Avry Truex - Discover the Soul of Americana
Avry Truex, a rising star in the Americana music scene, shares the harrowing moment that launched his musical career.
You'll hear his unique journey from being a dedicated collegiate athlete to becoming a passionate songwriter and performer.
With an eclectic sound influenced by legends like John Prine and Sturgill Simpson, Avry emphasizes the importance of absorbing the good qualities from those around him.
His incredibly candid reflections on creativity, personal growth, and the challenges of navigating the music industry reveal a profound connection to his art.
You'll be intrigued by his thoughts on songwriting, including the impact of life experiences on his music.
Dive into this engaging conversation to discover how Avery's distinctive style and heartfelt lyrics are shaping his path in the world of Americana.
Avry’s debut album "Pine Tree Poetry," is slated for release this fall!
You'll also Discover:
The Powerful Idea a Coach Instilled in Him.
From Sports to Full Throttle Music.
Over 75 Unreleased Songs.
A HOT New England Americana Scene.
Sturgill Simpson Inspiration.
A Story Behind One of His Songs.
Pinetree Poetry.
The Moment that Changed His Life .
Learn more about Avry here: https://www.avrytruexmusic.com/
AND follow Americana Curious on Instagram for the latest interviews and the behind-the-scenes with your favorite artists! https://www.instagram.com/americanacurious
Transcript
I take my coffee house, she takes her wine every pour ain't gotta be nothing good.
Avery Truex:I'm a highly impressionable individual, specifically when it comes to people I like in general.
Avery Truex:So if I pick up good qualities or things from them, it's gonna stick with me.
Avery Truex:And I can't really help it.
Avery Truex:Like, I grew up playing lacrosse.
Avery Truex:The one thing that my coach always instilled in me was like, when you're watching somebody better than you, take the good parts from them that you want to add towards what you're trying to do from then on out.
Avery Truex:Whenever I listen to musicians or songwriters over the years, picking up different sounds that I liked or the way that people told stories.
Ben Fanning:Americana music transforms the world.
Ben Fanning:And unfortunately, too many are unaware of its profound impact.
Ben Fanning:Americana musicians are the unsung heroes.
Ben Fanning:And here you'll join us in exploring these passionate artists and how they offer inspiration and hope for the future.
Ben Fanning:This show makes it happen in a fun and entertaining way.
Ben Fanning:You'll discover new music that you'll love, hard earned lessons from the road, the story behind favorite songs, a big dose of inspiration for you and your friends, and a good laugh along the way.
Ben Fanning:I'm Ben Fanning and my co host, Zach Schultz.
Ben Fanning:It's time to get Americana curious.
Zach Schultz:Hey there, everybody out there.
Zach Schultz:Are you Americana curious?
Zach Schultz:Well, yeah, you should be today, because today, y'all, we are welcoming Avery Truex, and he is a gem.
Zach Schultz:And just wait till you hear his tunes.
Zach Schultz:He's straight out of the pine covered borderlands between northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
Zach Schultz:Avery's a country folk storyteller with a knack for crafting unique lyrics and melodies that will stick with you.
Zach Schultz:Inspired by legends like John Prine, talents Van Zant, Woody Guthrie and Sergil Simpson, Avery brings the soul of Americana to life in a way that's fresh, heartfelt and totally unforgettable.
Zach Schultz:And guess what?
Zach Schultz:His debut album, Pine Tree Poetry, is dropping this fall, and it's packed with songs that are going to take you on a journey of introspection, reflection and everything in between.
Zach Schultz:With heartfelt lyrics, soulful melodies, and beautiful instrumentation, Avery's music is bound to hit you in an inspiring way.
Zach Schultz:So buckle up today.
Zach Schultz:Avery, welcome to americana.
Avery Truex:Curious man.
Avery Truex:Thank you for having me.
Avery Truex:It's real cool being here.
Zach Schultz:So first thing those of you cannot see, here's the coolest overalls.
Avery Truex:Oh, thank you.
Zach Schultz:What?
Zach Schultz:Why not, right?
Zach Schultz:Why are you.
Zach Schultz:Why are you wearing overalls today?
Zach Schultz:What's the, what's the story there?
Avery Truex:Well, the way I see it is if you have to put on pants and a shirt in the morning.
Avery Truex:That's two actions, right?
Avery Truex:Put on overalls.
Avery Truex:Most of the time, you're saving that extra action that you can be putting.
Avery Truex:You could be investing that extra action into something more beneficial for yourself.
Zach Schultz:So.
Zach Schultz:So it's about efficiency.
Avery Truex:It is about efficiency.
Zach Schultz:Saving your.
Zach Schultz:Saving your energy for playing your music and writing songs, not extra movements of clothes.
Zach Schultz:Now, if you didn't wear a shirt underneath your overalls.
Avery Truex:Yeah, yeah.
Avery Truex:Well, I would normally do that when I'm down in Tennessee, but I'm up in New England right now, and it's.
Avery Truex:It's nice and cool up here.
Avery Truex:It's what I'm used to.
Avery Truex:So it's like I get to actually wear the clothes I own in Tennessee.
Avery Truex:I.
Avery Truex:I love the same chunk of coal every single day.
Avery Truex:I just look, it's just jeans and a t shirt, and I'm on fire all day here.
Avery Truex:It's wonderful up here.
Avery Truex:I love it up here.
Avery Truex:Weather.
Zach Schultz:So go there, right, people, y'all are going to love Avery's music.
Zach Schultz:And the first thing you're going to be, man, this guy's from Texas, or this guy's from Appalachia, or this guy's from Tennessee, but no, you just heard he's from the New England area.
Zach Schultz:How does a New England guy get this amazing, distinct sound that seems to be influenced from all around?
Avery Truex:Well, I don't know, man.
Avery Truex:I guess you could say I'm a highly impressionable individual, specifically when it comes to people I like in general, or not even music, but just people in general.
Avery Truex:So if I pick up good qualities or things from them, it's going to stick with me, and I can't really help it.
Avery Truex:It's the way that I grew up playing lacrosse.
Avery Truex:I played a lot of lacrosse growing up, and I was recruited to go to college for it, actually, this whole other kind of person that I was for a very, very long time, and I missed some of those days.
Avery Truex:Lacrosse was wonderful, but the one thing that my coach always instilled in me was when you're watching somebody better than you, take the good parts from them that you want to add towards what you're trying to do.
Avery Truex:I was a goalie, so it was a very specific style that I had to be looking for.
Avery Truex:So I kind of, from then on out, I've just.
Avery Truex:Oh, whenever I listen to musicians or specifically songwriters, because I'm not as much of a musician as I enjoy writing tunes, I can.
Avery Truex:I can cowboy chords and hammer ons for days.
Avery Truex:But you know, that's all I can do.
Avery Truex:I can admit where I'm.
Avery Truex:Where I'm beat.
Avery Truex:And that would be where I'm beat.
Avery Truex:So from, for me, it was just like, over the years, just picking up different sounds that I liked or the way that people told stories.
Avery Truex:And I get that all the time, because when most of the time when I tell people that, oh, yeah, I spent a lot of time growing up in New Hampshire.
Avery Truex:They think I'm from, like, friggin England or something.
Avery Truex:They have no idea where New England is.
Avery Truex:I'm sorry, where?
Avery Truex:New Hampshire.
Zach Schultz:It's not Europe.
Avery Truex:New England.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:It's like a weird thing, having to go, okay, so Vermont.
Avery Truex:And they're like, what?
Avery Truex:And then I'm like, all right, what about Massachusetts?
Avery Truex:Yeah, yeah.
Avery Truex:It's up in that area.
Zach Schultz:Ben Jerry's ice cream.
Avery Truex:I'm sorry?
Avery Truex:Yeah, Ben and Jerry's.
Avery Truex:Yeah, that's like one of our New England gems for sure.
Avery Truex:And then the other New England gem would be Dunkin donuts.
Speaker E:Well, let me ask this, because your music is so many different styles.
Speaker E:Old time country, americana, little.
Speaker E:Not poppy at all.
Speaker E:But there are some intricates in there.
Speaker E:If you're a listener.
Speaker E:What do you want them to feel when they hear your music, man?
Avery Truex:All that I care that they feel is that it's my music.
Avery Truex:I don't want to.
Avery Truex:I'm not for everybody.
Avery Truex:I'm not going to try to pretend I am.
Avery Truex:That's totally cool with me.
Avery Truex:I'm very pleased with the group of people that I've met that have been touched by my stuff.
Avery Truex:That's all I really need.
Avery Truex:I'm not trying to be the everybody man.
Avery Truex:And I'll leave that for other people.
Speaker E:And you mentioned earlier that you're not much of a musician.
Speaker E:I doubt that.
Speaker E:But a prolific songwriter.
Speaker E:I read on, do my research, that you have over 75 unreleased songs.
Speaker E:So you like, right?
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:Yeah, man.
Avery Truex:Well, it's weird because I'll go through spurts where I'll write six or seven songs and then I'll refine those for two weeks.
Avery Truex:Then I'm like, all right.
Avery Truex:I think five of these are really good.
Avery Truex:And then two of them are just kind of like, they stay in that.
Avery Truex:I got.
Avery Truex:Gotta continue to work on them.
Avery Truex:But, yeah, no, I feel very confidently in.
Avery Truex:I can pull up the list right now just to give you the exact amount.
Avery Truex:Because nobody's ever going to say I'm a liar.
Avery Truex:74.
Avery Truex:So I don't know.
Speaker E:Okay.
Avery Truex:I don't want to be a liar.
Zach Schultz:I think that's how many prince still has in their archive, I think.
Zach Schultz:I'm just kidding.
Zach Schultz:That's a lot.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:Man, why are you holding back on us like that?
Zach Schultz:Avery?
Zach Schultz:That is unkind.
Avery Truex:Oh, I don't.
Avery Truex:I don't know, man.
Avery Truex:It's.
Avery Truex:Well, strictly speaking, financially, that would be.
Avery Truex:That would be what's holding me back.
Zach Schultz:It's expensive to produce it.
Avery Truex:Oh, yeah.
Avery Truex:Well, it's just expensive industry, everything you got.
Avery Truex:So one thing that most folks don't really see is that with how the structure of the industry is laid out, yes, it is the easiest it has ever been for artists to get noticed and to be picked up and seen and stuff like that.
Avery Truex:But what it's also done is it's enabled very, very large artists that don't necessarily need that, but don't actually.
Avery Truex:They don't necessarily.
Avery Truex:They can just continue to use that system to their benefit as well, which all the power to them.
Avery Truex:But when you have a lot of money behind yourself in this instance, then where it's also easier, it just becomes very difficult for the smaller guy to continue to try to do anything.
Avery Truex:So everything in the industry these days can cost money, and that's something that I don't think enough folks know.
Zach Schultz:So.
Zach Schultz:So what is your strategy as an artist with a.
Zach Schultz:You're a prolific songwriter.
Zach Schultz:The songs you've released, I mean, lately especially, are strong.
Zach Schultz:I mean, they're very hooky.
Zach Schultz:They really grab you, but you're kind of drifting them out on Spotify versus, hey, here's the album.
Zach Schultz:Is it because you're kind of, like, testing and you want to see where to put your financial resources?
Zach Schultz:How are you thinking through it?
Avery Truex:So, for me, the way that I'm trying to think of it.
Avery Truex:So I actually released something over a year ago that I took down off of Spotify.
Avery Truex:It was this little five song ep that I recorded in Nashville.
Avery Truex:But I just decided, hey, this isn't the right.
Avery Truex:After I'd released it, I didn't.
Avery Truex:I think I did about a week of marketing for it, and I had no clue what I was doing at that time, so I just kind of was, all right, this is just out there.
Avery Truex:It was too much pressure for me to try to comprehend.
Avery Truex:I was, like, just immature and naive and anxious.
Avery Truex:So I just threw it up there and it didn't do very well.
Avery Truex:And then over the span of, I want to say, sometime back in, like, maybe, maybe April, I just decided, hey, maybe it's best if I take this down for now and put it out at another time.
Avery Truex:Or just sit on it for a little while and figure out what I want to do with it, because I really just wanted to be focusing on the songs that I recorded with path.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker E:So that's.
Speaker E:You're very prevalent on social media now, though.
Speaker E:I mean, you guys are posting.
Speaker E:What did I say?
Zach Schultz:I'll say he's prevalent and he's prolific.
Speaker E:Prolific.
Speaker E:Well, I'm saying that it seems like with the times, you got to post something every day to stay relevant.
Avery Truex:It's exhausting.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:So I've really been trying to take charge of, like, putting something out every day.
Avery Truex:But what's your.
Avery Truex:What are your guys's dream cars?
Avery Truex:You guys ever have a dream car or something like that?
Zach Schultz:I tell you what, my dream car is the one where I turn the key or push a button and it starts up every single time.
Avery Truex:That's a good.
Zach Schultz:So when you.
Zach Schultz:When you're driving around to your gigs, what are you driving?
Avery Truex:What am I driving?
Avery Truex:I'm not driving anything fancy whatsoever.
Avery Truex:I'm just driving the same Ford Fusion I've had forever.
Avery Truex:It's reliable, it works.
Avery Truex:Everybody makes fun of Fords for breaking down, but all my friends with anything else they've ever driven, man, and they're car guys, too.
Avery Truex:So I really get to.
Avery Truex:I'm not as much of a car guy.
Avery Truex:It's like, I can appreciate a good car, but I can't.
Avery Truex:I can't tell you how it runs.
Speaker E:But I gotta afford, and it runs out.
Avery Truex:And then all their cars.
Avery Truex:Yeah, theirs are all breaking down constantly.
Avery Truex:And I'm just, oh, man, I had to get an oil change the other day.
Avery Truex:God, that was the worst.
Zach Schultz:We are loving price of a one man bandaid.
Zach Schultz:What's the background on that?
Avery Truex:So price of one man band was.
Avery Truex:Well, it's a song about Robert Johnson, who, for folks who don't know, is pretty much the greatest Delta blues player of all time.
Avery Truex:And it was a genre of folk music that is instrumental in american music tradition.
Avery Truex:So I first learned about Robert probably back when I was a sophomore in college.
Avery Truex:I was in an online class, and the teacher played hellhounds on my trail by Robert Johnson.
Avery Truex:And I remember being absolutely enthralled with the guys.
Avery Truex:The reason I wrote that song is because of that passion for learning more about these instrumental people.
Zach Schultz:And the story, right, is that he sold his soul to the devil.
Zach Schultz:Right.
Zach Schultz:That was the legend.
Avery Truex:Yeah, no, he's got a.
Avery Truex:He's got a real crazy story.
Avery Truex:So he was just.
Avery Truex:He was a sharecropper's.
Avery Truex:Son for a number of years, and if you know anything about sharecropping, there's no.
Avery Truex:There's no money in that.
Avery Truex:It's pretty much you work the farm and then they feed you kind of stuff.
Avery Truex:But he always loved music.
Avery Truex:He loved all that kind of field holler music because that was an instrumental part of keeping people, their spirits up while they were working, because it was awful work they're doing.
Avery Truex:They're working in the Delta region all year round so that he'd go out to these places that would be playing blues music.
Avery Truex:And he wasn't a very good player for the longest time, but he was obsessed with the genre.
Avery Truex:But people hated him because he was bad.
Avery Truex:He was terrible.
Avery Truex:But he met this gal, and they fell in love.
Avery Truex:She was a real Christian, a southern baptist gal, I believe.
Avery Truex:And she got pregnant, and she made him quit his music so that he could focus on being an honest man.
Avery Truex:And then, unfortunately, his wife and the baby died in the process of giving birth.
Avery Truex:And this was right as he got to her at the hospital, or I believe it was at her mother's house, and she was dead.
Avery Truex:And the family blamed him immediately for him and his music, the devil's music.
Avery Truex:For that.
Avery Truex:He started down this path of I'm going to be the best guitarist because that's all I got left, sort of thing.
Avery Truex:He sold it here.
Avery Truex:He had a conversation with the devil about selling his soul to become the greatest to ever play.
Avery Truex:And the rest of it's history, I suppose.
Speaker A:I always knew I needed help, and it came to picking strings.
Speaker A:I could strum them in chords and sing them tunes, and that barely means a thing for the sound of a man playing with no band inside the attitude in a no name town with no money around?
Speaker A:But what's a boy supposed to do?
Speaker A:One night coming home from a show drunk and feeling low?
Speaker A:Parked myself on an old park bench?
Speaker A:With my feet dragged down below?
Speaker A:I hung my head and closed my eyes?
Speaker A:Didn't know which way to go?
Speaker A:I opened em up and there I was?
Speaker A:Alone at the crossroads?
Zach Schultz:Bringing it back?
Zach Schultz:So we, as you know, we.
Zach Schultz:We have home.
Zach Schultz:We have hosted the Joshua Quimby on.
Avery Truex:Our show, man, the mid.
Zach Schultz:The legend, I believe Zach.
Zach Schultz:I'm correct.
Zach Schultz:Our research with Joshua and our conversation with him really led us to Avery initially.
Zach Schultz:Is that right?
Zach Schultz:So I love it when we have Americana superpower duos.
Zach Schultz:Come on.
Zach Schultz:I mean.
Zach Schultz:I mean that you're not together, but we're kind of building the group.
Zach Schultz:What?
Zach Schultz:So what is your.
Zach Schultz:What's it been like, doing a great song with him?
Zach Schultz:Maybe share a little bit?
Zach Schultz:Like, why this song with Robert Johnson?
Zach Schultz:Why would Joshua and what are these new England folk music Americana heroes emerging?
Zach Schultz:Because you guys are young guys.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:I mean, it's a pod of americana awesomeness emerging from the pine trees out of there.
Avery Truex:So what you say something like that?
Avery Truex:I think for.
Avery Truex:I know I can at least speak for myself, and I know how Josh felt for a number of years growing up, but it's like, it's very lonely up here when you have musical ambitions.
Avery Truex:Granted, my musical ambitions didn't really structure themselves until I was in my later teens.
Avery Truex:Maybe, like, turn 20 or so.
Avery Truex:I always been writing songs, but I didn't really have any sort of vision.
Avery Truex:Vision or path forward with it, but it gets tough.
Avery Truex:So one of the coolest thing about that festival that Josh put together for all those New England based country artists was like this.
Avery Truex:You got there, and there was 15 artists, and we were all just there to support each other.
Avery Truex:And it was such a beautiful thing that I don't think any of us had experience outside of being in Nashville before.
Zach Schultz:Interesting.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:So it's really cool to get to have that up in New England.
Zach Schultz:What's in the moment when you came together and you were sitting there?
Zach Schultz:I mean, what.
Zach Schultz:Like, what's one story of the.
Zach Schultz:Of all y'all coming together and some kind of magic New England something?
Avery Truex:Oh, okay.
Zach Schultz:Everybody start saying, like, the British are coming.
Zach Schultz:The British are coming.
Zach Schultz:That's a Boston thing.
Avery Truex:Yeah, no, well, no.
Avery Truex:So we got down to pray to Tom Brady and.
Zach Schultz:Tom Brady.
Zach Schultz:Okay, there's a Patriots reference.
Avery Truex:Yeah, no, so we were.
Avery Truex:It was in between two sets.
Avery Truex:I can't remember whose set it was and somebody else's, but I was sitting on by the pool tables hanging out with a couple buddies from my band or from this band.
Avery Truex:Overserved again, not my band, but real great band.
Avery Truex:You guys should totally check them out.
Avery Truex:They're mostly based out of Boston.
Zach Schultz:Overserved.
Avery Truex:Overserved?
Avery Truex:Yeah, overserved again.
Zach Schultz:And they don't play tennis.
Zach Schultz:They're in the.
Avery Truex:No, no, no, no.
Zach Schultz:Overserved.
Avery Truex:I'm just kidding reference.
Avery Truex:But no, I was just sitting on the.
Avery Truex:By the pool tables getting stoned with one of those guys, and this one song, the coyote and the cowboy, came on, which is this real, real old song.
Avery Truex:I can't remember who originally wrote it, but it was the culture wall version that started playing, and it's culture walls.
Avery Truex:It's this real deep baritone thing.
Avery Truex:So, like, me and a couple of baritone guys.
Avery Truex:We took the baritone and we all kind of harmonized the song.
Avery Truex:It was real beautiful time.
Avery Truex:It was a real special moment.
Avery Truex:Specifically about.
Avery Truex:It's contrasting how a coyote and a cowboy are two completely different sorts.
Avery Truex:It sounds silly when you say it like that because they are very different things.
Avery Truex:The song is mostly about how a coyote can live in Malibu by the sea or in negative 40 degree weather, but it's always all right.
Avery Truex:And the cowboy needs the modern day.
Avery Truex:He needs finances to survive.
Avery Truex:He needs his rye to get stoned.
Avery Truex:And it's just this comparison of man.
Avery Truex:The coyote kind of has the better life, even in the worst circumstance.
Speaker E:So you have your song with Josh Quimbye.
Speaker E:Is there a.
Speaker E:Would there be a dream collaboration with another artist that you could think of?
Avery Truex:Dude, I've got dream collaborations with everybody.
Avery Truex:Most of them are unfortunately passed right now.
Avery Truex:I mean, I would love to, man, I can't, like, the list is too long.
Avery Truex:We could.
Avery Truex:We could spend the rest of the time talking about that.
Avery Truex:But I've written a lot of my songs that I write, I have with a specific artist in mind that I would either like to silently give the song to, and it would just mean the world to me, knowing that they have that song or like, that I would love to work with them on.
Speaker E:Why don't you tell us out loud rather than say yes?
Zach Schultz:In my mind?
Avery Truex:Yeah, I guess that's a very good point.
Avery Truex:Well, like, the biggest.
Avery Truex:My biggest inspiration that I've ever encountered, I've never.
Avery Truex:I've not had the pleasure of meeting him in person.
Avery Truex:But is Sturgill Simpson?
Speaker E:Oh, sure.
Avery Truex:Sturgill, his story, who he is, the music that he makes, his attitude towards the industry, and being honest to himself, that is.
Avery Truex:That's everything that music is to me.
Avery Truex:I still remember the first, the first Sturgill Simpson that I heard was, it wasn't even, it wasn't off of high top mountain.
Avery Truex:It wasn't off of metamodern sounds.
Avery Truex:It was his, his heavy metal Sci-Fi record.
Avery Truex:He did sound and fury, and it had this accompanying.
Avery Truex:And I loved that.
Avery Truex:Did you see the Netflix special with it?
Speaker E:Oh, yeah.
Avery Truex:Oh, yeah.
Avery Truex:I watched that on 420 with some buddies, and I was like, man, coolest thing ever.
Avery Truex:And then I was doing some work for my dad, and I was, I like to listen to podcasts a lot.
Avery Truex:And I found this one, Joe Rogan with Sturgill Simpson.
Avery Truex:I saw it.
Avery Truex:I was like, oh, no way.
Avery Truex:It's that rocker I was just listening to the other night, and I put him on.
Avery Truex:And I just got to listening to him as a person and the way he carried himself and his attitude towards the industry, I was completely inspired specifically by his just ability to does whatever sound he wants to make, and that's very important to me.
Avery Truex:I don't ever want to be held down to one sort of sound.
Zach Schultz:I really picked up on that.
Zach Schultz:When we go into your catalog out there going along your.
Zach Schultz:It's a three song live ep, right?
Avery Truex:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Zach Schultz:And you're.
Zach Schultz:You're in the minor key, and it's a little.
Zach Schultz:It's a little dark, man.
Avery Truex:Yeah, no, I write.
Avery Truex:I love writing dark music.
Speaker E:That was out of that song dying tonight.
Avery Truex:Oh, thank you very greatly.
Avery Truex:Greatly appreciate that.
Avery Truex:That was.
Avery Truex:Yeah, that was one that came to me fairly quickly.
Avery Truex:I had this gal that kind of.
Avery Truex:I wouldn't say tricked me, because I tend to trick myself quite often, and things just didn't end up the way that I wanted to.
Avery Truex:But I heard that she was dying her hair one night right after things kind of went south, and I knew I was the reason that she dyed her hair.
Avery Truex:So I was like, that's a pretty cool song right there.
Avery Truex:So I wrote that.
Avery Truex:I haven't played that, man, I can't remember the last time I played that song.
Avery Truex:Might have been recording it.
Avery Truex:I have not played that in forever.
Avery Truex:But then.
Avery Truex:Thank you.
Avery Truex:That really means a lot that you enjoy that song.
Speaker E:And you got that new one coming out with this new album.
Speaker E:When are you going to release the 14 songs?
Speaker E:The pine tree poetry?
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:So I'm thinking December 6 right now is, like, the soften date that we have.
Avery Truex:But I'm also.
Avery Truex:I'm prone to impulsive decisions, and I can very easily see myself in the next three months being, you know what, two week notice.
Avery Truex:I'm done.
Avery Truex:I just want to record new stuff.
Avery Truex:I'm very excited for you, for everybody to hear what I have.
Speaker E:Yeah, you got off.
Speaker E:There is going to be coffee and wine, which you're releasing this week.
Speaker E:And I read a quote that you said you like your country old and your coffee black.
Speaker E:I love that.
Avery Truex:I don't remember saying that.
Avery Truex:Sounds like I found it online, so.
Speaker E:You said it.
Avery Truex:Wonderful.
Zach Schultz:Abraham Lincoln said it first, I think.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:So break it down.
Zach Schultz:Bring us some coffee and wine, because we're hoping to include maybe a clip of coffee and wine in your episode here, because that is a.
Zach Schultz:And it's very different than dying tonight.
Zach Schultz:It's more in this genre of price of a one man band.
Zach Schultz:Right.
Avery Truex:And much more of, like, that fast paced, up tempo, like, country folk, grass kind of stuff, man, that's what's funny, because it's like, I love doing that dark, depressing, kind of, like, murder ballady kind of stuff, and then I love my western kind of stuff and just folk.
Avery Truex:But, man, I love.
Avery Truex:Love bluegrass music, and I can admit I'm not as versed in it as most of the folks in town.
Avery Truex:You go to the legion post 82 on Wednesdays, and you'll meet the most talented people in town that have no interest in being famous.
Avery Truex:So, you know, these people are good.
Avery Truex:They.
Avery Truex:They just live their weeks to get through to Wednesday to be playing that night with everybody, and, man, it's incredible.
Avery Truex:It's so intimidating, though.
Avery Truex:They are.
Avery Truex:And it's not intimidating because they make it intimidating.
Avery Truex:It's just intimidating because they are so talented.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Avery Truex:It's a wonderful thing to see in the community.
Avery Truex:So beautiful there with specifically the bluegrass community.
Avery Truex:All the communities really are.
Avery Truex:But, yeah, man, I love bluegrass music.
Avery Truex:It's one of those genres that just snuck up on me out of nowhere.
Avery Truex:I'd always love folk instrumentation, unplugged instrumentation, and then all of a sudden, I was like, what is this?
Avery Truex:I think I was probably 18 at the time, and it just blew my mind getting involved with it.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:So, what was your.
Zach Schultz:Your great crossover from collegiate lacrosse to, hey, y'all, I'm being a music.
Zach Schultz:I'm the music man now.
Zach Schultz:I'm doing this.
Avery Truex:All right, you see, now, this is where I'm at this point.
Avery Truex:Wherever I want to tell you guys a cool story.
Avery Truex:I don't want to go too far with it.
Zach Schultz:Excuse me?
Zach Schultz:We want you to go too far with this.
Zach Schultz:Everybody listening is begging you.
Zach Schultz:You're not allowed not to go too far with it.
Avery Truex:I'll keep a couple details out, but.
Zach Schultz:No, no, just.
Zach Schultz:Just, y'all can't see every.
Zach Schultz:Avery is a good looking guy.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:So I don't know where the story is related to that, but I just.
Avery Truex:Have a feeling that doesn't have as much in it, I guess.
Avery Truex:But thank you.
Avery Truex:I appreciate that, man.
Avery Truex:So, I.
Avery Truex:One time, right between.
Avery Truex:It was the summer between going to or was the summer between high school and college and high school, I was just kind of like a lacrosse guy.
Avery Truex:I cared about school, but not too much.
Avery Truex:I had a real bad drinking problem.
Avery Truex:I was a stoner.
Avery Truex:I just did not care about anything I was doing.
Avery Truex:And then I found myself.
Avery Truex:I love marijuana, and I found myself smoking this marijuana one time that was laced with DMT.
Avery Truex:I don't know if you know what that is, but it's one of the most potent psychedelics that you can ever experience, kind of thing.
Avery Truex:And it completely reshaped my frame of how I wanted my actual reality to be.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:So in this experience, I could.
Zach Schultz:Vision quest, sort of.
Speaker E:You saw your future.
Avery Truex:I didn't.
Avery Truex:So I lived an infinite amount of lives.
Avery Truex:I fully experienced birth to death.
Avery Truex:An infinite amount of lives, not just of myself, but of things around, like plants, animals.
Avery Truex:And I could.
Avery Truex:I have little recollections of these things.
Avery Truex:And I would always come back to this moment where I was talking with or talking with the creator and whatever the creator is to what you guys.
Avery Truex:I don't know if y'all are religious or anything like that, but I'd go through and I'd continue to relive these lives, and then I'd come back to this moment where I'd have all the learned knowledge from meeting or from all these experiences beforehand.
Avery Truex:And then I eventually got to one where I vividly remember I was sitting in this field overlooking this bluff, and there are these beautiful purple mountains in the background and this gorgeous, golden, tall grass.
Avery Truex:And I'm sitting there on these stumps talking with the creator, and he's asking me questions, and he's showing me emotions as Infinity Stones from Marvel movies.
Zach Schultz:Okay.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:And I'm like, every time I hold them, I can feel the entirety of that emotion.
Avery Truex:As to all the other parts, it's so intense.
Avery Truex:Yes.
Avery Truex:No.
Avery Truex:Incredibly intense.
Avery Truex:And he's like.
Avery Truex:And then at the end, he's like, are you ready to die?
Avery Truex:Are you ready to go back into the system again?
Avery Truex:I was like, no.
Avery Truex:What?
Avery Truex:I don't think I am.
Avery Truex:I think I want to stick through this one and figure this one out.
Avery Truex:And then I got shot back into this reality, and I had a completely different appreciation for the things that I truly cared about that meant something to me, which is.
Zach Schultz:And what are those today?
Avery Truex:Family, friends, music, art.
Avery Truex:Just the simple things in nature.
Avery Truex:I still had alcohol problems for a little while after that, but for the most part, it shifted my thinking for certain aspects of life, but not all of them yet.
Avery Truex:Some of them, I still had to take the time to be a kid, to trip and fall through sort of things.
Zach Schultz:Love that.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:What a story.
Avery Truex:You guys exclusive with that, by the way?
Zach Schultz:Got it.
Zach Schultz:That's.
Zach Schultz:Hey, that's americana curious right there.
Speaker E:Wonder straight up.
Zach Schultz:I think that, you know, I thank you for being so vulnerable that.
Zach Schultz:That's a very personal story.
Avery Truex:Oh, no, I'm glad you shared.
Avery Truex:Glad you enjoy it.
Zach Schultz:And I love the way that you took an experience that could have been scary and even traumatic, and it, you know, you found your way through it in a peaceful way, in a really transformational positive.
Zach Schultz:Transformationally positive.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:And I just want to say this for anybody that's listening right now, do not do it.
Avery Truex:Don't do it.
Avery Truex:It's just not.
Avery Truex:Take this as me saying, this is a good idea.
Avery Truex:I had no idea I was doing it.
Avery Truex:Would I do it again?
Avery Truex:No.
Avery Truex:I'm happy that I had the experience because I'm ultimately in this wonderful conversation, it.
Avery Truex:Living the life I am right now because of it.
Avery Truex:But do not do it.
Avery Truex:It's not worth it.
Zach Schultz:Don't do it.
Avery Truex:Don't do it.
Zach Schultz:But you.
Zach Schultz:You were fortunate through that.
Avery Truex:Absolutely.
Zach Schultz:That could have been a bad surprise, too.
Avery Truex:That absolutely could have been.
Zach Schultz:But.
Zach Schultz:But, man, well, it.
Zach Schultz:So, you know, thinking about this now, did you come out of there, that experience, and you started.
Zach Schultz:You really started taking your music career, and you started doing gigs and getting in front of people and doing music?
Zach Schultz:Or was it.
Zach Schultz:Was it more of a gradual thing?
Avery Truex:It was much more gradual, because for me at the time, my life was all sports.
Avery Truex:I had a guitar.
Avery Truex:I still wrote little things here and there, but it was nothing I would.
Avery Truex:I could think of possibly sharing with anybody, but it was more.
Avery Truex:All right, I'm going to take this first step of quitting lacrosse.
Avery Truex:It just.
Avery Truex:What.
Avery Truex:I realized that it was something that was the past for me, and I needed to focus towards the future of what life had.
Avery Truex:So it was kind of.
Avery Truex:It was more of a letting myself be able to let go of something, to start to open up space in my future for something new.
Avery Truex:So that's really what it was.
Avery Truex:I kind of shed that weight of.
Avery Truex:All right, lacrosse.
Avery Truex:And I was.
Avery Truex:I was thinking of going down.
Avery Truex:I don't know, I had a million different ideas with what I was going to do with school, but none of them ever really made sense.
Avery Truex:It was just more of a.
Avery Truex:So that I could keep playing lacrosse.
Avery Truex:So this opened up just, like, so many horizons to, hey, how about I start doing some of the things I want to do because life's only so short.
Zach Schultz:That's really aligned with the creative process for so many musicians and artists, because it's hard to create when there's not space for that.
Zach Schultz:And I know it was probably.
Zach Schultz:I suspect it was probably difficult.
Avery Truex:Totally.
Zach Schultz:Cross.
Zach Schultz:It sounds like you protected that space and the creative energy poured in, huh?
Avery Truex:No, absolutely.
Avery Truex:I even remember because I was at school still for lacrosse, I got.
Avery Truex:So I was living with all the lacrosse guys.
Avery Truex:The only guys that I knew at the school were lacrosse guys.
Avery Truex:So it was a little tough breaking out of that for me at first, just because.
Avery Truex:Because I was insecure.
Avery Truex:I was 18.
Avery Truex:The world was mine, yet my world was falling apart.
Avery Truex:But.
Avery Truex:So I was in this forced triple room.
Avery Truex:So it's a room, really, for two people, but there's three people in there, and we were all on top of each other.
Avery Truex:At any moment of the day, you could.
Avery Truex:If there was another person in the room, you couldn't think kind of small.
Avery Truex:So that also made it tough to write and stuff like that.
Avery Truex:But fortunately, one of my roommates, he really loved country music and stuff like that.
Avery Truex:And he started.
Avery Truex:I'd never listened to much George Strait or anything like that.
Avery Truex:My time in Texas country music was a little bit before that for what I enjoyed.
Avery Truex: n remember being up at, like,: Avery Truex:with him and friends that he brought back, playing Amarillo by morning and shit like that.
Avery Truex:But it was those small moments that I had for the longest time.
Avery Truex:And gradually, over the past, since then, five years, it's like that.
Avery Truex:Those moments have been able to get a little bigger and bigger each time.
Speaker E:Very nice.
Speaker E:Well, kind of sort of wrapping it up here.
Speaker E:What does it kind of look like in the future here?
Speaker E:Let's say the next five years for Avery.
Avery Truex:Next five years, man, I just want to be making music with people I enjoy.
Avery Truex:That's truly all I care about.
Avery Truex:I hope for the health and happiness of all the people that I care about.
Avery Truex:And if I have those two things, that's really all I can ask for.
Avery Truex:I don't really need.
Avery Truex:I don't need anything else.
Avery Truex:And I'm just an old junk coal, man.
Avery Truex:Like, I truly don't need much love.
Zach Schultz:One last one for me, this song, nowhere.
Zach Schultz:I was.
Zach Schultz:I got in late last night from the airport.
Zach Schultz:1230 in the morning, coming back home popped in nowhere.
Zach Schultz:Or I was streaming nowhere.
Zach Schultz:What is that sort of a call to action for people or maybe share a little bit behind that story?
Avery Truex:Yeah, I mean.
Avery Truex:I mean, it is a little bit of a call to action, because I don't believe all people should be as impulsive as I.
Avery Truex:As I've been in life.
Avery Truex:The first time I went to Nashville, I just moved down in my car, because I was like, that's what everybody does.
Avery Truex:But it's like, I don't think everybody should do that.
Avery Truex:I don't think that was not the smartest thing I could have done.
Avery Truex:I could have taken my time to plan things out a little bit better.
Avery Truex: But hindsight's always: Avery Truex:But, no, I think what it is mostly is the way that I feel about the song is it's just, hey, if you are living this sort of life, don't feel bad about it.
Avery Truex:Don't let.
Avery Truex:There's a lot of folks that don't understand it.
Avery Truex:It's a weird kind of life, and I can understand why most people don't understand it.
Avery Truex:There's zero security in Ithoodae, but it's a song for those sorts of folk, those more eccentric, nomadic, just like, I'll go with the flow and see what happens.
Avery Truex:Kind of guys and gals.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:I experienced as it as a.
Zach Schultz:Now that I'm 49 years young, I experienced as a reminder.
Avery Truex:Oh, okay.
Zach Schultz:About the importance of crafting a life.
Avery Truex:Yeah, absolutely.
Zach Schultz:With intention.
Zach Schultz:And I being able to separate.
Zach Schultz:Hey, this is the influence of what the world is telling me to do.
Zach Schultz:This is what's coming from the inside, and I get to make that decision.
Avery Truex:Yeah, no, I've got to go with it.
Avery Truex:Truly awesome fan that he is.
Avery Truex:Always hitting me up about stuff, always giving me just incredible emotional support.
Avery Truex:Great fellow.
Avery Truex:I want to say he's in his early fifties, but he's just, like, traveling around in his.
Avery Truex:His jeep that he's got one of those.
Avery Truex:I can't remember what it's called, built on top of it, but it's all built for camping and stuff like that.
Avery Truex:He named the.
Avery Truex:The truck nowhere after the song.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:That's cool.
Avery Truex:And that stuff means the absolute world.
Avery Truex:It was just a silly song I wrote in my apartment at one point.
Avery Truex:Now this guy's named his truck.
Avery Truex:That means so much.
Zach Schultz:Is it?
Ben Fanning:That is.
Zach Schultz:That's.
Zach Schultz:That's why we love americana.
Avery Truex:Yeah.
Avery Truex:It's such a fun community.
Zach Schultz:And that's really, to me, when you say that, that's a recognition that it is a true.
Zach Schultz:It's truly art.
Avery Truex:Oh, well, thank you.
Zach Schultz:Because it can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, and I think the trick in there, to me is to make it simple, where you can apply it.
Avery Truex:Absolutely.
Zach Schultz:And the principles, which are core, and it's riffing on exactly what you like.
Zach Schultz:What's the average Avery Truex legacy going to be?
Zach Schultz:Because you could take this thing in a lot of different ways.
Zach Schultz:You've had some incredible experiences, but when you write your last song, what's the legacy going to look like?
Avery Truex:I got a lot of building of things up first, I think, before I can truly try to think about what I.
Avery Truex:What a legacy would be, I don't.
Avery Truex:I don't know.
Avery Truex:Things like legacy.
Avery Truex:That's.
Avery Truex:That's too.
Avery Truex:I don't know why, but my brain has a really hard time trying to comprehend a thought like that.
Avery Truex:I much more.
Avery Truex:I'm trying to be much more present with myself these days.
Avery Truex:I feel like if I can just be known as the guy who wrote songs and some people like them, that's a pretty cool legacy to me, kind of.
Zach Schultz:You said present, and I feel like you've been present with us today.
Speaker E:Yes.
Avery Truex:This has been the best.
Avery Truex:Thank you guys so much for having me.
Avery Truex:It's been a great time.
Zach Schultz:Yeah, y'all.
Zach Schultz:Thank you.
Zach Schultz:Check out Avery's music.
Zach Schultz:It's fun, and there are a lot of levels going there, and I got the feeling there's a lot more coming.
Avery Truex:And thank you.
Zach Schultz:A lot of good stuff coming.
Zach Schultz:Thanks for coming on, America.
Speaker E:Thanks, Avery.
Avery Truex:Thanks so much, guys.
Avery Truex:Y'all take it.
Speaker A:Where you supposed to be, young man?
Speaker A:Never made.
Speaker A:No, don't go play?
Speaker A:I'll know where's where you'll go?
Speaker A:If you're on these roads?
Speaker A:Get a job in a piece of land?
Speaker A:And build a castle for where you'll stand?
Speaker A:A fool who's on their future for life?
Speaker A:Folks round here will sell their soul on some desk job?
Speaker A:To take its toll on the pleasures of the life that they lead?
Speaker A:No, I'd rather be hungry?
Speaker A:Roaming round without a care?
Speaker A:So if you're looking for me I'll be nowhere?
Speaker A:I'll be nowhere?
Speaker A:Never needed me no place call me mine?
Speaker A:I'll be nowhere.
Ben Fanning:Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.
Ben Fanning:Subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.
Ben Fanning:I'm Ben Fanning, and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.
Ben Fanning:Until next time, stay Americana curious.
