206: Kolton Moore

On Episode 206, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Kolton Moore. During this one, we talk about his hiatus, coming back to songwriting, being a reenergized artist with a cult-like following, working with the likes of Ace Crayton of Thieving Birds, and what he has on the horizon in 2022.

This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol and The Blue Light Live.

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Thomas Mooney  0:02  
Hey y'all. Welcome back to new slang. I'm your host Thomas Mooney. You're listening to Episode 206, where I talk with singer songwriter, Colton Moore. It certainly has been a minute since the last episode of new slang. But we're cranking up the old podcast machine once again. I have some old episodes, as well as a few new ones that I'm ready to get out to you. This one right here is with an old pal Colton more. Back in the early days of Newsline, I spoke with Colton, a handful of times for a few interviews that were released on the old blog role. But as we discussed during this one Colton, he was on a bit of a hiatus there for a couple years, and not one brought on by the pandemic either. He followed other passions in the form of hunting, fishing, and being a general guide for all things nature. But during that hiatus, he started garnering a cult like following his earliest albums like Dear Mom, and the EP loved me. Instead, they started getting bumps in ads in the Spotify era, a handful of Twitter shout outs by folks like CO Wetzel, they didn't hurt either. Long story short, a bit of a demand surge to grow, that song grabbing, it's starting to need scratching once again. And as they say, you know, the rest is history is probably way too on the nose. But it's pretty apt as well. It's kind of a story oldest time, the boy goes into the wilderness and returns a man for Colton. It's both men literally and figuratively. A little bit of both. He's been out in the wild. But those years away despite not riding or playing, they still made him a more adept writer and artist. Life has a way of doing that. Obviously, hours of practice make you proficient at any and all undertakings. But of course, most of the time, just more life experience adds value as well. He's released a handful of great singles and a seven Song Collection called Everything has changed since early 2020 that are worthy of a listen and purchase. We talked about all this and a lot more during this one, which we'll get to it here in one second. But first, a word about our presenting partners over at Desert door Texas Sotol today's presenting partner is our pals over at Desert door, Texas Sotol if you've been listening to new slang, I reckon you're more than familiar with desert door by now. In case you need a refresher or just aren't exactly sure what desert door or what a Sotol is. Well let me fill you in. Desert door is one of my all time favorite premium, high quality spirits harvested and distilled right here in the great state of Texas. Desert is genuine and authentically West Texas. So tall comes from the desert plant it shares its name with as a reference point. It is an agave, so there is some semblance to tequila or Mezcal. And it does owe a lot of its heritage to the resilient natives of the deserts of northern Mexico in West Texas. In my estimation, though, desert or Texas, although is more refined, smooth and fragrant than its Agave cousins. It intrigues the palate and offers these robust hints of vanilla and citrus. There's a rich earthiness that often sends me back to my own trains Paik is in Far West Texas routes. There's plenty to love about desert door. For me, it starts with all those inherently West Texan routes, but a close second is just how versatile does a door can be. You can be down home in a denim jacket and a pair of work boots, just something short and sweet like a ranch water or throw it in some Coca Cola protip though, get yourself one of those Mexican coats when doing so. Or if it's more of a blazer affair, maybe suit and tie does adore it hits the spot then too, you can be a little bit more highbrow and concoct a variety of cocktails that call for muddling fresh fruit and sprigs of time and sticks of cinnamon regardless of the occasion or your preferred style. Just follow your bliss when drinking desert door. Right now you can find desert door all over Texas, Colorado and Tennessee, with budding numbers in New Mexico, Arizona, California and expanding across to a liquor store near you. For more on where check out desert door.com There you can learn more about their process history and what cocktails may suit your style. Again, that's desert door.com Alright, it's great to be back and yeah, let's get on into the episode. Here is Colton more Yeah, so it has been definitely a minute since last time we spoke for sure. I feel like that was years ago. I guess like your your second record around that time.

Kolton Moore  4:50  
Yeah, it would have been we were trying to when we pulled up into Lubbock, we were trying to think of the exact date we're trying to look up on like Instagram and Facebook when the exact date was the last time we played Lubbock. And we couldn't find the exact date, but it was 2014 it would have been like mid 2014. Because November 2014 was our last show, you know, back in the day, and so yeah, it's been a long time. And that seems like an eternity ago.

Thomas Mooney  5:15  
Yeah, it's one of those weird things where I bet it feels both, like an eternity ago, but then also like, you know, it's like riding a bike is yeah, for some aspects of it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. that you guys have at one point, you know, you guys were really plugging away really, really hard. Yeah. Trying to, you know, do all this. And then of course, you've transitioned and picked up a whole lot of the hunting stuff and doing a lot of other stuff, living life getting married, all that kind of stuff. And then it seemed like there was this demand to come back. Like, I'm sure like, you always kind of had that itch. But do you feel it was a little bit more of like the demand to come back or, or the other way around, or kind of a 5050 thing is, like, what your plans were

Kolton Moore  6:01  
who's definitely the demand. But I'm glad that the demand was there. Because my mindset on music at the time was like, for for so. From November 2014. On for four years, or over four years, I didn't even touch a guitar, I didn't put a single chord on a guitar and write a song. I didn't think about writing songs was just like, I don't know, done with it. There was no like, one certain thing that made me be done with it. But I was just just done, you know, I was like, I'm not going to do this anymore. It took me away from the things that I love, which were hunting fishing family. And I'm like, That's what I want to go do, you know, for the next four or five years. And then yeah, it's like when we quit playing, you know, we had, we were starting to gain some traction and had some small fan bases, and you know, towns like Lubbock. But those four years, I didn't even pay attention to what was going on as far as like Spotify and stuff within those four years, you know, quadrupled plus. And so it was brought to my attention by air and our drummer. And he's like, Dude, you got to play some shows, you got to put up some new music or something. And so I think then I put out the lone wolf EP, which I had recorded, like three years prior. And it just, you know, said in my emails, and I send it to air and, and I'm like, we could put this out. And he's like, Yeah, we need to put that out. So we got it mixed, mastered. And put it out. I'm not sure what year maybe. I don't know, maybe 17 or 18. And then yeah, it all just kind of went from there played, played a show and 18 I think for the first time in a while 18 or 19. And then that was just an acoustic show and you know, huge crowds all you know, fine and dandy. And then it's just all kind of grown from there. And the fan base has continued to grow and and when there

Thomas Mooney  7:49  
is that break, and like, you know, you're going back in a lot of terms, a lot of ways just going back to those basics unit acoustic guitar you talked about like that Stephens they'll show right. Yep. Where, of course, like, obviously massive crowd. But just again, it's back to that basic of just us guitar. What kind of butterflies were

Kolton Moore  8:09  
to that night, I was stupid. Like, I didn't know what to expect. I felt like maybe three or 400 people but I think it was like 1200 1500 people. And on my I never played in front of that many people I never played in front of up until then. More than 500 people I don't think and so it was just like overwhelming. But I just got up there and like, did what I do. And I'm not great at like talking in the microphone. I just, I don't even know if I'm great at writing and playing songs, but I'm good enough at it to get up there and do it and that's what I did. And people enjoyed it. And yeah, it's crazy. And you know, at these past three nights, we've been in places where we've never played before we played Fayetteville, Arkansas, Pittsburg, Kansas and then last night in Stillwater and we never played any of those places. And you know, great crowds showed up people knew all the words and still it's just like takes me back my counter. You know, the songs that I wrote in my bedroom at my parents house or in my you know, pickup truck going to you know, pot odd ad in the middle of the West Texas desert, like these little ditties that I that I wrote like people know him and I mean something these people don't know. It's really cool. It's cool, man.

Thomas Mooney  9:18  
Yeah, well, it's seems to be like a an interesting mix for you right now as far as those old songs that you wrote again, parents bedroom, all that kind of stuff. Like, you know, young man Yeah. and killed a young man picking up the pen again, you know, and songs with a sense of, of a different person, essentially. Right. Yeah. And bridging those two worlds together. Yeah, um, we as far as like, you know, I'm sure you had the like, again like the butterflies are for those that first show those some maybe some of these shows. Is that still is that like, I guess the question, I'm asking is that scarier? quote unquote, then? Then you were like, when you first started writing again, or? Or like, what would you feel like that you were like you felt the more the challenge was going to be? Oh,

Kolton Moore  10:13  
I don't know. Like, I've never considered writing a song a challenge, not because I'm because of my skill level at it. But just like, because I've never tried. I've never just like, I'm not the rider to sit down and be like, I'm gonna write a song about whatever I'm gonna write a song about. Love it today. I've just never been that rider. It's just happened, you know? And so that's never been like, what I consider a challenge. So yeah, definitely. But yeah, it was a challenge, a huge challenge to like, get back out on the road and start playing again. Because of like, one time constraint was my job, my business that I own as a hunting outfitter. Like that takes up a lot of my time. And then now I've got a wife, I've got a baby on the way that takes up a lot of time. So it's like, finding that balance. And, you know, it's not never gonna go back to playing 250 days a year ever. But, you know, maybe one of these days, it'll be like a 50 day two year type deal, I'd be cool. But I don't even know if that'll happen. Maybe it's still gonna be like, three to five shows a year and we'll just make them make them real special.

Thomas Mooney  11:17  
This episode is brought to you by our partners over at the blue light live here in Lubbock, Texas. Blue light has long been the epicenter of the Lubbock songwriter scene, and has been a prestigious home away from home for some of Texas Americana, country and Rock and roll's finest over the decades. Talk with a songwriter who's come out of Lubbock, West Texas or the Panhandle the last few years, and 99.9% of them are going to tell you just how integral and necessary the blue light has been in there come up as a songwriter and a performer. With live original music just about every night of the week, head on over to blue light lubbock.com to check out their schedule. I know over these next few months, you'll be seeing folks like Roger Klein and the peacemakers Grady Spencer in the work Joshua leathers Troy Cartwright, David Beck Sahana weekend, Tristan morels and Braxton Keith grace the blue light stage. Again, that's blue light lubbock.com. While there, check out their merch page, they have a wide range of hats, beanies, sweaters, hoodies, jackets, and koozies. You can get all your merch needs while you've seen your favorite band, take the stage by just asking your bartender and they'll get you set up as well. And of course, this should go without saying but make sure you tip your bartenders and buy some merch from the band while you're at it. That's 1806 Buddy Holly Avenue, Lubbock, Texas. Blue light lubbock.com. Pretty good chance. I'll see you there. Okay, let's get back to the show. Well, I imagine, you know, like when you're young, and this is like every young songwriter is the, you think like, oh, you start right? It's easy to write, because like, there's 1000 things to write about. And you think you're gonna have that new perspective on, you know, on drinking. Yeah, songs are like traveling songs. And everyone is just able to just the pin flows. I know like a lot of songwriters, when they are getting older, they realize like what they should try to write about. Yeah. And obviously, with time constraints, like that's what you end up choosing, like, what's the most important things around about it? Have you found that maybe like, you're not writing at the same clip, but you're writing at a at a higher rate of songs that you're keeping? Yeah,

Kolton Moore  13:33  
yeah, definitely a higher Yeah, I don't have as many like file 13 songs that are going to trash seems like the past especially 2021, we released six songs, I think, in 21. And I wrote all of those songs in 21, like, kind of as we were releasing them, was riding them and there was just, there wasn't much shit that we were not putting out like, it was just, it was all stuff that I had faith in. And it was it struck a chord with me. So I'm like, I want to record these songs. Yeah, I haven't even thought about that. I mean, you brought that up, and it just kind of clicked in my head is like, yeah, it's it's more quality coming out. Yeah, mainly because of the amount of time I have to sit down and write. And so when it does happen, I feel like the goods coming out. It's not just like, it's not any trying and like the I know, this one was shit. So I went away. So yeah, that's interesting. Interesting to think about now.

Thomas Mooney  14:26  
Yeah, I'm sure like, that's one of those things where, you know, when you when you have all of your other time, consumed by other things, maybe like those ideas that are like those top notch ones, they just stick a little bit longer, you know? Yeah, I know that. Like, it's a little bit apples and oranges. But Brandon Adams, a songwriter from here. Yeah, one of his whole things was always like, he wouldn't really write down his lyrics because if they were good enough, he would remember them. Yep. And that was maybe a little bit something to the effect of that as far as what are the good ideas? You're sticking around. Yeah,

Kolton Moore  15:01  
that's a good outlook on it for sure. Because there's all the time driving down the road or hiking up a mountain or sitting on top of mountain, glassing, whatever I'll you know, something will pop in my head. And yeah, you don't have anything to ride it on or you forget to whatever. And then if it sticks around, then yeah, it's the stuff that needs to be sticking around.

Thomas Mooney  15:19  
Do you find that like you're using what I call kind of like the the shower thought time where you're, you're kind of on autopilot, you're doing other stuff. As you're saying, like you're hiking up that mountain that like you're thinking about songwriting in the back of your head, is that like, we're because I think like we sometimes fixate on, like when you have the guitar in your hand or whatever instrument, and you got the pen in your hand, that's writing. Yeah. And that's only writing. But, you know, a lot of times like songs come from where you're just something that you just can't get out of your head. Yeah. Are you finding that that being the case, as of late, or,

Kolton Moore  15:57  
I've always, always kind of been the person, like when I'm doing something. So in this instance, I'm hunting, like, I'm hunting, I'm not thinking about anything else. We're on the road, the past six days playing music, you know, like, my hunting business is on the side, like, I'll get to my emails want to get back, you know, when we're off the road, I'll return phone calls, and I'll invoice guys then. So it's like, most of the time, no, but yeah, so you know, oftentimes, like, something will pop in my mind, and I'll have to pull over and write it down or put in my notes or whatever. But very seldom, I feel like that happens. Most of the time. It's like I, you know, I try to play the guitar, like, once a day, when I'm home. And whether it's in the morning on drinking coffee, or whether it's, you know, during the middle of the day after lunch or whatever, try to play the guitar. And I'm also the kind of writer to that I don't come up with lyrics and then write like a melody to it. I've got to have them both there most of the time. And so it's got to be like, Yeah, I've got to be sitting down with a guitar to write a song. Just about right conditions. Yep, for sure. Right Place Right on.

Thomas Mooney  16:58  
Okay. So, I've always found that really interesting. As far as like, obviously, songs coming in different way and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, let's throw it all out on out the window. When it comes to like, if you have your perfect conditions, what are like the five things that you feel like you need? Like a cup of coffee? Is it like what was kind of like your five Kana I can trust?

Kolton Moore  17:20  
Always, like number one, no matter what I'm doing? Yeah, it doesn't matter. A cup of coffee is number one. But I don't know. That's a good question. Because I feel like it's always so sporadic. Like I said, I don't try to sit down and write a song. It's always just so sporadic. It just happens. But generally, it involves, like me in the mornings when I wake up early the Watchtower asleep. I'm drinking morning coffee. And that's usually when it happens for me. So it's like, I don't think there's five things but it's like, cup of coffee. My guitar alone time like silence. Yeah, silence is key for me to just be able to like, before my day gets going because usually my brain is moving so fast on everything else that's happening in life. I can't think about songwriting. So like before my brain really gets spinning. As the caffeine starting to kick in, you know, that's when those those good thoughts are happening in my head. So yeah, I don't know. That's a good that's a good question.

Thomas Mooney  18:20  
I've always loved like the the morning like, when it's still dark out. Yep. The house is quiet. Yeah. And you all you can really smell us a cup of coffee. And yeah, if there's something really crisp and clear, even though like you just woke up, you know, like, there's something super nice about, like, a lot of times I feel like in those moments you kind of feel I'm gonna accomplish something today. Yeah, you know, you may not end up like doing anything but in those moments, I like the day still ahead of you where you feel like you can you know, tackle the world for sure if it's a song or if it's a, you know, I like in the kitchen or some shit.

Kolton Moore  18:58  
Yeah, like film. Like, I love waking up early, and my wife hates it. But I'll say even if I don't have anything to do, I'll set an alarm for 637 o'clock used to be even earlier. And now I've tried to get like a little bit later so she can sleep but yeah, I'll just set an alarm because I want to wake up I don't want to feel like any my days wasted. Very seldom do I sleep in like till you know, even eight o'clock. But yeah, just like waking up early and feeling like I'm like the first person awake right now. I'm waking up with the world, you know? Yeah, it's a cool feeling.

Thomas Mooney  19:30  
Always like, felt like my dad woke up way earlier than necessary. Yep. And then as you start getting older, you're like, you know what, actually like 530 is not that early like in comparison to you know, it's not that early. I feel like my whatever like your human clock is or whatever is like for me, I always just get up like at 630 Every morning I wake up I may like, lay there and you know, not doing anything for a minute but for the most part. It's like You're up. Right there. You mentioned that, you know, obviously, you've released a bunch of songs this past year. Yeah. Do you feel like the business side of it, you've got a little bit more of a, a grasp on what you want to do, like, you know, early on, like anything, you you're just kind of like trying to figure out what what what to do. Should I release a record? Should I put out an EP? What should I do? Yeah, you know, you've been like you mentioned you put out well, like half a dozen singles. And you had put out a record at the beginning of was the beginning of last year or the

Kolton Moore  20:34  
beginning of last year we put out, like melding together. Yeah, but put a seven song EP record wherever we want to call it.

Thomas Mooney  20:41  
Have you have you figured, like, you have a better idea of what you want to do when it comes to releasing music and, and the way people consume your songs and your art.

Kolton Moore  20:52  
I think so. My in now, like, I have, like a set goals for the year. So like, last year was like, I wanted to put out multiple singles, I wanted to just, like, constantly be churning out music. So at the beginning of the year, the goal was to release I think five songs throughout the year, just kind of sporadically. And so we ended up doing six, I think, with the Christmas song that we put out, but yeah, I don't know that I even had that much that, you know, get a real grasp on the business side, I'm trying to I'm trying to, to learn it and like understand it, but to me, it's just like, just keep putting music out good music out, and people are going to enjoy it. And we've already got such like a loyal fan base that there anything we put out, you know, they're going to listen to and so I just want to keep, keep putting songs out. That means something to me. And I feel like they mean something to me. They're gonna they're gonna mean something to somebody else as well, you know? But yeah, the whole like music business that stuff has over like the past three months with like the things with Yellowstone and American Idol. I'm learning that stuff because I don't know anything about it. I'll be the first person to tell you is like, you get these like, I don't know. Yeah. So no, I don't know the music business very well. But I'm trying. Yeah, just putting out songs like I said, doing, what I do, what I know how to do and then trying to learn as we go.

Thomas Mooney  22:18  
I want to break in just one more time to mention the love of way, a collection of wallflower vignettes, but the book are wrote and released this past fall. As you probably guessed by the title. It's a collection of stories and thoughts about the Lubbock music scene circa 2015. To around 2017. I'd like to characterize it as an insightful peek into 35 nights, weekends and episodes about various songwriters and bands like red Shea Han flatland Calvary, Randall, King, William Clark, green, Brandon Adams, and many, many, many, many others. It's currently on sale in the Newsline merch store. That's new slang podcast dot big cartel.com. While there you can also find T shirts, koozies, coffee mugs, stickers and a bunch of other stuff. This first edition has been exclusively limited to only 806 copies. Obviously, a nod to the panhandle area code and all the 806 are out there. And thanks to the merch store, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. They'll also be in the show notes. Again, go buy a copy of the Lubbock way a collection of wallflower vignettes by me, Thomas Mooney. All right, let's get back to the episode. You know, it sounds a hobbyist in some ways, in some respects of you doing like the six singles because it's not nearly the the same time consumption as going into the studio for you know, two weeks or something like that. Or, or, you know, cut copy and pasting cut and pasting a record together. Yep. I'm sure like those on the songs. Have they just been kind of like going in to a studio and just cutting the song or cutting the two songs at a time or what what's kind of been like the studio aspect

Kolton Moore  24:04  
of Yeah, it's been work on this. So with the first three, Ace Creighton from the thieving birds and myself, I just rented like a basement of an old building in comfort Texas, and he brought his gear down, he and I've been working together. He's been producing my tunes for a couple of years now. And he brought his gear down, we set up recorded vocals and acoustic and then like two or three of those songs ended up just being acoustic, and then the other couple we ended up shipping out to East Texas and the guys went out there and you know, did all their parts and Chad Malden out and Gladewater Texas, you know, produced and mixed mastered all of that stuff. So it's been a little different in there like there and then the Christmas song. We actually recorded Chad came down to curvo Where's where I live now? And we he had a Buddy with a studio there, we recorded it there. So every project was kind of in a different place. And I like that. I don't like to walk into the studio and like be comfortable with kind of like to go in and not know what to expect. And then just like get in there and do what I know how to do in this kind of foreign place. I feel like it's a it's kind of a cool mixture, and, you know, always end up, you know, turning out really well. But I'm proud of the songs that we put out this year. Whether they were the acoustic ones, or the ones with the full band. The Christmas song was a little bit out of character for me, but it was just something that came like COVID I wrote it on Christmas Day. Last year. My wife had COVID And so we were like Senate, the house by ourselves. Like what else to do you know, a song about being sad at Chris on Christmas Day. But yeah, but the recording aspect is always been different for us. We've always done it a different way. Except for in the very beginning, I was a stickler about live tracking, like the full band all at once no overdubs. Except for vocals, I would go back and do vocals, but I was a stickler about that on the first two records, I guess. And now it's like, man, that's not like we still we don't do a bunch of overdubs. We don't auto, you know, do all auto tunes stuff, like, not in all that, like, it's just pure music, but, uh, yeah, it's just, it's always kind of evolved as the band's gotten older and more mature. And we realize now, like, it's a little easier on the engineer and producer to maybe not track as a band, you know, all together. So, but yeah, it's always something new. So I think that's cool, though, keeps me on their toes.

Thomas Mooney  26:33  
When you're young. Like, no matter what kind of thing you go into, you have this like, thing where we always romanticize the being the idealist or the absolutist of like, oh, no, it has to be this way. This is the pure way, this is the way it will always, like, all the best stuff was done this way. And then you realize, like, you know, like, sometimes you can, like do this other thing, because it's, it's easier, or it's gonna be, you know, minimal on on stuff, and it makes everyone's life a lot easier. For sure. Whatever the case it is because like, I mean, it'd be like the same thing as me turning everything in on a typewriter. Yeah. Not sure like that. Yeah. You mentioned ace, like ACE has been like a hell of a songwriter have a band leader, even birds and all this stuff that he did before then and any of the studio work that he's done. What kind of a relationship have y'all had as far as like, what when do you remember the first time you met? Asin?

Kolton Moore  27:33  
Yeah, we played at the, I think it was called the Red Rooster. Or the wild rooster in Fort Worth. That was our very first show with him, I think. And I got always I love to call Bennett band, which was, you know, his band originally. And, and then, you know, thieving birds came along, and I'm like, man, these guys are, you know, that was just, they were like, that was a band that we really looked up to, not necessarily even from the music, but just like what they were doing, or playing a lot. They were hustling, you know, road Dogg and they were in the 15 passenger van. Like, that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to be, you know, we wanted to be doing the same shit they were doing. And then yeah, it's cool. So like I probably didn't talk to as for we quit playing in 14, I don't know, I probably didn't talk to him for man, maybe seven years or so. And then I really don't even remember how we reconnected. I can't think for the world. I mean, how we reconnected but we did. And then I may have just reached out to him and saw that he was working on the panhandle, house and dance. And when we went in to record, the everything has changed. Record I wanted, I wanted him to do it. Because I wanted his input on the songs. He actually helped write some lines to everything has changed. And I just wanted, I wanted him to be a part of it. So I asked him and then he he did all the engineering and producing on that one. And mixing and then yeah, like I said, this past year, he did a lot of those, those singles that we did, and he engineered a lot of those too. So that's been really cool on them and now we've become really good friends and and yeah, he's just a good person to lean on. You know, he sends me new songs, you know, little voice memos on his on his iPhone, I send him new songs just to see you know, if they suck or not, and we always kind of bounce stuff off of each other and definitely a good good influence good writer to have, you know, in my corner, so yeah, dear friend of mine.

Thomas Mooney  29:37  
It will it's always one of those. It's good to have somebody like that who is going to be real with you. Yep. Who, you know, family and like wives and, and dads and moms show songs and they're gonna love everything. Yeah, like, Oh, this is, you know, the next coming of Kris Kristofferson? Yeah, no matter what pretty soon you're kind of like, Oh man, I I need to have that one friend that or that group of people are going to be real with me. Yeah, kind of give you the I think you can do better on this you know

Kolton Moore  30:09  
that when we recorded the everything has changed record there was one song so that's that that the plan was for it to be eight songs ended up being seven and I wondered when I got like the first mixes back from Ace that song was an in there's there's only seven. And I'm like wow that song is not in there. So I asked him about it and the song is called Give it up. And I'm like, where's give it up? And he's like, I guess I overlooked it or whatever. And turns out like no, it's a short song like I should have never tried to record it. It's just doesn't fit you know it's for somebody else or maybe it's for nobody else at all like it doesn't ever need to be heard but I thought that was funny. Okay, so nice. He's not gonna be like dude, that absolutely sucks. He's just like Nope, not gonna go on they're not gonna miss out on

Thomas Mooney  30:56  
man that's funny. Yeah, just keep on losing it for sure. Dropbox man. Yeah,

Kolton Moore  31:02  
I don't know where it's at man must have named it something else.

Thomas Mooney  31:04  
Yeah. You know, you've mentioned we've talked about this whole gap right? The Yeah, between 2014 and now you know, it's not that long of a period of time. But it does feel like there's been a lot of shifting ground within the the Texas in the Americana scene, all that kind of stuff. Do you feel that like, you know, even in this way of like having this this really a cult following if you will a little bit more of a diehard than a casual fan has helped maybe and maybe like the way the music scene has been kind of shifting around that like I don't know, I guess I'll put it this way. In 2014 It felt like you guys were trying to be really just like the Texas country band Yeah, that's just Nope nothing good about that. Nothing bad about that like a band who tours Texas and is trying to make Texas country feels right and like right now. Like that barriers not even there that like that idea of being it feels like you guys are trying to do more. You're trying to be an Americana songwriter and just a Country Songwriter or whatever singer songwriter, without the feeling of a label. Do you think that's come with a little bit of a change in yourself a little bit more, you know, Weiser aspects and and also kind of like the the shifting of, of the way this you know, Texas Americana country, whatever you guys want to whatever we want to call it scene has kind of gone over the last few years.

Kolton Moore  32:40  
I think a lot of us come like from my taste music. And I never even made when I was like 15 1617 I liked like Texas country, whatever that even is, but I liked that real country sounding music. But then my taste for music changed really quick when we got on the road. And I was like, No, I like rock and roll. I like folk music. I like indie music, like that's the stuff like you will not find really a Texas country song on any of my playlists that I listen to on like, the regular basis. Nothing wrong with it. It's just not my thing. And so I think that started to shine through in our music a lot. And then like, people that I look up to, as well. CNM as you know, they're going over to Europe and touring and stuff like that relevant everywhere, not just in Texas, like Donovan was you know, Donphan Woods is like yes, Canadian dude, he travels Europe, he travels all over the place United States, wherever I look up to him a lot is his songwriting. And like his, his touring schedule, like he doesn't, he's not just beating the heck out of the road. He's tasteful with it. But he's hitting all these key places. And he's got a cult following, like you said, and he's just an incredible writer. So yeah, I think a couple different things kind of changed that. But I think the main thing is just my taste for music and, and kind of getting in, in my groove of like, what, what was really me, you know, because when I'm, you know, 15 1617 I didn't know who I was as a writer, or a person in you know, in general. So, I think a lot of it's come from that.

Thomas Mooney  34:12  
Yeah, I think that's obviously just kind of the the growth right? Yep. of everyone. I think that one of the things that, you know, maybe a silver lining of, of even like the COVID stuff happening affecting the, the music industry, the music scene has, has been, you know, when you're young, you hit the road. Every weekend. Yeah, right. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you're trying to like play as many of those dates and it's hard driving it's far driving and all that kind of stuff. And I think like hopefully, artists will kind of have a little bit of a pause like we don't have to tour that fucking hard. Yeah, all the time. And maybe like that, that'll make all the everything else a little bit better, a little bit more. You know, fan base is paying attention a bit more and maybe Having a bit more time to record a record that you want to and not the record that you have to and all that kind of,

Kolton Moore  35:05  
I thought, I've thought over the past few years like, Man, I wish we wouldn't have hit it so hard. And maybe we wouldn't have gotten so burnt out, and then we wouldn't have taken the big break. And then this wouldn't have happened that wouldn't have happened. But then these past few days being on the road with all the all the guys and like, reliving, you know, and hearing these stories, like all the stupid stuff we did, like, well, not all stupid stuff, like a lot of really cool stuff and a cool experience we had, like, now I wouldn't change that for the world. I wouldn't, I wouldn't go back and change a single thing, I wouldn't change the almost five year break we took I just wouldn't do it. It's what was meant to happen and happen for a reason. Now we're, we're here today, we're something that's like in in the pipe for the next years. This is our, our 10 year, kind of anniversary as a band. And so we're going to work on we're working on a documentary. And it's going to be called Everything has changed, like the song we put out. And it's just like, because it had to just change so much. It's like a drastic change when we look at it from the days of just beating up the road to now. So different. So yeah, that's that's something that's coming down the pipe for this next year. I'm really excited about that. Something that's like, over the past couple of years, it's become a passion of mine is is is film and not only capturing emotion through song and words and music, but capturing it through film. I've got some buddies that are incredible at it. And yeah, so that's going to be cool. I'm excited. I

Thomas Mooney  36:37  
saw the cameras in there and I didn't know if it was just for this little for I guess three, four dates or Yeah, or a little bit more something a little both, but But yeah, it's a that's definitely in the works. So cool. Oh, yeah, man. I'm excited for that. Yeah, hopefully it's, uh, some more new tunes and yeah, like a cool little documentary and, you know, some actual some, some good good nights out here. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, it's been great having you on. I want to go get a beer or something.

Kolton Moore  37:05  
Let's do it. Thanks so much, man.

Thomas Mooney  37:09  
All right. That's it for this episode with Colton more, be sure to keep an eye out for new music, and some selected 2022 tour dates from Colton Moore and the clever few. Go stop on over and visit our presenting partners at Desert door and the Blue Live Live. And yeah, I'll see you all soon for another episode of Newsline.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai