Ritch Henderson – Marine Turned Southern Songwriter

when you L and [Applause] learn Crash and [Music] Burn Hearts get broke tables turn you lose your Le this is the rugged Revival podcast we are back with vengeance uh and just to remind everyone we are your goto podcast for things country music and we entertain the very best conversations with Incredible artists bands uh we're already onto our second episode of the new year and joining us we have the very awesome uh Rich Henderson uh we also have the not so talented or awesome rugged Ronnie with us uh too have to put that in there um but yeah really thank you for coming on the show Rich um and it's a big shout out just while we're at it to talbo for arranging this he's uh an awesome guy behind the scenes always helps us out and he is a legend in his own right isn't he so awesome uh thank you for that but uh yeah over to you rich do you want to introduce yourself to to the audience and to us who you are yeah uh my name is rich rich Henderson I'm a songwriter from northern Alabama that's what the Hat I'm wearing is my state flag um that's really about as far as I can go we're about to ask some questions and get into some definitive uh things that make me who I am and that sort of thing so my name's Rich I'm a songwriter just a regular dude like everyone else awesome that's what we like to hear mate so like you said we'll we'll go into kind of the details behind your music and everything else but where we like to start mate is um just kind of going dialing it back to where you grew up and um you know we try and do as much research as we can on the show and you know we we pulled up some details that you were you're from a place called Coleman if that's the right way to say it in Northern Alabama and reading your bio on your your website you kind of paint a bit of a bleak picture of the area uh and you mentioned stuff like poverty the drugs drugs epidemic and kind of solitude um from that area so you know I just wondered in your own kind of words what what was it like you know growing up in in that area and what were the challenges like for you mate well I think it you know I would be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to point out the fact that there is a lot of beautiful and wonderful things about the place that I'm from as well you know I grew up in a really small town uh graduated with uh 23 people in my class so it's like everybody around us was was family we were all kind of poor and struggling together even though a lot of us didn't know that um the challenges I think for me were no different than the same ones they were for everybody else there's just not a lot of access to things out here that you have if you are closer to metropolitan areas um or even what we would consider like middle siiz cities and towns uh that being said it is it was a great place to grow up the challenges were more of a social thing instead of necessarily the people the people were kind of a product of their environment the same way that the rest of us all were so I do like to clarify that because I guess sometimes from the outside looking in it can seem like a little bit of a slight from where I'm from and that's not the case I love I love where I'm from and I'm very proud I would like to see some more access to um amenities if you will for the citizens and the people the good people that live down here but I want to clarify that um that being said you know I'm in the southernmost point of the appalachin mountains we got the Foothills and stuff rolling around here and the opioid e epidemic hit us uh particularly hard as well as you know methamphetamine and lots of other different kinds of drugs because when there's not much else to do and there's a lot of struggle and strife around people tend to try to find way to escape that or occupy their minds and it seems to be mu music or substances As One Direction or the other people tend to go and if you're anything like me went a little bit down both of those routes I never had any kind of crazy Addiction issues or any of that sort of thing but a lot of my close buddies growing up spent some time in prison because they made the wrong choices and I had a family who loved the hell out of me and really cared although we didn't have very much they always made sure to let us know that we weren't alone and kind of push us in a positive direction to get us in the direction we needed to go and I feel like that's the difference between myself as someone who made it out and eventually came back versus the people who didn't have the opportunity to so um it's also I think important in this circumstance when we talk about those people who struggle with those situations to kind of put ourselves in those shoes and realize that any one of us given the experiences that they had would have ended up in the same place so I guess that's a long thought about it no no that's really interesting to kind of hear your your perspective on it and there's always two sides to it like you say um but but it's just interesting reading your byr and I thought it'd be a good question to kind of bring up and it always shapes kind of people's worldview you know from an early age and growing up in those environments I mean what what type of job did your your mom and dad do you know what was what was kind of the upbringing like for you yeah my dad built house is actually he was a a carpenter he did that for about 30 years here we're a small Lake town so we have a lot of money around us all that comes in from outside sources like Birmingham or some of the bigger cities in the South and even some of the bigger cities in the Northeast because the lake is a very beautiful area with very valuable property so there was some infrastructure there for earning but it was just it was one of those things that like you said in the way it shaped my worldview I had a difficult time really understanding what it was those people could do for work to earn that amount of money because my dad built those houses and we couldn't afford anything so it was a difficult thing for me to understand how they had $3 million homes on the lake what what kind of job could you do and if I was to look at my dad who was the hardest working most brilliant person I'd ever met and he couldn't have anything and he was capable of building these absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous homes what the hell was I going to do to get out of there how could I do anything better than that so um it kind of like I said it definitely particularly shape my worldview in that response my mom um she worked for a while when I was a kid she worked at the local convenience store there's not really a lot of jobs and stuff around here population's very small we're about an hour and a half to Birmingham uh Alabama that's kind of the biggest city that's close closest where I'm from I always say Coleman but where I'm from is actually a place that's even it's like 45 minutes from Coleman in the woods is called Arley down on Smith Lake in Alabama so she worked in a service station for a little while was a cashier and then she got a job at the local Factory one of the local factories as industry started to pick up actually in Coleman proper and then um once I graduated high school I went to the Marine Corps my mom actually went back to school and got her Master's Degree in Psychology and now she works um with a company called Alabama apple seed to where she helps people get out of prison and kind of re-enter back into society whenever they like Alabama's got a couple ridiculous uh drug laws and like the three strike your Outlaw and some stuff like that that has people getting you know life sentences for for being repeat offenders and Drug experience and stuff way back in the day so now she helps to get those people out of prison with the team of lawyers that she works with and kind of helps them to reassimilate uh into society so wow wow that's commendable man yeah I mean it's interesting you say that I mean um because I suppose there's some similarities in my my head that um we've got healing Appalachia um over in kind of West Virginia and they've set up some kind of music events where you know it's to promote a community free from addiction it sounds like they've had very similar issues particularly with opioid uh abuse and deaths and I think it was like 26 deaths in one day that kind of prompted some action um so it's it's real real hard things that are going on in these communities so um yeah it's interesting to hear that but you you mentioned you just just kind of touched upon the fact that you went into the kind of US Marine cup so reading up you was it 18 or 19 years old that you you started to do that yeah I was 18 as soon as I graduated high school I went straight into the Marine Corps um immediately went to Afghanistan got back from Afghanistan finished my contract and got out so it was a short they call call us call us short timers I didn't stay in for anything particularly no 20 years of service or anything crazy but uh went in went to war got back home and got out oh W Lu so what what was the kind of thinking at that age because it's a a massive kind of life choice almost isn't it to go into military and particularly War zones at that age is what was your thinking well I wasn't uh particularly a very good student not that I didn't didn't have any kind of intellect to do so I just uh I've had a little bit of attention deficit issues and uh my grades weren't really great and I I got a little bit of a scholarship to go do like some residential wiring program um through a community college that would help knock off some of the cost of that but I've had this desire to pursue a higher education and actually make something of myself since I was young I think growing up without anything made me want to go and become something so I knew the only shot that I had at at any kind of higher level education was the GI bill that the Marine Corps provides so I kind of made that choice to go to high school and join the Marine Corps so I could get out and see some things and have a steady income and earn an opportunity to go to college so that was that was really the the deciding factor I think for me logical route to take yeah for sure man um I mean when you were out there so it's a short period of time and I remember reading I don't know if it was in your buyer or someone else's reading that you you you suffer or suffered from PTSD is that something that that's still ongoing or is that something that you picked up while in the military uh it's all rich if you're comfortable talking about that even yeah it's a it's a thing that is definitely ongoing I have decided it's probably not it's probably not in in my journey or best interest to use a bunch of uh medication you know so I've been you know for you know 12 or 13 years now going through therapy and just trying to kind of keep myself leveled and centered and there for a long time I drank alcohol to deal with it um I actually just passed my threeyear sobriety Mark a couple days ago which is congratulations congratulations but yeah that was something that I picked up in Afghanistan and it was the way I experienced it it was really weird because when I first got back I I didn't think that anything affected me in any kind of way and it wasn't really until I had a lot of distance from the sit situation and just thinking about the scenario and how most of us ended up there looking for an escape you know from where we were from trying to have an opportunity to better ourselves and those sorts of things I don't think it's any uh secret that I'm I'm a pacifist these days having been to Afghanistan experienced that I don't think any of us should fight in any wars for pretty much any reason at all and having the distance from that and growing up and having my children and becoming a father did all of this the way it changed my mindset and the way I related to the experiences that i' had it really kind of started to pile on a little more and I guess that was in conjunction with sobriety so it dawned on me that maybe I had been dealing with some of these things for a decade or more and just medicating with alcohol you know so it's it's still a thing I I deal with panic disorder now to where for no reason at all almost every day I feel like I'm dying of nothing ended up in the hospital after one of the gigs we played in North Carolina with uh my heart had went into aib just because of stress levels of that constant Adrenaline Rush from panic disorder I'd like to say I've found a way to cope with it most of the time I can talk myself myself down off of the ledge and kind of reason with what's going on there but I don't know I don't know that it's a thing that I'll get to ever live without again you know so I think that that's probably the experience that a lot of us have and I say us like the veterans from not only my timeline but just veterans who've seen and done things that people don't usually see and do so it's uh I fear that it is probably an ongoing thing but I I also think that I'm learning to navigate in ways that are not quite so destructive yeah yeah no I appreciate you sharing that it's um it's a really personal thing and you know Dan Ronnie can relate to them have some you know TJ I was just about to say if you don't mind me just just jumping in there like like I've done previous times but rich I can I can absolutely relate relate to that uh from a from a previous occupation there so much so many things that You' just said there I think there's two there's two things about it first of all so first is thanks for sharing that with us I know we've asked several artists before you know where where they've come from what's their you know what has it been like growing up what have they been involved in and and every artist has been very open and transparent and and actually you know given a lot more in-depth information about how where they've come from what they've done and and I know how difficult it is sometimes for people to do that so first of all thank you for us um second of all you know for I think I kind absolutely relate to that from a previous occupation um you know in PTSD it was only yesterday I was even talking to someone who phoned me uh out of the blue and I had an hour's conversation of them on the phone because they previously suffered with PTSD uh and they just needed someone to talk to because uh as you said as well it's not at the time of the incident it's not straight after the incident it's or incident or environment or whatever you've been involved in you know it could be could be an email you know that could cause you know that that type of stress and and Trauma and whatever else but I think um a long time afterwards this person in particular uh you know was suffering it from years afterwards uh and and just to talk to someone who's been there done it uh and and been involved in some you know traumatic incidents um it makes them feel better you know they went for the same as as you did you you know you're saying that you that sort of panic um not a panic attack but like a you know it gets you your heart racing and you you sort of go into that into that scenario um and they just needed to talk to someone to normalize what they were doing and then after they were good you know and I I relate to that thank you for sharing that with us um because that's a huge that's a huge thing like um I have people in my life and the song that I wrote the dance actually is kind of about that scenario to where because when I first started having this experience with my post-traumatic stress I never dealt really with anxiety or fear before my major issue when I first got back from a Afghanistan was aggression and rage yeah and it was it was brutal was the people who remember from that remember me from that time I was not a happy camper I was an [ __ ] I was uh combustible if you will I just was ready to explode at the drop of a hat all kinds of different things would get me to that level of aggression but I was never Afraid of Anything probably in my entire life and therapy and medication for a while but also therapy for real got me to a place to where I dealt with the things I needed to deal with where I didn't feel that rage anymore or the need to be aggressive or even oftentimes I wouldn't even feel the need to be aggressive it was just a knee-jerk reaction because it's like indoctrination to survive in the landscape of war or Afghanistan or even really some of these high stress jobs the military in general is yeah when you're faced with a scenario you respond with maximum Firepower and the way that our brain our brain learns to unload everything we've got every time something stands in the face of us so basically that's what was happening to my mind is I was just to the top is is high as you can go and it wouldn't be 10 years until I started to deal with fear especially nonsensical fear so it became a time and a place for me to where I needed to talk to people who knew that I wasn't dying and knew that I was going through and they so just so they could reassure me like hey you're okay well check your Apple watch where's your heart rate if you were having heart issues you would be here and here you know and it's super silly and it sounds ridiculous to people have never dealt with it yeah was one of those people who couldn't understand until I had dealt with it and sometimes just being the voice on the other end of the phone is enough because frankly one of the biggest things that I've that I worried about all the time is that I was about to drop dead and I just wanted somebody to be there yeah absolutely yeah and that's a difficult spot to be so if you yeah just picking up the phone and talking about [ __ ] whatever you know the football game or whatever music you like is enough because sometimes you just need need a little bit of distraction to get them past that moment so for sure good on you for taking the call and that that's that's where I came from with it myself no brilliant thanks for Rich thanks for sharing that with us TJ I'll head back over to you now Ronnie's obviously got a good background with that so I thought he would be good to to perhaps pose a question but uh no that's great um so in terms of your military career and is that kind of where that the music for you started because uh again I'm reading in terms of your background and you're getting into poetry perhaps at that that time and I just wondered in in your words how how you kind of transitioned into the music world was it at that point or was it before well I've always since I was a kid music was kind of the thing that moved around our household like we didn't for a long time even have TVs dad had the kickass uh Stony radio that all the Dad's hat of the day you know the silver thing that's right and uh that was that was our entertainment we listen to kickass records I was raised on rock and roll music so Led Zeppelin and all the like from that era as loud as you could get it that was kind of what we did as a family and my mother uh I have a mtown background on my mom's side of the family because my parents are from Detroit Michigan and my grandmother actually was a session vocalist just sang on a lot of really big records from mtown yeah so since I was really young my mom was teaching me to sing harmony and those sorts of things and then I think I was 11 years old when I started playing drum drums and by the time I was 13 I was playing drums in sessions so music has always been a thing for me Afghanistan in particulars where I picked up the guitar because I couldn't take a drum kit to Afghanistan and my mom and my big brother sent me this epone acoustic guitar over there it actually cost them more money to ship the guitar to me than it did to buy the guitar which is was insane and was definitely a very challenging thing for them because again we were really poor now we're doing okay we were all very poor so like for them to scrape up the money to get the guitar where they were already broke and then to find out it cost them more to ship it than it did even buy it you know they had to make a major sacrifice just for me to have this thing to maybe pass a little bit of time on I don't think either one of them recognize it I would eventually turn it into my career um but that's where the singer songwriter thing started I've always loved to read and I've always loved poetry and I've dabbled in writing here and there but when I got that guitar and I started learning to navigate Melody and arrangement to the thoughts that I was having um 2009 is when I started playing guitar so I was 18 about to turn 19 or had just turned 19 and uh that's when what would eventually become all these records you're hearing started kind of the journey on that for sure but as far as music relates I've played drums since I was a child child awesome that's interesting and it's interesting how many people we we speak to and you know that that type side of the music has come quite new you know the last you know five six years maybe and it's uh the the kind of trajectory that you've had is has happened so quickly so it's uh it's kudos to to to make that happen in the first place and also you know with our our kind of social media Community we speak to a lot of uh ex vetrans um as well and they they seem to have found kind of solace in the music and picking up a and and kind of that's how they they kind of started their their careers in the last few years so it seems to be something that's almost therapeutic for them to to kind of put thoughts down on paper and to put some music behind that and you know it seems to really be a pathway for a lot of people so has that kind of helped somewhat with with your side of things as well oh yeah yeah if you listen to my records you can tell that I'm just I'm pretty much using it as free therapy it's catharus to the max I bed out loud I've gotten a lot of the stuff I needed to say out in the last couple of Records so I'm getting to a place to where I can kind of stretch my legs as a writer and a Creator a little bit and use a little more cerebral intention on some of the songs that I'm writing instead of just you know basically spilling spilling out what it is that hurt me over the last 10 or 15 years in the last two records but for me it started honestly it was catharus in a different form because you know being being marine and being about around a bunch of Marines uh US Marines you know that it's just like comic gold and absolute debauchery 247 so the songs I started writing were really me and another buddy of mine his name is Josh Thomas shout out Josh Thomas if you're hearing this a love you dog um he had a guitar over there as well and we would just start ripping on the same cords and making up these songs where we were pretty much taking the piss out of the homies that were around us non-stop so uh that's I kind of learned to write songs and to form my thoughts into songs that would be listenable and entertaining that way because I was just kind of freestyling almost like almost like rap just making fun of the dudes around us for fun and to keep everybody's uh morale up so that that's kind of where it kicked off as far as that goes and then when I would be alone by myself after uh so you know when I would do Mission we'd have 24 hours on 24 hours off so in that 24 hours off a lot of the guys that I deployed with would be out in their like doing their their day job part of their deployment and I was detached so I would spend a little bit of time off in the tent fooling around crying about stuff and trying to figure out how to write songs that mattered of course the ones from that day and age all kind of they'll never see the light of day they're very Juvenile and very up beginner level but I kept kept going at it and worked at it until I turned big rocks into little rocks and now I've got a whole little songs I'm really proud of so comes around I'd love to hear some of those ones where you were taking a piss out of your comrades man so a new album just for that one I don't know if I could some of the stuff that uh you know like I said US Marines are completely full of debauchery 247 so most of that stuff I could not and would never say in public just for fear that my mom might hear him you know what I mean yeah fair enough we'll have to release him exclusively for rug Revival or something yeah we'll have to we'll have to do a pseudonym artist call it Smit smers yeah you just give it away now yeah cool over to you then Ronnie you've you've got some uh some good questions lined up so I'll uh I'll I'll ask them I I wanted to sort of ask you from your own point of view what what is your what is your how would you describe your musical style I always just call it Southern because it's so eclectic uh I feel like the last record kind of leaned into rock and roll a little bit more when fallacies was definitely a very Americana country record um and your new one's alive in Alabama isn't it yeah that's what yeah that's what I've been listening to in out of work and just you know playing them as loud as I possibly can um I appreciate it dude we we made that record in eight days I took the band down there we decided not to uh it we made it in a studio but it wasn't a studio effort in the realm of how you generally go about recording those songs we we rolled the tape we played the parts and we stuck the landing and I I was really proud of incredible hammering that thing down in eight days because fallaces I mean I don't I don't remember exactly I want to say we were in 40 something days into fallacies by the time it was finished it's something crazy but super proud of that record in its own r as well but two very different intentional works for sure that was that's I I'm not going to steal TJ's fun that because I know he wants to ask you several questions about his favorite his favorite songs no this week and uh Autumn Moon I particularly like you got horns in the back of of that particular track hav you so it's uh I really enjoyed that one that definitely has got a southern feel uh for for for my liking and that's that's kind of my style and then um yeah the live in Alabama the one that I posted uh on Tik Tok today for the promo was songs I've Loved because I think that showed a different side of it the kind of more kind of rocking side and I I really love that song so uh yeah we we've hammered your records for the last week or two man for sure appreciate it thank you um so I just wanted to just going back to I know I've said about your your sort of how would you describe your musical style but um I was going to ask you a question around how did you start with music but you've answered it so you know 13 years old you had a guitar shipped out uh 2009 you said that started uh when you were 19 is that right when you 19 years old um and you've not stopped since then I mean I've listened to your songs that you released and there they're incredible can't wait to see the original style but I want to know what um what's the experience been like stepping out as a as a sort of independent artist what's that what's your experience being like what's it been like when you start getting to to release your tracks and everything else well for me it there was no Financial benefit to it I didn't blow up online and like oh [ __ ] I got to put these records out now because I have this whole fan base waiting for me I just I just put out songs that I believed in and said the [ __ ] I needed to say and at the time you know when I started performing and stuff I was playing my songs and it's difficult to get out if you don't have any kind of following and get started because you go to the local bar and everybody wants to hear the [ __ ] on the radio and if you're stubborn like me I won't play those songs ever at all yeah I don't care when I first started doing it I was making $50 a night and sleeping in my [ __ ] car people could dangle a $100 bill in front of me to play the latest Morgan Wallen song and I would tell them I would be like Oh I'm sorry dude I don't I don't know who that is I wouldn't do it and it takes that because you get stuck in this trap of if you start playing [ __ ] cover songs you can make a lot of money especially if you're any good and then it's hard to get away from so I start started out living in a car playing random bars across America until I kind of found the locals who are like damn you were great we had a great time this place sucks you should play here next time and it would be like the local music hall that sells 80 tickets or whatever so I kind of moved in that direction into a place where I built kind of a cult following here really in the midwestern parts of America like Nebraska Kansas City Missouri was my first big Market those people put me on shout out Kansas City I love y'all and um so I got to where I I knew I was making making the records for the people who met me on the road that knew me that I knew that we loved each other and I and they trusted me to do what it is I wanted to so by taking the more difficult road instead of just figuring out a way to launch myself on social media and then recording records to critical Acclaim taking the long or the traditional route cuz this is the way it traditionally used to happen in America as a touring artist it allowed me to have and attract the right types of fans that never put any kind of pressure on me to do anything other than be myself so it's been fulfilling it's been wildly validating it's been financially just devastating for the better part of a decade and I wouldn't change anything man I've had to make a lot of sacrifices I could live a much different lifestyle but things are starting now we're starting to get into the place to where they do make sense the ones and zeros are starting to come into the green a little bit so you know I'm starting this is my eth year doing this fulltime and we're in the green they say it takes 10 years so I feel a little bit early and I feel blessed for that well Rich I've got to say you're absolutely smashing it so uh we you know we were talking about that earlier uh you and TJ have got very much in common uh with the what you were just saying about cover uh doing doing some covers uh I'll let let TJ go into that afterwards but um just just in that just on your um on your experiences is there anybody in the industry um I know you said that you've done a shout out to Josh Thomas so I'm going to do another shout out to Josh Thomas and then you said Kansas City as well so fair play um but is there anybody in the industry that has reached out to you or is anybody in the industry uh sort of took you under their wing and said look you need to do this you need to that given you advice or helped you out at all yeah and it wasn't really in a way that he ever told me anything that I needed to do because the person that he is he just isn't he's not that dude he's not like that but early in the game I was set to open one show for Arlo McKinley this is in 20 I want to say 2017 or 2018 and I came out and I played the show and he's like hell yeah so you're just like living in a car playing wherever you can play and I was like yeah that's what I do pretty much and he's like well [ __ ] come play the rest of these shows on the tour with us and it ended up being like a 11 shows in a row which is more than I was ever able to play and they were all in music halls and ticketed venues cuz Arlo at the time 2017 you know he wasn't selling out theaters or anything but he still Arlo McKinley and great record out and a good cult fan base and really one of my heroes that I looked up to so for him to kind of bring me out and put me on like that before anybody gave a [ __ ] at all what I was doing was really cool and he's always been you know we chat occasionally here and there and he's always been super super legitimate and just a standup dude to me in the game so he he'll be the one that I shout out but there's been honestly it's been numerous I've had you know situations to where some major companies reached out for record deals and it just wasn't the decision for me so I didn't go there but I've ended up making friends with some of them and I talked to them almost as mentors now even though like I refuse to sign the deal with their company and generally that doesn't don't but a friendship from that but I think they understood that I was coming from a respectful place of like it's not a never I'm not saying never I'm just saying I need to get my head straight and yeah get my leverage right and get my position to where I needed to be but even more so than that I've got you know other other artists in the game that are heroes of mine are also my friends that have all been really gracious and kind to me I've I've opened shows and supported pretty much everybody that you want want to open shows or support with I've been on some massive stages that I had no business being on because uh you know a number of people in the industry of beli in what I'm doing um I've got great great people that I view as mentors that if I've got questions I reach out there some of them are you know BigTime agents at Major agencies that have some of the biggest acts in the world and it's just if I'm wondering what step I should take on my next you know move with a new record or whatever I just kind of shoot them shoot them Al line and they'll usually come back with uh some kind of advice or something so it's been very cool to see that you know if you try to do good things and you're at least yourself and authentic people will generally respond to you in a good in positive way so that's that's been my experience truly of the whole scene not to say there's not some [ __ ] out there there's [ __ ] in every but overall good on this side of things that's brilliant and you know you've covered one of my next questions which has been you know what's reception been like in in the industry I know you've just said it's really positive of course there's going to be shareds everywhere because that's just what they do and they like to shoot on people from a from a great height a lot of the time um and and you know some of the sort of smaller artists that we've spoken to have felt that um but it's great you've had such a positive um experience and it's great to see that so many people have reached out to you and you know you can reach out to them at any point you know it's it's great to hear that so um thank you for sharing that um there was just one bit that I wanted to talk about um me and TJ were talking about it before just before you come on and is around um whiskey riff has uh said some incredible things about you um and we were talking about some of the comments that were made um how do you feel about that or you know that must be amazing it must be yeah man it was great it was a great feeling I the first person that I met with whiskey Rift was Shelby um we ran each to each other we played a show in Nashville Tennessee and she came out and she hung out and she's just a wonderful sweetheart of a human being and she dug the first record that I made and put a couple of the songs on their playlist and you know talk talked about some things a couple articles here and there and it's just you know we spend an absurd amount of money making these records for those of us who have the intention to do so plenty of people phone it in and record in their bedroom and have hundreds of millions of streams and that's fine but I don't I I respect of the art over the recording process and my records are um they're as good as I can make them on the best equipment that I have access to and living in Alabama we've got you know just Flagship studios in Montgomery Alabama and in muscle shs Alabama so both of my records have been made in Montgomery Alabama one at Alabama sound company and one at a place called technical Earth but uh it's it's a thing that um I've been grateful for for the experience and to have the opportunity to be put alongside even some artists that are in the mainstream not that I uh don't mistake this I don't view them as better at what we all do because they have the eye of the mainstream I I think quite the opposite I like to say a lot of times uh I like to draw the comparison of McDonald's cheeseburgers they sell a shitload of cheeseburgers they're by far not the best cheeseburgers um sure they're good for some people but that being said a very large company with a very large following and reach into our society in general digging what I do and putting me on it it felt great and it was validating but also it it it showed the trajectory of what I know to be the truth the sign that the times are changing and it's and sure as our style of music becomes more um easy to sell you have these major corporations try to fabricate the same type of music with a bunch of 20-year-old cats and acoustic guitars and we're seeing that happening but the biggest thing that that the the thing that they're missing in that opportunity is that those human beings haven't ran through the substance that folks like Pony Bradshaw or John R Miller have you're just not you're not going to get that type of music from a room full of writers thinking with their cerebral intention about what would be really cool to make the coolest Americana song or or traditional country song these days you know they're trying to create these things when truly what they should be doing is investing their money in the people who already possess the thing it is that changed the way that we all consume music and I say we all it's not all of us yet but in 10 years it's GNA be yeah absolutely I'm I'm just before I hand over to to TJ because I know he's absolutely bursting to uh to talk to you about about your songs on the album and to talk about the subject you've brought up around you know the industry and what they're doing because he's got some very strong views around that um which I have no affiliation to uh I'm only joking so um I just wanted to say is there a particular song in your tracks that you've released that holds special meanings you I know you said about these are all your experiences and you know you you've been quite open and honest with that and transparent from the start of when when you come on um but is there only one song that you would say this means everything to me or is there 10 you know different is it's yeah I'm really close I'm really close to all of them because they're their their little glimpses into my experiences throughout the years I have a song that's unreleased it's gonna come on this next record mavan misgivings that'll be coming out this year that I wrote about somebody who is really close to me that uh is obviously no longer here um it's pretty special to me at the moment and you know recency bias is the thing the newest thing we're all always on to it's a part of our nature as human beings that one's pretty big with me right now but I also just wrote another one that comes from the same vein that also I feel like is going to be important to other people and is important to me so to make a very very long answer short I truly have a a connection and a bond with most all of them there's a couple of them wrote for fun to put a Vibe out Etc but for the most part you know these songs are are are absolutely unfiltered deep looks into who I am as a human being so to put them out there and have people resonate with them all for separate reasons it means a lot to me it's a very personal experience for me so I would say probably 18 out of the 20 that are out on recordings right now as far as records go yeah are that song for me just for different and variations incredible yeah and I'm I'm really looking forward to when did you say it's going to be released again we don't have a definite release date it is coming out this year I'm done we were six songs in I have three songs written so I got to write one more and record four and we're we're finished with the next record so brilliant I'm looking forward to it I'm really looking forward to it because it it does I can certainly connect with what I mean I was saying you know played it in and out of work in in Spare Time blast it around the house you know it was great it was brilliant so thank you man TJ I'll I'll stop waffling no no it's uh it's all been interesting to sit back and listen to and I was talking to Ronnie a couple of weeks back because it was my birthday my 40th I'm getting old mate um happy birthday buddy cheers dude he hasn't mentioned that at all he's not mentioned that 25 times on every podcast we've done but get younger each time I mention it though let's you look you look good buddy don't worry about it filters on here dude that's right but uh I remember yeah reason I mentioned that is because I got absolutely hammered on on Bourbon whiskey that night and I I remember putting your song on I said to my Ms I said this is my favorite song and if it's only for tonight I think everyone in the hotel heard it and [ __ ] masterpieces so even my my my wife to be loves that song now and I think that was one of your your earlier releases wasn't it when I was looking at the timeline on Spotify I think that that was pre preceding is that the right word before the two albums so um I love that song man thank you that was my that was the second song I wrote as Rich Henderson the artist the first one was actually Autumn Moon so that that song and Autumn Moon there's are day oners right there some of my first efforts to really speak something that I experienced or or witness somebody that I love experienced and put it in a way as a songwriter you you hope to be able to achieve the words that other people want to say but can't find and I found that to be the case with that song so that that song is definitely to go back to Ronnie's question one of the songs that has meant a great deal to me and frankly for years it sat on Spotify with like 1400 streams and one day out of the blue for no reason at all it just popped and started spinning in their Direction so thanks for listening and I appreciate it I I do love that song as well and I've got some older songs that have yet to get a proper professional treatment from that era that I feel like hold hold a heavy candle to that same type of vibe so cool man no that's all good maybe half the Spotify streams might have been me but uh it's all good man but no it's funny when when you were talking to Ronnie a second ago about the industry and I've said some things as we the podcast has progressed about the the pop culture of country yeah which I just despise I I can't hold myself back sometimes because it's like it's so inauthentic uh and you can tell when people are kind of phoning it in and daring it in and um we we've always made a point on the rugged Revival is that you know we're going to put real stuff forward authentic stuff and you know it's not going to make us rich doing it this way or get loads way and I I don't care and like you mate it's not going to make like say not going to make me Rich it's going to financially devastate me in the end probably um won't let my wife know that but um but I can always see you know Rich Henderson and if you're in your Mansion uh eventually you're swimming in in your swimming pool and people go you know how did you get here Rich you know how did you make so much money and it's not going to be through uh you know doing Morgan Welling covers or doing a rap country track with shabzi and you can hold your head up high you know knowing that you've stayed true and you know you're a man after my own heart mate that's uh that's pretty much what I want to say with with that um thank you uh just some more questions I mean we I don't want to keep you way too much longer but um there was just some cool things and you've touched upon it already with the opening kind of Acts that you've toured with and there's been some humongous people you know like like say with Aran McKinley uh 49 Winchester Dr Farley noan Taylor um they're just awesome acts and I was speaking to Nolan not long ago and he's got his new album out um uh at the moment and it's another Masterpiece he's such a nice guy uh great music hopefully we'll have him on the podcast some today but um yeah some of our favorite artists so how how did those kind of connections come about for you to to to get on the stage with these guys just being on the road and meeting these folks before they were you know known by everybody like Nolan's a buddy of mine and has been for years we did a he went through a rough patch a couple years ago and we went out and did a did a little run together I think it's like four or five shows and just had a good time and we had come from similar upbringings and he's cut from the same type of cloth that I am and he just I love him the first show that we played together he opened for me at I want to say it was Southgate house Revival in Kentucky or oh it is Kentucky it's almost so high it's Cincinnati area but it's still Kentucky and his brother stood there on the stage and just sang or next to the stage and sang every word of his said and I cried like a child a mix between Nolan's songs and watching his brother resonate and recognizing that his brother was there with him to go through that [ __ ] too it hit me in a place that I was just like I'll never not love and support and do everything I can for this cat that's for Nolan in particular but just being on the road and and running into these folks and meeting people who knew them who knew me as well having Mutual experiences and just kind really that being just being on the road man running in everybody you know meet meeting people out and being in the scene particularly the Eastern Kentucky scene pretty early uh before Tyler was a National Stadium act and stuff uh knowing knowing the folks in the area and getting around that place the festival it on the creek it uh it it was it was good for me to meet a lot of movers and shakers that would become the movers and shakers of the industry you know like I said this is my eighth year doing doing it in this in this scene and I hate to even say the word scene because that's not true there's not really a scene it's just a bunch of like-minded people doing like-minded things but um that's how it came to be being being cool knowing the etiquette of opening shows and being around folks who are on their way up and not having you know trying my best to not have any ego about what it is that I do and remain grateful for the journey and the experience that I'm having so that was a real big thing for me finding you Good People Mate that that's that's really nice to hear and I listened to Nolan I think I'm sure it was Nolan and somebody else I can't remember who it on WB Walker's old soul radio show not long ago the really fun show that was and you know he played out some of his tracks and it was awesome so anyone listening wants to kind of listen to Nolan kind of raw going on to WB walker uh Old Soul Radio podcast um so yeah I suppose what with us being just newly in 2025 can you pick a favorite moment from last year that kind of sticks out in your mind he on Appalachia well I guess that was year before last wasn't it last year yeah dude I went played in Kansas City with pony Bradshaw and um we had one of the best post show hangs ever talked about philosophy and books and things that we're into and he's you know Buzz is one of my favorite people in the game I think he's one of the most intelligent people I've ever met an all-time great songwriter um just that whole experience with his crew all of his guys and his bands are my my buddies you know I love those fellas I think the world of them I'm excited to see where they're going it's been one of the coolest things watching art that is so refined that it's over most people's heads be so undeniable that they can't refuse it anyway so that that string of shows I did with pony pony Bradshaw crew was that's probably my big my big moment for them yeah love those cats they're incredible people and you Qui to mention healing Appalachia so did you want to mention anything about that because that sounds like it was an exciting time for you it's just amazing dude they're they're great people Charlie Hatcher puts that on and uh Tyler's Camp does and I've known those guys for you know a number of years now and just having the honor of getting out there we played two two sets there we played the late night stage before 49 Winchester the first night and then we played the main stage in the afternoon the next day and uh I couldn't say enough about Charlie and and the hill and Appalachia folks they're great people they do it for a good reason the vibe of the festival is incredible all the people there were there for good reasons it was just a wonderful experience man that's up on our our bucket list mate so uh hopefully one one day we'll get to come out and uh experience that for sure last question for me and then I'll I'll hand back to Dan just for some closing remarks but uh what what what's in store for 2025 and do you have any plans at all ever to come to the UK because I think folk will absolutely love you out here Rich yeah um start in Reverse I I want to come to the UK as soon as possible I just got to get the line into the folks that know just whatever rooms we need to be in and kind of how yeah how that situation happens in the UK because I'm sure it's similar to the way it happens here in the United States but there's also some idiosyncracies that I'm not aware of um I'm sure my team has some more insight in that but I would love love to come as soon as possible because I know that our metrics are supportive of having fans over there and truly it's just a it's a really beautiful place steeped in you know tons of history and it would be a spot that I want to come and not only perform my songs for but get to meet the people get to eat the food get to see the places you know I want to come hang out with some of the homies and get like The Insider tour of the spots because I've never had an opportunity to ever even fathom that one day I might get to make it to the UK I was a poor ass kid and never left the state of Alabama we couldn't even go on vacation so that's a huge bucket list item for me and I I promise that's gonna happen as far as that uh we get a record drop in called mavil M misgivings that's happening this year um we're getting back out on the road I kind of took about a year off because I dealt with some heart issues and that sort of thing come to find out everything's good to go just some minor stuff that could be managed with good lifestyle choices and figuring out a way to mitigate stress so we're coming to Billings Montana we're going to be playing Indianapolis Indiana we're going to the West Coast we're going to be in the Northeast we're going all over the place so lots of fly dates this year picking back up the touring and uh keep writing and keep hammering down so hopefully it feels like it's going to be a year full of momentum and good experiences so yeah yeah feels like it's going to be a good year mate and yeah if you need any help and support uh UK wise just give us a shout we might not know might know we might not know but uh you know we'll always help you guys out man but uh and particularly with the cuisine if you want to come over and experience a weather spoons breakfast and a pint at 9:00 a.m. in the morning that that's kind of a tradition for me and Ronnie so uh you're more than welcome to to experience that mate but um anyway so over to back back to Ronnie just with some kind of final thoughts and uh questions mate I was I was going to say you're really positive about the UK coming over and I didn't want to I didn't want to piss in your parade basically and say unfortunately when you come over here you got me two [ __ ] like being him oh no we're hanging out for sure absolutely we are absolutely y'all are going to be the tour guide you didn't realize that we take places yeah we we'll go all over it' be amazing honestly and I'm I'm I I know what happened in 2025 because you are so determined you are so confident you're so positive about what's going to happen I know it will happen and I'll see you this year so it would be it' be incredible um I'm rich I'm going to ask you a um two questions left that I want to I want to ask um you've talked about what's going to happen in 2025 there is a lot that's going to happen in 2025 new album and everything else um but I wanted to know what are your top three goals what are your top three goals in your career um been working with Alabama soundy where I made my first record on some distribution stuff a company that kind of helps other artists like myself have infrastructure to pursue their dreams in a way that can be more immediately Equitable that's a really big goal of mine that's the first one the second goal it's it's hard for me to even call it a goal because I've already in my mind I've made it I'm doing what it is I want to do how I want to do it so to continue that journey and then I really truly I've been working on a magnumopus project that's a three-part record with a a a three-part record that's got a short story technically it'll be a bunch of short stories it's going to be 30 chapters so a novel accompanying this three-part record I'm going to break ground on recording that aside from my de my third record for Rich Henderson this year as well that that would be my third goal brilant epic um and then the last question I promise for me is a bit of a controversial one now I've asked another artist about this as well so there has been some talk around Tik Tok and Tik Tok bands and you know putting a suspension in for Tik Tok in in America um I don't think I think I've already answered my question to be Hest but I don't think you're going to have any issues with that to be honest with you because you're you're up and coming you're going out there um and and your world is is is so so busy and everywhere else but do you think it's going to impact you do you think it's going to impact anything that that happens I know that Tik Tok is quite a big platform um with the live broadcast and all that sort of stuff but just your thoughts on it really I think they're trying to ban Tik Tok because meta sucks and they [ __ ] up big time and they realized that the Americans decided we weren't going to deal with their [ __ ] and they're gonna get the backlash that's not going to allow them to there there's I just don't see it actually going through uh I just don't perfect thank you so rich just uh a final final couple of things for me um where can where can everybody find you where can I see you where can I find you uh what's your usernames T dates tour dates are at rich henderson.com or band Intown um it's both the same platform Richa on Instagram Rich Henderson everywhere else brilliant epic thank you and is there anything else you want to share with all the people that are listening I I just want to take a moment to tell you fellas that I appreciate what you do man keep on rocking for the folks of us who uh you know it's we don't have the amount of reach that a lot of people have so every every independent company like the two of you that get out and do this thing for folks like us truly it it it makes our lives easier and it it it helps to move mountains whether you realize it or don't so thank you for that incredible thank you very much really appreciate that um I just wanted to say it's been an absolute privilege talking to you rich and thank you for sparing the time uh for us thank you for coming on thank you for sharing your experiences um there is a bit of a a note that I did want to share with anybody I know we've talked about it at the very start uh and not not to revisit it but if anybody is struggling at all at any point at any moment of the day pick up the phone go and speak to someone don't be afraid and say what's affecting you say it you know shout it loud shout it proudly if you need help reach out because we're all here um no matter where you are what you're doing just pick up the phone uh and I'm sure rich know you you'd agree with that so um as I said it's been an absolute privilege to speak to you thank you so much we wish you all the very best and don't be a stranger keep in contact and hopefully we'll get you back again for another bit of a live broadcast or something else so um we're just gonna raise a toast as we normally do rich um to we raise a toast for the grit the grind and the Revival cheers to everyone who is listening and thanks to joining this Bri all the best Cheers folks cheers guys

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