WEBVTT

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Hey, it's Bob Pickett. We
are on our way to the legendary Broken

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Spoke. Come on, let's get
out the truck and head inside the damn

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you're round of it. Come on, it's going side, getting ready for

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another tail from the Broken Spoke.
Welcome back tails the Broken Spolks. Sitting

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in the world famous booth b to
the Willie Nelson Engagement Booth. Here the

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Broken Spoke. Monnie Warden with us, Bob Pickett in special Guy, I

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see guests. We're family and Terry
McBride. My goodness. Terry's one of

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the first guys that I met to
Austin when I moved here back in the

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early nineties. I used to follow
him around comment on his boots. He

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had the coolest pair of boots.
Minded it was. I know he doesn't,

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but these were cowskin boots, man, And always tell us Terry,

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some of my boots, man,
where'd you get them? So? Yeah.

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I saw Stevie Rayhead air of those
cowhides, you know, and they

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looks so cool. He always looks
so good, you know. I wanted

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to try and be like that and
a lot of other you know. I

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saw George Jones when I was fifteen. I went to Nashville with my dad

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and George was stumbling out of the
bar there at the hotel. He looked

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so good. He had black pat
and pointed tow his boots on. Of

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course I had to have a pair
after that, you know. Oh boy,

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I followed him. He was on
his way, you know, down

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the hallway. But oh man,
it was I've always been impressed with,

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you know, my heroes and people
like that. You want to try to,

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you know, try to be as
cool as those. You never can

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and never will be. But it
didn't hurt to try to dress up.

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But you know, whoever they wanted
to be as cool as they weren't either,

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you know. Right, well,
let me ride man still as cool.

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But he was cool man, Oh
well, you know, thank you

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man. Well. And I remember, like I remember, i'd go see

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you at Ravens. Oh yes,
I forgot about it. I remember I

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would, Yeah, you I got
I'm trying to think. I think Freddy

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Fletcher took me down, Freddy Joe
and uh and and and he said,

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he said, do you know Terry
McBride. I was like, no,

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man, I know who he is. And he said, you know,

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you know Devin Bride's son, and
I said, oh, yeah, of

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course. So I went there and
I remember I was watching you, and

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I remember what y'all were playing,
but uh, I had never seen,

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uh a bass player that could sing
away from the beat like you could,

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like like you sang like you were
playing rhythm guitar, and I just went,

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how the hell does that guy do
that? Is? You know?

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It's like because you played perfect bass, almost kind of behind a little a

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little laid back, and then and
then you sang it perfect, and I

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was just like, damn. And
I noticed your boots. I told you.

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I was like, I used to
get these cool spiderweb top boots from

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albums. You know, they were
out Ofville Pass so they're like one hundred

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bucks a pair. Wow, I
watch out back then. It's like there

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was some good bargain money price back
then. But yeah, you know,

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I learned to play back. I've
had people comment and session guys will go,

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man, I don't know how you
know Terry can sing like that and

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play bass, you know, in
time, But I don't really think about

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it. I learned so early on. I think that's the only reason I

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can get away with it and do
it and my dad was grooming me as

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a bass player because he was the
guitar player, you know. And I

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thought I was going to be the
guitar player until he sat me down one

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time and said, listen, you
know, son, you want to you

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know, want to play with me
when you get older. I need I'm

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always needing a good bass player,
you know. So we went to a

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little pawn shop over in Copper's Cove, Texas, outside of lamp Passes there

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and found a little Ventura Gibson SG
copy little bass. I love that little

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rid guitar was small and easy to
play. You know. I've been playing

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this Mexican acoustic guitar my dad had
bought down in Madame Morris, you know.

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Prior to that, with high action, it was so hard to play,

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and I was learning to play it, of course. But once I

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got bass, I went, this
is so cool. We four strings.

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It's felt easier and I could understand
it, finding the bass notes, you

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know, and and then just playing
simple, simple. That's all my dad

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wanted, you know, just stay
out of the way and playing time,

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you know. But that's what a
country bass player said. Yeah, you

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don't need to play like a frustrated
guitar player for country music. And then

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I was fortunate to have my dad
there to school me and explain things to

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me that, you know, he
was such an accomplished player and such a

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good musician that any question I have
he could answer, you know, I

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should, I should be way better
than I am actually these days. I

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had such a great start, you
know, there and then in high school

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with a great band all the way
from my freshman year on the senior you

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know, and then then joined my
dad's band, hit the road with him

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for three years on high school.
Well and practically speaking, you know,

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of course, you didn't have to
worry about this. But a bass player,

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a great bass player, is never
out of work. If he's not

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working, he doesn't want to work, well, especially a singing bass player.

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That's how I really kind of made
my so called living here in Austin,

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you know. I mean it was
a struggle, you know how it

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is when you were starting out like
that. I was a popular kind of

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guy, but I just wasn't making
a living really, you know. Fortunately

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my wife became a nurse and that
was helping to pay the bills. But

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I mean I was playing with Bill
Carter. I was playing with Rosie,

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I was playing with Tony Perez down
at all these bands at the same time,

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and he and Freddy were working again. That's right. Freddy was producing

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him, and then Blake Meavis came
in and produced him. Mean we we

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actually went over to Arlene and cut
those first singles. Freddie myself, Stephen

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Bruton was the guitar player, and
I'll never forget Blake brought this song in

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and he put it on our music
stand. I saw the lyric and it

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was Here in the Real World a
Jackson. I thought, wow, I've

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never heard of the guy, but
boy, it's a good song. Oh

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yeah, I was way before,
right before Allan had taken off. But

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we cut here in the Real World
on Tony and a couple other songs.

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He cut a song I wrote with
Bill Ruth. But that's some bitch could

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sing. Yeah. He came out
to the Cotton Country Club. I played

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a while back with my band with
mcbriden and the Ride, and Tony had

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come up. I think he's living
down like McAllen, why somewhere still singing

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some And you know one of my
about the bass playing and frustrated guitars that

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the The Wagoneers did a bunch of
dates with Whalen, and Whalen liked us

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to be on the date because we
didn't want to talk about whaling. We

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want to talk about Buddy Holly like
that. And he said they were about

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four days in on that last tour
and he just came to Buddy on the

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bus and his eyes were as big
as shot glass and he said, Buddy,

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I just figured this out. It's
just the first four strings of the

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guitar. Four days in with the
biggest star in the world. He said,

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Holly went Holly went hush. You
could have gone all damn day without

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telling me. You just figured that
out because he had to become the bass

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player. How cool man. I
lived in Love Book for Gosh, my

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wife and I moved up there three
different times. It's always had a little

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music scene, you know. And
this was nineteen eighty the first time I

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moved and played in a cool eight
piece band called war Horse at a at

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a weekly gig. We were the
house band for this stardust big Honky to

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wait a minute. I used to
MC events at the Startist at the same

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time. Yeahre in where I first
met Paycheck. I met paycheck for some

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of that. Jerry Jeff Walker was
the start. Yeah off a slide road,

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right off of Slide. Yeah,
I lived right near Slide off the

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slide out there. But yeah,
that was our house gig, this big

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eight piece band. Two guys that
had played in my dad's band, Steve

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Williams and Don Wise on saxophone,
who I later played with Delvera McClinton.

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Don and I went, Don and
I left Lubbock. I quit my band

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gig that I had, it wasn't
that gig, but we got my Forward

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pick up and we drove the fort
Worth US and Jesse Taylor Wow, and

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we drove down to the Fall World. Man, we're gonna go audition for

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Delbert. I'd met the but I
had been in a band called the c

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Notes that Reese Winman put together,
and Reese was the piano player at my

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dad's studio. Yeah, no,
no, I remember that Reese had that

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name, the Sea Notes, and
it was mainly Delbram Clinton's band, but

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me as the lead singer. And
then Rees. Of course we were doing

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original stuff. We were doing Marvin
Gay. It was tough gig, man.

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It's like you know, Rees like
working for Ray Charles. He was

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a demanding guy, but boy,
he made me a much better player and

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just sort of took me in.
He got me the he got me a

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gig. He was coming over to
my dad's studio and he said, man,

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you'd be perfect for this gig that
I'm playing. And it was the

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Cocktail gig at the Hyatt Hotel on
Town Lake. Wow. Yeah, it

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was Ernie Drawa and it was a
little country band. Carl Hutchins was the

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lead singer. He was a school
teacher, but he had the gig and

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so Reese was in the band and
we would eat in the employees cafeteria every

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day. It's like, what year
was this. This was about nineteen eighty

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or so, yeah, but about
eighty four because Reese said, man,

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you need to know this guy,
Leroy Parnell. You know, he's always

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looking for a and Reese just went
out of his way, man, and

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it's like trying to help me,
you know. And he was with Delbert

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at the time. He hadn't gone
to steviean Double Trouble yet. But that

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was one of my early influences.
I mean, haven't a guy like that,

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you know. It was amazing,
but I had a lot of those

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friends. Ernie was a good friend
of my Ernie draw was a good friend

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of my father's, and we were
talking about Tom Bromley. My dad had

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that studio, so we had all
these world class players coming over. My

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dad would arrange these charts for like
a we'd have a four string players,

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a little quartet come over and like
shape notes or just not shape notation by

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hand. Yeah, he could do
it four or five lines above the staff.

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He was brilliant like that. He
learned early on. My dad had

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played with this guy, Jimmy Heap
over in Taylor, Texas. That's where

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I was born. Because Jimmy had
the first million seller on release me nineteen

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forty eight, wow, way before
Ray Price and uh, and he became

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a star from that. And and
Jimmy Heap had like a big band.

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I had a comedian Ken Idaho was
this like sort of blue comedian. And

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then my dad was the featured vocalist
and league and the guitar player for that

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band. And that's why I was
born in Taylor, because he was he

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was doing that gig at the particular
time. But yeah, this this area,

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as you guys know, I mean, it's just so full of history

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and memories. Oh man. The
coolest thing is, you know, we

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saw you walk in the tourist trap
here at the Spoken and you saw a

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photo of your dad. Is that
you've never seen but in a while,

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but you you said, I've got
that guitar. I got that guitar.

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I don't have that that eight by
ten. I have a lot of his

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promotional stuff from back in the day, but I don't have that copy.

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He looks so good in that photo, and I have that that that sixty

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seven eighteen and play. And he
bought that an epiphone casino that I have

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and I use a lot. The
epiphone is a fabulous guitar. I had

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Chris Stapleton overriding one day, and
he loved to go through these guitars and

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this old world it's here that my
dad had. And he's just a talented

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guy. Obviously, as we know
now. I never heard of the guy.

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Yeah, back then, he was
a struggling No one had heard of

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me. Back then. I just
met him for like one of the first

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time, and he was just I
was so taken with him. I went

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to see him that night. He
was playing a tiny little club in Franklin

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where I was living, and I
was just knocked out with him. But

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he played the guitar and my dad's
He's like, man, Terry, this

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guitar is like something special, you
know. I know, so I put

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a little work head it refretted and
then I use it. And yeah,

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I love having things like that.
Not only is it my dad something we

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could I can use, you know, it's really special because of that.

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Well, and otherwise it's just like
a piece of art. And yeah,

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and they but they want to be
played great instruments. It's a weird thing.

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You say it, and it sounds
weird, but they want to be

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played. It's it's wild. Well, and you know, as a songwriter,

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it's a some of the tools that
you need to try to inspire you

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to a great guitar can certainly help
that process for sure. Well, Terry,

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have you done anything since you left
Austin? I be my god,

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you've done a lot with my U
haul and Camaro back and can tell the

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story that you told us. I
want to go about driving to Graceland with

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your Camaro and your new Hall.
Yeah, you know, well did this?

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You know, I've been in Austin
struggling, and of course, you

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know, I look back struggling,
I say, but some of the happiest,

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best times of my wife in our
lives during that period. I mean,

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we have these old photo albums which
nobody has anymore, but Freddie is

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in there. We look at the
times that we had here living here,

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but it was struggling, but everyone's
just laughing and smiling. We were having

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a ball playing and the future was
unknown, but we had high hopes,

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you know, we're hoping for the
best, and so uh, you know,

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I finally started making those trips to
Nashville and then I fortunately I left

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Delbert in eighty six, and that
was a great opportunity. Delbert was so

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kind to me, but I knew
I just didn't want to be a bass

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player for the rest of my life, you know, even as much as

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I loved that gig. And we
were touring with Huey Lewis, and you

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know, I met Delbert in his
living room and then we went to a

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studio to rehearse this new band.
Then the next day we were in Miami

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opening for John Fogerty. That's how
my relationship with Delbert started. We did

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a thirty day run with John Fogerty
and then Huey Lewis. This is nineteen

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eighty six at the top of Hughey. He's had the Tower of Power out

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there. It was amazing. So
I was learning and I was seeing,

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and I was taking all this in
and a masterful entertainer. Delbert would rock

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every house no matter. We'd play
sometimes six nights in a row before we

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take a day off. He was
just he was unbelievable. I'd never seen

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anyone quite like him, really,
haven't it since. But I left that

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gig as a frustrated songwriter, thinking
if I don't focus on my songs,

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if I don't try, I could
he this gig forever. It was so

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comfortable, you know, and I
did. I didn't know what I was

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going to go to other than I
had to start focusing more on writing.

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I've been writing at home, making
these little home demos. And then my

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friend Roddy Colonna, the drummer,
said hey, Terry, he had left

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Albert prior and said, I got
this guy, Bill Carter's putting a band

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together and he's going to go on
tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan. You should

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audition for the band. You know, I went, man, I love

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Stevie. It sounds like an opportunity
I did. I got the gig during

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that tour. We left here in
a van all the way to New York

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the bottom Line and back, you
know. And I roomed with Bill on

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part of that run, and I
said, Bill, I'm a songwriter too,

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and I got a couple of country
songs I've been writing, and I

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gave him my cassette and he said, man, he listened to it,

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and his wife, Ruth came out
of New York and he played it for

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her and they said, well,
we get off this tour, let's get

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together and start writing some country songs. You know, we love country music.

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And they really they had. They
were so steeped and the history of

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country songs. Well, he's a
carter. We've had Bill on the podcast

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before. If our listeners have not
listened to our visit with Bill, check

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it out. Yeah. He played
me songs I had not even heard,

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and he influenced me and Ruth did
as well. Started going to their home

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every day and we started writing these
songs, and that led me to Nashville

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and that opened every door from me
after that. Uh, you know,

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they were so well respected they sent
a tape to Nashville to Jody Williams at

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b M. I. I didn't
know him. I wouldn't affiliate it with

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anybody. But we were trying to
get a George straight Cut. That was

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our goal. You know, we're
going to go up there. And and

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instead Jody said, man, I'll
tell you what. Whoever's singing these demos?

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Man, he needs a record deal. And we went, that's cool,

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get us a record deal. And
he got us some meeting with everybody,

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including Tony Brown, and then Tony
Brown said, I want to fly

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to Austin. I want to hang
out. I want to. If you're

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the real deal, I'm gonna sign
you the MCA. And he did,

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and and uh that led to my
U haul and my Camaro, which led

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is a story we talk about my
wife. I remember, I'm trying to

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get the timeline right. What are
we talking about? You've always wanted George

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straight Cut to money? I know, rather tell you it's as good as

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you think it feels. It feels
better with the woman, you know.

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But I remember, uh, Bill
was telling me, he said, Uh,

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do you know Terry mcbriden. I
said, I said, yeah.

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The bass player, me and me
and Ruth been writing some with him,

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and I want, really, it's
like, what it's like eighty eight is

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this about? And it was so
funny because because you know, Bill's Bill

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and uh and he said, uh, he said, no, these things

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are great. He said, I'm
gonna I'm going to play you some of

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them. Oh wow. And it
was just like a it's a just a

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cassette on, just just a bullshit
one, you know, one speaker you

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get. And I just couldn't believe
how how great these these songs were.

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And I remember one of the songs
was a song called every Step of the

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Way. And in the Waneers had
had a song called every Step of the

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Way like a year previous, and
it's been been kind of a hit.

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And we on the Opery and we
did a Bob Hope Christmas special and so

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and I said, and I don't
even think, to this day, I

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don't think Bill had ever heard the
Wagonear's version of every Step of the Way.

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This is such a great Bill story. So he played with that.

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I said, I said, that's
cool. I said, uh, you

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know, the Wags had a song
called every Step of the Way, and

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this one's better it was too guys, I just realized I'm the least talented

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guy on the microphone. Right now, I'm talking to two songwriters fed very

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successful careers. Both of you guys
have had cuts by George Tree. Yeah.

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Yeah, that's a dream comes That's
why I went to Nisville. Like

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I said, I wanted that cut
so bad and ended up getting a couple.

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But it was like a dream come
true for someone you held that high

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stream and someone you looked up to
que like George. You know, I've

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waited in the in the forty degree
rain to see him and then he cuts

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a song of years oh man,
Yeah, yeah, so you just go

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up. It's cool. Yeah,
you know, it's like I think a

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comparable cut is like an Elvis or
a Sinatra from other eras. Yeah.

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Four of the songs that George cut
of yours, well I have. The

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00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.480
first song was I didn't even have
it on hold, never even though he

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was gonna cut it. And Tony
Brown calls, hey men, we cut

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00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:18.319
a song here today on George straight. I went what he said, Yeah,

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we were cutting this song and it
just didn't work, and George wanted

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something else and we brought Jim Lauderdale
over and Jim played a couple of songs

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and we really like this song here, so we cut a song called Nobody

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00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.400
Has to Get Hurt. This is
an album cut, but a really cool

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song. And then I had the
title cut of his album call Always Never

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00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:40.119
the Same with Marv Green that I
wrote. And then I just went through

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00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:44.240
an ordeal with George. He's been
cutting his new album and they had a

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song of mine. They just loved. It's one of my favorite songs called

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00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:51.319
love Me Some Texas, and George
loved it, and Tony loved it.

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Everybody loved it, and they it's
heartbreaking because we all love George. And

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the day before they called and said, man, George is just digging this

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00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.720
song. He loves that melody and
you know, he's a melody guy,

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and I'm gonna, you know,
make sure that song gets cut. And

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of course Monday night, after the
first round, they went, man,

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00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.240
he didn't cut the song, as
it's like, of all the cuts not

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00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.920
to get it's as heartbreaking as it
is exciting to get one, you know.

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But yeah, I mean, fortunately, that's the name of the game.

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If you're a songwriter, you know, you get you get a song

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00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:22.839
like that and you get something cut, boy, it's a high that you

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00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:27.160
can't even imagine. And it's a
miracle every single time. And I tell

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00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:32.839
people the cuts that I've been blessed
to get and cuts. You know,

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00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.079
I've never gotten two cuts the same
way. I mean unless I record my

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00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.160
own song. Yeah, but other
than that, no two channels have.

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00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:42.599
But you know, it's just it's
all they're all. It's all a miracle.

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00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.920
It's all a miracle. It all
has to line up, and there

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00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.799
are a lot of people involved.
You know, you get down to George

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00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:51.079
straight, I mean, he's gonna
ultimately make the decision, but it's a

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00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.759
lot of songs being pitched. A
guy like that to even get down close

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00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:57.400
to getting one and make it get
on the album is pretty you know what

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00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:00.720
Tony's always said, if he hadn't
and a singer, George Frait would have

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00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.680
been the greatest an ar man in
his ship. He has picked so many

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00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:10.920
hits out of obscurity, just from
the Normandy get through. George Norma is

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00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:14.200
the one that listens to a lot
of his songs to true. That's what

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00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:23.759
I've heard You're married, Well yeah, yeah, that's just downplaying his talents

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00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:30.559
because he is actually the voice of
Austin. For us who grew up the

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00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:36.839
Broadcasters Hall of Fame, they just
bare ticket. Then there's that. But

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I mean for a guy like me, Uh talk about a thrill, you

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00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:45.359
know, having someone cut your songs, But what a thrill to be riding

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00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:48.880
down the highway and hearing your song
come on Case one on one or cave

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00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:53.680
that. Back in the day,
I got a speeding ticket early on going

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00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:59.319
to Flugerville. I'll never forget this, every step of the way. Our

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00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:03.559
first single was on Case one on
one, and I'm freaking out. I

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00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:07.119
mean, I've got it cranked up. I can't believe it's a dream come

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00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.640
true for a guy like you know, us who who always dreamed of that.

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00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:17.200
I'm on the radio at one of
my favorite stations and I'm cranking it

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00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.720
and next thing you know, man, I haven't got the blue lights behind

340
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:23.680
me, and I'm being pulled over
and I don't even care. I'm so

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00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:26.400
excited, I'm so happy, I
don't even care. So the cop comes

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00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.559
up to me and I kid you
not, I wrote down the winter.

343
00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:33.119
He goes, hey you in a
hurry, I said, hey man,

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00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.000
I'm on the radio. I've got
to sing. I'm singing on the radio,

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00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:40.880
and the guy, without even bagging
it out, he goes, yeah,

346
00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:47.480
and I'm Johnny Cash. He was
in no mood to care about anything

347
00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.400
going on in my world, and
he wrote me a ticket right there.

348
00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:52.359
I would I don't even care.
It was worth it. It was worth

349
00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:55.839
it. And you get the story, man, Yeah, you get the

350
00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:59.640
story for sure. Terry told me
a great story. I was talked to

351
00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.039
him a few weeks ago and he
said he was going through your studio and

352
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.599
that right, and he found an
old cave at belt Buckle. He still

353
00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:08.319
has it, Bob. I bet
I have three or four of them,

354
00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.799
because a couple were my dad's,
then a couple I had, you know,

355
00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:15.160
over the years. I think most
of them are gold, but I

356
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.440
think there's a silver one to every
one. Was the old one that we

357
00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.440
had back. I had a couple
of a couple of gold. Yeah.

358
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:22.400
You know, if you had had
them with you when you got pulled over,

359
00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:26.599
that's how we used to get out
of We used to that, you

360
00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.680
know, That's what we would do
to get out of parking tickets. We'd

361
00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:33.200
always carry a couple of them.
A secret but they still they have the

362
00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:37.799
rope, they have the yeah,
yeah, so funny. It was like

363
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:44.960
before I got any awards or anything. Seriously, Steve Gary gave me a

364
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.519
belt buckle and it was like a
Gold Records. I'm getting a custom one

365
00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:55.279
made because next April is my fortieth
anniversary, camead case. Wow. Well

366
00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:00.759
yeah, I know we're not there
yet, but I got a We heard

367
00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:06.799
the McBride podcast. You're out of
here, But I've got a guy that

368
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:11.880
makes bell buckles up at Amarillo and
he's making me a custom one. Who

369
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.000
is the guy? You know who
he is. It's on my phone someplace,

370
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.400
but it's a it's a guy that
makes him. For the Texas Music

371
00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:19.079
Awards, we had a couple of
guys that are do that sex work.

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00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:23.519
Tales from the Broken Spoke is recorded
live at The Broken Spoke in Austin,

373
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:30.079
Texas, hosted by Country Radio Hall
of Fame broadcaster Bob Pickett and Monty Warden,

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00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:33.079
recorded, mixed down and produced by
Mike Rivera