Hiss Golden Messenger | How MC Taylor Found His Voice
How does an artist find a voice that feels unmistakably their own—and write songs that hold both hope and heartbreak at the same time?
In this episode of Americana Curious, hosts Ben Fanning and Zach Schultz sit down with MC Taylor, singer, songwriter, producer, and bandleader of Hiss Golden Messenger.
Across more than a dozen studio albums and a Grammy-nominated career, MC has become one of the defining voices in modern Americana. But finding that voice took years of searching, experimenting, and learning to trust his own instincts.
MC shares the story behind Hiss Golden Messenger, explains how fatherhood transformed both his songwriting and his leadership as an artist, and reflects on why his music explores spirit without offering easy answers. He also discusses the power of intimate live music, the importance of community, and why songs can communicate emotions that conversations often cannot.
Chapters:
00:00 - Why it took years to find his voice
02:05 - The turning point that led to Hiss Golden Messenger
03:34 - Finally creating the sound he'd been chasing
04:44 - The meaning behind the name Hiss Golden Messenger
06:56 - Why his music is about spirit—not religion
09:29 - Faith, hope, and rejecting beliefs used as weapons
10:41 - How he writes hopeful songs during difficult times
15:01 - The meaning behind I'm People
17:25 - Why music can say what conversations can't
19:48 - The punk shows that changed his life forever
22:43 - Why collaboration matters in Americana music
27:47 - How becoming a father helped him find his voice
32:23 - The questions driving his songwriting today
35:00 - The future of independent live music and house shows
39:23 - What legacy he hopes Hiss Golden Messenger leaves behind
Hiss Golden Messenger is the musical project of MC Taylor, whose blend of folk, rock, country, soul, and spiritual storytelling has earned a Grammy nomination and made him one of the most respected voices in Americana. Through more than a dozen acclaimed albums, he has built a career defined by authenticity, emotional depth, and a relentless commitment to creating timeless music.
Check out Hiss Golden Messenger's latest album, I'm People, and catch them on tour.
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Transcript
Feeling bad, feeling blue can't get out of my own mind I know how to sing about it.
Speaker A:Ring a bomb, little lonely I better hit the road Jack we can cry to the phone.
Speaker A:Jubilee find me standing with your hope now that little laugh's gotta last a while.
Speaker B:My music is not devotional.
Speaker B:It's just concerned with spirit.
Speaker B:Took me a long time to find my voice.
Speaker C:Was there a moment when you were playing where you're like, wait a minute, that's the.
Speaker C:The sound I've been wanting to make.
Speaker B:I had a vision for what I wanted His golden messenger to be and be doing what I do now had I not witnessed the power of emotion through music.
Speaker C:Today's guest is His Gold Messengers, MC Taylor, who is the singer, songwriter, band leader, and producer.
Speaker C:Across more than a dozen studio albums, they earned a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album and become one of the most respectable, respected voices in modern Americana.
Speaker D:How has your relationship with Faith changed over the years throughout these records?
Speaker B:I really don't like it when a set of beliefs becomes a weapon that people use to hurt or exclude people from the world.
Speaker D:How do you write about hope during a difficult time?
Speaker B:Things can be good and bad at the same time.
Speaker B:That can be heard as hope.
Speaker C:This Golden Messenger's MC Taylor.
Speaker C:Welcome to Americana.
Speaker C:Curious, my friend.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker C:Long before you became one of the defining voices in Americana and before the Grammy nomination, you were playing California indie rock and under Court and Spark, Right?
Speaker C:Looking back, what was the turning point for you establishing His Gold messenger after starting out sort of in a different trajectory from that cordon?
Speaker B:Spark was in.
Speaker B:In a lot of ways, was not so dissimilar from what I do now.
Speaker B:It just wasn't as.
Speaker B:It wasn't as.
Speaker B:I just didn't know how to do it.
Speaker B:It took me a long time to figure out how to make the sound that I wanted to.
Speaker B:To make.
Speaker B:But I realized that I just had a vision.
Speaker B:I had a vision for what I wanted His Gold messenger to be and sound like.
Speaker B:And it kind of required me sort of going it alone.
Speaker B:I mean, I have.
Speaker B:I have a lot of collaborators that are very dear and important to me, and a lot of them have been consistent.
Speaker B:But I kind of have to be the captain of this ship, I realized.
Speaker B:So I love.
Speaker B:I love a band, you know, like, I love the idea of a band.
Speaker B:It seems so romantic.
Speaker B:His golden messenger is kind of that, but kind of not that, you know,.
Speaker C:Would you.
Speaker C:Was there a moment when you were playing on stage or in the studio or even at your House where you're like, wait a minute, that's the sound I've been wanting to make after these years.
Speaker C:Or what was that launching off point?
Speaker B:I mean, part of it is I was trying to understand like all through my young years of starting to play music, like how musicians that I considered the masters of their crafts, what it was that they were doing.
Speaker B:And that came, you know, that was everything from how they were recording it to like how they played the stuff and how they wrote the stuff.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And then, you know, I'm always hearing stuff that like just kind of catches my ear and I don't know, I kind of like borrow from all kinds of different places, I think.
Speaker B:So, you know, like that, that is to say, like there's lots of contemporary music I hear that I find really inspiring too.
Speaker D:Yeah, you can tell that in your music there's not one defined sound.
Speaker D:But I do want to ask a question about.
Speaker D:So the name His golden messenger, you've probably been trying to explain what that means for better part of 20 years.
Speaker D:I don't really know what it means.
Speaker D:But what has it changed the way the meaning of the name over the years, it's the most.
Speaker D:When I wear a hiss hat, everybody asks me, what, what.
Speaker D:What is this?
Speaker C:Wearing this for the listeners he's wearing.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:And what do you say?
Speaker D:I say it's a.
Speaker D:It's a kick ass band, you should check them out.
Speaker D:But I don't really know what.
Speaker B:And when.
Speaker B:And when they ask you what do they sound like, what do you say?
Speaker D:I say they blend every musical sound that you want to hear.
Speaker D:Basically that's how I would.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:And I say just go check it out.
Speaker D:And I usually give them a song or two to go listen to.
Speaker D:Jenny of the Roses, maybe.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, you were saying, how has the name.
Speaker B:Has my own interpretation of the name changed over the years.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I feel like that name is just broad enough and how it feels to kind of be a vessel to hold all kinds of different poetic meanings.
Speaker B:For me, like, it probably has changed over the years.
Speaker B:The imagery I associate with it has, you know, changed as I've changed as a person.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:The name is a little unwieldy and a little like amorphous or ambiguous possibly, but I don't know, at the same time it feels like very apt for my music.
Speaker B:I don't really know why that is.
Speaker B:It's just feels a certain way to me.
Speaker B:I still, I still relate to the name.
Speaker C:Well, you know, you asked Zach what it like, what it Meant like, to me, I think you're like a spiritual messenger through your music.
Speaker C:You're not giving us any dang answers.
Speaker C:You're giving us a hell of a lot of questions.
Speaker C:And you're encapsulating it in a bunch of really cool rock and roll music that makes you want to dance.
Speaker C:And it's easy to experience it like a Pixar movie where, you know, you're just like jamming out, enjoying it.
Speaker C:And the last time I saw you was your two night stay in Charleston for New Year's.
Speaker C:This was like two years ago at the poor house.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's feel good times, right?
Speaker C:New Year's good.
Speaker C:But when you start going deeper, you're clearly, I mean, like.
Speaker C:Well, I'm wondering how you write these things.
Speaker C:You must be on some like, spirit quest somewhere and like coming back.
Speaker B:I mean, like, no, no, probably no more than anyone else.
Speaker B:It's just part of what I do with my days is do a lot of writing.
Speaker B:So, you know, I think that like everybody has.
Speaker B:Has kind of like questions like this.
Speaker B:I just have the good fortune of like getting to sing them and put them to like rhythm and melody.
Speaker D:He's a spirit cat.
Speaker B:I mean, I just.
Speaker B:That's all, you know, that's.
Speaker B:That stuff is all like very interesting to me and just life is interesting to me and it's kind of like all mixed up together.
Speaker B:So, you know, I feel like all of this stuff is kind of in all the music that I love.
Speaker B:You know, all of this, like sort of questing or questions about spirit.
Speaker B:It's a part of all the music that I love.
Speaker B:Even if you don't necessarily think of it that way.
Speaker B:I think of, I don't know, a record like Exile on Main street, the Rolling Stones record.
Speaker B:And that is full of spirit to me or whatever.
Speaker B:Whatever your, you know, reggae music.
Speaker B:There's like so much reggae music I love.
Speaker B:It's so full of spirit.
Speaker B:It's so like.
Speaker B:I mean, in that case, like, it's.
Speaker B:It's very devotional.
Speaker B:My music is not devotional.
Speaker B:It's just concerned with spirit.
Speaker D:So how has your relationship with Faith changed over the years throughout these records?
Speaker B:I mean, I don't know that it has actually, like, it feels pretty.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I'm deeply interested in the ways that we organize our lives around ideas.
Speaker B:And I really don't like it when a set of beliefs becomes like a.
Speaker B:A weapon that people use to hurt or exclude people from the world.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker B:And I feel like I see a lot of that and I Just don't like the moment that happens.
Speaker B:I don't buy that it's real anymore.
Speaker B:So I think I'm on my own thing.
Speaker B:Like, I'm like, I'm super.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I'm very interested in people that have, like, a deep and abiding faith.
Speaker B:I don't know that that's necessarily me.
Speaker B:Certainly not in the way that, like, we would generally think of it.
Speaker D:But, yeah, there's something about when I listen to a hiss record going way back to the current one that we'll get into.
Speaker D:There is some there.
Speaker D:There's a sense of hope, hopefulness in the lyrics.
Speaker D:Even in a world that's not that hopeful.
Speaker D:Let's be.
Speaker D:But how do you.
Speaker D:How do you write about hope during a difficult time?
Speaker D:I guess, is what I want to ask.
Speaker B:I mean, I think that I never sit down thinking that that's going to be a theme of.
Speaker B:Of my songs, but I think that a recognition that we are not only in the midst of, like, suffering, but also a lot of joy at the same time, recognizing that things can be good and bad at the same time.
Speaker B:Like, that can be heard as hope.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:So, like, maybe that's my version of what you would call hope is just like.
Speaker B:Because.
Speaker B:And it's really, like, maybe it comes from this place of, like, I don't want to.
Speaker B:I need this song to, like.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I'm hoping that this song will be a companion with me for years to come.
Speaker B:And in order for that to happen, the.
Speaker B:Thematically, it has to be, like, pliable.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:I have to be able to put into it wherever I might be on my spectrum of emotion on any given night.
Speaker B:So that means that I can't just sing songs that are purely tragic.
Speaker B:Like, there has to be more emotion to it than that.
Speaker B:It has to be a little more Technicolor.
Speaker B:So that's where that comes from.
Speaker C:On the new album, you've got Heavy World,.
Speaker A:Truth, Lies, Magic, Faith, Loving, Trying to find a missing link in the chain.
Speaker A:The wishing where we'll try to kill us is where we learn to trade pennies for our pain.
Speaker A:Don't numb yourself to the A.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker C:Just thinking of that song popped in my.
Speaker C:Popped in my head when you were just explaining that.
Speaker C:Yeah, there seems to be a lot of duality in that tune.
Speaker C:Because when you.
Speaker B:That's the word I needed.
Speaker C:It goes down like a spoonful of sugar.
Speaker C:And you listen to the next time, you're like, wait, what's he really talking about here?
Speaker B:That's a good one.
Speaker B:That's a good song.
Speaker B:That's a good example of a song for what we're talking about here, for sure.
Speaker C:What in the world?
Speaker C:What kind of responses are you getting when you play that?
Speaker C:Are they crying?
Speaker C:Are they laughing?
Speaker C:Are they dancing?
Speaker C:What are people.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, if people, like, want to go deeper with pulling apart, like, the words to that song.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:I like.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:But also, that song kind of just, like, pops off, you know, it's got, like, such an amazing rhythm section and.
Speaker D:Oh, and a singer.
Speaker B:Such a killer chorus and.
Speaker B:Yeah, like.
Speaker C:Yeah, that one worked.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:That's a great.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I love.
Speaker B:I love that tune.
Speaker B:Like, I mean, now, I'm not saying it's great.
Speaker B:I'm just saying, like, what.
Speaker B:For what we're talking about.
Speaker B:That's a good example.
Speaker D:Yeah, I got you.
Speaker C:Thanks for that affirmation.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because I would have.
Speaker C:Hate to go on a limb, and you're like, no, Ben, that is not at all what I was trying to do with that song.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, I.
Speaker B:No, that's.
Speaker B:That's a good one for that.
Speaker C:Why.
Speaker C:And why in the world did you.
Speaker B:Do you.
Speaker C:You have the song I'm People, which is so simple.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker C:Really a powerful song.
Speaker C:But you're messing people up with your English on that, right?
Speaker C:What do you mean, people?
Speaker C:Oh, and did you title the album?
Speaker C:And you're.
Speaker C:You're trying to build curiosity with poor grammar?
Speaker C:That's also extremely right.
Speaker B:At the same time, I. I just.
Speaker C:Oh, I love it.
Speaker B:I. I don't know.
Speaker B:It's a cool combo of words.
Speaker B:I thought.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've never heard anyone say it before, so it stuck with me.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, what.
Speaker C:What's the response you get?
Speaker C:Like, do people latch on to that, or are they saying, hey, hey, mc.
Speaker C:Like, I. I totally get that title.
Speaker C:Or I hear the song.
Speaker C:They get it.
Speaker C:Or how do they.
Speaker C:How are they responding?
Speaker B:Well, first of all, I don't know that the record's been out long enough, and I haven't really been on the road with it yet, so I'm not, like, getting the.
Speaker B:I'm not doing the, like, research yet that I would normally be doing.
Speaker B:But, I mean, the title seems to be resonant, I think.
Speaker B:You know, like, what I'm saying is pretty obvious.
Speaker B:It's not, like, a revolutionary idea.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I'm.
Speaker D:I'm people.
Speaker C:We're people.
Speaker D:We're trying to.
Speaker D:I mean, basically, we're all in this together, you know?
Speaker B:I think so.
Speaker B:Like, I'm.
Speaker B:I'm a person that's part of a group of people.
Speaker B:Like, I'm part of many, many groups of people.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think that, like, it's worth remembering that.
Speaker C:When I saw that, I thought, that's a perfect name for a tour right now.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Getting the right people in the room.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of people, they don't.
Speaker C:We don't have those places where people getting together.
Speaker C:Maybe they go to church, maybe they go to school, PTA meeting, But they're not a lot of I'm people moments.
Speaker C:Unless you're going to an artist who's bringing people together from different walks of life to get behind something like music.
Speaker C:And I thought that was a really strong way to look at that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I'd like to say go back to an older song of yours called Sanctuary, one of my favorite Hiss golden messenger songs.
Speaker D:And the first line in the song is feeling bad, feeling blue.
Speaker D:Can't get out of my own mind, but I know how to sing about it.
Speaker D:So my question is, what can a song, converse, convey that maybe a conversation cannot?
Speaker B:I think we just give creative things lots of liberty in terms of how they're allowed to be expressed and manifested.
Speaker B:I think a song can convey a feeling that maybe sometimes.
Speaker B:Sometimes words have a harder time doing.
Speaker B:I think a song can convey a mood.
Speaker B:I think that a melody can communicate something really nuanced that words.
Speaker B:It's a little harder to find the words to communicate what it is.
Speaker B:And I think that a melody can really color the way the words are understood.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But it takes, you know, it's not.
Speaker B:It takes work on both sides, like both the person delivering the music and the person hearing it.
Speaker B:We have to have this understanding that we're both going to take it seriously if we can.
Speaker B:I mean, it doesn't always happen that way, but when that happens, when everybody is taking the thing, the music seriously, which is not to say, like, not having a great time, but when there's engagement on either sides, that's when it's really becomes this, like, magical essence, you know?
Speaker B:And again, I think all of my favorite music conjures that because of the engagement from, like, sort of all sides same.
Speaker C:What was your first live concert that you went to that you felt that?
Speaker B:I mean, I grew up as a teenager going to a lot of, like, what I guess you would call them sort of like punk rock shows in very small spaces and houses.
Speaker B:And we weren't even old Enough to, like, drink.
Speaker B:I mean, of course there were kids drinking and smoking weed and stuff, but I went to a lot of performances like that in these small, cramped places that fit, you know, 40 teenagers and a band with shitty amps that didn't know how to play, that didn't know how to write songs.
Speaker B:But, like, they were so explosive with their emotions that, like, it hooked me forever, I don't think.
Speaker B:I'm sure that I wouldn't be doing what I do now had I not witnessed the power of emotion through music in spaces where I could, like, touch the musicians, you know, I was.
Speaker B:I would be that close to them.
Speaker B:And I put on a million shows like that.
Speaker B:I put on shows and apartments and traveled, like, all over the.
Speaker B:Traveled all over the place.
Speaker B:I mean, I played a bunch of that music and made records like that when I was a kid.
Speaker B:So that was.
Speaker B:That was like a really deep learning environment for me.
Speaker B:Like a very deep pool that.
Speaker B:That I felt like I was in then.
Speaker B:That was so joyful and awesome.
Speaker C:Oh, have you crowd surfed in that connection?
Speaker B:I. I didn't crowd surf, no.
Speaker B:That we just.
Speaker B:Because there wasn't a stage, we didn't have any.
Speaker C:Chair.
Speaker D:I'd like to ask a question about the collaboration within this roots Americana genre.
Speaker D:I stopped you at a hotel last October in the country Politan to say hello right before you got gold.
Speaker D:You wouldn't remember it, but you weren't eating, so I figured I might as well say hello.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I said, are you playing the night?
Speaker D:And you said, so.
Speaker D:And that, I mean, John means the world to me.
Speaker D:And we.
Speaker D:That.
Speaker D:That's my vacation.
Speaker D:Me and my wife go to you got gold or John's birthday every year.
Speaker D:And it's just such a collaborative thing.
Speaker D:And I wonder how important that is to you because you've collaborated with many artists.
Speaker D:And what.
Speaker D:What is it about collaboration that makes this genre, if you call it a genre, so important?
Speaker B:You know, a good collaboration can produce something that neither one of the people or whoever's involved, none of the people on their own would have come up with.
Speaker B:And that is cool because, you know, you get to see how someone else does it.
Speaker B:And you get to see, you know, not only the differences of process, but also, like, the similarities.
Speaker B:That's the thing that I think is so cool, is, like, sometimes I'll be writing with someone and I'll be like, oh, yeah, I do it that way too.
Speaker B:Or, you know, I don't know, it's just kind of like there's like, the code yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I love, like, working with someone that brings something that I don't have, you know, That's.
Speaker B:That's really fun.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker C:I saw you first MC at the Trondasa Festival with my family in Charleston.
Speaker C:And I had to look back at that.
Speaker C: That was like: Speaker C:Then Moon Taxi, then Sturgill Simpson, and then Widespread Panic.
Speaker C:This was when Sturgill was still trying to.
Speaker C:You know, he wasn't quite where he is today.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker C:But I remember this.
Speaker C:You had this big sign that said, hey, buddy, literally on the stage with you.
Speaker C:And I was like, what?
Speaker C:Yeah, you had a sign.
Speaker C:It was almost like a little tiny billboard, and it's holding up a shirt that says, hey, buddy.
Speaker D:You need his good buddy.
Speaker C:Good buddy.
Speaker B:I brought.
Speaker D:I brought props, mc.
Speaker C:I said, hey, good buddy, or I said, hey, buddy.
Speaker C:One or the other.
Speaker C:What is this?
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:What is this saying?
Speaker C:And, like, how did it emerge in the His Gold messenger community?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker B:You need his good buddy?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:That's what it said.
Speaker C:Do you need his good buddy?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, hold that shirt up again.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that is two.
Speaker B:That comes from two places.
Speaker B:There is.
Speaker D:This one's 12 years old, by the way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we're going back in the archive.
Speaker C:You may not do this now.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I didn't see it at that New Year's celebration or party.
Speaker D:Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's an old one.
Speaker B:It comes from.
Speaker B:There is a Grateful Dead.
Speaker B:There's a Grateful Dead design from way back in the day that says, just with that exact same design, but the text says good old Grateful Dead.
Speaker D:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So there's one part of it, and then the other part of it is I have this book of poetry.
Speaker B:I can't remember the guy's name, but one of his poems is just the transcription of a sign that he saw, like, out somewhere in the rural South.
Speaker B:And it said, you need Jesus good buddy.
Speaker B:Just like that, but with the U instead of spelling out yes.
Speaker B:And I thought, like, that's cool.
Speaker B:That's a cool way to say it.
Speaker B:And then someone I was with was like, why don't you just make it.
Speaker B:You need Hiss good buddy, along with.
Speaker D:Yeah, I love my merch.
Speaker A:Boom.
Speaker C:That's why I'm so curious.
Speaker C:And you.
Speaker C:And you saw them.
Speaker C:Saw the riddle.
Speaker C:I will say that feels like an early version related to I'm People in terms of the meaning, potentially.
Speaker B:I mean, I don't really.
Speaker B:I didn't put too much thought into that particular design.
Speaker B:I was just like, oh, that's.
Speaker B:That's kind of fun.
Speaker D:You hooked me with.
Speaker C:Find a picture of that old sign from Trandasa and I'm going to send it to you.
Speaker B:It's probably.
Speaker B:It probably was a projection that we just had up on the screen.
Speaker D:I got that shirt you were opening for St. Paul and the Broken Bones at the Minnesota Zoo.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:I don't know how long ago that was, but that's where I bought that shirt.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was probably 17 or 18.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So about eight years.
Speaker D:It was about a size ago, too.
Speaker D:It doesn't fit.
Speaker D:Doesn't fit anymore.
Speaker D:That's why I'm not wearing it.
Speaker B:Well, I remember that show being really fun.
Speaker D:Oh, yes.
Speaker D:Minnesota Zoo.
Speaker D:Me and Ben were just talking about our favorite venues, and that one was my absolute favorite.
Speaker D:And it's not here anymore.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker B:They don't do shows there anymore?
Speaker B:That was a cool.
Speaker D:The promoter sadly passed away and they.
Speaker B:Kind of shut it down.
Speaker D:The zoo went a different direction, which kind of bummer.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But, yeah,.
Speaker C:Zach and I are both dads.
Speaker C:How did becoming a father shift the songs that you wanted to write and bring to the world?
Speaker B:I mean, I think it just.
Speaker B:Like the short version would be.
Speaker B:It just made me get more serious, like, really find.
Speaker B:Find sort of like focus in on themes that I could write about, sing about, write melodies for.
Speaker B:That felt like genuine to me.
Speaker B:You know, that felt.
Speaker B:I mean, it just for.
Speaker B:It took me a long time to find my voice.
Speaker B:If you listen to the old Court and Spark records, for instance, like, you would be like, he's getting there.
Speaker B:He's not quite there yet, but he's getting there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I think, like, having a kid, having kids, a couple kids, sort of helped with that process, just in the ways that it makes you have to be more serious.
Speaker B:No, I don't know.
Speaker B:More serious doesn't sounds like it's not fun.
Speaker B:And I find being a dad really fun.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I think just prioritize.
Speaker C:Is it prioritizing the message behind your music or prioritizing the business of music?
Speaker B:No, just prioritizing.
Speaker B:Like, there are things with music that I know I'm good at, and there are things with music that I know I'm never going to be great at.
Speaker B:And so maybe let those.
Speaker B:The ladder slide.
Speaker B:Find someone else that can do that stuff, you know, focus on the stuff that I know I can do.
Speaker B:Well, yeah.
Speaker D:From the.
Speaker D:From the new album.
Speaker D:Who's Gabriel?
Speaker B:It's just a good name.
Speaker B:To sing?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:I thought that that song just blows me away every time it touches me.
Speaker D:I didn't know if that was some.
Speaker D:Somebody very special.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker D:Or about somebody special.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I mean, it's about.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's about parts of my life, but then it's that, you know, that's not.
Speaker D:That's not just a good name.
Speaker D:I like that.
Speaker B:It's like a good name to sing.
Speaker B:It's sung the way that I needed to be able to sing the name and the song.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:The album's killer.
Speaker D:I mean, it is so good.
Speaker C:And so you're about to, you know, you're getting in the part where you're planning your tour and you're going to be, you know, heading out.
Speaker C:What is something that you would like your audience members to start doing when they come see you, and what would you like them to stop doing when they come to see you?
Speaker B:I mean, I don't.
Speaker B:I don't have any issues like that with the people see me.
Speaker D:We've had some.
Speaker D:We've had some interesting answers to that question.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm sure that I could come up with something, but I don't know that there is anything on either side.
Speaker B:I'm just happy that people come see me play.
Speaker D:I think, going back to your point about the artist and the fan being engaged, I feel like that at your shows that you're engaged in the audience, and the audience is.
Speaker D:I mean, I've never been in a situation in one of your shows where it's been where a guy won't shut up or something like that or too.
Speaker D:Too drunk or something.
Speaker B:But yeah, I mean, there are always going to be.
Speaker B:People are just on their own trip at a show, but I'm generally not aware of them because I'm so in my own world playing.
Speaker D:So at the Ryman, when you were singing John Prine songs, you didn't see me crying in the third row because that was just two hours of me crying.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What did I sing, man?
Speaker B:Fish and Whistle.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:And then a few minutes later, Todd came out and played, and that was the last.
Speaker D:I mean, so heavy and.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What a great night that was.
Speaker B:It was special.
Speaker B:Ryan's music just keeps on giving.
Speaker C:Yes, I like that I mentioned that.
Speaker C:You know, your music Ask is asking a lot of deeper questions on many of the songs.
Speaker C:What are the questions that you're sitting with these days that drive you as a musician, as an artist, as a songwriter, father, bandleader?
Speaker B:I mean, I think that I'm.
Speaker B:I'm Writing.
Speaker B:I'm writing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like lately writing songs and part of the like getting started on a new body of work, if that's what it becomes, is figuring out what the questions are.
Speaker B:Like, I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker B:Or conditions outside of my figurative window have not changed a ton except for maybe have gotten worse out in the world.
Speaker B:But so I think I'm trying to figure out like, how do I write about the human experience and human emotions and not let all that shit color.
Speaker B:Color it completely because that's uninteresting.
Speaker B:We get enough of that sort of out there.
Speaker B:So I'm trying to like figure out how to write.
Speaker B:I'm trying to figure out what the emotional tenor of the song should be.
Speaker B:Maybe that's the best way to put it is like for right now, what's the best kind of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Feeling of songs that I could write.
Speaker B:I want it to be genuine and realistic, but I also want it to be elevated and, and.
Speaker B:And deep and fun.
Speaker C:It sounds like you're really striving to write timeless music in an era where it's so easy to like dive into the daily newspaper headline.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I really get to choose whether my music.
Speaker B:We don't know yet, you know, tbd.
Speaker B:But, but I mean I'm trying to like.
Speaker B:I'm trying to be engaged with music in like a full, full on way.
Speaker B:And I still love music.
Speaker B:I mean I love it so much.
Speaker B:So that's, that's why keep making it.
Speaker D:Please.
Speaker D:For.
Speaker B:For me.
Speaker D:For no one else but me and your family.
Speaker B:Yeah, I will.
Speaker C:Where do you think we're headed with live independent local music and how can we support that as fans?
Speaker B:From your perspective, Opportunities for the people making the art and the people experiencing the art.
Speaker B:Opportunities for those two sides to be together.
Speaker B:In a way that is not corporate, not expensive, or is valued properly.
Speaker B:Let's say feels handmade.
Speaker B:Like, you know, handmade is not quite the right word, but like feels.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Not cheap.
Speaker B:All that kind of stuff feels really important right now.
Speaker B:So any opportunity I think that we can make to.
Speaker B:To be able to do that is I think is good.
Speaker B:Like I think about something like a house show.
Speaker B:I think that like the properly curated house show or show in a non traditional space is a really powerful thing to be able to do and to experience.
Speaker B:And I wonder if experiences like that are going to become more common as people crave that feeling of connection and not just being one of 10,000 people in a huge space with beers that cost $40 and T shirts.
Speaker B:That 75, man, that sounds so good.
Speaker C:For us, for Zach.
Speaker C:And I say, we're going to have our first house shows.
Speaker C:What can we do to treat the artists the right way, treat the space the right way, and treat the people that we invite into that space to enjoy the music and experience the right way?
Speaker B:I mean, I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker B:I think you need to, like, know your community and be able to have a space that's open enough to create a vibe that is unique and true to the place that you are.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Like, you're gonna know a lot of the people that are coming into your spot.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Have you played a house show where you.
Speaker C:That you could reflect on for us and say, hey, this is how, like, they did it.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:You know, I. I only.
Speaker B:I really only do house shows at one place, so I don't have a lot of.
Speaker B:I don't have a lot of experience with it.
Speaker B:And frankly, like, as a person, that is very.
Speaker B:I like to have my own space.
Speaker B:I don't like to feel like I'm in someone else's space.
Speaker B:A house show is.
Speaker B:Can be really stressful for that way because there's, like, no way out for me.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:You feel like you're being, like, captive there.
Speaker C:Like, you have to be in this small room with these people.
Speaker B:No, captive.
Speaker B:Not captive.
Speaker B:Because I know that anyone's house I'm going into is going to try to do everything in their power to make it comfortable for me.
Speaker B:They don't want me to feel weird.
Speaker B:But all that said, there's this one place that I do shows in Vermont called Billsville that, I don't know, they just really do it right.
Speaker B:They like.
Speaker B:Their curation is great, their energy is great.
Speaker B:They know how much to be, how much space to give.
Speaker B:Give you.
Speaker B:And, yeah, I don't know, it's.
Speaker B:I like those, and I feel like they're really important for the people that come to them.
Speaker B:Like, people appreciate them.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:This was really fun.
Speaker D:I'm just wrapping it up here.
Speaker D:So many years from now, when you are done making music, which we hope is a long, long time, what do you hope the MC Taylor Hiss golden messenger legacy will be?
Speaker A:Well, did you miss me?
Speaker A:I went to have my fortune read she looked at my hand with something like pity and I swear to you this is what she said well, I can tell violence, you're in solitary flight.
Speaker A:You may be the first true unknown I would baby, pretty soon you're gonna need somebody.
Speaker B:Nobody makes it you're asking me questions I just don't know the answers to.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I mean, I think I like the records that I've made as his Golden Messenger.
Speaker B:I'm, like, proud of them.
Speaker B:I think they do something unique.
Speaker B:So I hope that people continue to respond to that in some way.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:McJaylor his gold messenger.
Speaker C:Thank you for joining us on Americana Curious, my friend.
Speaker C:Check out the record, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:Yeah, take care.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.
Speaker C:Subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.
Speaker C:I'm Ben Fanning, and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.
Speaker C:Until next time, stay Americana Curious.
