​Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds: The deal is, to me, imperfection is perfection. Digital recording and going over and over and over a track as a vocalist, it's just hard on the ear. I think a lot of people maybe have gotten used to it. I never have.

Kyle Travers of Travers Brothership: I think music, for me at least, is something you feel more than something you think about. When I was 7 years old and I first heard the Beatles or (specifically) “Sgt. Pepper's,” I didn't think, "This is ingenious and creative." I felt it was ingenious and creative… if that makes sense. To take that to an improvisational sense, if you're playing a three-minute solo, and you have the eyes of a thousand people watching you and it's just you making up ideas off the top off your head… at the point you get caught thinking, you are dead in the water.

The flow stops, because now you're thinking, "Where are we headed next? Are we headed in the wrong direction?" You're (second) guessing yourself. You have to stop all your thinking and just feel the music, play what you feel.

In this interview with Chris Hayes, founding member of Huey Lewis & The News, we discussed: 

• Writing songs with Huey
• The challenge of recording backing vocals
• Guitar solos
• ​What made him step away from the band
• And more

Cris: You were the drummer and music director for Kellie Pickler for a number of years. Now you are playing with Easton Corbin. How have you adjusted your playing, going from Kellie to Easton?

Gregg Lohman: That's a great question. A lot of what we do on the road… you are playing somebody else's parts. With Kellie -- I was with her for over 10 years -- when we would learn a tune, we would start with the original (parts). And it would evolve or we would add some stuff to it. Over time she had (drummers) from Eddie Bayers to Shannon Forrest, Chad Cromwell, Greg Morrow… a bunch of different guys on her records. So for me it was great because I was able to learn and listen to what all of those guys did. And then when I switched to Easton, his first three records were all Eddie Bayers. So I have really gotten to dive into him more. One of the (new) tunes we are playing, it was Chris McHugh. He was with Keith Urban for years. He is great. That tune we play is kind of combination of programmed drums and live drums, which to me… I have a blast playing that.
​

In this interview with Kyle Travers of Travers Brothership we discussed: 

• The band's new album, "Let The World Decide"
• Feeling what you play rather than just thinking about it
• Not letting industry people put them in a box
• The emotional experience of finishing the work of a departed friend
• and more...

John Papa Gros: I remember my first gig that I played on Bourbon Street. There was a Hammond organ in the club. 

I didn’t even know how to start it because it’s got a motor and everything. So I had to find another organ player down the street and ask him to come help me start it. 

Once I got it up and running, I started playing. I’m like, this is how easy it is to make an organ sound when I was using all these digital boxes and things trying to just get a sound that sounds like all the Motown sounds, and all the Neville Brothers sounds and things like that. It really got to be a personal relationship that I have with the Hammond organ, which is completely different than the relationship I have with the piano, so it started at an early age. 
​

Fred LeBlanc of Cowboy Mouth: It’s important to me that we continue doing what we do. If nothing else, because I want my kids to see that work can be a ‘get to’ as opposed to a ‘have to.’

Cris: How much have you changed as a musician as a result of your work with Lou Gramm?

Michael Staertow: Probably a lot more than I have realized. I've gone back and watched some video of the very first show (after) I joined his band officially. And I watched videos from the most recent show. I think I have definitely relaxed a lot more. I have learned to grown into my position and be more comfortable in the context of what I do with Lou. Getting to play those great songs helped me to grow as a guitar player. It's helped me become a better songwriter, a better performer. I think it has helped me step my game up considerably. 

​(listen to the full interview)

​Jim Weider of The Weight Band: I dabbled in songwriting in my early years, but I became more of a songwriter when I joined The Band, playing that material and listening to those lyrics. And then Levon brought me down to the South and to see his influences, the blues players and the lyrics they were using, as well as the rockabilly guys that influenced him. I started learning all that music, and it helped my songwriting for sure.