Leon Majcen – Florida Folk-Country from Bosnian Roots

when you L and [Applause] learn Crash and [Music] Burn Hearts get broke tables turn you lose your love we are the rugged Revival and we are your go-to place for the very best in authentic uh music incredible podcast and an amazing and supportive community so welcome back uh we've had so many fantastic guests on this year already and this episode is no exception um I'm here and as usual uh we've got rugged Ronnie with us he's a man who's caught covid so many times he's now sponsored by Kleenex and yes the absolute crap jokes will continue on each on each episode now um but we've got uh fantastic Leon with us so Leon do you want to introduce yourself and and tell the listeners a little bit about yourself uh I'm Leon miton uh might sin pronounced like you may or may not sin you might sin you might not probably will um but I I grew up in Florida I'm currently living in Nashville or at least paying rent in Nashville and living on the road and uh love and life awesome I there's a reason why I got you to introduce yourself because I didn't want to bodge your uh surname up so thank you for clarifying that I did Google it and I thought it yeah it said something like my 10 but I'm glad it's my my my sin it's a Croatian last name so like my my dad's side of the family's Croatian my mom's side's Bosnian oh cool I was born in the Czech Republic and then uh we came to the states when I was about a year and a half old so all over interesting history absolutely so over to you then Ry well thank you very much TJ cost the Del as some might call you um so uh just just on your your growing up Leon um I want to talk about uh the usual question I ask some of the artists that come on is around little Leon where did little Leon come from what did you do where have you come from what have you done uh if you wouldn't mind telling us that that'd be great little Leon uh was born in Prague and we came to the state I think I was like a year and a half old uh they put us down in Rockford Illinois and after getting to Rockford Illinois my Dad decided he didn't want to raise kids in Rock Illinois no offense to Rockford um but we had some friends from Bosnia that fled the country like when the War was happening and and they settled down in pelis Park Florida so we moved down there and that that's pretty much when my childhood began brilliant and and then what did you do what what did you do after that where have you where have you sort of gone into where did you you stud where did you when did you end up living moving to as a kid as a kid you know so I picked up guitar at the age of nine I was super like into sports when I was a kid and uh thought I was gonna be the next Ronaldo or you know or uh you know basketball and soccer were kind of where my head was at when I was younger and then I realized that I was a lot better at playing guitar than I was either of those Sports um and I don't know that's always just kind of where my I think was naturally you know was was picking and singing and writing songs and I just kind of naturally started doing it I know I think it was around the age of nine I uh asked Santa Claus is bringing me a guitar just woke up one day I was like want to play the guitar and uh um Santa Claus brought a guitar and I hadn't put it down since I started playing bar gigs and and coffee shops you know when I was I think 14 years old wow and then I just kind of kept doing it you know aimlessly for a while and then one day I realized that you know if I got to make a living out of something you know it might as well be this and when you were between the ages of nine and 14 what was your who are you listening to is there anybody that you would specifically say that you like their style you liked you know was it country was country or your star was it something else I didn't necessarily grow up on country like I grew up on like a lot of like rock and roll and folk like my dad was a big Bob Dylan Chris kristopherson fan he really liked the Rolling Stones and CCR and all that so like I mean he was bopping that stuff even when he was in Bosnia and um yeah I guess that was kind of like what I heard growing up and I mean there was a really good songwriters like songwriter Community here in Tampa Bay um this guy Joshua Riley and and Greg Bowman they were kind of like the local guys um but they wrote killer songs they still do and I think they kind of pointed me in the right direction you know I I used to go to these open mics that they would be hosting you know between those ages of nine and like 14 and I would you know prep like two or three songs every week to go and sing them there and you know it it was just a good group of people to be around especially during those like formative years you know I got introduced to like John Prim and you know kind of went down the rabbit hole with that and found towns I I think I found towns van around the time I was 15 and then since that happened I think my whole trajectory just completely did a 180 and I went just went down the rabbit hole on Town's VanZant and that whole Texas them I think a lot lot of the songs that I'm releasing now kind of kind of feed off of that era of music you know I mean I can't I can't believe how much you done between the ages of nine nine and 14 last foot on I mean that's that's some Talent so yeah that's incredible um so well done um so just a a question I know you said about your what you've listened to and and and where you were going in your trajectory what would you how would you describe your Musical stop I guess I never like really aimed to like I guess like put myself in a genre and stuff I know like for the sake of marketing and and like the music industry you kind of have to but like I never like set out to say like oh I'm gonna write a country song or I'm gonna write a folk song or or a rock song or you know any of that I I guess I was just kind of writing what you know felt good to me and what felt right and natural and that's that's just kind of what I've stuck to over the years you know it's it's kind of hard to pin myself down I guess no and and I've got to say we love it I mean we're talking about you know your style what you do and uh we're talking about some of the songs we'll come on to a bit later when when TJ starts asking some questions um but uh there's a couple of songs I want to ask you about um in particular uh one of which I find quite amusing so uh the one when you first start the video so anyway um so I know you're not currently in Nashville but there is uh we've had some information on some of the research that we do uh that you are normally based in Nashville you're down in Florida at the moment enjoying the sunshine and we wish we were there and it looks incredible and I'm jealous I think funny enough Nashville is actually Sunny this week as soon as I I got to miss out on the good weather so did Florida have uh snow recently as well well there's it's always good weather in Florida so I don't feel like I'm missing it when I'm not here you know yeah I and well I mean you've left at least you left some sign in Nashville I can go and enjoy it for a little bit anyway um so why why Nashville why why you have you got things going on there is there is there something you can tell us about there we'll say like I always kind of felt like I would end up there like even growing up you know I just kind of would speak Nashville pop up and in movies and you know TV shows and and I always kind of wanted to check it out I didn't end up checking it out until I was about 18 but I only went for like a week um I actually ended up moving to New York first and I was going to school up there I I got a I guess like a scholarship to go to NYU and uh I was up there for two years and I I think I regretted the move to New York about five days in five days in five days in I ended up staying there for two years man I yeah I mean it New York's kind of an animal of its own you know but that City definitely chewed me up and spit me out you know and I mean I not that I wanted to be there but it just kind of felt like pulling teeth just to just to stay there you know but Nashville I definitely think there there's a great Community there and I don't know I kind of felt like I it wasn't until I moved to Nashville that I kind of met people that you know I felt similar to that were like my age you know like everybody's moving there for the same reason and a lot of those people moved to other cities you know to try and make it work you know whether it be or New York or you know wherever Austin but I guess Nashville just kind of feels like a home and has all the thing that that that I guess would constitute home you know yeah and I I I've got to say you're a man off my own heart where I uh as you can see on the top there I've got Nashville shining bright uh and it's it's somewhere I really want to go I mean I went to I experienced New York uh a few years back now in in Christmas thinking it was all going to be this fairy tale New York type of thing it wasn't um New York he he's like steroids it's definitely it's not an Adam Sandler movie no I was shocked um but yeah so uh that's incredible and what out of Interest what did you study uh I did I did music business oh did you okay yeah and I um I don't know I probably used that degree for for a year after I finished it was kind of what got me to Nashville I I got a job working for one of my old professors um like right after college at the time I you're sorry P was chewing on a glove no buy but at the time I was um yeah I finished up college and I needed a job I I remember talking to my professor and I guess she was moving she had like a like a company where she was doing like brand deals and and activations at like festivals and that kind of thing so I um I worked for her for about a year and then I mean that that kind of got my foot in the door in Nashville you know and then after that I I kind of realized like you know the real reason I came to Nashville was to you know focus on my craft you know just keep doing music and I mean I I kind of took a leap of faith there you know I I quit to do music fulltime when I wasn't really at a place where I was ready to do music full-time yeah and I like booked this tour like Way Out West I yeah really it was just a bunch of places I wanted to Fish Out West and and I booked a couple of shows around those places to justify myself going out there but I went out there and lost a bunch of money and um you know my my truck got total by a drunk driver right outside of Big Sky that was that was pretty shitty um but I mean yeah after that I came back home I was broke and um I ended up getting a job at a tree tree company like a Tree Service Company uh like right in Nashville just kind of trying to make ends meet for a few months and right around that time like a few months in I I ended up finding a manager and an agent and I kind of put me in a place where I could just gig Enough To You Know cover cover rent and uh the cost of living you know I mean that was going to lead into one of my one of my next questions about you know what what you expect of Nashville of Nashville scene I mean we've we've interviewed some other artists I mean TJ was lucky enough to to interview another artist um Anna uh who described around the the Nashville scene and what what it takes to be to be there and it's a hard slog you know it's a hard from from what I've heard is a very hard slog um and you know some people refer to it as the 10-year town or the Nashville the Nashville machine what what would you what would you say about that is that has that been a little bit of your experience or all honestly like so you know from everything that I heard from other people coming to Nashville was going to be like you know just everywhere you go you're competing with everybody and you know that's that's not necessarily the experience I've had as a songwriter there I think like you know if you're a guitar player and you're wanting to go there and be the best guitar player in town you know good luck with that but you know songwriting subjective and you know everybody's got a different Viewpoint a different story to tell so I always kind of felt like I don't know when I got there it just felt like I felt like I was supposed to be there and I found a lot of other people who kind of felt the same and it felt more collaborative I guess yeah thank you thanks thanks for sharing that as well you know thanks I mean like to be fair I've had a lot of ups and downs in Nashville you know I but I feel like it's the community that I had there that made it easy to deal with and you know those challenges were easier to overcome like you know and I had probably the same amount of ups and downs in New York and there I didn't have a community out there you know so I I feel like at the end of the day it's the community you know that makes Nashville what it is I know you um I know you mentioned earlier that um when you first come out come back from New York uh into Nashville and someone was or you went and work with with someone um when you when you come over is anybody in particular that helped you out in Nashville was there anybody in particular that sort of laid the ground for you to say look you need to be doing this you need to be doing that is anybody that gave you that sort of assistance like a mentor if you like I'd say I I don't know if you guys are familiar with Pat Lions he uh he plays steel with culture he used to play steel for culture he plays guitar with him now and he produced culture's last record but I remember remember I think it was my first year in Nashville you know I was a big fan of cter wall and and Pat's playing and and that whole crew for a long time and I reached out to Pat on Instagram to see if he'd be down to play some steel and Doo on on my self-titled album and we met up and got grilled cheese sandwiches and kind of hit it off and um I remember at the time I took like a lunch break um because I I still had a job back then um I took a lunch break to go meet with Pat and turned my phone off and when I turned my phone back on I had like five Miss calls from my boss and you know I I ended up not working there a few days later so but I mean it was all good I mean like I remember you know like me and Pat had kind of stayed in contact and he lives in Nashville too um but yeah like now I'm actually cutting a record with him and I mean it was a few months after that I remember when I was like doing tree work and stuff I was at work and I I got a call from Pat and I answered you know he just offered to send my songs around and you know helped me out and said he was interested in you know cutting some songs together and it led to us doing a full record together which won't be out until the summer but it's a it's a soft announcement but I like that the first is on the rugger Revival yeah that's brilliant thank you and and again it's incredible that it's incredible to hear that you you said a couple of words that that really resonate with with TJ myself is around Community for one um you know we we always say Well normally when I introduce the I normally say it's the home of the UK's country music Community because it is a community you know country music is a community uh and it's good to hear that Nashville's like that as well and to know that someone's helped you that you talking about P there you know it's good to hear that someone's helped you that someone's sort of given you the foot up if you like or the leg up that that you needed to to help you out so thank you for sharing that I appreciate it there's one thing I want to ask you before I I hand over to TJ for another set of loads of questions um but I want to know is there a moment so far in your very busy career that you've done so far um that you've gone yeah that's why I chose to do this this is why I'm here this is what I'm doing and I love it I gotta think think on that one come back I guess I would say when I went out on tour with Evan for the first time um Evan honer yeah um I toured with him last July and like that was my first like like tour hopping on you know opening for somebody that had a bunch of fans out there and I uh remember the first two shows I was kind of nervous but Chattanooga was a blast and then uh Charleston I remember we played this place called Music Farm and I think there was like 800 people there was sold out I had never played in front of that many people before and you know before that like right around that time too like you know I mean money's never like looking very green you know for a musician but you know I realized that man like when I was on that stage like I I felt good I I was happy to be there and I had no regrets about any choice I ever made before that you know I it all kind of led me to write there and you know I I kind of left left that tour and went home thinking on that really long time and just just kind of being thankful for like all the opportunities that you know came my way and you know just getting to do what I love every day you know it's a blessing thank you that's awesome TJ over to you I forget I'm on the show sometimes I just sit back listening to you guys talk and thing I'm just so interested in in your background because I've got so many questions I want to know more it just goes quiet I think oh it's my turn um so yeah sorry no you I mean you're right what you're saying uh Leon it is a community and you can't do things or everything by yourself we've learned that doing what we do and um you know a lot of people have mentioned Pat Leon's name as well as as a cool dude that's kind of helped them out and uh kind of helped their Journey too so yeah that's that's really cool to to hear from your perspective and you know that that's been your experience as well but uh I'd like to go into some of your releases mate you know we we take a um opportunity to kind of go through Spotify and and through your back catalog and do as much research as we can and I can see you know first kind of official um and correct me if I'm wrong on any list mate but 2016 is when you at released love and misery as a single oh yeah and then and you look very young on the cover of that one oh yeah I think I was 13 in that cover and I you know all I I'll tell you guys the whole story behind that uh so my sister found the email to uh it was the program director at Coffee House and I had just recorded love and misery just like a like a home demo with a buddy from from Florida and uh I think I was and I think I was like 15 when I recorded that um but long story short she sent that demo in like without me even even knowing anything about it and uh later on like I think it was like six months later like she just got an email that said hey it's going into rotation next week and I mean it ended up being on coffee house for a few years but I remember like I didn't know what to do like you know like I didn't even know how to release my own music you know or anything and I remember there was this guy named Pat Culbertson I think at the time he was working at Universal Music he works at big loud now um but he reached out and I mean I I thought I was gonna get like this like BigTime record deal or something like you know I didn't know anything about anything at the time I was I was a kid but he I he gave me something a lot more valuable and it was just like a to-do list of like hey make sure you release your music you this is how you do it and you know this is how you you know register all the you know so you can get paid out for the royalties and that kind of thing I mean that that song pretty much was the reason I got to go to college that's interesting it's um that explains the Gap thing because I was like 2016 You released that and then it was 2020 That You released the your first album wasn't it so back till I'm gone um and I was going to ask you know what what was the Gap but I'm I'm guessing it's is discovering all of them things that you've mentioned in that time and being so young I suppose we didn't realize how young you were when you released that that music um so in the meantime you had your to-do list uh you went through everything and then uh You released that album so how did it feel releasing that and what was the kind of the kind of message behind that one um that like all those songs kind of just Encompass like you know my time in New York and not wanting to be there and wanting to go back to Florida or anywhere else and uh yeah I recorded that with a good friend Andrew bolon he I we're good friends from Florida and we actually tracked that in Tampa um and I ended up doing the self-titled record with him too that's cool yeah it so 2024 was the self-titled and in 25 obviously you've got Highway one and you're doing a bit of a release countdown around there and already I've been listening to the tracks on that and I think it's going to be a a winner mate it's uh it's sounding really good and you can you can kind of see where obviously you started from to to what you're doing now and the kind of quality that that's shining through I mean it's amazing that you started kind of really going into music and between 9 and 15 and you know I can't get my 11-year-old off his bloody computer on his VR or his Xbox or whatever it might be so uh you know part I feel like you know when I was a kid I you know I still screwed around a bunch and you know wasted a bunch of time and I mean that's that's what you're supposed to do when you're a kid if anything I do kind of wish I wasted a little more time when I was younger I mean as far as love and misery goes and some of those old songs I I go back and forth between taking them down and and keeping them keeping them up all the time you know yeah it's interesting you mentioned like doing your work around the fishing and stuff and explained some of the the videos I've seen um and some of the the album cover so was that kind of the kind of theory behind that is that you know while you're recording you can get get your hobbies in at the same time yeah no absolutely like I uh I don't know I figured like if if I just made fishing part of my brand I could just keep doing the things I love and not feel like I'm wasting any time you know as long as you know it's it's all a part of it I don't I don't think I would have that that's self-titled I you know I wrote a lot of those songs when I was working down at this uh it was like a commercial fishing dock back home here it's called Don's Dock and it's on madira beach in this area called John's Pass but I worked there for about a year when I came back from New York and um yeah I mean that I think that year you I've said this to people before but it it kind of felt like Purgatory you know like Co was happening and I guess the doc game like a sense of normaly you know where the world still kind of felt like it existed but you know not much was going on and everything was kind of on hold so I basically just worked at the dock fished and wrote songs and for a good bit of time that year too I I was like dead set on like quitting music you know like still writing songs and stuff but not trying to like release them or you know do it for a living yeah I guess like you know but by the time I had written all those songs I was like well I guess I got to make an album and we're glad you did mate it's I guess I'm gonna move to Nashville while I'm out of two why not why not I've got um TJ if you don't mind jumping in I've got a there's two questions I want to ask and it's about I want to talk about the YouTube videos so there's one YouTube video which is which makes me laugh every time the intro to it is called Blue Sky uh I think it's part of the river TI sessions and when the intro to that where you put the hat on and go yeah I look good and then you go into it I love that I think it's brilliant talk about being honest and then I think the second one um not that I use my mobile phone whilst I'm driving and then the the the second video uh which was on YouTube which I I saw was around um well gone by and the start of that is you on a porch in a rocking chair uh which is just really anyway I can see myself there in about 10 years time um but I think not there in five man I'll come and join you less is more I guess but I think one of the uh one of the things for me is whilst I was listening to that because we we obviously listen to all the music that we possibly can um on the lead up to some of the some of the um interviews that we're doing and for me I sort of I was on the way back from work this afternoon and I was one of the songs I was listening to and I sort of I just drifted off and I was just remembering all these memories that were coming back from childhood and I was like oh I'm driving um I got remember that I'm driving down road I was white line fever man you just keep going you don't know that you're going but you're going yeah no it was awesome it was really really good and an interesting video as well of uh you digging and then you getting in the H so yeah that was directed by my buddy Dylan Dylan meler man he he's a killer uh filmmaker from Tampa and uh we actually did it at my friend Nikki's Farm out in Dade City like right outside of Tampa but I used to play her bar she had a bar called c1949 in the seminal Heights area of it's like a neighborhood in Tampa but yeah I used to play there every week like when I was younger right around the time like love and misery came out I think I was like 15 16 but I guess uh she she did things right and just moved out moved way out and got a nice piece of land and I uh had seen her like post like pictures and videos of the of that property like a bunch and I was like you know that would that would be like the perfect place to film this thing you know I'm glad we we got to do it there shout out to Nikki yeah absolutely and the videos are epic they're really good so yeah great awesome over to you TJ sorry thank you sorry I'll let you carry on it's all right mate it's all right no uh we love watching those videos and there I think with your your music and the videos kind of combined there's a real kind of cinematic quality to it and I thought I was thinking earlier what what sort of questions can I put to you that probably you haven't had before just to make things interesting and I thought if if you were to put kind of your musically onto a soundtrack of a movie what what movie might that be that kind of you know the vibe of your music kind of portrays and you know what what could you see it being in perhaps bit of an school question but uh I I guess I'm trying not to just tell you movies that I like movies that would actually make sense but I guess there might be a bit of both in this like I don't know I this might be stupid but Forest scump it's a great movie it's got a great soundtrack as well yeah um Lonesome Dove Lonesome Dove is that an old one it it's an older movie yeah my buddy my buddy Noah it's like his favorite movie and stuff and he made me watch all three of them in Texas one time I was like all right fine I get why you talk about this [ __ ] all the time we'll check it out man yeah I'm GNA be watching out this weekend it's got to be done you could have come up with some weird movies there so uh it does make sense and Forest Gump has got an awesome soundtrack so uh yeah absolutely um so yeah in terms of I mean it's interesting talking to lots of different artists in terms of what we do and I I find it interesting how um people find their creativity and you know put that down into words put that down into music and um have you got kind of a routine or something that works for you in terms of you know getting the creative juices flowing and you know Penning tra it can't be easy it sounds like you know writing songs is you know easy but clearly it's not and to write songs as well so what's your kind of method Leon this might sound really cliche but I've kind of noticed when my life is like super stable and you know things are really good and things are going great I don't I don't really tend to write that much you know but I feel like you know where there's an up there's always a down and you know every year you'll if I get a month or two where things are bad or things kind of take a left turn I'll get inspired and you know do all my writing that I need to do and just kind of hole in zero in on that and get started that way but yeah I'm I guess like a big thing for me is just trying to kind of find a balance between you know being like a functioning person and still writing songs you know songs that I like at least you know I don't think there's many functioning people out there we're cly we're we're certainly not functioning I love the function you know I love being a functioning human but no I I've just been trying to get inspired by you know things that are you know more positive and you know just kind of taking taking better care of myself especially out on the road and you know trying to keep my head on head screwed on tight it's uh it's it's s especially when you're away from home so often um you know we we speak to a lot of people I said that's one of the hardest things is being away from family friends and you know out on the road so so much throughout the year and but it gives you some time on the other flip side to to kind of write write and and Pen some more songs perhaps but uh so yeah lots of inspiration I think you know we we've I I probably sound like a broken record uh and I'm sure you've listened to to some of the previous artists but we talk about mental health um as a number one you know you need to look after it you need to look after yourself uh and and especially keeping yourself on the right track um and it you know I think we're all shocked with how many people have suffered from sort of episodes when they get bit down in the dumps when I've had some really rubbish times really bad times but listen we're all here you know you said it at the first the first part of this interview is around Community we are a community you know if you need any just you know just reach out to us same as everybody whoever's listening to this is is just reach out and we we're going to keep pushing that message every time that we're on because it's so important to look after yourselves uh and especially you know a lot of males don't aren't um forthcoming uh with we've admitting they don't they have uh concerns or or whatever you so just shout we're always here anyway we're we're on the same we're on the same wavelength so yeah definitely um over to you then Ronnie we've got some more more questions me again you again mate you again aren you lucky [Laughter] Leon Le I want to know one one of your your personal views around what's the best album that you've listened to I'm going to say in probably the last 10 years um and what makes it stand out to you personal question there's there's a guy named Joe pie have you guys heard of Joe pie no I haven't will do now though hell of a songwriter but he's got this record called Eagle rockfire which I think that might be one of my like Desert Island Records Pro maybe maybe even my favorite record of all time huge statement there we we absolutely going to have to check that out for sure yeah Eagle Rock Eagle Rock fire yeah it ride that definitely um and is there any emerging musicians or bands that you've been following and would recommend to our listeners oh also another record Hong Heroes okay Billy Joe Shaver yeah that's that's one of my all-time favorites as well and then the the second question you guys just there sorry so it was around have you got any emerging uh musicians or bands that you've been following uh and would recommend to our listeners to anybody that's listening to us honestly all my buddies at Cloverdale records uh Thomas Roland Presley Drake uh Sierra Carson Briggs melway he my buddy Briggs just started a band called Tobacco Road and they're killer but I guess like that's that's like a lot of the community we have in Nashville's you know the community I found is is Cloverdale you know and just all my homies I I feel like we all post about each other all the time that's brilliant and if we you know we'll we'll certainly tag him and tag them and bag them when you're uh when we when they're sing this out so uh no thank you for that it was just uh I wanted to know just for a personal question um so would there be any advice that um you would give to any emerging artist um or any artist coming into the scene who's brand new who done what you did when you were you know between the AG N9 and 14 and you at that very busy time but yeah have you got any advice for them is there anything that you would you would suggest so I I would say just like if you do end up moving to Nashville or where you know wherever your heart takes you just do your best to just get out there and meet everybody that you can and make friends with everybody that you can and just kind of be around and you know keep putting yourself in the right places where good [ __ ] can happen you know and keep writing and I feel like a lot of times like I guess like the least productive times in my life were the times where I thought I was being the most productive and you know kind of molding what I wanted to do around you know may maybe what was in or you know what was you know the cool thing to do but at the end of the day I I think the more of your story that you can tell you know I think people people tend to have a good [ __ ] radar and that radar tends to not go off and when you just tell your story and and do what you do you know keep it real him is the uh take note TJ take note [ __ ] Radars um Leon thank you for that um I've you guys I've only got two more questions that ask you if that's right TJ um so I've asked an artist before um a couple of artists before actually the last few interviews I wanted to know about their top three goals so it can be top three goals in three years or five years or whatever you want to do have you got any goals assigned and I want your top three if you can share them with us they for the I I don't really have a a good timeline on these on these goals but feel like at some point in my career I want to play Red Rocks I want to play the Opry and uh just wanna make sure I'm always just enjoying what I'm doing you know if I'm not enjoying it then there's no point doing it you know so I I guess always just keeping keeping music fun for me and you know making sure that it's not impacting me like negatively you know yeah and we we've had a couple of others that have said about Red Rocks before the opri honestly you you'll get there you'll do you do all of that and more uh I have no doubt um listening to to where you've come from and and all your all your music that you've you've released uh so far more to come obviously um but you'll definitely do that more I have no doubt uh and I'll be extremely jealous because I'm sure you'll get to the opri before me uh because I just want to sit in the crowd but if you do I'll be there I'll be waving in the back yeah and and I just wanted to just one last one is around uh I know you've shared the stage with some with some big hitters before um and you did mention a couple of them um at the start of the interview um but is there anybody that you would particularly like to share a stage with uh or be on stage with um singing at all lots of people lots of people you know I I'm going back out on the road with Vincent Neil Emerson like right after I get done with tour with Evan and I mean like the first time I went on on the road with Vincent you know I I'd been listening to his music since like 2018 like him and cter wall and the day I got that call you know I was over the moon yeah you know it it it was a really like affirming thing you know I was like man you know I just I just got to keep my head down and keep working hard and you know keep putting out music I mean I love being on the road you know every time I'm on the road I want to be home and then when I'm home I want to be on the road so I guess uh man I yeah I I guess I couldn't really say one one artist or or another artist but I I am excited about you know whatever this year and next year brings and so on and so forth and I'm just glad to be doing it BR thank you we'll come on to to this year in a minute mate because we're we're very intrigued as to what you've got in store but uh I think we'll start just by um just finding out something away from music so you mention mentioned fishing is uh is something you're really into is there anything else like that perhaps people wouldn't expect that you do in your spare time that uh away from music that kind of keeps you on the right track pretty much just fishing fishing and hanging with my dog I I got a chocolate lab back in November and everybody told me it was gonna be a really bad idea for me to get a dog and um I called [ __ ] on that so I pulled the trigger and got me a dog so is pun Poncho is it you do Poncho yeah we got to do a shout out to Poncho absolutely honestly I I think Poncho has done a good good job of you know keeping me on the right path and you know just there's nothing better than having a dog you know I think it's definitely forced me to make some changes and move stuff around and make it work but I think I'm happier because of it you know like I used to really like genuinely like last year I had nothing tying me down to home you know and I mean anytime somebody would be like hey like do you want to come hang out here you know I I had no problem driving 10 hours to you know go either play in front of nobody or or you know just go and hang out with a buddy I haven't seen in a while and I I think like I was doing a lot of that last year and it was starting to kind of weigh on me just never being home or always finding a reason to be gone and I think a dog kind of forced me to not spread myself so thin you know when when things get kind of busy like I I find it easier to say no to things that I feel like I should say no to you know um having a dog just because I'm like all right that that's just too much like I I need to take some things off my plate and I you know at at the beginning I kind of thought a dog would add to my plate in a weird way but I I feel like Poncho helped me take a lot of stuff off my plate food food included absolutely it keeps you grounded it gives you something to kind of um yeah have some responsibility round almost isn't it a bit like kids you know abely one of the same thing they take food off my plate all the time so uh absolutely I relate so does poncho doesn't go on tour with you and stays at home he he's gonna I I'm still thinking about maybe bringing him on tour in March I'm gonna bring him on the Vincent dates in February and then I don't know like as far as like later down the line you know he's still a puppy like he's he's not even six months yet and I've just kind of been training I mean I I've been with him 247 pretty much like this whole time my parents love him and he loves my parents so there's a chance I might have to leave him leave him leave him with them in March just because it it might be a lot for him and you know I want to make sure I'm not over over overdoing it you know with him at too young of an age but yeah he he's going to be a road dog for sure good I'm sure make a good one wa for so tell us what you've got in store for this year Len Leon because obviously you've got the highway one album which is slowly releasing tracks is it is that week by week or you know is there a schedule to to when all of those songs are coming out uh every two weeks and then the like the full album is going to drop in in U April April 24th awesome and I can see you've got some tour dates already scheduled and you know we we spoke on uh DM's uh protic you're coming on and you mentioned that there might be something in store perhaps overseas as well is that something that you can uh elaborate on there there was gonna be a show in London but I I don't think that's happening uh I want to make it happen I I still might be able to make it happen but I uh you have to I really want to come over to Europe and play that that's been on my bucket list for a long time and you know I got a lot of family in Europe too like a lot of them being in Bosnia and Croatia but you know it's on the same cont it I'm across America at least 10 times by now I mean you got to remember that we're we're here in London so you need to come and see us no no other people just us perfect exactly mate but um yeah honestly if you want to do something over here give us a shout and um we we we try and help out as much as we can if it's just connections or somewhere to stay whatever it might be Leon just you know Reach Out mate but yeah yeah I'm I'm sorry to hear that your initial plans have not gone uh as you wanted so far it'll it'll happen it'll happen eventually yeah absolutely mate things happen for a reason and yeah it's uh maybe maybe it wasn't the right time but uh there certainly will be and like like Ronnie says we will be here mate with a a cold beer for you uh waiting it sounds like a good time that's brilliant mate so in terms of um how how can people help and support support you so whether that's uh at home or or other things that you're doing from a fan base perspective because it's um you know it could be difficult sometimes being a musician because people just automatically assume that you make millions of spotify and you know life's easy for you and it ain't the bloody case is it so you know I'm always intrigued as to what can we do as maybe a podcast for the rugged Revival or or fans in general to help you Leon I think merch sales go a long way if if people see something that they like in the merch store and and want to get it your order goes a hell of a long way um honestly streaming the songs too on Spotify is Big you know it I think that stuff might not seem like a lot but it does push the algorithm up and I mean you know people talk crap about Spotify all the time at the end of the day I mean people aren't buying records anymore like streaming is kind of the name of the game and I mean Spotify does a good job of helping artists get a lot of exposure and like it is possible to you know get to a point where you're making money on on that platform you know so I I'm definitely just I'd say merch yeah merch goes a long way and we love merch mate we love good uh t-shirt or a good trucker C mate everyone there everyone wants one of those can't beat it but uh so let's go so how you finding the whole social media thing cuz always find that interesting to talk to different artists about um whether they do it themselves whether you have a team doing it or you know and let say it's not just being an artist and and sing a songwriter these days you got to be the the social media Star as well almost I I do all my own social media and to be honest with you guys I I absolutely hate it I couldn't hate it more I I wish I didn't have to do any of that [ __ ] but that that's kind of what it is you know yeah or at least it looks good mate you know I will give you that it's uh you're not doing any of the cringe stuff that I see sometimes going around and I've been I've been fighting people's recommendations to do all the cringe things for for a while now so I I appreciate you guys taking notice no we'll we'll we'll we'll see we'll see if you do a next cringe video and we'll we'll comment on it mate just for sounds good I know I took it too far yeah that that would be the sign that's awesome man so is anything kind of specific that you want to kind of share with us with the listeners in terms of um anything else you want to plug that perhaps we haven't covered I think we pretty much covered everything um I guess just to thumb it all up I I got two albums in the chamber right now and I'm gonna be touring this year and and next year and the year after that yeah that's pretty much it Leon I've got a I've got a personal request for you to plug something for me because we're struggling a little bit so in March we're doing something called the emerald Revival which is a a month dedicated to Irish country music so me from an Irish background we're trying to push to get Irish artists on and support the cause and and whoever you know that might be from an Irish background just in way but if you can plug the emerald Revival for us it'll be amazing Emerald Revival the emerald Revival yeah I got you brilliant Thank You Leon H you're a legend yeah no that will be that'll be an interesting month that'll be an interesting um so I think just finally signing off Leon just by saying huge thanks for coming on we know you were a super busy guy uh it's been a good laugh it's been good laugh getting to know you absolutely funny and we look forward to coming over to to London or the UK in general um you know me too man me too it'll be a good time definitely Jo do the honest then I I will I will thank you very much TJ Leon it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you they're so humble the so talented Leon uh normally we would grab uh an alcoholic beverage to do a toast uh that we sign off but seeing as it's midweek and I haven't got a beverage anywhere I've got a bottle of water so uh to the grip um we're gonna no let's do that again we're going to raise a toast to the grit the grind and the Revival Leon you're a star thanks very much cheers thanks apprciate you guys cheers

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