Digital Rodeo | your country community

Fri. February 29, 2008 BILLY CHILDERS
By: Jeffrey Kurtis

Billy Childers made his way to Chicago from North Carolina with the intentions of studying music and business and quickly found his plan of starting a band becoming a reality. He took a moment of his time to talk with us about starting his band, recording with Jamie O'Neal, and more. I wan to take the opportunity to thank Billy for his time and for chatting with us.

1. You moved to Chicago from North Carolina to study music and business. Did you have a vision of starting the band when you moved or were you only planning on staying here to study?

There was a vision of starting a band up here when I moved. Mike Peters, who now plays bass in the band, we got together through a band he was in and I sat in with them and did some background vocals, but that band didn't really last too long and everybody went their separate ways. Mike and I stayed in touch after that band and in the back of my mind the idea of a band was always there.

2. You mentioned Mike Peters, what role did he play in helping you get your project off the ground?

Mike is a great bass player, a great musician, and was always a big country music fan. He knew Art Lake at the Sundance Saloon when it was at its old location in Mundelein and he also knew Rob Martucci who is also new in the band. Rob is a great songwriter and he contributed four songs to the album. But Mike was very instrumental in pulling together the musicians and instrumental in crafting the musical direction we took with the songs.

3. You also brought up meeting Rob Martucci.

Well, Mike and Rob knew each other through Mike's cousin and grew up together. Rob plays keyboards and mostly played jazz. He has done several jazz records on his own that could be found on his website at www.robmartucci.net. Mike Peters has recorded with Rob in the past. Rob grew up in Elmhurst (IL), comes from an Italian family and is a great, great writer. 2 years or so again we started talking about a project and we had grown up on some of the same type of music and he slowly started to listen to country music and US99 and started getting into a lot of the new rock driven country like Keith Urban, Gary Allan, etc… and we got going with this project and we already have a lot sitting on the burner for the next project.

4. For your debut album, "A Man's Gotta Do, What A Man's Gotta Do," you went to The Grotto in Brentwood, TN to record. How did recording your album in Tennessee rather than any of the studios in Chicago benefit you the most?

Networking and connections. A couple of years ago I was looking for property in Nashville, I'm from the south in North Carolina, and if you are going to have a long career in country music living in Nashville is a huge benefit because you have the top writers, musicians, anything right there. I met a writer, Troy Powers there who wrote two of our tracks, "Lonely Side of Love" and "Best Love Letters." When I was looking for real estate I had met Julie Murphy, who is Jamie O'Neal's mother and we started talking and asked me why I was looking to move and I told her about the band in Chicago and how I wanted to have fun making music. She said that I needed to meet her daughter, which is Jamie O'Neal and mentioned the recording studio. It took me about 8 months before I called Jamie and Julie and I had started talking more in the meantime and built a friendship. I called Jamie at the appropriate time, when we had the songs down, and she said that we needed to come and check out the studio. She was there recording some of the tracks for her last album, so it was really not only about getting to know Jamie, but her husband, Rodney Good who produced the album, and the musicians in the studio.

5. You worked with producer Rodney Good on the album. How did he help shape the sound of the album?

Rodney is great. In addition to having a great set of studio musicians, Ilya Toshinsky played guitar in the studio and was the bandleader of sorts. He has worked with Jamie on her albums. Just having Rod working the board, he has produced gold records for guys like Clint Black and he just has a nice ear for the music. He is a musician himself and has his own band. He's a great vocalist and he really helped me figure out the voicing for the songs and acted as a vocal coach in the studio for me. He is a very cool guy.

6. One very impressive song from the album is a duet with Country Star Jamie O'Neal called "This Night." How did you hook up with Jamie for this song?

Rob had written that song with the idea of it being a wedding ballad for a couple that gets together on that special night and commit to each other. It was the most conducive song for a duet because he wrote it where the guy and girl echo each other, are looking at each other eye to eye and was the most relevant song on the album for a duet. We had talked with Rod about the song before we even mentioned it to Jamie. We were talking about it being a duet and said wouldn't it be great if we could get Jamie to do it. At the time she was still on Capitol Records and Rod didn't know what they would allow her to do or not and every time we went to the studio to record we ended up hanging out with Jamie. One day I mentioned it to her behind the studio, I said "I know this is a long shot but if you would consider singing it with me that would be fantastic." It took us several months to record the album due to scheduling and it was one of the last songs we recorded. Jamie happened to be home that day and Rod asked her about it and she had, had it for a few months at that point and came down to the studio and knocked it out in about half hour. It was a great experience.

7. Which one song do you feel is a must listen song for someone that has never heard your music and why?

Gosh. I would have to say the title track, "A Man's Gotta Do, What A Man's Gotta Do." I think that one just because it is an energetic, upbeat song that really reflects my personality. There are a lot of mid-tempo songs on the album, but our live show is more upbeat and just the title of the song, "A Man's Gotta Do, What A Man's Gotta Do," it's about pursuing your dreams and making a difference doing what you need to do. The song talks about moving forward and being on the move, touring is not the conventional lifestyle. So because of the upbeat tempo, and message of doing what you want to do I'd say that song.

8. Since moving to Chicago you have worked hard on your live presentation and have secured gigs at places like the Sundance Saloon, Cadillac Ranch, Taste of Chicago, and more. Which of your gigs do you feel has been the most beneficial to you thus far and why?

The venue would be the Sundance Saloon. They helped us get our start when we were new and just getting this thing off of the ground. The single most important show was probably the Taste of Chicago. That exposed us to a lot of people and a new audience. We played that for the last 2 years. This past summer we played on the Best Buy stage and we are in talks to have them carry the album in Best Buy stores in Chicago as a new, unsigned artist. We got a nice letter from the mayor, he's a big country music fan, and we look forward to doing it again. We are talking about playing it again next year.

9. What will some experience when they see you live that your album won't show them?

You'll see us having fun with the crowd. I do a lot of talking with the crowd and with the band. We just have a lot of fun on stage. We turn up the energy and my personality is that of a free spirit and I think that shows when we play.

10. What advice can you offer and young artist that is looking to break into the music industry right now?

Be diligent with the songs your choosing to do and work hard at writing, co-writing, etc... Whatever you do, guitar, vocals, just work at perfecting your chops at it and always be growing. Also, make good friends in the industry and with the bands in your town. They may seem like competition but we are all in this together and it's about networking.

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