[Man voiceover] This program is brought to you in part by Santa Cruz Guitar Company and Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings.

[Man voiceover] Also brought to you by Page Capos.

And by Paluso Microphone Lab.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.

Hello and welcome to The Life of a Musician .

Tonight's episode is recorded live from the Church of the Perpetual Boogie in Danville, Virginia.

Let's step inside and listen.

♪♪ ♪ In a crowded room it's easier to cry ♪ ♪ Than it ever is to dance ♪ ♪ Why is it easier to start a barroom fight ♪ ♪ Than it is to find romance?

♪ ♪ Why do I try so hard to always smile at strangers ♪ ♪ When I get home to you ♪ ♪ All that's left is anger ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma, ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma, ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ Oh honey, maybe ♪ ♪ We were doomed from the start ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Well I only had one drink tonight ♪ ♪ All right, let's make it two ♪ ♪ Now I'm dehydrated ♪ ♪ W hen I get home to you ♪ ♪ Well if everyone around me ♪ ♪ Would finally just tell the truth ♪ ♪ I think we'd all say we were sorry ♪ ♪ We do the things we do ♪ ♪ You see all the best intentions ♪ ♪ They still somehow come out wrong ♪ ♪ But I think even the biggest jerks ♪ ♪ Are just trying to get along ♪ ♪ And it should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy ♪ ♪ We make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy ♪ ♪ We make it hard ♪ ♪ Oh honey maybe ♪ ♪ We was doomed from the start ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Well you know that jealous feeling ♪ ♪ When you see some little kid ♪ ♪ On a dance like no one's watching ♪ ♪ Heaven forbid ♪ ♪ We all know that the sunrise ♪ ♪ is the most beautiful sight ♪ ♪ But tell me, when's the last time ♪ You saw that morning light?

♪ ♪ We all know we should call our mom ♪ ♪ W hen we're away from home ♪ ♪ But tell me, when's the last time ♪ ♪ Y ou picked up the phone?

♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma, ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ Oh honey maybe ♪ ♪ We was doomed from the start ♪ Let's hit it one more.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I've seen too many lovers ♪ ♪ Bickering and fighting ♪ ♪ But deep down they both know ♪ ♪ Neither one is right ♪ ♪ But can we cut out the middle man ♪ ♪ Maybe just skip this fight?

♪ ♪ Let's get to the part where I kiss you goodnight ♪ ♪ You see deep down ♪ ♪ I think every man of every creed ♪ ♪ A nd race just wants love ♪ ♪ And some food to eat ♪ and maybe a little bit of space, ♪ And it should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ B ut we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ It should be easy, Ma ♪ ♪ But we make it hard ♪ ♪ Oh honey maybe ♪ ♪ We was doomed from the start ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪♪ -Beautiful, beautiful.

That's great.

Well thank you Bill, thank you.

We're gonna talk to the folks back home and then we'll get you introduced and get on with it.

-Let's do it.

-Hello everyone and welcome to The Life of a Musician .

I am your host, Brandon Lee Adams, and we are sitting here in Danville, Virginia in the Church of the Perpetual Boogie, and my fine esteemed colleague over here is none other than Mr. Billy Litz.

Hey, Billy.

-Good to be here, man.

-It's good to have you, buddy.

How are you feeling?

-Feeling like I'm in the Church of Perpetual Boogie.

That's how I'm feeling.

-Sounds like it, right?

-Yeah.

-Sounds like it.

-This is a cool space.

-So I guess I should kind of introduce you to the folks and how we kind of met.

We met back in January at the great NAMM show in Anaheim, California.

-Feels like many years ago, but it was just a couple months ago, right?

-Yeah, really it does.

It feels like a lifetime ago.

-[Billy] Yeah.

-And you got to listen to my snoring.

-We were bunkmates for a little bit.

-We were bunk buddies.

But that was an upgrade for me from the air mattress I was on, so.

-That's right.

[chuckles] You were on an air mattress.

That's all right.

Some friends of mine told me about you and I'm like, okay, well, let's, you know, hey, I'm looking forward to hearing them.

And then you pulled out a trumpet that had a what was it?

A toilet plunger as a mute?

-I often do use a toilet plunger that I bought at a hardware store for $4.

And it is a fine piece of musical equipment there.

-[chuckles] It works well, man.

That's like one of the better mutes I've heard.

-Yeah, I mean, it's like it's an old school, old school technique that they used to do back in the early 1900s, like early jazz band and swing bands and stuff.

It's been the plunger and you can get really expensive ones that are made specifically for music.

And the plunger from the hardware store gets the job done just as well.

-Right.

It's cost effective.

-Yeah.

You just take the stick off of it and poke a little hole in it and it works.

There are people that leave the stick in it just to be able to be obnoxious, I think.

-Yeah.

-[chuckles] It's all right.

So there's a stick and a nonstick crowd is what you're saying?

-Yes, I'm on the nonstick side of things, but I could see, you know, ease of access.

You could leave the stick in there.

-Right, right.

I get it, I get it.

I'll tell you, one of the things that stood out to me, like I'm a lyrics guy, and I'm a huge Dylan fan and Jim Croce and James Taylor.

I mean, just huge list.

Gordon Lightfoot.

You know, it's as long as my arm.

And when you have this amazing, unique voice, but it's like, dang, when I started listening to those lyrics, it just blew me away.

Can you kind of give me a little back story on that?

-Well, yeah, on my arm, I don't know if anybody can see it, but I've got a trumpet here and then this is a character from a Jack Kerouac book.

So those are two big parts of my musical identity.

And, you know, I got into music through music, through sounds.

It was the musical side of things, the sounds, that originally emotionally connected with me as a kid.

But later, probably in like late high school, I started to really pick out like certain lyric phrases and I had AOL Instant Messenger and a good friend of mine, we used to share-- he was like way deeper into music than me.

He shared a lot of music with me.

His name's Eric Such.

But he would show me all kinds of artists and they had great lyrics and I wasn't really attracted to it.

And then eventually I started trying to write my own songs and the lyrics were the hardest part to muster out of it.

And so then I started dissecting some of the stuff that he was sending.

And I remember distinctly sending him an Instant Messenger, like, it was a Jeff Tweedy Wilco album, and it's like he says, "The ashtray says you were up all night ."

And I was like, that's such a cool way to, I see the whole picture of this guy alone in an apartment with an ashtray full, like, it's like five words, four words.

I don't know how many words it is, I haven't counted it, but it's like, it painted the whole scene for me.

And so I was like, "Well, can I just do that?"

And I tried and it's really hard to sum up a whole scene and a personality with like five words.

But then later in college I hated reading because I thought school was for nerds and I didn't like books.

And I was like, "Why would I ever do that?"

And I picked up this Jack Kerouac book because I thought the cover looked cool and I read it, and it changed my life and I realized that... that same emotional impact I get from sound can come from just purely the words.

And then you put them together and you just have, you got two arms to punch with and you can just, you know, you can lift things to another level.

So I fell in love with words and tried to, you know, it's not as natural for me as music is, but I love it just as much now and I'm glad that they connect with you and you heard that part of it.

-Yeah, absolutely.

That was the first thing that, really the first thing that jumped out other than just the uniqueness of your voice and your ability to hit that falsetto and sing those really clear notes.

Is that practice?

Do you sing into a trash bag or--?

-One, I always hated my voice, but nobody else would sing my songs, so I became the singer.

And eventually I learned how to use my voice to be expressive.

And I'm not the best singer in the world, but I think I can be expressive and I can tell a story.

And it's about phrasing and truthfully like storytelling.

I think that my musical singing technique probably is closer to what you would get studying to be just like an actual storyteller with just you know, without a guitar with you.

That's what I really focused on, and the falsetto came just because I was singing in loud barrooms.

And if you are a baritone like Johnny Cash, like you need a quiet auditorium for people to hear you.

And so I found out that the higher I went, the more people heard what I was saying because we had no sound engineer or bad sound engineers when we were starting out.

And so that just launched my voice up an octave.

And only recently have I realized I don't have to always be up there because, you know, we have great audiences now and I can drop my voice, and now I've got a large palette to choose from vocally.

But yeah, that's where it came from.

-Nice, nice.

So it wasn't Juilliard?

-No, no.

[chuckles] Not even close.

-I hear you.

That's one of those things, you know, we've kind of started a friendship, you know over this period of time, and I know one of the things that we talked about is just your family, you know.

Once you kind of... when you're on your own, when you're single, when it's just you, it's kind of, "Okay, you know, I could wake up tomorrow and be, you know, homeless and maybe just have a can of soda and five bucks in my pocket and things are all right."

But now when you start adding family to that, so.

And I know you've started a family.

-[Billy] Oh yeah.

-So now how has that, how has that transitioned you at all?

Um... -My whole life, my plan was to be a traveling... vagabond singer with no responsibilities and no bills, and that has not worked out for me.

I've accumulated responsibility and bills in life and it's truly a blessing and I wouldn't have it any other way.

And I've been married for... Over ten years, I don't remember exactly.

I'm going to get in trouble for this.

Don't show this to anybody.

I've been married a long time and the kid is new, but it's come in stages.

I have an 18-month-old baby and another on the way, and it has changed so much of my life, but it's like... it's such a natural, organic thing that it's like a new limb.

It's like part of me.

It's not like a new car.

It's like a new limb and it just... it feels right and it feels very fulfilling.

And thankfully I've got the greatest mom and wife in the world who knows how much music means to me and that I, you know, I need to keep doing this.

She takes a lot of burden on and lets me continue to do this, but she's not working as much now and so there's pressures, financial pressures and it's just... it's just more of the same.

It's just extreme now and you know, it's, again, like you said, I could sleep on the ground and wake up with a soda in my hand and be all right.

But with a child, it's like, you know, I want her to have a level of security, you know, so.

-Right.

-[Billy] Yeah.

-So it's kind of added, so would you say it's kind of added drive to your determination?

-Yeah, well, I mean... the drive seemed, I don't know where it comes from.

It's like, I'm just obsessed with music and it's just like, I've been going at eleven for a long time.

And now it's just like... there's no off-ramp.

It's like, I can't slow down.

I can't stop.

I've got to keep it going because it is how I take care of my family.

It's like that pressure is...

I don't know, it's always been there.

I always, I wanted to be a traveling vagabond with no responsibilities because I saw like a... the achievement work ethic grind culture in America and I kind of scoffed at it and was like, I don't want that for my life.

You know, I want to relax and play guitar all day.

And I'm like, you know, it's so much a part of me and it's just how I've been.

And I think I realized five, ten years ago, I was like, "Oh, I think I'm a workaholic and I think I need to be."

And I love it and it's fulfilling.

It's like when I'm playing music, when I'm trying to work on it, I feel very present.

And you know, that's been there the whole time and I think it's going to stay.

-And it is a ton of work.

Like if you're trying to legit make a living at making music, it is... that couch time is very much exaggerated.

-Oh, yeah.

Well, the whole point of me being a professional musician was so that I'd have more time to practice and write, because that's what I like to do is practice and write.

And...

I've been a professional musician for a long time now and I still don't have time for it.

And it's even harder now than ever to find time to write and to practice because I'm driving, I'm performing, you know.

And I love all of it and I'm blessed to be able to do all of it, but I realized that there's very, very few artists, possibly none, who just wake up and sit on the couch and get to write all day long.

No matter what level you're at, other things get in the way.

I send a lot of emails and talk on the phone and drive a lot.

And you know...

I think I still have a vision of someday it's going to be easy and I'm going to just write all day long.

But I'm starting to realize that's probably not ever going to happen.

-It should be easy, right?

-It should be easy.

I mean, that's part of what...

I should be able to wake up and not feel pressure to work as hard and to send as many emails.

But it's like, you know, this is the world that we live in and the job I've got, and it's not easy, you know?

-That's the gig, man.

-It is.

-It's a job.

-Yeah.

-There are a lot of like amazing musicians with insane amounts of talent still on the couch because they won't get off of the couch.

You put that work in, you know, and you're doing it, and I love seeing it, and that's one of the reasons, like, man, I just had to have you on the show because you've got that drive, that work ethic and the talent.

And why don't you talk us into this next song?

-This song is called "La Di Da Da."

I wrote this one actually during COVID.

This is a COVID-era song when I thought I would not be playing music professionally, possibly ever in front of people ever again.

And in my head when I wrote it, I was imagining kind of like, an apocalyptic scene, but it was a bunch of friends and family together in like an old dark barroom, kind of celebrating and singing in a really dark time.

And I started to realize during COVID, you know, that the professional side of music is not what I love about it, and I could still be in love with music without the professional side of it.

And it was a reconnection to the things that I valued.

So this song is about appreciating what you've got while you've still got it, and it's about getting your priorities right in what you're putting your attention to and making sure that you love the things that you can love while you got them.

So, yeah.

♪♪ ♪ Oh honey, let the roses ♪ ♪ Wither away ♪ ♪ Let all the smiles ♪ ♪ Fade from their faces ♪ ♪ Let all the bars turn out their lights ♪ ♪ We'll still sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Through the night ♪ ♪ Tell me you love me ♪ ♪ When everything's wrong ♪ ♪ I will keep singing ♪ ♪ These god-awful songs ♪ ♪ Someday this train ♪ ♪ Might pull off the track ♪ ♪ Everything lost ♪ ♪ Might find its way back ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Make a toast to your friends ♪ ♪ Spill all your whiskey ♪ ♪ Fill it again ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Smash your glass ♪ ♪ Up to heaven ♪ ♪ Love all your friends ♪ ♪ Might be the last time you see 'em ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Da da di da ♪ ♪ Da da da ♪ ♪ La di da ♪ ♪ Oh honey, let the roses ♪ ♪ Wither away ♪ ♪ Let all the children ♪ ♪ Grow up old and gray ♪ ♪ Let all the bars ♪ ♪ Put boards up on their doors ♪ ♪ I got a flask in my pocket ♪ ♪ I've been saving it for you ♪ ♪ Tell me you love me ♪ ♪ When everything's right ♪ ♪ When push comes to shove ♪ ♪ Turns to fights ♪ ♪ Well someday this train ♪ ♪ Might make a wrong turn ♪ ♪ If it all goes to hell ♪ ♪ Let it burn ♪ ♪ Let it burn ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Make a toast to your friends ♪ ♪ Spill all your whiskey ♪ ♪ Fill it again ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Smash your glass ♪ ♪ Up to heaven ♪ ♪ Remember this feeling ♪ ♪ Might be the last time that you feel it ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Make a toast to your friends ♪ ♪ And t ell them you love 'em ♪ ♪ Might be the last time you see 'em ♪ ♪ Sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Da di da da da da ♪ ♪ La di da ♪ ♪ Oh honey, let the roses ♪ ♪ Wither away ♪ ♪ Let the smiles ♪ ♪ Fade from their faces ♪ ♪ Let all the bars ♪ ♪ Turn out their lights ♪ ♪ We'll still sing la di da da ♪ ♪ Through the night ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -That was pretty beautiful, man.

Love that.

-Yeah.

I love your addition to it.

That's harmonics, yeah.

-Thank you.

Absolutely, absolutely have loved having you here, man.

So tell me a little bit about what you got going on.

-So I sing in a band called Hustle Souls.

That's the name of the band and we're just constantly traveling all over, mostly on the East Coast this season.

We're headed to a cabin in Tennessee next weekend to do some video shooting and stuff like that.

We're working on the next album.

We're going to start recording it in December.

We put out a vinyl earlier this year.

And you know we're just, we're a five piece soul band.

We do these songs but we also, we do a lot of like New Orleans brass music and retro soul music.

So it's a whole nother thing.

It's a whole wild show that we try to put on.

We drive around in the van trying to get people to let us make noise for them.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-That's basically it.

-Trying to bring some bacon home.

-Yeah, that's the whole story.

-Man, it's been a ball having you here.

-It's an honor.

I appreciate it.

-We're going to hang out some more later on.

-Yeah.

-Thank you so much for coming and being part of the show.

And thank you folks very much back home for tuning in.

And we hope to see you very soon on the next episode.

Until then, God bless and be well.

Take us out on one, Billy.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ You're the light of my life ♪ ♪ I hope you know this ♪ ♪ But I ain't one who come home with roses ♪ ♪ Most of these songs they ain't even about you ♪ ♪ I'd rather sing about ♪ ♪ Drinking cheap booze ♪ ♪ But this one here ♪ ♪ Imma tell you the truth ♪ ♪ Oh, honey ♪ ♪ You're the best thing that I ever do ♪ ♪ Hey, Mama ♪ ♪ We've been doing all right ♪ ♪ We got a little girl ♪ ♪ And she's got my eyes ♪ ♪ Ain't nothing I done in my life... ♪♪ [Man voiceover] Thank you for being a part of our show .

We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of The Life of a Musician .

♪ When I come home empty-handed ♪ ♪ And you feel alone ♪ ♪ and abandoned and stranded ♪ ♪ Might not mean much ♪ ♪ But you're always on my mind ♪ ♪♪ [Man voiceover] This program is brought to you in part by Santa Cruz Guitar Company and Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings.

[Man voiceover] Also brought to you by Page Capos.

And by Paluso Microphone Lab.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.