Matt Connarton Unleashed: Tom Rousseau

Tom Russo is here. Let me get that mic up for you. Sir.

Hello, Hello, welcome to the show. Thank you. Really looking

forward to hearing you play. By the way, that opening track saying Hallelujah,

which I really love. That's so good. That's so good. And

also too, we have Kate Shimkey from Darlene Hill is in studio as well.

Good morning, y'all. Are family you guess cousins. Yeah, I

watched him play music when I was a kid. So oh, very cool.

Definitely inspired me for sure. Watched me. Didn't didn't grow up,

I didn't grow up both had He got me hooked on Elvis Presley. Oh

okay, how it all started? Oh very cool. It is a good

Elvis impression. Oh excellent. Well, we might have to we might have

to hear that later. Well, Tom's got his acoustic guitar out and he's

going to play live for us, and then after that we'll we'll listen to

another studio track and then we'll we're going to talk for a bit and uh,

but I'm really looking forward to hearing this and Tom, this is the

song you're gonna play. This has not been recorded. This is uh yeah,

this is actually a new song I am writing, was even adding a

few lyrics this morning. Oh very cool, but yeah this is this is

a newer one, so just trying to kind of work it out. Wow,

so oh cool. So this is this is like an exclusive, this

is a world premiere. This could be making or break it right here,

like I'm either going to Hollywood or I'm not going very nice And uh,

what's it called? Do you? Or do you have the title for you?

That someone was you? His name of the song that someone was you?

Yeah, all right, very good. Uh yeah, whenever you're ready,

go ahead, ladies and gentlemen, Tom Russo live in studio, brand

new song, Give it a go, all right. I took my chance

on luck. Look took no chance on me. I belonged to where I

was. Something's got a hold on me. I was all over the road.

It took some more harm to see. That's some Ham was using.

That someone was I told the world of love and everything it could be love

and marked away until the day in this free Loff came back to show the

way it took something Ham to see. That's someone with you, that's someone

was me in the back in the black in the dark five in the light

and the light in the truth. We too. I took my chance on

luck. Luck took no chance on me, and I belonged to where I

was. Something's gotta hold on me. I was all over the road.

It took someone harm to see. That's someone. That's someone, that's someone,

that's someone. This me Tom Russo here in studio. That sounds finished

to me. I'm glad. I just threw the bridge and the bridge was

awesome. Bridge was written at about five am this morning, No kidding,

and practice for the first time in front of you. Yeah, two or

three minutes ago. Oh, very cool, very cool. No, I

love it. That's that is excellent. Well, here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna play another studio track from Tom Russo, and then we're gonna

come back and talk and get to know him. But this is called Broke

Heart. Check this out and then we'll be right back Tom Russo live in

studio. This is the end of me, of you, of us?

Where did we lose our word? Are the the trust? This is a

new start. This is my brodcoll with all discars and pain, how much

we both have changed. This is a new start. This is the best

part. I'm walking down the road and lone, walking down the road.

I thought you spoke the truth. You lie, Smith died here I go

adam a new day, a new lie. This is a new star.

This is my road cart with all its scars and pain. How much we

both have changed. This is a new start. This is the best part.

I'm walking down the road, lawn, walking down the road, and

then up from the ashes comes a winn. I know these chances, and

you can't find me there. And it's our sand down gravel. It's nothing

that I can handle. And I'll reach beyond my yesterday. I reached beyond

my yesterday. This is the endomy coming of us to where where did we

lose our ways? Of the trust? This is the end of coll of

us, to where where did we lose our wed piso the trust to come

back? This is the start. I like that a lot. That track

is called Broke Heart, and that is Tom Russo, who is here with

us alive in studio. Here we have Tom Russo as well as Kate Shimkey

from Darling Hill who was on with us. When were you on at the

time? It all runs together for me. It was a few months ago,

right right before Halloween, right before Halloween. Okay, right before Halloween,

gotcha? Gotcha? Yeah? And then so, as we mentioned earlier,

so the two of you are cousins, and if you have you made

music together, do you appear on each other's projects at all? Or I

don't think we've made music together. Now, I've booked him at my house.

Remember I have like a backyard where I book music. Yeah, so

I've had him play at my house. We've we've we've split gigs before,

I think at Marco's and air. But we've never worked creatively together. But

I would like to. We fight a lot. We Oh yeah, so

drama No no, I mean maybe that's a conversation we should have on the

ride home. That's right. Oh, they we'll write the song on the

ride homeless, or you can have it here. It'd be good radio.

Uh studio tracks, Tom, Where where are these recorded? Uh? They

sound great? These are mostly well actually all in New Hampshire. Clark Creative

in Amherst. He's done a couple of them also Boardhouse Productions. He's in

Brookline right Pete pelloquin okay, git yep, okay. I was gonna say

that that's a familiar name. Yeah, so a lot of a lot of

these may have started at my house, in my own little small studio,

and then I'd bring the tracks over kind of continue on from there. Yeah.

But yeah, Brokekart, I think you played that singing Hallelujah. Those

were both Clark creative, but I try to change it up a little bit

too, to just see what sound I'm getting, and because you definitely get

different sounds based on where you go or different inspiration. Yeah. Absolutely.

How many studio tracks have you recorded? How much? How much do you

have? It's tough to say because I have a lot with either other bands

or other I had a solo release I think in two thousand and eight.

They're not all on there, but you can find them on Spotify and Yeah,

over the years, it's it's tough to really say. Like now,

recently, in the last year, I've released I think three maybe four.

Okay, but you've been playing your whole life. Yeah, I've been playing

my whole life and recording my whole life. It's just he's probably got a

lot. Yeah, they're not all up, you know, We're we're now

actually getting a lot of the old stuff from old bands. I've been in

and yeah, we're taking that and kind of fixing it a little bit,

making it sound a little cleaner, louder. So we will be releasing that.

I had an old band called on four oh, and I feel like

I remember on for do you I think so we were around here for quite

a while. Okay, yeah, I was gonna say the name's familiar.

That was the young band. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, for the

most part, I just now have been trying to record as much as I

can now continually. Do you play with any bands now or do you strictly

do solo? Mostly just solo? Yeah, solo, unless I had opportunity

where somebody needed a you know, a band or a duo. Right,

But it's you know, it's nice playing with by myself. It's just I

can't blame any of the mistakes on anything else, right, But it's easier

in terms of scheduling and decision for people trying to come up with a schedule,

right, right, Exactly how long has it been since the last time

you played in a band? Have you been a solo artist for a long

time? I think last time I was actually playing in the band was pretty

steady in two thousand, okay, two thousand to two thousand and five ish,

I think. And then before that it was mostly all bands. Like

I didn't really start solo until moving back from Atlanta. Okay, that was

like ninety I'm getting my years on this. It's somehow, somehow the story

makes sense. But once I started doing solo, I just built up the

confidence to do it a little more. Yeah, in the beginning, I

may have had to repeat songs. Maybe I didn't, but maybe I did.

Yeah. So yeah, I would just go out and try to pick

up as many kind of little small venues here and there. But are you

from here originally? Yeah? Yes, Temple, ne Hampshire now but I

was New Hampshire, Yeah, Temple, Greenville, Mason, New Hampshire.

Okay, and then you live but you lived in Atlanta for a time.

Atlanta. Moved there in right about time of the Olympics, Okay, moved

down there with a band, oh before before the Olympics, and we played

for a couple years in Atlanta. Okay. Interesting, So so the whole

band moved together from from here to there, from here to there? Was

that on for or was that that was that was on for? Okay?

Wow? And that we started as four people in the band, then it

became three people, it was a three three member and when we moved to

Atlanta, but we're all still really good friends. Yeah. Now that's interesting

because you don't hear you don't hear stories like that much where a band decides

to all move together. Yeah, we actually moved with We didn't really even

know where we're gonna live. W so not really a lot of money,

just kind of stayed with somebody for a couple of weeks type thing. And

then yeah, so you were you really believed in while you were doing obviously,

yeah, yeah. And why Atlanta? Actually a lot of it was

the Olympics, you know, the Olympics coming in and the excitement at the

Olympics just and things were happening there, a lot of a lot of music

we could. We were getting sick of playing in the winter, yeah,

like and then we suddenly were able to play during the day. You know.

It wasn't screwing up our schedule at all. Interesting, and we traveled

a lot of college yeah, college type gigs. Yeah, yeah, no

doubt. How long were you there in Atlanta? I think it was right

about two years to two and a half okay, and then did you all

move back together? What happened then? No, like a few stayed there

and we're you know, if you stayed there, I came here, uh

okay. One of the members, Sean went up to Colorado. I think

John stayed and he was in Florida and North Carolina and so Atlanta broke up

the band ultimately, right, we did have a great time. We had

gone there with you know, really being into the band R. E.

M. And Athens, Georgia, so we were we were kind of intrigued

by that. Yeah, yeah, excellent. What what was the was the

music scene like really different there just in terms of it was just there were

just a lot more places to play, like uh, you know, you

could you didn't have to like rely on two places in a local area.

Sure, sure, and it was just more exciting, you know, and

it was people seemed to be a little bit more willing to have music all

the time. Interesting. The schedule was a little different. A lot of

those gigs would start at ten at night. Oh really yeah, be ten

to two to two am. Okay, So we our life changed a little

bit with the schedule. But yeah, yeah, we enjoyed it. Yeah,

yeah, cool. And then, uh, so was it weird coming

back here because it's it's so and it sounds like it's really different there in

some ways, Yeah, it was. It was weird coming back where the

excitement wasn't the same, you know, like we were excited to be back,

but we didn't have I was excited to be back, but yeah,

didn't have the momentum. And and then when we would come up to visit,

same the same deal. We'd feel, what's there, what's there to

do up here? Right? But we we just spent so much time playing

music together and practicing that we really didn't always care as much where we were.

Yeah, but yeah, definitely two different places. We were probably excited

to just get out of that cold and stop hitting the frost heaves. Yeah,

yeah, I know. It sounds like it was a good experience.

Does does any of the material that you did and on forward is that?

Do you still do that today as a solo artist or not? Not really.

I may have done like one of the songs recently or on a different

album, but not really. I mean once in a while I'll go back

and listen to some of those or yeah, the guy that was in the

band with me, Sean. We're kind of in talks right now and might

even be a new song coming that we're we're kind of you know, so

we're excited about that. Maybe he's listening right now and shaking his head.

No, I believe that's what's going to happen. I think most of us

have moved on with a lot of the older songs, and you know,

they're all there and we're excited about those still, but we it would be

nice to to do something new, you know, especially to see what we

might come up with now versus because we felt we were pretty great back then.

Well then you yeah, years later you listen and you you're like,

well that that guitar was out of tune, I wasn't singing right, you

know, But it just shows you you can always keep getting better. Yeah,

yeah, no doubt. I've seen some people get worse, so that's

that is possible. Also, do you miss being in a band or yeah,

yeah I missed. I just missed the playing off of each other in

terms of where the music is going. Yeah, yeah, I do.

But it has to be always the right band. I've always been lucky enough

to always be in the right band, Like every band I've ever been in

has worked for me, you know, so it's never been like wow,

this is like it's only taken me somewhere else in terms of music. So

yeah, okay, I think we should play another studio track, but I'll

let you pick. I think we have a couple that we haven't played.

Yeah, let's see. Why don't you letu? Should I be afraid it's

a little unique? Should I be afraid? I wrote that song the day

of the studio time was booked. I actually started the night before and finished

it on my lunch break, and then I ended up at Boardhouse Productions that

night tracked it with Pete. And that's how this That's how the story is.

Is there a story behind the song itself or man? Probably not really?

Okay, I have a good friend on it rapping doing a rap.

He goes under the name bug Out. His name is Brian Ladd. Sorry

if i've oh, yes, I know that is you know Brian. I

think I do. I think I've met him, at least I don't know

us in the Granite State. I'm sure i've met him. Kind of a

hip hop type guy. Yeah. Brett Wilson of Roots of Creation is playing

guitar on this one. Oh cool, excellent, Rick Cars on drums doing

some different you know, just had him kind of come in, but yeah,

nothing too special, A pretty straightforward song. All right, well let's

let's give this a listen. So, uh, this is Should I be

afraid? Tom Russo is with us in studio. We'll play this and then

we'll come back and talk some more. Where I begin tell you all of

mysing. I'm not a perfect man. I'm not to understand these things.

It's taken most of me. What's life? It's hard to see to do

now it's time safe ghost. I'm not afraid to stop. So say I'm

wasting time? What so be mine? Here making up your mind? I

decided it. Should I be afraid? I be afraid? Would I do

not know? I live the sun shining, I lift stop, dance with

my soul? Should I be afraid? Be a friend? I everything?

I hold revery man, A man of five shinta amna. A guy is

wearing rack though now the wheel is spirs. We all have a different I'm

not a perfect matter. Just be the best that can. SA is taking

most of me. What's left? It's hard to see today Should I be

afraid? Can I be a friend? What I do not know? What?

I'm letting you start shining? Left to stop shining, dancing myself?

Should I be afraid you free your everything? I know everything I know.

I'm letting her start shining, shines, win a ra You know what?

Hard times before the John Rosser can't hide forever put it feel like it's hard

to find, trying to keep focus, to seem hopeless of fin notice in

my getting up in the heis and my hope is to try to hope this

moment is gone, gone with the can before the storm is off. But

when they notice and broke the best of reminded, when they give no longer

promise in minds or the predominance that we've been in the silence home. Well,

that is very cool. That is Tom Russo and Tom who remind us?

Who is that at the end? That is bug out? Bug out?

Yeah, that is very cool. That's you know, it's it's it's

cool too, how it's it's just at the end, and so you have

no idea that it's coming, but it sounds so naturally. I'm glad you

said that because when I when I had the idea to put it there,

and he's he is a hip hop guy, if you know Brian from Granite

State. Yeah, he's like, oh, nobody's ever really done that in

the term you know, it's not like I'm really planning it that way.

But I liked it in the in that fact that it it didn't start at

the beginning of the song where you had any idea it was going to come

in at all, right, right, yeah, because usually when you do

hear anything even close to that, it's usually in the beginning and I'm sorry,

not in the beginning in the middle, right, you know, like

where you might expecting a guitar solo, you might you'll hear a verse of

rapping. But to put it at the very end, I'm trying to think

of I can't think off the top of my head of another example of somebody

doing that, although I feel like I feel it has I'm sure it's definitely

been done, but it's uh but but it's cool. It's it's kind of

it's it's surprising, but it's almost subtle at the same time because it just

fits it so perfectly well. Actually, the thing I was really happy about.

If you listen to the lyrics and he wrote he came up with those

lyrics. I basically told him this is what this is, what the song

is. Just I want you to do your thing. But his lyrics are

meaningful too, Like he those they fit the song, and that's his style,

that's that's where he is, that's why he does it, and he's

he's a natural at doing it. So I thought, I was like,

I've never had a rap on a song. And even earlier, Concetta was

the one singing with me on sing Hallelujah, and she was somebody from the

studio where I had gone to and recommended her, and she sang the national

anthem at Red Sox Yankees game. Just recently, she's worked with a lot

of big people. She just came in and sang that and that that's what

that song needed. So the same deal with this song is it's it felt

cool to put it there. I'm sure some people might not like it,

or maybe a true hip hop person would be like, you know, because

don't they're not listening to the other stuff. Sure, but I think it

fits. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. If you're just joining us, we

have Tom Russo here alive in studio with us. Are you recording an album

or are you doing any or what's what's your trajectory there? I guess I

have taken a different approach this time, where it seems like I'm doing it

as singles. Yeah, And then the way I look at it is,

then if I had ten different singles versus an album, gives me ten different

opportunities to be in front of somebody. Yeah, you know, I think

the idea eventually would be to have enough songs that an album would be made,

you know, or maybe then kind of redone and the best of twenty

different songs and maybe it would be one album. But yeah, I guess

it's to say, because if they're done and recorded, I want to keep

going right right. Yeah. We live in a time where, you know,

you have so many different options as far as how you release things and

whether you want to put out a single or an album or rep or A

lot of guests we've had on the show recently too, they talk about,

you know, just releasing singles and then once all the singles are out that

they want for that album, you know, then releasing an album of those

singles, which is interesting because it's, you know, an obvious inversion of

how it was when we were growing up, where you know, a single

would come out a little bit before an album, and then the album would

come out, and then any more singles would come out after the album was

out. But now it's like you can do anything you want to with the

Internet. Well, the Beatles did it all that way if you think about

it. They had different arrangements, collections of songs, and different US versions

of versus other versions, and they just keep making different albums. Yeah,

yeah, which people like that though, right absolute Are the Beatles a big

influence on you? I hear some of that, Yeah, definitely. The

Beatles have always been probably really one of my you know, the influences I've

had have been the Beatles, Elvis, Yeah, in the beginning, that's

who they were, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Everly Brothers, but yeah,

that would crowded, how squeeze. Those are bands I've really been into,

and I've been into a lot of singer songwriters like Sean Mullins, Chris

Christopherson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson. Tom Petty is actually a huge influence

on I just like the style of writing. Yeah, so Tom Petty is

somebody that can encourage me that I can just write a song the way it

should be written, which is just write it as simple as it can be,

right, right? What is there a process in terms of do lyrics

come new first or do you think of a melody first? Or does it

change or it seems to change now, it's probably worth a few words.

Something will just start, could be a phrase, could be four words that

I just it's the words that make me think of the melody, and then

it kind of takes off from there and then I either know like it's worth

going or it's you know, I either have to convince if it's good.

I have to convince myself it's good. If it's if it's not a walk

away from it, you know, or a little confusing. But it comes

in so many different ways. It could be you could say something to me

that I had never known about, and maybe that could inspire me to to

write something. Yeah. Does anything you write ever wind up sounding really different

when you record it than what you had envisioned. Yeah. Yeah. The

reason I ask is it sounds like because it sounds like you're very open to

you know, like having bug out on that track or having I forget the

name of the singer on Oh Conchetta, Conchetta. It sounds like you're very

open in that sense in terms of having, you know, having things kind

of take a left turn for you know, from what you may have originally

envisioned. I think it's easier now at my age because I can keep working

for the song. When I was younger, you'd be four guys in a

band and everybody has their part, and everybody has their opinion, which is

fine, but sometimes it just it it holds things up. It can take

longer in this sense where you're still building songs, but you are taking the

time to like you're getting smart enough to know if something doesn't fit, like

you're taking it out. Like So there are tracks that I paid studio musicians

to come in on some of these songs that were great parts. It's just

that didn't work for the song. I had a violin on a song coming

up called Greet the Sun, and the violin's beautiful and I've played that version

of people who like it, but it just didn't work. Yeah, that

would have been harder to do in the band if you played the violin and

said, hey, you know, really the part that we all really liked.

Last week. We don't like it anymore. Right, we have a

call. I think somebody has a question for you. Man. That's Mike

Doyle. Hey, Mike, how you doing. Good morning to you,

Good morning to you. Guess hey, I just turned you on. I

thought maybe I said, no, he's playing music. Maybe maybe he's not

on today or something. And I ended up listening to the song and I

got to tell you that song was was fantastic. It was who doesn't that

fit that? The words I'm not a perfect man? You know, right

right, it's it's that's making it's that's making you reflect on yourself and friends

and you know, the whole world, and with all this stuff going on

these days, I mean, who's a perfect man? You know, there's

probably only one that we all know, but that it was a great song,

great lyrics, great great great music, great vocals. And I'm not

a rap guy at all, but that that ending, you know, catch

you. I'm thinking here it's going to be a soft landing for the ending,

and all of a sudden, the rap it's it, it's it.

It wasn't overbearing, it wasn't it was just enough. So I just wanted

to say a great song all the way around. Well, thank you very

much. That that Actually, that's really cool to hear, uh, because

I don't know who you are, and it's neat to hear coming from a

sixty five year that's coming from a sixty five year old man. Man,

he's living in Manchester all his life and he's definitely not a perfect man.

I'm glad you picked up the phone. Yeah, yeah, thank you very

much. Appreciate your music. I'm going to look deeper into what else you

do. Thank you. I'll keep singing them for you. Excellent. All

right, man, thanks all right, Mike, thank you for the call.

Appreciate it. All right, We'll see you all right, bye bye.

Yeah, it's interesting what Mike was saying. That's a exactly what we

were talking about. That the part at the end with bug Out, it

just you know, it's a surprise, but and yet it just fits so

seamlessly into the song. Well, and what's cool here is I I might

think that somebody just hears the song and they go about whatever they're doing,

But he actually heard my lyrics and just he recited back what he just heard

and he had meaning in what he heard. And that's to me, that's

probably one of the coolest things I've ever really experienced to have somebody just call

right and it's not my uncle that called in, right, of course,

it could be. It could be thanks uncle, Mike. Right. Yeah,

that's awesome. Yeah, that's got to give you chills. Right when

when somebody really when they give you more than just oh I like that song,

when they actually get something from the lyrics, you know, that's awesome.

Well, and even you bringing up the rap, so you're you brought

up something to me that was already a discussion between myself and Brian that did

the rap, Like, well, it's you know, but I didn't come

in here and ask you, hey, what do you think about that?

Yeah, like you brought that up on your own, and he just called

in in the same way. He was surprised to hear that. So I

guess that's that was effective in how it's supposed to be in there. So

yeah, yeah, yeah, well done, well done, thank you.

That is awesome. So yeah, so kind of circling back though to what

we were talking about, so are you before about the singles? So is

is your are you just kind of doing singles for now and then kind of

see where it leads or yeah. I mean, I think I would like

it to lead somewhere where I just keep making better songs, right, and

then I make it to the point where you just can't deny it anymore.

Like, you know, I'll just keep throwing good songs at people, and

then I'm gonna just end up where that's going to take me, which could

then mean playing more music, you know, full time original music, or

selling music, or just getting it everywhere. So I think the intention would

be to just keep going in the direction that I don't. I don't want

to do it. I'm not. I've never done it just as a hobby,

you know, I've always in the background of anything I've been doing,

plugging away. Do you play out a lot? Are you doing a lot

of shows? I'm playing fewer now. I mean, there was a point

where I used to play, you know, fifteen eighteen times a month and

work a full time job. I'd say, Now it's and once I get

going again, it's probably on average, maybe more like five to eight times

a month. More than that. How many you know, did you say

a month? How many times would you say, oh before yeah, fifteen,

twenty seventeen, you know, But that's crazy to me. But that

would be because I was saying yes to every gig I got, right,

Yeah, like a lot they would call and you were working. Yeah,

but I'd be playing a Monday night, Tuesday night, a Wednesday, a

Sunday. And eventually I decided, actually that's when I decided to start getting

back into focusing on recording my music. I was like, I'm not gonna

record my music and play all these gigs. So yeah, but I but

I'm just more selective now, you know. I have some coming up.

I'm playing in peter Boron Hampshire at a nice little family diner Christmas Eve called

Pipa and Lulu's. And I went to school with both of the people that

own the place, and they just I was in there recently and they asked

me, and yeah, I'll come in and do that. So I've let

a lot of things happen. You know. I don't really search for it

as much anymore. I do have a booking agent once in a while get

some calls, but yeah, I just kind of go where I think I

should be, go where the road takes you. Yeah, yeah, no,

that makes that makes sense. Now do you have do you have anything

coming up that you want to mention, any shows in the area that I

wish I wrote them down, or you can tell us where to find that.

I don't think I have. I think I have one coming up.

It's like January thirteenth, but that's in Hillsbrow that a place called Main Street

Grill. I have a show coming up over at Hampshire Hills, a couple

of those what is that called the Hills, The Hills, the Hills.

But I will start like I've just this time of year. I was like

December, and you know, it's a little slow, and then yea,

it will get warmer and then I'll be playing like you know, maybe some

sea coast things and some places around here. But really now I'm just trying

to really refine my sound, get better with my equipment, you know,

learn my equipment a little bit more in terms of sound, because I just

I'm not I just put stuff on the floor and I don't I don't turn

too many knots to what I'm saying. We should tell people too, So

what's what's the best way for people to find you online? Who want to

follow you, follow your music and and and part of why I think it's

especially important make that clear with our listeners. Is because uh not everyone's going

to know how to spell your last name. That's true. Yeah, we

should correct that. So it is Russo r O U S S E a

U. That's how you. I'm sure all you had a pen when I

just said that. Guys on the chat room, I've dropped Tom Russo Music's

race book link. Oh yeah, there for you. I would you know,

and I would say. Now, what I try to do now,

and I've been encouraged to do this more, is just get people to stream

it. Stream more like go on Spotify, listen to whatever you want,

go on iTunes music, go on Amazon Music, Apple Music. So it's

it's all out there. Yeah. So it's it's it's all there for people

to get it free. I think now the idea is just really getting people

to share it. Like like I didn't really get that until a couple of

years ago. I have my friend Lewis Gendron there that wrote Broke Heart with

me. He actually started off that song. He was more of the main

writer than I came in. He's he's been the one plugging for me to

do that. He's like, you got to get people to stream it,

because if I had a stack right now of three hundred CDs and I even

told you it was two dollars for the CD, you might not buy it,

right, you know. It's people don't care about that anymore, so

some people do it. It's it's interesting how I would want a CD.

Yeah, I mean, physical media has really kind of hung on. But

you know, some people, like if they're really into an artist, you

know, they want the art and the liner notes and everything, you know,

And we had like like we've had actually like Byron G and Cody Pope

when they were on a couple of you know, pretty young hip hop guys,

and they're like, oh yeah, we still put out CDs because you

know, some some people still want physical media. But but it's it's certainly

has changed a lot. I think I think it was in twenty twenty two,

I think, I hope I have this right, was the first year

that Vinyl actually outsold CDs that yeah, yeah, you're right about I'm missing

albums. Yeah, I missed, you know, having those big sheets and

liner notes and stuff. But I'll tell you you're definitely on my playlist,

which is why I don't know a lot of current day songs. You were

at before the show, you had asked me about a current day song.

My playlist is pretty much all independent artists. But I really don't hear a

lot of modern now. But you had only just heard it recently, right,

I wasn't on your playlist, right right? No, No, you're

going on my play you are going. You are coming onto my independent playlist.

That'd be bad. If I've had to give my playlist for years I've

just met. No, I'm not that quite it turns out, it turns

out it's a different time. Russo, Tom Russo are Uss was approved and

I did not even play. I would say funny. Even for music,

I'll be out more and more, uh, playing in live, so somebody

usually can kind of go search. I'll always post my gigs on Facebook.

I do have the musician page and my private page, but over the years

nobody half of them come in on my private my personal page, and I

still accept them because it's just like, well, that's what they find.

So I think there's Tom Russo music and Tom Russo, but I'd say share

share that music as much as you can for sure. I don't know,

do you have time to play that one last song or oh yeah, that's

that's how I want to Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, that's that's how

I want to end. I don't want to wear out my welcome here.

And I'm very curious about that bike. And if anybody laughs at you when

you ride that bike, there's a bike in the well. It looks like

a lot kind of a scooter. It's a bike scooter. I was gonna

say a lot of that, like is somebody somebody won that at the Miracle

on Elm Street, which is an awesome fundraiser that's done here every year and

all the money and toys and things that are raised day right here in Manchester

and go to Manchester kids. So that was part of a raffle prize.

It was probably called the Miracle on Elm Street. When they sat actually rolling

is look at it two wheels. I would have to get on it and

I'd be like, I do not know what to do. I should write

things like that. I value not breaking any more bones. I think it

looks really cool though. It does look cool. It does, so we

will. Yeah, so we're gonna end the hour with this, uh,

this song. I greet this on what should we know about this Tom before

we play just actually to me kind of started a lot of this off in

me recording again. Actually, I wrote the song a piano, which isn't

really what I would do. So I played piano on the song. A

friend of mine's playing with me as well. But it just seemed really easy

to write because I wasn't playing a guitar, so I really didn't know what

I was doing, so I didn't know what I couldn't do. It was

more just playing it and it sounded right. But yeah, I don't know.

It seems to this this seems to be a song that will always be

an end of the album song. It just it feels that way to me.

It's kind of slow, but it has a certain melody feel that that

I wanted to get through and I think it happened. Yeah, well but

pretty simple, you know, pretty simple overall, perfect way to and the

segment then excellent, Tom Russo, thank you so much. This has been

wonderful. Well, thank you very much for having me absolutely absolutely and my

cousin Kate O Yeah, Kate from Darling Hill. Go back and check that

out if you missed that interview. That was really good. That was a

few months ago, right before right before Halloween. You said, right,

yeah, And I just want to thank you guys for showcasing local artists like

you do. Happy to do. It's really fun to sit back and watch

you interview them and ask them all the questions like you seem to get to

the heart of the creation process, which I really, I really think it's

cool to hear and share with people. Oh, thank you. I appreciate

that nice style, right and I love that. Let's give this a listen.

This is greet the Sun, Tom Russo, Tom, thanks again,

thank you. I don't see anything in front of me. I see well,

want to see. I hear what I hear, don't hold on.

I'm still singing, singing more song, dreaming, same mold dream till I

come back. And it's nothing that I haven't seen. I've been haunted by

the same old dream. Comes to take my hand, das night, I

pray the Lord he has my life. I'm still going down the same old

road telling stories. I've all already talk and I'm waiting here for me to

come by the corner. I'll be meet someone you can see. Still dreaming

every dream till a comby, come till it come back. Come till it

come back. Come till it come back. Come till it come back.

Come till it come back. Come back till it come back.

Game Plan