 You're listening to the independent 89 9 HD for we're live inside studio for and we've got a special guest It's beaches based singer-songwriter Landon gay. He goes by howdy He's a true saltwater cowboy, and he's got a brand new single out called hard feelings. Good morning friend Good morning, Matt. Thanks for having me man We're gonna talk shop on this new tune and and more in a little bit But right now care to do a song for us. Love to the song's called El Paso I can't complain been pretty well fed pretty well paid Little bit anxious and a little depressed just thinking about you at a motel in Texas Sure beats that minimum wage Driving on highway singing on stage Sunsetting over Mexico. I can just see war is from El Paso I can't wait to hear about LA this weekend. We're playing hotel cafe Well, I wanted you to know if your evening's free and the drinks are on me How's life on the silver screen at West Coast everything you thought it Be was fuzzy on my cell phone. I figured I'd write you from El Paso It was fuzzy on my cell phone. I figured I'd write you from El Paso Nice very nice that was howdy with El Paso So the new single hard feelings is the fourth single you've released under a howdy moniker True first one cowboy dream you're released in 2020 you dropped two songs in 2021 Including El Paso, which we just heard and the strategy if you look at Spotify number seems solid 38,000 monthly listeners for you right now as of today The song El Paso, which you just played has over 650,000 plays on Spotify So my question is this the pace that you're writing or just the pace that you're producing or releasing these songs What's what's the story on on the release strategy or lack of strategy? Great question lack of strategy is definitely But the tunes are all pretty old They're mostly songs that are like more than two or three years old that I've just kind of been Either kind of like workshopping or figuring out like how they work in the recorded space Because I went a long time without having music recorded and was just playing live and playing shows and playing the songs for people And then got to the point of like in the past couple years finally recording the songs figuring out how they want to be Yeah, and just kind of taking it at my own financial pace Yeah, so I can you know pay people to record for me and like help me out And just kind of at the at the pace that it feels right I've never really wanted to do like the release a song every eight weeks kind of thing to stay like in the algorithm Just kind of feels exhausting to me And it I'm just kind of more interested in like a long-term music Relationship that where I can release things at my own pace and kind of not have to Appease the Spotify guys and the ways that it seems like we have to to like keep the numbers up Yeah, I feel just really fortunate to like Have Spotify shine a little light on me and it feels lucky more than anything Yeah, well you might be subverting the algorithm at this point You know So is there is there a batch of songs that are recorded you have plans to record The rest of the tunes and do a full length or is that is that something you're you know Just still kind of wrapping your head around totally There's definitely songs that I've got tunes that I'm kind of chewing on tunes that I'm writing still But there's definitely a next batch of songs that I would love to have out by like next year And have them more in like a bigger kind of large format Yeah way like a longer project five six seven songs But the three songs that I released most recently El Paso stay in LA and then hard feelings All kind of feel like they fit together and they kind of even though they're singles They kind of live together in their own way But this next project I do want to kind of have more of a formal Yeah kind of release could always package those in an EP and then you know totally And I thought about it and for me it's especially with the whole Spotify game It's like just releasing song by song Yeah can be so so helpful instead of throwing everything right out there in one big batch that some songs could get lost Right things could just kind of slide under the rug Yeah, you see that too like when people put out you know their ten song album And it's like the first two songs have the most listens and then it's just like tapers Totally just so unfortunate Yeah or the radio singles that they had put out you know before the full release Yeah, I definitely wanted the first batch of tunes just to come out as singles And give myself kind of the best chance possible to let each song kind of get picked up Or not picked up by Spotify or Apple Music or whatever Yeah that's kind of been the approach it's just kind of throwing stuff at the wall Yeah at your own pace Yeah yeah And I want to ask you about your writing style in a minute but first a bit about your background Yeah You spent some time in Nashville right? I did Were you there to do music and then how did you know how did that trajectory bring you to Jacksonville? Totally Moved to Nashville once I graduated college I went to FSU in Tallahassee And I'd been living in Nashville just over the summers and stuff Working for people doing like kind of more music industry music business kind of thing up there And just kind of quickly fell out of love with that industry approach And moved there and was just kind of playing for my friends playing pedal steel And writing more trying to meet people And then probably a year into the process is when the pandemic got really bad And honestly I just ran out of money I had to come home and surprisingly found like my experience back here in Jacksonville To be way more musically rich And just kind of able to lean into my community more And you know kind of offer something that I feel like isn't offered as much in Jacksonville Where in Nashville I feel like I was kind of a dime a dozen There's that joke about like the gas station attendant in Nashville can play like 10 instruments better than you can Totally it's just everywhere and I love that I love that music is celebrated there and that people love music there But I'm sure it can feel a little bit like trial by fire and just a little overwhelming Totally And I think I was maybe there looking back on it like so glad I went So glad I met who I did but I was just there too early I don't think I was there in like my musical career yet To get the most out of that city the way that some people really can like instrumentation wise Singing ability wise didn't even have songs released There was kind of nothing for me to build on there So it's been cool to come back here Jacksonville is a good place to start something Yeah well we're happy to have you here for sure Now let's talk a bit about song craft now Because I find your songs to feel both you know familiar and unique at the same time There's elements of kind of country western style Maybe golf and western style But also the production I think feels like intentionally lo-fi like Kind of some early like iron and wine stuff you know like basement recordings or something So who are some of your influences like who do you come back to Like when you're looking for that that well of inspiration Yeah The sounds that you like I mean honestly it's I wish there was more like contemporary artists that I could reference That maybe have that kind of that lo-fi sound because I agree with you Like the sound of the records are kind of more their home style Because they were made just in our little Neptune beach Terrible sounding apartments But I mean my favorites are the classics like Roger Miller And Willie and Glenn Campbell and Jim Crocey Neil Young Yeah I mean those dudes are totally my education And songwriting and instrumentation And just in like their boldness to make acoustic music that says something And is vulnerable and yeah I mean those records are just beautiful to me Yeah it's an infinitely deep well too You know as far as inspiration you know if you're looking for melodies If you're looking for structures of songs Or looking you know just obviously lyrics Totally Yeah you can go back to those artists 100% Over and over again Yeah those guys just feel like they have they're rooted in the tradition That I'm trying to dig into And constantly trying to like be informed by And in some ways I feel like I'm doing a new thing In my own thing and in some ways I so want to be like Honest to like the dudes that I'm so enamored by still Yeah well I think that's where your artistry shines through It's like you know you take your influences and then you know Whatever you create is your own spin on it And you know your own artistic take so And then singing you know I wanted to ask you about this because When we're chatting off Mike Your voice is really lovely and really great But you said six or seven years ago you couldn't sing Tell me about that 100% And maybe to some people I could sing And that was like kind of my encouragement to like Keep digging on it and to keep trying But it was a really frustrating thing for a long time Like being a musician that had a really I was thinking about my voice more than anything else when I was playing so It's really just been a process of kind of like Diagnosing my own voice and seeing what my voice does well And leaning into who I am And not trying to sound like somebody else Because I think that was the most frustrating part of it all I was trying to sound like someone amazing Constantly falling up short When I should have just been trying to sound like me So I think that's been like the most rewarding thing It's like leaning into my voice And some like vocal training as well Has really gone a long way Just learning more about the body and the anatomy And how the voice happens Has been infinitely helpful What to do with your face and your eyebrows and all Totally like where all my tension was being held Like how I'd learned to speak Or how I'd learned to use my voice Over the course of my lifetime was not set up For like singing So kind of learning how to do that I love hearing about that And I think that's helpful for listeners too Like aspiring artists out there that You can put the work in It's not exactly like You can sing or you can't sing You have a voice and you can use it Totally, yeah I give a lot of vocal lessons I teach a lot of lessons for kiddos and all around And that's like my favorite thing Is like showing people You totally can do it And it's a weird approach But like you can It's really rewarding to see other people Grow in that too Yeah, or listen to this Bob Dylan record You can do it You can do it man Even if you can't sing Well, howdy, thanks so much For hanging out with us this morning The new song is Hard Feelings It's available on all streaming platforms You can hear it on the independent 89.9 HD Forts in rotation Via our local spotlight 20 minutes after the hour Every hour Can you do the new one for us? I would love to This is Hard Feelings Got a few good reasons To be mad and it's better Than let it all go The sour feelings that I had I let them hit the road Now we just beat around the bushes We don't even have the music anymore Got a few good reasons to be mad And it's better that I let it all go When I'm cold Honey, I'm freezing Think I'll take it downside For the season So I'm not keeping Hard Feelings I wanna hold it all against you But it feels so warm I wanna hold it all against you But it feels There's just no limit on forget And I can't take the distance anymore I wanna hold it all against you But it feels so warm I'll take it downside For the season But the kind you're tuning in I'll take it downside For the season