Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / The Cowboy Palace From Chris Johnson Breaking Down Better Days Ahead

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The Cowboy Palace From Chris Johnson Breaking Down Better Days Ahead · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Oh.
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  Speaker 2: There's a reason why we created ARO dot net a
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  Speaker 2: R r OE dot net because I'm a podcast listener.
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  Speaker 2: I know what it's like to be in the front
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  Speaker 2: seat of your car or at work and all of
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  Speaker 2: a sudden, that really cool podcast you've been digging for
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  Speaker 2: the past couple of days. You're going, eh, I figured
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  Speaker 2: it out. I'm bored. I don't know where to go now. Well,
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  Speaker 2: instead of jumping all over these other platforms searching for
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  Speaker 2: something that's going to entertain you, just stay on ARO
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  Speaker 2: dot net because there are twenty different podcasts to choose
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  Speaker 2: from a R R o e dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Chris,
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  Speaker 2: how you doing today, Buddy.
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing good. I'm really glad to talk to you.
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  Speaker 1: What's going on? Man?
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, I've been wanting to talk to you for
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  Speaker 2: the longest time because it's been a long time since
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  Speaker 2: I've heard music like this. This to me is coming
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  Speaker 2: from your soul, and that tells me it's coming from
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  Speaker 2: the universe, the Earth. I mean, it's like you're pulling
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  Speaker 2: it in, dude.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Man, thank you so much. Well, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: songwriting for me is about storytelling, you know, And I
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  Speaker 1: think the course to just kind of support what the
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  Speaker 1: song's about. This song is about my own life experience
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  Speaker 1: of being a working musician, being a dad, being a
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  Speaker 1: tour musician, and you know, kind of a working guy.
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  Speaker 1: I've been an independent artist for many, many years, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, doing those weekend gigs, playing the honky tonks
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  Speaker 1: and then working during the week to keep the lights on.
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  Speaker 1: You know, So this is about in reality.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you're giving us that the title of the
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  Speaker 2: song better days ahead, because you and you and you
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  Speaker 2: never stopped, you kept growing. There are better days ahead.
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  Speaker 2: There are better days.
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  Speaker 1: Ahead, absolutely, and I think everybody can relate to that, right,
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  Speaker 1: aren't we all dreaming? Not that our our lives are
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  Speaker 1: are miserable or anything, but you know, we all dream
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  Speaker 1: of having providing more for our family and having a
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  Speaker 1: more comfortable life and achieving more in life, whatever your
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  Speaker 1: career is. And that's what this song is about. You know.
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  Speaker 1: I've been dreaming my whole life about being a superstar
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  Speaker 1: country guy. And I've been playing on bands and since
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  Speaker 1: I was fifteen years old, you know, and it never
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  Speaker 1: it never gets old, you know, when the travel and
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  Speaker 1: the setting up the gear and you know, all that
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  Speaker 1: stuff's a grind. But man, when I get out there
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  Speaker 1: and if it's fifteen people or one hundred people, or
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  Speaker 1: I've played for twenty thousand people, man, it's just it's
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  Speaker 1: it's amazing, you know. It Just I still love it.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I keep doing it. But you know, I
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  Speaker 1: like I like songwriting. I always have since I was
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  Speaker 1: a kid. I was making up songs when I was
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  Speaker 1: five or six years old, you know. And you know
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  Speaker 1: what I mean. And my mom was a public school
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  Speaker 1: teacher and a folk artist and stuff. A musician herself.
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  Speaker 1: She was a music major, and you know, but she
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  Speaker 1: chose the path of education, and she used to haul
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  Speaker 1: me around all these retirement communities and elementary schools and
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  Speaker 1: churches and things to sing and say look at my son,
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  Speaker 1: you know. And I get out there and say, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you really do living now. You live up
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  Speaker 2: to your mantra, which is sometimes dreams only come true
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  Speaker 2: when you build them yourself. You've lived your mantra.
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  Speaker 1: That's right. I had some some brushes with some labels
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  Speaker 1: back in the day when there were big labels and
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  Speaker 1: publishing things, and you know, it got close. It was
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  Speaker 1: on some celebrity TV shows and stuff, and it didn't
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  Speaker 1: make it through and stuff, but I just kept grinding
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  Speaker 1: it out in the clubs. I mean, I've been touring,
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  Speaker 1: you know for twenty years with CDs and T shirts
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  Speaker 1: and you know, choch keys, you know, playing festivals and
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  Speaker 1: selling stuff out of the trunk and building up my
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  Speaker 1: following it, you know, and we're we're selling out clubs
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  Speaker 1: all over the place, and you know, we're playing probably eight, ten,
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  Speaker 1: twelve shows a month, you know, just traveling.
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  Speaker 2: And then wow, So your perseverance and your dedication, how
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  Speaker 2: much of that came from FFA because I had that
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  Speaker 2: up in Montana. I believe that the strength that I
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  Speaker 2: have today is because of FFA. It just never leaves you.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I loved AD class and I loved FFA, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, it was cool. You'd race it, you get
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  Speaker 1: a steer. I'd had some pigs and stuff too. But
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  Speaker 1: you go up to the ranch with the with with
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  Speaker 1: your with your AD class, you know, or your FFA class.
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  Speaker 1: You pick a calf. You had to take it home.
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  Speaker 1: You had to feed it, water it every day. You
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  Speaker 1: got a little bank account from the local bank, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the farm bank. They had loan you money so you
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  Speaker 1: could buy feed and stuff, and then you had to
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  Speaker 1: take the count of the fair and you had to
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  Speaker 1: show it and then hope someone would bit on it.
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  Speaker 1: And then when they bought the steer, then you had
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  Speaker 1: to pay off your loan of the bank. So it
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  Speaker 1: taught you all about responsibility. And you know, you had
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  Speaker 1: to maintain that animal. You know, your parents weren't going
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  Speaker 1: to do it, you know. And I had a lot
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  Speaker 1: of horses and stuff too I had to deal with.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, and going to all those hanging out down
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  Speaker 1: to the fair all week long and sitting around on
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  Speaker 1: the hay bales with all the kids and stuff and
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  Speaker 1: listening to the country bands. And it was just a
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  Speaker 1: great time in my life.
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  Speaker 2: Please don't move. We've got more on the way with
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  Speaker 2: Chris Johnson, singer songwriter Chris Johnson. He's back and we're
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  Speaker 2: talking about better days, the Cowboy Palace and so much more.
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  Speaker 2: Your album, people are gonna look at it and they're
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  Speaker 2: gonna go, I'm not sure what it is. But when
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  Speaker 2: you really do the research behind it, is this the
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  Speaker 2: same cow palace that you're singing about with the Cowboy Palace?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I own the Cowboy Palace and chaw.
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  Speaker 2: Look at you look at you, no wonder. It sounds
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  Speaker 2: so authentic.
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  Speaker 1: This music I've been playing there forever, man, and I
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  Speaker 1: made enough money in life to buy it. I've owned
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  Speaker 1: it for ten years and I've kept it going.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I love it. See, that's what it's all about,
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  Speaker 2: because I grew up in the age when when you
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  Speaker 2: had the Charlie Prize of the World and the Patsy
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  Speaker 2: Clins and things like that, where it was all about
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  Speaker 2: working it. The way that you're working it, you're living
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  Speaker 2: it as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah I am. And you know, I've been blessed to
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  Speaker 1: work on a lot of big records. I've worked with
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  Speaker 1: David Foster and baby Face, I'm Linda Perry, all these
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  Speaker 1: big groups. You know. I toured with Van Halen and
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  Speaker 1: I've got TechEd for Paul McCartney. Done all these gigs
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  Speaker 1: so I've done. I worked for Live Nation, I've worked
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  Speaker 1: on the production side of the music business. I love
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  Speaker 1: everything about music business. And I've worked for the biggest
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  Speaker 1: stars in the world, and I've you know, done the
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  Speaker 1: smallest gigs in the world. You know, I've played in
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  Speaker 1: people's backyards. It doesn't matter, it's all the same, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, where along the lines. Did you start calling yourself
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  Speaker 2: the urban cowboy? Because I love that title because it
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  Speaker 2: says it to me, that's branding.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, in all, in all honesty, I lifted
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  Speaker 1: it from one of my favorite movies, you know it,
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  Speaker 1: But it relates to me, man. I mean, I'm a
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  Speaker 1: cowboy at heart. I live in Los Angeles, but I
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  Speaker 1: live in an urban area. I live in Goredona Hills,
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  Speaker 1: but uh uh, you know, and while we have a
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  Speaker 1: vacation home up in uh uh uh, up in pine
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  Speaker 1: mountains and stuff, because I got to get rural, you know.
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  Speaker 1: But I grew up in a rural area. But living
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  Speaker 1: in the city, I still that cowboy guy. You know.
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  Speaker 1: When I was living in Hollywood and stuff, you know,
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  Speaker 1: all the glitz and all that stuff and all the
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  Speaker 1: hip fancy people. Man, that wasn't me. I've been around
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  Speaker 1: all that stuff, and I always felt so out of place,
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  Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I'm friendly, I can hang with them,
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  Speaker 1: but it was not my thing. Man. I'd much rather
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  Speaker 1: be outdoors, you know, riding a quad or something, riding
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  Speaker 1: a horse.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I was speaking of riding horses. Did you
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  Speaker 2: really ride a horse and then go surfing? Because isn't
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  Speaker 2: that just two different parts of the mind, body and soul.
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  Speaker 1: No, not at all. No surf every morning. I grew up.
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  Speaker 1: I grew up in San Diego County, in the East County,
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  Speaker 1: out in the town called Lakeside, which is a is
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  Speaker 1: a rodeo town, you know, Lakeside, Ramona alcohol in area.
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  Speaker 1: And we lived in a uh uh zoned area for
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  Speaker 1: agriculture and horses and stuff. So all my neighbors had horses.
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  Speaker 1: There were horses easements around all the houses. There were
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  Speaker 1: roping rings. I was in junior rodeo FFA like you know,
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  Speaker 1: and four h before that. But you know, the beach
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  Speaker 1: was a half an hour away, and my parents spent
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  Speaker 1: every summer down on Mission Bay and San Diego. And
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  Speaker 1: I had cousins up in the ocean side and Carl
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  Speaker 1: that lived along the coast. So I grew up surfing.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't see, you know, there was like two cultures
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  Speaker 1: or nothing. You know. I was a surfing cowboy. Man.
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  Speaker 1: I love surfing and skateboarding too, you know. I was
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  Speaker 1: in the dirt bikes and Harley's too, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: mean I got a lot of interest.
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  Speaker 2: See that's what it's all about. And That's what I
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  Speaker 2: want to always share with listeners and people that follow
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  Speaker 2: you is the fact that I mean, listen to the
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  Speaker 2: authenticity of your genuiness. You know what I mean by that.
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  Speaker 2: It gives you that opportunity to explore well, you.
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  Speaker 1: Know, people have said that and they said, you know
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  Speaker 1: your song. I like. What I liked about your songs
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  Speaker 1: is they really speak to you? Yes? And I guess
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  Speaker 1: that's maybe that's the only that's the only way I
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  Speaker 1: know how to write, is to write from the heart.
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  Speaker 1: I admire people who can weave together poetry and these
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  Speaker 1: tapestries of imagination and leave it up to the interpreter,
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  Speaker 1: you know, rhyming words and stuff. But that's not the
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  Speaker 1: song writing that I ever really explored. Like, I can
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  Speaker 1: write a song in a minute if I just have
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  Speaker 1: the premise of the feeling or the story, and they
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  Speaker 1: don't all come from my life, but they they come
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  Speaker 1: from emotions I've experienced, even if observing other people made
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  Speaker 1: me feel a certain way, or I like to watch
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  Speaker 1: people and I wonder what that person's struggle is, what
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  Speaker 1: that what that person's life is like, or what that
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  Speaker 1: loss in their life felt like. You know, I mean
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  Speaker 1: and that's my inspiration for songs.
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  Speaker 2: You ever been up there on stage and you do
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  Speaker 2: look into the eyes of someone who is in the crowd,
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  Speaker 2: and it does kind of change that emotion of a
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  Speaker 2: song one time, because you know you've locked in on
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  Speaker 2: them and that it's already affecting them emotionally.
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  Speaker 1: Rather, you got it so right. You look for those
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  Speaker 1: people every night, but when it's magic, when you you know,
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  Speaker 1: they can't, you can't, they can't fake it. When when
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  Speaker 1: you're resonating with someone, everyone else in the room is gone.
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  Speaker 1: You're just locked into them. And that's that's what is
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  Speaker 1: us as artists want, you know what I mean, to
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  Speaker 1: just connect. Music connects on a deeper level than even
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  Speaker 1: a munication in in in a lot of senses, you
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  Speaker 1: know what I mean. There's a certain honesty to it,
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  Speaker 1: and just as human beings, we all kind of want
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  Speaker 1: to connect, you know, and uh when uh I you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be singing a song and I'll see someone's eyes
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  Speaker 1: kind of well up or whatever, or they're they're just
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  Speaker 1: and and it's just like, man, that's what this is about,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
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  Speaker 2: I do know what you mean? Where can people go?
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  Speaker 2: Where can people go to find out more about you,
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  Speaker 2: and please tell me you've got merch so that people
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  Speaker 2: across the entire nation can sit there and get them
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  Speaker 2: merch and get people talking in their own communities.
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  Speaker 1: Hollywoodabilities dot us and then we and then we, you know, Facebook, Instagram,
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  Speaker 1: social media, TikTok, the Cowboy Policyalon dot com. Uh, the
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  Speaker 1: social media gal from my bar also does a social
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  Speaker 1: media for the band. We got tons of merch we
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  Speaker 1: got and we also have an online site where the cups.
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  Speaker 1: People can get cups and chikuz coozies and all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of stuff that we can't carry around with us the gigs.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we still sell a lot of albums and CDs.
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  Speaker 1: Is people want those things they do and people, you know,
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  Speaker 1: people don't always you know, you can't. You can say, well,
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  Speaker 1: here's the link, you know to download, but I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I'm happy to share the Spotify linked. The new songs out.
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  Speaker 1: It's been out for three days, I think, and we've
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  Speaker 1: almost reaching thirty thousand streams, so we're pretty happy about it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that great, Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 1: That's really great. We've got a lot of money listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, just keep growing it, just keep growing it. Man,
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  Speaker 2: you got to come back to this show anytime in
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  Speaker 2: the future. Chris. The door is always going to be
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  Speaker 2: open for you. And if you ever come to the
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  Speaker 2: Carolinas to perform, we got to have a face to
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  Speaker 2: face man.
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  Speaker 1: I'd come love and bring my guitar in there and
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  Speaker 1: sing sing some songs for you. For sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love the man that would That would
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  Speaker 2: be a gift from the Almighty. I'll tell you that
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  Speaker 2: for sure.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, well we'll set it up. I appreciate the call. Man.
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  Speaker 1: This is really great. Thank you so much for this interview.
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  Speaker 2: Will you be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Chris, Okay, you too, Thank you so much, man,