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 host, 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. Joining me tonight my good friend and co-host, miss Tiffany Mason. And this week we get to talk with the High Mountain Breezes. We get to talk with Bruce Tarletski and Bob Bullock. We'll talk to them about what makes their project so special, why they chose the studio they chose, and well, we'll talk to them about their preference between analog and digital. Now, bruce and Bob, they have both been on the show before and I cannot wait to catch up with them 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, bruce. Let's start with you. What makes this new project special?

Bruce Tarletski: 1:35

I think what makes this new project very special is we sat down and we really wanted to step outside our comfort zone, and the first thing we did was we decided we were going to call this project Contributions, and it's very special to us because everybody in the High Mountain Breezes contribute. Not only are they contributing to the project, it's the overall High Mountain Breezes project themselves but they've contributed to music for years all the great songs and great artists and so that was part of it. And the second part we wanted to pay tribute to songs of the past that still resonate with people today, but we wanted to do it in a way that we were making it our own. We weren't trying to copy anything. You know, we took songs from the 50s, the 60s, the 70s and the 80s and basically what we did was we first asked everybody if you had a song. You wanted to do one song, what would it be? So we all kind of got together and came up with a list of some new songs. We've got six cover songs that we're paying tribute to, and then, of course, we've got three songs of our own that are new to us.

Bruce Tarletski: 2:42

But you know, we stepped out. For example, we did a couple of Bobby Darin songs. We did Beyond the Sea and that's the first time we've ever added brass to a song, and when the guys got done playing it, we were. We were recording in a phenomenal studio out in Franklin, tennessee that Bob knows very well was Insight Studios, and so when the guys came in they were just like they were ready to rock on it. But when they got done doing that song they said I've never played anything like that.

Bruce Tarletski: 3:10

You know, and these are these are well-known players and artists that have played for just about everybody. So we did that. You know. We paid tribute to Dobie Gray with Drift Away from the 70s One of my favorites, harry Chapin. We went and did a great version of Circle and then we did a couple of Meet Me in Montana, which we've released here recently, and we also did Heaven. That was the whole approach. And I think I'll turn to Bob, because Bob was really the one. Him and Chris Luesinger put the project together. You know Chris did all the arrangement of the songs and Bob, I think, bob, I think you had a lot of fun with the project.

Bob Bullock: 3:51

Oh, absolutely, although I think, bruce, you already said everything I was going to say.

Jay Franze: 3:55

So we're done. We'll see you all later. Have a good night.

Bob Bullock: 4:01

No, I mean to elaborate on everything you just said is that is what makes this special and fun is we took these songs and, as a producer, knowing that it's not going to do us any good, and if we're going to use something that's just not going to go well with, it's going to be that we're just copying old songs and redoing them. So the idea and chris luesinger did have a lot to do with helping with making special arrangements is we tried to make each song something special on its own. You make them different. So to a new audience, a younger audience, it's just a fresh, new version of a classic song. To an audience that is older, that knows the songs from the original, like Meet Me in Montana, for example, I think our version is different.

Bob Bullock: 4:51

So it's just, you know it doesn't sound like we tried to just copy something and that was the intention. So it's been a lot of fun to do Bobby Darin songs, you know, to get some horns and do all that. All the lead vocalists did a fantastic job too, so a lot of it was casting. You know, when you hear all the nine songs and all the different lead and background singers we have on them, they're all unique. So it was really a challenge, honestly because of that, working with several artists on one album.

Jay Franze: 5:24

Let's take a step back for just a quick second. Bruce mentioned, bob, that you and Chris arranged this, put this together. So can you kind of just take us a step back here and just explain to us how the organization comes about? You know the role that you actually play.

Bob Bullock: 5:39

Well, let's see. I guess you know, to me producing music is kind of like directing a movie, and so you know, the first thing is we had to put together the band that we thought was right for these nine songs that are pretty diverse and who would be the right people for those. Finding the right studios to work in has a lot to do with just size of the studio, vibe, the gear that's available and what we think we need to cover all those bases. The casting continues with which vocalist would be right for which song. A couple of them. There's more than one lead singer, and so Circle has basically three different verses, three different singers.

Bob Bullock: 6:23

So there's a lot that just like making a movie. Really. It's just a lot of moving parts and kind of having a vision for it. So so to me, that's really what it is is if, if someone comes to me to produce a song, I try to just envision what I think the outcome is going to be, and then it's just like I use the comparison so much of filmmaking, but who's the right actors? You know, uh, what's what's the right setting? You know the vibe for this and everything. You know what's the right setting. You know the vibe for this and everything, when all that is done well, to me it just comes together.

Jay Franze: 7:03

It runs itself if you have everybody in place. Well, bruce, I know Bob's role as a producer is to put that type of thing together and to gather the musicians and pick the studio and so forth. But this is kind of a unique project and you have a lot more involvement in the project than normally. So can you kind of explain what your involvement was?

Bruce Tarletski: 7:22

You bet. You know, it's always kind of a dream of mine, a vision for the next project, and my role in it is really just to kind of pick the songs, bounce the songs off of everybody and then just kind of wait for the reactions to the songs. And that's the biggest part. And what's exciting for me is to watch what Bob just described for the songs that we chose. You know, each of the songs means something different to everybody involved in the process and for me it was kind of like I'll tell one great story that kind of sums it up for me in the role of the project. You know, beyond the Sea was one of the first songs that I had at the top of my list that I really wanted us to do, and the story behind that goes.

Bruce Tarletski: 8:09

Behind that with me is my dad was basically born into music. He was in the military and he talks about the time that he got to play with Les Brown. He was a renowned and he put a trumpet in all our hands when we were young, but my cousin was the only one that didn't drop it. When he was eight years old my dad gave him his first trumpet. He is now one of the finest trumpet players out there. So this was very cool for my dad, who passed away a couple of years ago, and my cousin's dad to see the two of us come together on this project and that was really exciting for us and it was fun to watch because Gary Graziano, he lives in Indianapolis so, as Bob mentioned, he had to go find a studio in Indianapolis where he could do his part. So Bob sent him all of the stems and everything.

Bruce Tarletski: 9:06

And the fun thing about the story behind it is is that we sent him the charts and Gary calls me and says I don't know how you guys do it down in the South with these numbers, but we do it with notes.

Bruce Tarletski: 9:19

So Gary literally had to transpose the numbers to notes before he played it and when it got done, chris Luesinger gave him the highest compliment. He said you know, he said I don't think we could have found anybody else in Nashville that could have done any better on that trumpet part than Gary did. So that's kind of what the story goes behind. And I'm trying to think of the other ones that we did Circle, for example. You know we all have our favorite inspirations when we write music and Harry Chapin was definitely one of mine, and what's exciting about that song is that all the royalties of that song will go to the Harry Chapin Foundation for preventing hunger around the world. This was a unique opportunity to bring new players in, as Bob and Eddie Bears joined us for the first time, and Eddie played a small part on Meet Me in Montana. Well, the story behind that is Eddie played on the original Meet Me in Montana with Dan and Marie.

Bruce Tarletski: 10:16

So it was a great memory for him and these are all the things that I was trying to put together in the songs on Drift Away. That was Chris Lucinger's first live gig, when Dobie released that song on the Tonight Show, so he had a very special feeling for it and it was so funny because he wanted to make sure that his parts were perfect. So I remember, bob, he came in on Wednesday and didn't leave until 9 o'clock that night. Robert Bailey and Vicki Hampton Bob mentioned they do the background vocals on a lot of our songs and Robert came in to do his part for Drift Away and he said you know, when I was a little kid, my to do his part for drift away.

Bruce Tarletski: 10:55

And he said you know, when I was a little kid, my mom would only let us listen to country music in house. We couldn't listen to anything else until that 45 came out and she made me go buy it and we wore the thing out. And here he is 45 years later singing on his own version of that song. So that's really, I think, the story behind all of them song.

Tiffany Mason: 11:15

So that's really, I think, the story behind all of this thing coming together.

Tiffany Mason: 11:20

This has been so fun for me to learn about this project and everything, and it's making me think so much about my podcast, where I have people on and we talk about songs that they resonate with and sometimes I will pull somebody out of their regular everyday work and they say it's so great to come on a podcast and talk about something that gives me so much joy and that is making me think, bob, of your analogy to these movies.

Tiffany Mason: 11:40

Right, like you cast it, but ultimately, the people that you have cast now have the role to act out your vision. You know, and I just, I just love the fact that everyone's having fun and it's a more creative collaboration opposed to you do it this way, and there's a little bit. There's still structure, of course, but it's a little bit more loose and a little bit more creative and they're getting to really do their own thing. So I think that that's such a great project that you guys are working on and how it's all coming to life and the way that everyone's getting to enjoy it. Just have it be a fun outlet for them yeah, you're right, it's a loose script, you know.

Bob Bullock: 12:20

Basically we have a chart of the songs and and in this case you know, chris musinger and I, you know, went over all the song, the original recordings, demos and, I guess, put together a storyboard, you might say, of what you know.

Bob Bullock: 12:37

The arrangements could be a little different. Yes, you know, it's always been my belief when you cast all the right people, you have all the elements done well that with a loose script everybody gets a chance to do their part and they're all virtuosos of their instruments. That's the other thing, you know. So I recognize, if I have, like Mark Beckett play drums, it's not a whole lot. You have to say to Mark Beckett this is the feel of the song, this is kind of what, you know, we'd kind of like to be, and then you just let them do it, and I'd say that about really everybody on the project and I love working that way. That's the way I prefer to work. When I know I've got the right people, let them be who they are, and to me the outcome I always know the outcome is going to be good, because I know that.

Bruce Tarletski: 13:28

Well, you know, bob, I think to kind of sum it up in a sense, and I think, going back to Jay, what you had asked me about the role, I think, what we all realize. You know, when somebody once told me, when you realize that you're a part of something that is bigger than you, it's pretty darn special. And I think that's what happened on this project. When we were all in the studio, I think they all realized that this was something very special and unique and it wasn't just one person and Bob's absolutely right. I mean, everybody adds to the creativity and those types of great things.

Bruce Tarletski: 14:04

You know, one of the things, bob, you talked about, the casting, and one of the things that we walked out of there on Wednesday and said I think we've taken things to the next level and if you've heard the two songs we've released so far, you probably will agree with that. But on the casting side, we brought a Chris Luesinger. When he was working with Bob on the arrangement for Beyond the Sea, I thought of somebody who turned out to be just an amazing artist. Her name is Minnie Murphy and Minnie is a jazz blues singer and she came in and recorded and we all just went. Where have we been for the last 10 years you killed it.

Bob Bullock: 14:47

Yeah, I'll tell you a funny story about that too, because we had as much singing done live with the band playing as we could, but we also had to come back in and do some overdubs. We didn't do a lot, but we we had to. You know, I think in many's case maybe we couldn't have her for the live recording. I'm trying to remember now.

Bob Bullock: 15:08

Yeah, yeah she wasn't available for the live. Yes, we had to kind of do a scratch and do the tracks without her. And when she came in, she came in with she had the crud, you know, head cold and everything. And she walked in and she just sounded awful. And I looked at Kyle Hirschman, who is my co-engineer, and everything, and I said I don't think we're going to get vocals today, you know. She said, oh, I've got. You know this stuff, and that's kind of typical in Nashville anyway, with you know allergies and all that stuff. She said, just give me a few minutes, let me make some tea. You know, I think I can, I can work this out.

Bob Bullock: 15:47

And I didn't. I wouldn't have believed it Honestly. I wouldn't have believed it honestly. I was thinking, okay, we're going to have to look at a reschedule. And she went into the lounge and she got some tea and she came back in and she cleared her throat a few times and she said I think I can do this and I thought, okay, well, we'll try it, but if it's not 100%, we don't have to do it today. And I mean she just killed both those songs. I mean just rose right to the occasion, like someone coming up on stage and going. You know, the show must go on and I was pretty knocked out by that you know, and she did it, she definitely did.

Bruce Tarletski: 16:23

And you know a unique thing too we talk about on-the-spot creativity. When she got done doing one song she's doing is I'm Beginning to See the Light, which is the greatest. Two minutes and 17 seconds you will hear from the HMB players. I mean, oh my gosh. Well, as she was doing that, chris Lucinger said can you give us some oohs parts of the song? So when you listen to that song and you hear that that was just a spur of the moment thing that she did and you know we had Sam Levine came in and played saxophone on two of those songs, so it just was a pretty classic thing I think we all walked out when that was done and went, whoa, this is pretty cool.

Bob Bullock: 17:06

So you know the process, jay, you know, like you were asking about.

Bob Bullock: 17:09

So the process is getting everything ready on the front end, having the studio ready to go, have everything where everyone can just be creative.

Bob Bullock: 17:19

And then when we cut the basic tracks like I think in the case of Mindy couldn't be there when we cut those two Bobby Darin songs, we leave a lot of holes. We're not trying to complete them, we're trying to get all the basic rhythm section stuff done. And then that gives me an opportunity, which is great, to take a breath, take them home to my studio, listen and see what we have and then kind of start imagining things that could be added. You know, different instrumentation, things we could add. And then the way we do get to work these days which is fairly new, but but it it works really well is I can after the fact contact you know one of the musicians and say you know, I I think maybe in this chorus we could add a, maybe an accordion part, maybe just something, just a pad, and they're set up also at home and they can send that to me or steal guitar part or something.

Bob Bullock: 18:16

They can send me a couple of things and then I can edit in. You know what I think works and what doesn't. Mark Beckett was our main drummer but we, you know, we've worked with Eddie Bears for years and years. In fact Mark Beckett and Eddie Bears switch off at the work in the Grand Ole Opry and eddie's just you know, he's just a master. So I had an opportunity to bring eddie in just to do some percussion and stuff like on montana, because he actually was the drummer on the original record. So we kind of worked him in to do some things and that's kind of how we tried to have the same musicians but take a breather and then maybe have Chris Luesinger do some guitar overdubs later, and I could fit all that in and then I could actually build the record a little at a time.

Jay Franze: 19:06

I want to get into this a little deeper with the production, the studios and so on, but before we do, you guys have both mentioned Chris and I know Bob working with you in the past. I know your connection to Chris but, bruce, did you know of Chris before working with Bob?

Bruce Tarletski: 19:23

Yes, chris has been. I've been doing this 15 years and Chris has been there from day one, as have the core players, chris, mark duncan, michael spriggs, katherine marks. We've all been together since 2000 well, 15 years now, but chris has definitely been, uh, a part of it from the very get-go. Chris introduced me to you, right yes, we won't go to that story anymore.

Bob Bullock: 19:49

Yeah, but isn't that, isn't that kind of how that all happened?

Bruce Tarletski: 19:56

We'll make the story short, tiffany, but we went down to third in Lindsley and that's where I met Bob, and John Oates was playing on the stage. Of course I didn't know it was John Oates and I leaned over to Bob and said I think this guy's got a real shot to make it someday. He doesn't let me near anything, but what the heck? I think this guy's got a real shot to make it someday, and we've been friends ever since.

Bob Bullock: 20:16

He doesn't let me near anything, but you know what the heck, yeah, it's like if you just hook up with that guy Hall, you know. But no, I think, as I recall, you were doing some demos with Chris Luesinger and a few musicians and then somehow I got involved with you and then it started turning more into this High Mountain Breezes contributions and kind of expanding the band. Really, you know the band and singers.

Bruce Tarletski: 20:45

And I think you know you're talking about expanding the singers. I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, on this project we added some new singers to the program, you know on Circle, and we were looking for that third or fourth vocal to add to it. And I think, bob, I think it was you that reached out to Tanya Tanya, tanya Ankaroff. Yeah, ankaroff reached out to Tanya Tanya.

Jay Franze: 21:06

Tanya Ankaroff. Yeah, ankaroff, and you know she was on tour with she was on tour with Amy Grant and she did the recording.

Bruce Tarletski: 21:13

she did her recording on the bus. But just to expand our sound I'm going to correct you a little bit.

Bob Bullock: 21:18

Okay, I'm going to only say this, but you are correct, but I'm going to throw, because it is funny how we can do things. I contacted Tanya and she was out working with Amy Grant but she had a little portable set up in her hotel room so she sent me vocals that she did in her hotel room.

Bruce Tarletski: 21:38

And Chris was in Europe. He went for a European vacation just beforehand and he heard some instrument on the square someplace I don't know if it was ireland or whatever. Bob, you recall what that instrument was and michael spriggs brought it in and we added it was the bouzouki, I think yeah, I think, yeah, those are the types of things that this group is allowed to do.

Bruce Tarletski: 21:59

But you know, tiffany, how we got started to where we are bob was referring to. Yes, I started 15 years ago. You know, I came from Nashville. I'm going to be a songwriter and get all these cuts and stuff like that, and about 2015,. I said enough of this and that's kind of like. We've kind of came up with this approach where we would create a place for players and artists and singers to come and create their own music and kind of control our own destiny a little bit and basically become a record label, an independent record label and writers, because these are original songs too.

Bob Bullock: 22:33

They're not all covers.

Tiffany Mason: 22:35

Okay, because this is my backstage pass to the music industry. I have two questions for you. First of all, you said I hear you saying that you have a new album, and then I heard you say about the album before but how many albums do you have If you've been collectively at it for 10 years together?

Bruce Tarletski: 22:54

We collectively at this since 2005, about 10 years. We have two albums. We have about 22 songs in our portfolio.

Bob Bullock: 23:02

Okay, two songs all together.

Bruce Tarletski: 23:04

Yeah, the first album was about we released in 2021, and we actually had four of those songs go number one in Europe.

Tiffany Mason: 23:11

Off of that, I love that, I love that. And then I want to know why High Mountain Breezes? So at first, when I was listening to some of the interviews, I thought it was High Mountain Breeze. And then it's Breezes, and so is it the Tennessee Mountains, like what spurred the name.

Bruce Tarletski: 23:30

Well, the High Mountain Breezes comes from Southern Colorado. My wife's family lives in Southern Colorado in the Canaes Canyon, which is about 45 miles south of Alamosa, colorado, on the border, and you always get up into the high country where the aspens are turning and the breezes and the winds and stuff like that, into the high country where the aspens are turning and the breezes and the winds and stuff like that. That's the inspiration behind the high mountain breezes name. The logo comes from the smoky mountains where we what's, what's the I'm not familiar with it completely, but the national park north of knoxville, up where dolly partner lives at cherokee yeah, and we were standing there getting a photo shoot and the photographer had somebody hold my scarf behind me and she said we'll count to three, and then you drop the scarf and that's how that logo was made.

Tiffany Mason: 24:18

Very good.

Bob Bullock: 24:19

We kind of call the band and singers, everybody, the HMB players. So that's kind of how you know. You see it too. So it's High Mountain Breezes what you might say is the label. And then these two albums that have been put out so far are the HMB players.

Bruce Tarletski: 24:40

You'll notice the phrase the word contributing in front of players contributing artists, because when we first started, where are you contributing in front of players contributing artists? Because when we first started we were just calling ourselves the HMB players and it really wasn't reflective because we're trying to herd cats. So basically, as we really kind of defined who we were, everybody's contributing. So we have contributing players, we have contributing artists, we have contributing songwriters. You know, jan Buckingham is one of our songwriters. We have a marketing team. Janie West, who is one of the finest ARs in Nashville, is a part of our group too. Then we have other folks involved.

Bruce Tarletski: 25:19

We have Ed Girdler, who is our digital guy. He's the one who gets the songs out. Ed is a veteran of 30 years at Sony Music in Nashville before he retired. So Ed is the one that's responsible for the distribution and getting it out to where we need to go. So the next time you go to Alexa and say, play music by High Mountain Breezes, that's Ed. We have Dustin Soper. Dustin does all our marketing for us, our imaging, our branding, those types of things. So it's a collection of a lot of folks. We have another gentleman by the name of Monty Lane Allen. Monty is a songwriter. We did Stars in Lahaina, he recorded it. So we have quite a diverse group of folks. That it's just not players and singers. There's a whole 25 people all in all when it's all.

Tiffany Mason: 26:08

Another thing that I love about the project is that so I'm not from nashville, I don't have an engineering degree, I am a producer but I produce podcasts anyway.

Tiffany Mason: 26:20

I love that there's so many people that have come together. So I honestly, just with starting my podcast, learned about the different. There's like a quote, unquote yellow pages for like oh, we need a saxophone player tonight and you just call that person in and I just think that's like stupid cool to begin with. But now you guys have this amazing list of performers and artists that want to come together and collaborate and you can't always get the same people all the time, so you just don't know who's going to pop up on all of these different songs. That's so cool to me. Like absolutely love that these people are just and Bob, you saying like you know you have these holes and then you go and fill them in, or how Mindy put the you know ooze in there that she wanted. I just, I just really love the thought behind this and how it comes together and how it's not always the same people and it's this fun little side project not really side project, but you know what I'm saying Like it's just a little bit more free flowing.

Bob Bullock: 27:17

You see, the creative process is that to me, you know, it's like. It's like you're, you're sculpting something, you know, working with another artist and producing recently we were talking about that. It's like you kind of have a good idea of what you want this to be, but it changes as you go. And so, like you know you're, you've got a sculpture of a, of a man, and the you know the nose breaks off or something, and you go, Hmm, maybe that should be like a different, you know, maybe they should look to the different direction or something, and you kind of do that. That's the process. So there's a little bit of you know, planning and structure, maybe a good amount, but then some of it is just left to as you add this piece. Then you go, oh well, maybe I didn't hear that before, but maybe this instrument would fit in here, or maybe the song needs some added percussion to give it the motion that you know, maybe it's asking for, you know, and so that's what makes it fun.

Bob Bullock: 28:16

And then, with what you're talking about and Nashville is really one of just a few music communities and maybe in in some ways even the wider spread version of it, but all these musicians and singers and writers. Really most of them know each other. Most of them have played together, either live or in the studio. So when we come in, it's not like we have one band that is like maybe like the Swampers from know alabama or um the wrecking crew from los angeles in the 60s and 70s, but they're all musicians that have played together and all singers that have sung together, and so it's just these different configurations and we just have a really broad palette.

Bruce Tarletski: 29:08

You know, bob, kind of play off of that too is, you know, the number one priority when we put together the project is our core people, core players and singers number one. They have been together with me, like I said, for 15 years and I used to have people come up to me and say, well, you know, there are other players in Nashville, you know. And I said no. Because up to me and say, well, you know, there are other players in Nashville, you know, try, you know. And I said no, because when they come into the studio together, you feel the magic, you feel the chemistry they, you know, they just create together and I think that's priority number one. We always want to make sure that we can get all of them together and then from there we kind of fill in the blanks and choose. Some people have asked will you guys ever go out on tour?

Bob Bullock: 29:49

That's kind of hard to do. Yeah, that's the hard part there, like even when we put this band together. Yeah, it's pretty much the core High Mountain Breezes. But you might be in a situation where the keyboardist that you first wanted to do it is just not going to be available for two months or something, cause a lot of them are doing tours or Garth Brooks has been keeping all his band really busy.

Bob Bullock: 30:15

And then uh you know some of them are out with, you know been out with, like Peter Frampton or Amy Grant or you know whatever, but but we still we, we, so we have kind of a deep pool, but we still plan it where we can, you know, keep this core somewhat glued together, if that makes sense.

Jay Franze: 30:36

I want to take this into the studio here. What made you choose the studio that you chose for this particular project?

Bob Bullock: 30:46

Oh for Ins particular project. Oh for insight studios. Yeah, several things, you know for what, the kind of music we were doing. It's a really good studio. I mean it's a really great studio. It's got a lot, a lot of natural ambience. It's big. There's plenty of room for everybody. We worked with a lot of people live. We had a pretty big band, more than usual, since we had so many different singers. Even when we did our tracking date, we had four lead vocal microphones set up for different people to step in.

Bob Bullock: 31:20

So I needed the space was part of it. I needed a desk with a lot of channels was part of it. I needed a desk with a lot of channels, which they have a pretty large SSL console there and it's just a good vibe. The lounge, everything. It just seemed like that was the right place for this project. Oh, and one other thing too we also tried to capture video, you know, with the documenting a lot of this stuff, and so you know insights, a beautiful studio for the backdrop, for lighting and everything, and and a great staff. And so, yeah, there's other other places I work and other studios that I use, honestly, for different reasons, maybe different, you know, a different vibe for a different type of artist or band, but Insight was, I think, perfect for this project.

Jay Franze: 32:13

Was it originally under another name?

Bob Bullock: 32:17

Yes, it used to be called Paragon. Yeah, that's what I thought Two years ago.

Jay Franze: 32:22

Yeah, I remember Paragon. I never heard of Insight, that's why I was curious.

Bob Bullock: 32:37

As soon as I pulled it up and saw the pictures I'm like, okay, yeah, that makes more sense dates. But I've I've worked there as a you know, rhythm section, a music studio, and just knew the way I wanted to set everybody in the room live. Everything. That was the right environment and it worked out really well.

Jay Franze: 32:55

Everything sounded great I remember that, working on a project there with you at one point when it was still paragon, but I I could not remember what it was, so that doesn't matter. But, bruce, my question to you is the first time you go in and you get to work with Chris and Bob together and the team that they bring in, I'm sure it was not what you expected. So when you go in, how?

Bruce Tarletski: 33:26

did it make you feel when you saw that all come together? Well, you know, it's interesting because the first thing I think about before a project goes is the friendships. We've all been friends forever. So when you first walk into the studio we had not seen each other. What three years, bob or so?

Jay Franze: 33:41

So it's just like getting back together again.

Bruce Tarletski: 33:43

It's like handshakes and hugs and just joking around and getting ready to go and be excited With this particular instant. I could see the excitement, enthusiasm on everybody's face, their vibes. It was high the minute they walked in the door. I think that was cool. And then what was also exciting to watch was the song choices. They didn't know None of the players or singers knew what the singers did but the players didn't know what songs we were going to be doing. So they're coming in and they're going. Okay, what are we going to do? The typical things we normally do. First song Beyond the Sea bang, wow, drift Away. Meet Me in Montana. So they really got fired up and I think the environment around them made it to be pretty special and I kind of walked out of there going. I think we've done pretty good here.

Bob Bullock: 34:36

I think we've always worked with the best people and it's always been really a great outcome. But I do think when we sat into this particular project at Insight, we had enough traction and background that I kind of felt like it did glue together in a little different way. It was a little more special.

Jay Franze: 34:59

Well, let's talk about that for a second, bob, because you've had a chance to work with everybody and their mother in the business, and I mean big, big names, big projects, grammy winning projects. I mean you've done it all. So when I hear you talk about this project, it brings something else out of you. So what is it that you find about this project that is so special?

Bob Bullock: 35:23

Well, as Bruce said, you know this, this particular group of now like there's like 25 involved. But everybody that we've worked with on these High Mountain Breezes songs are longtime collaborations and friendships. I've worked with most all these musicians for 30, 40 years, 25 probably minimum. And I guess what's different is maybe when I'm producing a different artist, it kind of goes, it goes in the direction of whoever that artist is, and that's good. I'm always excited about everything I get to be part of. If I'm engineering, I don't have quite as much control over it At that point I'm recording or mixing for someone else's vision of producer and artist. But yeah, in this case maybe it is a little bit more special because Bruce suggested these songs and they kind of fine-tuned what the singers thought would be something they could really wrap their heads around and we all really got to play in the sandbox. So I guess that is a little bit different.

Jay Franze: 36:40

Well, that's a good point. When you're in the studio, typically you're selecting the musicians, you're selecting the studios, you're building something to lend towards the artists that you're working with, but do you find yourself having more creative input in this project?

Bob Bullock: 37:02

Maybe in a way, yes, that this isn't one artist. So I guess that's maybe, yeah, that that would be hitting the nail on the head is I've, I've produced five albums this year and I and I love them all, and all the artists have been great and they're all very different, but high mountain breezes being one of them, but yeah, this one isn't, like, you know, music around one vocalist. You know, this is kind of just putting on our thinking caps and having all these different artists involved in it. And the same thing with the previous stuff. You know we had Gwen Sebastian, we had Deborah Allen. You know we've had other singers. You know, even on the previous stuff, they're just phenomenal. So, yeah, this is kind of like working on a greatest hits or something at one time, you know. So, yeah, I guess I guess, if I seem a little, you know, excited about how I'm describing it, I think that's probably the difference you know, and I think, bob, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Bruce Tarletski: 37:57

I mean, it's not one artist you know, and every time an artist comes in to record early on in the early years, they would say well, what do you want us want do?

Tiffany Mason: 38:08

Well, you do whatever you want to do.

Bruce Tarletski: 38:10

You know, you make it your own.

Tiffany Mason: 38:12

I love that so much, bruce, because this song or this podcast is the backstage pass right, and so we watch those videos and then we get to see the authenticity of the process of the songs coming together and it gives us, who are not part of that creation process, and appreciation for what does go on behind the scenes and maybe even get to see some authentic personality from, you know, our favorite artists or people that are working together to create the music that we get to enjoy you bet.

Bruce Tarletski: 38:42

you bet. You know jerry jay's conversation has been going on here tonight. I keep coming back to the main thing that I think makes this so unique and special. As Bob said, everybody's best at what they do. Okay, that's not what this is about. It's about friends getting together and doing what they want to do together. You know, I mean I've had this conversation with a couple of them, you know, over the years. I was talking to Chris Luesinger recently before he went off to Vegas, and I mean I've had this conversation with a couple of them, you know, over the years. I was talking to Chris Lusinger recently before he went off to Vegas and I said well, chris, I said you know, what makes this unique is you are getting to leave your own mark, you're making your own music, you're leaving your own mark. You're not doing it for someone else. You know, and that's true. And I think when we got done with this last project, I think everybody went wow, this is pretty cool yeah, also, bruce.

Tiffany Mason: 39:33

Don't you think it's also being done not in the name of notoriety or fame?

Bob Bullock: 39:37

it's being done in the name of fun and creation and doing what they love I'm going to add to that because that that's kind of I guess I hadn't really given that much thought while we were doing these projects, and certainly even the latest one. But I love every project I get to work on and I take them all very personal and it's a team, it's always a village of work with an artist and how can we make the best record or music for that artist and how can we make the best record or music for that artist? But yeah, this is different because, like, even I remember Melissa Duvall came in to sing the song Heaven and I remember talking to her about how should we approach it and I remember her saying, just like we've talked about all this stuff, melissa, you know how do you want to sing this song. You know this is your moment that you know this song.

Bob Bullock: 40:30

You've sung it, I'm sure, many times in different situations, different venues, and she just did this wonderful, fantastic vocal of what I thought. So it was all really quite easy. But it was really because, as you said, they all came in saying, instead of them asking what do you want me to do, me saying what do you want to do there, and we just kind of kept it in, you know, the rails a little bit, but it was really quite, quite easy you know, and the song choice don't don't be mistaken.

Bruce Tarletski: 41:03

I mean, yeah, they'll say this is what I want to do, but for everyone that they want to do, if I gave another note saying they weren't afraid to say not, no, but heck, no, that's just not me, you know. So I think Ron Wallace enjoyed the project, because Ron does a lot of demo work and stuff like that, but he's a 70s guy, you know. He's Vinyl Radio is their group in Nashville, but he's a 70s guy, so he got to do Drift Away man. He loved it, you know, he just absolutely loved it.

Bob Bullock: 41:33

They were all fantastic.

Jay Franze: 41:35

Well, on that note, bruce, so I'm sure you talk to everybody, probably the most. What kind of feedback do you get from the performers when the project is done?

Bruce Tarletski: 41:51

Everybody's so humble. We are a very below the radar type of group. They're very, very humble. They are very thankful. Thank you for including me. That's about it. No one says, hey, what can we do here? What can we do differently? It's just very cool, very nice. It's all about the friendship. It's all about the relationships. I don't think about Chris as one of the greatest guitar players that ever play the guitar. I think of Chris as a friend, even though he is.

Jay Franze: 42:21

I was just going to say, well, he is, you know. I mean for anybody else who would like to witness that themselves, go see Garth Brooks play right now and you'll get to experience it.

Bruce Tarletski: 42:34

Exactly, and that's really what it's all about. And the thing about it is we just don't talk before a session of Drupal. It's year-round keeping them in the loop. But I think they're really seeing the opportunity that they're having to create their own music. You know that type of thing. What we're going to be doing is we're going to be releasing singles up to a certain point, you know, because that's really the way to go. I mean, we're going to release the third week in January, heaven, because we want to hit Valentine's Day. The Valentine's Day week is the second largest streaming downloading week behind Christmas, so we thought that that would be a great next release. And then after that, in the late spring, we thought we would do Drift Away, and then we've got a couple more, and then we'll get to the point where we say, okay, let's release the whole thing. So just kind of stay tuned and we will be releasing them as we go.

Tiffany Mason: 43:32

So you're just keeping us on the line, just one song at a time, and then, finally, you're going to give it to us, the whole album.

Bob Bullock: 43:41

Well, what I'm hoping happens for us too is I hope this can turn into where through the store, through the web, you know, building the website everything that we could press vinyl. I still think that's the best way to get music out there for the people that are really into it and purchase vinyl. It's still my favorite way to listen to music and so the streaming is a vehicle and we use it and it's great. You see the numbers go up and and the popularity. But uh, if we could get to where we're, you know, selling if not cds, cds would be good, but I think there's a lot of people that are, you know, capturing their music libraries on on vinyl, you know I agree let me ask you this then, bob you have experienced all of this.

Jay Franze: 44:32

You started back when it was just analog, and now you're working in primarily digital. Do you have a preference? Would you prefer to do one or the other at this point?

Bob Bullock: 44:42

Oh no, I think I've evolved with it, you know. I mean I think I it. I miss some things about analog recording and just maybe in general the way we were able to make records going back in the 70s. We talked about earlier having more creative space via larger budgets and time to just go in and chip away, you know, and the analog recording contributed to that because it was a slower process too. So there was a lot more that you had to kind of figure out in decision-making. But I, like you know, I still record with analog equipment. So even though we're using Pro Tools as our tape recorder, it's really just the tape recorder and then we're using all the same gear, always did analog and then for mixing kind of the same thing, I'm using the more probably analog sounding plugins and whatever. So I still feel like I'm kind of keeping a little bit of both worlds, using some of the advantages to the digital technology and still getting some of the sonic value out of the more analog type stuff.

Jay Franze: 45:59

Now, Bruce, when you listen to music yourself, do you have a preference whether it's analog or digital?

Bob Bullock: 46:05

I prefer analog to be honest with you, part of the reason I'm kind of pushing that I'm glad that there's more people that are buying vinyl. I still think it's different if you sit down and put a record on a turntable and it just sort of forces you to really listen. I mean, that's what we're hoping for. I mean, when I produce music I'm hoping that instead of people having it just as a backdrop, that they're actually sitting there listening. You know whether it's in their car or whatever, but a turntable kind of keeps you from stopping. It goes that whole side's going to play and it's going to be like a live show. I have a beginning, a middle and an end to it.

Tiffany Mason: 46:44

Personally, I like to do it while I'm folding laundry. And second of all, what I like about the record is it exposes you to all of the songs, whereas like streaming, you're going in, you're making your playlist, you're choosing this song, that song, whatever's on the radio right, whereas when you're listening to the vinyl, you're getting the whole album.

Bruce Tarletski: 47:05

And that was a whole new process for me with bob, because we laid out the album. You know, even though online and streaming, we laid it out to be vinyl. You know, watching bob position the songs. I mean you just don't put a bunch of songs together and then have at it. Even with the online versions, you have to make sure your songs are in the right order to keep the listeners attention. But bob had, you know, work on the timing of all the songs, side A and side B, and we'll bring them back to side A. So that was pretty interesting.

Bob Bullock: 47:35

Well, I mean, I personally think that the space between the songs is important.

Bob Bullock: 47:39

Like you know, I think I look at making a record like putting together a live performance, a live set, you know, and so the first song should be something that really gets everybody going.

Bob Bullock: 47:52

It's not to me a case of like you know what that lyric is necessarily about, or you know what, you know what key it's in, or anything, any of those things. It's just like what song kind of just really gets your attention and then you want yeah, hooks you to want to listen to more. And then then then this that song is over, how much space should go by before the next song comes in? And should the next song be more of a mid-tempo thing? It just kind of eases the way through the experience, you know, and so you know I still make records that way. I mean, we used to spend a lot of time putting together the sequence of an a and b side for a record and how fast the next song should come in, and you know you don't want to have three ballads in a row, so now we've got to bring it back up again, and I think that's still the best way to experience listening to music, if you can.

Tiffany Mason: 48:48

I think, like with the spacing, like when I'm doing someone's podcast, right and like their intro, their outro, or if they're going to throw an ad in there or whatever, I always feel like your brain needs a break. So do you feel like after super emotional songs is there a longer space, like it's not programmed just three minutes each right? It's like, let this soak in and ruminate, let that person really just kind of feel for me every time it's like this song is over.

Bob Bullock: 49:10

When do I want to hear the very first drop of the mix? And it's going to be a little later, if I'm kind of just processing the previous right and up tempo, going to another up tempo.

Jay Franze: 49:22

I might want it to end and then go bang into the know, but that that's all part of the experience, I believe I want to touch on that real quick before we move on. Bob, I completely understand what you're saying about putting the songs together and having the spacing and doing all that stuff, and that's kind of what we do when we assemble and master a project. But in today's world, everything appears to be digital. We keep talking about about Spotify and releasing these songs digitally, and then it's a luxury to go ahead and release them on vinyl. So there's a different approach to mastering something for the digital world than there is to the analog world. So are you going to address those two projects separately?

Bob Bullock: 50:06

Oh, absolutely, yeah, I mean. For I mean there's, there's, there's a protocol for, you know, levels that can go on Spotify or it's different, maybe on Apple music or Pandora. You know there's, there's kind of guidelines to how that stuff's going to be streamed. And then for vinyl, you know, you've know you've got a physical product there so you've got to, um, it's, it's physically got to carve grooves into this, you know, piece of vinyl. So, uh, typically, like we, we would kind of lightly remaster the music, like we would pull the levels down, probably two or three db, you know from what they would be for the streaming sources. And then CDs. If we made CDs that actually can live pretty much in the same world as the streaming. But vinyl is not necessarily a process of remixing. If you've already mixed, where things will work on vinyl. But it is different mastering.

Jay Franze: 51:06

Well, where you got Spotify being negative 14 luffs and apple being negative 16 luffs, are you actually doing a separate master for each one of the digital services as well?

Bob Bullock: 51:18

I've thought about it. In fact I'm, you know, mastering another project right now and we are going to make vinyl with this one too. So it'll be two different masterings for sure. But I think what we're going to do is just keep everything, maybe more at that, like negative 14 limit. But you know there's the, there's apps out there that'll show you, you know they'll. You play your your music through them. Basically, you know, you just play your your file through it and it'll just tell you is it too hot for spotify, is it down? Because you know you want just play your file through it and it'll just tell you is it too hot for Spotify? Is it down? Because you know you want to give it to them where they don't start messing with it, where they don't kick it back.

Bob Bullock: 51:56

Yeah, so if you make something too hot for Spotify. You know they're just going to kick it back and I don't know what they're processing.

Jay Franze: 52:12

Bruce. Sir, you were on the show once before, and so was Bob, so we'd like to give thanks to people who've worked behind the scenes or people who have you know deserve a little light shined on them. Do you have anybody you'd like to thank that's supported you along the way?

Bruce Tarletski: 52:21

You know it's everybody that we talk about at the High Mountain Breezes. All 25 of the folks you know that have been there from day one and have been all very, very supportive of the process. I think the unique thing is the folks that support what we do, or what I've done over the 15 years, never tell you how to do it. They let you make your own path, follow your own path. One of my dear friends and mentors and I think I'd talked about her on a previous show is Deborah Allen, and I've known Deborah for 15 years. And she said, bruce, pay attention to the signs, always pay attention to the signs as you're going down this path. And she told me another story. I'll get back to that real quick too, in a minute. She told me a story when she signed her first record deal with Capitol Records and the president of Capitol Records told her at that time. He said I'm going to give you the greatest piece of advice you're ever going to get in this business. And he said you help people get what they want and you'll get what you want. And that's how the High Mountain Breezes has come about.

Bruce Tarletski: 53:26

And getting back to following the signs you know, when I started 15 years ago. I was going to be the next greatest songwriter Nashville had ever seen. Yeah, that lasted about 15 minutes, right, but paying attention to the signs and how, trying to define what my reasons were to be in Nashville, okay, and I noticed over the years the friendships were developing more and more and more and they were getting deeper and more rewarding and those types of things. To the one point and I think Bob, I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but Bob and I and Chris were sitting at that Starbucks in Franklin one day and I told Bob and Chris. I said you know, I used to come to Nashville for my music and Chris Lucinger asked me. He said, well, why don't you come now? And I said to be with my friends. And that's when Chris said welcome to Nashville.

Jay Franze: 54:12

A big thanks to Bruce and Bob for taking the time to share the stories with us. Thanks to Tiffany for joining me tonight 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 113. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.

Tony Scott: 54:41

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