WELL HELL It’s time once again to travel northeast into West BY GOD Virginia to celebrate SIX YEARS of my buddy’s podcast, Mr. Brandon Walkers Old Soul Radio Show. I have been one of the only media websites that has been with him since YEAR ONE, and if you dig deep enough you can STILL read them.
W.B. Walker and I go back to our beginnings, we launched almost at the same time. I was working for other people, I had a crude basic website on a tripod account. He was being influenced by people like Mr. Chris Miller, who began Blue Ribbon Radio during the MySapce era. He turned me onto bands like Bob Wayne And The Outlaw Carnies, The Honky Tonk Hustlas, Brittany Avery, and Those Poor Bastards.
I was discovering ALL THESE local bands on podcasts like Farce The Music, and found SO MUCH beyond Wayne The Train Hancock and Hank III. Muddy Roots was in full swing, Moonrunners came around, I discovered Red Dirt and stuff like Wade Bowen. But W.B. Walker brought me the Appalachian bands, as did pages like the Honky Tonk Heroes page. If not for him, I would have never found many of these artists I know of now…I don’t rightly think anybody would.
For the ENTIRE lineup and some more tidbits of useful information HERE is a bunch of stuff on it like hotels and other things.I like to hype my jobs up an echelon above just social media, to keep my own self excited as well, and to be honest I enjoy learning about the artists themselves. This week I visited with Miss Chelsea Nolan, whom I recently saw at the Southgate House for Hagfest.
GHC:
Please tell my readers where you are from, and how you got started in music?
CN:
I’m from the Red river Gorge in Eastern Kentucky, I grew up there and lived there most of my life. I moved to Phoenix Arizona, and came back home because I learned really quick that there is no place like Eastern Kentucky. So I cam back home and kept playing music.
I started playing music when I was around five, I learned piano. And I messed around on different instruments, to be honest I really fell in love with the drums. That was my main instrument at first, I would play drums for people and sing backup. I moved to Phoenix and went out there, but I really missed playing for my brother.
I came back home and had a lot of crazy stuff happen, I lost one of my best friends and just life really. All of the different lessons that you learn you know? I realized then that I had some thing to say myself that I wanted to share. I quit my job and started singing my own songs and HERE I AM GARY!
GHC:
Now, besides your solo stuff you do, you sing for Mr. Jeremy Short correct? Short And Company?
CN:
Yeah, I’m actually with them right now, we have a show tonight, and we are in between load in and sound check. So we picked a good time to talk.
GHC:
Ditty TV did some good posts and stuff on you guys, I watched it and I enjoyed that a lot.
CN:
Oh my gosh that was so much fun we were just talking about that. We did a video of a song that Jeremy wrote about knocking his tooth out, and we were talking about how funny that was. Everyobdy keeps talking about the song on the video.
GHC:
I got to know some of them guys at the Ameripolitan Awards in Memphis, they were there. And we both sponsored that show, it was a fun and strenuous job for me. I’m not sure who they were but I met two of them.
so you are going to be going to Denver soon, tell me about that now?
CN:
YEAH I’m excited about that. Me and Laid Back Country Picker and the Wooks are going to go out there and play the night before Tyler plays the Red Rocks. Just to have a big pre party and hope everyone has fun out there. We want to bring more Appalachian Music to that area and see how they take to it.
GHC:
I get really excited when I see the Muddy Roots crowd go East towards you like Joseph Huber and The Tillers, and I get excited when I see you guys go West. It’s really thrilling to me. It’s great to see what Mr. Jim Guthrie and Buck’s Tavern are doing out there.
CN:
MAN….who would’ve thunk it.
GHC:
Nope it’s true I had such a good time with Huber and the Tillers coming over to Kickin’ In The Creek. Ten years ago I would’ve never imagined this to transpire here. I never thought Huber would get as big as he is now when he was playing with the .357 String Band you know?
CN:
Oh I love Jospeh Huber, I’m a really big fan, yeah.
GHC:
How did you meet W.B. Walker let’s talk about that rascal here! This is mainly about his anniversary show I’m kind of on his time here. I’d like to hear this myself how it came about!
CN:
Well ,I knew about him through my brother. My brother always held him to a really high standard, and his opinions. I always knew he existed and I always thought he was cool. I was really intrigued by him and what he is doing. I wanted to meet him, but I didn’t want to bother him and when I started playing my own stuff and paths got crossed. I thought maybe I’m making the right decision and writing the things that people connect to like if W.B. noticed me then that would be awesome.
We got linked up and I went down to Dingess and did his radio show there. Man it really blew my mind that someone as cool and as well respected as W.B. even knew my name. And here I was at his bar out there, hanging out. Playing some of my songs was just crazy but you know we met through music, the same way I meet so many others.
He’s been a blessing to even know. He has done so much for so many people, and so many people have came to my shows or interacted with me that found out about me from his radio show, and that’s awesome. He’s had a really big hand in me being able to be me.
GHC:
It’s a funny story how we met a couple years ago, and it’s amazing to me what all he has done out there in that area.
CN:
Here and abroad, because people on Twitter find out me because of his sh0w…that’s awesome.
GHC:
What have you got planned for the future as far as recording and all that?
CN:
I don’t have anything planned just yet, I’d like to go into the studio next year, yes. I really want a full length to be honest. I wasn’t real sure how this EP was gonna go over back then. I got a really good opportunity to do a video in Nashville, and record there. We got five songs out in half a day , and I went down another day and Montana Hobbs and the other gals played on my EP. We went down to add banjo and fiddle tracks and harmonies, and that day we decided to add Sugar Hollar so then there was six songs on the EP.
I really want to get a full length out soon, and kind of dive deeper into storytelling and telling MY OWN story a little better. I feel like the EP was a good, accurate representation of, you know..who I am and where I have been. And I’d just like to dive deeper into that.
GHC:
Who influenced you as an artist more than anybody else?
CN:
My brother.
GHC:
He is a very talented man!
CN:
Yeah, he if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing music. He was an awesome big brother, before he was a musician. Anything he ever did I wanted to do too. Because I thought he was so damn cool. He started playing piano and I was in ballet, and things could have went way different! I quit ballet to take piano lessons, we took it for a few months until we both just got bored. We decided to teach ourselves, but yeah he is a really good big brother, and that made me want to be interested in what he was doing. We just used to jam together all the time, and I learned everything I know from watching him.
GHC:
That’s pretty cool ,it really is. Thank You for taking the time to talk with me, and I’ll see you next weekend in West Virigina. We will get to talk more then and watch some damn good music from all the other acts.
CN:
I think so too, Thanks for having me here.