston, I said, you sure you want to
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: be flying as well? You know, I don't fly old
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: antique planes like Jimmy. I mean, it was like, I mean,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: you know, it was just really funny because he's known him.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: For years. And I don't know.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Life is full of these circles. So true. And you
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: just keep coming around and around and around again. I'll
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: come around to your show again.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Please do. Please do, man. Will you be brilliant today, okay?
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: All right. You too. Thanks for having me. I really
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: appreciate it.