Ep 10: A Conversation with Kevin Marcy

It’s the 10th episode! Thanks so much for listening.

On this special 10th episode, John interviews Nashville recording artist and songwriter Kevin Marcy in a special double episode all wrapped in one.

Kevin Marcy is a California-born country artist best known as a founding member of The Marcy Brothers, the trio he formed in 1983 with his brothers Kris and Kendal in Oroville, California. The group built a strong regional following before relocating to Nashville in pursuit of a major label deal, ultimately signing with Warner Bros. and Atlantic Records. 

Between 1989 and 1991, The Marcy Brothers charted six singles on the Billboard country charts, including their highest-charting hit, “Cotton Pickin’ Time,” and earned recognition for being among the first to record what would later become “Achy Breaky Heart.” 

During their run, they shared stages with legends like Brad Paisley, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Alabama. After the band disbanded in 1999, Kevin continued his career as a solo performer, carrying forward a lifetime rooted in country music, road-tested experience, and a deep connection to the craft.

Links to things mentioned in the podcast:

Kevin’s Solo Album-Greatest Hits You’ve Never Heard

The Marcy Brothers-Don’t Tell My Heart

The Marcy Brothers-Cotton Pickin’ Time

Sunny Mitchell Musical Projects

Book Kevin at: kevin.marcy@comcast.net

The songs, "Beside You" and "It Would be You" are both used by permission for this podcast ℗© 2018 Kevin Marcy

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You are listening to the Gig to Live Podcast. Welcome everyone. I'm John Boles. I am a full-time working musician. This podcast is where I share the strategies, the mindset, and the lessons that help performers build something that works and something that lasts. We'll talk about smart moves, self-inflicted wounds, happy clients, drunk patrons, more gigs, better gigs, what to keep, what to toss out. If you gig or you want to gig, this podcast is for you. Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. Here we are. You've been waiting for this moment all week. I know you have. Well, today I have uh an incredible privilege of talking with really one of the nicest humans in the world, one of the nicest humans I know. Kevin Marcy is with us today. Kevin's a California musician, and he grew up in Orville, which is right down the road, only about an hour from where I did most of my growing up in Grass Valley, California. I met Kevin almost 10 years ago now, and our paths have crossed quite a few times. We've shared some stages and we've played in uh various music ensembles. Uh I've seen Kevin at some shows that I wasn't a part of, and I've even hired Kevin on a couple of occasions because he's that good, ladies and gentlemen. You know I'll only hire the best. So the Kevin I know is not only talented, but he's fun to be around. He's genuine. We have a lot of things in common, too. I mean, we both have RVs, uh, or at least we did the last time I saw Kevin. We both have incredible beards. We're both incredibly good looking. It's it's really a 10. And we uh we uh had mullets in the 90s too, so that's that's another thing. But the man also has some road miles. He knows what a tour bus smells like. He's got some scars, he's a hard worker, he knows music, and I think we're gonna learn something from him today. So, first of all, let me say welcome, Kevin.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Hey, John, I really appreciate you. And boy, you you made me sound better than I deserve, I'll tell you that much. But uh I appreciate you having me on here. It's a real honor to be talking to you again. Uh, I'm glad we're uh we're able to do this. This is great.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, it's fantastic, man. It's good to see your face. I mean, we're recording this actually via video, although people are just listening to the audio portion of this. So it really is good to see your face. It's good to see you too, John. I'm gonna read a bio. I did an extensive Google search on you, Kevin. Uh oh. We're gonna see what the mighty Google has to say about Kevin Marcy. You ready for this? Uh in 1983, the trio The Marcy's Brothers, uh, Marcy Brothers was formed by you and your brothers, uh, Chris and Kendall in Oroville. And then in the early to the mid-80s, you were building a reputation in Northern California and you released some independent material and including 1983's album, Growing Up Country, or Growin' Up Country. Yeah, right. In the late 80s, uh, you relocated to Nashville to pursue your major label deal. In 89, you were signed to Warner Brothers, and I think I read somewhere along the line, Atlantic. You can tell me if that's true or not. And you released a major label debut album called Missing You in 1989. The single Cotton Pickin' Time was released, and it became your highest charting hit at number 34 on the Billboard Country Charts, something I have never done. And uh, that's super fun. It's a fun song, by the way. If you haven't heard Cotton Pickin' Time, uh you should go take a listen to it if you ever want to have a good song about catching a girl's skinny dipping and then going off work for the rest of the day. Warner Brothers wouldn't let us know. And then 89 and 90.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

What was that? I said Warner Brothers wouldn't let us re release a decent video on that one. I try I I lobbied for a really good skinny dipping video.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

But yeah, the video is a bit grainy, and you know, you see kind of the image of a girl popping out of the water, maybe. I can't have a story on that.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

But uh anyway, continue. I'll I don't want to jump in and interrupt you. It's just you triggered stories.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Oh no, that good. I'm glad. Uh in 89 and 90, you uh chart additional singles, then with the band Threads of Gold and You're Not Even Crying. And then uh the Marcy Brothers are notable for being uh the first people to record the song uh that became Aiky Breaky Heart, but that's not what it started out as. Uh, it was called Don't Tell My Heart when you guys recorded it. In 1991, you released the self-titled album on Atlantic Records, uh featuring the song She Can and Why Not Tonight. Six Billboard Country Chart singles between '89 and '91. You went on tours, opening it up for acts like George Strait, Wayland Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Alabama. And then this is the part, if it were like uh VH1 behind the music, it would be like, and then something was happening behind the scenes. And in 1999, the Marcy brothers formally, formally disband. And now you are continuing a solo career, and your brothers hit the road, I think both of them with Brad Paisley to uh in with different job descriptions. Um, I've heard your album Greatest Hits You've Never Heard, which is totally fun. Anyway, man, what a bio. Thank you for being with us.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Well, it it's funny, you bring me back down memory lane quite a bit with all of that. There's a lot of backstory to um, well, like you know, the cotton picking time. Uh the first, you mind me backing up a little bit. I don't if I get talking too much, just wave at me like yeah, no, go for it. We backed up the first video we actually did. We had to pay for ourselves on uh Warner Brothers. We were working with uh Ron Hafkin, who was Dr. Hook in the Medicine Show's producer manager. And um he uh he brought us back, you know, like he said, we gigged with everybody Johnny Cash, June Carter, Whalen, Willie, Buck, you name it, you know. Um we like I like to say, we were never great, but we sure rubbed shoulders with a lot of great people. And uh we actually had to pay for our first video out of our own pocket. Uh You're not even crying. It went number one on CMT for like 10 weeks. And uh Warner Brothers was like, well, we're not we don't believe in the video thing. We don't really think that's gonna be something. And and uh, you know, the rest is history. Um, but uh then we did uh we did a few of the other songs, and then um uh those videos really took off for us. The uh the cotton pick and time story I was gonna tell you is we we made the video and we hired this really wholesome girl to be the girl in the video. It wasn't gonna be risque or anything, you know, but we wanted to have the fun of it, right? Because we're young. Sure. And uh Warner just kept going, nope, nope, we're not putting out any, we can't have anything racy. No, oh no, we can't have this. We can't have you got compared to the videos now that are out there, you know. I'm like, really? I mean, but uh so they kept putting this aluminum foil-covered cardboard in front of the camera and they'd pass it by anytime it got racy. So that's the greenie. They finally greened it out, and all you see is the bill up to here, and they we just kept having to chop it and chop it. But it went, it was top 40, and they just figured it was going to be number one, but we were up against Kenny Rogers Planet Texas, and Warner Brothers with Jim Ed Norman at the time had taken a lot of money from what he said to from Dole to promote Kenny Rogers Planet Texas, and I think they had you know like a famous director um do that, um uh Steven Spielberg. And uh I think that's who did it. And it was going up the charts, and and and we're doing American Country camp down with Bob Kingsley. That's all I ever wanted to hear, you know, he's not but not these are the Mars D brothers. And I actually got to hear him say that, which is really cool. Um but it that uh but then Kenny stalled right below us, and we we were getting all the ads, and back then, you know, they had only so many ads per label, and they had to kind of and Jim Egg comes to us and he goes, Well, you boys have shown me that you have star potential, but uh we're gonna have to let Kenny Rogers take your ads. And I was like, Oh, please don't do this to us. You know, I mean, I think of course for number one record, we were getting double-digit ads. It was the video's number one for again 10 weeks. And uh yeah, it was a really frustrating time, you know. Um, and yeah, the story went on with that, but uh eventually we found out that uh maybe our former manager maybe wasn't that honest, and suddenly we found a lot of money missing, and suddenly we weren't making money on tour, and we decided maybe it was time to leave that particular arrangement. I'm not saying he did anything, I'm just saying there was maybe a million dollars missing. So uh oh gosh, ouch! Anyway, that's the cotton pick and time saga. So that's when we moved to Atlantic Records.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Okay, and it's a typical story. That's a typical story in the music business, which is just weird to me. I mean, I can't tell you how many biographies and autobiographies I've I've read where they say, and then the manager stole our money. Wow. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

You know, I'll tell you one of the things, um, one of the things that I realized in this business was, you know, I got into it, man. I taught myself guitar, and the only thing I wanted to do was write songs. As soon as I knew three chords, I started writing, man. And um I just loved that expression of it. It was therapeutic for me. Uh actually started out as a classical pianist, and I was on course to be a classical pianist. And I just felt so restricted by it because all I'm doing is memorizing, and it's all technique and no feeling to me. I mean, other than the feeling of the music I memorized, but once I started writing songs, I was like, this is it, you know. Then then you hear Whalen and Willie and the outlaw music, and I was like, oh heck yeah, Alabama, Johnny Cash, you know. I was just like, that's me, you know. You were you were sold. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for the backstory on those things. That's that's fun. And I know uh Blake Shilton covered cotton picking time too, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:57

I was on Brad's bus when he came on and said he was gonna do it. Oh, wow. You were mentioning all of us working. We all worked with Brad. Matter of fact, Brad at one point said, anybody named Marcy can work with me. My dad was even driving the tour bus at the time.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

So my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Yeah, yeah. Kendall's still out with him. He's actually Brad's manager now and plays keyboards and banjo and Mandel is still his band leader, and he's still out with him. Chris, I'm pretty sure Chris is almost out of prison, but I'm not sure what he's doing now. But uh kidding.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Oh man. Well, you know, it's it's funny. You said that you guys uh just rub shoulders with a lot of great cheese, and you know, you weren't all that great, but there's this there's an underground movement on YouTube and uh all over the internet where I hear people say, Man, I miss these guys. These guys are so fantastic. Whatever happened to these guys, and so like there was a following, and it was more than just your local following, and even more than regional. People were in love with you guys. You had a good thing going, and you still do have a good thing going, man. What at this stage in your life, what do you find the most rewarding about music?

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Oh, um, you know, after uh after we went through the thing with the manager and then we went through the thing with Aiky Breaky Heart, you know. Um, that was a really frustrating uh thing.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Um can you pick at that scab a little bit? Can we pick at that scab just a little bit?

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah, let's go ahead because because uh otherwise I'll keep in my head, I'll go back to it. You gotta understand I have an attention span of a three-year-old, so if I get too far off public uh topic, just pull me back in, okay, John?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Sometimes, you know, songs I'm writing come into my head. No, but the uh the Atlantic album, we we had gotten really burned after after Jim had killed the uh that single, and then uh we had the run-in with Ron, and that was not pretty. And uh Nelson Larkin and Snake Reynolds, God rest both their souls at this point, famous producer, snake, Ron Snake Reynolds, loved him. You know, bigger the snake, the deeper the love. That's what he always said. Oh my god. And uh that's Ron for it. And uh Nelson Larkin, you know, he was famous with all the Joe Diffie, Tim McGraw stuff. He owned API Publishing, which I wrote for. And he goes, I want you boys to come over here. Uh you have you have untapped potential. Let Ron and I do it, I'll buy you out of your contract. And we jumped at it. And um, we started recording the album. And, you know, back then, you can't tell by looking at me now, but we were young and beautiful, you know. We were on Tiger Beat magazine and we had the mullets and we were rock stars, you know. I mean, it was fun. You know, it was fun. And um, and so um they started making an album, but it was kind of feeling slick to me, a little overproduced. If you know, you've seen us live. Uh you can there's even YouTube videos out there that people have posted, but you can tell we were fun and young and energetic and sang, you know, and and played everything. We played all the instruments and and they were making us really slick and wanting to be like the little, you know, a country boy band, so to speak. And I was just like, I'm starting to get bored with the album, man. I'm hearing a couple of these songs, and I'm like, you know, man, it's really not getting us. So I went to Russ Vavitson at Shed House Music, that's the house that Alabama built. Um, my ex worked for Alabama for like 12 years, so I knew all those guys.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

And um, so we uh we went in to talk to Russ, and I said, Russ, man, I need some with like more of a 50s old-time rock and roll feel or something we can people can dance to. Let's get something good going on here, you know. So he goes, Okay, I got this song, it's a long shot. He goes, The Oaks wanted to cut it, Alabama wanted to cut it, um, different bands wanted to cut it, and and it's called Akey Breaky Heart. Don Von Tress wrote it. And so I listened to it. My brothers were like, eh, you know, and I was like, I'll tell you what, give me a cassette of that. That shows you how long ago it was. Give me a cassette of that. They would give you one if you wanted to listen to a song more. And uh, and I said, Well, we'll work it up. We were getting ready to go out on the road for a few weeks, and uh I said, we'll play this thing live and just see what the response is. And there were certain shows where we ended up playing that song twice. People kept requesting it, requesting it. And we came back and I told Nelson and Snake, I said, Man, we're cutting this song because I'm telling you, man, you do this thing on the road and it's a hit. And uh they said, Okay, so they cut it. You know, you've heard our version of it. Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

And oh yeah, uh, many times I like your version better.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Thank you. Thank you. And uh so we came back with that song, and uh, and Rick Blackburn, the second thorn in my side, on he was a uh Nelson Larkin had fallen and broken his leg, and he ended up he ended up being out of it for a while, you know, because they had him on a lot of painkillers and different things and uh really hard for him. And and Rick Blackburn basically said, Well, I'm the head of the label now. And uh, even though Nelson was at the time, it was just sort of like Rick inserted it. And uh Rick came to us and he says, Um uh, what's this song? I go, Achey breaky heart. He goes, Achey breaky heart. He goes, You know who wanted to cut? That was Oak Ridge Boys in Alabama and about two others. And I told him, There is no way in H-E-Double hockey sticks that this is gonna happen. And he went off on a blue-colored tirade that I can't say. And he was just adamant against it. And I said, Rick, we played that thing for three weeks on a road, and we got, you know, just what I just told you. And I said, That's a hit. That's a damn hit, you know, and you're missing the boat if you don't put that thing out. And he goes, It'll never see the light of day. He goes, fine, you want it on the album? We're not calling it Achey Dreaky Heart, we're calling it Don't Tell My Heart, and it'll never see the light of day. It's number 10 on the album. And I went, Okay, you know, do I have a choice? And he goes, You can recut the whole album and I'll produce it. And I went, Well, I'm not leaving Nelson like that. And he, I'm gonna run with who brung us. And he goes, another bad move. And I went, All right, let the cards fall, man. And uh Billy Ray put it out, and hell, even the chipmunks sold 15 million copies of Akey Breaky R.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Yeah, so at that point, I just I I just went to writing. Um I I wrote for a total of three publishing companies. You know, I had a Brad Paisley cut, I I did some things, and I was writing, and then I discovered that the publishing business is very much like the music business. And the the just most disturbing thing for me about music was I love writing. I I just love it. I mean, it it was my whole being. And I had the vision that I could remain being creative and let business people run the business and the managers, the booking agents, the all that other side, and I can just create, go in the studio, and then deliver it live and have a great time, you know. And money was answered, not a not a thing for me. It was it was just the joy of doing that. And I realize that you have to be a business major to have a record deal because unless all the spokes are in the wheel, manager, producer, label, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you're never gonna make it. You know, no matter how good you are, um, you know, it's gonna, it'll, it'll take the soul out of you real quick. And and I became so disenchanted with it, I actually quit music for about 10 years. I wrote and wrote, and I realized publishing companies were about the same as record labels. And uh and I just said, that's it. And I I went and became a I I went out with Brad Paisley. I I decided to just be a monitor engineer, and uh, I was out with Brad, and we were good friends. Um and then uh and I just uh finally uh I was getting ready to leave on the road and I had a little little boy at that time, and I was able to stay home for about a year with both my kids when they were born be a stay-at-home dad, which was the most rewarding thing. I just was not gonna let be in business get in the way of them. But I started on the road again, and Cameron Cameron comes to me before I left on a tour and he goes, please, Daddy, don't go. And I handed my resignation to Brad then, and that's when I went back to school, became a firefighter medic, and I did that for after the music business. But then now, now that I'm retired, I I just kind of came back to it. My my wife Carissa was very, you know, why don't you just go sing a writer's night? Why don't you go just do the thing? And I just did it again, and then next thing you know, I'm pretty dang busy, you know, and doing a lot of really great shows. And it's for the fun of it. Now I don't, you know, it's not like I'm doing it for the money or anything. I I just uh do it because I enjoy it, you know. And so life has come full circle in a really great way for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

That's I I love that. So you're out there doing it, even if you're doing it for fun, uh, as a retired uh I mean you're do we ever retire we don't retire, but uh you haven't retired, but you're out there decomposing on the front lines doing your thing. What uh what is different for you? Decompose? What is different for the company? Well, you know, if you're a writer and you just decompose. Pardon me? What's different for you then as a as a retired musician who's out there uh doing it? You still have to maintain the professionalism and you know do all the things. Like, how does it feel different to you now?

SPEAKER_03 21:52

You know what's funny, John? I don't know if you experienced this or not, because you're a great entertainer too. Um but the thing that that still gets me is I don't care if I'm playing for three people or sixty five thousand people I've done it um I still get nervous before every show I I feel like I'm just gonna suck you know as a matter of fact I say that to Chris I say that to my wife after every every show did I suck she no you didn't suck and I'm like well and I'll because I'm so cr hypercritical of myself and I just I think so yeah the professionalism absolutely I I um I pride myself on being easy to work with I pride myself on being professional I expect this same from others you know but um but yeah I take every show serious I really do I don't care if I'm playing a house party I'm I I want to do my very best um I don't sing songs that I don't feel um because it's it's um it's easier for me you know I mean I I if I'm gonna do it I want to do it right I guess that's the best way to put it yeah yeah you know and uh and so that means the song has to be believable to you is that what you're saying like yeah or yeah you know you touched on a great point I I'll expand on that if you want because please back in the day we used to do a lot of interviews um we you know country radio seminar you know fanfare my god we did fanfare 13 14 times in a row you know last time I got to play with uh uh oh it was uh Merle Haggard George Jones and Johnny Paycheck before he passed uh wow some great memories through the years uh got a guitar signed by everybody and um but the thing that that um um that got to me was um uh oh what was your question again John I'm sorry I was I went off on memory complaining about songs songs feeling honest oh yeah so you're talking about I used to get do a lot of interviews and the thing that the thing I would always get asked is they would say well what makes good music to you and I would say exactly what you just said anything that's believable because I said you know if if you look at an opera singer and I love uh Botticelli and I mean one of the best shows I've ever been to beautiful voice but if you went technically uh went for the technicality of how they technically are great singers all you would listen to would be opera I mean sure you know technically they're perfect but but the thing is is if you listen to Chris Christofferson who I love to death and he's um a mentor of mine if he can't carry a tune with both hands in a bucket God love him I love that guy but you know rest in peace Chris you know I love you and he would be the first to admit it but if you don't have if you don't cry when you hear Sunday morning coming down or why me Lord you don't have a soul man and you you know you tell me that's any less great than anything else you hear. So good music to me is 100% believable. That's that's just why I love listening to some of these guys sing because man I can feel it from the fiber of their soul you know you can feel it.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

At least I can you know man I love that thanks for that um if if I were a young musician I mean I'm young and I am a musician but if if I were a young musician uh you know growing up in Oroville right now and I was I said man I am going to make my way and I run into Kevin Marcy of the Marcy brothers although you're your own person I don't want to always define you by Marcy brothers. Come on you know but I run into Kevin Marcy and I say Kevin Marcy what advice do you have for me? What are you gonna tell me?

SPEAKER_03 26:03

What am I gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you that you have to have fun with it even when it's not so fun because if you if you dwell on that kind of stuff you're never going to make it we just we were lucky I think um when I've started the band we we were just playing together we were able to hook up with people like Sandy Rothman who played with Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead before the Grateful Dead you know uh Dave Hauser major formative guy he owns how Hauser music in Orrov there or used to rest his soul yeah uh he taught Chris how to play guitar and Sandy taught Kendall how to play banjo and mandolin and I had I was just coming back from theater I went to the Pacific Conservatory the performing arts in Santa Maria and Solbank for two years and that's where I taught myself guitar and started singing and when I came home somebody had recorded a cassette of me singing at theater on this uh Willie Nelson uh Blue Eyes Crying in the rain and um so uh they were like man you really sound good and I was like well thanks you know and well and then they were like what are you gonna do with it well we went in and used to listen to Dave and Sandy at uh Shaky's Pizza Parlor there in Oroville and finally Dave's like well why don't you get them sing a song so I sang a song and then he's like well Sandy goes you know brothers have really good harmony why don't you guys play harmony so we kept they kept taking lessons and I kept writing songs and next thing you know Dave goes well I'm gonna I'm gonna bring you up sing a few songs next set and and uh next show and uh so he introduced us you know here's the fabulous Marcy brothers that's how he introduced us and it just kind of stuck so we we uh we dropped the fabulous after a while but uh yeah so we finally we got hired at Shaky's and we we made a the the rip roaring sum of $15 each but had to buy our own pizza and beer. Oh yeah we played three hours but you know what's funny true story and you know what's funny though is what's funny is we just kept getting hired and people go well how did you make it I said well we just kept getting hired you know we got next thing you got we got a hundred dollar gig at Rico's pizza and we got free pizza and uh then we got fired Dave Kellogg fired us from overville shaky's because we had we were playing for the competitor and then oh my gosh yeah but then we uh we uh kept getting hired we hit the fair circuit I think that would probably be my big advice is try to get into the fair circuits because we played uh every fair I can think of everywhere and next thing you know um Razzie no it wasn't Razzie Bailey it was uh Mel McDaniel I think was supposed to warm up uh George Strait at the Reading Civic Auditorium and uh they said he called in sick and uh would you guys do the show the only difference is George doesn't want anybody singing cover tunes in front of him. It so they have to be originals. Oh wow yes at the time he was like you know I don't want to worry about stepping on somebody's cover tune after they've already done it and this and that so you got to do originals. I don't know if that was a George thing or if that was just his manager because managers tend to get in the way sometime on stuff like that. Any problems I've ever had have not been the great entertainers it's always been the manager or road manager. So we said hey no problem because I had been writing enough that we were able to do you know do that and we had them all worked up and we ended up getting a couple encores you know surprise to me I was just like oh God you know and next thing you know we're warming up Whalen and Jesse and Johnny and June and I mean we it went on Roy Clark huge story from Roy Clark Roy Clark was the most generous wonderful person I've ever played with he just he quick story on Roy he um we're we got a call this is right after we had uh cotton picking time we had a top 40 you know close to it by then and uh we were broke man we're just like in a van you know towing a trailer uh we're up in jackpot nevada playing for like two weeks you know four shows a night type thing oh my gosh yeah we get a call and said hey you wanna you want to come down and uh warm up Roy Clark in Las Vegas at I forget where it was but um we were like oh man because we grew up watching him in Nebraska on on on Heehawk we only had three channels in Nebraska yeah oh yeah and it was a Roy Clark so we're like hell yeah and we're like how are we gonna afford to get there you know we're like barely making it so we we just filled up the gas said screw it we're not staying in hotels we drove south went down there's like 120 degrees we're like okay we're here and uh we warm up Roy and he watched the entire show from the right hand wing stage right and I was like oh my god Roy's watching our show you know this is just God it chokes me up you know and uh we get done with the show and and uh his road manager comes up and Roy's wants to meet you Roy wants to talk to you so I go backstage and uh uh and he goes you boys did a great show but it's come to my attention that you're not getting paid anything for this and that's wrong and I said we don't care man we're just you know it was it was minuscule money John it wasn't they weren't paying warm of a backs at the at the uh casino then and uh he goes it's come to my attention that you're not getting paid much and I said Roy we don't care we it was such an honor to this is the highlight of my career and he goes well that's wrong and he goes I'm gonna give you something and he goes it's not a loan it's from my personal checking account and I'm you are gonna cash this check and he gave me a check for five thousand dollars which seriously come on I'm you're gonna make me cry yeah well I'm gonna cry you know I mean when when you're that broken you get five thousand dollars in eighties dollars you know 1980 money uh it meant we didn't have to stay in the van or you know worry about gas money and and boy you know huge huge help to the Marcy brothers and I did uh Nashville now we did Nashville now with him and uh you know the Nashville network with Ralph Emery and different people and and through the years he just was just a stellar human to us always very very nice and always helped us when we could so nothing but great things to say about him.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Yeah now now I want to say for this audience that you know I mean Roy Clark that story he what an exceptional individual at the same time at the same time man exceptional individuals do exceptional things when they see exceptional things in other people too you know and I think I think everyone who is out there gigging right now and trying to make a go at it and trying to make a living and you know has more month at the end of the money um I think a story like this is inspiring because it says um you were doing you were following your passion you're a nice guy you were treating people right you were uh treating venue owners right um and you weren't trying to grab the spotlight for yourself you just said man this I want to be around good people and do this and then and it doesn't always happen this way but great things happened for you and you play part of that equation you have to I mean if you were you know if you were a punk kid and you were snubbing your nose and and you were difficult to be around there's no way even Roy Clark is cutting you a check.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

Yeah right now I think right I think mom mom and mom and dad taught us that that that's important. They taught us important values mostly love and um I think I think you treat people the way you want to be treated now are there people out there that'll call me dirty names and this and that absolutely I you know I I'm no angel you know but but on the other side of the coin I I feel like that's the most rewarding thing for me right now is that I'm able to give this music back and and it's I don't know if you've run into this yet but I I feel the music so much and and people are attracted to that and I I find myself playing for a lot of people at end of life at their request. You know I'm I'm do I do a lot of that I mean many times now and as a matter of fact I just had a friend pass that used to just that was all she wanted was me to sing you know John Denver for instance or um different things to her and and now their family wants me to come and I'm playing for her memorial. But it's I I um I find that very touching that I can move people at a time when they need comfort or at least are connecting to their higher power whatever that be for them. But um I this was actually the most rewarding point for me in my music journey right now that I can bring people joy um at that time because life is short you know I mean I turned around and next thing I know I'm 40 years older and I was just like when did that happen? Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but the music stays goes on I wrote a song called um uh this whole is there a song in this whole guitar and it's metaphorical I sp sing about the guitar I'm gonna record it I'll I'll play it for you sometime but please uh the music lives on even after we're gone is is one of the lines in it and and I firmly believe that um uh my dad had recorded my grandfather on a Wallen sack in 1962 playing he was a Navy big band a Juilliard uh had a Juilliard scholarship on piano and uh listening to him now play that and singing along and hearing it it's like wow if I can leave that legacy for my kids and my friends that have become family which there's a lot you know I'm doing this show in Oroville coming up and uh they want it's a benefit so come out but uh you know there's a lot of people still want to I I the the the response has been really overwhelming to me because I'm like well shoot you know they go oh my grandkids know your music I'm like well you were only like 15 when I knew you know so the fact that even but anybody you know cares about listening to music anymore to me just means a lot you know uh I'm very grateful.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

I love all that I think man what you said is so wise for anybody no matter what age they are what stage they are in their gigging career music career uh to find the joy and then to say you know I am a joy agent I am an agent of peace and joy and hope and love for people you never know what somebody's story is out there. And that's why you have people connecting to this day to you know if they heard something when they were 15 their grandkids are connecting to it because there was so much joy and and hope and and fun. And I mean not only in the recorded music but man you see Kevin Marcy play live and you go oh there's just something special there. And then to be able at the end of somebody's life to share with them man those are those are holy moments like holy that it's such a privilege to be able to do that. And so thanks for that wisdom. I mean it's absolutely something that I I hope we all take to heart and say what I'm doing when I'm sharing stories on a stage is bigger than me. Right?

SPEAKER_03 38:16

Absolutely absolutely we're channeling something that is well we're channeling love John even when we singing you know the the songs that rip your heart out and people are crying sometimes it feels really good to hurt that bad I mean you you know that somebody else that's I'm gonna write that that was a pretty good line yeah that's that's a good one you just can't use the line hurt so good come on baby make it hurt so good yeah yeah yeah no it's it's true I think it is a holy thing I think you're passing on love to people and when you speak to their hearts you're speaking to them and I think people connect to that and I think it's really the reason that anybody had ever come out and see us uh in a long-term format you know there's a lot of a lot of people that come out and put out disposable music and you really just if you were never spoken to by it I appreciate them making money at it and and a lot of the times the stuff that doesn't speak to you is just commercial drivel um so I I I think if I can write something with some meat to it that speaks to people both in happy and sad you know I tend to write bipolar I I write uh rockin' fun songs when I'm in a really rock and fun mood and then I'll write you know something that just tears your heart out you know and and it just really depends on where I'm at when I'm what mental space I'm in when I write it. But it I find myself writing a lot more happy songs now or spiritual songs now. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Let me ask you one more question then uh as we wrap this up because I think that's a good place you took us. And we don't talk a lot about the craft of songwriting on this show yet. I think we'll we'll do it a little bit more because some gigging musicians are you know trying to get their songs out there, their songs in front of people.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

At this point in your life when you're not writing for the record deal you're not writing because there's uh you need an extra song on the album so give us 15 to choose from uh who and what are you writing for that's a great question um oh and I want to I want to jump back one sentence to you okay but one one thing you just said um you know really this podcast for instance you know we didn't have that when we started and it's probably good we didn't have the internet when we were touring when we were young because I'm sure a lot of it would have ended up on TikTok or something. There's no evidence I have a video of you playing in a Walmart when you look 15 years old that I found on the internet there's some backstage stuff of this too that's pretty hilarious but uh on a couple of those other videos uh Ed Heffelfinger put it on and he's got a great YouTube channel because he's anyway uh so it's pretty funny. Um but now you know you have things like this podcast. You're giving me a really great voice um even though I'm not particularly going for a career or anything anymore. But the thing is is is now you know back when I cut if you cut a hit record you made bank. I remember I remember Brad saying he a half of first quarter was like $350,000 of a song that he wrote with Kelly Gloveless uh the song he didn't have to be big money okay wow well wow wow when it came to streaming and things like that it really made labels obsolete um you know if I knew what I know now my advice to somebody is I would not sign a record deal we were selling more records out of the trunk of our car by the time we got a record deal we went from making 20 bucks a CD and and and all the swag to $1 a record and paying managers and booking agents which if you add up the percentages is half of your gross income. So I would not sign with a record deal. I I I I wouldn't do it now. I've turned down two of them since I quit playing music and so um I think at this point in my career I would I would make an online presence like you're doing I would I would I would write continue to write the reason I'm writing is for me I I enjoy writing as a as my own love of music and I love playing for like I I would sit there and I play you hey let me try a song on you see what you think and get your feedback and I love the way you can tell when you connect emotionally or or with people and and to me that's the joy of it I always said I'd rather be a successful songwriter that gave songs to people that really spoke to them than be an actual big star entertainer because that becomes a pain in the butt.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

I mean honestly um yeah I had enough fame to know that I don't really want a lot of it gosh that that uh that fits on a bumper sticker or a teacher that's perfect that's good wisdom if I could find a new word for love it would be if I couldn't wish for one thing that would make all my dreams come back

SPEAKER_01 44:01

If you ever doubt, look for yourself, you see there's no honour, but it would be good. You're the first thing on my mind when I dream at night. And the warmth that wakes me with the morning light. If I could see myself in someone's eyes, when my time is through, it would be good.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

I know that everybody listening is uh really excited that they got to hear these backstories and to hear your laughter and to hear your passion and and the love that you have for people. I think it's super inspiring, man. And I I I love you and I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

I love you too, man. I I do appreciate it. I appreciate taking the time with me and uh hopefully I gave you something cohesive here. I don't know. I just I just ramble sometimes with stories. My brain goes back to great times and great people, and and uh I'm I've had a really, really incredible life thanks to people like you and and everybody else that listens, and uh it means a lot to me. I'm very blessed. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Hey, uh then one last question. Where do I send people to learn about you, book you? Those kinds of things. What what would be the best place to send them? Uh you? I'll be your booking agent?

SPEAKER_03 47:30

Yeah, you'll be my booking agent. Um gosh, you know, probably just email me at kevin.marcy at comcast.net. And uh You know, I I like you like I said, John, I've been you know, I I it's been word of mouth so far. I mean, I went into I went into uh bunches over there on Mill Street and uh the owner came up and said, uh, we want to hire you. And I said, Well, you haven't seen me sing yet. And he said, Four people came up to us and told us we we need to hire you here. And I'm doing the Johnny Cash show, which I'm very excited about. Oh, good. And uh I just had rehearsal yesterday uh for that, and of course I'm singing the old Johnny songs because I'm old, but we've got a great ensemble, and we're gonna be playing here in uh uh at the in uh Grass Valley up here in Penn Valley, actually, at the uh uh big stage they've got up here and then down at Folsom. So there's more coming up.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

So uh because I know a little bit about that, if people went and uh looked up information at Sonny Mitchell Productions, would they find info on that show?

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Yes, Sonny Mitchell Productions, she's the uh brainchild behind it. She really uh has put together some good stuff. I mean, we we had Johnny Cash's ever-only drummer play with us, uh W.S. Holland. Uh we had part of the Carter family out singing with us, uh Lori Carter Bennett, and uh we we just had a wonderful time doing it. It's gonna be some really good musicians, dancers, the whole nine yards. So it's gonna be at the Gateway Park uh here in in Penn Valley, and then in Fulton as well, and then hopefully other places uh after that. So uh pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

Going and going. Super excited.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Yeah, well a 10-year anniversary since the last time and it was cool because I got to open the Johnny Cash Trail when we sang with uh June and Johnny, uh John Carter Cash Jr. was there, he's about the same age as me. And um when we opened the I sang for the opening of the Johnny Cash Trail, and um John Carter came and uh came and played, and it's funny because I had my signature guitar, he played my guitar, and he and I said, Would you mind signing guitar with your parents? And he goes, he goes, Look, there's a spot right below mom and dad, and he signed it right below mom and dad. And uh he says, You know, I remember you guys playing with us at Circle Star. And I said, Why is that? That was a long time ago, John. And he said, Because I remember mom and dad only brought up two or three acts while we were on I was on tour with him to sing with him uh at the end of the show, and we got to sing Will the Circle Be Unbroken and uh Daddy sang bass. Mama sang dan. We did that with him. And I mean, I was like, after that show, I was like, I can die a happy man.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Well, heck yeah. Come on. And for those of you listening that are out of the area, the uh the uh Johnny Cash Trail is a trail in Folsom that's a walking and biking trail that kind of wraps, you know, Johnny Cash after the after the prison gig kind of became the unofficial president of Folsom. So so there's a lot of Johnny Cash stuff there.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

I just got to play uh Folsom Prison Blues at Folsom Prison yesterday, which is uh also another cool end cap for me.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

You were inside the prison.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

It was not inside. No, we're we're out front. Uh they won't let you in there, but the security guards are all there, and they said, Man, that's great. So I was like, I sang Folsom Prison Blues at the Folsom Prison at the gate. You'll see pictures. It's pretty fun. Well, thanks, man. Hey, I appreciate you, John. Anytime, man. But I'll interview you next time.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Oh, I'll look forward to that. Thanks, man. Thanks for listening, everyone. And remember, stay creative, stay after it, stay hired.