Tony Scott: 0:13

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your Jay Franze.

Jay Franze: 0:42

Well, hello, hello, hello and welcome to the show. I am Jay Franze and this is your Backstage Pass to the Music Industry. This week we get to talk with a pop rock recording artist. We get to talk with Corduroy Brown. We'll talk about his unique style of feel-good music, what it's like to actually die and come back to push forward, and we'll discuss his songwriting and production process. Now, corduroy is not just an amazing artist, but he is an amazing person and I can't wait to talk with him tonight. So if you would like to join in comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jayfranze. com. Now let's get started. Can you go ahead and tell us how you would describe your music?

Corduroy Brown: 1:28

so the best way to describe our music is feel good. That's like hands down, you know. If you could boil it down to two words, our music is feel good. It's based in that, but it kind of leans on sounds of the 90s and 2000s. It kind of gets in that Counting Crows territory. A lot of people say Counting Crows, which is interesting, because I never really, you know, I listen to Counting Crows, but not a lot. But I get that comparison a lot. There's a band called Willis. They have that song. That's like I think I like when it rains. At the end of the day it's just real feel good. There's a lot of guitar in it. It gets rowdy at times but it never gets super chug chug or metal. It doesn't get too soft either.

Jay Franze: 2:13

It's kind of in that real middle ground of just feel good, think 90s, 2000s. What made you choose that style of music?

Corduroy Brown: 2:17

I think going towards that kind of music. That's just what I grew up on. I mean I remember riding to elementary school in the car and stuff like that. Sugar Ray was playing on the radio, you know Dave Matthews. But I mean I grew up in church, church, and so I was always around music. But then, honestly, I kind of got into heavier stuff, so like Flyleaf and O-Tap and some like metal even. But I've always kind of enjoyed that kind of middle ground. It's probably indicative of my life too. I kind of sit somewhere in the middle. I don't get too excited, don't get too sad, kind of kind of all right in the middle of everything.

Jay Franze: 2:54

Okay, let's take that a step further. You've gone through some challenges. Can you describe some of these challenges to us?

Corduroy Brown: 3:00

Yeah, I mean. So COVID was weird for everybody and it was just the weirdest historical event I hope we never have to live through again, honestly. But obviously live music wasn't happening, a lot of people getting sick and including me, I got incredibly sick with COVID related things and I ended up on a ventilator and they lifelied me to Morgantown, west Virginia, where they put me on a type of life support called ECMO and that's basically where they put these giant tubes in your main arteries and veins mostly arteries, I guess take your blood out and put oxygen back in it and then put it back in your body so your heart doesn't have to pump itself. So that's why I mean covet is a very real thing. I hate that it got so politicized, like people were dying and it was. People were getting sick and I'm literally on ecmo. That type of life support is the last type of life support, like that's last ditch and I was on it and four of my organs were failing and, um, you, just you learn a lot through something like that. You know you learn a lot through literally dying and coming back and I don't know, man it's. It was pretty wild and I just hope we never have to live through that again.

Corduroy Brown: 4:04

I could talk for a long time about all the things that I saw and did and felt and I can say this. I will say this you know, like the whole hippie idea that like, oh man, all you need is love. Man, you just need the people around you. Like they were, they're not far off. In those moments I didn't care about the things that I had or the possessions, it was all about. I just want time with the people that mean the most to me. And but yeah, covid was, it was really rough and I just feel grateful for every day. I mean truly every day, even when my brain is telling me not to be, because my brain is awful to me Sometimes. I just try to find some gratitude and just taking breath every day All right.

Jay Franze: 4:43

So were you aware of what was happening at the time when it was happening?

Corduroy Brown: 4:48

Well, I just remember that when, when I was getting wheeled down to to be put on a ventilator first before I got live flighted, you know how in the medical movies or medical shows, all the nurses rush in the room and they're saying, oh, he's doing this, he's coding, he's blah, blah, blah. I was living through that and they also sent a chaplain in the room. So then I was like, oh, this is really bad. So I got a chance to be really scared for a minute. But then I guess, like when I got sedated to be put on the vent at some point in the helicopter ride, I died.

Corduroy Brown: 5:21

Then I just remember seeing a white light and being surrounded by like this infinite white space where my feet weren't touching the ground, and I was kind of, I was there.

Corduroy Brown: 5:30

I couldn't really do much other than just acknowledge like, okay, I on the earth, what's happening. But the craziest thing is it wasn't scary, it was actually really peaceful and beautiful and and I don't want to go back to that place yet but I, uh, it made me feel like, you know, I grew up in church. I believe in some kind of religion. I don't know what's right or what's wrong or really what the heck the answer is. But it made me feel really religion, I don't know what's right or what's wrong or really what the heck the answer is, but it made me feel really unscared about dying and, um, I don't know we could go miles into that, but I wasn't on the earth for a while, man. And then the next thing, I know, as I was kind of jarred back into the earth, there's people grabbing me and holding me and moving me and uh, you know saying, hey, mr brown, like you're in mororgantown, uh, you know, like Mountaineers, wvu, bloom Gold, they were trying to just give me some kind of symbolism where I was.

Jay Franze: 6:19

We are here to discuss your music, but I find this kind of fascinating. Let's just spend a few more minutes on it. You talk about the white light and stuff and you talk about having some sort of a religious background. You don't quite know what it is, but you have some sort of a spiritual background. Did this experience take that a step further for you?

Corduroy Brown: 6:38

I think so, cause I it definitely took me in a different route with it Again, like when I was in that white space. It was as infinite as you could see, and after I stayed there for a while, again I wasn't touching anything solid and I felt like it was, I hate to say, levitating, but literally, yeah, levitating. And I remember after a minute or two or however I mean really I don't know how long, it was some amount of time there was like a black ball, kind of like an orb, that was like the size of a basketball, that showed up and I could just continue to acknowledge it and you know, it was so peaceful in there wherever I was. I don't know if I was like right on the edge of heaven or if I don't feel like I was going the wrong way. It wasn't hot and angry and scary, right, it was so blissful and peaceful. And again, I'm not in a hurry to go back there because that means life here is over.

Corduroy Brown: 7:33

But after I acknowledged that, wherever I was for a minute, I saw that little black ball or whatever that was start like within arm's length and then it just slowly, slowly, but slowly, slowly went way out into the distance and that's about as far as I could see from then on. Then that's when the people were morgantown like hey, you, you're in Morgantown, what's going on? So I don't know what that black ball represented. I still don't. That's the only question I don't have answered yet. But it was so peaceful man, it's so hard to even. I don't know if there's a word in the English language that describes that amount of just bliss. Even though there was nothing, it was amazing.

Jay Franze: 8:12

I know you say you kind of felt like you were levitating. Was there any form of normal feeling to you Like? Could you touch? Could you feel anything?

Corduroy Brown: 8:21

Not at all. I didn't feel like I was on earth at all. It was like everything was just okay, like there was no thought in it other than just like. This is what it is, and it's amazing.

Jay Franze: 8:33

Were you still part of a body or?

Corduroy Brown: 8:36

I, I think so. Again, I could acknowledge I knew my body was there, but it's like I, it's like all I could do is just be. There was no sense of like, well, I need to be doing this, or I should have did this, or it was just I am and um, that's, that's, yeah, I don't know. There's still some unanswered things I've never figured out just yet.

Jay Franze: 8:57

Yeah that's crazy. One of the other things you said there was the way your brain makes you feel. Was there a mental challenge that you had to work through during this recovery?

Corduroy Brown: 9:10

well, I'll be I mean extremely honest with you. I mean, my mental health is something, especially through our music, we advocate for, and we have a song called Medicine. We have a song called Secret War. We have a lot of songs that definitely talk about mental health, because it's a huge part of it.

Corduroy Brown: 9:26

And I used to self-harm, especially back in 2017, that was a pretty rough year for that and my brain has always been a weapon against me for some reason. And that whole experience, man, you, you talk about a reset. You talk about saying, oh, you know, you think you want to die. Uh, let me take you about literally as close as you're going to get and bring you back and let me make you reconsider. So, maybe that was God, maybe that was some random chance, who knows? But again, you learn a lot when you're faced with mortality, and you learn how precious your time is and how much again we're all going to die one day. Right, why not do everything you ever dreamed of, because it's going to be gone one day? What's holding you back? At that point, I got to see the other side and come back has your outlook changed since this?

Corduroy Brown: 10:20

uh, it, it's, yeah, it's kind of that, all it's. I, if I'm honest, I wrestle with the whole idea of like, okay, nothing matters, because we're all going to be gone, and it's like, oh man, that really sucks. And then it's like, wait, nothing matters, that's awesome, do all the things. If we're lucky, our grandkids will know us, but most likely not, or not very well. So again, that kind of sucks, if you want to look at it that way. But it also is pretty awesome. So you can just do whatever. I mean, don't be like a crappy person to hurt people, but like really you can do whatever you want.

Jay Franze: 10:57

You mentioned self-harm. Has that stopped?

Corduroy Brown: 11:02

Yeah, self-harm wasn't a thing. That was at its peak probably in 2017 and maybe a couple of years after that. A couple years after that, but I mean through therapy and medicine and just relearning that you know I'm not a piece of garbage, even though my brain says that I am sometimes.

Jay Franze: 11:23

I'm glad to say that that stopped and that's literally due to therapy and medicine.

Corduroy Brown: 11:27

So do you think that's what led to the feel good music. I think it's just my disposition, just generally, because I mean I've always written music and even as a little kid I've at least been around music and it takes me forever to write songs because I want to make sure I mean what I'm saying. So some songs aren't so happy there's probably a 70-30 split of happy to not. But one thing I really enjoy is seeing songs like do you know who the artist Sia is? She had this song called Shea earlier that came out Gosh, I don't know. That was like the ultimate pop song because lyrically that song is horribly depressing, but she wrapped it up in this bubble that was so absorbable and so real but still catchy and everything. So I really strive to do music like that and you can do that. I think that's the best of both worlds.

Jay Franze: 12:19

All right. So let's dive a little deeper into music. Let's start with Doing my Best. What was the inspiration behind it?

Corduroy Brown: 12:28

So the new song, doing my Best, yeah, man. So no one knows what they're doing. Like I, man, so no one knows what they're doing. Like I, don't, you, don't. No one's got it figured out. I don't care what people say on the internet or whatever.

Jay Franze: 12:38

My wife tells me she knows.

Corduroy Brown: 12:41

Yeah, some people think they know, some people truly think they know it. And the whole idea with Doing my Best is that, again, you don't have to know all the answers. That again, you don't have to know all the answers. Sometimes doing your best might mean going to run a marathon and doing all your laundry and, you know, changing your tie or what you know, whatever thing. But then doing your best also one day might mean getting out of bed just to take a shower and that's all you got, and the whole idea was just giving yourself grace. Even down to the music video. Man, like we were in the music video, we went through these, all these trials and tribulations and obstacles, and in the end there's this big resolve where everyone's in there celebrating life together and, um, yeah, no one knows what they're doing, but that's okay. Well, let's get into the writing process. Is there a particular approach you take when it comes to writing a song? And there was literally, I mean like the doing my best hook just came out of nowhere and I was like, oh, that's going on my phone, I don't know whatever.

Corduroy Brown: 13:53

And the song took on multiple like other songs. It kind of absorbed other pre-written songs. We had kind of started Because I have a band too. I write with two other guys, a bass player and a drummer. I'll generally write some blueprints and then we'll take the songs and evolve them from there. Um, but yeah, this one started with the bass line and then it trickled into other songs and it came out of those other songs and finally got to it. Me and chris, our bass player, wrote the bridge by accident. He was just like messing around and I was like, oh, that's it, hold on, we're gonna record that real quick. Uh, some songs, all the lyrics just come I don't know what the heck they're supposed to do musically and then some songs, literally, will just just come out well, you mentioned you have a couple other players that you write with pretty much function as a trio.

Jay Franze: 14:39

So when you incorporate other instruments, where are they coming from, like the b3 and other instruments you have within your songs?

Corduroy Brown: 14:47

So some of those are the B3 in that song, especially my friend, jordan Dyer. He lives in a town called Charleston, west Virginia, and he's one of them cats that play in church and especially like black churches where they'd be getting down, like they'd be getting down and I met Jordan through. There was a lady named Holly Forbes who was on the Voice I think two years ago and she made it to the top 10. So Jordan and I played with her for a while there. So I got to meet Jordan and just watch him go nuts and I was like in the song Doing my Best, there's a church choir section. I was like we got to put some organ in this song. So I was like Jordan, come on you got to pop on this.

Corduroy Brown: 15:31

So if that's the case, do you find yourself being the producer of the songs, kind of? I know that I have like an idea of what I want in all these songs and sometimes I yield to the guy that helps us record, or it just, it just I don't know. I mean 90 of the time I kind of know where I want it to land, but then I I also like I also yield a little bit If the other guys have in the band have ideas. Sometimes they're way better than mine.

Corduroy Brown: 15:57

So you're not working with a hired producer, then no, I mean so, uh, the guy that has recorded all of our music. He's one of my good friends, his name Jeffrey McClellan and he's here in honeyton and we've we grew up together and he's one of those guys that plays every instrument he can draw, he can do photos, he does billboard like he does, he does literally everything creative, he and I. When we finally take the songs to be recorded, by then we generally will have demos that I've done myself, even if the keys and the parts aren't like flawless yet. So I kind of know what lives where and what I want before I bring them to be formally recorded. So we kind of co-produce most of the things.

Jay Franze: 16:39

Well, that's good. It's good to have somebody that you can bounce ideas off of like that. So when it comes time to adding these other instruments, bringing in these other musicians, do you guys both share in that? Does he bring in musicians as well?

Corduroy Brown: 16:54

uh, generally not. I mean between the both of us we can cover all the bases. In the case of doing my best, we knew that jordan the you know key player from charleston. He's nasty on the keys and this felt like a Jordan thing. But between Jeffrey and I and then the other two guys in the band we can cover pretty much, unless we're gonna start bringing like harps or something really wild, you know so what about?

Jay Franze: 17:20

like the percussions?

Corduroy Brown: 17:20

your drummer do that yeah, I mean, there's uh times where Jeffrey, the other producer and recording guy, will maybe add a little bit you you know, layer wise. But yeah, I mean it's a three piece band so we're live. It's a little different, but we actually are have been implementing like tracks, so the drummer has clicks and we'll have. You know, we're all playing our instruments live, but we'll just have some of that extra meat and layers in there, so it fills up the sound quite a bit.

Jay Franze: 17:47

Some of the color yeah, of that extra meat and layers in there, so it fills up the sound quite a bit. Some of the color yeah, that's cool. So if you're playing to a click, that means your drummer is competent enough to be able to play with a click. It's something that a lot of drummers don't like to do. However, it opens up an extreme amount of flexibility when you have that ability to play to a click. So now that you're starting to incorporate some tracks into your music, what is the approach on that?

Corduroy Brown: 18:13

What are you incorporating first? Yeah, I mean, so there's always going to be multiple guitars in those, because you know, especially in live application, we're only a three-piece. So while I'm doing some kind of lead thing, there might be some guitar buried in there. But as far as like recording and everything you know, I don't know, I've been trying to really kind of pull it back. If I'm honest, like I want to definitely keep it as true I don't know how to say that I guess, like we're not doing anything exotic, I guess. But I mean, there's definitely always going to be some kind of keys or pads or some kind of ambience going on on top of like just the three piece guitar stuff. And then we've really just sometimes I really like taking like conversations that I've had with people or like on the first album even there was a voicemail that my mom left me that made it into a song and um, things like that that are just kind of Easter eggs and personal touches.

Jay Franze: 19:06

I like that. So when you go in the studio, though, what is the approach there? Do you lay down basic tracks first and then record around it, or you guys just build it from from the beginning?

Corduroy Brown: 19:18

Yeah, I mean so again, again. Sometimes we will just do full demos, like even with like little midi drums, like, uh, get the song structured enough and then, once we get it structured enough in the computer and how we kind of want to have it laid out, we'll rehearse it, obviously so that we can go and then record it formally. And then what I honestly what helped us the most is we have six or seven songs done for the next album right now. But it's been nice to get them in the computer and say, hey, this is, let's work this out and then play them live for three or four months because they're going to change over time. And then, or something in the moment happens, you know like, oh, we actually should do that in recording. So we something in the moment happens, you're like, oh, we actually should do that in recording.

Corduroy Brown: 20:04

We try to definitely spend some time on the road with them, give or take. Sometimes that doesn't happen, but 99% of the time we'll try to see like, oh, okay, it seemed like that was cool, we don't like that. Yeah, okay, we try to road test them a little bit too.

Jay Franze: 20:15

If you're road testing them when you hit the studio, does it feel more comfortable to play them as a trio?

Corduroy Brown: 20:22

Oh yeah, I mean anytime you can get in there, versus just going in there and raw recording. You know, you just do it like the back of your mind and when we go and track we'll generally just have the scratch track of my vocals and a guitar down of my vocals and a guitar down, and then we'll do bass and drums all in one day and I'll go back the next day and, uh, you know, go in and do all the guitars and all layers and vocals and then then the next time through is like all the extra pretty stuff.

Jay Franze: 20:50

So when you do your vocals, are you tracking them and punching in or are you doing comps?

Corduroy Brown: 20:57

Uh, that's a good question. I think we just take it by sections and we'll record them two, three, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 times and then you know, go back through and just say, all right, I think you should, this is the best take of that. But if you just fix this little part of this good take, I think we're good.

Jay Franze: 21:13

So when you go in the studio to record these tracks, are you doing it in a large commercial studio or are you doing it into a small production studio?

Corduroy Brown: 21:22

It's a smaller production. There was a kind of a joint space that a bunch of different musicians in the Huntington scene share, so sometimes you never know who's going to pop in or pop out. And we've grabbed people that were in there and like, hey, can you come and just do this little gang vocal with us? And it's a cool little shared space here in Huntington.

Jay Franze: 21:40

That's pretty cool. So the vibe is it a rehearsal space?

Corduroy Brown: 21:42

yeah, there's bands that use it for rehearsal and then there's also kind of a like the recording setup is there too for whatever. I think he's using logic and he has all his like drum heaven and mics up here in the bass area, like everything kind of has its place there does it stay set up at all times?

Corduroy Brown: 21:59

I think it just depends. I mean it just. I know that there's multiple bands, especially during the summer and during, like you know, tour season or whatever, like people are in and out of there taking gear to borrow for this, this and this. So but most of the time it's all kind of ready to go in that building.

Jay Franze: 22:12

I was just wondering if you get all those people around in that building that come and go, walk right in, sit down at a drum kit and play. Catch the inspiration when it's there.

Corduroy Brown: 22:22

Oh yeah, it's generally. There's always. I see all kinds of amps. There's some kind of drum kit or a mix of some kind every night. You know through there at all times.

Jay Franze: 22:32

So that's pretty cool. So let's take it to the video then. So the video is a pretty good quality video. Your videos have high production value to them, so who's doing the video.

Corduroy Brown: 22:44

So the Doing my Best video was done by Dylan Smith. He's a Huntingtonian as well. He's just one of those guys that's super, incredibly talented. There's another guy named Sam Atkins that works in a production house here. So, yeah, I mean I kind of came to him with an idea and I told him I was like, like, well, what if we did it like indiana jones, in a way like I don't know why, because I never. I'm not like into indiana jones necessarily.

Corduroy Brown: 23:08

But we were out there in the heat, out there in the bushes we had a 16 foot python, a real alligator that we were fighting with. There's like a local conservatory, that uh, real alligator that we were fighting with. There's like a local conservatory that that had lended us some friends here for this and I didn't think he had the gator with them. But we were out there doing the scenes with the snake and he said, oh, do you want me to bring the alligator? And I said the what? He was like, yeah, this is Allie the gator. And I was like you've got to be kidding me, allie the gator. Come on, dude, were you nervous? The gator freaked me out.

Corduroy Brown: 23:42

There's a middle part, I think after the second verse, where you see me go what the F? And that was authentic because it started hissing and started squirming. Until then it had been pretty docile, but that was a genuine. He cut the video cuts when I was about to cuss because it that was me genuinely being like, oh no, like, because like, think about it, in west virginia, if that gator got loose, you can't let it just be loose, like you got to hold on to it because you got. You don't want to be chasing no gator and then, especially in west virginia, that thing gets loose, it's gonna eat everything and there's no tape around its mouth.

Jay Franze: 24:19

I mean nothing.

Corduroy Brown: 24:22

This thing's mouth wide open yeah and it was a smaller one, but it was big enough to do some damage.

Jay Franze: 24:27

Yeah, the gator I was holding was. It's a smaller gator.

Tony Scott: 24:30

It's a gator.

Jay Franze: 24:32

You're holding a gator with a mouth wide open? No, absolutely not. And if it started wiggling, I I'm sorry. I probably would have thrown it I mean, oh man, it was, or at least dropped it and stepped back.

Corduroy Brown: 24:44

I don't know if I could we were in the, we were way out there in the woods too, because, I mean, we made it look like we're in the amazon jungle, which was and realistically was right behind a church in a town called canova, west virginia, which is not the jungle, but it looks like it. But we would have never found that thing, man, we would have been on the news oh, lost gator for sure.

Jay Franze: 25:07

All right, so, so you put this video together. The crew how big of a crew was it that was working on this video?

Corduroy Brown: 25:14

it was, uh, honestly, a two-man crew. We shot it both. We shot it all in. I think we ended up shooting it all in one day, and that's where, you know, the genius of Dylan comes in, and his friend Sam kind of was like his associate director there. Yeah, we knocked it out all in one day. It was the hottest day of the summer too. It was rough. Our drummer got heat, like he had a heat stroke. He was nauseous and like, not looking great, and later in the video we're in a creek going through and there's big old, um not huntsman spiders, what are they called? Like wolf spiders and it dude, it was just. I don't, I'm not a spider person, but I, we did it for the art man.

Jay Franze: 25:59

I don't know. I don't know if it's art at that point. I mean there's a lot of people in the video. Where did they all come from?

Corduroy Brown: 26:07

Beg borrowed and stolen. A lot of those are some of the. There's actually a lot of cameos from other musicians in there. So in the choir section all the people in the choir are also local and regional musicians. A lot of people in the crowd were just people I know and I've met people that mean a lot to me. That's kind of the thing with our music man. Like I love collaborating, I love sharing music, like when I write songs, sometimes I'm not even thinking about keeping the song. I'm like, oh well, such and such might be cool in this. Like I, I love that part of it. Even the first album even was called let me know and it was like referencing the album cover doesn't have me on it, has all these people that mean a lot to me on it. So let me know came from the idea that man, all these people in my life have always been good to me and I just want to take time to show them off too. So that's kind of what I did in the doing my best video.

Jay Franze: 26:57

I was like, man, all my people, as many people as I can get in here that possibly can come I want in the video well, you've mentioned it a couple times now, but the community space that you had to rehearsing and recording, and then the community that you have involved in your video, what is the scene like where you are?

Corduroy Brown: 27:16

so the huntington music scene is awesome. It's crazy how much it's grown since I've been a part of it, cause I mean before even my like era, if you will. It was going crazy, and Tyler Childers is not from Huntington but he spent a lot of time in Huntington. I think of bands like Ona and AC30 and who am I thinking of? Like Red Wanting Blue I guess they're from Columbus, columbus now but there's so many bands that were before us and then, even while we're doing it, and then even now, man like just to see so many new bands coming up that are so like just amazing man, it's. Huntington really is a pretty hot spot for here, and even outside of Huntington there's a town called Ashland, kentucky, that has a ton of different people, and up in Morgantown and Charleston, west Virginia, and just within a couple of hours from Huntington, it feels like there's so much happening.

Jay Franze: 28:07

Well, we're talking about the scene. Let's talk about some of the performances, because I know you've played live quite a bit, not only there, but you go on the road. So how did it all start for you? What was the foundation of playing live?

Corduroy Brown: 28:22

My mom got me guitar when I was in high school and again, I grew up in church so I'd always been around music and everything but I started. So when we were in high school we played a Switchfoot song for the talent show and I'd been playing in church for a while and everything but man, you would have thought we were the biggest rock stars in the world. Playing for chesapeake high school class of 2009. Playing meant to live crowd going crazy. You know what I mean. You go back and watch that video now. You're like, oh boy, but I'd always been interested in playing music of some sort, I guess.

Corduroy Brown: 28:56

But uh, one of like really, when I first started getting on the road, there was a band called the Dividends that I was in for a while. That was kind of like an Amy Winehouse kind of vibe. It had a female front, we had a horn player and kind of more groovy and we got to really taste what life was on the road for a minute there and that band kind of dissolved. But then with Curoy man, I mean I feel fortunate that people care at all. Truly, but getting to play within a five-hour radius of huntington pretty consistently is it's pretty awesome, man and it truly blows me away that people are coming to shows and people are singing these songs and it just seems like it keeps getting some more traction. And I'm realistic about realistic about it. You know I don't think I'm going to be the next big rock star, but the fact that people care at all like truly blows away.

Jay Franze: 29:42

So who's booking the shows for you?

Corduroy Brown: 29:45

So it was me for a while. But we have a booking agent named Jordan Pelfrey. He's from Lexington, Kentucky, and then there's also another band from here called Kindred Valley, who their singer named Blake is helping kind of do booking as well. So there's a couple of different people that have their hands in it.

Jay Franze: 30:03

All right. Well, what's been the gig that's impressed you the most?

Corduroy Brown: 30:07

So I'll always say this one we were in Lexington, Kentucky, at the Burrell and I got to open. We got to open for a band called Houndmouth and I was a huge Houndmouth fan. When they first came out I was pretty obsessed with them and that was when I was in college years and years ago and I'd seen Howlmouth five, six, seven times and to get to open with them in front of 1,500 people, that was literally a bucket list item for me. It got checked off. But there's been some amazing ones that surprise you, man. Even just small little festivals, sometimes in nowhere Kentucky, are the most fun. Sometimes the ones that you don't think are going to be like. You're like hold on, where are we at? And then they'd be in the most fun ones ever Give me an example.

Corduroy Brown: 30:58

I'll tell you one I miss Kentucky. Have you heard of that one?

Jay Franze: 31:02

No, sir, and I live in Kentucky.

Corduroy Brown: 31:04

It's way out in Kentucky and I had never been anywhere near Inez and it was called uh, some appalachian something festival and it was mostly country acts and we're not country at all, but we were headlining that and everyone came to the front of the stage and danced, and danced and you know it was just like you didn't expect it, but it was just like, oh my gosh, like we got to come back out here and party with these people well, you say you're not country at all.

Jay Franze: 31:34

Don't you think that the form of storytelling and the approach you take to writing music is based on country music?

Corduroy Brown: 31:42

I think. So, like in in, we're not traditional country or country at all. I think some of our stuff definitely touches that, you know, just because of how we're all from the area. So there's going to be hints of things and we cover kind of Americana artists like John R Miller and, uh, we even colored, covered a Tyler song before I mean yeah, I mean I think we're not, you know, rock or like pop necessarily. So it kind of dips its toes in the country too in a way.

Jay Franze: 32:09

Yeah, I would think so. I mean, I even think Counting Crows kind of have that vibe to them as well. It's kind of acoustic pop, rock, country all blended together. Yeah, all right, let's take it a step further. You've played in Kentucky quite a bit and you've played in some of these festivals. What is harder or what makes you more nervous? To play with your band at one of these festivals or to play solo at an elementary school?

Corduroy Brown: 32:38

Man, kids are hard to impress. They're going to be honest with you, you know, most of the time like I'm actually doing something for a school tomorrow, like a family friend at the end of the year. You know, school year thing, they're just wanting to. They think it's. Sometimes the kids think it's the coolest thing ever. They think you're a rock star and they're like, hey, do you know Mr Beast? And you know, do you know LeBron James? And they think you're that. And then sometimes you see the kids that are like I cannot wait till this guy gets out of here. So kids are hard to deal with, man, they really are.

Jay Franze: 33:10

But we talked earlier about the challenges that you've had based on health, whether it be mental health or the challenges you had going through COVID. What kind of challenges have you had musically throughout your journey here so far?

Corduroy Brown: 33:25

It's hard to. I think it'll take you over if you let it. It'll really. It gives a lot, but it takes a lot of you. And especially now, like and this isn't me saying oh, woe is me I have to create content, but it's not just about the music anymore, it's about being a presence online and consistently being a presence, and you might be lucky and get some massive song blow up on YouTube or something, but realistically no. So there's a grind to it. Man, it's um, I love it and I and I feel so grateful that I'm having an ability to play music and that people care at all, and like I could be doing a lot worse things with my time. You know, I feel like my music really helps people, but it takes a lot from you sometimes, if I'm honest.

Jay Franze: 34:16

Well, you say it helps people. So how does that make you feel when you know that you're helping people like that?

Corduroy Brown: 34:23

I mean, that's kind of the biggest, I think, accomplishment in music for me is, sure, yeah, I'd love to play at Red Rocks and Madison Square Garden, all these Sure, definitely, no doubt every musician would but the fact that I get messages weekly I had someone come up to me the other day. We were watching some of our friends play and he was just telling me how much the Do my Best song helped him get out of this like huge depression, depression cycle he was in and he was really going through some hard times and he kept listening to our songs and that's probably the thing I'm most proud of. And I don't write songs saying, oh, this is going to help somebody, I'm just writing because that's just what I'm writing, because I need it too. But that stuff is more important than selling out arenas to me. I mean, it means a lot when people, my music is part of someone's life. At that point that's crazy.

Jay Franze: 35:24

So do you think of that as the success? Is that your biggest highlight so far?

Corduroy Brown: 35:31

Yeah, I think if your music can reach people in ways especially to uplift them, that's a huge accomplishment. I mean that is success to me. If I judge my musical success off of monthly listeners on Spotify or how loud the crowd cheered, I would always be chasing that because it's always going to change. But knowing that I mean I don't know how many people have reached out a lot way more than I can count right now about how our music has helped them, like that's successful.

Jay Franze: 36:03

I mean that's that's huge all right, sir, on that note, we do this thing here we call unsung heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light on somebody that's worked behind the scenes or somebody who may have supported you along the way. Do you have anybody you'd like to shine a little light on?

Corduroy Brown: 36:17

One of my good friends is named Josh McComas. He man, he's one of those people that you can literally call anytime and anytime and if you needed something down to food in your belly or someone to talk to or whatever. He's helped me so much with music stuff, with promotion. But he also been and had my back through every single situation, even if I just need to call someone just to be like, hey, man, I'm just not feeling good today. He's that guy and his name is Josh McComas and right here from Huntington. We've known each other for probably 10 or 12 years. Man, he's just an incredible human. He works so hard for his family. He's that guy who just has so many ideas and he just does them all.

Jay Franze: 37:01

A big thanks to Cordery for taking the time to share his stories with us and thank you for taking the time to hang with me here. I really do appreciate it. If you know anyone that would enjoy this episode, please be sure to share it. You can do that and find the links to everything mentioned over at jayfranze. com/ episode 107. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.

Tony Scott: 37:28

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com Follow, connect and say hello.