Shows Blog: 2008 February

I welcome criticism from other artists, as long as I ask for it, and I ask for it a lot. I'll go to other artists and say, "What do you think about that song I wrote? What do you think about an idea to do this, that or the other thing?" Some artists will come up and critique you without you asking them, and that can sometimes rub you the wrong way. But when the artists were working on Gone Country, it was a situation where these guys were fish out of water. They wrote a song and they had a work tape on it -- just them and a guitar or them and a piano. They really had no idea if they were close to hitting the mark or not. So for me to be able to critique those songs, I had to be able to tell them, "That part's good. That part's not. This works. That doesn't." They were wide open to it. I mean, they were soaking up everything I told them. It was a pretty big responsibility for me, though, to tell them the right thing. But it's no different then when I listen to songs that come in for records I'm going to produce or whatever. I'll listen to probably 100 songs a week from different people, and I'll know within the first 60 seconds if it's right or not.

To pair the cast members with some people who really know what they're doing, I called up a laundry list of the best songwriters in town, people I've been able to become friends with over the years. Most of them I've written with on one occasion or another, as well. And I put two writers per artist because I didn't know which artists would be good writers or not. Some of them might be great, and some of them might not be able to write at all. I teamed them up based on what I knew about their personalities and what would be the best combos. I think I matched them up pretty well because everybody wrote a great song. As far as the Nashville equation on how to write a hit song, I think I plugged them right in to that thing. It worked.

Maureen McCormick, of all people, exceeded my expectations. Now, Maureen is probably the weakest singer on the show. She's not really a vocalist or anything, but she wrote this song called "The Price I've Got to Pay for Being Me," that -- I swear to God -- is a hit song. It sounds like something Loretta Lynn would have written early on. It's just so direct -- three-chord country that just rips your heart out. When the cast heard her song, we all looked at her and went, "You've got to be kidding!" When I heard that, I said, "She went just way, way, way up on the totem pole as to who might win this show." I mean, that song is incredible.

Amber and John share their experience from My Big Redneck Wedding.

Our experience with the wedding was a great one. We had so much fun planning this and the end was all worth it. But we both have decided that we don't want to go through any of that again! Even though it was fun there was headaches too. But I swear to you if it wasn't for our families it would have never been possible. We love our families and thank them so much for everything!

The one place where I really kinda had an issue with the producers of Gone Country was when they were wanting to take these artists and slap cowboy hats on them and put the rhinestones on them and all this. And I'm going, "Well, if they want to do that, then they should be allowed to do that, but these people have their images already. Otherwise, they wouldn't be multi-platinum artists." So, to me, that's one way people who produce TV shows really screw up what's going on here in Nashville. I mean, I've seen some of the unbelievable stuff that really just infuriates me, honestly, because it makes us look like a bunch of hicks and ding-dongs. Now, maybe we are a bunch of hicks, but we're not stupid. We're country folks, but we know what's going on. We're just as cool as anybody else. We know how to do it. I think this stereotypical nonsense that sometimes gets thrown at you is detrimental to the progress of country music, and I didn't want to be a part of that at all.

So when it came time for the cast members to find some clothing to complement their personalities, we took them to Manuel, the tailor on Music Row who's made clothing for Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and many others. As it turned out, Manuel didn't really get to work with them because we just stormed his store, but was doing all he could to help. Of course, he spent more time with the ladies ... because he's Manuel. Manuel likes the ladies, so Diana DeGarmo ended up with a really, really cool piece that she ended up wearing. It looked great on her, and I think Maureen McCormick ended up with something really cool, too. I think all the ladies wound up with something to wear. As for the guys, I can't recall exactly who ended up with what, but Sisqo ended up with a cool piece. But its one of those things where you have to say, "If what's in Manuel's store is cool for you, wear it. And if it ain't, don't." I was really going out of my way to make sure they understood that I wasn't sitting there looking at them and saying, "Put on some country clothes or you're not going to win this show. I didn't want them feeling that way. Image is one thing, but it's about their music more then about what kind of clothes they're going to wear.

Tami and Brad share their memories from My Big Redneck Wedding. 

Our wedding was so PERFECT! There was rain, wind, mud and drama! The quads fit in so perfectly. It was exactly how we pictured it. My camo wedding dress will probably never be the same, but that's ok cuz we have pictures. Brad will wear his wedding clothes again and again and again though. It's so his style. The food was better than I could ever have imagined too. It was such a down home fun get together. Of course there were way more people there than a get together, but oh well. It was probably the best day I could ever have had. Irene was a lot to take, but that's her and we love her anyway. Everyone that I have talked to said that they had the best time and that it was so mellow and laid back and relaxed. It makes me so happy that everyone had such a good time.

Of course there was the drama. Drunk people and dogs and fights and all kinds of fun stuff. And of course Brad was in the center of it. And we still haven't seen or heard from the drama starter! Doesn't hurt my feelings any though. I think that Brad is a little upset about it though because they did hang out outside of work and had fun. Oh well, GET OVER IT BRAD!!! You are mine now!!! Just kidding ... I love you and am so happy that we are FINALLY married. It really seems like we have been together forever. I can't imagine life without you.

One thing that is so important to country artists is giving back to your community, and one of the biggest things that sets country music apart is our level of charity for children's hospitals. You've got St. Jude's in Memphis, you've got the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. There are others all around the U.S., but those two in particular seem to be kind of pet projects of country music artists. Every year, major artists visit these hospitals. It's always an impactful thing to the kids, but it's always even more impactful for the artists because it really affects the way you think about your music. So I thought it would be a good idea to make the Gone Country cast wash cars for a day, raise some money and take that money down to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and make a donation and sing for the kids. I really think it turned out to be the most meaningful day of this entire process of Gone Country.

The cast members had no idea that was going to happen. In a short period of time, my job in this show was to do the best I could in exposing these artists to everything that I feel is important to me as a country artist. And part of that is getting down and dirty. You've got to be able to hang out with your fans, and you've got to not be afraid of hard work. Of course, washing cars has nothing to do with making country music, but it has everything to do with being down to earth -- that you'll get down on your hands and knees and wash somebody's dirty car. You may be a multi-platinum artist, but you'll wash somebody's dirty car and take the money to a children's hospital. Now, that's important. If we could get Paris Hilton to do that, she might have a different attitude, you know. You get Lindsey Lohan to do that, she might go, "Oh, wow! I'm a normal person!" Hell, yes, I would give Lindsey Lohan a hundred dollar bill to wash my car.

I'm not exactly sure how many kids they met at the hospital, but I do know there was one little girl that Bobby Brown is never going to forget. After he walked out of the room where she was, he went back in so they could hang out for another hour or so. While they were there, the doctors came out to the mom and dad of the little girl and told them she probably wasn't going to make it through the rest of the day. And Bobby fell just completely apart. I mean, that news just crushed him. Everybody said he came back home a different guy. Actually, some great news happened, though. About four days later, the little girl actually pulled out of it and, the last I heard, she's now back at home -- doing fine. Maybe Bobby might actually feel maybe he had something to do with it. She was excited when he sang and did his thing. I could easily see that having a positive impact on her.

 Gail and John share their experience from My Big Redneck Wedding.

 Our wedding was a day of fun and marrying soul mates that had been apart for way too long. We wanted a fun wedding that would bring out our personalities. It was full of a beer can archway, beer cans to carry our flowers in, and basset hounds as the ring bearers and flower girls. Our kids were in the wedding, except for 2, but they were in our hearts. After getting a wedding dress 20 sizes too small, I found the perfect dress to turn John's head, and make his allergies (HA) act up. After saying our I DO's, we released chickens to start our new joined life together. Then everyone went to have a reception, of beautifully set tables by newspapers, and mason jars with ditch flowers in them. Guests ate a wonderful meal of fried chicken, pulled pork and BBQ beef, and a cake of 4 layers and of 4 different flavored layers!!!!!! We then went outside and tried the mechanical bull and the rode away in our Chevy Trailblazer, pulling our beer cans. Oops! or was that the archway!!!!!!! Then we exchanged gifts. John gave me a stuffed animal he won. I gave John a bowling ball that said, "Think of me when you touch your ball." Then we went off to a honeymoon, and are the happiest redneck couple ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think any of the artists on Gone Country had any experience on farms. Maureen McCormick grew up as Marcia Brady, so she grew up on TV. Diana DeGarmo is only 20, but she seems to be pretty grown up to me. But going out to Gretchen Wilson's farm and hanging with Gretchen for the day was an eye-opening experience for all of them. It was important for them to do that because their mission was to write and record music for a country audience. They needed to know who the country audience is, first of all, and what the country audience does. Gretchen Wilson is the country audience. That's why she's so successful. She's exactly who they are.

It's important for all country artists to understand who the fans are. There's a lot of artists in country music that could use to have their ass kicked, as far as I'm concerned. (And I'm probably one of them.) Seriously, there's a lot of artists that are maybe a little out of touch with the audience. When I go out on the road with Big Kenny, we always try to meet the fans and hang out. I remember a gig we did in Pocatello, Idaho. There were several thousand people at this show, and I said, "Where do you guys like to go party at after the show?" They all started screaming some names, and I finally said, "OK, we're going to Green T's after the show." So we went down there and had a mechanical bull-riding contest that I judged. Just a spur of the moment thing, but I went down there for two reasons. One is because you want to hang out with your fans and be normal for a minute and get out and drink a beer and get in a bar. But second of all, when it comes to your music, you've got to know who these people are. And when it's fresh in your head, when I go sit down to write another song, I know exactly who I'm singing to. I remember, "Oh, yeah. I'm that guy, too."

After the cast visited Gretchen on her farm, some of them probably had a better understanding of things -- and some of them didn't. All the way through the show -- and even until the end of it -- some of them still had no clue what they were doing. But you can't expect that they all would. You can't just snap your fingers and be a country singer. Just like I couldn't snap my fingers and be a rapper.

Christy and Kevin share their wedding day experience from My Big Redneck Wedding.

We had a redneck wedding that included the great outdoors, a mule and a horse, four-wheelers, mattress surfing, mud wrestling, line dancing, camouflage tuxes, Wrangler skirts and boots, a wedding dress and boots and a few other redneck games. I think we all enjoyed the mattress surfing the most, and between me and Kevin the redneck vows we exchanged (He was to accept all my stray animals, and I was to accept his huntin' dogs and buddies, lol). The wedding turned out to be more than better than we expected it to. Our friends and family are still talking about it every time we see or talk to them. As for the wedding, Kevin was a bit nervous when I showed up an hour late, and then he couldn't find his clothes. My moments were when my dad was giving me away. A little I could feel he was nervous. It had us both caught up in the moment. Me and Kevin and all the rest of the wedding party and all that helped out were excited that we made it through it alive, lol, and that it had went so well and that we could tell our guests (and the people that came that we didn't even know or invite, lol) were having a great time! That would conclude our REDNECK WEDDING! Yee haww.

Now Mrs. and Mr. Gonzalez