Interview with Scott Terry from Red Wanting Blue – Performing at Bunbury Music Festival on 7/13

Scott Terry from Red Wanting Blue
Scott Terry from Red Wanting Blue

Interview & Photos by Scott Preston

(photos of Red Wanting Blue at Bunbury 2013)

Red Wanting Blue
Bunbury Music Festival 7/11/-7/13/14
Cincinnati, OH
Red Wanting Blue performs on 7/13 at 3:30pm on the main stage
http://www.bunburyfestival.com

Columbus, Ohio-based American rock & roll band Red Wanting Blue has announced the “Sounds Like Summer” US tour in support of its upcoming new album Little America, arriving July 1st.  Like-minded Bridgeport, Connecticut-based duo The Alternate Routes, fresh off of a string of shows with Ingrid Michaelson, will accompany Red Wanting Blue on the majority of the dates.

Additionally, Red Wanting Blue has just been announced as a featured act on next winter’s edition of the Cayamo cruise.  The event has become revered in recent years for showcasing exemplary songwriting talent, both legendary and emerging.  In addition to Red Wanting Blue, the 2015 cruise will feature Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Brandi Carlile, and Lucinda Williams among others.

Known for making instant fans of the uninitiated with one of the most engaging and passionate live shows on the road today,Red Wanting Blue found even bigger audiences after the release of its 2012 From The Vanishing Point album, which landed in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and at #1 for the band’s home region.

Appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” VH1’s “Big Morning Buzz Live,” and NPR’s “Mountain Stage” followed, and while Red Wanting Blue continues to reach new and bigger career milestones, the band is also staying true to its roots.  Little America is the band’s most personal and promising album to date.

Cincy Groove: I am glad to see you are back at Bunbury Music Festival this year.  How was your experience last year?

Scott Terry: It was so much fun last year.  We stayed for a little while, but we had to leave almost directly after our set to play a festival up in Pleasantville, NY.  I remember being mildly irritated that we had to drive and couldn’t stay all day at Bunbury.  I remember running around a little and running into the guys from Delta Rae and The Dunwells.

Red Wanting Blue
Red Wanting Blue

Cincy Groove: I noticed the band has taken some time off in the first part of the year, are you ready to get back out on the road?

Scott Terry: Very much so, we are getting really excited.  We have been rehearsing a lot but its nothing like being out on the road.  It seems like we have been on the road our whole careers and we have been off the road more in the last 6 months than we ever have.  We toured up until Christmas last year.  We had January off, we toured in February and then we pretty much had March, April and May off except for a few shows.  For us it seems like an eternity, so we are foaming at the mouth to get back out on the road.  It really helps to have the fuel and energy of a new record behind you.

Cincy Groove: Did the band do anything differently on this record?

Scott Terry: Yes and no.  Musically I think its some of our best work.  We tried to put ourselves outside of our comfort zone and at the same time we still have our foot in familiar territory for the people that know the band and our music.  I really feel since we signed with Fanatic Records in 2010 that things have been much better for us.  I feel the band has really gotten to know itself much more on “Little America”.  We have been touring since “Magnificent Miles” came out so almost all of “Little America” was written on the road.  I will say writing on the road is very different than writing at home.  Your headspace is different.  I feel I had my feet planted much stronger on the ground in regards to what I’m writing about at this time in my life and we we are as a band.  

Scott Terry from Red Wanting Blue
Scott Terry from Red Wanting Blue

Cincy Groove: Why is the record called “Little America”?

Scott Terry: We were on the road in Salt Lake City on our way to Denver.  It was one of the many times that we regretted not having chains on our tires.  We were sliding around driving about 10 miles per hour somewhere in southwest Wyoming.  We ended up stopping in the morning and buying some chains and I remember thinking “Now we took care of that, we are prepared”.  I made the mistake of not putting them on right away.  We were driving in a mountain pass so there was no where to stop and put them on.  It was still as icy as it was the day before.  We were driving and a semi truck lost control and almost hit us.  We stopped at the first place we could to get gas and take a minute to realize what had just happened.  It was a truck stop called Little America.

Cincy Groove: I was checking out the pre-order bundles on the website and noticed the one with an 8 track cassette of the new record.  Where do you even get 8 tracks made anymore? Where did you find all the players?

Scott Terry:  I am a fan of 8 tracks in the sense that I was born in the 70’s so I remember them growing up.  They were the thing at the time.  I then got it in my head “How cool would it be to release our record on 8 track”. This began a long search to find someone who could record on an 8 track.  I found a couple in Texas who worked for a radio station and they still had all the equipment. I really wanted to do this so I could selfishly have my record on an 8 track tape (laughing).  I think we have put our music on every other recording medium.  I went to management and the band and they thought nobody would buy an 8 track tape.  They then said nobody had 8 track players.  I said we can get them one and they started to come around to the idea.  Many hours were spent scouring the internet, flea markets, etc… to find all the portable 8

2XL Robot
2XL Robot

track players. I also spent the last month or so looking for these 2XL toy robots that have a built in 8 track player.  I had one as a kid and thought how cool it would be to be able to have them for the fans.  I have been looking for working ones, broken ones, spare parts.  I even proud to say I fixed some of them myself.   Literally when you called I was screwing the back on one of these robots.  I am sitting in the middle of these 2XL robots and I don’t want to give them away (laughing).

Cincy Groove: Tell me about your latest music video for “You Are My Las Vegas”?

Scott Terry: The filming lasted 2 days but it took months to convince all of our moms to do it.  They all will of course do anything for their kids.  But when it came time to start getting everything together there was a lot of backpedaling.  The team we hired and the director Jenna, just nailed it.  She did such a great job and had everything worked out down to the makeup.  My dad even made a small cameo in the video, handing me my hat.  It was a really special experience because of the fact our families were involved.  Being on the road so much we don’t get to see them as much as we would like.

http://www.redwantingblue.com