Summary
Teal Collins and Josh Zee, the powerhouse duo behind The Mother Truckers, are here to take us on a ride through their musical journey that's as untamed as a wild rodeo. They open up about how their family backgrounds sparked their creative fire. Teal’s dad, a jazz DJ, handed her a Les Paul electric guitar, while Josh's father, a folk singer, laid the foundation for his evolution into hard rock. They talk about their shift from California to the buzzing music scene in Austin and how it influenced the sound of their band. Now, with their latest album, Van Tour, they’ve embraced the DIY approach, self-producing the record with a level of freedom that’s made the whole process feel like an adventure. Between the humor and heartfelt stories, they reflect on the highs and lows of touring, the close-knit community with fellow musicians, and the genuine connection they feel with their fans. This episode is a celebration of the grind, the groove, and the joy of making music on their own terms.
Show Notes
- Musicians Teal Collins and Josh Zee of The Mother Truckers join Sloane on Country Fried Rock to share their musical journeys and creative inspirations.
- Teal discusses her early musical influences, particularly her father, a jazz DJ, who gifted her a Les Paul electric guitar, an instrument she still uses on stage today.
- Josh talks about his upbringing, focusing on how his father shaped his love for music in the 80s, especially during the era of iconic guitar solos in rock.
- They reminisce about their early band experiences and the challenges of breaking into the music scene, blending humor with reflections on their artistic growth.
- The conversation shifts to their move to Austin, Texas, where they found a supportive and thriving music community that played a significant role in their success.
- The duo discusses their latest album, Van Tour, emphasizing the freedom of creating music without the constraints of traditional record labels.
- They provide a sneak peek into their upcoming U.S. and European tours, building anticipation for what’s next on the horizon.
Chapters
- 00:00 - Introduction to Country Fried Rock
- 02:21 - The Origins of the Mother Truckers
- 06:46 - Run for Freedom: The Journey of Independence
- 08:45 - Exploring Musical Influences and Inspirations
- 11:51 - The Collaborative Process of Songwriting
- 16:01 - Reflections on Touring and Connection
Takeaways
- Teal and Josh talk about how their roots shaped the sound and style of The Mother Truckers.
- The band shares how important collaboration is in their songwriting, letting creativity flow without too many rules.
- Moving to Austin was a game-changer for them, opening up more opportunities and introducing them to a supportive music scene.
- Their new album Van Tour marks a moment of freedom from the industry's pressures, making music fun again.
- They reflect on the joy of connecting with fans on tour, building a sense of community through their music.
- Their easy-going conversations about past influences add a personal touch to their story, showing how music is both a passion and a journey for them.
Mentioned in this Episode
- The Mother Truckers
- Little Steven's Underground Garage
- Sirius
- Stonehoney
- Elmore James
- Muddy Waters
- Johnny Cash
- Willie Nelson
- George Jones
- Hank Williams
- Merle Haggard
- AC/DC
- The Rolling Stones
- The Beatles
- Kenny Loggins
- Olivia Newton-John
- REO Speedwagon
- Les Paul
Recommended If You Like
Country Fried Rock, Mother Truckers, Teal Collins, Josh Zee, Austin music scene, songwriting process, creative inspiration, guitar stories, van tour, independent music, music collaboration, live performances, roots music, album releases, touring Europe, Little Steven's Underground Garage, music influences, band interviews, Americana music, creative journey, musicians' stories
Transcript
Speaker A
00:00:00.800 - 00:00:09.040
Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity. Country Fried Rock music uncovered.
Speaker B
00:00:09.120 - 00:00:11.840
Hey, Teal. This is Sloan from Country Fried Rock.
Speaker C
00:00:12.000 - 00:00:13.440
Hi, Sloan. How are you?
Speaker B
00:00:13.600 - 00:00:15.200
I am doing well. How are you?
Speaker C
00:00:15.440 - 00:00:16.640
I'm great, thanks.
Speaker B
00:00:16.720 - 00:00:19.760
Thanks so much for both of y' all being with us here on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker C
00:00:19.840 - 00:00:20.960
Thanks for having us.
Speaker B
00:00:21.120 - 00:00:30.920
We've got Teal Collins and Josh Z. Chatting with us today. The Mother Truckers of Austin, Texas. Got major things happening these days. Yes, Teal, you are one bad mama jama.
Speaker C
00:00:31.800 - 00:00:34.360
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker B
00:00:35.000 - 00:00:38.120
How on earth did you end up where you are now, musically?
Speaker C
00:00:38.600 - 00:00:56.680
I actually took up guitar when I was about 16. I first took up ukulele. My dad taught me the ukulele. And then I took up guitar when I was about 16.
My dad, who was a jazz disc jockey, was friends with Les Paul. Les Paul gave me my first electric guitar that I still play on stage every night with the Mother Truckers.
Speaker B
00:00:57.140 - 00:00:58.340
That's awesome.
Speaker C
00:00:58.740 - 00:01:23.590
One of my first bands, tradition, it was called, they had me sing a song, and I was kind of scared because I hadn't really. I always sang in my bedroom but never really sang out.
And I realized at that moment it was sure a lot easier than all these strings and frets and fingers. So I put down the guitar and started singing full time, you know, and then picked up the guitar again years later with this band. Been just great.
Speaker B
00:01:24.230 - 00:01:26.870
That is a great story. So what about you, Josh?
Speaker D
00:01:27.190 - 00:01:53.230
Well, my dad also was a musician. He could kind of play everything. He's a folk singer. He's taught me guitar. You know, I like hard rock stuff. I grew up in the 80s.
Guitar was everything. Even Olivia Newton John had a single out, but she had to have some blazing guitar solo or Kenny Logging. Everyone had to have a shredding guitar solo.
That was the time. So that's what I wanted to do and still am working on it to this day.
Speaker B
00:01:53.230 - 00:01:58.690
I guarantee this is the time anyone's ever referenced Olivia Newton John or Kenny Loggins on this show.
Speaker D
00:01:59.890 - 00:02:08.050
Yeah, well, I did it to illustrate a point of how prevalent and ubiquitous the shredding guitar solo was as a child. For me, sure.
Speaker C
00:02:08.050 - 00:02:11.290
Aria speedwagon, too. They had a shredder in the middle. Yeah.
Speaker D
00:02:11.290 - 00:02:18.290
Gary Rich Rath. He was pretty good. Yeah, There you go, Ari. SV Rock and Newton John and Kenny Loggins.
Speaker B
00:02:18.290 - 00:02:21.730
There you go. What led to the development of this.
Speaker A
00:02:21.730 - 00:02:23.010
Band with the Mother Truckers?
Speaker D
00:02:23.580 - 00:03:15.290
I was in a sort of hard rock, alternative, so to speak, band in the late 90s because the band was called Pro Team, and we had a couple of major label records out, and the whole thing kind of fell apart the way most record deals do. And I just wanted to do something really different than what I had been doing now.
I always had enjoyed the more rootsy, sort of country, bluesy stuff. I just started writing songs in that style, not orderly with a plan.
And once I had a sort of a couple batch of songs, started looking for band members, I knew I was never a good singer anyway, so I figured I need to find myself a good singer. So. Till and I had known each other for a long time. We grew up in the Bay Area together, so I already had my eye on her for a long time.
And it was just sort of natural. I just said, hey, do you know any. You know, any women who play the ukulele and sing that might want to.
Speaker B
00:03:15.290 - 00:03:16.650
Join my band by chance?
Speaker D
00:03:17.850 - 00:03:20.810
Yeah. And so that's kind of really how it worked with that.
Speaker B
00:03:21.550 - 00:03:24.430
So did the band start out in California and then move to Texas?
Speaker D
00:03:24.670 - 00:03:38.910
Yeah, we had the Mother Truckers out there until. And I moved here to Austin. And because we knew the music scene here in Austin was really strong, so. And we've been to Austin and I, we liked it.
About five years ago we moved here and it's been going real good ever since.
Speaker B
00:03:39.390 - 00:03:47.230
Talk a little bit about the early history of the Mother Truckers as a band, what y' all were working on, how you were getting your records out kind of leading up to now.
Speaker C
00:03:47.720 - 00:03:49.080
By hook and by crook.
Speaker A
00:03:50.920 - 00:03:51.480
True.
Speaker C
00:03:51.720 - 00:03:56.440
When we first started out in the Bay Area, of course nobody knows your name.
Speaker D
00:03:57.560 - 00:04:02.680
We had a lot of friends. We had a lot of friends, so it was easy for us to build up a following in the Bay Area.
Speaker C
00:04:02.840 - 00:04:13.640
Yeah, we did. But, I mean, as far as getting someone behind you, we kind of had to do a lot of writing and gathering songs together.
And we did an album out there, and that was great.
Speaker D
00:04:14.120 - 00:04:33.869
There's no industry out there right now in the Bay Area. Of course, in la there is. There's no managers. There's no.
I shouldn't say there's no managers or booking agents or labels, but there's just very few and they're very small. We had to go somewhere to get in and amongst an environment where there could be more opportunity for growth.
Speaker C
00:04:34.189 - 00:05:08.180
Yeah. And when we moved out here to Austin, we started doing residencies at this club and that club, playing once a week.
And when we did, it seemed like right away there were people, not many, but some people kind of keeping an eye on it. Taking pictures, saying, you know, you should talk to this person and that person.
It seemed like there was an interweaving of a network of people that wanted bands that they liked to do well. And we fell in with some great people and got a chance over there at the Continental Club to start doing a gig over there.
And, boy, it sure was great.
Speaker B
00:05:09.940 - 00:05:20.140
Y' all have had a lot of really nice support from other musicians that we know. Guy named Don Gallardo and a guy named Phil Hurley of Stonehoney. Both have just consistently had really nice things to say about y'.
Speaker D
00:05:20.140 - 00:05:20.220
All.
Speaker B
00:05:20.220 - 00:05:23.440
And there is no higher compliment than from one music to another.
Speaker C
00:05:23.840 - 00:05:24.720
That's the truth.
Speaker D
00:05:24.800 - 00:05:29.880
Absolutely. Those guys we've both known for a while now, and we both enjoy Stone Honey.
Speaker C
00:05:29.880 - 00:05:43.280
You know, we. We were so just blown away by them. And I think I embarrass myself at their shows because I'll.
I'll be standing right up front and singing the words, all the words to their song. So I just think they're great. Just enjoy them.
Speaker B
00:05:43.600 - 00:05:46.400
That's very nice. What leads you up to where y' all are now?
Speaker C
00:05:46.800 - 00:06:13.410
Well, we've made three albums in Austin. The fourth one we made in San Francisco before all that, but, you know, just touring. We had one record deal, which we got out of.
And so making this album was really a run for freedom. And it's been so great.
We've been getting some great support also from the press here in Austin, but also from Little Steven on his syndicated program, the Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius.
Speaker B
00:06:13.410 - 00:06:14.410
He's awesome.
Speaker C
00:06:14.650 - 00:06:21.290
He picked our song Summer of Love as one of the coolest songs in the world, which is such an honor because he.
Speaker D
00:06:21.820 - 00:06:22.740
Because he's Little Steven.
Speaker C
00:06:22.740 - 00:06:28.620
He's Little Steven. And he just. His program, so great. The music he spins on that program is just. It's great.
Speaker B
00:06:28.700 - 00:06:29.660
I totally agree.
Speaker A
00:06:29.660 - 00:06:30.620
When I grow up, I'm going to.
Speaker B
00:06:30.620 - 00:06:31.340
Be just like him.
Speaker C
00:06:32.300 - 00:06:35.500
Me, too. We can get the bandanas now.
Speaker B
00:06:35.500 - 00:06:46.380
Exactly. I've got the hair. Other than that, he really is great. That is so cool that that has happened for you all.
So talk a little bit about the good things about this Run for Freedom on this new release.
Speaker C
00:06:47.700 - 00:06:49.300
You want to field this one, babe?
Speaker D
00:06:49.380 - 00:07:17.000
Well, just. It's the same story that every. Well, not every band, but many bands have, is having a manager and a label that don't have your best interest in mind.
Bottom line, that can be really frustrating and very difficult. So just the absence of that and just being able to do things on our terms the way we feel is best. Obviously, Is a liberating experience.
It puts the fun back into the music. Makes you feel less like you have a job, more like you're just doing.
Speaker B
00:07:17.000 - 00:07:20.720
What you love and you're getting ready to take this on the road with the van tour.
Speaker A
00:07:20.720 - 00:07:21.800
What's coming up with that?
Speaker C
00:07:22.360 - 00:07:36.760
Well, we're doing some dates on the west coast, in the south and in the southwest we're doing, you know, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Phoenix and we're doing a whole California potpourri of dates. And then we go head over to Europe.
Speaker B
00:07:37.240 - 00:07:37.960
Woo hoo.
Speaker C
00:07:38.280 - 00:07:40.200
I know that's gonna really be fun.
Speaker D
00:07:40.600 - 00:07:42.200
Germany and Denmark over there.
Speaker B
00:07:42.600 - 00:07:45.320
Are you doing like a VW Vestfalia van tour there?
Speaker D
00:07:45.710 - 00:07:51.310
I found that if you, if you hit the coast in the van going fast enough, you can make it across the Atlantic.
Speaker B
00:07:52.510 - 00:07:55.630
So do y' all have any kind of sponsors with that, with the van tour?
Speaker D
00:07:55.870 - 00:07:56.190
No.
Speaker C
00:07:56.190 - 00:07:58.150
Do you have anybody in mind for us?
Speaker A
00:07:58.150 - 00:07:58.430
No.
Speaker B
00:07:58.430 - 00:08:00.670
I was hoping you did. I was going to let you plug it.
Speaker C
00:08:00.830 - 00:08:05.150
Well, I know. Let me see. I'll. Can I plug my dream, My wish list?
Speaker B
00:08:05.150 - 00:08:06.270
Hey, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker C
00:08:06.430 - 00:08:08.390
Well, I can't give them free advertising.
Speaker A
00:08:08.390 - 00:08:08.830
True.
Speaker C
00:08:08.830 - 00:08:11.550
They've just got to come get on board and then we'll call you back.
Speaker B
00:08:11.550 - 00:08:27.620
Well, I'll tell you what, There is plenty of opportunity for any kind of movie, mobile living situation. Who is looking for one kick band to support on this van tour? I'll just put it out there. Listen, I have no shame.
Speaker C
00:08:27.940 - 00:08:44.660
We announced that tour. We started getting a lot of orders from Denmark, Germany, Australia and all kinds of places which I'm very grateful for.
And hopefully people will come out and see us. And this will be the first of many trips over there....
