George Lopez Podcast OMG Hi! Ep 81 Raelyn Nelson.mp4

All Things Comedy
2 followers
5 Video Views·Oct 21, 2022
George and Gil are joined by Raelyn Nelson from the country garage band, Raelyn Nelson Band. They open up about using sadness to write songs and jokes, Nashville Honky Tonks and the Grand Ole Oprey, modern day country music,
George, I have to be different.
My grandpa is who he is.
I'm in Nashville, where everyone there's it's a machine now.
You know, music grows a machine.
They go with what's working.
They want someone who's going to do exactly what's someone else has done.
It's it's not about the artist or the person.
It's more about the song and if it's going to go well
and they're just going to keep putting pop country on the country radio.
That's what people want to hear.
And it seems to be that's what people want to hear.
Hello, everyone.
Hola, mis amigos.
You're listening to.
Oh, my God. Hi.
Hijo de Dios. Hola.
With me, George Lopez.
Let's do the show.
Because I got a lot of things to do.
I got to go to that drag queen.
I eat my kid Phelps.
If I go like I did, I got to go get some new sport, sport and all.
You know, George is.
Oh, I'm sure he's around here somewhere.
What's his name?
George Lopez.
Oh, my God.
OMG. OMG.
Hi. Oh, my God.
Well, my favorite beer to drink these days is all day IPA.
Watch out. That's that's the IPA, George.
If you want the lager, that's the other one.
I don't know. I know.
But they're great because it's just a little bit of alcohol in it.
So you can drink all day long.
And it even has a car on it.
So you could even drink and drive with this.
What if it has a car on it like
has a car canoe on the top?
You could go canoeing.
All right.
There's there's some I don't know, you know, you know,
tricky to drive me.
I mean, clearly, I mean, it's not you can't take the position that it's OK.
But it was way it was much different
before. When did it change?
You know, you were a you were a law enforcement.
When did you see DUIs?
And these to be called 502s.
What are they called in Nashville?
DWI. Yeah, DUI.
Driving under the influence.
502 was section the vehicle code section 502 was drunk driving.
They didn't that that stuff wasn't really prevalent in the 70s.
You know, we're after other stuff.
DUIs became prevalent out here when
mad mothers against drivers start pushing the issue.
Yeah. You don't want to.
Why are dads against drunk drivers?
I heard. How come?
Because that doesn't have to care, though.
I heard because if you sit there, we'll take care of it.
I heard a damn drunks against mad mothers.
That's both ways.
Let's see. There's so many places.
When you think of yourself.
Musically, how far can you go back
to when you felt like it in your in your whole being?
You know, some kids, you know, go to church and sing.
And, you know, some kids are like, I'm not going to say I mean,
singing is maybe the most vulnerable for any performer at any time in their career.
I don't care if it's a wedding.
I don't care if you're just like singing a little bit.
It is always there's always a bit of risk
with a singer because of the tone and the notes.
And it's it's just it's it's such a concise
art that there when somebody hits a bad note,
you could just look at each other and be like, oh, ----.
Did you? Oh, you know.
And some kids are shy when they're growing up and they're just like, no,
I don't want to do that.
And then I feel because of your lineage that I believe
that genetically you can be
pass along a talent from generations and and through generations.
I've seen it firsthand.
I mean, I've witnessed a family that was musical and I admire it
because, you know, it's almost like when you buy a car, it's standard equipment.
Like you have it, whether you use it or not, is up to the person.
When did you find yourself
feeling that musical
kind of where where it got you in the gut, where it spoke to you?
I was young.
I've always written little melodies in my head.
I feel like that's the is the Internet, OK?
Yeah, you're coming through here.
OK, good.
When I was a kid, I was always writing melodies in my head.
I feel like as a songwriter, that's the best that I can bring to the table.
Songwriting with melodies, a catchy melody and lyrics.
And I remember being in my room.
I was probably eight years old and I had this dry erase marker board
and I was pretending to teach these stuffed animals that I had.
I was pretending to be a teacher.
And I remember going, I think I could be a teacher one day
and then immediately was like, no, I'm going to be a singer
and I'm going to play guitar like my grandpa and sing on stage.
So I just knew that's what I wanted to do.
I didn't take steps to do that until I actually had children
and I was stuck at home with three little kids
and just started picking up the guitar and figuring out these melodies
that I had been writing my whole life.
But I had always been involved in voice lessons, show choir,
you know, taking guitar lessons of all throughout,
you know, school and high school piano lessons.
I was always drawn to music for sure.
Do you know who her grandfather is?
Sure do. Did some research.
Well, first of all, the last name of Nelson, you know, then you
everything says granddaughter of Willie Nelson,
your songwriting, that song free when you talked about your kids
and what you wrote the song free about.
And I was listening to it.
Very, very catchy. Very nice.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah.
How did how did free let's talk about we'll get to Willie.
How did free come to you?
So I was at home with three little kids, five cats, three dogs,
two hamsters, few birds.
And I just gotten divorced and stuck at home.
But because even though I was stuck at home with all these responsibilities,
I still felt totally free of that situation.
And that's how the song came about.
And then after the last couple of years
we've had with the pandemic and everyone being stuck at home,
I really thought everyone could maybe relate to it
as we're starting to get back out and be a little more normal again.
So that's why I released it.
I was planning on not releasing it and it just being a song
that I would play at acoustic shows or something.
But then really felt like everyone could relate to it.
And I want to put songs out that I feel like people can relate to.
You know, I don't I don't like just write a song about something.
But I try to pick things that are that happen in life
and write a song about that situation, because I feel like if I've seen it
happen, then somebody else has probably seen something like that, too.
And they can relate to it.
So, yeah, I think there's a lot of weight to life, you know,
and if you have an outlet like being able to,
you know, write a song or, you know, in my instance,
you know, to be able to I used to write
jokes on on on an old
water and power envelope or envelopes
that my grandmother had, you know, and old telephone bills
and the back of of envelopes and things like that, where
it just seemed to me better than writing.
I like journals and I like notebooks.
I always I always have.
I always like pens, but I do like writing on the back
of an envelope or a manila folder or something that's a little bit more
down and rustic.
You know, I always had pens in my pocket and always had things in my head
and things would just pop pop into my head, you know, and I thought
I couldn't remember anybody in my family being remotely amusing or funny
or encouraging or
happy. And I thought this is a really
very disconnected family.
And I think that the humor of it, much like writing music,
will come from a sense of of sadness,
you know, a sense of I got to get the **** out of here.
A sense of
of just a situation that was so heavy
that if you didn't pursue
a career or an opportunity that was better than what
all my friends were kind of looking to do in the neighborhood,
that that it was not going to be a kind of a life well lived.
I felt. Yeah. Right.
I think so. I understand what you're saying.
You know, what are some of the jokes that I had?
You know, let's see.
Oh, but you know, I and there wasn't a really a lot of.
Latino comedians, you know, and and and country
I worked out in the early 80s, I worked with a guy named Steve Castro,
and this guy was selling cocaine in the second shift
and he was an alcoholic and he had a bottle of scope.
And I thought I thought, mother, people don't swallow scope.
They spit it out.
But what he had done is put vodka in the scope and added green food coloring.
So when it looked like he was using mouthwash,
he'd swish it around and then he'd swallow it.
And I thought, well, who swallows scope?
And but the fact that I was listening to these country songs, John Anderson
and and all kinds of different stuff.
And at first I was like, Steve, you know, can you
we kind of maybe have a day that's not country in the office?
But I found myself listening to Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings.
And there was some, you know, one of the greatest guitar players ever of all time.
There's a couple of them.
One is Glen Campbell and one is Roy Clark.
And all of those guys that like.
I love rock, but country is more compelling.
Their lives are.
I mean, I talked to Merle Haggard and he said to me,
I killed a man and I was in a blacked out state.
And the next morning when they told me I'd killed a man,
I didn't remember killing him.
And I went to prison and I did my time.
And my family was estranged from me and I was estranged from them.
And I saw a documentary of Merle Haggard.
And I thought, I got to meet this guy.
And I met him and he couldn't have been
a better person or a nicer man understanding all his flaws.
And I thought, that's what that's what country is like countries.
You're born with your country in you.
And I think rock you find on the road.
But I think countries, you agree with that, that it's in your heart.
It's in your family.
It's in your loss and it's in your gain.
It's a way of life, but it's not a good life.
It's a good life, but there is a you from pain.
You go, you have to write.
I think you know what I'm trying to say, right?
Yeah, I think you know how people say that a lot of comedians
have to have traumatic pasts in order to have this funny sense of humor.
It's kind of the same with country, right?
Kind of have to have some traumatic experiences or some drama, at least
in order to create these country songs, because a country song
usually stems from sadness, right?
Or I mean, if we're talking about real country songs like my grandpa's songs
and Merle Haggard and Johnny, I mean, all of those stemmed from some sort of sadness.
Yes. And and and and being young, you're you're
where do you where do you find your music going, do you think?
So I don't I have a really sad song
I wrote called Daddy's Grave about my dad's passing,
and it it's like song therapy where you get these things out
that need to be said that you can't say to anyone with.
And also, you feel maybe kind of stupid if it wasn't in a song, you know?
Yes. So I did that.
And when we would play it out and about,
everybody in the audience would get really sad.
And it would take three or four songs for me to see the energy
get back up to dancing and moving with big smiles on their faces.
Right. That I decided I didn't want to do that song live anymore.
You know, I just thought that sad songs were for car
listening or shower listening.
Oh, I made the decision a long time ago that I want to make people happy.
I want them to be on this high for a couple of weeks after not super sad.
But but yeah, my plan is to let the songs come to me.
If if I haven't written a song in a while or one's not coming to me,
then I'll just go take a drive through the back roads.
And usually that I can count on that almost every time
to something will come into my head or it'll help me out of the writer's block.
And you and you seem to have like just wait for them to come. Right.
And you seem to have like a free spirit, you know, like like your videos
and everything you do.
You're you're a really kind of a free spirit.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I'm trying to be. Yeah. Yeah.
What are some of the things that that that you've seen live?
You know, you know, Lucille Ball used to live in this neighborhood
and like Jack Benny would go over
and all the red skeleton, all comedians and actors.
Who have you seen?
I always say, you know, did you see that person with your own eyes?
Like I would never imagine growing up that I would be able to see
some of the people that I've seen with my own eyes.
And whenever somebody sees somebody really very, very, you know,
a historical figure in music or in an actor,
I always would say not anymore, but I always would say,
did you see them with your own eyes?
And they would say, yeah, of course.
But I just where I came from, I couldn't imagine that somebody would be.
I mean, I I was I shared a limo with Bob Hope and we talked
and I would look over and see Bob Hope, you know, and to me,
it was like I saw him with my own eyes.
And there he was, you know, like, who do you remember?
Or what are some of the things that are so vivid in your memory that
that you're like, wow, I really got a chance to do all that.
So my grandpa on his bus, that's where I've seen the most famous people.
And it's it's funny because all the kids and grandkids,
whenever the famous people come on the bus,
we tend to kind of mean meander toward the back
because we feel like we're in the way. Yeah.
But I remember I remember Keith Richards getting up on the bus
and Vince Vaughn, Rob Thomas.
I remember Kenny Chesney doing stuff with him.
Oh, Cindy Lauper.
Just it goes on and on.
But I didn't really hang out with them.
Of course, he introduced me to them.
But I was I would just go to the back and let them do their thing.
And and they would just gush on my grandpa, you know. Right.
Yeah. I mean, your grandfather is I mean, I interviewed him.
We I hosted Jimmy Kimmel and he was a guest, you know.
And I think I met Annie on a plane and been around Willie.
And then, you know, Owen and and, you know, Luke.
And yeah. And and and your grandfather and I interview
Woody Harrelson reached out through my publicist and said, tell George
that it was great to see Willie laughing and being Willie like, you know,
it was an interview, but more of a gist of a conversation, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure he enjoys that for sure.
I remember meeting Woody Harrelson also.
And him and I made a arranged marriage for our children to get married.
I like that. I like that.
Um, is is is Elvis in your in your in your in your heart?
Well, yeah, I love Elvis.
But I never you know, I never got he was gone before I was around.
But yeah, I love Elvis.
Are you who doesn't like Elvis?
There's some people that do like Elvis.
I don't understand how anybody could not.
I mean, if you think about a guy that came from no place and was a hillbilly
and and even to this day, I mean, died very, very young at 42.
But is one name.
He has to be the one name person all around the world.
I didn't I didn't appreciate him when I was younger.
I not until I became an adult and I started appreciating him
and I turned out to be that I ended up loving him.
Um, yeah, yeah.
I mean, country is that and explain to everybody that that's that's listening
and watching what how Nashville became what it's become.
Oh, wow.
Well, Music City.
So the first recording of music was done in Tennessee.
But I think it was kind of more like the Bristol area is the Carter family,
actually, which is who Johnny Cash married into June Carter Cash.
So the Carter family was the first to actually record music.
And so then, you know, they had the Grand Ole Opry here at the Ryman.
And it was at the Ryman Auditorium, downtown Nashville and the back entrance,
which is the artist's entrance, where there was an alley there that went to Tootsie's,
which is the famous Orchid Lounge bar.
It's the only purple building downtown Nashville.
And downtown Nashville is only about four blocks.
Not very big at all.
And it's super crowded these days all the time.
But Tootsie's is where all the songwriters would go and hang out
and all the singers would go and hang out after and before they had to play the Ryman.
So they would pitch people.
Songwriters would pitch songs.
That's where my grandpa pitched crazy to Patsy Cline.
And she went and recorded it that evening.
That's kind of the that's where it all started.
The Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry and actually just a radio show at the time.
And then now it's not even at the Ryman anymore, which is sad.
But it makes sense because it needs to house more people.
It's now over by the Opryland Hotel and over by the Willie Nelson Museum.
And it's just huge now.
The country acts of today are more poppy, in my opinion,
but they try to keep it pretty close to country.
I haven't been able to play it because, you know, I have a rock band.
Right.
And we do play acoustic.
And in those cases, we do sound more like a country band, you know,
but just haven't made my mark at the Grand Ole Opry yet.
Hope too soon, though.
Yeah, I like that.
You like that.
You like rock, you know?
Yeah.
I have to be different, George.
I have to be different.
My grandpa is who he is.
I'm in Nashville where everyone there's a machine now, you know, music grows a machine.
They go with what's working.
They want someone who's going to do exactly what someone else has done.
It's not about the artist or the person.
It's more about the song and if it's going to go well.
And they're just going to keep putting pop country on the country radio if that's what
people want to hear.
And it seems to be that's what people want to hear.
But I have to.
Yeah, I play a ukulele.
I try to do everything I can to be different.
And like I said, I feel like the best thing that I can bring to the table is songwriting
and the catchy melody.
That's pretty much the only thing I'm really good at everything else.
I just am kind of OK with OK at and figure it out, you know, wing it.
Yeah, sure.
It took me it took several people that I admired telling me that I had a good voice and that
I should be singing for me to feel comfortable doing it.
I was still doing it.
But, you know, as a professional singer, it took a few people being like, no, really,
you got to do this for me to be comfortable with it, because, you know, in Nashville,
there's so many amazing vocalists.
I can't compete with Trisha Yearwood.
Even she's an amazing vocalist, Carrie Underwood.
And but, you know, I don't know how many songs they're actually writing.
And if they're, you know, if they're have a band that they're actually a band, I don't
like these guys.
We actually get together and practice where it's just us.
We don't have management.
We don't have a label.
We're doing it grassroots style.
So they're like a family to me, you know, and I think we're hitting the ground in a
15 passenger band van.
Yeah, we only listen to stand up comedy because we don't agree on music, by the way.
So we're just listening to podcasts and specials.
Yeah, but I think I think in like people who have, you know, voices that, you know,
Janis Joplin didn't have the, you know, the greatest voice and people that just it's what
they're pushing out of them is what you're what you gravitate to.
If you know if you're going to hear a singer per se be a singer, then you'd almost go to
the opera because if you're going to get rock and roll, you're going to get somebody
that's really just singing, but they're also telling you things.
And I think that's where you where you land on the music that people like.
It doesn't have to be.
It's not perfect.
Yeah, you're right.
And I think we should start changing radio stations to just get the genre of things out
because there's been too many like when my grandpa was playing music, he only had a few
influences right at that time, like Django Reinhart and Hank Williams.
Those were his influences and that was it.
So but for us, we have so many more influences, right?
We're listening to rock, pop, rap, country, reggae, you know, like we're listening to
everything.
So to pinpoint an artist to one genre these days, you just have to start making up genres.
So why not just cut out the country radio station, rock station, pop station, and just
call it a public radio station, you know, just the radio station and let artists be
artists.
If you were doing your if everybody was doing music on their computer or their phone or
their iPad, whatever, or their mix, their mix would be the perfect station for them.
Like whatever you put on your on on a playlist that I get what you're saying.
That's what you should be able to listen to in the car where you might get some, you know,
Carole King and then Earth, Wind & Fire and you get some, you know, some Johnny Cash and
Willie Nelson and, you know, you know, that kind of that kind of stuff.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I love I love music.
I always have.
Do you think that do you think that you'll ever get married again?
No, no, no, I don't.
How did you how did you know, I, you know, I was married for 17 years.
I didn't particularly find it very connected.
You know, I was I was a very kind of disconnected person.
I think my wife knew that.
At the time.
But I don't think she understood that that there's some darkness, you know, when you
marry somebody who's a comedian and whether they become successful or not, there's still
a little bit of some issues there.
And I don't think you can marry somebody that gets into this profession.
And just because maybe they're doing a show and it seems like it's a nine to five that
their personality is nine to five.
Yeah.
And I got married really young.
I got married because I didn't want my mom to be mad at me for living with my boyfriend
out of wedlock, you know.
So at 19, that really bothered me that I was disappointing her.
And then at 26, it didn't bother me anymore.
I was like, this isn't working.
I just I would rather be at peace.
Yeah.
And and I did want to play music.
And and he didn't want that.
And to be fair, he didn't sign up for that.
Right.
So, you know, you just kind of we're co-parenting pretty well.
I love his wife.
She's a great stepmom to my kids.
And she's a good person.
And exactly what he wanted, you know, he wanted a woman who would sit there and watch football
and cook.
And I just wasn't that girl.
I wanted to go play music, you know, right.
There's something.
Yeah.
And travel and and do all that.
I would I would assume that it's probably difficult to meet somebody.
I mean, you have kids and it's and you're out there, right?
I think it's very it's not like and I have to be a mom.
I have to be a mom.
And I also have to continue this career I've started.
And I also started a podcast.
So doing that along with the music, there's not a whole lot of time for somebody.
And the time that I tried dating someone once since getting divorced.
And I felt guilty in any situation I was in.
I felt like I was being taken from the kids and I felt guilty of that.
Or I felt guilty that he wanted me to hang out with him.
And I couldn't because I was with the kids.
And he was a musician as well.
So he was gone.
I'd be home and free, but he was gone.
Or then it just didn't work out.
And I realized I'm just waiting until my kids are grown.
And or I mean, who knows what the universe does?
You can't plan any plan and God laughs, right?
But we I just like I don't want to do any kind of serious relationship until my kids
are grown.
So I don't feel guilty as a mom because I'm spending so much time recording and playing
music that I'm going to feel better as a person and as a mom if I'm here with them when I'm
not doing that, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I get that.
Do you think that longevity is connected to a person's profession?
You think that maybe because we travel that it's a little bit the odds are a little bit
higher than than opposed to Gil has been married?
How many years?
Fifty?
Fifty one.
Fifty one years that you went to work.
You were detective and then you come back.
Do you think you think that it has to do with you think anything has to do with that?
I'm still laughing at the face.
She made fifty one in fifty one years happily married for fifty one years.
I didn't say happily married.
Anybody says marriage is easy has never been married.
So there's, you know, the speed bumps in the road over fifty one years.
Believe me.
And fortunately, she's the glue that's kept everything together because it's not easy.
I think you can be a little bit.
I think that there's damages that, you know, people go to therapy now.
It's very easy.
You can get an app, you know, you can get you can get quotes from different religions
or quotes from different things, but better help, better help.
But also it's it's like some sometimes, you know, unfortunately, when we're much younger,
we kind of like are formed already.
And it's not fair.
I don't think in life that unbeknownst to you, what happens to you at seven,
eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen is almost going into this bank that is going
to cause you issues when you're growing up.
I think that's it's unfair.
It's unfair.
And you don't know at that age that all of that is going to affect you later on or the
things that you're just surviving, you're in survival mode.
Yeah, you're and you're a child, you know, you're trying to have fun.
But also, if you lose a parent or if you lose a sibling or if you lose, you know,
somebody's mean to you or they say things to you or, you know, if you see things that
you shouldn't see, they stay with you for your for your whole life.
And that's and that's a tough that's a tough it's a tough thing to to to live with,
I think, you know, and I think music I think music is is for us, you know, a part of all
of that, you know, part of of of, you know, all of that stuff that goes and makes you
feel better.
I mean, you can be alone and have music and not not be alone.
Yeah, sometimes I'm really sad.
I will procrastinate turning music on because I know it'll change my mood immediately or,
you know, and I'm like, no, I want to be mad and angry right now.
I won't even pick up the guitar.
I won't turn music on because I want to be angry for a minute because I know as soon
as it's on, my mood will change it.
I think music and laughter is just as healing.
I believe cannabis is as well, you know, but I think music and comedy laughter is just
as healing as actual medicine is because you have to stay uplifted and we have to or
or I have to I have to stay uplifted.
I have to choose to be happy or I will just lay in bed and make myself sick, you know,
and I don't want to die yet.
So I couldn't agree with you more.
It's just like you're choosing to die.
I can't agree with you more.
And when I'm by myself, uh, if I'm in the car, predominantly comedy on my, on my car
radio before it was always music oldies, but now it's predominantly common and that's what
I need to get me through life is humor.
And if I'm with somebody, I'll listen to music because not everybody likes humor, but they
all like music and, but it is, it's healing for me and it's worked.
Yeah.
And oldies is a good music to always turn to because most people enjoy oldies tunes.
Also the beach boys are really good.
If you're feeling depressed, especially seasonal depression, the beach boys help
lift the spirits for sure.
And of course my grandpa's music.
Absolutely.
Makes me feel safe and nostalgic as a kid.
Cause it was just, and all that was played when I was growing up.
I mean, really all, all of those guys, your grandfather included were really the, almost
like the Mount Rushmore of, of, of music, you know, where your grandfather crossed all
lines.
I mean, I mean, he, he did him and you couldn't get two guys more polar opposites than, uh,
Enrique Iglesias or Julio Iglesias and your grandfather.
And to do such a beautiful, beautiful song.
To those I loved before.
To all the, to all the girls I've loved before.
Yeah.
To all the girls I love before.
I love that song.
Yeah.
He wrote a song to all the girls.
To all of them.
There's so many of them that are like, Hey, that one's about me.
That is the, uh, um, um, what's the best time of, uh, of the day for, uh, for you?
Uh, for me, like I'm the happiest or like I get most done.
Like your time, like we, uh, um, do you get up early?
Do you sleep late or.
I do both kinda, you know, like just depends on what's happening in the day.
Of course, when we're playing music, it's, it's late nights.
You know how it is.
The show business is always late nights.
But I do find that I get way more accomplished, uh, and more done.
If I go to sleep early and get up early.
Yes.
You can get a lot done between five.
You can get way more done between five and eight than nine and one.
You know, I don't know what it is, but you, it's just the truth.
I can't make, I can't make any sense of it, but it's true.
What would you say to people now?
Because, you know, there's so much, uh, uh, information at people's fingertips.
You know, if somebody like you, like you said melodies or they, or they felt like they could
write, uh, or they felt like these things in their mind just appeared, you know, these
kind of a connection of words or, or musical connections, what would you say for somebody
to do if they, if they felt like they, um, just had something hitting them or musically
touching them?
Um, but they weren't a musician per se.
Does that make sense?
Uh, go for a drive, go for a drive in the back roads and then start thinking about it.
In that case, you could use a voice memo to put down the information.
There's something about, uh, this frontal lobe of the brain.
And I don't even know if that's right.
Cause I'm not that smart, but, uh, you're doing something.
And then the other part of your brain is open because you're doing something that's kind
of routine.
You don't need your full brain there, which sounds terrible because you're driving.
Let's use a different analogy.
Although driving works for me, but like when you're in the shower and it's a routine, you
kind of know what you're doing.
You can, your brain will zone out.
Those are the times when those, you should be thinking about those things and let those
things pop in.
I was going to say the shower because, uh, yeah, the shower is, uh, is, uh, when things,
uh, when things happen, have you, have your children shown any, any signs of, uh, of,
uh, of, of musical ability?
My boys do.
My boys are twins and they play piano and they sing a little bit.
I think if they really worked at it, they would be able to do it.
But they love playing piano and they love the band AJR.
That's their favorite band.
My daughter is more of a, she wants to be a comedian.
She wants, she has an Instagram called Vivian, the comedian.
She wants to make jokes and make people laugh, but she's so shy when it comes to talking
to people.
She doesn't know that she, I don't know if that'll ever come to pass, but she does write
the silliest jokes and she, she has this want to make people laugh.
You know, I started her first one minute with her and it's not too bad.
It's not too bad.
I've got to say, I think that's part of it.
I mean, I, I couldn't speak, uh, I couldn't talk to anybody.
Uh, nobody actually showed me how to introduce myself to anybody, but I was very shy, you
know, open around my friends, but, uh, uh, extremely introverted and, uh, you know, quiet.
And, um, you know, I used to go to the comedy store when I was 18 years old and I never
imagined that, you know, why would you go someplace to be bad for years and still keep
going?
That's if I had to look back and look back at my early life, I was still in high school
and I thought, why would I keep going back to a place that, that, or places that I was
bad at and continue to go back?
I, I, I don't know the answer to that one, but it does, you know, it does, it does something
to you.
Uh, so, you know, good on your daughter.
I mean, you know that, uh, you know, more people now, uh, are finding, uh, comedy through
Instagram or Tik Tok.
Uh, you know, my daughter, Mayan and I are doing a show.
We sold the show to, uh, to NBC and, and, uh, the, the woman that, uh, that created
this idea saw Mayan's, uh, Tik Toks and said, Oh ----, Mayan Lopez and George Lopez's daughter
and doing Tik Toks.
And now we're doing, uh, a show at NBC and Tik Toks are part of the show.
I love that.
That's going to be great.
Yeah.
They were, they were at the taping.
You guys were at the taping on.
Yeah.
Yes, sir.
I saw.
Is it going to be a genius?
First thing I said, he's got another winner and it's a, it was a good show.
Yeah.
Right.
There isn't a show with Tik Tok in it yet.
No.
And, and, you know, it, uh, it works, you know, and, and, and, um, you know, and, and,
and I'm fortunate to have, um, the creator of my first show, Bruce Elford be the crew,
be one of my partners in this show.
So, I mean, to, to be able to go around twice is, uh, is good.
It must mean you're really talented and smart and good at what you're doing.
That's minimally stated.
Yes.
Have you thought of, uh, have you thought of acting?
Do you, do you see yourself as an actor?
Um, I, yeah, I could totally act.
I've done, um, you know, little things for music videos and that sort of thing.
Yeah, I could do it.
It's just not a big passion of mine, but I've, I've done comedy skits and, uh, uh,
we just did a music video for Ari Shaffir.
Cause we, I don't know if you know, you know, Ari Shaffir from New York.
He has a podcast he does, and we did the theme song for it.
And, uh, so we filmed a little music video and I got to act a little in that.
Um, that's the most recent thing, but I haven't been in movies.
Right.
But I tell you what though, TV is the way to go, right?
Cause then you get a large audience and get a lot of exposure.
I think, I think it is the, I think it is the way to go.
I remember Sam, Sam Jackson told me, uh, when you're a movie star, people see you on this
big screen.
And when they see you in person, they go like, they back up.
They're like, Oh, that's so-and-so.
And then when you're on TV, you're on a smaller screen.
And when they see you, they go, they go up to you.
You know, they don't.
Yeah.
Do people always tell you, um, Oh, you're a lot shorter than I thought you were.
Uh, you know what?
Yeah, they do.
My grandpa gets that a lot.
You're shorter than I thought you'd be.
But I think he was taller back in the day.
I think we all, unfortunately, like you see somebody and they're ******* like, where's
the other half?
I think you just, I think your back, your spine like compresses it.
You're like, what the ****?
The weight of the world.
Yeah.
But I love, you know, I, I, I was at a, um, um, a Grammy party and they introduced the
guy who wrote that's life.
That's life.
And, uh, he stood up and he waved.
And in the break I went over and I said, did you write that's life?
And he said, I did.
And I shook his hand.
I said, I just want to shake your hand.
I think it's a beautiful song.
And I mean, to be with a guy who's an older guy that wrote that's life is, is, is it's
amazing to write a song like that, right?
Like that came from that, that came from that, that comes from you.
That comes from them.
Something that, that you will listen to forever.
Was the writer also from New York when I would work, I was working at a bar a few years ago
and they had a songwriter night and every single person that came in to sing a song
that they wrote, it was a huge hit.
You just did know that it was this guy that wrote it and it was just some regular person.
And I was blown away.
It was every Tuesday night in Nashville.
And I mean, I can't even think of the hits now.
I mean, just huge hits.
And, but you know, the person who made them big, wasn't singing it.
It was the person who wrote it.
Right.
And, um, I just remember thinking that was really cool and how cool they were and just
regular people, you know, they weren't just very Nashville, I guess, you know, just the
songwriters that live life and just go to Kroger like everyone else.
And they're not living in the big fancy places.
But, uh, you always, that shocked me when I was a kid.
I thought everyone who sang the song wrote it.
Right.
I thought that was how it worked.
And then obviously that's not how it works at all.
I found out my grandpa didn't write Poncho and Lefty two weeks ago.
I thought he wrote Poncho and Lefty because Townes Van Zandt.
I found that out two weeks ago.
Oh yeah.
Townes Van Zandt.
Wow.
Yeah.
I mean, it's all, I mean, it's all really, I hope that, you know, because you know, kids
are, kids are so into like, uh, things that are quick, you know, on their phones and all
that, that at some point that, uh, um, I think it's different because songs are, music is
different now.
Means different things to people that, that, that they, they appreciate, um, uh, that,
that music.
Cause I think don't, don't more artists come like there's more genres now, you know, rap
and different types of things, but that kids would, uh, look at it as the art that it is
and not just the song that it is.
Yeah.
I've come up with little bitty 32nd TikTok songs that I think could go, would do well,
go viral, whatever, do well on the TikTok.
So I actually thought of recording it, you know, recording this song, looping it to where
it's like a full song, right.
Putting it up somewhere just for an experiment, right.
Just put it up on Spotify.
And then as a different person, now I'm going to say the name just in case I do this, then
use the song on TikTok and try to get it to go, but not as Ray Lynn or Ray Lynn would
do it, but it wouldn't, the song wouldn't be Ray Lynn song.
It would be another pseudo name, whatever.
And just to see, cause I've just watching the TikToks, you can kind of see what they're
into.
And literally it's only 30 seconds to a minute.
You don't need a whole lot for them to be into it.
And then I've just seen a lot of bands blow up from it or artists.
And I've actually thought of spending time of recording these 32nd ideas, looping it
and then trying to do it on TikTok just to think outside the box and try another thing
to get some sort of exposure.
I think you should.
Yeah, I think that could definitely work.
I don't, I don't follow you on TikTok, but I think I will right now.
He's about to.
Yeah, I've heard people who like, listen to, listen to TikTok and that big song in
Conto.
We don't talk about Bruno won all sorts of awards, whatever.
And I watched that with a friend and she was like, oh wait, I recognize this part of the
song.
I recognize this part of the song.
But she had no idea.
It all came from the same song.
So it's crazy.
That's right.
Snippets that people can sort of latch onto when it's, you know, in like a 15 second clip
that goes viral.
I think there's a ton of potential.
And you have to put it somewhere so that people can go find it.
Right.
Because if it's just on TikTok, I don't think it's going to do very well.
It has to be on YouTube or Spotify or something for them to be able to go and listen.
Is that her?
What is, what is your, your TikTok handle?
What is it handle?
Yeah.
What is it?
We'll, we'll follow you right now.
Shit.
What is it?
Shit.
Connection went out.
Oh, it did.
Why are you on the road now?
Are you doing shows?
I'm home right now.
We have a show in Nashville next week at the Five Spot and on Wednesday night.
And then Saturday we play in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Where is it?
No, I mean, come on.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, we have a couple of shows in October, one in November,
just doing these one-offs right now.
It's kind of been like that since the pandemic, since we've gotten out.
It's not a whole lot of, a big run.
It's just little one-offs.
Oh, we did it?
Okay.
We have just followed you on TikTok.
Oh, y'all are the best.
I'll follow you back.
I want to see.
If I'm not already.
I think, I think you, uh, I think those were, I mean, you're such a good writer.
I think, uh, I think you have to do that.
Right.
Don't you feel?
I will.
I'm going to do it.
Yeah.
George Lopez told me to do it.
I'm doing it.
There you go.
You heard it here first.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, um, I love music.
That, that's it.
That's it.
I mean, I always loved, uh, you know, um, like, you know, uh, have, what have you seen?
Like, uh, I saw Kit.
Have you seen Kit?
What were your, what was your first, your first concerts that you went to?
Were you going to say Kiss?
I saw Kiss.
Yeah.
A lot.
I'm friends, still friends with those guys.
Like, you know, I know they're wrapping it up and they're, you know, 70 year old guys
in a demon outfit and a star over his eye.
But to me, it's, uh, I think it's all, I mean, I think, you know, really as you get older,
man, it's like when those dudes hang it up, they're going to hang something up.
That's been around my whole life.
Yeah.
But they won't have to, but they will just get guys to come in and paint their face.
It'll continue on forever and ever.
I think they were saying that they were planning on, on trying to do that, that they could,
they could, they are right.
So they could get four other guys.
Kiss the franchise.
Yeah.
And, um, you know, I, I was my first concert I went to in 1976.
And then little did I know that a few years ago before the pandemic, I was flying back
from Columbus, Ohio with them on their plane, sitting across from Paul Stanley.
And I said, is this, is this, is this it?
And he's like, uh, yeah, I think it is.
You know, I've been hurt so much.
And he started going through the, I, I, he goes, I tore my bicep off my muscle off and
my hip had replaced and my feet and my back is a problem.
And you, and you're like watching this guy from the first concert to now saying, you
know, I, I think it is kind of a wrap for us that all of the injuries that he sustained,
but also, I mean, has toured the world, um, in this kind of outfit that has become, you
know, known around the world.
And I mean, there is, there is something to, uh, um, a musician, like you're a musician
that there is a, uh, respect for the hierarchy, I would say, you know?
Yes.
I took my kids to the kiss concert here in Nashville in 2019 or 2018, I think it was.
And they loved it.
And they were at the time they were probably 11 and nine, you know, I mean, they were pretty
young and they loved it.
Um, and yeah, they were still doing it, but yeah, I've talked to Jean.
Um, I have a connection with him in Nashville and he, he told me, he was like, yeah, we're
just going to get guys to jump in literally a hundred years from now.
Kiss could still be happening.
That'd be, that'd be amazing.
They still have, I'm amazed right now because I'm thinking about going, the temptations,
all the originals gone now, and they've still got concerts going on, nothing as big as kiss,
but they, what you're talking about, they still continue doing.
I didn't know that.
That's neat.
You think they could have a white temptation?
No.
It couldn't be like a Jackie Robinson of temptations, like a white dude that would
break the color barrier and be like, what the **** is it?
That's a temptation up there.
What's that?
Right.
It would have to be a very special, uh, type of singer.
But you know, even actors like, you know, um, the guy from Starsky and Hutch, David
soul had a song or, or John Travolta sang back in the, in the seventies, like, you know,
they would try to get a TV star to, to, uh, to go out and sing and kind of tour, uh, David
Cassidy, of course, you know, the huge, but also, uh, you know, some other, uh, some others.
Ricky Nelson.
Oh yeah.
My cousin.
He's not really my cousin.
But, uh, but, uh, Leonard, did you get into Leonard Skinner?
I did.
I didn't think, I didn't think of them as, I still like them.
I didn't think of the Confederate flag as anything, uh, um, back then as, as anything.
I think, you know, sometimes we, sometimes we're looking for ---- to, I mean, you could
look at everything and find something wrong with everything because everything can't be
good.
If you're looking for negative, you'll find it.
But I, I love the, I mean, the fact that those guys used to write back there in some hothouse
and, uh, they would sit in the hothouse and then, uh, uh, Ronnie Van Zandt would, would
go on the, go fishing on the, on the lake and come back with lyrics.
I got them, you know?
And, and I mean, however, however it works, it's, it's beautiful that it's even attempted
because you know how difficult it is to, to write, but also to have, have something be
come from you and just fill the space with, with make people, you know, feel things that
like you said, that they were sad and up and happy because that, I think that's a little
bit of a, that's life.
Yeah.
And his fishing was my driving on the back roads, you know, he had to go do something
to get his brain working and let, let that flow in.
You know, uh, I think, you know, Raylan has something very, very, um, astute that people
don't do on Sundays back in the, in the seventies, maybe you guys did it where you, where your
family would say, we're going for a ride.
And on Sunday you, you went for a ride, like around, around town, like you went to wherever
like downtown, maybe you went downtown and ate something and then came back, but you
just got in the car and went for a ride.
Nobody, nobody does that anymore.
Nobody does that anymore.
The gas price.
I didn't do that.
I had six sisters.
Or I go the long way home.
Yeah.
You go a different, different way, a different way home.
Well, I hope that when you come to Los Angeles, that, that, uh, that we're able to go see
you like that.
We know that you're going to be here and, uh, uh, I think it would be great to be able
to see you.
Yes.
Thank you.
Um, I will, I don't know when I'll be able to get out to LA, but when I am, I'll make
sure you guys know.
And you'll of course have your name on the list.
Well, you know, I, I, I admire you because, um, I know, um, you know, uh, to have music
in your family is, is one thing, but also to have, uh, children and to want to be a
mother, but then consider yourself an artist, um, is, um, uh, much more honorable than,
uh, than your musical ability to be a good mom.
Thank you.
And I'm teaching them to follow their dreams too.
Yeah.
And that is, uh, to follow their dreams is absolutely, absolutely, um, uh, essential
for any child.
And it just became essential for children.
Not, not when I shut up, I remember being like, I said, I want to be a comedian.
I'm funnier than you get the **** out of here.
I didn't know.
How could somebody be mean?
So fast?
Hey, George, what?
You never wanted to be thin.
You ever, George, let me ask you that.
You won't get mad.
Uh, I don't know.
How do you know?
I'm not going to get mad.
So you never wanted to, to, to try to be something.
Look at me now.
No grandma.
I didn't.
And then they ******* died.
They ******* died before you are something.
Son of a bitch.
If you're going to talk ----, you got to at least hang around long enough to see what
happens.
Yeah.
That is amazing advice too.
If you're going to talk ----, you got to be around long enough to see what happens.
Well, God bless you.
And thank you for, um, uh, being with us today.
Same.
God bless you guys.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
It was a real pleasure.
Thank you.
We didn't even introduce her.
Will you, will you?
Oh yeah.
Who joined us today on the podcast?
Singer songwriter, founder of the Rayland Nelson band.
Rayland Nelson.
Oh, nice.
Thank you guys.
Thank you.
Thanks for helping me get the word out.
I really appreciate it.
Absolutely.
We'll talk to you.
Bye.
