Jim Casey talks with new artist Tucker Beathard about discovering a desire to express himself through music, learning about putting on a good tour by observing Dierks Bentley and his other tourmates, the massive success of his single “Rock On” and more.
Show Participants
- Tucker Beathard
- Jim Casey, NCD managing editor
Show Links & Notes
Show Transcript
Speaker 1: “It’s the Nash Country Daily’s Writer’s room where we talk about all things country. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @nashcountrydaily. Now, here’s today’s host, Jim Casey.”
Jim Casey: “Welcome to another episode of the Writer’s Room podcast. I’m your host Jim Casey. Our guest today is Tucker Beathard, who’s debut single Rock On is currently top five and climbing on country radio.”
Tucker Beathard: “(singing)”
Jim Casey: “I was at one of your shows about a month ago here in town. You mentioned that you’re kind of an introvert. Is it hard for you to talk about yourself and do these kind of media rounds?”
Tucker Beathard: “Not really. If the questions are asked, I can explain. If someone’s like, “Tell me about yourself,” it’s like, Tucker, I don’t really know what you want. I don’t know. I just, I don’t know.”
Jim Casey: “Tucker, tell me about yourself. No, I’m just kidding. I’ve got some questions for you. You’re twenty-one, right?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yep.”
Jim Casey: “Your brother’s twenty-two. He plays quarterback for Iowa, CJ. Growing up, did you guys get into any playground fights about your last name?”
Tucker Beathard: “No, not really. It’s more now.”
Jim Casey: “Oh, it’s happening now. You have to explain yourself.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, nowadays more people are like mispronouncing or give you crap for it. Every sports team we played on, if they called our name on the loudspeaker, majority of them would get it wrong every time.”
Jim Casey: “Every time?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah.”
Jim Casey: “You played a lot of sports growing up right?”
Tucker Beathard: “I did.”
Jim Casey: “What were you? Baseball player, basketball, football?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, football and baseball mainly. Yeah, good up until high school.”
Jim Casey: “Now, I know the guys listening can’t hear us, but behind us we got a picture of you up there just rocking out on stage. It looks like you got the biceps working there. You still hitting the gym or is that all from guitar work?”
Tucker Beathard: “Nah, that’s PhotoShop right there.”
Jim Casey: “That’s it?”
Tucker Beathard: “Nah, I try to. My schedule’s pretty crazy. We’re closing on like close like two hundred shows like this year or whatever. Every little down time you have, working out is really not what comes to mind or how you want to spend it. I do every now and then.”
Jim Casey: “How do you like to spend your off days? I know that you’re one of the few people who was actually born and raised in Nashville. You’ve seen the inner workings of the city. Most people who are trying to attain this dream are transfers from other places. You were born and raised here.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, born and raised. I don’t know, now since doing so much touring and what not, really I just got my own place with like four other buddies. We just kind of decompress or I do. Most of them, still on the road with, but I know me personally, I just kind of like to lock myself away in my room and just decompress.”
Jim Casey: “You got a little hangout around town where you like to go grab a bite or maybe a beer or something like that?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, I like the Red Door down there and Losers and Winners or Winners. Whatever one’s right across from them.”
Jim Casey: “Pretty crazy. Still gets wild down there on Fridays and Saturdays.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, it is. It’s a cool place.”
Jim Casey: “Your dad, Casey Beathard, who’s penned number one songs for everybody from Kenny Chesney to Darius Rucker, Tracy Lawrence. At what point did you decide that you wanted to make music your livelihood?”
Tucker Beathard: “I always did music my whole life, played in bands and played the drums, mainly. I think when I started playing guitar and writing songs, just to let out personal feelings just on my own, just never really thought of it as like, “This is what I want to do.” It just kind of felt so good and so right to the point where I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t want to do anything else, you know what I mean? You get bitten by a music bug, they say. Good luck trying to get out of that.”
Jim Casey: “You having more fun doing this then let’s say going to college right now?”
Tucker Beathard: “That’s for sure. I’d rather sit here and talk to you than sit in math class, for sure.”
Jim Casey: “I understand that. Now, growing up, with your dad, you were exposed to all sorts of great music I imagine. Who were some of your influences?”
Tucker Beathard: “I listened to different stuff than my dad. My dad, I always like classic rock, like seventies rock. I remember riding around in the car and a song would be playing. He’d be like, “That’s Pink Floyd.” Or, “That’s Joe Walsh.” Or whatever. I was like, “Wow, that’s really cool. I want to be able to know every person on this station.” That’s all I listen to. Actually a lot of different things. I just listen, I just like, I’m a fan of music and songs.”
Jim Casey: “It translates when you see your live show on stage. You can hear that rock aspect of your influences.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, no doubt. It definitely is probably the strongest influence genre on me.”
Jim Casey: “Get up there and rock your guitar.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun.”
Jim Casey: “You ever hop back there on the drums?”
Tucker Beathard: “Every now and then I used to. I still am trying to incorporate it again. Yeah, I like to rock out on drums sometimes.”
Jim Casey: “Your debut single, Rock On is top five and still climbing. You might get to that number one spot. You going to be able to tell your dad, “Hey, this song writing thing’s not so hard. Debut single. Top five already.” I know he co-wrote the song with you, but is it ever a little in your face or are you all congratulating each other?”
Tucker Beathard: “Nah, we like to mess around sometimes and rip each other. When it comes down to it, it’s a pretty, we both recognize a special thing to have my first debut single and be able to share this experience with one that you wrote with your dad, which is pretty cool.”
Jim Casey: “When did you guys start writing together? Do you remember? I know you’re only twenty-one, but as a younger kid, just sitting in a room with your dad and trying to pen songs?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, it was kind of always, there was fifteen, when I was fifteen, when I was really started digging in to songwriting. It was kind of just really informal way of writing. I’d just be up in my room working on something and he’d be like, “What is that?” That’s something I was working on. Then he would gradually chip away at it just from being around, living together. Nowadays, you’ve got to actually book a certain time to, “Hey, Dad, when can I fit you in my schedule?” Like that, which is a little different. That’s how it works now. Either way, it’s fun to write.”
Jim Casey: “Yeah. Your new EP, Fight Like Hell, drops October 7. You wrote all six songs on it. Everyone’s probably heard Rock On. I’ve got a chance to listen to the EP. Another song that jumped out at me was Momma and Jesus.”
Tucker Beathard: “Oh, yeah.”
Jim Casey: “Yeah. It just sounds like a great collection of work from you.”
Tucker Beathard: “Thank you.”
Jim Casey: “Just really early on, what do you want your fans to take away from the EP?”
Tucker Beathard: “Maybe, overall kind of to just have a better understanding of who I am as an artist. It’s kind of tough to be represented by one song no matter who you are. Being able to hear different, getting more of a better picture of who I am as an artist, should show through pretty clear after they hear these songs.”
Jim Casey: “The new EP comes out October 7. I imagine that you’re either thinking about going into the studio and working on your debut album. You’ve probably been in a little bit. You’ve got some more coming up. You working on that?”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, trying to find the time. Yeah. We’re going to, instead I’ve been writing for so long, we’ve got a lot of songs narrowed down and figure out which ones we want to weed through and which ones make it and which ones don’t. It’s just a work in progress. Hopefully be done as soon as possible.”
Jim Casey: “You co-wrote every song on the EP. How important was it for you to write those songs and have every one of them be a cut of yours?”
Tucker Beathard: “Really, it kind of just, the whole reason I got into songwriting was just because it was my therapy and it felt good to me. Singing a song that you didn’t write. I don’t know what emotion this person felt when he wrote it. How am I supposed to do that too? It doesn’t feel write to me. Songwriting is not just a job for me. It’s my identity and my only way to speak. It’d just feel like acting any other way.”
Jim Casey: “When you’re up on stage, I’ve heard people tell me that when they sing one of their songs, some people see it play out like a short movie in their head. When you’re singing one of your songs, what does your mind do?”
Tucker Beathard: “It kind of just let that emotion that you had when you wrote it. You know when you’re playing a certain song where it came from within. It kind of just triggers that emotion again. Can’t help it but express that when you play it.”
Jim Casey: “You wrapped the Somewhere on a Beach tour with Dierks Bentley recently. You’re kicking off your own headlining tour, Rock On College Tour on October 13, hitting a lot of venues in the heartland, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana. What’d you learn from Dierks on his tour that you’re going to bring with you on yours?”
Tucker Beathard: “Just kind of being around that professionalism and how he treats his crew and everything and just when you surround yourself with great people you naturally, that rubs off on you. Not only him but Randy Houser was out there and Cam was out there. We just got to soak up and just see how everything at that level was.”
Jim Casey: “That’s an eclectic group of country stars because you’ve got Dierks who’s from Arizona, Cam from California, Randy from Mississippi. You’re a Tennessee boy. You’ve got all those different sounds coming together on one tour.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, it was a fun, lot of fun. They’re great, great guys. Cam’s the nicest and coolest girl you’ll meet. Randy and Dierks are the nicest guys you’ll meet. I’m not just saying that. That’s the truth. It’s awesome.”
Jim Casey: “Dierks is a bit of a prankster. Did he welcome you to the tour in any hilarious way?”
Tucker Beathard: “He didn’t. I actually talked to him after we did our last show that tour. I was waiting for him to pull something on me when I was playing. I was scared. He didn’t. He was saying, “Dude, shush, I don’t want to mess with what you’re doing.” Randy Houser’s drummer pulled one on our drummer for sure. He cut up his drums and put a bunch of flowers, pots and big huge plants surrounded by him in the middle of our last song. He’s like playing in the rainforest. It was pretty funny.”
Jim Casey: “Yeah, that’s good stuff. I know you’re going out with Aubrie Sellers on your tour. She was in here a couple of weeks ago. She’s really excited about it. She also mentioned that she was a bit of an introvert. We’ve got these two up and coming stars, both have famous parents, both introverted. You’re both out there on stage trying to make a name for yourself. It should be a really entertaining tour for us.”
Tucker Beathard: “It’ll be awesome. Couldn’t think of or couldn’t want anybody else to be out on tour with. We’ll have a good time. I’m a huge fan of Aubrie’s. I think we’re a lot alike in a lot of ways. It’ll be fun to spend time with their people and everything.”
Jim Casey: “Then in December you’re headed over to Europe to do a string of dates over there. You’ve been over once before, right?”
Tucker Beathard: “Mm-hmm (affirmative).”
Jim Casey: “I’ve been told that those crowds are really receptive, especially to singer songwriters. What was your first take on your tour over there?”
Tucker Beathard: “It was like the coolest experience. It was just really wild. Right when I got back, I was like, “Wait, I got to go back over there soon, as soon as possible.” Luckily I get to. We worked out to where I get to go back so much early, or this soon since last time. I’m just looking forward to that. It’s always a cool experience.”
Jim Casey: “You’ve got a busy fall and winter coming up. Get some rest. We know your EP drops on October 7th. Make sure you pick up a copy of that. Check out tuckerbeathard.com for his tour dates. Tucker, thakns for stopping by.”
Tucker Beathard: “Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.”
Speaker 1: “Thanks for joining us for this episode of Nash Country Daily Writer’s Room where we talk about all things Country. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @nashcountrydaily. Check us out at nashcountrydaily.com.
The Writers Room, Ep. 40, 13 minutes
photos by Jason Simanek
