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Lucas Hoge hoge wild sportsmen country singer

Lucas Hoge | country singer going Hoge Wild pursuing his passions

Can country singer Lucas Hoge pursue his passions outside of music?

Originally from a town of 44 people in Hubbell, NE, Lucas is a country artist with Top 30 and Top 40 singles and his last album “Dirty South” went No. 1 on Billboard for Country album sales. He’s an avid outdoorsman and hosts the Sportsman Channel show “Hoge Wild”. Lucas has performed on the Grand Ole Opry and overseas for 12 years entertaining our troops for the Wrangler National Patriot Tour.

Unfortunately the worldwide lockdown has affected both his television show and touring for music. We talk about how the lockdown has specifically affected him and how he has kept a good attitude while waiting for travel to re-open. One of the subjects I was excited to speak with him about is his ability to meet people on the road and make them friends. He shares his story how he met the founder of Cabela’s at the end of a show and partnered together thru the years.

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Intro song “Road Trip” by Robin Tricker

ABOUT

Lucas Hoge grew up in Hubbell, Nebraska, along with three siblings. At the age of 17, he started to play the guitar. Hoge attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Music and Television

He was the lead artist for two bands; the rock band “Southern Cross” and “Xtreme Devotion”, a Christian music group. Local residents of the small town raised $2,500 to help launch his career. Hoge moved to an apartment in Nashville and started work, performing in small clubs in the evenings.

His first CD, entitled “In My Dreams”, was released in 2002. In the same year, Hoge’s first song for television was “If I Only Could” and featured on the hit Warner Brothers show Smallville. Hoge released his second album, “Dirt”, in 2006.

Hoge went on to appear on television programs including a 2007 Toby Keith Christmas production, a Sunday Night Football promotion with Faith Hill.

Hoge has toured London and traveled to the Middle East to perform for American troops. He’s visited bases in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Africa, Alaska as well as other locations over the last 9 years on the Armed Forces Entertainment Wrangler National Patriot Tour. Hoge is the official spokesperson for Guardian Angels for a Soldiers Pet.

Hoge was the host and star of Animal Planet’s TV show “Last Chance Highway” and wrote and performed the show’s theme song. In 2011 he made his debut performance at the Ryman.

Hoge received his first nomination in the Inspirational Country Music Awards (ICM) as “New Artist of The Year” 2011. Hoge gained recognition in the Christian Country genre when he answered a woman’s dying wish, Natalie Fognani, and wrote the song “How Was I To Know”, inspired by her poem. Around the same time, Hoge played several concerts in Colorado, where Natalie lives, including opening for Martina McBride

Hoge landed his second TV show theme song with “Give A Damn”.

Lucas Hoge partners with Southwest Airlines as the Southwest Storyteller Ambassador

ABOUT HOGE WILD

Hoge Wild will keep the audience on the edge of their seats with wild hunts, epic fishing trips, deep dives and Lucas’ ability to make you laugh while laughing at himself.
This No. 1 Billboard selling country artist is serious about his hunting, conservation, and the taste of his harvest!

Every true red-blooded American will tell you that hunting is a way of life, and Lucas is no different and he’s on a mission. Lucas will take out some first time hunters and some of his country star friends. “I want to change the narrative of hunting” says Lucas!

While Lucas is serious about his outdoor adventures, he’s all about living life to its fullest and singing along the way, and always serving his “Hoge Wild” game parties up with a side of laughter!

You can follow Lucas performing overseas to duck hunting in Nebraska, Elk hunting in Colorado to deep sea fishing in Puerto Vallarta and diving in the Cayman Islands.

Steve Stevens guitar guitarist billy idol rebel yell

Steve Stevens | grammy winning guitarist rocking the decades with Billy Idol

Steve Stevens is my guest today. He shared a lot of stories from the road and some of his guitar playing background starting at the age of 7. Spending nearly 40 years, off and on, with Billy Idol has given him some rare insight to the music industry. Steve worked on albums with Michael Jackson, Ric Ocasek, Vince Neil, soundtracks for the movies “Top Gun” and “Speed”, and more recently supergroup Deathland Ritual. He won his Grammy for the “Top Gun Anthem” and we talked about the possibility of the song making a comeback for this summer blockbuster follow up “Top Gun: Maverick”. He sees a need for the continuation of rock music and live performances but he also spoke about the growth of electronic music and the recent boom of Billie Eilish.

I was completely blown away getting to spend so much time talking with Steve and thankful for his wife, Josie, for setting up our time to chat. They work well together and we spoke about the positives of having your spouse with you while traveling for work.

Steve will be playing with Billy at their new residency at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas over the month of March. Make sure to follow him on social media to see where and with whom he will be playing with for the rest of the year.

Steve Stevens on social media:

Steve’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

Taking a break from music, Steve likes to relax when he has time.

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

ABOUT

Steve Stevens is an American guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as Billy Idol’s guitarist and songwriting collaborator and for his lead guitar work on the theme to Top Gun – “Top Gun Anthem” – for which he won a Grammy in 1987: Best Pop Instrumental Performance. A session guitarist, he has played for Michael Jackson, Ric Ocasek, Robert Palmer and many others. Stevens was in Vince Neil’s band in 1993, touring and recording on Neil’s album Exposed. In 1995, Stevens and Idol were briefly members of the group Neurotic Outsiders. Stevens was a founding member of the supergroup Bozzio Levin Stevens, which released Black Light Syndrome in 1997 and Situation Dangerous in 2000. He brought Spanish flamenco guitar stylings to the song “Pistolero” (1999) for the trance group Juno Reactor. During 2012–2016, Stevens appeared with Kings of Chaos. His “Steve Stevens” group headlined the closing performance at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany, in April 2016. He is also a television personality on the E! Show Married to Rock, alongside his wife, Josie Stevens.

Discography

Solo albums

The Guitar World According To Steve Stevens (1986 cassette from the music magazine Guitar World)

Atomic Playboys (1989)

Akai Guitar Sample Collection (1994)

Flamenco a Go-Go (1999)

Memory Crash on Magna Carta Records (2008)

Movie soundtracks

“Top Gun Anthem”, Top Gun (1986)

“Speed”, Speed (1994)

Albums with Billy Idol

Billy Idol (1982)

Rebel Yell (1983)

Whiplash Smile (1986)

Devil’s Playground (2005)

Kings & Queens of the Underground (2014)

Albums with Michael Jackson

Bad (1987)

Albums with Robert Palmer

Don’t Explain (1990)

Albums with Jerusalem Slim

Jerusalem Slim (1992) – only released in Europe and Japan

Albums with Vince Neil

Exposed (1993)

Albums as a member of Bozzio Levin Stevens

Black Light Syndrome (1997)

Situation Dangerous (2000)

Albums with Kyosuke Himuro

I·De·A (1997)

Collective Souls (1998)

The One Night Stands (1998)

Mellow (2000)

Beat Haze Odyssey (2000)

Follow the Wind (2003)

Albums with Gregg Bissonette

Submarine (Stevens played on “Train to Willoughby”) (2000)

Albums with Adam Bomb

New York Times (Stevens played on “NY Child” “Cheyenne” “Saluda a Lola” & “Anxiety”) produced by Jack Douglas (2001)

Albums with Sebastian Bach

Give ‘Em Hell (2014)

Other performances

Merry Axemas Vol. 2 ; track 3 “Do You Hear What I Hear” (1998)

The Fallout | Neodymium Project (2012)

Desire | Meg Myers – Sorry (2014)

I Will Always Be Yours | Ben Rector (2018)

Down in Flames | Deadland Ritual (2018)

Jeff Jones rush red rider bass trio music musician

Jeff Jones | bass player for RUSH, Red Rider, Tom Cochrane and Burton Cummings

Jeff Jones is my guest on today’s podcast. As an accomplished bassists and singer, Jeff is currently touring with Tom Cochrane and Burton Cummings. Playing music since the late 60’s, Jeff has experienced a lot and toured the world seeing it all.

We talk about life on the road with band mates of 20+ years and some of his hobbies while he is touring.

Visit most podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spreaker, Castbox, Overcast, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, and Spotify to listen to the episode.

Jeff Jones on social media:

Jeff’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

Taking a break from music, Jeff enjoys listening to talk radio when he has time.

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

ABOUT

Jones performed with Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey in the first incarnation of Rush, serving as the primary singer and bassist in the summer of 1968. He was replaced by Geddy Lee in September 1968 before their second performance, after wanting to go to a party. He first gained fame as a member of the gospel rock band Ocean, which had a million-selling 1971 single “Put Your Hand in the Hand”. The group disbanded in 1975. Jones later joined Red Rider (he performed bass on the song “Lunatic Fringe”) and still performs with leader Tom Cochrane. He also works on videos showing Eastwood basses.

In the late 1970s, Jones played bass and sang in Stingaree, a Toronto-based band featuring Brian MacLeod and Bernie LaBarge on guitars and vocals, Doug (Skip) Layton on drums, and Larry Hamel (replaced by Don Harriss) on vocals and piano. The band had a large following in Ontario. Brian MacLeod was spotted by promoter Martin Onrot while Stingaree was playing in Toronto and left the band to join Chilliwack. The remaining members of Stingaree played for another six months before disbanding in 1978. Jones also played bass on the 1981 hit “Dream Away” by LaBarge.

Jones is a regular member of the Toronto band, The Carpet Frogs, who also serve as The Burton Cummings band. He also continues to tour with Tom Cochrane.

PaDre Holmes morris day and the time macy gray fishbone

PaDre Holmes | musician playing with Morris Day and The Time and Macy Gray

Padre Holmes is my guest on today’s podcast. As an accomplished musician, Padre is playing music with terrific singers like Morris Day and Macy Gray. It was great catching up with an old neighbor and to see he is doing so well. I never thought I would to talk to Padre about his life and times touring when I met him 10+ years ago. PaDre’s career as a musician has produced a wide range of music and his time playing with Morris Day and The Time, Macy Gray and Fishbone have led him around the world touring.

We chat about the changes in touring over the years (think TSA) and the communal living on the tour bus.

Photo Credit: Marie Gregorio-Oviedo

PaDre Holmes on social media:

PaDre’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

Taking a break from music, PaDre enjoys listening to talk radio when he has time.

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

ABOUT

For more than 25 years Andre “PaDre” Holmes has carved out a successful career in the music industry in a variety of areas…

Be it performing on national & international tours with some of the music industry’s most sought after artists – or writing & producing music for national TV and commercial radio spots, and online media campaigns PLUS live events – or collaborating with numerous acclaimed actors, directors, songwriters and producers; PaDre has always worked hard, and enjoyed the ride.

Today PaDre continues to grow as a musician, producer, actor, and most importantly as a person!

Kiki Wong | medical school or tour the world in a rock band could be a tough question

Kiki Wong is my guest on today’s podcast. Kiki is intense with everything she attempts including being a musician, fighter, author, traveler and newly formed podcaster. She was the guitarist and then lead singer for Nylon Pink, which started out as a musical band but now has converted into a growing business brand. It’s not often, or ever, you get to meet a person that graduated from a college in Pre-Med but then decides to pursue a career as a full time musician and singer in a band touring the world. A fantastic chat with a person wiser than her age and ready for what life brings her next.

Kiki Wong on social media:

Kiki’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

She would like to get some work done or listen to music but she sleeps when ever she flies. An envious trait.

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

Bio

Ever since Kiki was a wee little girl, she had a passion for animals and music. Like many little girls, she dreamt of being a veterinarian, playing doctor on her stuffed animals.

At the age of 6, she also discovered her passion for music and started classical piano lessons. When she was 13, her family gifted her father the first family acoustic guitar, a Yamaha Eterna to be exact. Her father taught the first influential three chords G, C, and D. After that, she sought out the rest of her guitar education through the internet (yes, pre-YouTube days). She played in countless garage bands throughout high school with all types of music varying from indie to, more importantly, death metal. She also learned how to play the drums at the age of 16 followed by a bit of undeniable bass slapping.

After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelors in Biological Science/Pre-Medicine, she decided to take a break from the books and become a full-time shredder with the all Asian-American girl band, Nylon Pink, as the lead guitarist and, later, lead vocalist.

Music

he then had experience playing on stage with Taylor Swift at the 2014 VMA’s and Usher at CBS’s Fashion Rocks Fall 2014. Kiki was also the lead guitarist of Bret Michael’s in a commercial for Nissan. She then joined the band She Demons run by the Misfits’ Jerry Only, touring internationally and nationwide in the fall of 2015. As direct support for the Misfits. The band name was later changed to Hellfire Heart.

After music took a halt, her and former singer of Nylon Pink, Kaila Yu, decided to pivot their brand into a travel, beauty, and lifestyle blog, which generated over 100,000 views per month in the first 6 months of release. They later wrote the best-selling book “30-Day Travel Challenge: How to Make Your Travel Dreams a Reality. They also speak as travel experts on multiple news networks such as KTLA, CBS, NBC, and Fox News.

She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her two beloved furry feline masters (that’s right, they reign the house), Meowlius Caesar and Nyx, and her tattooist boyfriend, Martin.

Big Sandy | rockabilly hall of famer talks about his travels with his fly-rite boys

Big Sandy is my guest today on The Travel Wins podcast. Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee, Big Sandy and his band the Fly Rite Boys has been touring the world since the early 90’s. Robert “Big Sandy” Williams started his music playing career in the mid-80’s and his touring career started in the early 90’s. Almost 30 years later and he has played in multiple countries and most states in the US. We talk about the differences in traveling in t he90’s without technology and traveling nowadays.

Big Sandy and The Fly-Rite Boys have no slowing down in them as they get ready to start a European tour next week then coming home to play in 10 different states this summer. 35+ shows, 9 countries and 10 states this summer alone made Big Sandy a great interview for business travel.

Big Sandy on social media:

Big Sandy’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

He listens to the various albums he bought while traveling on previous trips.

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

Big Sandy Background

“Twenty-five years, hundreds of thousands of miles, and over 3,000 live performances; what a dream it’s been!” said Robert “Big Sandy” Williams. “When I first got together for a garage rehearsal with a group of musician friends in the spring of 1988 in Anaheim, California, I never imagined that I would someday be celebrating the silver anniversary of the rocking little band that formed that afternoon”

Indeed, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys are beloved by many, with fourteen albums of undiluted joyful music pulled from rockabilly, rock & roll, honky-tonk, rhythm & blues, soul and doo-wop. What A Dream It’s Been, on Cow Island Music, is a collection of the band’s favorite original numbers. All acoustic, reinterpreted with fresh new arrangements, rhythms, and instrumentation.

“Here I am, looking back at a wild ride that has taken us around the world countless times and put us in front of national television and radio audiences,” said Big Sandy. He and the band have made three appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, featured on NPR’s Fresh Airwith Terry Gross. “Putting together this new record has brought back a flood of memories. It is our way of looking back at everything that has led us to where we are now. I feel like we’re sounding better than ever and experimenting musically. While it’s a reflection of our past, this album is really a hint of things to come.”

ALBUMS

All of the albums are represented here, and the new arrangements happened organically. “Often during sound checks and rehearsals, we’ll get to messing around with songs,” Big Sandy explained. “I Know I’ve Loved You Before was originally recorded as a slow, jazzy number. But one night at band practice after a few drinks, I started strumming the song with ska upstrokes and tried singing it in a more soulful, rocksteady style. The rest of the band fell in together and it started to sound like something that (Jamaican legend) Ken Boothe might have done. We all knew in that instant that we had to record the song that way as soon as possible.”

“The last song on the album and title track, What A Dream It’s Been, (a duet with acclaimed voice actress/Grammy Award winning vocalist Grey DeLisle) is a love song, but not in the conventional sense. As Big Sandy explained, “I wrote and recorded this song in 1998 after a couple of the Fly-Rite Boys told me they had to move on. Unsure if I would be able to continue on without them, this song sums up and pays tribute to the wonderful times that we had together.”

Since forming 25+ years ago, Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys have toured continuously and become torchbearers of American roots music. As a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and entertainer, Big Sandy has few contemporaries. With the release of What a Dream It’s Been, Big Sandy is at once acknowledging and celebrating the successes of the past 25+ years, while setting the stage for further exploration and interpretation of the musical forms he is most passionate about.

5 for Friday with Big Sandy

Here is the 5 for Friday with Big Sandy podcast.

Robert “Big Sandy” Williams started playing music in the mid-80’s and his touring career started in the early 90’s. Almost 30 years later and he has been inducted into the rockabilly hall of fame, played in dozens of countries and most of the states in the US.

We talk about the differences in touring in the 90’s without technology and what its’ like traveling today.

Big Sandy and The Fly-Rite Boys have no slowing down in them as they get ready to start a European tour next week then coming home to play in 10 different states this summer.

35+ shows, 9 countries and 10 states this summer alone made Big Sandy a great interview for business travel.

I’m very thankful for the time he gave me before his Europe tour starts and don’t forget to check back on Monday for the entire episode.

Big Sandy on social media:

BIG SANDY BACKGROUND

“Here I am, looking back at a wild ride that has taken us around the world countless times and put us in front of national television and radio audiences,” said Big Sandy. He and the band have made three appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, featured on NPR’s Fresh Airwith Terry Gross, as well as All Things Considered with Melissa Block. “Putting together this new record has brought back a flood of memories. It is our way of looking back at everything that has led us to where we are now. I feel like we’re sounding better than ever and experimenting musically. While it’s a reflection of our past, this album is really a hint of things to come.”

ALBUMS

Kevin Krohn | being vegan as a touring musician is easier now

On my Travel Wins podcast is pianist/keyboard player Kevin Krohn. Kevin has been a professional musician for 30+ years. He spent time touring as the keyboardist for the 80’s band Missing Persons and more recently toured with the Pink Floyd Experience. He is continuing his playing as part of a dueling piano ensemble in Las Vegas playing to thousands of people each week.

“The work and being away from home it’s sort of a necessity, I grit my teeth and bear it”

I was really happy getting the chance to speak with Kevin because of his eating choices and being a vegan for the past 27 years while being a touring musician. I know many of us business travelers struggle eating healthy while on the road. Not that we have to eat a vegan diet but more of the idea of making smarter, healthier choices while traveling. I know it’s just as easy to grab a candy bar, soda and some chips versus a protein bar, banana and water. Personally I am trying to be more aware of the positive aspects of eating healthier, maybe it’s just my advancing age?

Again I would like to thank Kevin for his time and sharing his experiences.

Connect with Kevin Krohn:

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Can country singer Lucas Hoge pursue his passions outside of music?

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ABOUT HOGE WILD

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PaDre Holmes on social media:

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Kiki Wong on social media:

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Big Sandy Background

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BIG SANDY BACKGROUND