All Photos taken at Bedford Ice House by Alan Mercer
You hear a lot of “behind the scenes” stories about the true songwriters of our time, the special ones who are compelled to write, and couldn’t stop even if they wanted to. A most common tale about such songwriters is the one about keeping a notepad by the bed in order to capture those elusive little idea fairies that tend to escape the grasp seconds upon waking. A most uncommon tale is the one about a songwriter who remains totally coherent in the dream state and writes entire songs while in that slumber, and upon waking has it ready to commit to paper and guitar. Meet Gary Kyle.
Born into to a big family headed by musical parents, a very young Gary was scratching out lyrics from the time he could put pen to paper. His urgency to write was a constant companion captaining him through a life infused with rich homemade love, personal family tragedy and a deep respect for the time allotted us in this life. Growing up just outside of Houston, Texas, he did his best to meet all the requirements that would make him a strong, well-rounded young man; did well in school, went to college where he got some of his best songwriting done while sitting in class, even got a sales job accompanied by a big devoted paycheck. Yet nothing gave him the peace he found in creating music, a beckoning that rose above the cacophony of a “responsible life.” The stage had been calling for years, and he finally answered. Gary and his guitar played over 250 shows that first year and had his first full-length album “Livin’” to show for it. The following year, he phased in a fiercely skilled backing band, and within six months went from a brand-new act to headliner around his neck of the woods. The course had been set, and Gary was headed towards his true north.
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A growing demand for his live show keeps him on the road for the most part of each month and he was honored to have the opportunity to share stages with alumni artists including John Michael Montgomery and Tanya Tucker. While Gary’s live show echoes his deep roots in Texas and the storied music scene that thrives there, his writing style is the seasoned recipe found largely in the music city of Nashville. It’s this kind of 50/50 concoction that removes all regional borders leaving Gary free to move about the “country.” It’s also the basis for his decision to release in his brand-new album in halves.
On September 15th, 2017 Gary released the first edition entitled “Rewind (White),” a 6-song EP that projects the spirit of his big Texas soul. The first single “Tornado” characterizes the overall climate of this bona fide country music release and sweept through radio and headed up the Texas Regional Radio chart. When it comes to putting on the old cowboy boots and heading to the dance floor, Gary does it just right like on the rambunctious “So Good So Far” and the slightly more laid-back “Late Night Runaround.” And when it comes to the more tender spots of the human condition, Gary does it even better. With a voice the listener can actually feel, he escorts you right to the barstool for a drink full of emptiness on “Champagne.” His precision with balladry is a well-honed skill that leaves no doubt that he has faced down demons of his past. That is never more evident than on “Whiskey Dents,” a sober reflection about the ripple effect of an alcohol induced state, and by far the most powerful song of the lot. Overall, “Rewind (White)” is a trip down the familiar roads where Gary grew up in Southeast Texas.
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The sequel, “Rewind (Blue),” was released in May 2018 and is the more polished side of Gary’s writing edge. Stepping away from his more dynamic balladeering, Gary embraces the more rock ‘n’ roll side of his personality on this release. Having solely written all six songs save for the title-track “Rewind” in which he co-wrote with Ryan Heady, “Rewind (Blue)” represents the wholly refined sound that Gary has been crafting for a decade. Lyrically it is an outpouring of repentance for self-sabotaging behavior and things nearly lost, for the stubbornness of spirt and for things you wish you could do over if given the chance.
There is a heavy drifting feel throughout this collection predominantly in songs like “I” and “Away From You” where the lure of life on the road seems the only natural choice for a music man and the best escape from heartbreak. “Rewind” is a conscious voice that speaks to every human soul, the kind of song that immediately evokes that involuntary smirk when truth finds you hiding in your self-glorification. “Poison Flame” tells the story of a heartless lover, but is, in fact, a self-portrait of a much younger Gary Kyle before genuine love seared its mark on him. Fast forward. Now a very dotting husband and family man, two songs stand as tributes to his wife. “Looking For You” when he first found her, and “Together We Have It All” when she decided to keep him, a song Gary describes as “getting really good at just getting by.” Combined, both releases take us through the journey of Gary’s intimate life as he grows from a vainglorious adolescent to a well cultivated man. Turns out that the biggest mistakes in life make the very best songs…and it’s much cheaper than therapy.
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Alan Mercer: Gary I love your album, ‘Livin’ from a few years ago but then I didn’t hear much from you until more recently. What was going on?
Gary Kyle: My dad got sick and I went through some family stuff. I’m a family guy first. I was still playing live shows. I just wasn’t putting stuff on the radio.
AM: You had your priorities in order. Why do you think that is?
GK: I grew up the youngest of six kids in a super tight family. I wasn’t always this way. When I first started playing it was all about women and drinking. Then I met my wife and screwed up a few times by drinking too much. I never cheated on her, but my drinking was driving a wedge between us.
AM: What do you think made you change your ways?
GK: It was my oldest son Jennings, who is eleven now, but he was three at the time, but he wanted me to play with him and I was so hung over I couldn’t get off the couch to play with him. I felt like a total failure because I couldn’t even play with him. God told me that was it. I did get a great song out of it called ‘Whiskey Dents.’
AM: I love that song!
GK: That’s a true story about the way I used to be.
AM: It’s a haunting song that I love.
GK: Thank you, somebody comes up and says that’s me after every single show I play. It’s so common. I get goosebumps thinking about it. That song made me realize it’s got to be family first all the time.
AM: That’s admirable.
GK: It’s hard sometimes as a father and a husband and provider, to find the balance and know when not to take a show, even if you’re short on money.
AM: You mentioned you come from a family with six kids and you have six children, don’t you?
GK: I’ve got a seventh on the way.
AM: Are you going to stop anytime soon? (Laughter)
GK: I had a vasectomy four years ago.
AM: Well that’s truly God’s plan then.
GK: It is God’s plan. I’ve been checked three times and come up negative every time. I had no swimmers and we found out we were pregnant two years later with Hank, our newest baby. The Doctor confirmed I was still shooting blanks, but this can happen. I’m the anomaly. We’ve got so much love to give. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
AM: I’m thinking you always wanted a big family anyway.
GK: Always. There is not even a close second for me compared to my wife and my kids.
AM: You recently faced the tragedy of your house flooding.
GK: We lost everything except the shell of our house the first week of May this year. We just got back into the bedroom side of our house a month ago. All eight of us slept in a fifth wheel for two and a half months.
AM: You have been through some challenges.
GK: You know… (long pause) I don’t see it that way. Challenge is a great word though. It’s a growth. I’ve grown a lot as a person. I actually welcome that kind of stuff now. My real dad died when I was one year old, and he was 38. He was a musician. You need to get a picture with that guitar because that was his. My Mom kept it in the closet until I was seventeen and then gave it to me. My brother died at nineteen from leukemia. There’s been a running joke among my friends that I’ve always had this dark cloud that covers me and rains on me all the time. The funny thing is I’m always the most optimistic guy.
AM: It’s all about perspective.
GK: It’s your choice if you want to be happy or not and I choose to be happy all the time.
AM: I totally get it and agree.
GK: My grandpa was much older; he had a daughter when he was 62. He was a judge in Oklahoma, and I remember some of the tidbits of advice he gave me. What stuck with me the most was when he told me in life you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. Then he’d ask if I knew what that was, and he’d say it’s everything. You can’t control what you’re not in control of so there’s no need in trying.
AM: If you have your health, there’s nothing to complain about.
GK: That’s right. We just got the sheet rock up last week on the house. Everything is still back and forth and chaotic. My kids love it. We are all still stuck in the bedroom. This house was my parent’s house before and because of some legal issues my dad’s name is still on the deed. So, it never really felt like it was our house. I told my wife the one good thing to come out of this flood was the house would finally feel like it was 100% ours because we are making everything exactly the way we want it.
AM: You really do have a good attitude about life, and you continue to write music.
GK: Once a month I go to Nashville to write for a couple of days. Last time I was there somebody asked me how my house was going, and I said, “Just concrete floors and two by fours” and I thought to myself, there’s a song title, so I started writing a song. The song is about how the flood washed everything away. It sounds like it could be a sad song but it’s about rebirth. The foundation is so strong we can build it back up. That’s how my marriage relationship has gone the last couple of years.
AM: How long have you all been together?
GK: We’ve been together for fifteen years and married eleven years.
AM: I want to talk about your latest single release, ‘American Flags.’ It’s great and I love it! The very first time I heard it I was “In It.”
GK: I’m glad you said that. Normally when you go to Nashville you go in a room and meet somebody you don’t know. Well, this guy Derik Hultquist, as soon as he walked in the door, we said this one will work. We wrote it in 25 minutes.
AM: You hit the nail on the head with this one.
GK: I like to picture a song as a movie, when I’m writing them. We can go off one line or an idea, but I want to see the movie in my head. A lot of people aren’t like that, but Derik is exactly like that. He had the cadence of the song lined up. He mentioned something about an American flag. I started seeing a couple leaving a small town and I thought about when your arm flies out the car window when you’re a kid. We decided to go with that. The video is based on this concept.
AM: This song is brand new isn’t it?
GK: It’s new. We are getting played all over the country as an independent. CMT has picked up the video. This might be my “one.”
AM: This could be the one. I also love ‘Looking For You.’ The production is amazing.
GK: Thank you. I produced that one. I did two records with my drummer and buddy, Ben Jackson in Nashville. ‘American Flags’ is produced by Grady Saxman in Nashville. Back to ‘Looking For You,’ when we recorded in the studio all the musicians looked around and said that was a good one. That song is about when I first met my wife. We were together every single day for a month, and it took me thirty days to even try to kiss her. So, that’s what it’s about.
AM: I love your cover of ‘With Or Without You.’ Did you record it because it was a favorite song?
GK: I like to take cover songs and make them my own. We started playing that song live and we were getting standing ovations. That’s when I knew we needed to record it. My next album will have a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire.’ I’m putting a cover tune on every record from now on. It’s all going to be songs from the 80’s and 90’s and Motown because I love the Motown stuff.
AM: I do like you putting the soul in the country music.
GK: I call my music Country Soul. I grew up on Travis Tritt and Vince Gill, also John Cougar and Tom Petty. If Tom Petty and John Cougar had that same music out now it would be Country music.
AM: When are we going to get more new music Gary?
GK: I will have a new EP called ‘Chapter Two’ and three of the songs are finished. I’ll be cutting three more that I’ve written in a couple of weeks. We are going to keep dropping six song records every year. Things have changed so much. I have all these promoters now. I am going to do a video for ‘Whiskey Dents.’ That song changes people. That is what’s so cool about music. I’ll write a song and it’s for me and then someone will say, “That’s me.”
To learn more about Gary Kyle visit his web site http://www.garykylemusic.com/