Country Fried Rock 1515: Year of October from Kentucky Roots to Nashville Dreams
Summary
In this episode from 2015, we dive into how Year of October has grown and evolved, especially with the release of their latest album, Golden Days. Phlecia and Josh Sullivan, who started out making acoustic music together, have really expanded their sound. Now performing as a trio, they’ve moved into a heavier, more dynamic style that reflects how far they’ve come.
We talk about the making of Golden Days, which they recorded and produced themselves, something that marks a big step forward in their creative journey. They also share stories from the road, as their regional touring continues to grow.
Of course, Nashville’s music scene plays a big part in their story too. Felicia and Josh talk about how being surrounded by such a rich, competitive environment has shaped their writing, their performances, and how they work together as a team.
This conversation gives a closer look at the way their music has developed over time, and how collaboration has been at the heart of it all.
What We Wrote in 2015
Phlecia & Josh Sullivan are Year of October, creatively and personally joined together. Originally from Kentucky, the band has been in Nashville for a few years, touring regionally and self-recording and self-producing their two albums thus far. Year of October is outside of our circle within Nashville, and I actually discovered them via Bandcamp!
Links
- Year of October
- Year of October on Bandcamp
- You may also like our conversation with Sam Lewis
- After you buy music or see a show, please toss some support into our Tip Jar
- Sloane Spencer now hosts a Gen X sleep podcast, Sleep with Rock Stars
Show Notes
- Phlecia and Josh Sullivan talk about how Year of October has evolved over the years, especially with the release of their latest album, Golden Days.
- The duo, originally from Kentucky and now based in Nashville, share how they’ve grown from an acoustic project into a full band with a much bigger sound.
- We dig into their songwriting process, which has always been collaborative, and that teamwork has played a big role in shaping their current style.
- Golden Days is a big milestone for them. It’s a self-recorded, self-produced album that captures where they are now creatively and professionally.
- They talk about hitting the road and expanding their touring efforts across the region, using this album as a way to connect with new audiences.
- Being part of the Nashville music scene has had a major impact on their growth. They open up about what it’s like to navigate such a competitive and inspiring environment.
- Throughout the episode, they offer a real look at what it takes to build a distinct musical identity, and the hard work that goes into every step of that journey.
Takeaways
- Phlecia and Josh Sullivan of Year of October have come a long way since they first started making music together. Their latest album, Golden Days, really shows how much their sound has grown and evolved.
- Golden Days was completely self-recorded and produced, which gave them full creative control. It also helped them take their music to a wider audience through more regional touring.
- Living in Nashville has been a huge part of their journey. Being surrounded by so many talented artists has pushed them to grow, not just as musicians, but also in how they approach live performances.
- They’re already looking ahead to their next album and are excited to keep developing their sound. A lot of that inspiration comes from the connections and experiences they’ve had in the music scene.
- Their focus on authenticity extends beyond the music. Even the album artwork is intentionally simple, something that feels true to who they are and sticks with you.
- When it comes to songwriting, it’s very much a team effort. Phlecia and Josh usually start ideas together and build on them collaboratively, making sure the final product reflects both of their voices.
Mentioned in this Episode
- Year of October
- Bandcamp
- University of Kentucky
- Strange Connections
- Red Ember
- Oliver Ocean
- Sky Temple Blues
- JD Wilkes
- Dirt Daubers
- Dick's Sporting Goods
- John Michael Montgomery
- Drivin n Cryin
Recommended If You Like
Country Fried Rock, Year of October, Sloane Spencer, Phlecia Sullivan, Josh Sullivan, Golden Days album, Nashville music scene, Kentucky musicians, self-produced music, regional touring, acoustic music, indie rock band, Bandcamp recommendations, songwriting process, live performances, Nashville venues, creative community, music collaboration, music industry insights, contemporary folk music
Transcript
Speaker A
Welcome to Country Fried Rock. I'm your host, Sloan Spencer. Today I'm talking with Felicia and Josh Sullivan, better known as the band Year of October.
Their recent album Golden Days demonstrates their growth as a band, working together, primarily writing as a duo, but performing as a trio or full band.
Originally from Kentucky and now residing in Nashville, this self recorded, self produced release is helping Year of October expand their regional touring schedule. Year Never. Guess how I found this band. Coming up in my conversation with Year of October today on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B
My guests today on Country Fried Rock are Josh and Felicia of Year of October. Welcome.
Speaker C
Thank you. We're glad to be here.
Speaker B
So I was just saying, off the air, I said, I actually found you through Strange Connections via Bandcamp, which Bandcamp totally rules, by the way, but they make suggestions based on things you've purchased in the past, and occasionally I pay attention to that. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I love these people. I need to find them.
Speaker C
That's awesome. I didn't even know Bandcamp made suggestions.
Speaker B
They do. Well, it's. It pops up at the bottom of your screen based on your previous purchases. And I guess they have some magic algorithm.
Speaker C
That's really cool. Yeah.
Speaker B
Yeah. But as I was doing a little homework for the show, I saw that y' all went to University of Kentucky.
Speaker C
Yes, we did. We both graduated from there.
Speaker B
Are you still recovering from basketball season?
Speaker C
Oh, my gosh. It killed me.
Speaker B
Longtime listeners know my husband went to University of Kentucky, so I have learned about basket.
Speaker C
Yes, Blue Bleeds Deep, but it was.
Speaker B
Good for me because I actually understand basketball, unlike the fact that I'm a lifelong Southerner who still doesn't understand football.
Speaker C
Is a whole nother deal. Yeah. If you're in sec, you have to know a little bit about football.
Speaker B
Anyway, well, so sorry for the ending of the season, although the ride up there was great.
Speaker C
Thank you.
Speaker B
As a band, how did you all come together?
Speaker C
Well, Josh and I, we met at UK and we actually dated.
We dated for about a year before we started playing music together because we both knew that we played music separately, but we didn't really want to mess up our relationship if the music stuff didn't work out. So we dated for a year, and then we were like, we should write together.
And so it kind of started with just me and him playing some acoustic songs that we had written, and that's how we started out.
Speaker B
Okay, so that's not the usual story.
Speaker C
No.
Speaker B
You were dating, then you said, hey, let's write together, and then where did it go?
Speaker C
Well, we wrote several songs and then we got some of our friends together because we knew the songs we were writing. We love acoustic music, but what we wanted to do was not play in an acoustic band.
So we were writing for a full band, and so we got some friends together, and then we started filling the songs out and making it into the more rock music that we play. And so that's where it went, and that's how it was when we recorded our first album. We were just still feeling things out.
Speaker B
Things have expanded for y' all musically since then?
Speaker C
Oh, yes, yes. Much more. We found our sound a little more, and in the first album, like I said, we were filling things out and we didn't really have a set band.
We were just getting it done so we could get our name out there to get shows. So with this album, we had a set band.
It was me, Josh and Greg who played drums with us, and it made it a little more fluid on Golden Days, I feel like.
Speaker B
And so then when y' all are playing out live, you were able to use the same people that you took into the studio or did you add some other folks when y' all recorded?
Speaker C
It's pretty much the same people. Right now. We just play as a three piece.
Josh, and it was Greg, but he just recently moved back to Utah, so we've got another guy playing drums with us. But what we added in the studio on Golden Days was bass, because Josh is originally a bass player, so he played bass and guitar on the record.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker B
Thank you all so much.
Speaker A
Careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
Speaker C
Hey, this is Alicia from Year of October on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B
Y' all have been playing kind of around the region, I guess.
Speaker C
Yeah, we play in Nashville sometimes during the week because we both work full time jobs at a bank during the day to support what we want to do. So we work playing Nashville during the week, and it's a lot of fun.
Play shows with a lot of our friends, and then on the weekends, we travel all around Tennessee and back into Kentucky to our homes. And we played in Alabama a little bit, and the shows are great.
It's always different crowds, but all the people are really receptive of our music and it's a lot of fun to play it.
Speaker B
I should have said that y' all have been in Nashville for a while, even though you originally formed In Lexington.
Speaker C
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We've been in Nashville going on four years. Yeah, almost four years now.
Speaker B
What does being in such a creative community like that do for you all?
Speaker C
It's really crazy. I never really knew what it was like until I moved down there. And working at the bank has opened my eyes to see that everyone really does play music.
Like, everyone we meet. Like, oh, I either write or I play in this band or I'm a producer.
Like, everyone you meet has something to do with the music industry, and it's been really cool. And I think that that has made us better musicians because playing in Nashville, you have to be on top of your game every single show.
Everybody watching you is a musician, and they're all great. So you are like, I have to live up to that standard.
So I think that living in Nashville has probably made us better in our performance and better in everything.
Speaker B
Do you have particular venues you enjoy? I know everybody kind of has their little pet places.
Speaker C
We really like playing. There's a place called Pooh Bar in East Nashville and then Spring Water Supper Club over by Centennial Park. Both of those are a lot of fun for us.
Speaker B
I'm familiar with both. That's a little bit outside of the normal loop of folks that we have gotten to know through the show. So who else is in your circle musically?
Speaker C
We've been playing with some people actually from my hometown that have recently moved to Nashville.
I'm from Western Kentucky and a little bitty tip and a bunch of people from there are moving to Nashville now because it's only about a two hour drive. We have a band called Red Ember that plays with us. Yeah, they're kind of alt bluegrassy kind of thing.
They have a Punch Brothers feel and they're awesome. We play with them a lot. There's another band called Oliver Ocean that we play with, and then there's some guys called Sky Temple Blues.
They fit our sound a little better. They're a bluesy rock band. They're awesome.
Speaker B
JD Wilkes is from Paducah originally as well.
Speaker C
Yeah, yeah, he is.
Speaker B
He was on the show a while back with Dirt Daubers and, you know, all his various projects. But Paducah is a funky little creative community now as well.
Speaker C
Yeah, it's awesome. Since I moved, actually, they've really grown a lot in the music industry. I know they did that.
They had that initiative to bring in artists from all over the world to downtown Paducah to build it back up, and that's really helped the creative movement in Paducah.
Speaker D
A lot.
Speaker B
It transformed it. I mean, it really did.
Speaker C
Yeah, it was awesome. They started that probably my senior year of high school, maybe a little before that.
And so I left and then all of this awesome stuff came to downtown Paducah. So it's cool to go back home now.
Speaker B
Lake City, South Carolina, which has neither a lake nor is it a city, is actually doing something similar. And it's, it's not there where Paducah is yet. But I mean, it's stunning the difference just in two years.
Speaker C
It's crazy.
Speaker B
As I said, I lived in Kentucky for five years and my brother in law lives in Owensboro, so I don't get quite as far west as Paducah, but I'm familiar with the area.
Speaker C
Yeah, yeah, we played Owensboro not too long ago. That's good.
Speaker B
Cool.
Speaker A
I'm your host, Sloan Spencer. You can keep in touch with us on Facebook. But I really like Twitter where we are at Country Fried Rock ending with R O K. And if you want.
Speaker B
To see pictures of my shoes, my.
Speaker A
Dog and my lunch, stop by Instagram. But whatever way you like to hang out, stop by and say, hey, hey.
Speaker C
This is Alicia from Year of October on Country Fried Rock. If you want to find out more about us and where we're playing, you can check us out@yearofoctober.com it's neat to.
Speaker B
Hear overlap of different circles of folks in music that are based in Nashville.
Now when you all are doing the shows, are you trying to partner up with other bands when you go places or do you have bands in those places that you're looking to team with?
Speaker C
Yeah, we partner up a lot of the times when we go to Paducah, we play with the same sort of people that we're playing with in Nashville now because we both have big draws back there and so it's fun to be able to travel with your friends. But we also, we go up to Lexington a lot and play and we have a lot of friends up there that are different.
We play with different bands when we go up there. But it's really cool. We've got a good vibe going now. People who are really supportive. That's great, everybody.
Speaker B
So tell me a little bit more about getting into record specifically for what became Golden Days.
Speaker C
I'm going to pass the phone off to Josh for that one because he actually produced the record. He went to school for audio engineering so we do it at our house and he does all of it. So I'm going to has the phone up.
Speaker B
Question was, tell me a Little bit about what ultimately became the recording for Golden Days.
Speaker D
It was pretty interesting because, like Felice was saying, with the first record, it was not only was it the first record we did as a band, it was the first record that I had produced. And then I'd recorded myself. I'd done some single tracks. So doing Golden Days, I had a little bit more of a feel as to what I was going for.
And it was definitely a process. Each song was, you know, we took it song by song and, you know, we'd lay down all the drum parts first.
We have scratch vocals with guitar, and those were just scratch tracks. And then we'd lay down the drums, and then I would kind of layer everything else over top of it.
It was pretty exciting because there were some songs that were very fresh and we could really develop them more in the studio. And our...
Transcript
Welcome to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sloan Spencer.
Speaker A:Today I'm talking with Felicia and Josh Sullivan, better known as the band Year of October.
Speaker A:Their recent album Golden Days demonstrates their growth as a band, working together, primarily writing as a duo, but performing as a trio or full band.
Speaker A:Originally from Kentucky and now residing in Nashville, this self recorded, self produced release is helping Year of October expand their regional touring schedule.
Speaker A:Year Never.
Speaker A:Guess how I found this band.
Speaker A:Coming up in my conversation with Year of October today on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B:My guests today on Country Fried Rock are Josh and Felicia of Year of October.
Speaker B:Welcome.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:We're glad to be here.
Speaker B:So I was just saying, off the air, I said, I actually found you through Strange Connections via Bandcamp, which Bandcamp totally rules, by the way, but they make suggestions based on things you've purchased in the past, and occasionally I pay attention to that.
Speaker B:And I was like, oh, my gosh, I love these people.
Speaker B:I need to find them.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker C:I didn't even know Bandcamp made suggestions.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B:Well, it's.
Speaker B:It pops up at the bottom of your screen based on your previous purchases.
Speaker B:And I guess they have some magic algorithm.
Speaker C:That's really cool.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But as I was doing a little homework for the show, I saw that y' all went to University of Kentucky.
Speaker C:Yes, we did.
Speaker C:We both graduated from there.
Speaker B:Are you still recovering from basketball season?
Speaker C:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker C:It killed me.
Speaker B:Longtime listeners know my husband went to University of Kentucky, so I have learned about basket.
Speaker C:Yes, Blue Bleeds Deep, but it was.
Speaker B:Good for me because I actually understand basketball, unlike the fact that I'm a lifelong Southerner who still doesn't understand football.
Speaker C:Is a whole nother deal.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:If you're in sec, you have to know a little bit about football.
Speaker B:Anyway, well, so sorry for the ending of the season, although the ride up there was great.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:As a band, how did you all come together?
Speaker C:Well, Josh and I, we met at UK and we actually dated.
Speaker C:We dated for about a year before we started playing music together because we both knew that we played music separately, but we didn't really want to mess up our relationship if the music stuff didn't work out.
Speaker C:So we dated for a year, and then we were like, we should write together.
Speaker C:And so it kind of started with just me and him playing some acoustic songs that we had written, and that's how we started out.
Speaker B:Okay, so that's not the usual story.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:You were dating, then you said, hey, let's write together, and then where did it go?
Speaker C:Well, we wrote several songs and then we got some of our friends together because we knew the songs we were writing.
Speaker C:We love acoustic music, but what we wanted to do was not play in an acoustic band.
Speaker C:So we were writing for a full band, and so we got some friends together, and then we started filling the songs out and making it into the more rock music that we play.
Speaker C:And so that's where it went, and that's how it was when we recorded our first album.
Speaker C:We were just still feeling things out.
Speaker B:Things have expanded for y' all musically since then?
Speaker C:Oh, yes, yes.
Speaker C:Much more.
Speaker C:We found our sound a little more, and in the first album, like I said, we were filling things out and we didn't really have a set band.
Speaker C:We were just getting it done so we could get our name out there to get shows.
Speaker C:So with this album, we had a set band.
Speaker C:It was me, Josh and Greg who played drums with us, and it made it a little more fluid on Golden Days, I feel like.
Speaker B:And so then when y' all are playing out live, you were able to use the same people that you took into the studio or did you add some other folks when y' all recorded?
Speaker C:It's pretty much the same people.
Speaker C:Right now.
Speaker C:We just play as a three piece.
Speaker C:Josh, and it was Greg, but he just recently moved back to Utah, so we've got another guy playing drums with us.
Speaker C:But what we added in the studio on Golden Days was bass, because Josh is originally a bass player, so he played bass and guitar on the record.
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 B:Thank you all so much.
Speaker A:Careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
Speaker C:Hey, this is Alicia from Year of October on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B:Y' all have been playing kind of around the region, I guess.
Speaker C:Yeah, we play in Nashville sometimes during the week because we both work full time jobs at a bank during the day to support what we want to do.
Speaker C:So we work playing Nashville during the week, and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker C:Play shows with a lot of our friends, and then on the weekends, we travel all around Tennessee and back into Kentucky to our homes.
Speaker C:And we played in Alabama a little bit, and the shows are great.
Speaker C:It's always different crowds, but all the people are really receptive of our music and it's a lot of fun to play it.
Speaker B:I should have said that y' all have been in Nashville for a while, even though you originally formed In Lexington.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:We've been in Nashville going on four years.
Speaker C:Yeah, almost four years now.
Speaker B:What does being in such a creative community like that do for you all?
Speaker C:It's really crazy.
Speaker C:I never really knew what it was like until I moved down there.
Speaker C:And working at the bank has opened my eyes to see that everyone really does play music.
Speaker C:Like, everyone we meet.
Speaker C:Like, oh, I either write or I play in this band or I'm a producer.
Speaker C:Like, everyone you meet has something to do with the music industry, and it's been really cool.
Speaker C:And I think that that has made us better musicians because playing in Nashville, you have to be on top of your game every single show.
Speaker C:Everybody watching you is a musician, and they're all great.
Speaker C:So you are like, I have to live up to that standard.
Speaker C:So I think that living in Nashville has probably made us better in our performance and better in everything.
Speaker B:Do you have particular venues you enjoy?
Speaker B:I know everybody kind of has their little pet places.
Speaker C:We really like playing.
Speaker C:There's a place called Pooh Bar in East Nashville and then Spring Water Supper Club over by Centennial Park.
Speaker C:Both of those are a lot of fun for us.
Speaker B:I'm familiar with both.
Speaker B:That's a little bit outside of the normal loop of folks that we have gotten to know through the show.
Speaker B:So who else is in your circle musically?
Speaker C:We've been playing with some people actually from my hometown that have recently moved to Nashville.
Speaker C:I'm from Western Kentucky and a little bitty tip and a bunch of people from there are moving to Nashville now because it's only about a two hour drive.
Speaker C:We have a band called Red Ember that plays with us.
Speaker C:Yeah, they're kind of alt bluegrassy kind of thing.
Speaker C:They have a Punch Brothers feel and they're awesome.
Speaker C:We play with them a lot.
Speaker C:There's another band called Oliver Ocean that we play with, and then there's some guys called Sky Temple Blues.
Speaker C:They fit our sound a little better.
Speaker C:They're a bluesy rock band.
Speaker C:They're awesome.
Speaker B:JD Wilkes is from Paducah originally as well.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, he is.
Speaker B:He was on the show a while back with Dirt Daubers and, you know, all his various projects.
Speaker B:But Paducah is a funky little creative community now as well.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker C:Since I moved, actually, they've really grown a lot in the music industry.
Speaker C:I know they did that.
Speaker C:They had that initiative to bring in artists from all over the world to downtown Paducah to build it back up, and that's really helped the creative movement in Paducah.
Speaker D:A lot.
Speaker B:It transformed it.
Speaker B:I mean, it really did.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker C:They started that probably my senior year of high school, maybe a little before that.
Speaker C:And so I left and then all of this awesome stuff came to downtown Paducah.
Speaker C:So it's cool to go back home now.
Speaker B:Lake City, South Carolina, which has neither a lake nor is it a city, is actually doing something similar.
Speaker B:And it's, it's not there where Paducah is yet.
Speaker B:But I mean, it's stunning the difference just in two years.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker B:As I said, I lived in Kentucky for five years and my brother in law lives in Owensboro, so I don't get quite as far west as Paducah, but I'm familiar with the area.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, we played Owensboro not too long ago.
Speaker C:That's good.
Speaker B:Cool.
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.
Speaker B:To see pictures of my shoes, my.
Speaker A:Dog and my lunch, stop by Instagram.
Speaker A:But whatever way you like to hang out, stop by and say, hey, hey.
Speaker C:This is Alicia from Year of October on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker C:If you want to find out more about us and where we're playing, you can check us out@yearofoctober.com it's neat to.
Speaker B:Hear overlap of different circles of folks in music that are based in Nashville.
Speaker B:Now when you all are doing the shows, are you trying to partner up with other bands when you go places or do you have bands in those places that you're looking to team with?
Speaker C:Yeah, we partner up a lot of the times when we go to Paducah, we play with the same sort of people that we're playing with in Nashville now because we both have big draws back there and so it's fun to be able to travel with your friends.
Speaker C:But we also, we go up to Lexington a lot and play and we have a lot of friends up there that are different.
Speaker C:We play with different bands when we go up there.
Speaker C:But it's really cool.
Speaker C:We've got a good vibe going now.
Speaker C:People who are really supportive.
Speaker C:That's great, everybody.
Speaker B:So tell me a little bit more about getting into record specifically for what became Golden Days.
Speaker C:I'm going to pass the phone off to Josh for that one because he actually produced the record.
Speaker C:He went to school for audio engineering so we do it at our house and he does all of it.
Speaker C:So I'm going to has the phone up.
Speaker B:Question was, tell me a Little bit about what ultimately became the recording for Golden Days.
Speaker D:It was pretty interesting because, like Felice was saying, with the first record, it was not only was it the first record we did as a band, it was the first record that I had produced.
Speaker D:And then I'd recorded myself.
Speaker D:I'd done some single tracks.
Speaker D:So doing Golden Days, I had a little bit more of a feel as to what I was going for.
Speaker D:And it was definitely a process.
Speaker D:Each song was, you know, we took it song by song and, you know, we'd lay down all the drum parts first.
Speaker D:We have scratch vocals with guitar, and those were just scratch tracks.
Speaker D:And then we'd lay down the drums, and then I would kind of layer everything else over top of it.
Speaker D:It was pretty exciting because there were some songs that were very fresh and we could really develop them more in the studio.
Speaker D:And our single that we have right now gone, we actually wrote pretty much while we were recording.
Speaker D:It was a really cool process.
Speaker D:On a couple acoustic songs we had.
Speaker D:I had a good friend of mine who's a great pedal steel player.
Speaker D:He came over and recorded some steel parts.
Speaker D:That's the first time I'd ever recorded steel stuff, too.
Speaker D:So it was a really cool process, definitely a lot of fun, and it was cool to do it.
Speaker D:Song by.
Speaker B:So tell me about being able to bring in some friends to play.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's another great thing about Nashville.
Speaker D:There's so many great players on the first record.
Speaker D:A friend of mine I worked with who's actually on tour now with.
Speaker D:I can't remember who he's on tour with, but he's a great keyboard player, and he came in and did that.
Speaker D:Just having.
Speaker D:He's on tour with John Michael Montgomery right now.
Speaker D:And we worked together, Dick's Sporting Goods at the time, and we went over to his house and had him record.
Speaker D:And it's a luxury to be able to have musicians that can listen to a song one time and then play it flawlessly after that.
Speaker D:So, yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker D:And Golden Days, the only person we brought in that wasn't in the band was my buddy Brett.
Speaker D:And then we all did all the other stuff, so it was cool.
Speaker D:He actually lived right where we used to live.
Speaker D:He lived right behind me.
Speaker D:So we just walked over one day.
Speaker D:Last I talked to him, he's playing with, like, 11 or 12 different artists and bands, and he's always playing.
Speaker D:He does that full time.
Speaker B:Welcome to Nashville.
Speaker D:He's phenomenal.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker B:So who was your buddy who played keys on the previous Record.
Speaker D:Dwayne Dupree.
Speaker D:He's an older guy.
Speaker D:He's been playing in different country bands for years, and he's on tour for a couple years now at John Michael Montgomery.
Speaker D:And he's phenomenal as well.
Speaker D:He can play any instrument you want him to, too.
Speaker B:That's amazing.
Speaker B:And Nashville has hundreds of people like that who can do every single one of them flawlessly.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:And they're all like.
Speaker D:I mean, talking to Dwayne, he's like one of the most humble guys I know.
Speaker D:But you wouldn't know he was as good as he is if you just didn't talk to him.
Speaker D:You know, he's very humble and good dude.
Speaker B:I was asking Felicia earlier, I was saying, you know, what does living in Nashville with such an enormous creative community bring to your music?
Speaker D:Well, I think definitely it pushes me, like, we play with another band, and I see them doing some amazing songs.
Speaker D:Like, you pretty much have to rise or feel like you have to rise, at least try to.
Speaker D:And it definitely pushes me to write, you know, harder and grind at it more.
Speaker D:For me, the writing process is definitely.
Speaker D:It feels like a grind because it's not something that, at least to me, it just doesn't always come, you know, songs don't always come just naturally, out of the blue.
Speaker D:You have to really work at it.
Speaker D:Pushes me to be that much better, for sure.
Speaker B:Hey, Aldous.
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@country friedrock.org hey, this is.
Speaker C:Alicia from Year of October on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker C:You can check out our new album, Golden Days, and purchase it@yearofoctober.com you had.
Speaker B:The luxury of being able to record this yourself, which doesn't give you the same kind of time pressure if you had to go into someone else's studio.
Speaker B:So what happened more with the development of the song?
Speaker B:You were talking a little bit about some that were developed more in the studio, some that were already kind of fleshed out.
Speaker D:Yeah, and we were just discussing, like, Felicia and I were discussing the idea of recording the last record in a studio, and I talked to some people, and we probably could have done it, but it would have been like a one or two day recording session, and we would have recorded everything under, you know, time restraints.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And we were like, well, with the songs that we have, since I'm not naturally.
Speaker D:I'm not normally a guitar player, it'd be a lot better if I could actually just do this ourselves and then we can get the parts we want.
Speaker D:Because like, a lot of times, like I'd record something and then a week later I would re record it.
Speaker D:And I mean, a lot of the songs we really didn't like.
Speaker D:We had ideas and we'd written the songs acoustically, but we didn't have them fully fleshed out.
Speaker D:Greg, when we recorded the record, had only been in the band for about two months.
Speaker D:It was definitely an interesting process.
Speaker D:It was a very good learning experience for me.
Speaker D:I feel like I grew leaps and bounds playing guitar wise.
Speaker D:It was definitely a lot of fun.
Speaker D:It was a good experience.
Speaker D:But yeah, the time thing was, I think the big reason, because we ended up spending about two or three months recording the record before I just started mixing it all down.
Speaker D:It was cool.
Speaker B:Since the record has been out, what is changing with the songs?
Speaker D:Definitely have some new additions to them and we've tightened them up.
Speaker D:We've got some different dynamics that we've had.
Speaker D:And probably my favorite song that we play is called Winter and it's like 10 on the record.
Speaker D:And the way we play it on the record I like.
Speaker D:But the way we play it live now, it has lots of slight dynamics.
Speaker D:Stuff that we do that we wouldn't have picked up on if we hadn't played it a hundred times.
Speaker D:You know, live, you know, like anything you do, the more you do it, not only the better you get at it, things change slightly.
Speaker D:And, you know, we have some songs that we go on longer with and it's definitely cool playing those songs live for sure.
Speaker B:What has been helpful for you all in getting your music out to newer audiences?
Speaker D:Definitely Bandcamp's been good.
Speaker D:Noise trade as well, and the Internet in general has been, you know, been really good.
Speaker D:We've been contacted from people who bought or downloaded our music or bought our CDs from other countries, like from.
Speaker D:From Europe and stuff.
Speaker D:And that' been really cool.
Speaker D:And they wouldn't have heard us if it wasn't for Bandcamp or I guess even Facebook.
Speaker D:It's really good.
Speaker D:We also, you know, word of mouth with other bands and playing with other people is probably the best way to get your stuff out, at least locally.
Speaker D:I think it's been cool.
Speaker D:We just sent a CD out.
Speaker D:Someone from.
Speaker D:Someone contact us from Poland and it's just neat to hear from people from all over the world.
Speaker B:What's continuing to evolve for you?
Speaker D:We're currently writing.
Speaker D:We're trying to write for a third record right now.
Speaker D:We've got probably about five or six songs that we've been working on and just the writing process itself and just trying to figure out what we wanted with the new record and then also what we want to do live.
Speaker D:Every show is going to be different, different settings and definitely interesting and artistically.
Speaker D:I just kind of trying to find out where we are right now with the new record coming out.
Speaker D:Kind of what we want to say and what stories we want to write, really.
Speaker D:It's an interesting process.
Speaker D:I don't know exactly where we are right now, but it's definitely exciting.
Speaker B:The writing.
Speaker B:Is that something that the two of y' all always do together, or do you do that separately and then bring them together?
Speaker D:We usually always do it together.
Speaker D:We usually come up with an idea together.
Speaker D:And then Felicia does write lyrics on her own.
Speaker D:And then we'll come back with them and kind of revise them and look at them and like a lot of times we'll start playing something and mold a melody around it.
Speaker D:And it's a very cooperative process, for sure.
Speaker D:Pretty much wrote all of Golden Days together on the first record.
Speaker D:We did write a couple songs that were just.
Speaker D:We would collaborate on them, but we'd have the whole song pretty much written when we'd work on it.
Speaker D:But I definitely prefer working working with her just because she'll approach something totally differently than I will.
Speaker D:Kind of keeps it fresh, I guess.
Speaker B:Have you all done any of the Nashville thing of co writing with others or at least just having writing sessions?
Speaker D:No, we haven't done that.
Speaker D:I know a lot of people that do, and I've talked to some people and I've jammed a few people, but we haven't necessarily done the writing session thing.
Speaker D:Our kind of music, a little different than most people do.
Speaker D:The writing session, at least people that I know.
Speaker D:There's probably our type of music, I just don't know them.
Speaker D:But it's not that I wouldn't be bored.
Speaker D:I just haven't.
Speaker D:I haven't met the right people yet.
Speaker D:I guess pretty much all the singer songwriters and country western people that I talk to, they all do like group sessions and they.
Speaker D:They have, you know, multiple songwriters they work with and cool to have that, you know, that kind of community for sure.
Speaker B:Having the different locations as your different hometowns.
Speaker B:So, you know, Western Kentucky, more central Kentucky.
Speaker B:And then with being in Nashville, what other places Are you finding some community around your music and even through the online.
Speaker D:As you were saying, we like playing Knoxville as well.
Speaker D:Some good, good turnouts there and met some really cool people.
Speaker D:Also played a little bit in Memphis, Johnson City, Tennessee as well.
Speaker D:But Knoxville's got a really good scene.
Speaker D:They got a lot of great bands coming out of there and we've played with a couple of them and connects pretty well with those guys.
Speaker B:Knoxville is a cool place.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Oh yeah.
Speaker D:There's a lot of good stuff going on there.
Speaker D:They got a really good.
Speaker D:Seemingly got a really good up and coming art community.
Speaker D:I guess not upcoming.
Speaker D:Maybe it's already established, but seems like it's getting bigger.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And WDVX is of course a fabulous radio station.
Speaker D:Oh yeah, we that the Blue Plate special.
Speaker B:Blue Plate special?
Speaker B:Uh huh.
Speaker D:We've played that two or three times now.
Speaker D:It's a cool play.
Speaker D:It's awesome.
Speaker B:It's exciting to hear that you've got some new music in the works.
Speaker B:Are there songs that you're going to be continuing to play live?
Speaker B:Are you going to kind of keep them close to the best until you figure out where you're headed?
Speaker D:I think we're definitely going to play.
Speaker D:We've got about two of them done where we like them, I think.
Speaker D:And we're definitely going to start playing them live and kind of flesh it out a little bit more in a different setting and see what kind of response we get.
Speaker D:I'd like with the new record to have the songs already playing live.
Speaker D:So that way we can, you know, we can record it with a different input than just having them like fresh, you know.
Speaker D:I'd like to have them a little bit worn in and then record them.
Speaker D:Kind of approach this record a little differently.
Speaker D:I almost like to do it if I could.
Speaker D:I'd really like to record it live or at least instrumentally and then overdose some other things.
Speaker B:Hey, so I was saying tell me a little bit about the album art because it's very distinct and different from one album to the next.
Speaker C:Yeah, the first album I felt like it was a lot about the stories and we had buried is based around the story of this tree.
Speaker C:And I wanted that album art to be featured around a lot of trees in the woods and the forest because I felt like that blended very deeply with our songs and the stories in the song.
Speaker C:So that's why it got that art.
Speaker C:I always want the album art to really go along and coincide well with the songs and so that's why that one looks that way.
Speaker C:For this album, we were actually going.
Speaker C:The last song on the album is called into the Night.
Speaker C:And when we first started talking about what we were going to call the record, we were going to call it into the Night.
Speaker C:And so we wanted.
Speaker C:We went with the fox because we wanted a nocturnal animal to go along with the album.
Speaker C:And we feel like foxes are sly.
Speaker C:And a lot of our songs, I don't know, I just feel like the fox really represents our music.
Speaker C:Well, then we ended up calling the album Golden Days, but we just stuck with the fox because I feel like that represented the music, the record.
Speaker C:So that's why we went with it.
Speaker C:And we wanted it to be a really simple cover because a lot of times with bands, they'll just go over the top on their album art and it'll just mess with you.
Speaker C:And so we wanted a simple thing that people would remember.
Speaker C:They'd see it and they'd be like, oh, that's Year of October.
Speaker C:That's why we went to Very simple to cover on this one.
Speaker B:Where did the band name come from.
Speaker C:When we started playing?
Speaker C:Like I said, it was just the acoustic stuff with me and Josh, and I felt like it was the stuff that you play around a campfire.
Speaker C:And so I thought that a good time for campfires and bonfires were within October.
Speaker C:And so I wanted the feeling of October to go year round with our music.
Speaker C:And so Year of October is where that came.
Speaker B:That's cool.
Speaker B:Well, both off the air, Josh and Felicia of Year of October, thank you so much for being with us on Country Fried Rock.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker A: untryFriendRock.org Copyright: Speaker A:All rights reserved.
Speaker A: Our: Speaker A:Got a great band you want to hear on Country Fried Rock?
Speaker A:The best thing to do is tweet us at Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:That's Country Fried R O K. You can subscribe to our weekly podcast on itunes.
Speaker A:Just search Country Fried Rock.
Speaker B:Country Fried Rock radio programs are distributed to public radio through the public radio exchange.
Speaker A:Prx.org our country fried rock stinger is from Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts.
