One of the biggest shocks on the ACL lineup for me in 2023 was seeing Randall King’s name on the poster. When I got credentialed, I knew I really wanted to talk to him for a few reasons. One, King’s music has such an awesome throwback feel to it. It has shades of Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and George Strait. Also, his live show is so much fun and he and his band bring the tonk every show. But the most important reason I wanted to talk to him was because he’s a Red Raider alumni and a former student of the Rawls College of Business. Luckily, all of the stars aligned and I was able to chat with him. Our full conversation is down below.
Andrew: So first things first, thank you so much for taking the time to do this once again. The first thing I want to ask is what was it like even getting the call to do this? Is this the first time you’ve played a major multi-genre fest like this?
Randall King: To this level, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. This is the first time I’ve ever been a part of anything like this. We’ve done some really big ass festivals. LIke LJT, you know. LJT is the biggest festival for country music in Texas. But to mix genres, cross genres, I’ve not done that.
Andrew: When you were working at the Texas Roadhouse on the Loop, did you ever think this would ever happen?
Randall: Yeah, I dreamed of it, man.
Andrew: Hell yeah.
Randall: I manifested it, for sure. In fact, I annoyed the hell out of everybody that I worked with because I was always singing in the back of the house. They were like, “Man, shut up!” Hey. It’s what I want to do. Sorry. I love it. I love singing.
Andrew: So I went and looked it up, and I found out you’re the first Red Raider to play this festival since William Clark Green did it in 2015.
Randall: Really? Flatland [Cavalry] ain’t played it?
Andrew: No, they haven’t. Every year I put them on the survey because I think they would be awesome here.
Randall: That’s crazy.
Andrew: Yeah, but just some fun thing I wanted to tell you. And then The Chicks played last year, so we kind of had a Lubbock connection but how cool is it to be the first Raider since then?
Randall: Oh because Natalie Maines. Yeah, dude, it’s incredible to come out here and represent Tech. I even talked about Tech for a little bit on stage, we talked about the Blue Light before doing Mirror, Mirror. So it was cool, man. It was a it was a great time for sure. Good crowd.
Andrew: I texted Dalton [Domino] as soon as you shouted him out.
Randall: That was you, you sent the picture?
Andrew: I didn’t send a picture but I texted him and I was like, “Hey, Randall just shouted you out on stage at ACL” and he was like, “Well, tell him I said hey!”
I’ll ask one more Lubbock question so I don’t harp on it too long. Being sort of born and bred out of that scene, how big of an impact has it left on you and how much does it inspire you still in this day?
Randall: I mean, it’s shaped me as a songwriter. If you’re coming from Lubbock, there’s just something in the water. That timeframe from when I was there to even up to when I left, I finally got out of Lubbock in about 2020. So there was a time period from about 2011 until about 2016, where you watched songwriters just blossom. It was a community. It was camaraderie. We’re all buddies. Bringing each other up, helping each other grow, helping each other learn. And, man, to be a part of that. I’ve never heard of any other town being anywhere close to it besides College Station kind of has that going on right now. Outside of that, if you wanna be a songwriter, Lubbock, Texas is where you win.
Andrew: So speaking about songwriting and your music, I have a couple questions I want to ask about that. I like to ask any artist I interview, no matter what the genre or what it is, I always love to ask about the songwriting process.
Randall: (After the crowd at the nearby Miller Lite stage cheered for Suki Waterhouse) They liked your question.
Andrew: Haha yeah! But I wanted to ask what your songwriting process is like. Are you a melody first guy, a lyrics first guy? Do you just have bits and pieces that you sort of combine at some point? What do you do?
Randall: It’s always different. It’s a combination of the three. Sometimes we start with just, I’ll pick up the guitar and start jamming. And some things just come out. Sometimes I’ll come up with just a hook from talking. There’s a song I wrote called I Don’t Whiskey Anymore. That was a conversation I had with somebody. They were like, “You want a shot of whiskey?” And I was like, “I don’t whiskey anymore.” I’m like, “Oh, I gotta write that down,” so I did. Every song is just different.
Andrew: Another thing I want to ask you. Something I’ve always found interesting with you and your music is that you always had a hand in the production, whether it’s your first album that you completely self-produced, or even the new singles, having co-production credits. What led you to want to do the first one all by yourself?
Randall: Well, one, when I went to Texas Tech. I went for about a year and a half, and I was majoring in business, minoring in music.
Andrew: You were a Rawls guy?
Randall: Yeah, I was. I was failing out of Rawls, man. I got one good semester. The next two, I just stayed in my dorm room and writing songs. I had to stop going to class ’cause I wasn’t interested. And finally I left and I went over to South Plains College in Levelland, down the road. And I learned how to produce records. I learned sonics. I learned how to run sound. I learned the physics of sound. And so I wanted to have that education so that when I recorded music, nobody told me what I needed to do. Nobody told me how I should sound. I wanted to control all of that. I think that’s important as an artist to always be in control of what you do, right? And be able to navigate it, be able to be able to communicate like, “Hey, that does not work for me. That’s not my sound.” So you gotta, you gotta be smart about it and educate yourself. So that’s what it is.
Andrew: If you haven’t already, would you ever be interested in producing for other artists?
Randall: Yeah, of course, man. I would love to. There’s a guy we signed to the publishing company named Jake Jacobson. We’re looking at him. We got Wynn Williams. He wants to do some stuff with me. I’ve had a few buddies ask. There’s some dudes that got great voices. I would love to do this. Yes. Put on some country music, man.
Andrew: Alright, last couple of questions I got for you. I know these festival days can be kind of chaotic, kind of hectic with travel and schedules but are you going to take some time to see some sets and if so, who are you going to check out?
Randall: Absolutely man. Morgan Wade is playing right now. So as soon as we’re done here, we’re going to go check her out. She’s a good friend. The bus has got to roll at like 5 for us to get back. So we’re not going to get to stick around a whole lot. But we’ll try to see what we can.
Andrew: Next thing, what’s on the horizon for you? I know you’ve been putting out a bunch of singles. There. There’s probably, there’s some new album in the works somewhere, what’s coming up for you the rest of the year?
Randall: We’ve got two new singles that we’ve dropped. Uh, actually we’ve got more than that, we’ve got three. We’ve got a song called The One You’re Waiting On, a song called Hard To Be Humble, and then the latest which is Burns Like Her. These are all lead tracks leading up to a record that we’re going to be dropping the first of next year.
Andrew: Alrighty, last but not least I’m gonna ask you our KTXT signature question, we ask it to every band and artist we interview. If you could redo the soundtrack to any movie in your style or if you could take out the soundtrack to any movie and replace it with your music, what movie would it be and why?
Randall: Ah that’s tough man, that’s a hell of a question. That’s a thinker you just dropped on an ole boy and just expect an answer. So um. I’m a big fan of the movie Ocean’s Eleven. I think it’s incredibly schemed, incredibly well-written. It’d be really fun to have a little honky tonk version of that movie you know? A little Tonk-Vegas. That’d be cool!
Randall’s new album Into The Neon is out on January 28 via Warner Music Nashville. His latest single, Hang of Hangin’ On, is out now wherever you buy or stream music. I want to send a huge thank you to Randall for taking some time to swing by and talk to me and I want to also send a huge thank you to Kristi Bradshaw of Warner Music Group for helping set this up!
Loading ...