The Life of the Wayward Keyboard Traveler | Chad Stockslager

You Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Ryder sports talk. Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.

Oh, it's a big mic. Oh, okay. All right.

Yeah. Okay. Now I get it.

We're going to lightning strike boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window.

All right, all right. Here's a tip for all these Americana league teams. Don't do it.

You said tip. Yeah, tap, tap. Keep jamming.

To take a colon, nothing but a big Gen X jerk off session. This is a little night or what? Somebody would hear that.

I'm back. Well, well, well. Hello, one and all.

Once again, it is another episode of your dark companion. We hope everybody is feeling all right. And hanging out and having a little bit of fun for yourself today.

That's the main thing, right? Glad to have you with us. We are here inside the nurturing biosphere of the mothership, as we always are.

And we are prepared today to amuse you and edify you with the goings on and tails from a guy who has both amused and edified me many, many times over the years. He is a guy that you probably heard referred to in different ports of call from time to time. He is the great Chad Stockslager.

Also known as Mr. Chad. Nice to meet you, sir.

Hello, everybody. How are you doing? Yes, what a beautiful day we have here.

Indeed it is, isn't it? What a wonderful treat to be here and you're warm and accommodating home. Well, what we like to do around here is make everybody warm and accommodate them in whatever way they need to be accommodated.

And exchange for them coming into this room, sitting there for about an hour or so and talking to me. Well, your efforts are duly noted and much appreciated. Always a pleasure.

How you been, man? Well, you know, figuring it out, I'm hanging in there hoping for the best and bracing for the worst. I figured at any given moment the whole bottom could fall out, but for now things to be, seems to be taken on a smooth and easy stride.

It hasn't fallen out yet. Not just yet. Your bottom hasn't fallen out?

Well, maybe get into that later. We're just getting started. Now, Mr.

Chad is a very, very well-known musician. He is an incredible keyboard player. Probably the best guy around.

I know that if I ever need a keyboard player, first guy I think of is him. And then I put that thought completely out of my mind because I know that I won't be able to get him. Because somebody else has got him.

But still, he has go to for a whole lot of people when he comes to that. And that's a pretty good dish for you to be in. Be everybody's go to keyboard player because I don't know if you're aware of this or not.

They don't grow on trees. No, they don't. No, they are a singular breed.

Oh, yes. The life of the wayward keyboard traveler. One never quite knows where you might find yourself.

But you and I have... Well, we've tried the boards on more than one occasion through the house. We have.

I seem to recall a Dylan project we both seem to enjoy. Yes. I'm glad we did.

I seem to enjoy that quite a bit. Notice the Buick 6. That was fun.

I was thought that the mission statement of that particular operation was what was most intriguing. I mean, there's so many different ways you could approach that catalog. But I think your idea of trying to play it as they appeared on the record seemed unusually unique for his catalog.

Yeah, it did. I'm not sure how well thought out that was, but I felt like, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. I felt like if we did it any other way, it might be a little bit too jammy.

It might be the songs might get a little bit more, even more protracted than they already were, and protracted. That name is Bob Dylan, for sure. Right.

And that's the thing. So like, he never played them like the records. No, no, he didn't.

And so I guess that's to me what made it so interesting was that if you were to do any other bands, say you did a Stones thing or whatever, anything else, it would make sense to do it like the record. But for him, some of the later versions were almost more compelling at times. Right?

You could be pulled in several ways, not even mentioned. Yeah, there were. The last catalogs of covers that are more famous than his versions.

So to uniquely represent those recordings, I thought it was pretty cool. And what was it, Girl Marcus wrote like a whole book about, like a Rolling Stone. I mean, once you start cracking open the arc on that mountain, it's really quite revealing.

Do you recall the first time you heard that song? Like a Rolling Stone? Yeah.

And probably on Caleb or something when I was growing up in Ontario. But the opening crack of that snare drum just grabs your attention right away. Yes.

And I don't know that I'd ever heard a song with so many words. It was just everything about it was mystifying to me. No.

That's a pretty strong snare. Very strong snare. But everything about this song, kind of when it gets the grain of everything that was going on in music and pop music at the time because back then, the rules of the road where you had two and a half minutes, say, whatever you had to say in two and a half minutes, if you were really good at really convincing and somebody really liked you, they might give you three, maybe, but that was it.

So here comes like a Rolling Stone out in 1965, clocking in at what, seven minutes and something? Six minutes, eleven seconds, I'm seeing. Yeah.

It's crazy. I love this one, but as a kid, the one that spoke to me more was a positively forced street. I don't know what it was about that one.

The arrangement, everything, his voice. It's the last, you know, I used to talk about this, but it's going into the last verse or something where he gives that big snarly. Yes.

Yes. That was angry, Dylan. I know, but it was so cool.

It was great. Yeah. And the organ's just so choice.

Anyway. Anyway, I like that. You and I could wax Dylan.

Oh, we could forever. All day. Why not?

We could. I love the video play as a group. It seemed like he'll didn't go too terribly long.

Like in terms of how many months, years. It seemed like it was a fairly short project. Probably about a year or so.

Okay. Does that sound right? I don't know.

Maybe a little longer, but that was fun. Yeah. Great place.

Bring it back. Come on. Well, it's always fun to do tribute stuff when it's something you're really passionate about.

I mean, I feel like if we had stuck with it, we could have maybe gotten a little deeper into the catalog. That would have been fun. Yeah.

That would have been fun. I'd have been for that. Just to cut loose with some of the deeper cuts.

Well, I want to talk to you about you here. Well. Now, you mentioned Terrell a moment ago, I do believe.

That's right. Yes. That is the Fairburg in which you came into this mortal coil.

Well, I was actually born in McKinney in 76. And our family moved to Terrell in 85. So I spent.

Nice. Well. That's a fun fact.

Back it's from Terrell. Well. I'm from Terrell in.

I've known him for birthdays. But I mean, seven years older than you and my sister. Oh, so I was in November 20th.

Mine is the fourth and her sister's second. Well, I don't know much about the whole astrology stuff. Apparently, I'm on the cusp.

I'm a scorpio sage. A little something about me. Oh.

Well played. I think I'd hang out there on the cusp. I think the cusp is a good view.

Yeah. Yeah. So when did the music thing start for you?

So like in McKinney, when I was a kiddo, I had a grandmother who had a piano. My beloved Mima, who I was very fond of. And she taught me some songs on there.

And my dad had gone to Austin College and studied in the choir up there. He was part of that whole scene. So he was singing all the time.

He taught me harmony when we'd be making these drives. These long road trips. And there was a point early on when I was quite young where they played the Wizard of Oz on TV.

And I was so compelled by this film. I remember being quite moved by it. Everything about it.

And this was probably even when they were showing commercials, you know, like in between, like, you know, stay tuned for more Wizard of Oz, you know. You know, here's an ad from Tough Act and Connected and whatever it is, right? Back pain, reach for dones.

Here's the wicked witch. Anyway, that kind of thing, you know, that was that time. So someone at some point had bought me this thing.

And I could show you. I'm brought it here just so we don't just start. Yes, now this is called, I don't remember where this came from.

Who got it for me, but it was in this toy box. And it's called the magical musical thing. And it's got these little colored buttons on it.

Okay, and it came with a little song book. But as soon as the Wizard of Oz was over, I ran to my little room and reached in that toy box and pulled this thing out. And was able to, I don't know if you can pick this up.

But with one finger, with my parents watching, I played. Right? Oh, little rusty.

Okay. So with your parents watching, you picked that whole thing out yourself. Yes.

Now I don't know if they look at each other. Oh, my God. They had a piano in the house within like four days.

I remember we picked it up from somewhere and seen it in the back of the pickup truck and tied down and hauled back to the house. And, and yeah, it was all, it was all onward and upward for me from that day forward. They put me in piano lessons and although I'd only had a couple lessons, the teacher felt it wise to throw me out there in front of a very crowded room to play with my one finger, that song that you just heard.

Using the magical musical? No, on a real piano. Okay.

Right, which was still pretty new to me. But I was a performer early on and I in ways that really don't make any sense. I remember in McKinney in those days, it was a pretty small community.

It was a one-horse town back in the late 70s, early 80s. Not a whole lot. That El Dorado division was just barely even getting thought of, I think, in those early days.

You had to go through actual countryside to get to it. Tons of country. And so there was a little one-screen movie theater there in town right off the highway.

And for some reason, as a young lad while I was sitting there waiting for E.T. or Raiders to the Lost Ark or Goonies, whatever the hot new movie was of the day, if the film was starting even just a couple minutes late, I would feel compelled to walk down to the front of the theater and address the crowd. And I would let them know as much as my little voice could muster.

Now, don't you, folks, worry. I'm sure everything's under control. The movie will surely begin anytime.

So just hold steady. And of course, I would always get interrupted by the film beginning. But I don't know where that came from.

If I'd seen it in something else or what? But I would see my parents from that vantage point. And they would be slowly sliding down in their seats.

And to this day, I don't really have any explanation for why that happened. Incomption. Isn't that weird?

Like, what would inspire even an adult to address? Now, I wouldn't do that today. Yeah, I know.

Why would you? Probably just go complain to the manager. Yeah.

Well, back then, did you have the same cadence and all that that you do now? Because it's very intoxicating. Well, you're sweet groups.

Yeah. No, but I don't know. I can't imagine what I would have sounded like as some little squeaky kid down there.

But, you know, I don't know. I think one's personality develops over time and you find your way through things and try to make your way as best you can. But, yeah, I don't know.

Again, these are mysteries. I'm still trying to kind of figure out my formative days. That's amazing.

I did not know that about it. Pretty weird, right? Yeah.

It's not really weird. It's just, wow, you know. It makes a lot of sense, though, when you get to know Mr.

Chad. Yeah. If you know what he's turned into and you know how he is, and you hear these soliloquies and monologues that are part and parcel of going to see him play in any situation, then it makes perfect sense, then.

I was with it. I've got a 12-year-old boy, little Leavon, the light of my life. And we read a movie not too long ago, and the movie was starting late.

And I told him that story. I said, boy, when I was a kid, I would have marched right down there and let the people know. Just hold on to your tickets, folks.

I'm sure it's all going to begin. Like, who's paying me for this? And I remember him saying, just go do it.

And I was like, what are you crazy? I'm not going to go down there now. I'm a grown man.

You do it. Yeah. Carry on the family name, son.

The family tradition. You're in charge now. All right.

The man of the theater. You say, screw it all I'm moving to Dallas. All right.

So right out of high school, me and some musician friends, we'd been playing in Deep Ellen. We'd been coming to Deep Ellen since, like, 92 or whatever, to come and play the coffee houses in any old club that would have us. And so once we graduated high school, we weren't quite prepared for the big lights of Dallas.

And we moved to the lesser lights of Mesquite. And we thought, oh, we still thought that was pretty big time. We were right over there by town east.

You know, I'm back here when I was growing up. You know, the first kid that was able to drive, you'd all hop in the car and head to the mall in the big city. Young glasses.

I think you'd really have done something cool. Right. You know, we had a day.

Maybe go to Sound Warehouse or something. Yeah. There just wasn't much out there.

Otherwise. So, yeah, so that would have been like 96, I guess. So we moved to Mesquite.

And then from there, we moved to Austin for a few years and then settled back into Dallas proper. Sure. Probably around 97, I guess.

Now, when did our path first cross? I was trying to think of this today. Right.

So it would have had to have been, I mean, I could think back in the DRAMs days. So I was a part of this group, the DRAMs, which was an offshoot of Slobberbone. Whenever Slobberbone busted up because their bass player moved to Florida, they kind of laid dormant for about a year or so.

And then the great Brent Best had an opportunity to play a solo gig down at South by Southwest. I want to say this was like 05-ish. And instead of playing a solo gig, he said, well, what if I put together a little project?

He'd been working on all these new songs. And so myself and Keith Kaloren, who played in the King Bucks in Budapest 1, we joined up with them and put together a set for that particular gig and then just kept going with it. They had one album left, I think, on their New West contract with New West Records.

So we recorded an album with them and then it did some really solid touring for a few years. But it was during that time that I got to know Danny, old man, Bayless. And I imagine that would have been my point of contact into your world and somewhere or another.

Yeah, that sounds about right, about 06-07. Yeah, just even just seeing each other around. But then you guys were kind enough to have me up to the old ticket there for bits and skits and such.

Yeah, especially remember during the Mavs playoff run and you made a song about JJ Berea needing to find people. People still ask me about that song. Yeah.

Yeah, the old, I loved Berea. I thought he was so cool. Well, he was young and spunky and had something to prove.

But he was out there and he was, I mean, I'm not the biggest sports fella, but every time I saw him out there squeaking around on the court, I knew something cool was about to happen. He could squeak with the best of him. So I guess I would have been, was that like your first band or did you have one?

Oh, with the drums? Yeah, I don't know. Oh, no.

And Kenny before that. Well, no. So in Terrell, we had a...

Or in Terrell, I guess. We went through any number of projects, you know. Some gigs, some bands you only play one gig with and then it falls apart.

We were just kids. But there was a band called Crooked Teeth that we had for a while. And we played in Dallas quite a bit.

Very interesting band names. Yes. We used to have the residencies in certain places.

Back here, down here where the single wide is now, used to be the Winedale Tavern. And they only served beer and wine. But they would...

We considered it our Hamburg days because you would play these four hour gigs and pretty much just getting paid in beer. And I think we'd all walk with 20 bucks or something. But it was like really good practice.

And that was every Friday night, I think, for months. And then we had a group called The Sons of Sound, which was kind of like a Strokes-ish kind of... I don't know what you call it, post-punk power pot.

And a Hopi-Doopie. That was the word I was going to say. I don't even know how you label these things.

But that was a really fun band. It had some really good but great drummer in that group. And through that, I met Keith Kaloren.

We did Budapest One. And that was a lot of fun. We used to play the Old Curtain Club a lot.

And lots of play and dance, so relief. And then from that, it went to the drums. And then out of the drums were the King Bucks.

Whenever the drums were winding down, the King Bucks were starting to play. And there was a bidding war over Danny for bass player because our friend Aaron White out there in Denton was trying to get him on board with his country-style project. And I'll be happy to report that after vigorous campaigning, I managed to secure Mr.

Bayless for our operation. And I was always very proud of that victory. But you know, and then from that, you know, King Bucks played forever and arguably too much in the throws of our small Metroplex.

That, of course, led to the best as a soul out of that project. Because Danny and I were working in more soul stuff into the country act. Yeah.

You know, you were the master of many, many different styles on the 88. You're very well-rounded. You can play.

You can at least find your way through anything. And there are certain styles that you're an absolute master of. Back when you were first starting out, who are the guys that you wanted to be like?

I have a very distinct memory of seeing Ray Charles on... Now, you could correct me on this. You might actually know better than me.

But I seem to recall it being a... It was like one of Reagan's inaugurations. Maybe the 84 one.

Okay. And so... It's like, yeah, 50th...

Yeah. Okay. And it was on TV.

And I was at my grandmother's house. And I remember seeing him. And he did like America the Beautiful or something.

Yeah. Yeah. And I was so captivated by this.

I was just like, I said, Mimong, come, look at this man. Look at what he's doing. And of course, he's singing with his thunderous authority and, you know, his soulful swagger.

But on top of that, I was very impressed by his movements. You know, he was blind as a bat. But his body was doing something so specifically rhythmic.

And I remember thinking, I think he's leading the band with his body. Which may not be a big revelation anyone else. But for me, I was like, that is so cool.

Like his movement was like, you had to kind of watch him. His rhythm could be pretty specific, right? Ray Charles was a big one for me.

Jerry Lee Lewis early on. I was a big 50s nerd whenever I was coming up. So like my parents had a collection of tapes where the readers digest hits of the 50s.

And it was like a three or four volume. And of course, as you were indicating earlier, songs in those days were in the 50s. We're like a minute and a half, maybe two tops.

And so it was just loaded. There were probably like a thousand songs on this thing. And I absorbed them all.

Oh, everything from Dion in the bell monster. Buddy Holly and all the other obvious ones. But I was always drawn to the piano playing of Johnny Johnson on the Chuck Berry records, in particular.

I used to have a real issue with the guitar playing all the time because I wanted to hear the story. I wanted to hear where he was going vocally. His vocal inflections on the way he would imbue each line with a bit of a wink and some humor in it.

It felt almost subversive but like so playful and sweet. It was a wonderful combination of all those elements. So Chuck Berry was a big one for me growing up.

But yeah, I don't know. Then of course, Nikki Hopkins later on, once you kind of get a handle on what all he was doing, is a pretty big deal. And to your earlier point, I can't really claim to play any of those styles with any real expertise.

But I can wiggle my way through them sometimes. But those are the big ones for me. They're the ones that showed you the way, right?

Yes, for sure. Floyd Kramer, the fan of that style, just the little double stops and things he does. Anyway.

You don't find guys that play that way every day out there now. Seems like the guys that are coming up now have been influenced by something else. I guess that's just the natural course of things.

Right. But I miss that, man. I miss that.

Well, that's one of the things that is always just really, really drawn me to you. Oh, well, that's very kind. It's one of those things that I, even if you've never really heard of, it feels instantly recognizable.

That sort of, it's like a country lilt or something that can be added to almost anything. I was seeing a little interview with Mick Taylor the other day and he was talking about his country bends and things that he added to the stone stuff around that time. And how it just kind of shaped their sound in a whole different way, which I thought was kind of interesting.

I hadn't ever really heard of it referred to as a country, those country bends. But he was talking about listening to Chad Atkins and all this stuff. I was like, yeah, that's it.

Pretty cool. Yep. That is it.

We had a, we found ourselves playing and sharing a stage the other night. And I don't know what you thought of that, but I was just absolutely floored by it all. I mean, I just, I could not believe where I was.

And I was in a place that I never thought I would be, although strangely enough, I was almost there once, many, many, many, many more years ago than I care to even remember. But we were speaking of the longhorn ballroom. Petty theft played there, opening for a hard night's day.

And you were on that hard night's day gig that night. Yes. That's true.

Well, I think what they've done with the longhorn, since it's reopened, is really nothing short of staggering. I mean, they, the whole museum aspect to it, where you can walk through and see the history of the whole place, even the entrance with all the, you know, headshots of all the folks who played there, it's really just instantly just, we're very impressive. You have to be kind of a nerd for that sort of thing and, hey, hello.

But if you are, then, then it's just incredible. And you need to make it a point to go see a show there. I mean, if or nothing else, just for that.

Oh, for sure. Yeah. It's interesting.

It's such a big room to get the connection that you typically look for with an audience. You know, it's like, it's like, if you ever played Suns of Herman Hall, and it's like, you know, I don't forget what the capacity is up there. But if there's 100 people there, it feels like 20.

Yeah. It's a big room. Whenever, before they opened up Ed, when he runs the joint over there, he gave me a little tour of what they were working on.

Yes. And he was walking me through. And he was walking me through, and he was pointing out, there's a little dividing space, just to the left of where the ballroom kind of ends.

And anyway, there's this smaller stage. And he was pointing out that, in the old days, that would, in the days of segregation, that's where, you know, the dividing line would be. And you'd have the wide entertainers on one side, and the black entertainers on the other side.

And I wish that they would use that side of the room a little more for like kind of intimate smaller shows. Yeah. And in some weird way, it seems like it could kind of honor the players who played there before.

I mean, he was telling like, little Richard and all these guys used to come through on that stage. I'm being like, dude, that's got some, that's got some sweat on the walls. Let's, let's explore in that little, little spot.

And Jack Ruby used to own the place. I think what is it as vault or something that is in like one of the auxiliary bars or something? Yeah, I think you're right.

Which made that at some point. Yeah, there's like a VIP lounge. There's just so much cool stuff there.

I can't remember the specifics, but you told me a story of some old blues guy who was trying to get paid. And Jack Ruby didn't want to pay him or something. And so he pulled out a, a fellow pulled out like a knife and cut off a chunk of Jack Ruby's finger.

Ooh. I think I heard that. Yeah.

That was a rowdy days. That was a rowdy day. Yeah.

Anyway. I know back in when I was a youngster back in the place to see Nira. You know, the longhorn was a place that, you know, you were aware of it and everything, but you really didn't go there.

You know? Really, okay. Yeah.

I mean, it was a, it was a pure country joint. It was a pure country joint back then. I was opposed to what they're trying to do with it now.

Right. But it was a pure country joint. It was rough.

That whole area down there on industrial was pretty rough. It doesn't look like it's exactly a day at marine land these days. Right.

But still, you know, there's a lot of history down there. And if you're the kind of guy that likes that sort of thing and responds well to that sort of thing, then you should make it a point to go to a show with the longhorn. I mean, even if it's an act that you don't know too much about or don't particularly care for or just kind of look warm on, get a ticket and go there.

And if you don't like what's going on on the stays, just walk around. Yeah. For sure.

Walk around. Take a look at the place. That's a very, when they reopened, he tapped me to put together this group.

He wanted to call the longhorn ballroom players. And so we added up this list of local soul singing legends. We had Bobby Patterson and the great Bobby Patterson and they always entertaining Ernie Johnson and the legendary Greg A.

Smith. We're on our bill. We also had several other performers and we put together a real crack band form.

And I think the original idea was to do it once a month have like a soul night. And I think once they got crack them with all their bigger operations, maybe it fell through the, slipped through the cracks a little bit. I'd love to revisit that concept.

The way I would see it. The concept that needs to be revisited. Right, maybe you have one of those old legends on the bill for that night and even let them serve as the MC or something.

You know what I mean? And then you, then you filled out the rest of the bill with some upcoming talents, some younger folks. Yeah.

We'll text Edwin and Bollyam into doing this. Yeah. It could be a thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Show them a thing or two.

We're connected with him. Yeah. He said that chair before.

Yeah. All right. I feel the wheels are turning.

Yeah. We'll get you on that stage again. Okay.

All right. This is the great Mr. Chad with us today.

We are having fun with him. There is more fun yet to go. Are you going to do the one on the project first?

You're going to do it to see me first. Oh, what do you want me to do first? You think.

First. Okay. Let me do this first.

Okay. What this is all leading up to is the fact that right now, it is time for the dreaded and feared mid-show read. Yes.

We have a couple of things for you to know and understand today, the first of which, the Eric Nadel birthday benefit concert. It celebrates its 14th edition by featuring two of Eric's favorite bands, Brooklyn-based semi-ray and the friends and Bay Area favorite Chuck Prophet and the Kumbia shoes. The benefits supports the work of the Grand Halliburton Foundation.

That's a local non-profit that provides mental health education, training and support to teens and families. To learn more, visit grandhaliburton.org. That's g-r-a-n-t-h-a-l-i-b-u-r-t-o-n.

dot org, sponsor tables and suites are available through the Grand Halliburton Foundation. Visit grandhaliburton.org slash Eric Nadel to learn more or to purchase a sponsorship. Eric Nadel's birthday benefit presented by Haynes Boone and KXT 91.7 FM featuring semi-ray and the friends with special guest Chuck Prophet.

Semi-ray and the friends Chuck Prophet date Thursday May 14th, 2026. Doors at 630 Showtime is at 730 at the Longhorn Ballroom. That's at 216 Corinth Street, Dallas, Texas.

75207 for you, fans of zip codes and stuff like that. Who isn't? Fans of zip codes.

What's your favorite zip code, Mr. Chad? Oh, well, I was like 75206.

Cool. Back to you, shootie. I like 75201.

Oh, because it's easy to remember. Easy to type two. Okay.

All right, now let's talk about CBD action here. We're speaking to those of you out there who are undergoing a painful existence these days. First of all, sympathize to your brother because that is no fun.

That makes just living life no fun at all. When you're out there hurting and everything. But let me ask you, you probably tried this or that to do something about it to at least make it better if not go away entirely.

None of its worked. Let me ask you, have you tried CBD yet? Have you been to the CBD House of Healing?

Well, you should. Because they've got stuff over there that has worked for me. I bet it will work for you.

Their owner is an RN. So we're not sending you to a head shop. You're going to go in, buy some zig-zags and some incense and they're not going to have the strawberry alarm clock playing or the sound system or anything like that.

Not that there's anything wrong with the strawberry barrier alarm clock. There is not. But there, we'll explain later.

Don't worry about it. But over there, what you need to do is go in there and talk to summer, the owner. Tell her what's going on and chances are she's going to have something CBD related for you.

And like I say, I don't know how. I don't understand the science behind this. But it worked for me.

And I bet it will for you too. It made stuff better for me. If it'll do that for me, I bet it will for you.

So if this applies to you, then go into the CBD House of Healing and see what they can do for it. And get on the road to healing at the CBD House of Healing. They are at Northwest Highway and Skillman Plano Road.

Plano Road, that's right, Northwest Highway. And Plano Road in the Northeast quadrant of that burgeoning intersection. Go by there, Tony heard it from us.

Here on YDC, and see if you can't get straightened out at the CBD House of Healing. This is the strawberry alarm clock. Yeah, yeah.

That's an awesome song. No, no, we weren't. We weren't.

We're talking about, we're talking about an old 60s band and everything. We do have one more thing that we can promote. What is it?

We have a piece of paper with Mr. Chad and another friend on it that I think... Oh, yes.

But as a matter of fact, I do. I think we need Mr. Chad to read it.

As only Mr. Chad can. All right, well here.

Strange, I don't want to... Then we might have... You do your own life spot, but...

But then we might have Mr. Shupi read it too to see how it sounds. Okay, so picture looks great.

Yes, it does. Really nice. Kind of a sepia tone.

We didn't think about it. Well, I suppose if you'd countrymen, lend me your ear. Yeah, well, we would of course like to encourage you to come on down to the old good cafe this Saturday night for what we like to call a true celebration of love.

My dear soul-brother, John Pettigo, be joining me on stage for a spirited swapping of classic tunes. Oh, it's going to be a lively evening of quality entertainment and the perfect place to take your sweetie. Well, what's better than a delicious meal served up with killer tunes?

Mm-hmm, please. That's exactly how I hope to sound. Yeah, so that's the Saturday night, Valentine's Day.

So now Shupi, you read it. Oh, no, I can't talk bad. I can't do it.

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Are you ready for Valentine's? Are you ready for night of true celebration of love? Uh, our friend, John Pettigo, will join Mr.

Chad on stage for a spirited swapping of classic tunes. Now, this is going to be a lively evening of quality entertainment. You put these two live wires up there next to each other, rubbing on each other and everything.

You never know where things are going to go. But it will be lively and it will be quality and you will be very, very glad you did this. It is the perfect place to take your sweetie and a delicious meal served up with these killer tunes.

How about that? Is that not enough for you? I think so.

So make your way down there and see Mr. Chad and the great John Pettigo at the All Good Cafe. Yeah.

Mmm, please. Now we're talking. That's good copy.

That went like a hope too. Yes. And leave it to a seasoned old bird.

Take it up a notch. Oh, that was well rendered. Well rendered.

Yeah, John, we've been doing song swaps down there for ages and it is quite a thrill. You know, you never know what the other one's going to pull out. So there's a...

More especially with that guy. Yeah. Oh, he's got moves for days.

He's got a fast, fast range on his repertoire. He does. He does.

He's so prolific. That's due to you. Well, I've gotten lazy in my old days.

But he could write you a song on the top of a bottle cap if you give him a minute. I'd probably be pretty damn good too. Yeah, he's got a really good work ethic.

I'm always impressed with how much he... I don't know him all that well, you know. See him at the landing and every time we'll sit...

You know, then we'll sit down and have a pop as far as doing anything with him. I've never had, but I've seen him do stuff. And he does seem to be able to wing it really well off the top of his head.

Yeah. Oh, he's so talented. You know, we're involved in a project called Pettigo's Magic Pillsner several years ago.

And it was my favorite batch of songs now. He's written Reams more since then. But it's worth a dig if you can track down that record.

We only did the one album, but it's got some really... some really good great songwriting with his on there. And I thought our interplay was really choice.

We've been talking for a while about doing just a piano and guitar album, just the two of us, and focusing on the harmony singing and all that. So with any luck, we'll get to cracking on that. Yeah, make that happen.

Yeah. I think there's a place out there for them. Yeah.

Do we know that John Pettigo can really be part of a duo? Yeah, right. What a foreign concept.

No, but yeah, no, it's just, you know, we've always had a really great rapport and a good musical dialogue. He's a soul brother. All right.

Let me ask you this. I was thinking about this today. The way technology has come about over the years and the way that technology has advanced the situation for keyboard players such as yourself.

You know, it used to be that, you know, back... I mean, this is way back in my day. When we were in bands and stuff, we'd play a song that had an acoustic piano on them.

It clearly defined acoustic piano. Yes. And that was impossible to replicate back then.

There's a keyboard out there that could replicate it. So you had to use one of the... a warly, a warlet's-or-life piano, which some guys did.

Or some people would just play the keyboard part on the organ. But either way, it didn't. It's a piano part.

You know, it's four piano. Now, these, you know, carrying an acoustic piano around for a band back then, that was a complete non-starter. You know, for one thing, you'd probably have to have a crew of about six just to load it up and set it up and everything.

But look at the way technology has developed in the last 25 years or so. I was thinking about it. It's kind of been a little bit of a slow roll there.

But it's gotten a little bit better with every twist and every turn over the years. What do you think it is right now? How close are we to actually copying the sound and the vibe of the acoustic piano?

Well, I'm probably the least equipped to maybe address the technical aspects of modern gear per se. I keep it pretty simple myself. I use like a corg for my main piano, whatever I'm playing live.

And it's got pretty good. I think they've come out with one synth that sounds even better. But if that's your question, it does seem like they're getting closer and closer.

There's a piano we used a lot. Several years ago. It's just one of the Nord Stage 3s.

I think was the one that I was playing on. And I was very fond of the feel and the action of that. And I personally would love to be able to play a world that's alive if you can haul it around.

I mean, the feel of that instrument is very warm and fun to kick around. But as far as the acoustic piano, Roland can come up with some good stuff. They had a piano that bought probably 15 years ago that had the feel of the keys itself were very similar to a piano, which is unique even for that.

But the sound was nice. The dynamics were rich. They had a flavorful sustain.

And a wide variety of piano style options. So you could have like a small kind of upright kind of option. But yeah, I usually like to keep it pretty simple myself.

So yeah, I don't know. Every time I go to a music store, I'll always sit down and sample, try out the new models. And I think it's just, it's probably brand identifiers as much as anything.

You can feel when something feels a little cheap or dicey. Yeah. I had a Roland XP-10 for a while that had a, well, it was a funny story actually.

We took it out on the road with the drums and we did a new bass showcase and Booker T was going to be sitting in with Jason Isbow, whenever he first went solo. Okay. The Booker T.

Yeah. And so like at some point, we were already set up for our gig. So my gear was already up there and I had a road on the bottom and this Roland XP-10, which is a smaller keyboard but had a really nice organ sound on it.

Okay. And so one of his people came over and said, would it be possible if Booker used your rig to sit in with Jason Isbow? And I was like, yes, of course.

But now this gear had been through the ringer from the road. And so there were a few busted keys. And I think the actual output was being sustained with a rubber band and a pin through it, very elaborately constructed to, just to hold up through the gig, whatever works.

Right. And so, but you're not expecting this guy to play on it. So I said, well, would it be okay if I just walked him through this janky rig I've got at the moment?

And they were like, yes, of course. I am in front of the great man. He's smiling like the Buddha, you know, just benevolent, sweet, very kind.

And I was like, well, Mr. Jones, I hear you're going to be playing on this rig just to let you know that pedal down there. And that's not for Leslie.

That's for sustained for when I use this as a piano. And this key's out and this thing's held together with chewing gum. So you might want to go a little easy when you're going in the higher register.

Whatever. I'm giving him the whole load down. And very calmly.

He's like, well, yes, my son. Yes, I'm sure it will be fine. Yes, thank you.

And of course, he gets up there and I'm up there on the front row and I'm just watching him. It's sure enough he goes for this organ swipe and he had his foot down on that pedal. And so it just sounds like the biggest mush of nonsense, and I'm going like, oh, God.

And sure enough, he looks at me there on the front row. He saw me right away and he just shakes his head like, and I was like, I know. Anyway.

Well, he tried to warn him. I did, I did. But I was fond of that whole keyboard.

I mean, I just buy him and wear him, you know, ride him till they collect. To the fall apart. Yeah.

Till they came ride anymore. Yeah. The trading value is not so great on those things.

So maybe one day when my ship comes in I'll have a better handle on what gear to swing for. Well, you seem to have, you know, a pretty good handle on it the other night. All right.

Well, so that's going on this MIDI thing. It's, it's really, it's a self-inflicted torture device, really. Every song requires its own special spin of the tiniest wheel to get to that particular setting.

Okay. Many of these keyboard sounds have highly drenched with compression and reverb and all of these things. But the only problem is it's in this bank of this old-timey MIDI that we use.

And in order to get to it, you've got to carefully turn. It's like cracking the world's smallest safe. And if you twist just enough, you'll shoot 20 songs the wrong way.

So they are very specific sounds for all your favorite beetle classics. But you made it work. Well, I'm just trying my best.

Aren't we all? You're trying your best and you're, and you are succeeding as well. So all right.

Tomorrow night, it's going to be, not the all-good cafe, right? Well, now that's Saturday night. Saturday night.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's all right. But tomorrow night, you can catch me playing with Michael Lee in the wartime limousine over at Josie Records for sort of a soft release of his album.

We'll be opening up for Paul of the Shaladaz. He's promoting his new project. Have you heard any of that stuff?

I think the Shaladaz would be right up your alley. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That's really good. They've got a new album and he's got some new stuff out and it's so talented.

They're so great. But Michael Lee, well, he's a... He's awesome too.

Yes. He's a P1. He knows of us shooting.

He's a good... You guys? Oh, yeah.

He's a good... I love him. He's a great guy.

And was he on America's got talent? I think it was the voice. The voice.

Yes. Back in 2018. And we first met him whenever he opened with his group for the Bastard of Souls out at Keyes Lounge in Fort Worth.

Oh, yes. The late, lamented Keyes Lounge. Yes.

Love that place. And I did too. So Matt Trimble, who was with us in the Bastard, he and I have been playing with Michael Lee.

And over the last year, I've been putting together a real fine album for him and his songs and we're real proud of it. It's cool. It's good stuff.

Some good southern soul elements in there. And it's not all just old-time blues. Yeah.

There's some really great stuff. When's it coming out? Pretty soon.

I think within the next couple of months, they've finalized the last mixes and everything. So keep an eye out for it. Michael Lee in the wartime limousine.

We will keep an eye out for it. You need to touch on anything else? Anything else you got going here?

You got a few minutes left. Oh, I don't know. Yeah.

Well, I was telling you earlier, we did a little verb, during the pandemic, I had a variety show that I was doing live on Facebook. And I've seen all these folks hold up in the corners of their homes, singing songs for tips. And it made me real sad.

I thought, well, that's so sad. We're seeing some of the finest players in all the land reduced to a virtual tip jar online. It felt so sad.

So I thought, well, what if you could take a camera and just kind of move it from one room to the next and put on like a little show, then you've got a little more action and something, I don't know. And so I was trying that. And so ever since things reopened up, I've been trying to find a good place to do that live.

And we've had some success here and there. We played a few different places, but that's my thing. I'm trying to focus on that.

It's probably a very little return in terms of finances at this point, but it's a passion of love that goes into it. And I'm trying to entertain the folks and whatever peculiar way seems most fitting. Yeah.

Awesome. Yeah. Well?

You can, by the way, find the Magic Pills. Oh, and Spotify. Oh.

Petty goes Magic Pills now. Yes. And all the finest streaming services.

And... You do have to fit in John Petty's eyes otherwise it does bring out Petty go breweries. Oh.

On Spotify? No. Probably Google, I guess.

Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Petty go Magic turns up on Spotify now. Well, if we ever find another spot, if you ever hear the name, the Happy Good Time Variety show, I highly encourage you to come check it out. It skits and bits and singing and dancing.

All your favorite old-time hoo-ha. And... It's only as it can be reproduced.

Yes. Yeah. Just a couple of hoo-ha.

Who in a-ha? I'm starting off small. All right.

Go down there. Get yourself a little something to eat. And check out John Petty go with Mr.

Chad. Thanks for doing this, my brother. Hey, always a pleasure.

Thanks for having me. I'll see you. Yeah.

You look good. Trying to hang in there for an old guy. All right.

That is Mr. Chad. That is YDC for today.

And remember, if you are grooving to what we're throwing down here, what we need you to do is to get us out there. Share us on your social media. Not our social media.

Yours. We can take care of ours. But are you taking care of us on yours?

That's what we're wondering. We're trying to get to here. So put us out there on your Facebook and your Twitter or X or whatever the hell, you know.

Whatever it is out there that falls onto the heading of social media. Get us out there on it. And you'll be glad you did.

We will be glad you did. Thanks to Ashley. Thanks to Shubi.

Thanks to Becca. Thanks to all of you out there in YDC Nation. Next time.

Bye. All right. I don't think I can solve it.

Your dark companion is a stolen water media presentation. Thank you.