Country Fried Rock 1521: RayLand Baxter Unveils 'Imaginary Man'
Summary
In this episode from 2015, we sit down with singer-songwriter RayLand Baxter to talk about his upcoming album Imaginary Man, set to release on August 14 through ATO Records.
Although he grew up in Nashville and is the son of a well-known songwriter, RayLand didn’t dive into music seriously until his twenties. He shares what led him there and how his path into songwriting unfolded a bit later than expected.
We also talk about his evolution as an artist and some of the personal choices that shape his identity, including why he chose to capitalize the "L" in his name. It’s a small detail with real personal meaning behind it.
RayLand walks us through the collaborative process behind Imaginary Man, and we get into the key moments and experiences that helped shape the sound of the new record.
This episode gives a great look at RayLand Baxter’s creative journey, from finding his voice to crafting an album that captures where he is now as an artist.
Show Notes
In this episode, we catch up with RayLand Baxter to talk about his new album Imaginary Man, releasing soon on ATO Records.
- RayLand comes from a strong musical background. His dad, Buddy Baxter, is a respected songwriter and studio owner. But surprisingly, RayLand didn’t start playing guitar until he was 20.
- He shares what led him to pick up music later than most and how those early experiences shaped his voice as a songwriter.
- We get into his creative process and the unique way he approaches his music, including the personal story behind the capital "L" in his name.
- RayLand reflects on his connection to Nashville and how the city continues to influence his work, even as he carves out his own path.
- Throughout the conversation, you’ll hear how authenticity, heritage, and a love for songwriting all come together in Imaginary Man.
Links
- RayLand Baxter
- RayLand Baxter on Bandcamp
- You may also enjoy our conversation with T Hardy Morris
- After you buy music or see a show, please toss a few bucks in our Tip Jar
- Sloane Spencer now hosts a Gen X sleep podcast, Sleep with Rock Stars
Chapters
- 00:01 - Introduction to Raelyn Baxter
- 01:12 - The Journey Back to Music
- 10:29 - The Release of Imaginary Man
- 18:23 - A Journey Through Music and Heritage
- 22:23 - The Journey of Imaginary Man
Takeaways
- RayLand talks about his new album Imaginary Man and how it reflects his growth as a songwriter and artist.
- Growing up in Nashville with his dad, Buddy Baxter, in the music business definitely shaped his early connection to music, even if he didn’t dive in right away.
- It wasn’t until he moved back to Nashville in his twenties that he seriously picked up the guitar and decided to chase music full-time.
- Imaginary Man is a true team effort, with input from a range of talented musicians and producers who helped bring the album to life.
- RayLand shares how important live shows are to him, especially the energy that comes from playing with other musicians and connecting with an audience.
- The album cover is also part of the story. It represents a turning point in his creative journey and shows how much he’s evolved both personally and artistically.
Mentioned in this Episode
- ATO Records
- Three Trees Music
- Cage the Elephant
- Chrome Pony
- Drivin n Cryin
Recommended If You Like
RayLand Baxter, Imaginary Man, Country Fried Rock, Nashville songwriter, ATO Records, music podcast, acoustic guitar, songwriting process, Americana music, new album release, Nashville music scene, live music performance, indie music, music collaborations, Raelyn Baxter interview, music production, Americana Fest, Nashville musicians, songwriting evolution, musical influences
Transcript
Speaker A
Welcome to Country Fried Rock. This week we're talking with Raelyn Baxter, who has a brand new record, Imaginary man, on ATO Records.
Although Baxter grew up in Nashville as the son of noted songwriter and studio owner Buddy Baxter, Raylan did not pick up a guitar until his early twenties.
We find out about his songwriting growth and why he capitalizes the L in the middle of his name and a whole lot more with Raelyn Baxter on Country Fried Rock. I'm your host, Sloan Spencer. My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Raelyn Baxter with a new album, Imaginary man, coming on the 14th of August.
Welcome.
Speaker B
Hello.
Speaker A
We've had a little chat had about locations and places across the way. How'd you end up in Nashville?
Speaker B
Well, I was born here and I grew up here until I was 13. My dad was in the music business, my mom was not, but she loved my father at that time. And so this all started here.
And When I was 13, I moved up to Maryland and then did my thing there and then moved back seven years ago. So Nashville's home. Nashville is my home. Even around the country. I'll be going around and be like, where are you from? I'm from Nashville.
Well, where are you from?
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
I mean, I'm from Nashville, man.
Speaker A
What made you end up heading back into the music business rather than trying to move away from that?
Speaker B
Well, you know, I was never a part of it when I was growing up. My dad was, but I was, you know, just like a little sewer kid running around in the creeks and playing soccer and playing lacrosse and basketball.
And so I was not. I didn't pick up a guitar until I was 20 years old.
Speaker A
Oh, that's late.
Speaker B
Yeah, very late. So once I picked up a guitar when I was 20, it had come at a time.
I don't want to jump ahead in the interview, but I was playing lacrosse in college and I had torn my acl, my knee ligament. And then at the same time as I tore my acl, my dad was given an acoustic guitar in exchange for rent.
My friend Luke Reynolds, who actually played on the album, he's played a bunch of guitar on the new album, gave my dad this guitar that Luke's dad had built him from a tree that fell down in their yard in Vermont.
Speaker A
Wow.
Speaker B
And it's a beautiful bird's eye maple acoustic guitar, dreadnought style. Kind of looks like a Martin.
Speaker A
Wow.
Speaker B
During Christmas break, I went down to stay with my dad. This is my sophomore year in college. And he was like, ray, take this guitar, man.
See, you can't Walk that well, so you might as well learn how to play guitar. And so from then on, it was kind of. It was on.
Speaker A
Did you end up going back to school?
Speaker B
I did. I went back. I didn't graduate, but I went back and finished. Finished just shy six credits shy of my degree.
And I was like, I really cannot stand living in Baltimore anymore. And I was like, I'm out of here. So I got in a car and I drove to Colorado. Still haven't finished my college degree.
That's maybe something I'll take care of down the road at this point.
Speaker A
Surely they can give you six credits of life.
Speaker B
You know, I know I would love to call the dean of students who was my arch nemesis during college and be like, listen, I'm doing something with my degree. I'm using it. Although it's not official I'm using it.
Speaker A
But, you know, the secret person you need to know in college is the registrar. That person has magic powers.
Speaker B
Ah, maybe that's. I've been firing at the wrong target all these years.
Speaker A
Are you up on the whole FIFA.
Speaker B
Drama lately with the refs getting arrested and stuff? Yeah, I followed the sport only because they started playing it a bunch in the United States.
Like, the way it went for me sports wise was I played soccer every day of the week all year until I was 13, until I moved to Maryland, and then I started playing lacrosse almost immediately. So I'm happy that it's becoming more popular in the United States.
And I do think that it seems like a pretty corrupt situation, but I don't know who's going to fight him. Who's going to beat the beast?
Speaker A
Just curious. I've been surprised by the passionate feelings folks have had about that.
Speaker B
Well, you know who is passionate is Eric Massey, who is the co producer on this on Imaginary Man.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B
He's a crazy soccer fool and he loves it. And he. If he was next to me, he'd take the phone, he'd be like, actually, yes. And then he'll tell you all about it.
Speaker A
Keep your ears open for some fun things going on with Country Fried Rock in the next few months. We're going to have a new way for y' all to submit some music to the show for a fall feature.
And we'll be hanging out and having a party in Nashville during Americana Fest. Yep, it's official, but I can't give you the detail details just yet. Hey, y', all, this is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock.
We've had an incredible year with more people finding us on the radio and our podcast than we ever imagined. Thank you all so much. Careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
Speaker B
Hello, this is Raelyn Baxter on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A
That's a great segue because you worked with Adam Landry as well, who is somehow becoming the unintended theme of this year's show. Probably awesome. More than half the records we've covered this year have been touched by Adam Landry.
Speaker B
He's the man. So I've known Adam since I was a sophomore in college. He used to.
My dad had a studio called Three Trees Music out in White's Creek, Tennessee, and it was a beautiful studio built of a bunch of old buildings from the Opryland Amusement park that shut down a while ago, and he built a beautiful studio. And Adam had just moved to Nashville from Maine, and he was playing guitar with Ray Lamontagne, and he was doing all these cool things.
And I met Adam, and he was a rock star to me, you know, he still is actually, more so than ever. And so when it came around to looking for producers, we had a couple names in the bucket, but Adam kept on coming around. Adam is rad.
He's a great guitar player. He knows when a song has good movement and good feel to it, and it was really a joy working with him, and I hope to work more with him in the future.
Speaker A
What was different for you this time around versus previous releases?
Speaker B
Feathers and Fish Hooks was like, you know, I started playing guitar when I was 20, and it's really late, so I did in three years, really, what most people who planned ahead and found their gift, or passion, whatever you want to call it, in their teens. I did 15 years of work in three years. So feathers and Fish Hooks was like, how do you do this? Okay. Oh, you have to sit that way against the mic.
You know, in terms of recording. Oh, I have to sit, and I have to sing into that part of the mic. Oh, I was singing into the wrong end of the mic. All these things.
I didn't know what I was doing, and luckily, I was the dumbest person in the room. So Feathers and Fish Hooks. It came out great, but it was very. It was my rookie attempt.
And so then I've had a few years in between to figure out to write a bunch more songs, to spend a lot more time, pretty much every waking hour, thinking about cool melodies and lyrics and observing what's around me at all times, and how can I use this to express an emotion and how can I put this into a song? And so imaginary man came out this group of songs.
We started recording, and we all kind of knew a little bit more what we were going to be doing in the studio. And we had something to look back on.
I would just sit in the vocal booth with my guitar and look into the control room, and whenever I saw Eric and Adam kind of bobbin. Adam would stand up. Eric would be sitting because he recorded it all as well.
Eric would be sitting, and Adam, when Adam started kind of like, pacing, it was like, all right, we're onto something. We're onto something. Then that was my meter to be like, okay, we got this. Let's work on this idea. That's that.
Speaker A
So were a lot of the songs developed in the studio that way?
Speaker B
I came to the studio with all the lyrics and, for the most part, chord structures and everything like that. And then, yeah, we were just like, let's find a groove. And so we started track one of the album.
Mr. Rodriguez, is the first song that we tracked, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the tunes. Really grooving. Yeah. They just kind of fell together.
It was not effortless, but it was a bit of effortlessness and then a bit of precise decision making.
Speaker A
You also were able to bring in some friends and colleagues to support some of this. Tell me about the other folks who collaborate to make this record happen.
Speaker B
So we'll start with the band. Chip Kilpatrick played drums, and Matt Roland played the keyboards. Eli Beard played bass. These are all Southern boys. Eli is from Nashville.
Chip is from Birmingham. Matt is from Arkansas. All of these guys kind of live in Nashville. And then Jeffy Balin came and sang on some of the record. She lives in Nashville.
Mickey Echo is a Nashvillian. All these are friends. They're just friends.
And then Matt Vasquez, who I had not met before, him showing up to the studio, but he and Adam are really good friends. And Adam was like, matt will sound really good with your voice. So Matt came in, and we all hung out for a few days, and he sang a bunch.
And now Matt and I have become friends, and I'll see him in Austin when I go down there.
Speaker A
Cool.
Speaker B
Isaac Bird, who used to be in a band called the Bridges, a family band, and she sang on Feathers and Fishhooks as well. And so we brought her back in. She's singing on youn Love. I think that's the only track she sings on. Track? Yeah, it was just a nice family effort.
Everybody was behind the songs, and I called them, and they're like, yeah, I'd love to.
Speaker A
Hey, y'. All. This is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock. Those of y' all who listen on our podcasts, it's a quick hit of just the conversation.
If you want the full radio program with all the songs that we talk about, ask for it on your local radio station, joining 20 other stations across the country.
Get the goods@countryfriedrock.org we'd like to send a big thank you to our Country Fried Rock listeners for supporting Country Fried Rock alum Alan Thompson, who is recovering from a diving accident.
If you'd like to donate, every dollar matters and it goes directly to helping defray his bills, you can find that link on Country Fried Rocks, Facebook or Twitter. It's a you caring donation page. Keep your ears peeled for a few different benefit shows in the Nashville area for Alan Thompson. We love you, man.
Get better soon.
Speaker B
The title of the new record is Imaginary man, and you can get yourself a copy at your local record store, my website, raylonbaxter.com or come see us at a live show and come say hi to me at the merch table and I'll sell you one myself. And if you're broke, I'll give it to you.
We finished the album in November of last year, so I did a tour in March as a trio with the drummer and the keyboard player, and we played Mother Mother a couple of songs. The tour that I do in Europe, I'll be playing solo. So all the songs.
This is the cool thing about a song is, you know, they can be translated in a different. All different forms. So I'll play a bunch of new songs in the solo form, and they're completely different than the record. Not completely.
The melodies are still there and obviously the lyrics don't change. But I'm a fan of presenting the songs in five different forms if I can, just to keep it exciting for me.
Speaker A
You mentioned a little bit about Austin. Is that Austin City Elements Fest?
Speaker B
Yeah. Sweet. That's going to be a lot of fun. Maybe Matt will come sing with us.
My buddy Shaky Graves, who I toured with last year, him and I have become really good friends. He's kind of one of my favorite guys out there making music right now. He's going to be around.
He might show up, but I've never played acl, so I'm looking forward to it. I love playing music in Austin, Texas.
Speaker A
On these solo tours. Are you solely touring alone or are you also pairing up with, like, buddy bands or other songwriters to share bills?
Speaker B
Sometimes I'll Borrow some bandmates from other bands. Usually if I'm an opening act as a solo, I'll just keep it solo because I like having the stage to myself.
I can get through a set between an acoustic and an electric guitar. I can do sometimes more than a full band can do. You know, just in terms of the presentation, I don't ever plan ahead for stuff like that.
But if some people are in town or who knows, you know, it's like, are you available? Cool, let's jam. Or. No, I got this.
Speaker A
You're in...
Transcript
Welcome to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:This week we're talking with Raelyn Baxter, who has a brand new record, Imaginary man, on ATO Records.
Speaker A:Although Baxter grew up in Nashville as the son of noted songwriter and studio owner Buddy Baxter, Raylan did not pick up a guitar until his early twenties.
Speaker A:We find out about his songwriting growth and why he capitalizes the L in the middle of his name and a whole lot more with Raelyn Baxter on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sloan Spencer.
Speaker A:My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Raelyn Baxter with a new album, Imaginary man, coming on the 14th of August.
Speaker A:Welcome.
Speaker B:Hello.
Speaker A:We've had a little chat had about locations and places across the way.
Speaker A:How'd you end up in Nashville?
Speaker B:Well, I was born here and I grew up here until I was 13.
Speaker B:My dad was in the music business, my mom was not, but she loved my father at that time.
Speaker B:And so this all started here.
Speaker B:And When I was 13, I moved up to Maryland and then did my thing there and then moved back seven years ago.
Speaker B:So Nashville's home.
Speaker B:Nashville is my home.
Speaker B:Even around the country.
Speaker B:I'll be going around and be like, where are you from?
Speaker B:I'm from Nashville.
Speaker B:Well, where are you from?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm from Nashville, man.
Speaker A:What made you end up heading back into the music business rather than trying to move away from that?
Speaker B:Well, you know, I was never a part of it when I was growing up.
Speaker B:My dad was, but I was, you know, just like a little sewer kid running around in the creeks and playing soccer and playing lacrosse and basketball.
Speaker B:And so I was not.
Speaker B:I didn't pick up a guitar until I was 20 years old.
Speaker A:Oh, that's late.
Speaker B:Yeah, very late.
Speaker B:So once I picked up a guitar when I was 20, it had come at a time.
Speaker B:I don't want to jump ahead in the interview, but I was playing lacrosse in college and I had torn my acl, my knee ligament.
Speaker B:And then at the same time as I tore my acl, my dad was given an acoustic guitar in exchange for rent.
Speaker B:My friend Luke Reynolds, who actually played on the album, he's played a bunch of guitar on the new album, gave my dad this guitar that Luke's dad had built him from a tree that fell down in their yard in Vermont.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:And it's a beautiful bird's eye maple acoustic guitar, dreadnought style.
Speaker B:Kind of looks like a Martin.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:During Christmas break, I went down to stay with my dad.
Speaker B:This is my sophomore year in college.
Speaker B:And he was like, ray, take this guitar, man.
Speaker B:See, you can't Walk that well, so you might as well learn how to play guitar.
Speaker B:And so from then on, it was kind of.
Speaker B:It was on.
Speaker A:Did you end up going back to school?
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:I went back.
Speaker B:I didn't graduate, but I went back and finished.
Speaker B:Finished just shy six credits shy of my degree.
Speaker B:And I was like, I really cannot stand living in Baltimore anymore.
Speaker B:And I was like, I'm out of here.
Speaker B:So I got in a car and I drove to Colorado.
Speaker B:Still haven't finished my college degree.
Speaker B:That's maybe something I'll take care of down the road at this point.
Speaker A:Surely they can give you six credits of life.
Speaker B:You know, I know I would love to call the dean of students who was my arch nemesis during college and be like, listen, I'm doing something with my degree.
Speaker B:I'm using it.
Speaker B:Although it's not official I'm using it.
Speaker A:But, you know, the secret person you need to know in college is the registrar.
Speaker A:That person has magic powers.
Speaker B:Ah, maybe that's.
Speaker B:I've been firing at the wrong target all these years.
Speaker A:Are you up on the whole FIFA.
Speaker B:Drama lately with the refs getting arrested and stuff?
Speaker B:Yeah, I followed the sport only because they started playing it a bunch in the United States.
Speaker B:Like, the way it went for me sports wise was I played soccer every day of the week all year until I was 13, until I moved to Maryland, and then I started playing lacrosse almost immediately.
Speaker B:So I'm happy that it's becoming more popular in the United States.
Speaker B:And I do think that it seems like a pretty corrupt situation, but I don't know who's going to fight him.
Speaker B:Who's going to beat the beast?
Speaker A:Just curious.
Speaker A:I've been surprised by the passionate feelings folks have had about that.
Speaker B:Well, you know who is passionate is Eric Massey, who is the co producer on this on Imaginary Man.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:He's a crazy soccer fool and he loves it.
Speaker B:And he.
Speaker B:If he was next to me, he'd take the phone, he'd be like, actually, yes.
Speaker B:And then he'll tell you all about it.
Speaker A:Keep your ears open for some fun things going on with Country Fried Rock in the next few months.
Speaker A:We're going to have a new way for y' all to submit some music to the show for a fall feature.
Speaker A:And we'll be hanging out and having a party in Nashville during Americana Fest.
Speaker A:Yep, it's official, but I can't give you the detail details just yet.
Speaker A:Hey, y', all, this is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:We've had an incredible year with more people finding us on the radio and our podcast than we ever imagined.
Speaker A:Thank you all so much.
Speaker A:Careful what you wish for.
Speaker A:You just might get it.
Speaker B:Hello, this is Raelyn Baxter on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:That's a great segue because you worked with Adam Landry as well, who is somehow becoming the unintended theme of this year's show.
Speaker A:Probably awesome.
Speaker A:More than half the records we've covered this year have been touched by Adam Landry.
Speaker B:He's the man.
Speaker B:So I've known Adam since I was a sophomore in college.
Speaker B:He used to.
Speaker B:My dad had a studio called Three Trees Music out in White's Creek, Tennessee, and it was a beautiful studio built of a bunch of old buildings from the Opryland Amusement park that shut down a while ago, and he built a beautiful studio.
Speaker B:And Adam had just moved to Nashville from Maine, and he was playing guitar with Ray Lamontagne, and he was doing all these cool things.
Speaker B:And I met Adam, and he was a rock star to me, you know, he still is actually, more so than ever.
Speaker B:And so when it came around to looking for producers, we had a couple names in the bucket, but Adam kept on coming around.
Speaker B:Adam is rad.
Speaker B:He's a great guitar player.
Speaker B:He knows when a song has good movement and good feel to it, and it was really a joy working with him, and I hope to work more with him in the future.
Speaker A:What was different for you this time around versus previous releases?
Speaker B:Feathers and Fish Hooks was like, you know, I started playing guitar when I was 20, and it's really late, so I did in three years, really, what most people who planned ahead and found their gift, or passion, whatever you want to call it, in their teens.
Speaker B:I did 15 years of work in three years.
Speaker B:So feathers and Fish Hooks was like, how do you do this?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Oh, you have to sit that way against the mic.
Speaker B:You know, in terms of recording.
Speaker B:Oh, I have to sit, and I have to sing into that part of the mic.
Speaker B:Oh, I was singing into the wrong end of the mic.
Speaker B:All these things.
Speaker B:I didn't know what I was doing, and luckily, I was the dumbest person in the room.
Speaker B:So Feathers and Fish Hooks.
Speaker B:It came out great, but it was very.
Speaker B:It was my rookie attempt.
Speaker B:And so then I've had a few years in between to figure out to write a bunch more songs, to spend a lot more time, pretty much every waking hour, thinking about cool melodies and lyrics and observing what's around me at all times, and how can I use this to express an emotion and how can I put this into a song?
Speaker B:And so imaginary man came out this group of songs.
Speaker B:We started recording, and we all kind of knew a little bit more what we were going to be doing in the studio.
Speaker B:And we had something to look back on.
Speaker B:I would just sit in the vocal booth with my guitar and look into the control room, and whenever I saw Eric and Adam kind of bobbin.
Speaker B:Adam would stand up.
Speaker B:Eric would be sitting because he recorded it all as well.
Speaker B:Eric would be sitting, and Adam, when Adam started kind of like, pacing, it was like, all right, we're onto something.
Speaker B:We're onto something.
Speaker B:Then that was my meter to be like, okay, we got this.
Speaker B:Let's work on this idea.
Speaker B:That's that.
Speaker A:So were a lot of the songs developed in the studio that way?
Speaker B:I came to the studio with all the lyrics and, for the most part, chord structures and everything like that.
Speaker B:And then, yeah, we were just like, let's find a groove.
Speaker B:And so we started track one of the album.
Speaker B:Mr. Rodriguez, is the first song that we tracked, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the tunes.
Speaker B:Really grooving.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:They just kind of fell together.
Speaker B:It was not effortless, but it was a bit of effortlessness and then a bit of precise decision making.
Speaker A:You also were able to bring in some friends and colleagues to support some of this.
Speaker A:Tell me about the other folks who collaborate to make this record happen.
Speaker B:So we'll start with the band.
Speaker B:Chip Kilpatrick played drums, and Matt Roland played the keyboards.
Speaker B:Eli Beard played bass.
Speaker B:These are all Southern boys.
Speaker B:Eli is from Nashville.
Speaker B:Chip is from Birmingham.
Speaker B:Matt is from Arkansas.
Speaker B:All of these guys kind of live in Nashville.
Speaker B:And then Jeffy Balin came and sang on some of the record.
Speaker B:She lives in Nashville.
Speaker B:Mickey Echo is a Nashvillian.
Speaker B:All these are friends.
Speaker B:They're just friends.
Speaker B:And then Matt Vasquez, who I had not met before, him showing up to the studio, but he and Adam are really good friends.
Speaker B:And Adam was like, matt will sound really good with your voice.
Speaker B:So Matt came in, and we all hung out for a few days, and he sang a bunch.
Speaker B:And now Matt and I have become friends, and I'll see him in Austin when I go down there.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:Isaac Bird, who used to be in a band called the Bridges, a family band, and she sang on Feathers and Fishhooks as well.
Speaker B:And so we brought her back in.
Speaker B:She's singing on youn Love.
Speaker B:I think that's the only track she sings on.
Speaker B:Track?
Speaker B:Yeah, it was just a nice family effort.
Speaker B:Everybody was behind the songs, and I called them, and they're like, yeah, I'd love to.
Speaker A:Hey, y'.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker A:This is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:Those of y' all who listen on our podcasts, it's a quick hit of just the conversation.
Speaker A:If you want the full radio program with all the songs that we talk about, ask for it on your local radio station, joining 20 other stations across the country.
Speaker A:Get the goods@countryfriedrock.org we'd like to send a big thank you to our Country Fried Rock listeners for supporting Country Fried Rock alum Alan Thompson, who is recovering from a diving accident.
Speaker A:If you'd like to donate, every dollar matters and it goes directly to helping defray his bills, you can find that link on Country Fried Rocks, Facebook or Twitter.
Speaker A:It's a you caring donation page.
Speaker A:Keep your ears peeled for a few different benefit shows in the Nashville area for Alan Thompson.
Speaker A:We love you, man.
Speaker A:Get better soon.
Speaker B:The title of the new record is Imaginary man, and you can get yourself a copy at your local record store, my website, raylonbaxter.com or come see us at a live show and come say hi to me at the merch table and I'll sell you one myself.
Speaker B:And if you're broke, I'll give it to you.
Speaker B:We finished the album in November of last year, so I did a tour in March as a trio with the drummer and the keyboard player, and we played Mother Mother a couple of songs.
Speaker B:The tour that I do in Europe, I'll be playing solo.
Speaker B:So all the songs.
Speaker B:This is the cool thing about a song is, you know, they can be translated in a different.
Speaker B:All different forms.
Speaker B:So I'll play a bunch of new songs in the solo form, and they're completely different than the record.
Speaker B:Not completely.
Speaker B:The melodies are still there and obviously the lyrics don't change.
Speaker B:But I'm a fan of presenting the songs in five different forms if I can, just to keep it exciting for me.
Speaker A:You mentioned a little bit about Austin.
Speaker A:Is that Austin City Elements Fest?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Sweet.
Speaker B:That's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker B:Maybe Matt will come sing with us.
Speaker B:My buddy Shaky Graves, who I toured with last year, him and I have become really good friends.
Speaker B:He's kind of one of my favorite guys out there making music right now.
Speaker B:He's going to be around.
Speaker B:He might show up, but I've never played acl, so I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker B:I love playing music in Austin, Texas.
Speaker A:On these solo tours.
Speaker A:Are you solely touring alone or are you also pairing up with, like, buddy bands or other songwriters to share bills?
Speaker B:Sometimes I'll Borrow some bandmates from other bands.
Speaker B:Usually if I'm an opening act as a solo, I'll just keep it solo because I like having the stage to myself.
Speaker B:I can get through a set between an acoustic and an electric guitar.
Speaker B:I can do sometimes more than a full band can do.
Speaker B:You know, just in terms of the presentation, I don't ever plan ahead for stuff like that.
Speaker B:But if some people are in town or who knows, you know, it's like, are you available?
Speaker B:Cool, let's jam.
Speaker B:Or.
Speaker B:No, I got this.
Speaker A:You're in a position sometimes, especially locally in Nashville, to have, you know, hey, we're doing a special night of Raylan Baxter and friends.
Speaker A:Who do you like to bring on board for that sort of thing?
Speaker B:You know, Cage the Elephant.
Speaker B:All those guys just moved to Nashville.
Speaker A:I did not know that.
Speaker B:Yeah, they did.
Speaker B:And a few of them I've gotten to know over the last few years just being in the same friend group.
Speaker B:So sometimes I'll borrow a couple of those guys.
Speaker B:A few weeks ago, I played a show with the drummer from Chrome Pony, which is a band in Nashville.
Speaker B:And then two of the guys from Cage the Elephant sat in with me and we did this kind of psychedelic three song set.
Speaker B:It was a bunch of bands played and I was one of the bands.
Speaker B:And so I put together a little, A little, Little Rascals group.
Speaker B:And we, we turned it up and got really loud and it was awesome.
Speaker B:I played with two violin players.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's all over the map.
Speaker B:I think a lot of people get stuck in presenting their sound the way they want their sound.
Speaker B:I don't get held up on that.
Speaker B:I'm like, do we want to play All Electric Tonight?
Speaker B:Sweet.
Speaker B:Let's do that.
Speaker B:Do we want to do a row of acoustic guitars?
Speaker B:Let's do that.
Speaker B:It's like, I don't want there to be any rules or any, any borders in terms of output, you know.
Speaker A:Well, so what are you noticing already that's changing with these songs?
Speaker A:Because I didn't realize it had been finished since November.
Speaker B:That's a while, you know, timing is everything.
Speaker B:And I wanted to make sure that I could tour a bunch before the album release.
Speaker B:And so I needed to do quite a bit more national touring.
Speaker B:And so I did that in November, I went on a Canadian and west coast tour with Shaky Graves.
Speaker B:Made a bunch of new fans that way.
Speaker B:And really, because I'm just a little speck on the, on the, on the map.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And then I went out with, in March, opening up for a band called Green sky bluegrass and made it, you know, hit a different group of people.
Speaker A:Yeah, they've been on the show before.
Speaker A:Definitely different end of the spectrum.
Speaker B:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:But and then, you know, a month ago I opened up for Boz Skaggs for two weeks.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker B:Like I'm kind of just as the songs can recreate themselves in different forms and fashions.
Speaker B:Whether it be a acoustic trio or a rockin electric trio or myself with another singer or any of that or a full on nine piece band, the songs can translate to different groups of people and that was really important to me.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sloan Spencer.
Speaker A:You can keep in touch with us on Facebook.
Speaker A:But I really like Twitter where we are at country fried rock ending with R O K. And if you want to see pictures of my shoes, my dog and my lunch, stop by Instagram.
Speaker A:But whatever way you like to hang out, stop by and say, hey, there's vinyl.
Speaker B:You know it is.
Speaker B:I think a company in France is printing them.
Speaker B:Although we have our local United pressing here, United record pressing here in Nashville.
Speaker B:But because vinyl is so popular, they're backed up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they're not even taking new clients.
Speaker B:They're just continuing with existing clients.
Speaker B:So we reached out to a company in France and they printed a test copy.
Speaker B:I got it in my hand right now.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:And it sounds very nice.
Speaker B:And we fit all the songs on two sides of vinyl so we're all good.
Speaker A:We have great audiences in Canada.
Speaker A:Tell me a little bit about how that went for you.
Speaker B:Not that one.
Speaker B:I got in trouble in college.
Speaker B:I've gotten turned down from the border twice in two different tours.
Speaker B:And luckily those two tours just went into Vancouver for one show and came back.
Speaker B:So I only missed one show.
Speaker B:One with the head and the heart and then the other one with the Civil Wars.
Speaker B:And so there were big tours.
Speaker B:I was like, I'll just see you guys back in Seattle or something.
Speaker B:But once I got all my stuff taken care of, I was finally allowed back into Canada.
Speaker B:And it was glorious and it was amazing.
Speaker B:We played in Vancouver and we played in Jasper and we played in Edmonton and we played in Saskatchewan and we played in Winnipeg and we played in Banff and it was really awesome.
Speaker B:The Canadian fans were great or the Canadian audiences were great.
Speaker B:And I hope to go back many, many times.
Speaker B:I actually kind of grew up going to Nova Scotia with my dad in the summertime.
Speaker B:So yeah, I think I adore the Canadian lifestyle.
Speaker B:Their perception on reality.
Speaker B:I appreciate, you know, they keep it simple.
Speaker B:It's beautiful.
Speaker B:They don't let the bad guys in, they don't let the good guys in.
Speaker A:I was gonna say sometimes it means keeping the good folks out too, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I have numerous friends who cannot get into Canada.
Speaker B:Just I guess it's like, well, stay out of trouble or don't get caught.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:I'm looking forward to getting a full band together and touring with the full band and just learning these, Getting these songs pumped up and ready to go and playing really great live shows.
Speaker B:You know, like, the live show is kind of the album's one thing within the live show is really where I love where I feel the most human or the most non human.
Speaker B:I don't know what that feeling is, but I love playing music with my friends and I love the feeling, the energy that's on stage between a group of musicians that are playing really well together.
Speaker B:And we're just a couple little rehearsals and a couple weeks away from having that nice.
Speaker A:Explain to me the capital L. The.
Speaker B:Capital L is the capital L. Oh, man, I don't want to give away my.
Speaker A:Don't give away your special secrets then.
Speaker B:Yeah, I can't reveal that information.
Speaker B:It involves my Russian heritage and I'll leave it at that.
Speaker B:My great grandmother on my mom's side was a countess for Czar Nicholas ii.
Speaker B:And during the Bolshevik Revolution, so she was married to the czar's brother during the Bolshevik Revolution, she fled from St. Petersburg, Russia to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Speaker B:And I have old documents that show her writing.
Speaker B:And she capitalized the L then.
Speaker B:So I started doing that with my name many years ago.
Speaker B:And then once social media and all this stuff came around, I just started doing it.
Speaker B:There is no secret to it.
Speaker B:That's the thing.
Speaker B:It's really.
Speaker B:I just started doing it so that my posts would stick out.
Speaker B:I studied advertising in college, so it's kind of common sense to me.
Speaker B:All advertising is common sense to me.
Speaker B:But that was my major in college.
Speaker B:And so I wanted something that set my little posts away from everybody else's.
Speaker B:And that was another reason.
Speaker B:And also I went to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame a couple years ago when they did the Grateful Dead trip.
Speaker B:They did the Grateful Dead setup and I was reading a bunch of Jerry Garcia's old set list and Jerry Garcia capitalized his Ls too.
Speaker B:And I did not know that, but I thought that it was cool because I love me some Jerry Garcia.
Speaker B:Yeah, big time.
Speaker B:I have a Grateful Dead cover band in Nashville.
Speaker B:I want everybody to know that I love that.
Speaker A:What's your favorite song?
Speaker A:To play.
Speaker B:You know, I like.
Speaker B:I love playing Touch of Gray.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:Listen, it is not a deep cut at all, but just the way that.
Speaker B:The way that I feel when I play that guitar that just.
Speaker B:Dun bum bum bum dun dun dun.
Speaker A:I can go for all kinds of tall tales, but this one's killing me.
Speaker B:And I also like playing anything from Working Man's Dead.
Speaker B:I love playing High Time.
Speaker B:And we also.
Speaker B:What else?
Speaker B:Maybe we play a bunch of them.
Speaker A:I'm sure it's been noted in the show before.
Speaker A:Eyes of the World would be my favorite Dead tune.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:I dig it.
Speaker B:Tus the Gray isn't my favorite Dead.
Speaker A:Song, but best to play.
Speaker B:But it's my favorite to play.
Speaker A:Tell me about the album cover.
Speaker B:My dad was married back in December.
Speaker B:I've had a mustache or a beard for the last five years.
Speaker B:And my father asked me to clean up for the wedding photos.
Speaker B:And, you know, my dad's a hippie.
Speaker B:I thought he would be the last one to ask me to clean up for a wedding photo, but I did it.
Speaker B:And then I realized after I had shaved my beard off, that photo shoot for the album was the following Monday.
Speaker B:So I was like, well, you know, here we go.
Speaker B:And it's kind of fitting because the album is called Imaginary man, but Eric Anderson is a great photographer up in New York.
Speaker B:He took that picture.
Speaker B:And we were just.
Speaker B:I got a couple hats, a couple shirts, and put them on, and that picture came out really great.
Speaker B:And I thought.
Speaker B:We all thought it was kind of, you know, the iconic sophomore album up close, face shot that everybody wanted to see.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:When you hold feathers and fish hooks up to Imaginary man, you'll see an evolution of songwriting and musicianship and teamwork and all that stuff.
Speaker A:As I was originally looking for your website, I found some modeling.
Speaker A:Is that you or is that someone who just resembles you?
Speaker B:Oh, what's some American Eagle stuff?
Speaker B:Yeah, my friend Leanne and Brad, they were like, the art directors for American Eagle for a couple years.
Speaker A:Fun.
Speaker B: Their campaign of: Speaker B:They did it in Nashville.
Speaker B:And mixed in with a whole bunch of professional models were myself and a couple friends of mine who were really just hired to kind of play guitar at campfires and, I don't know, boost morale or whatever.
Speaker B:But we ended up sneaking into a couple shots.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was funny.
Speaker B:I was in Times Square in an advertisement, and my mom sent me a picture.
Speaker B:She's, like, so proud of you.
Speaker B:Literally.
Speaker B:I'm guilty by association, right?
Speaker A:But hey, it's all good.
Speaker A:It's all good.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Well, well, Raelyn Baxter, we are looking forward to Imaginary man coming out on ATO Records on the 14th of August.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker A:Safe travels.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker B:Okay, Bye bye.
Speaker A:Bye, bye.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Raelyn Baxter.
Speaker B:Check out my website@raelynbaxter.com for more information on ordering you a copy of imaginary man.
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