# Marcus Hummon: Songs,Stories, and his journey from L.A. to Nashville

An episode of [Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1751194045), 24 Mar 2026, 27 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c41d385f-64b2-4514-9415-b4d50130ce01/a4a4549d-675c-44b8-9e58-b4d5016afa40/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1742151-672b-4e4d-997b-b4d50130ce0c

Marcus Hummon's Musical Journey: From Nashville Honky Tonks to Grammy Wins In this episode of Almost Live Nashville, Tony Mantor interviews Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marcus Hummon. Hummon shares insights from his extensive career, which includes songwriting, theater compositions, and scoring operas. Discussing his experience from his early days performing at Nashville's iconic Bluebird Cafe to crafting hits for major artists, Marcus reveals the dynamic evolution of the music industry. They delve into his new projects, including collaborating with his son’s label and creating an album inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poetry Hummon also provides thoughtful commentary on the challenges faced by modern artists and the impact of streaming on the music business. Introduction to the Podcast Meet Marcus Hummon: Grammy-Winning Singer-Songwriter Marcus Hummon's Current Projects and Collaborations The Evolution of the Music Industry Theater and Family: Marcus Hummonn's Diverse Talents Challenges and Triumphs in the Music Business Marcus Hummonn's Personal Journey and Reflections Staying Relevant in a Changing Industry Collaborations and Future Endeavors Closing Remarks and Contact Information INTRO/OUTRO : T. Wild Mantor Music BMI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to
[0:17] Speaker 1: work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years
[0:20] Speaker 1: of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether
[0:26] Speaker 1: famous stars, or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories
[0:31] Speaker 1: to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these
[0:35] Speaker 1: stories which offer a glimpse into their lives and the
[0:39] Speaker 1: evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share
[0:42] Speaker 1: these narratives providing information on how they evolved into their
[0:46] Speaker 1: chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom,
[0:50] Speaker 1: discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who
[0:53] Speaker 1: helped them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes
[0:57] Speaker 1: stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi,
[1:04] Speaker 1: I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Joining us
[1:08] Speaker 1: today is Marcus Haman, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter whose words and
[1:13] Speaker 1: melodies have shaped the soul of country music for decades.
[1:16] Speaker 1: He's chased his dream from the stages of L.A. to
[1:19] Speaker 1: the honky-tonks of Music City. In the mid-80s, he traded
[1:23] Speaker 1: the West Coast lights of L.A. to the stages of Nashville.
[1:27] Speaker 1: There he honed his craft at iconic spots like the
[1:30] Speaker 1: Bluebird Cafe, eventually landing a songwriting deal that launched a
[1:36] Speaker 1: career of chart-breaking songs. He has gifted the world songs
[1:40] Speaker 1: that capture love, Wanderlust, and the Unbreakable Human Spirit. He's
[1:44] Speaker 1: not just a hitmaker, he's a multi-instrumentalist, composer, storyteller, scoring films,
[1:52] Speaker 1: penning operas, and even weaving musicals that have graced off-Broadway stages.
[1:57] Speaker 1: His journey here in Nashville has been nothing short of fantastic.
[2:01] Speaker 1: So before we dive into our episode, we'll be right
[2:04] Speaker 1: back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from
[2:07] Speaker 1: our sponsors. Thanks for coming on!
[2:10] Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
[2:11] Speaker 1: Oh, it's my pleasure. Let's kick it off this way.
[2:13] Speaker 1: What are you working on now? What's your current projects?
[2:16] Speaker 2: Ash, what am I doing now? Well, I'm still writing
[2:19] Speaker 2: for a small company. You know, I'm still doing some
[2:22] Speaker 2: of that work. A couple of times a week, I'll
[2:24] Speaker 2: work with artists. And kind of my main thing with
[2:27] Speaker 2: this group that I'm with now, Salinger Entertainment, is I
[2:29] Speaker 2: just ask them, you know, after all these years, I mean,
[2:32] Speaker 2: I still like to write in the kind of conventional
[2:35] Speaker 2: Nashville culture of co-writing. But pretty much only with artists
[2:39] Speaker 2: or writers who are nerdy. There's different things because I
[2:43] Speaker 2: can play a few different instruments and have a few
[2:45] Speaker 2: different influences, at least the way that I approach music.
[2:48] Speaker 2: I can't sit in every room, but I can sit
[2:50] Speaker 2: in quite a few. I just want the artists or
[2:52] Speaker 2: the writers and or writers to be all about it. Recently,
[2:57] Speaker 2: some folks that I've had, nowadays you'll have streaming singles.
[3:00] Speaker 2: It's a very different world than of course when I
[3:02] Speaker 2: got there in 1986. A lot of the artists that
[3:05] Speaker 2: I work with, even major label, accent. They're not even
[3:08] Speaker 2: that concerned with terrestrial radio. Their feelings aren't heard if
[3:11] Speaker 2: they put out four singles in a year and none
[3:14] Speaker 2: of them go to radio.
[3:16] Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I hear that a lot. They don't
[3:18] Speaker 1: care about radio any longer.
[3:19] Speaker 2: Give me a good example. One of the more talented
[3:22] Speaker 2: groups that I work with is the band Lula. You know,
[3:25] Speaker 2: they're on Warner Brothers and they're tremendous singers and they've
[3:28] Speaker 2: been out on the road with Dierks Bentley and, you know,
[3:31] Speaker 2: big rooms. And And like Carnegie Hall and had a
[3:34] Speaker 2: couple of songs co-written with them that were singles and
[3:37] Speaker 2: did videos. And, you know, that would be an example
[3:40] Speaker 2: of how things have changed. You know, they're really going
[3:42] Speaker 2: to trust her radio. So it's harder to make money
[3:45] Speaker 2: in that kind of world. But it's still the same
[3:47] Speaker 2: world of want to try to write great and kind
[3:49] Speaker 2: of groovy music. Yeah, so I've got that going on.
[3:52] Speaker 2: That's fun. You know, I do a lot of work
[3:54] Speaker 2: in theater. I have for the last 25 years, I
[3:57] Speaker 2: kind of branched out into theater, writing musical theater, but
[4:00] Speaker 2: also writing some opera, technically opera. It's been produced a
[4:03] Speaker 2: couple of pieces at Nashville Opera. And then last year
[4:06] Speaker 2: I had a show that was developed at the Welsh
[4:08] Speaker 2: Academy of the Arts with Belmont. And then we did
[4:11] Speaker 2: a production and then PBS picked it up, PBS locally,
[4:14] Speaker 2: NPR television. But nonetheless, that's, you know, great fun.
[4:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, the world of theater can be great fun.
[4:21] Speaker 2: And the world of theater is so prohibitive because it's
[4:24] Speaker 2: so expensive. You know, regional theater now is in the millions.
[4:28] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's tough. Everything right now in the production cost
[4:32] Speaker 1: is just getting so very expensive.
[4:34] Speaker 2: The show I've had for about a decade called American Prophet,
[4:37] Speaker 2: Frederick Douglass in his own words, and it was co-written
[4:39] Speaker 2: with Motown director Charles Randolph Wright, who also directed it.
[4:43] Speaker 2: You know, we did it at the Arena Stage in D.C.,
[4:46] Speaker 2: which is one of the really large regional theaters nationally.
[4:48] Speaker 2: And gosh, I mean, that was so expensive, you know,
[4:51] Speaker 2: to move onto Broadway. As New York Times says, it
[4:54] Speaker 2: averages anywhere from $ 15 to $ 20 million is how you capitalize,
[4:58] Speaker 2: you know. Well, that's rough.
[4:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
[5:00] Speaker 2: You might as well be running, you know, for a
[5:02] Speaker 2: political office. You know, I mean, it's really tough on
[5:05] Speaker 2: intellectual property writers.
[5:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. It is very tough. The production costs,
[5:11] Speaker 1: the advertising costs, just everything is so expensive. It's very
[5:14] Speaker 1: good for those that have the big name and the
[5:17] Speaker 1: big draw. For those that are trying to learn the business,
[5:21] Speaker 1: learn their craft, develop themselves. It is a lot tougher
[5:26] Speaker 1: than what people think.
[5:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tougher. You know, I have three sons and
[5:30] Speaker 2: they're all artists, different kinds of artists. a gallery painter,
[5:34] Speaker 2: and just has a show that opened in Clarksville at
[5:36] Speaker 2: the Custom House Museum. Just extraordinary. Of course, I'm his dad,
[5:40] Speaker 2: but he's an extraordinary oil painter. And the youngest is
[5:43] Speaker 2: a digital, really fine digital artist who works with my
[5:46] Speaker 2: wife's Center for Contemplative Justice and does all kinds of designs.
[5:50] Speaker 2: And then the eldest is Levi Hummon, who is a
[5:53] Speaker 2: recording artist, writer, touring artist, also now kind of hosting
[5:57] Speaker 2: a show on TikTok. You know, his generation, the last
[6:00] Speaker 2: 10 years, his coming up, was the advent of streaming
[6:03] Speaker 2: and it was just such a different model because when
[6:07] Speaker 2: I got to town in Nashville in 86 and into
[6:11] Speaker 2: the era of the late 80s and then the big
[6:13] Speaker 2: tsunami that became country music in the late 80s and 90s,
[6:18] Speaker 2: there was enough money floating around that if you had
[6:21] Speaker 2: some talent, people would, they'd lap you up, you'd get
[6:24] Speaker 2: a publishing deal and it would be plenty of money
[6:26] Speaker 2: if you're a young guy just getting started. You could
[6:29] Speaker 2: get a small $ 20, 000, $ 30, 000 deal Which in 1986 would be,
[6:34] Speaker 2: you could get a little place and you could start
[6:36] Speaker 2: your life. Now, boy, I tell you, it is really
[6:40] Speaker 2: tough to get a publishing deal. And the nature of
[6:43] Speaker 2: those publishing deals is you have things like 12 for
[6:47] Speaker 2: 12s and it's like poverty line stuff.
[6:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, the music business has changed so drastically over the
[6:54] Speaker 1: last several years. Streaming has been a double-edged sword. It's
[6:59] Speaker 1: helped on one side and hurt on the other. It
[7:02] Speaker 1: has given the ability for people to listen to new
[7:05] Speaker 1: music that they would not have heard on terrestrial radio.
[7:09] Speaker 1: The other side of that sword is that it's hurt
[7:12] Speaker 1: the songwriter because now the streaming only pays fractions of pennies.
[7:17] Speaker 1: So it's been good and it's been bad.
[7:20] Speaker 2: That's exactly right. That's my exact perspective is that the yeah,
[7:25] Speaker 2: you've taken, there's no money in publishing and the intellectual
[7:28] Speaker 2: property of the writer itself, but by virtue of the
[7:31] Speaker 2: sort of democratization of the process, you have things that
[7:35] Speaker 2: emerge that are not part of a corporate five-year plan.
[7:38] Speaker 2: You know, suddenly there's a guy and he's like, Billy Strings.
[7:41] Speaker 2: And you're like, well, where the hell did he come from?
[7:43] Speaker 2: He's selling out They're rhyming for four nights in a row.
[7:46] Speaker 2: And that's exciting. That's the positive side.
[7:48] Speaker 1: It is. The only unfortunate part of that is now
[7:52] Speaker 1: you have the major labels that have dried up as
[7:56] Speaker 1: far as development goes. They don't put the money into it.
[7:58] Speaker 1: They want everything brought to them completely 100% finished. That
[8:03] Speaker 1: way they don't have to do any development. Whereas in
[8:06] Speaker 1: the past, You had development deals, and it took time,
[8:09] Speaker 1: and they would build it, and then all of a sudden,
[8:12] Speaker 1: you could get a star out of that development process.
[8:15] Speaker 2: That's right. Well, they want to see the evidence in
[8:17] Speaker 2: your socials.
[8:18] Speaker 1: And those aren't always correct. I have friends of mine
[8:20] Speaker 1: that have thousands and thousands of people that follow them.
[8:24] Speaker 1: If they were to put out a post that says, hey,
[8:27] Speaker 1: I'll be at Belmont tomorrow at 6 o'clock, you might
[8:29] Speaker 1: only have 25 people there.
[8:31] Speaker 2: Well, that's true. The other thing that I ended up doing,
[8:35] Speaker 2: just to keep myself interested, is I went ahead and
[8:38] Speaker 2: did a record this year. My son started a label
[8:42] Speaker 2: with the producer-writer, a very successful producer-writer named Eric Arges.
[8:46] Speaker 2: And the two of them started a label called 3686 Records.
[8:50] Speaker 2: They signed a TikTok kind of sensation out of LA
[8:53] Speaker 2: named Kira Lees. And then a young gal at Belmont
[8:56] Speaker 2: who's a very talented folk singer, Ava Claire, I decided to, again,
[9:01] Speaker 2: you know, I do a lot of wacky stuff. I
[9:03] Speaker 2: do theater, I do choral work, I do different kinds
[9:06] Speaker 2: of things. And I decided to do a record taking
[9:08] Speaker 2: my favorite Emily Dickinson poems and setting them to music
[9:12] Speaker 2: in my own fashion, and also to use my technique
[9:15] Speaker 2: on guitar and piano, particularly piano, in this record. And
[9:18] Speaker 2: so that was really great. So I did an album
[9:20] Speaker 2: called Songs for Emily, and we got some love and,
[9:24] Speaker 2: you know, a little bit of Spotify love. We'll get
[9:26] Speaker 2: Quite a few people wrote about it. I got to
[9:28] Speaker 2: do a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Such a joy.
[9:32] Speaker 2: and Daryl Scott, who's my longtime musical buddy, and Sarah
[9:36] Speaker 2: Evans as well. So I really had fun, and I
[9:38] Speaker 2: hadn't really done a record. I mean, in a sense,
[9:41] Speaker 2: if you do recordings for a theater piece, hey, you're
[9:44] Speaker 2: doing a double album. Say two shows ago at Nashville Opera,
[9:47] Speaker 2: I did a show called Favorite Son, and that was
[9:49] Speaker 2: about an 85-minute through composed, so technically opera, all music.
[9:53] Speaker 2: That took me a year or two to not only
[9:57] Speaker 2: write it, but also to record all the pieces so
[9:59] Speaker 2: I could get it transcribed and onto scores. You've done
[10:02] Speaker 2: albums and albums and albums, and it's also obviously very expressive.
[10:06] Speaker 2: But honestly, there is something about setting out to do
[10:10] Speaker 2: a record as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.
[10:13] Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to agree with you. There is nothing
[10:16] Speaker 1: better than working on a new record that's your own.
[10:19] Speaker 2: I have to say, I just, I was telling Levi
[10:22] Speaker 2: the other day, cause we'd gotten on the first ballot
[10:24] Speaker 2: of the Grammys, you know, and I was telling him,
[10:26] Speaker 2: I said, listen, brother, if we actually get nominated, you know, she,
[10:29] Speaker 2: you should be knighted because never can way. And I
[10:32] Speaker 2: don't want you feeling bad because I have had a
[10:35] Speaker 2: blast and working with you, my son full circle, having my,
[10:40] Speaker 2: you know, 34 year old son be my effectively my
[10:43] Speaker 2: label boss. Yeah. Shooting videos and doing, I went to,
[10:47] Speaker 2: you know, I, I went on a Hajj, a pilgrimage
[10:51] Speaker 2: to Amherst, Massachusetts. I wanted to be, you know, where
[10:55] Speaker 2: Emily was. I wanted to sit in her room, walk
[10:58] Speaker 2: in those gardens, you know. Mostly in the neighborhood thought
[11:01] Speaker 2: she was a gardener. They thought she was a botanist.
[11:03] Speaker 2: Virtually no one knew she was a literary figure. And
[11:07] Speaker 2: it was great, like the whole journey of it. And
[11:09] Speaker 2: the journey is kind of continuing. I'm working with Belmont
[11:12] Speaker 2: with their orchestral department. We're going to kind of develop
[11:15] Speaker 2: an evening of transcribing this work. I've got the work
[11:18] Speaker 2: scored the way I recorded it, but then they have
[11:21] Speaker 2: a PhD for orchestration. And so it'll be fun to
[11:25] Speaker 2: work with some younger people who will just have, you know,
[11:28] Speaker 2: free reign, you know, be creative as possible. I was.
[11:31] Speaker 2: It'll be fun. So I think the journey continues. Whenever
[11:34] Speaker 2: you have good work, the journey continues.
[11:36] Speaker 1: Absolutely. I agree. Now, for those that don't know, you
[11:40] Speaker 1: were inducted into the National Songwriters Hall of Fame, correct?
[11:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, 2019.
[11:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's just great. Now, for people that
[11:48] Speaker 1: don't know, they just need to Google your name because
[11:51] Speaker 1: that's the beauty of Google now. You can find out
[11:55] Speaker 1: so much about things that you might not have ever
[11:57] Speaker 1: known about. So what people need to do, they need
[12:00] Speaker 1: to Google your name. You've had many songs that you've
[12:04] Speaker 1: either written or co-written that have hit charts and done
[12:06] Speaker 1: so well your journey here in nashville has really been outstanding.
[12:10] Speaker 2: Yeah no i've been i've been fortunate you know it's
[12:13] Speaker 2: funny too because and this is kind of a good
[12:15] Speaker 2: thing i think for young writer artist types to consider
[12:20] Speaker 2: is that you know when i got to town i
[12:22] Speaker 2: had a real specific vision of what i thought was
[12:24] Speaker 2: going to happen for me and what it would be
[12:26] Speaker 2: who i thought i was well it was who i
[12:28] Speaker 2: thought i was but What I wasn't, as it turns out,
[12:31] Speaker 2: going to be was a big star. Different reasons for that.
[12:34] Speaker 2: I had several record deals. It was always about writing
[12:38] Speaker 2: my own stuff, singing my own stuff. It was always
[12:40] Speaker 2: about playing my instruments on records. The way that I
[12:45] Speaker 2: was brought up, brought up a child of the 70s
[12:47] Speaker 2: where People's writing was intrinsically tied to how they played
[12:52] Speaker 2: an instrument, and these are my heroes. I figured I'd
[12:56] Speaker 2: have a country version of that, and it didn't really
[12:59] Speaker 2: work out.
[13:00] Speaker 1: That's not uncommon for a lot of singers, songwriters that
[13:03] Speaker 1: come here to Nashville. How did that affect you?
[13:05] Speaker 2: I remember pretty early in my 30s thinking I was
[13:09] Speaker 2: a failure, and I'd had a number one record at
[13:11] Speaker 2: that point. My first number one was Only Love by Wynonna.
[13:15] Speaker 2: about to play guitar on because you know i used
[13:17] Speaker 2: an open tuning and they weren't sure what the chords
[13:20] Speaker 2: were exactly because they could they could shape the chords
[13:22] Speaker 2: but they weren't ringing because i was using a d
[13:25] Speaker 2: major with a you know major third d a d
[13:28] Speaker 2: f sharp a d and it was also written in
[13:30] Speaker 2: kind of two harmonic signatures a little different you know
[13:34] Speaker 2: the lyric was co-written with roger murrow I did have
[13:36] Speaker 2: a hit, but I felt like such a dismal failure.
[13:40] Speaker 1: You did get on a major label right after that,
[13:42] Speaker 1: didn't you?
[13:43] Speaker 2: I got on a major label, and I think of
[13:45] Speaker 2: it like that was a record that had Bless the
[13:47] Speaker 2: Broken Road, the first actual really piano version the way
[13:51] Speaker 2: it was written, and it also had the song One
[13:53] Speaker 2: of These Days, which both of those songs would go
[13:55] Speaker 2: on to be big hits. There were other songs, it
[13:58] Speaker 2: was like the most expensive demo session ever because more
[14:02] Speaker 2: than half that record eventually got cut and released. But honestly,
[14:05] Speaker 2: right when it was all going down and so many
[14:08] Speaker 2: records was dropping me, I remember I had to have
[14:11] Speaker 2: a real come to Jesus moment because I was like, man,
[14:15] Speaker 2: what have I done?
[14:16] Speaker 1: It's easy to question yourself after something like that.
[14:19] Speaker 2: My parents were State Department people. We lived overseas. I
[14:22] Speaker 2: got to see the world. I got to go to
[14:24] Speaker 2: this wonderful college. I had a great experience. Everything kind
[14:28] Speaker 2: of going for me. And here I am. I just thought, Man,
[14:31] Speaker 2: you know, it's all going to hell in a handbasket.
[14:33] Speaker 2: But it was kind of my friend Daryl Scott was
[14:35] Speaker 2: a great help in that time because he, too, had
[14:38] Speaker 2: been through a lot of upheaval as an artist. And
[14:42] Speaker 2: he had started to do what was Americana before there
[14:45] Speaker 2: was Americana, where he was self-producing and just sort of
[14:48] Speaker 2: defining his own world. And that album is called Aloha
[14:52] Speaker 2: from Nashville, which is a masterpiece, in my opinion. He said,
[14:55] Speaker 2: you know, this is a great time, Marcus. You get
[14:58] Speaker 2: to find out. Now you get to find out. You
[15:00] Speaker 2: get to find out how much you love this thing.
[15:02] Speaker 2: You're going to find out now what you really are about.
[15:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, he had the right attitude. Perfect advice.
[15:08] Speaker 2: And I remember when he said that, I was like,
[15:10] Speaker 2: you know, that's the damn truth. I did want to
[15:12] Speaker 2: be famous. You know, there was that drive. You know,
[15:15] Speaker 2: what I did realize was it wasn't number one. And
[15:18] Speaker 2: I can honestly say that. I mean, you know, I'm
[15:20] Speaker 2: just as ego driven as the next person. But I
[15:22] Speaker 2: realized it wasn't the number one thing. The number one
[15:26] Speaker 2: thing was I wanted to make great music. It was redirected.
[15:30] Speaker 2: I decided, OK. all right, well, people are cutting my songs.
[15:33] Speaker 2: Instead of, why don't I accept that as being a
[15:36] Speaker 2: really fortunate thing and be grateful? And then if I
[15:39] Speaker 2: want to make whatever my wacky shit is, it wasn't
[15:42] Speaker 2: long after that, I'm like, you know what else I'm
[15:44] Speaker 2: going to do? I'm going to try writing a musical
[15:47] Speaker 2: about the painting of Guernica by Picasso. Why? Because I
[15:50] Speaker 2: want to.
[15:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, perfect attitude.
[15:53] Speaker 2: That has been my journey is that I think a
[15:56] Speaker 2: lot of it is about learning to be, obviously, in reality,
[15:59] Speaker 2: I'm very, very lucky. And a lot of people, I've
[16:02] Speaker 2: seen a lot of really talented people, things go wrong
[16:05] Speaker 2: and they bail. And I'm not even saying they're wrong
[16:07] Speaker 2: for doing it. But if you've survived this industry, as
[16:11] Speaker 2: I have, you know, own a house, You know, it's
[16:13] Speaker 2: not like, as I say, it's not like baseball money,
[16:15] Speaker 2: but it's like I can live and I can write.
[16:17] Speaker 2: And if I want to do a record on Emily Dickinson,
[16:20] Speaker 2: I do it.
[16:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. There's been a lot of people that
[16:23] Speaker 1: have done very well here in Nashville. Then there's a
[16:27] Speaker 1: lot of people that are very talented that have given
[16:31] Speaker 1: up and gone away or they did not look at
[16:34] Speaker 1: it the proper way. Just like you, you figured it out.
[16:37] Speaker 1: You wanted to be this singer-songwriter, you know, known as
[16:40] Speaker 1: an artist. And then it wasn't happening the way you
[16:43] Speaker 1: wanted to. But then all of a sudden, the songwriting
[16:45] Speaker 1: worked out. Other people are cutting your songs. You're making
[16:48] Speaker 1: money that way. You got the best of both worlds
[16:50] Speaker 1: in the fact that you get to be an artist
[16:52] Speaker 1: that you want to be, but you get to make
[16:53] Speaker 1: the money off the music from others that are liking
[16:56] Speaker 1: what you're doing. So I think it's the right way.
[16:59] Speaker 1: But you're right. There's a lot of people that's given up.
[17:02] Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll see people that I think they're right on
[17:05] Speaker 1: the cusp of doing something big and they'll leave. And
[17:07] Speaker 1: it's kind of like I give that analogy of the
[17:10] Speaker 1: guy that has this broken down car. He fixes it.
[17:14] Speaker 1: And every month he fixes something new. And then he
[17:17] Speaker 1: finally gets to the point of where he's put so
[17:19] Speaker 1: much money in that car. One other thing goes, he
[17:23] Speaker 1: sells it. That was the one last thing going to
[17:25] Speaker 1: make that car last for 10 years. I've seen so
[17:28] Speaker 1: many people here in Nashville do that same thing. They'll
[17:31] Speaker 1: get to that point where they're so close, and then
[17:33] Speaker 1: that stumbling block or that last bump in the road
[17:36] Speaker 1: will hit, and then they leave. So you've gridded it out.
[17:40] Speaker 1: I mean, that's, you know, kudos to you. And not
[17:42] Speaker 1: only that, but you've had a lot of hit records
[17:44] Speaker 1: that have done really well. You know, so nothing wrong
[17:47] Speaker 1: with that at all.
[17:48] Speaker 2: Well, I'm very, like I say, I'm grateful. It's also interesting,
[17:53] Speaker 2: the perspective of being 64. I've It's such an interesting
[17:57] Speaker 2: industry with regards to your skill set. Grow unless you're
[18:02] Speaker 2: not pushing yourself. And I'm definitely a person, I can
[18:04] Speaker 2: honestly say that I push myself instrumentally. But you get
[18:08] Speaker 2: to a certain point and you're 64 years old. And
[18:10] Speaker 2: the reality is that the industry, the popular music industry,
[18:14] Speaker 2: be it country, urban, pop, whatever, it's directed towards roughly
[18:18] Speaker 2: 15 to 25, 6, 7-year-olds. And so it has. It's
[18:22] Speaker 2: always been. And there are adjustments that have to be made.
[18:25] Speaker 2: And I've also noticed that the writer, artists and writers
[18:29] Speaker 2: of my generation, some of them have kind of bailed.
[18:31] Speaker 2: You know, they've kind of it's sort of over like
[18:33] Speaker 2: you retire. People retire from various businesses that they do.
[18:37] Speaker 2: But for me, it's not a business. It's you know,
[18:40] Speaker 2: it's a lifestyle.
[18:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. As long as you keep writing, you keep working.
[18:44] Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you know Bobby Braddock.
[18:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
[18:49] Speaker 1: I mean, Bobby's in his 80s. He's still writing. So
[18:52] Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how old you are. You can still
[18:55] Speaker 1: write a great song.
[18:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard Bobby, by the way, is... one of
[18:58] Speaker 2: the greatest icons for anybody who's listening. And he's also,
[19:02] Speaker 2: for a lot of us too, there's almost a saintly
[19:04] Speaker 2: quality to his existence. He's reached a level of, he's
[19:08] Speaker 2: like the Bodhisattva out there.
[19:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a great guy. I've known him for a
[19:11] Speaker 1: long time.
[19:12] Speaker 2: I also feel though, I don't want to be judgmental
[19:15] Speaker 2: because I also know that there are some really, really,
[19:18] Speaker 2: I won't say names specifically, but really, really famous older
[19:22] Speaker 2: writers who have said to me more than one, have
[19:25] Speaker 2: said to me, you know, I don't write anymore because
[19:28] Speaker 2: people don't want what I have to say.
[19:29] Speaker 1: Wow.
[19:30] Speaker 2: It's just kind of too painful. In my life, one
[19:34] Speaker 2: of the things which has made this kind of pain,
[19:37] Speaker 2: if you will, put it probably too dramatically, but it's
[19:40] Speaker 2: part of the fun of when you have theater, not
[19:43] Speaker 2: to tell everyone to go into theater because it's like
[19:45] Speaker 2: a terrible business. It's a great art form, but it's
[19:48] Speaker 2: the worst business in the world. But as a writer,
[19:51] Speaker 2: I have to tell you what is great is that
[19:53] Speaker 2: I have so many characters, historical characters, but also characters
[19:59] Speaker 2: I've created. They're of any number of age. They have
[20:02] Speaker 2: all kinds of impediments and tragedies and great triumphs in
[20:06] Speaker 2: their lives. And there's so much to write about. There's
[20:08] Speaker 2: so many different kinds of things to write about that
[20:11] Speaker 2: I wouldn't ordinarily get to write about. That has been
[20:14] Speaker 2: a great help to me in just keeping my mind
[20:16] Speaker 2: in it. Like if you do that kind of work,
[20:19] Speaker 2: then if, you know, if you're lucky enough to sit
[20:21] Speaker 2: down with some new group of 20 something year olds
[20:23] Speaker 2: who got their thing going on and they're very expressive
[20:26] Speaker 2: and for whatever reason they want you there, you know,
[20:28] Speaker 2: whatever your age is, they want you there. Then it
[20:31] Speaker 2: becomes this very exciting thing. I don't do it as
[20:33] Speaker 2: much as I used to, and I love it, you know,
[20:36] Speaker 2: but it's because I'm being fed elsewhere, too. If I
[20:39] Speaker 2: had to completely commit myself to, like, as a writer,
[20:42] Speaker 2: I still got to keep talking about what I was
[20:44] Speaker 2: thinking about as a 17-year-old.
[20:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, I get that 100%. Yet a lot of that
[20:47] Speaker 1: is mindset. You've been willing to compromise on things that
[20:54] Speaker 1: you want to do, and you've done them, and that's
[20:57] Speaker 1: allowed you to be creative to do other things. Whereas
[21:01] Speaker 1: some people are so rigid that they're only going to
[21:03] Speaker 1: do this, but they're not willing to open up to
[21:06] Speaker 1: do something else. And those are the ones sometimes that...
[21:10] Speaker 1: will find themselves falling away because when a younger person
[21:14] Speaker 1: comes up and say, hey, I like this, this is
[21:16] Speaker 1: kind of cool, but can we do it this way?
[21:18] Speaker 1: And if you go, no, it's my way or the highway,
[21:19] Speaker 1: then of course they're going to leave. But if you go, oh, hey,
[21:22] Speaker 1: let's look at what it can be, then it's opened
[21:25] Speaker 1: up to collaboration and then you never know what can
[21:27] Speaker 1: happen from there.
[21:28] Speaker 2: That's right. You put your finger right on it. And
[21:32] Speaker 2: there was a time when, as a songwriter, this is
[21:36] Speaker 2: probably true, I don't want to act like I've got
[21:38] Speaker 2: all this wisdom. I have been in it for a while.
[21:41] Speaker 2: A lot of writers who have success, they kind of
[21:43] Speaker 2: have a season of it.
[21:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
[21:47] Speaker 2: And the thing is that season comes and then, you know,
[21:50] Speaker 2: you do as much as you can and then the
[21:53] Speaker 2: season passes too.
[21:54] Speaker 1: Right.
[21:55] Speaker 2: And so you have to be willing to kind of
[21:57] Speaker 2: accept that.
[21:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Just because the season ended doesn't mean that
[22:02] Speaker 1: you can't still practice and still work around and do
[22:05] Speaker 1: a few things that can still be very productive.
[22:08] Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. I'll give you an example, too, like the
[22:10] Speaker 2: things that the sort of the blessings of the process.
[22:13] Speaker 2: I think it was was it last year? Guys, this
[22:16] Speaker 2: is how I am now.
[22:18] Speaker 1: I know the feeling.
[22:19] Speaker 2: You know, I got a call from I think it
[22:21] Speaker 2: was maybe a year and a half ago. I got
[22:23] Speaker 2: a call from Rihanna. Rihanna Giddens reached out to me
[22:25] Speaker 2: and she do you know who that is?
[22:27] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
[22:28] Speaker 2: Yeah. So, you know, Carolina chopped the bar drops and then.
[22:32] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
[22:33] Speaker 2: Now has a TV show and such an interesting woman,
[22:36] Speaker 2: such an interesting writer and musician. And years, a few
[22:39] Speaker 2: years back, like, I don't know, five or six years,
[22:41] Speaker 2: we wrote a couple songs together and then we became friends.
[22:44] Speaker 2: And she was keeping an eye, too, on this American
[22:48] Speaker 2: prophet Frederick Douglass project. And I noted that she was
[22:51] Speaker 2: writing music for a librettist and she won a Pulitzer
[22:55] Speaker 2: for an opera, right? And so she says, do you
[22:57] Speaker 2: remember this song we... We wrote called Yet to Be.
[23:00] Speaker 2: I did, but I hadn't thought of it in a while.
[23:03] Speaker 2: She said, well, I've got this new band. I've got
[23:05] Speaker 2: this great guitar player from the Cameroon. He's riffing on
[23:09] Speaker 2: something you did. when we did our little audio. Anyway,
[23:14] Speaker 2: I got Jason Isbell to sing on it. Anyway, we're
[23:16] Speaker 2: going to put out as a single. Of course, it's
[23:18] Speaker 2: a streaming single and she's in Americana and not going
[23:21] Speaker 2: to be some massive.
[23:22] Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with that. A cut's a cut.
[23:24] Speaker 2: She said, I've done a cartoon. It's just like the
[23:26] Speaker 2: gift that kept giving. She said, I've done a cartoon
[23:29] Speaker 2: style animated video of it. The premise of the song,
[23:33] Speaker 2: It's a story song about a sharecropper's daughter of an
[23:36] Speaker 2: African-American black girl who is like the 30s and 40s
[23:41] Speaker 2: and she's grown up in Chim Crow and she wants
[23:43] Speaker 2: out and she wants to go north and she wants
[23:45] Speaker 2: a job. She's got to be in the third class,
[23:48] Speaker 2: part of the bus. It's about her. The second verse
[23:51] Speaker 2: comes in, and it's this Irish kid. This young Irish
[23:54] Speaker 2: guy is on a farm, and he wants to leave.
[23:56] Speaker 2: He wants to go to the United States, and he
[23:58] Speaker 2: wants to expand his horizons. He ends up, I don't know,
[24:01] Speaker 2: it's Chicago or whatever. In the song, they fall in love.
[24:07] Speaker 2: This is all, and of course, she and Jason are singing.
[24:10] Speaker 2: In the end, we went out of the 4-4 time.
[24:13] Speaker 2: We moved into this freaky soundscape 6-8 thing. He's talking
[24:19] Speaker 2: about kind of bringing an Irish blessing, you know, the
[24:22] Speaker 2: sort of language of may the road rise to meet you,
[24:24] Speaker 2: may the wind be at your back, that kind of stuff.
[24:26] Speaker 2: And talking about this baby they have. You know, and
[24:29] Speaker 2: with Rihanna, part of her thing is that she's of
[24:32] Speaker 2: mixed race parentage and she's partly Native American as well.
[24:37] Speaker 2: And part of what she's done in her life is
[24:39] Speaker 2: help to teach, you know, Americans like the story of
[24:42] Speaker 2: the banjo and and that it really transitions as a
[24:45] Speaker 2: quote-unquote white instrument because of Blackface, which is, of course, awful,
[24:49] Speaker 2: but at the same time, it brings about, you know,
[24:51] Speaker 2: she's just a fascinating person. I thought, you know, just
[24:55] Speaker 2: by virtue of still staying with songwriting as I do,
[24:59] Speaker 2: I got that experience, and that album went on to
[25:02] Speaker 2: be nominated for, I don't know, Album of the Year.
[25:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great.
[25:06] Speaker 2: Well, you know, she didn't win, but that's an example
[25:08] Speaker 2: of if you stay with it and you kind of
[25:11] Speaker 2: keep doing the kinds of things that you believe in
[25:14] Speaker 2: and that you want to do, then you just get
[25:16] Speaker 2: like a blessing happens.
[25:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. So how do people find you?
[25:21] Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram. I don't really do Facebook. Yeah, Instagram,
[25:26] Speaker 2: just Marcus Hummond. I'm actually on TikTok. Part of the
[25:29] Speaker 2: funny thing with my son's label is that he's a
[25:32] Speaker 2: young guy, so he's like, you better believe you're going
[25:34] Speaker 2: to do TikTok. He's got me out there putting out
[25:36] Speaker 2: things and Also, you can find me on Instagram. That's
[25:40] Speaker 2: where I really stay pretty active, maybe more than I should,
[25:44] Speaker 2: but I do.
[25:45] Speaker 1: Well, this has been great. I really appreciate taking the
[25:47] Speaker 1: time to come on with us.
[25:48] Speaker 2: Oh, man, I'm glad to talk to a Mainer.
[25:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's right. You don't get that very often. No.
[25:56] Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me, and I sure
[25:58] Speaker 2: appreciate it. And good luck with your ongoing with your
[26:01] Speaker 2: podcasts and all your work.
[26:03] Speaker 1: Absolutely. I really appreciate it. Thanks again. Thanks for joining
[26:17] Speaker 1: us today. We hope you enjoyed the show. This has
[26:22] Speaker 1: been a Tony Mantor production. For more information, contact media
[26:27] Speaker 1: at platomusic.com.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.