Celebrating Nashville's Music Legacy: Redd Faye and Drew Taylor Discuss Personal Stories of Resilience

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: Hey, it's Sarah Harrelson. You're host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast, and today I have not just one, but two artists joining me on today's episode. If you don't already know them, you need to know them, you need to check out their music. First up, I will have Red Faye on. She's from Oklahoma City, she's here now here in Nashville.

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Speaker 3: She has a edge of rock, country, R and B voice. She's also the great niece of songwriter Stony Edwards. You may know his song She's My Rock that was cut by George Jones and Brenda Lee. I have a great conversation coming up with her, and stick around because after my conversation with Red Faye, we're going right into my conversation with country singer songwriter Drew Taylor. He's from Ontario, Canada. His father played along country legends like ge Straight and Kenny Rogers. Drew actually spent his early years fronting a screamo band and now he's embracing country music. It's a great story. I love chatting with these artists today. I hope you will join me as well.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville. With your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.

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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host taking a walk in Nashville and today our guest is a powerhouse talent who was rewriting.

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Speaker 4: The rules of country music.

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Speaker 2: Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Boulder, Colorado, she grew up in a home filled with thousands of vinyl records, a foundation that helped her develop a sound that captures the edge of rock, soul of R and B, and the heart of country. She is the great niece of songwriter Stony Edwards, who penned She's My Rock cut by.

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Speaker 4: George Jones and Brenda Lee.

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Speaker 2: Red Faye is stepping into the spotlight with her debut single, Everyone Button, and her voice has been described as a rare blend of Stevine X, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. Red Faye, thank you so much for being oh my God today.

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Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having you today. I'm so excited. I see why you have this stop. You are good. Yeah, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: We're here at country Radio Simon Arms today and your new single, Everyone Button is coming out soon on April seventeenth. You have been working on this song was producer hamsel Lee, who is an incredible R and B pedigree with hits per color me bad. How did his R and B background influence the sound on this song that you're bringing into the country space.

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Speaker 5: What a fantastic and appropriate question.

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Speaker 4: Uh.

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Speaker 5: Getting in the studio with this song really was a thinker for him, a scratcher, because I think when he comes to a producer listening to a singer from that he gets where the song really is, where the heart of it is. And I think when he heard this very earthy country tone that was coming from me, but also the song itself has a little bit of a cosmopolitan.

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Speaker 4: Side to it, so I think he put that polish in there. But it is also such a very.

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Speaker 5: Staunch, ritualistic country sound, and so that's why we just love it, because it brings some dimension.

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Speaker 4: To a song, sort of like something that Pertina.

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Speaker 5: Mcgride might have done, you know, and it's it comes out when you hear it and you want to hear it again because you're like, I want to experience what that is really trying to tell me, because it does go a main path and then it has some other surprises too, So I think it's a definitely a collaboration between the producer and myself and the writer of the song, which was Trish Goldberg.

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Speaker 2: Wow, Yeah, I'm so excited to hear it. That's your new single coming out. Everyone but me, and as I mentioned earlier, are your great uncles Tony Edwards.

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Speaker 4: He was a true.

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Speaker 2: Pioneer as one of the first black musicians to make a massive impact on country music, and he explicitly advised you to keep the torch blazing. So how does that responsibility weigh on you as you navigate the industry today.

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Speaker 5: Well, for sure, when I wasn't and I kind of left the country scene for a bit, it stayed in my head. I think now that I'm back, if I certainly feel him walking beside me at the giant that he is, and his spirit absolutely sores inside of this whole family legacy that we're bringing, you know, want to bring to small center focus again. I would love one day to be able to do a tribute to uncle, because there's so many people that absolutely remember She's my rock and Rose cuind of Glasses and so many beautiful songs that he brought to the palette with his energy, and that that was something that he instilled in me is that you know, you're here to bring forth who you are, entertain people in a way and a spirit that brings some closeness to the music, some intimacy to what you're doing. And he was a class act for sure. So I'm grateful for so many things him included.

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Speaker 4: That's so special.

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Speaker 2: I would love to hear your take on some of those songs and your child at Home and Boulder it was filled with a vinyl collection of nearly seven thousand albums, Wow, ranging from Miles Davis to Dan Fogelberg. How did that damn it of great self? He develop a sound that critics are already comparing to iconic voices like Stevie Nix and Tina Turner.

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Speaker 4: That's a big question.

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Speaker 5: But certainly, growing up in Bolder, you had so many influences outside of them too, which were a lot of soft rock and rock and even hard acid, you know, I just and country too.

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Speaker 4: I mean, John Denver was something you pretty much woke up to.

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Speaker 5: That was the national Yeah, But for a certain my father made it evident that music is such a part of the soul and such a part of who you are and helping you develop even a personality of yourself really, you know, discerning what you like. You might like what it sounds like, but what do you sing in your soul? And so I think that helped define that part of me. And I think the rest of those other things that was that's a that's a gift.

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Speaker 4: I don't have anything to do with that.

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Speaker 5: And I'm so grateful that people think that it does resemble this or that, because I know those are people that I truly.

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Speaker 4: Adore in music.

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Speaker 2: There are some of your country influences growing up, So let's just start with Patsy Klein.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and my uncle for sure. Sometimes when I sing, I'm definitely like, what are you.

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Speaker 4: Doing in a studio with me? Uncle? You know, it's thinking I hear coming through me.

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Speaker 5: But I love Patsy because of the smoothness of her elegant voice and the same time she could get rough and down into it.

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Speaker 4: And I love even Tanya Tucker. I loved the Juds.

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Speaker 5: I loved Garth's things and Reva's things. I loved how Riba always made it her own no matter what it was.

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Speaker 4: So these are all people that resonate with me until today.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you grew up around so much music and subgenres. What initially brought you from Colorado to Nashville.

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Speaker 5: Honestly the people that I'm with, you know, there's such a big help, and I'm so grateful to be a part of what they are doing. And this is the time, and so we are here, and I'm just so blessed to be here and happy to be here with my first single that's getting ready to drop everyone but me on April seventeenth, and so it was just time.

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Speaker 2: You know, we are very excited that you're here in Nashville and you're also releasing a debut album this year.

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Speaker 4: Correct.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, we're very excited to hear that. Did you record all of Itshville?

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Speaker 5: I didn't record all of it in Nashville, but for certainly we will be recording some more of the songs that we're doing in Nashville.

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Speaker 4: For sure. It's an iconic place to record.

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Speaker 5: Recording here definitely makes you feel like you're part of the Nashville family that's all always growing and never expanding, and we want to be part of that growth and.

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Speaker 4: Expansion for Nashville, for sure. Said what was.

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Speaker 2: It like recording your debut album?

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Speaker 4: It was you got to do it till you know that it's right. And so it was work.

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Speaker 5: It wasn't just going in and you know it's it's a thinking thing every time you get ready to record a song and really present it to people, because it is something more than a song once it's you're out there performing it, it's a connection and so being in the studio you really need to think about what you're trying to convey.

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Speaker 2: For me, so absolutely, I'm excited to hear all the upcoming details about so Mild. Do you have a upcoming shows this year people can look forward to?

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Speaker 4: I do?

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Speaker 5: I have something coming up in a couple of days. We're going to be at the Live Oak, which I know a lot of people have been there before, so it's a kind of iconic place to be.

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Speaker 4: Looking very forward to that on Thursday.

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Speaker 5: And then we have a big concert coming up in Jersey on April thirtieth, and that's going to be the first really initial big concert that we're opening with, and we'll start there nice.

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Speaker 4: That's so exciting.

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Speaker 2: Where can people find you on social media and your upcoming shows?

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Speaker 4: I'm glad that you asked. You're so professional.

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Speaker 5: I know you wouldn't forget you can find me at red r E Double D like double D's Fay Fay with any dot com. You can go to any of my socials which are either Red Fay Music. Always put the double d's or you won't find it right away, and so that's Instagram or Facebook, Red Fay okay, and you can find me right under my name ri E double D Fay with an eth amazing.

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Speaker 4: We'll definitely check that out.

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Speaker 6: Read.

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Speaker 2: I have one last question for you. We are on Taking a Walk Nashville. So if you could take a walk through Music Row with your great uncle Stony today, what is one question you would most want to ask him on that walk?

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Speaker 5: I would say, Uncle, what was a link performing at the Grand Old Operate?

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Speaker 4: And when can we do that together? Yeah? It's beautiful.

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Speaker 2: Well that's a wonderful answer to close out on red. Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today.

00:10:32
Speaker 4: I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

00:10:35
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. Welcome back to Taking a Walk Nashville.

00:10:46
Speaker 2: Our guest has a story that is anything but conventional. Hailing from Waterloo, Ontario, he grew up with a father who played alongside country legends like George Strait and Kenny Rogers. Yet he spent his early years fronting a scream oh band and sharing bills with heavy hitters like Under Oath and a Tray You, and he eventually balanced to life as a fireman and entrepreneur before realizing that music was the one thing he can no longer keep as a side hustle. Drew Taylor, thank you so much.

00:11:18
Speaker 4: For being here on taking a walk Nashville today.

00:11:20
Speaker 6: How are you thanks for having me? I'm great.

00:11:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, you recently released a reimagined version of Favor drives You and I tonight, and your country version actually features Dave Favor. How did this remake and collaboration come about?

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Speaker 7: Well, it was it was a song I listened to in high school and it's like everybody our age.

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Speaker 6: Listened to and everybody knew it.

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Speaker 7: It went platinum up there, and Dave's a good friend of mine, so I just gave him a call. I'm like, what do you think about countryfying this song? Because it was originally like an email song, kind of alternative rock and in the countryfided and it turned.

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Speaker 2: Out really well, yeah, it's really fun listening to your version of it and you know, making a little bit more country. Speaking of how did you go from fronting a scream o band to country music? Did your father influence that decision or did you kind of find the path on your own?

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Speaker 6: I kind of like kind of grew into it.

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Speaker 7: You know, as you grow as an artist and as you grow as a man, you kind of I kind of pulled away from the the emo music and in the scream out and just country really resonated with me.

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Speaker 6: And I still think I throw a little bit.

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Speaker 7: Of that of that kind of emo vibe onto my music, so it still comes with me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of rock influences in your country music still. Lately, you are going on the road with Corey March this May and Ontario for the Sorry for Nothing Tour. Are you excited to be performing back in Canon Yeah?

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Speaker 7: I love going back to Canada, but it's a great place to play a lot of country fans, so yeah, we're just super excited.

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Speaker 2: Are you in Nashville most time these days or just your sign?

00:13:12
Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, we moved here five years ago, so any chance to get time to go back home and play for my fans up there.

00:13:20
Speaker 6: It's it's exciting.

00:13:21
Speaker 7: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, listeners can find tickets to those shows on your website.

00:13:27
Speaker 4: Speaking of shows and music.

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Speaker 2: Can we expect more music from you this year?

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Speaker 6: Tons? More.

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Speaker 7: We have a pretty heavy release schedule this year, so almost a song a month, so yeah, tons of music.

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Speaker 4: Oh, very cool.

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Speaker 2: Have you been recording the music here in Nashville?

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Speaker 7: We have yeah, yeah, nice, Yeah, lots of great songs and I've been saving my best songs for this moment right now. So so the listeners, the fans you have, there be a lot more music.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: We'll have to stay up today on your social media to see what's next. As mentioned, we're currently at country radio seminar in Nashville. Your music has had a lot of success on country radio. Did you grow up listening to country radio and Waterloo?

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Speaker 6: I did? I did.

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Speaker 7: I was a big fan of a lot of country artists up there, and it's kind of a full circle moment when you moved to Nashville and there through your friends.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, You've had a lot of success with your single You and I. Tonight, it just debuted at number fifty on independent country radio. It's climbing.

00:14:31
Speaker 8: Congrats on that and then you won the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artists Showcase as a wild card to hitting you know, number one on Sirius XM with whish Idea.

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Speaker 2: And what has it been like seeing your music take off on country radio?

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Speaker 6: It's kind of surreal.

00:14:49
Speaker 7: But you know, we're just putting out better songs every time.

00:14:52
Speaker 6: And yeah, I haven't been more excited.

00:14:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we can't wait to see what's coming next. And Drew, we're on taking a walk in Nashville. If you could take a walk with anyone in Nashville.

00:15:06
Speaker 4: Who would it be?

00:15:09
Speaker 6: Anyone in Nashville. I take a walk with Willie Willy Nelson.

00:15:14
Speaker 4: Oh that's a good one. Yeah, yeah, do you know where you would take that walk?

00:15:18
Speaker 6: Probably around Percy Priest.

00:15:20
Speaker 7: Okay, yeah, yeah, take a walk with Lily around Percy Priest and listen to all the stories he's got.

00:15:26
Speaker 6: You know, I'm a big story guys, So.

00:15:28
Speaker 7: When I can hear some some cool stories, I'm always.

00:15:32
Speaker 6: Down for that.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be a great walk for sure. Is listeners are tuning in and they want to know where they can find your offcoming shows and music. Where can they find you?

00:15:43
Speaker 7: TRIPLEW dot True Taylor Official dot com perfect.

00:15:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, We'll make sure to look out for you there, Drew Taylor. Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk in Nashville today.

00:15:53
Speaker 6: Thank you so much.

00:15:55
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson. Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taken a Walk hosted by Yours Truly Buzznight. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are part of the iHeart podcast network