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Interview with musician Tim McDonald of the Tim McDonald Band. For more music go to:http://radiobougainvillea.webs.com/
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0:04
we're here with tim mcdonald today uh
0:07
how are you doing
0:08
we're we're in uh calhoun county alabama
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we're near of the city of jacksonville
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and i understand that you just performed
0:15
today for a group of folks here is that
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right yes sir i started a vision last
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year called the bring it to the people
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tour
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where i play for folks that enjoy my
0:23
music rather than just bar owners and
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clubs that just want to sell alcohol
0:27
i'm trying to reach my music to the
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grassroots
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campaign and build it like they did in
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the old days when they did old barn
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dances and
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such like that so i played for a
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wonderful family today david and lisa
0:39
and uh and then for you and
0:42
everybody else is a lot of fun so thanks
0:44
for having us here today well thank you
0:46
you're talking about the take it to the
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people campaign
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uh is this a political thing you're
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talking about or is this a musical thing
0:53
this is a musical thing
0:55
um you know music we don't really talk
0:57
about politics because some people take
0:59
it the wrong way so we support both
1:01
sides as long as we're doing the right
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thing that's just all i want to say
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about that
1:05
well johnny cash he was he was musical
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and uh he did exactly
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of what mrs johnny cash
1:14
had him to do or are you a married guy
1:15
are you are you kind of a two-step well
1:18
i'm not too stubborn only do that on the
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dance floor with sawdust there on a
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wooden floor
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i'm single and enjoying it and uh it's
1:25
easier to travel with that
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you know that way because you know you
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know a woman needs time i just don't
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have that right now because i'm on the
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road all the time you know
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well i'll tell you folks i know tim i i
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had the good fortune to meet him a while
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back
1:39
he's uh awesome young man his band
1:43
they're they're just they're just
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unbelievable
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um i've read some of your reviews i i
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know enough about you to know that
1:52
you're not an open comer i think you're
1:54
here already well i appreciate that you
1:56
want to talk about your music a little
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bit what do you play yeah well i
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i play a little bit of everything right
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now i'm into country music you know i
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also love jazz music so i have two sides
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in the music industry but you know i
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just got a new album out called living
2:11
breathing having fun
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got another album in the can as we say
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it's ready to be released probably in
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october called tim's dims and it's all
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country music i'm a singer songwriter so
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i write and record all my own songs done
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a couple uh cover songs one which is
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famous written by ray wiley hubbard
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called snake farm
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it's been a big hit and walking in
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memphis is another song i recorded
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written by mark cohn so it's really the
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only two uh non-original songs i've
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recorded
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and everything else the songs that i
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just write about you know common day
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every everyday working man and woman
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and stuff that they can relate to you
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know whether it's heartbreaks
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or just life in general you know and as
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billy joel said i try to make people
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forget about life for a while and
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entertain and then they can go back to
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the uh you know the regular
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wine and grind of life you know well i
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know you're multi-talented you play a
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number of instruments do you have a
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favorite well my favorite's a piano
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i have a bass guitar i like to play bass
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you know sometimes in the living room i
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don't really play it out that much and i
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have a doe bro that was handmade for me
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by crafters in tennessee
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and it's really nice simon dobro that i
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like to play you know every now and then
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you know how did you get your starting
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music uh
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you just pick an instrument up one day
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and and and it
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tell us how you got started well my
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daddy was a southern baptist minister
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there on southern virginia
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and uh
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my mom sang in the church you know and
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so she did hymns and so basically at
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three years old she asked me if i wanted
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to play piano and i think she wanted me
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to be a church accompanist
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as well as my brother who's a little
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older than me three years older so he
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accompanied my mom on the piano and i
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kind of went a different direction let's
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just say say that you know into more of
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a secular realm of music and so i
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started piano at three years old
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classically trained
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and i had a first teacher
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taught me uh more than just classical
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she taught me a lot of the movie themes
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you know like chariots of fire and stuff
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like that so i started learning
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and i was always playing by ear my mom
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used to catch me the piano i was too
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short to reach the petals of the piano
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so i'd lay on the piano bench and act
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like the weather man and unbeknownst to
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me my mother was behind me recording
4:23
everything i was doing so i think my
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first composition was when i was acting
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like a weatherman probably five or six
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years old
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well tim when did when did you decide at
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what time in your life did you think
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i want to be a professional musician
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that's a great question
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daryl i appreciate that i was in college
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on a soccer scholarship in
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montreal anderson college in nashville
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north carolina
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and i enjoyed playing music they had
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some several
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several really nice stoneways sons grand
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pianos is one of the last redwood tree
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churches you know before they you know
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started putting the trees on the
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endangered list and so the acoustics
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in gaither hall which was kind of a
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church so lutheran college
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had a wonderful acoustic so i practiced
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more than i went to class and so that's
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when i decided
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you know and also not doing too well in
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school because i was playing a lot
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i decided to join the army band
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out of my first year college to play
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piano and so that's kind of the
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direction i took and that's when i
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decided
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you know that i was good at two things
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as well three things i was good at
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partying
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i was good at soccer and i was good at
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piano and i didn't think i'd ever have a
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career in soccer or partying so i
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decided i was going to be a professional
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you know piano player and musician well
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that's very interesting you talked about
5:43
going into the military would you share
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with us a little bit of your military
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history sure sure i went in 1995
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january 17th i went to basic training in
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fort leonard wood missouri
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and then i went to the school of music
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which is ran by the navy base out little
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creek
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amphibious base in virginia beach
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virginia
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first station was in fort sill oklahoma
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where i took a liking to country music
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in the lyrical
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part of music you know i love lyrics i
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like johnny cash you know
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i also love the piano as far as melodies
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and improvisation
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and so after that four years stood at
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fort sill oklahoma i went to uh germany
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beast bought in germany and then we went
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got relocated to manheim and i came back
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i got called to teach at the military
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school of music where i went to school
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you know
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and i taught there for three years until
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2004 and that's when i decided to move
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to nashville
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and to
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pursue my my career tim were you in the
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nashville area
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for any extended time before
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before you were recognized i mean
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i see you as an overnight sensation but
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i know in the music field guys sometimes
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they they progress over a period of
6:58
years right not weeks or months how did
7:01
it come together for you well you know i
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think i think a lot of people have made
7:06
it before they get discovered
7:08
you know a lot of people are already you
7:10
know on the path and then somebody gets
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credit for discovering an act that's
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already there you know i moved to
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nashville in uh in 2004
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and four months later i was touring with
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mark chestnut his 14 number one hits
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and i started touring with him i left
7:25
him for blake shelton so i was a side
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man i played piano in oregon and string
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parts and
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accordions and everything for all these
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major artists olivia newton-john was my
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latest tour and then i decided that it
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was time to you know because i've always
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been recording albums always been
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writing music
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and i decided you know that it's time to
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do my own career and to give it a shot
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you know have you uh have you written uh
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any hits for some of the big names have
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you scored on your own
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you know i haven't really i would say
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like snake farm is the biggest
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underground hit that i have it's really
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well known in nashville tennessee
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um i've written for for a lot of small
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time artists i don't have any major hits
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at this point
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you know i think my songs could be cut
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you know by major artists it's just it's
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it's getting it to the artist and having
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them recorded it's just such a tight
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you know it's a tight business and
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there's so many great writers in
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nashville that's just trying to get your
8:22
song in there to the right artist that
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your song sounds you know sounds like
8:27
because not every song fits the artist
8:29
just not ever like every quarterback
8:31
doesn't fit for every football team you
8:33
know you have to find what fits what
8:34
works for that artist you know you have
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a group of guys with you that are just
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magnificent musicians on their own how
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did you guys get together uh
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would you share with us a little bit of
8:48
their history sure
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well uh
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you know i have a regular band
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of guys that we were actually here in
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alabama about a month ago i believe
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maybe a little longer
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and
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they're all out because i don't have
9:01
enough dates to keep a band together so
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i called
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three of my friends up a drummer
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from winnipeg canada
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who's a good friend of mine and uh
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so i called him and asked me to come out
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this weekend and he obliged
9:15
and he's also an amazing hockey player
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and he has the record for the most time
9:19
in the penalty box
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so we try not to make him angry
9:22
and uh
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he's back there smiling by the way you
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can't see him but trust me he is
9:28
and my bass player tom floor has been in
9:30
nashville about two weeks he's been
9:32
doing a lot of good things you know he's
9:33
really good at marketing
9:34
and that he's back there raising his
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hands like yeah
9:38
but he needed a place to stay so
9:40
you know i had an extra room at the
9:42
house so he moved in the house and i
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brought him out here and gave him a shot
9:46
and then there's a great guitar player
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that's out with me this week named jeff
9:49
zona
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who was
9:52
toured with major artists uh including
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lee greenwood who's famous for
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god bless the usa which is pretty much
9:59
the anthem in the military you know
10:01
he almost more than the national anthem
10:03
i you know it's they're they're almost
10:05
neck and neck as far as you know a
10:07
military it gets chills every time you
10:09
hear that song you know and yeah like
10:11
the anthem does when you sing it so i've
10:13
got a really good group of guys we
10:14
didn't have
10:15
the time you know to rehearse and so i
10:17
sent the music they learned it really
10:19
well they did their homework so we got
10:21
together my first gig was friday in
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coleman alabama a place called mosul
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barbecue joint and everybody came
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together because you know
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music is universal
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you know i could go when i was stationed
10:32
in germany i could play music with
10:33
german folks they knew music you know
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there's no dialect in music they may
10:38
play a little different
10:39
you know but uh it's kind of a universal
10:41
language so all musicians speak it when
10:43
you try to find people that's vocabulary
10:45
is as good as yours you know they've
10:47
learned the language and that you're on
10:49
your level or better and that's who i
10:50
like to get together and i'd like to say
10:52
this group
10:53
is at my level or better do you have a
10:55
do you are are you touring the south
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right now do you have
10:59
do you have some gigs planned in the
11:01
area in the near future yes i believe
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october 24th i will be back down here is
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that correct
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i'm way off anyway go to
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mcdonaldband.com
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i'm pretty much booked every week until
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november 1st next week i'm in ohio
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and then i couldn't even tell you my
11:18
brain is pretty fried from just being on
11:20
the road right now as far as my schedule
11:22
uh you know but if you go on my website
11:24
and click on the tour link
11:27
and actually i developed my own website
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i took the time because my brother is
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an amazing software guy so he had the
11:33
ftp files and speak computer real quick
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and i couldn't you know he couldn't
11:37
update it because he's too busy you know
11:39
so i decided to go make my own website
11:42
and so i can maintain it and keep
11:43
everything
11:44
updated do you perform uh
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regionally or or do you do you travel
11:51
nationally what uh
11:54
what are your goals
11:56
where are you trying to go what what are
11:58
you
11:59
what are you planning for your for your
12:01
future well you know when i talk about
12:03
the piano i want to be remembered like
12:04
bach or you know chopin i want to be
12:07
remembered for hundreds of years not
12:09
just you know for maybe 100 years you
12:12
know
12:13
and i think artistically i want to be
12:14
remembered for a long time you know and
12:16
i just want to leave an impact on
12:17
people's lives when i'm long gone that
12:19
my music will still thrive and i think
12:21
that's you know success is what it is
12:23
you know i think if you make a living
12:26
doing what you love you're successful
12:28
you know but i really love my music to
12:30
live on when i'm gone you know to to the
12:32
next generation or you know any family
12:34
that can pass it on or or friends and
12:36
family that live on you know just
12:38
passing my music around and say hey this
12:40
will you know help you when when you're
12:42
down this may get you through some hard
12:44
times you know this might help you when
12:46
you're having a bad breakup or going
12:48
through a divorce or something like that
12:49
or if your health goes south or if you
12:51
lose a family member
12:52
you know this music can help you forget
12:54
about that you know at least temporarily
12:56
and so that's kind of where i want to go
12:58
you said a while ago the country music
13:00
came to you
13:02
as your music progressed do you have a
13:05
favorite is country your favorite uh
13:08
if you weren't
13:09
playing publicly right now what do you
13:12
play for yourself what sues your soul
13:14
well i mean i like jazz you know i like
13:16
playing the piano i like the voice of
13:19
the piano the spirit of the piano you
13:21
know the way it makes me feel
13:23
so you know i have to say you know if
13:24
i'm if i'm playing just piano i'd
13:26
probably play jazz
13:28
but then also i like songwriting so you
13:30
know usually when i play a melody
13:32
i'll simplify it maybe in a more
13:34
commercial
13:35
sense and then you know the words start
13:36
coming to me so if you play a slow song
13:38
you're probably going to have maybe a
13:40
sadder
13:41
you know or maybe a
13:42
deeper content than a fast song is going
13:44
to be more fun so usually depends on the
13:46
tempo you know the song which kind of
13:49
depends so i think i think country and
13:51
jazz i love them equally you know i love
13:54
jazz because you can improvise when you
13:56
play with country bands sometimes you
13:58
play it exactly as the record is so it's
14:00
almost more mechanical so i like to be a
14:02
little more improvisational and i do
14:04
that and with my band you know uh even
14:07
when we're playing you know the
14:08
commercial music and i have the record
14:10
we pretty much play the signature licks
14:12
of the song but when this when the solo
14:15
comes uh it's pretty much whatever comes
14:17
to mind well we have a question from
14:20
elvis
14:21
we're going to move away from music for
14:22
just a minute and put you on the spot
14:25
roll
14:27
drum roll guys
14:28
do we have
14:31
a lady
14:32
in the background uh
14:35
it can't be all music you you must have
14:37
someone you seem to
14:39
well you know uh that's a hard question
14:42
well i said i wanted to put you on the
14:43
spot
14:44
well you know i really don't
14:47
but you know i've got
14:49
you know obviously when i play songs i
14:51
think about different
14:52
you know girlfriends that you know
14:54
obviously through our lives unless you
14:56
get married at a young age you stay with
14:58
your lifelong you know
15:00
life long through then you have
15:02
different women that come to mind good
15:04
and bad you know i was married back in
15:06
the army and got divorced so sometimes
15:08
when i write my angry songs i think
15:10
about that episode
15:12
you know well i'll just tell you there's
15:14
a lady
15:15
sitting
15:17
out of the view of the camera
15:18
i've been married to this girl for
15:20
better than 30 years
15:23
and
15:24
she's become quite fond
15:27
of your music and uh of course that was
15:30
a loaded question folks
15:32
but now you heard it and you heard it
15:34
live tim has spoken
15:37
do we have uh do we have any other
15:39
questions
15:40
and the band cannot ask any questions
15:44
oh my gosh well tim this has been a
15:47
great interview thank you so much
15:49
do you have uh
15:51
do you have anything on any subject
15:54
you'd like to share with your public you
15:56
know you're you're becoming quite a
15:57
phenom down south well i appreciate that
16:00
that's you know i love this area you
16:02
know some areas
16:04
of music
16:05
some regions some places your music
16:07
doesn't fit you know it's kind of like
16:09
putting the square peg in a round hole
16:12
you know but i really feel here at least
16:14
in eastern alabama
16:15
you know that that i'm getting some not
16:18
just fans but friends
16:20
you know that's what it's all about
16:22
because those are the folks that will
16:23
help you when it you know times are
16:24
tough and and i think that's what
16:26
everybody here is doing not just you
16:28
know financially but also
16:30
you know mentally and they'll just
16:32
support you you know when you need
16:33
someone to talk to or whatever
16:35
and uh you know just have a lot of a lot
16:37
of people in my court you know miss
16:38
gayle white it's been very instrumental
16:40
getting me down here and if it wasn't
16:41
for her you know i would have never met
16:43
you know the folks i played for today
16:45
david and lisa and i would have never
16:46
met you
16:47
you know so i really appreciate
16:48
everybody you know down here and i would
16:50
love to be a regular now in this region
16:52
because i feel my heart's happy here you
16:55
know and i feel healthy and i feel happy
16:57
and everyone has a great sense of humor
16:59
you know and that's that's part of my
17:01
life and i don't like to be around
17:02
negativity and so i'd rather play
17:04
for folks that make me feel good you
17:06
know than for folks that don't make me
17:08
feel good so i would love to be regular
17:10
here
17:10
daryl you know well tim mcdonald you uh
17:14
you've impressed a lot of people
17:16
your music speaks for itself
17:19
what i would tell you in closing this
17:21
interview
17:22
is we're going to keep you for a long
17:24
time i appreciate that thank you very
17:26
much give me the warming fuzzies
17:44
you
#Country Music
#Performing Arts