Photos of Randall King taken by Alan Mercer
at Lola's Trailer Park Bar in Fort Worth, TX
Humble beginnings, a cultivated work ethic and the influences of classic country music legends, synchronized together in perfect harmony, make up Singer/Songwriter from the West Texas Plains, Randall King.
Growing up a fourth-generation hay-hauler, many of Randall King's songs are written and inspired by his deep Southern heritage and family roots.
Randall was raised listening to the rich and soulful, classic Country voices of Keith Whitley, Garth Brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson, to name a few, which helped create his musical style into what many have described as neo-traditional Country music.
Starting his college career at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas as a business major and a music minor, Randall quickly learned that to e successful you need to study what you're passionate about. He did this for a year and a half and then changed to all music.
Shortly following his enrollment at Tech, Randall transferred to South Plains College, one of the most prestigious audio engineering schools, where he changed his major to Sound Engineering. Randall Kings's self-titled new album, which he wrote and produced almost entirely by himself, stands as a testament to the craft he has honed since college.
While most country bands consist of guitars, bass, drums and a fiddle, Randall's live set features the cryin' of the steel guitar, one of country music's original instruments. Randall has recently performed with artists such as Lee Brice, William Michael Morgan, Tracy Byrd, Cody Johnson, Robert Earl Keen and many more.
Randall King is a grounded and talented singer/songwriter who is sure to stay. Garth Brooks recently announced the opening song on his upcoming tour would be one he co-wrote with Randall titled, 'The Road I’m On' and has publicly proclaimed Randall King to be the future of Country Music.
Alan Mercer: Randall, I think you are a Superstar in the making. Is this something you have planned on for your life?
Randall King: It’s definitely something I always wanted as a kid and something I’ve been working on ever since I got out of high school. It’s always been a dream of mine.
AM: How did you make it go from a dream to a reality?
RK: It was a matter of putting the hard work behind it and building on the God given talent that I was blessed with. The rest of it has come with hard work, listening and learning.
AM: I know you went to college for a business major and a music minor but switched it up.
RK: I did. I gave up on the business degree and went out to Southwest College and got a sound tech degree learning how to mix records.
AM: Did you produce your album?
RK: I produced my EP in Fort Worth, Texas and then I produced my full album in Nashville.
AM: What were some of the differences between recording in Fort Worth versus Nashville?
RK: It’s the quality of the studios and the quality of the musicians.
AM: That EP is really good and the full album shines!
RK: Thank you man!
AM: Where are you getting your song ideas from?
RK: You gotta take your song ideas from your personal experience in your daily life. A lot of times we’ll be going down the road and I come up with a thought and I put it together. I’m set up with some really talented writers out of Nashville, so I bring the songs out to those guys and we sit there and create.
AM: I assume they help you refine the song.
RK: Yeah man, every song is about the rewrite. Even when you think the song is finished you can play it live and test the waters to see what works and what doesn’t work. We had two years between the time I released ‘Another Bullet’ and the new one.
AM: Do you have several other songs already written that you know you are going to record?
RK: Oh yeah, when we did this record we had 30 songs to pick from. We picked the best 13. There are three to five other songs that I loved but they just didn’t make the record, mostly because there wasn’t room. The songs for this record were hand-picked so they made sense all together.
AM: That’s what I LOVE about your album. It’s a rare thing to get an album that works from opening note to closing note and that’s obviously what you were going for.
RK: Yes sir.
AM: And your lyrics are so clever. Do you write a lot of them?
RK: A good chunk of them. About 65% of the lyrics are mine.
AM: I love the opening cut, ‘Freightline.’
RK: Thank you, that’s a song for my daddy.
AM: You say you come from hay haulers. Did you haul hay growing up?
RK: Oh yeah, I hauled hay growing up. Until recently I was still laying floors on the side.
AM: Will you do that anymore?
RK: I’ll pick it up every once in a while, when I want to. I enjoyed it. I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands. I waited tables at Texas Roadhouse!
AM: Do you enjoy performing live?
RK: Absolutely man. If you don’t love being on that stage, you better not get on that stage. You gotta love it. It’s a lot of work. It’s not all party and fun. It’s a lot of sweat and blood.
AM: Are you ready to be a star?
RK: I don’t know if it’s a matter of being ready to be a star as much as it’s about going out there doing what you love and being yourself. Being true to who you are. At the end of the day I’m not out here trying to make myself into the next George Strait or the next Garth Brooks. It’s the people who love your music that are the people who make you what you are. It doesn’t matter what the fans make me. I can only do so much. I can only give them the realest piece of me and the most honest piece of me and that comes through my music and my live show.
Learn more about Randall King at his web site https://www.randallkingmusic.com/