HunterHayes is back on the music scene and taking a walk on the Pop side with his newly released tracks “Missing You” and “Could’ve Been You.” It’s all leading up to a brand new album in 2023, Red Sky, that showcases a few new sounds for the 30-year-old.

While his name may have you thinking Country music — as that’s the genre most of his previous songs have fit in before — Hayes has felt inspired to color outside the lines and says he is more concerned about staying true to himself and connecting with fans than labeling his music with a specific genre.

“I’d felt like I was up against the wall for a little bit and maybe was kind of stuck in a corner,” Hayes said while checking in with Audacy’s Bru. “So, I started working on this album called Wild Blue and that was my chance to be like, ‘Alright, I’m going to make an album the way I think an album should be made. We’re not going to vote on songs by committee, we’re not gonna try things just to throw them away.’”

He continued, “The lesson that I learned there was the one song that I thought I wasn’t allowed to write, ‘Dear God,’ ended up being the most successful song on the last album. Red Sky is kind of like, ‘OK, if I’ve learned anything from Wild Blue it’s that, when I do me 100%, people show up for it and people connect with it.”

Allowing himself to create fearlessly and solely focusing on writing songs that mean something to him, Hayes is happier than ever and riding in a lane all his own.

“At the end of the day, my job I feel like, as an artist, is to create my one genre — all my favorite artists have” Hayes shared. “[As for] the road to get there… no one has the same story, no one has the same path and so, I think I’ve shifted my ways of understanding and learning and thinking from, ‘There’s gotta be [one] way to do it,’ to ‘there are infinite ways to do it.’”

Hayes has definitely found his own way, and a successful one at that! Check out his full conversation with Bru above to hear more about new music, his dating life, appearance on The Masked Singer and more above!

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Bru

Hunter Hayes is back on the music scene and taking a walk on the Pop side with his newly released tracks “Missing You” and “Could’ve Been You.” It’s all leading up to a brand new album in 2023, Red Sky, that showcases a few new sounds for the 30-year-old.
While his name may have you thinking Country music — as that’s the genre most of his previous songs have fit in before — Hayes has felt inspired to color outside the lines and says he is more concerned about staying true to himself and connecting with fans than labeling his music with a specific genre.
“I’d felt like I was up against the wall for a little bit and maybe was kind of stuck in a corner,” Hayes said while checking in with Audacy’s Bru. “So, I started working on this album called Wild Blue and that was my chance to be like, ‘Alright, I’m going to make an album the way I think an album should be made. We’re not going to vote on songs by committee, we’re not gonna try things just to throw them away.’”
He continued, “The lesson that I learned there was the one song that I thought I wasn’t allowed to write, ‘Dear God,’ ended up being the most successful song on the last album. Red Sky is kind of like, ‘OK, if I’ve learned anything from Wild Blue it’s that, when I do me 100%, people show up for it and people connect with it.”
Allowing himself to create fearlessly and solely focusing on writing songs that mean something to him, Hayes is happier than ever and riding in a lane all his own.
“At the end of the day, my job I feel like, as an artist, is to create my one genre — all my favorite artists have” Hayes shared. “[As for] the road to get there… no one has the same story, no one has the same path and so, I think I’ve shifted my ways of understanding and learning and thinking from, ‘There’s gotta be [one] way to do it,’ to ‘there are infinite ways to do it.’”
Hayes has definitely found his own way, and a successful one at that! Check out his full conversation with Bru above to hear more about new music, his dating life, appearance on The Masked Singer and more above!
Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Bru

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Audacy Check-In

Hunter Hayes | Audacy Check In | 8.30.22

To celebrate all things Usher, the icon himself stopped by Audacy Atlanta’s V-103 studios to check in with Greg Street. The duo discussed everything from his early ATL days, his majorly successful Las Vegas Residency, his new album Coming Home, and everything in between.

After the longtime associates chopped it up and reminisced about Porsches and car shows, Usher went on to praise his mother for raising him to not only be creative, but also business savvy and entrepreneurial.

After acting as his manager for many years in a male dominated industry that’s also “not necessarily welcoming to parents,” Usher admitted he picked up a few things. “She managed to learn the business and then be successful in the business. Then we launched an amazing career that, gave album after album, after album, and then eventually, [we were] able to just celebrate that look back over the years and realize that this was all a dream,” the “Confessions” singer expressed.

“She inspired me to become the entrepreneur that I am today. After having been with record companies and being within this system for so many years now, coming back as an independent with my label Mega, and now I’m going back to the person who I started it with, which is L.A. Reid… We kicked it off here in Atlanta. Now here we are once again, after all that time we're back home.”

Obviously a major figure in Usher’s journey, his mother wasn’t the only one to help shape Usher into the icon he is today. Taking a trip down memory lane, and dropping some names along the way, Usher looked back at all the amazing people he’s worked with that helped him become the artist he is now.

“I’ve worked with incredible people,” Usher acknowledged, “including Jermaine Dupri, who helped me really find my voice, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who helped me find my pen. Also working with incredible musicians like Emmanuel Seal and Bryan-Michael Cox, Johntá Austin.” Gaining“incredible inspiration from people who were the pioneers in this city like Rico Wade,” Usher added, going on to note, “Not many people know this side. I don't even know if you know this Greg, but I'm an honorary member of the Dungeon Family. I was there in the early days down in the dungeon, before OutKast was OutKast when it was Sleepy Brown and Marques.”

After delving into his origin story, which he began with meeting, AJ Alexander, who introduced him to Bryant Reid, “who discovered me at the talent search at EarthLink Live,” Usher got into how things began to really pop off once he met Jermaine Dupri.

“Well, I think I had had enough of people attempting to try and make me an artist. It was JD who really took the time to listen… At that point of my life, I was working with these producers, Tim and Bob, and I was working with JD. So I would either be in there with, you know, Phil Tan and Emmanuel Seal, and we'd just be working through things. But it was JD who was really listening,” Usher confessed. “It would be in those conversations that we had in passing, they'd begin to help me craft what my story was and find something that was authentic, that would give me a brand of my own. It didn't feel like I was just kind of putting on a suit that was tailor made for me, but didn't necessarily work for me.”

“This was my tailor made suit. This is when I actually established what Usher was, and it was authentic, it was from the South," he continued. “Even though I came by way of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Atlanta gave me an identity. It gave me something that I was proud of. It gave me something that I felt like I could represent. It gave me something of a style. It gave me something that was our own, you know what I mean? In the way we dress, in the way we sang, in the way we were able to articulate Hip-Hop and R&B in a way that wasn't like everybody else.”

While originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Usher it’s very clear, “I represent Atlanta.” Declaring, “when I tilt that A hat to the right, it's because I found something here that was significant for me. I figured out what I wanted to do in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then I found the reality of what that passion was in Atlanta… I figured out how to do it and who to do it with… that would then create hit records and we continued to keep that legacy.”

Noting that “even though we had moved out of Atlanta and made our way up to New York with Arista Records, it was still that homegrown idea of how we would create these melting pots of artists and artistry to create a body of work that was an album.”

“My Way was clear because it was really me and Jermaine Dupri's vision,” Usher began. “8701 became a little bit more of a collective working with Darryl Jones, Mark Pitts and Kawan “KP” Prather. We began to just try and build a more expansive idea of what Atlanta was, even though it was a worldwide recognized album. Was it an R&B album or was it an album that was popular because people gravitated toward it? It became something that the entire world would begin to understand. It wasn't until Confessions that I was able to tie it all together, where people understood — this is a story that's relevant. It's a story that's cultural, is my own, it's a story that creates legacy for me.”

“Now, I'm celebrating the 20th anniversary of that album here in Atlanta,” Usher exclaimed, noting “I broke these songs with Greg… So here now, coming home, having that real-world experience that took me all around the world, that's what that Coming Home name means. It is being able to come back now after having that world of experience and now be that guy.”

Discussing what it was like working on this new album, and it’s “collaborative process,” Usher continued to name drop, listing off some familiar names, and a few new ones as well.

“Working with L.A. … Keith Thomas… Jermaine Dupri… Bryan Michael Cox… Johntá Austin… even new producers. Pheelz was an artist and also producer that I wanted to work with,” whom he teamed up with for "Ruin." "And also being able to bring some of that ATL evolution out with Dream.”

“All of these songs, this music, is a melting pot of an experience. One — is some things that I lived out, but also an experience that feels very where I am. When I hear songs like ‘I Love U,’ songs like ‘I Am The Party,’ songs like ‘Bop,’ that's a culture that if you in Atlanta and you at Cascade, you know what bopping is.”

Going on to note that he’s the “luckiest man in the world,” for “being able to express love in a way that is a celebration,” Usher paused to mention he got married over Super Bowl weekend, ahead of his Halftime performance (as if we didn’t already know). “That is all within the story. Working with the producers that I chose to on this album and being able to collaborate it's always been a collaborative experience. It's never just been one way of doing what I do. Working with some of the people that I've worked with my entire life… and trying new ideas based [on] where I am in my life. It’s been an incredible year, man — two years.”

A major part of the last “incredible” two years includes Usher’s Vegas Residency, which according to him was on his mind, but not something he was really interested in doing quite yet, until Beyoncé inspired him otherwise.

“The idea of residency in itself had kind of been condensed to just parties. And while it's great to be able to go out there and celebrate, no hate… I was advocating for an underserved dynamic and audience. The dollar that was in Las Vegas was coming from all over the place. Some people from London… Australia, but not as many Black people. The black dollar wasn't as strong and relevant until I started doing these levels of residency. And while I ain't trying to pat myself on the back, it was a real deliberate decision that was really put on my mind many, many years ago.”

Revealing, “My mother told me, ‘Yo, we need to go to Las Vegas after Confessions.’ And I was like, ‘I'm not quite ready to do it right now. I just don't think that playing in Las Vegas would represent who and what I am right now. It may be perceived as, ‘Oh, this is the finale.’ I wanted to go do more, so I traveled the entire world.”

“Then Beyoncé played the Wynn in Las Vegas, and when I saw her show that she put together, then this light bulb went off. I was like, ‘You know what? When I'm ready to play Las Vegas, I want an experience.’” Unfortunately Usher’s realization came to him at a rather inopportune time, “when the entire world had stopped.”

“We were all locked away… we weren't gathering for concerts… all of these incredible venues were just empty. No basketball games, no nothing." Giving Usher “a grand opportunity to do two things. One, show how powerful the Black dollar is for this level of performance. When I look out in that audience every night, and I see a mixture of people, but the majority of it bring minorities, Black people who chose to get on a plane, take care of themselves, doll up, look beautiful for the night, put it on, and come out here and treat themselves. That was the purpose in point. I didn't want to be, an after-party. I wanted to be the party, I am the party. So I was like, this is what we're gonna do, we’re gonna go to Las Vegas and we're gonna elevate.”

Eventually a plan was made and the show came together. And then just days before opening night, the ish hit the fan. Calling it “the craziest s*** you could ever experience in your life," Usher went on to detail how, “48 hours before we actually opened the curtains, my entire cast sat down.” Explaining how some sat down due to health standards, masks, vaccines, etc. While understanding to those who felt this way, Usher still had a show to put on.

“Thank God I had invested in something that was different, which was an experience because, underneath my stage, there was an immersive experience that I wanted people to feel. So I took that entire immersive staff and we re-choreographed the entire show within 48 hours. I brought in three of my snipers, [that] I danced and performed with across the United States and even the world. We picked out a lot of choreography that we worked on before, and we managed to put together a show.” And “no one would ever know any of this,” in fact, “it was probably the best show that we'd ever put on.” We’ll leave it to Usher to tell you why.

“That was the opening,” he went on to add, “Now we eventually got it together and continued to craft some of what we found in that moment. It was something you would never experience in your life. It was the hardest thing I think I ever had to experience.”

Usher also discussed getting the Super Bowl halftime spot while running his residency, calling it “the craziest decision I ever had to make.” As well as his decision to launch his independent label with L.A. Reid. And that’s not even the half of it folks, for the entire in-depth conversation, press play on the interview above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Greg Street

To celebrate all things Usher, the icon himself stopped by Audacy Atlanta’s V-103 studios to check in with Greg Street. The duo discussed everything from his early ATL days, his majorly successful Las Vegas Residency, his new album Coming Home, and everything in between.
After the longtime associates chopped it up and reminisced about Porsches and car shows, Usher went on to praise his mother for raising him to not only be creative, but also business savvy and entrepreneurial.
After acting as his manager for many years in a male dominated industry that’s also “not necessarily welcoming to parents,” Usher admitted he picked up a few things. “She managed to learn the business and then be successful in the business. Then we launched an amazing career that, gave album after album, after album, and then eventually, [we were] able to just celebrate that look back over the years and realize that this was all a dream,” the “Confessions” singer expressed.
“She inspired me to become the entrepreneur that I am today. After having been with record companies and being within this system for so many years now, coming back as an independent with my label Mega, and now I’m going back to the person who I started it with, which is L.A. Reid… We kicked it off here in Atlanta. Now here we are once again, after all that time we're back home.”
Obviously a major figure in Usher’s journey, his mother wasn’t the only one to help shape Usher into the icon he is today. Taking a trip down memory lane, and dropping some names along the way, Usher looked back at all the amazing people he’s worked with that helped him become the artist he is now.
“I’ve worked with incredible people,” Usher acknowledged, “including Jermaine Dupri, who helped me really find my voice, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who helped me find my pen. Also working with incredible musicians like Emmanuel Seal and Bryan-Michael Cox, Johntá Austin.” Gaining “incredible inspiration from people who were the pioneers in this city like Rico Wade,” Usher added, going on to note, “Not many people know this side. I don't even know if you know this Greg, but I'm an honorary member of the Dungeon Family. I was there in the early days down in the dungeon, before OutKast was OutKast when it was Sleepy Brown and Marques.”
After delving into his origin story, which he began with meeting, AJ Alexander, who introduced him to Bryant Reid, “who discovered me at the talent search at EarthLink Live,” Usher got into how things began to really pop off once he met Jermaine Dupri.
“Well, I think I had had enough of people attempting to try and make me an artist. It was JD who really took the time to listen… At that point of my life, I was working with these producers, Tim and Bob, and I was working with JD. So I would either be in there with, you know, Phil Tan and Emmanuel Seal, and we'd just be working through things. But it was JD who was really listening,” Usher confessed. “It would be in those conversations that we had in passing, they'd begin to help me craft what my story was and find something that was authentic, that would give me a brand of my own. It didn't feel like I was just kind of putting on a suit that was tailor made for me, but didn't necessarily work for me.”
“This was my tailor made suit. This is when I actually established what Usher was, and it was authentic, it was from the South," he continued. “Even though I came by way of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Atlanta gave me an identity. It gave me something that I was proud of. It gave me something that I felt like I could represent. It gave me something of a style. It gave me something that was our own, you know what I mean? In the way we dress, in the way we sang, in the way we were able to articulate Hip-Hop and R&amp;B in a way that wasn't like everybody else.”
While originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Usher it’s very clear, “I represent Atlanta.” Declaring, “when I tilt that A hat to the right, it's because I found something here that was significant for me. I figured out what I wanted to do in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then I found the reality of what that passion was in Atlanta… I figured out how to do it and who to do it with… that would then create hit records and we continued to keep that legacy.”
Noting that “even though we had moved out of Atlanta and made our way up to New York with Arista Records, it was still that homegrown idea of how we would create these melting pots of artists and artistry to create a body of work that was an album.”
“My Way was clear because it was really me and Jermaine Dupri's vision,” Usher began. “8701 became a little bit more of a collective working with Darryl Jones, Mark Pitts and Kawan “KP” Prather. We began to just try and build a more expansive idea of what Atlanta was, even though it was a worldwide recognized album. Was it an R&amp;B album or was it an album that was popular because people gravitated toward it? It became something that the entire world would begin to understand. It wasn't until Confessions that I was able to tie it all together, where people understood — this is a story that's relevant. It's a story that's cultural, is my own, it's a story that creates legacy for me.”
“Now, I'm celebrating the 20th anniversary of that album here in Atlanta,” Usher exclaimed, noting “I broke these songs with Greg… So here now, coming home, having that real-world experience that took me all around the world, that's what that Coming Home name means. It is being able to come back now after having that world of experience and now be that guy.”
Discussing what it was like working on this new album, and it’s “collaborative process,” Usher continued to name drop, listing off some familiar names, and a few new ones as well.
“Working with L.A. … Keith Thomas… Jermaine Dupri… Bryan Michael Cox… Johntá Austin… even new producers. Pheelz was an artist and also producer that I wanted to work with,” whom he teamed up with for "Ruin." "And also being able to bring some of that ATL evolution out with Dream.”
“All of these songs, this music, is a melting pot of an experience. One — is some things that I lived out, but also an experience that feels very where I am. When I hear songs like ‘I Love U,’ songs like ‘I Am The Party,’ songs like ‘Bop,’ that's a culture that if you in Atlanta and you at Cascade, you know what bopping is.”
Going on to note that he’s the “luckiest man in the world,” for “being able to express love in a way that is a celebration,” Usher paused to mention he got <a href="https://www.audacy.com/national/music/usher-shares-photos-from-super-bowl-night-wedding-ceremony">married</a> over Super Bowl weekend, ahead of his Halftime performance (as if we didn’t already know). “That is all within the story. Working with the producers that I chose to on this album and being able to collaborate it's always been a collaborative experience. It's never just been one way of doing what I do. Working with some of the people that I've worked with my entire life… and trying new ideas based [on] where I am in my life. It’s been an incredible year, man — two years.”
A major part of the last “incredible” two years includes Usher’s Vegas Residency, which according to him was on his mind, but not something he was really interested in doing quite yet, until Beyoncé inspired him otherwise.
“The idea of residency in itself had kind of been condensed to just parties. And while it's great to be able to go out there and celebrate, no hate… I was advocating for an underserved dynamic and audience. The dollar that was in Las Vegas was coming from all over the place. Some people from London… Australia, but not as many Black people. The black dollar wasn't as strong and relevant until I started doing these levels of residency. And while I ain't trying to pat myself on the back, it was a real deliberate decision that was really put on my mind many, many years ago.”
Revealing, “My mother told me, ‘Yo, we need to go to Las Vegas after Confessions.’ And I was like, ‘I'm not quite ready to do it right now. I just don't think that playing in Las Vegas would represent who and what I am right now. It may be perceived as, ‘Oh, this is the finale.’ I wanted to go do more, so I traveled the entire world.”
“Then Beyoncé played the Wynn in Las Vegas, and when I saw her show that she put together, then this light bulb went off. I was like, ‘You know what? When I'm ready to play Las Vegas, I want an experience.’” Unfortunately Usher’s realization came to him at a rather inopportune time, “when the entire world had stopped.”
“We were all locked away… we weren't gathering for concerts… all of these incredible venues were just empty. No basketball games, no nothing." Giving Usher “a grand opportunity to do two things. One, show how powerful the Black dollar is for this level of performance. When I look out in that audience every night, and I see a mixture of people, but the majority of it bring minorities, Black people who chose to get on a plane, take care of themselves, doll up, look beautiful for the night, put it on, and come out here and treat themselves. That was the purpose in point. I didn't want to be, an after-party. I wanted to be the party, I am the party. So I was like, this is what we're gonna do, we’re gonna go to Las Vegas and we're gonna elevate.”
Eventually a plan was made and the show came together. And then just days before opening night, the ish hit the fan. Calling it “the craziest s*** you could ever experience in your life," Usher went on to detail how, “48 hours before we actually opened the curtains, my entire cast sat down.” Explaining how some sat down due to health standards, masks, vaccines, etc. While understanding to those who felt this way, Usher still had a show to put on.
“Thank God I had invested in something that was different, which was an experience because, underneath my stage, there was an immersive experience that I wanted people to feel. So I took that entire immersive staff and we re-choreographed the entire show within 48 hours. I brought in three of my snipers, [that] I danced and performed with across the United States and even the world. We picked out a lot of choreography that we worked on before, and we managed to put together a show.” And “no one would ever know any of this,” in fact, “it was probably the best show that we'd ever put on.” We’ll leave it to Usher to tell you why.
“That was the opening,” he went on to add, “Now we eventually got it together and continued to craft some of what we found in that moment. It was something you would never experience in your life. It was the hardest thing I think I ever had to experience.”
Usher also discussed getting the Super Bowl halftime spot while running his residency, calling it “the craziest decision I ever had to make.” As well as his decision to launch his independent label with L.A. Reid. And that’s not even the half of it folks, for the entire in-depth conversation, press play on the interview above.
Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Greg Street

Usher | Audacy Check In | 4.23.24

Chris Janson is celebrating the premiere of his music video for his current single, “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” with some help from his new friend — and global superstar — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and they both visited with Audacy to share all the details.

The video shows the pals in their element cuttin’ up donuts in a pickup, raisin’ a cold one, and enjoying the great outdoors all while in their Bass Pro gear. “I did this and I asked him [to be in the video] because we’re friends and I thought it made sense, and I figured he’d like it because he’s a ‘Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get’ guy and we have a ‘Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get’ friendship,’” Janson told Audacy’s HeatherFroglear. “The video is really fun, it’s unscripted. You’ll see we’re having a ball in it.”

The unscripted footage is a glimpse into the pair’s real-life friendship which all started in a parking lot where they bonded over a love for the outdoors, Country music, and humility.

“We met in a parking lot,” Johnson shared before detailing that Janson asked for a photo. “We were waiting for our cars to come around at valet and I get a tap on my shoulder, I turn around and he said, ‘Hey DJ, my name is Chris, I’d like to introduce you to my son, can my son take a picture with you?’”

Photo requests are nothing new to The Rock, who has one of social media’s biggest followings at 379 million, but little did he know, that the photo request would turn into a new, meant-to-be friendship.

“I had no idea who Chris was, Chris didn’t tell me,” Johnson explained. “We were talking for 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and finally, his wife, Kelly, when I met her… she goes, ‘I have to tell you, Chris is never going to tell you, but I know you love Country music, he sings Country music.”

Crediting Janson for his humble ways Johnson explained, “It’s a reflection of Chris and his humility, and his grace and who he is as a human being… usually when I meet people who are celebrities in their own right, — from whatever industry — I’m going to know in about a minute. They’re going to find a way to tell me.”

That evening in the valet lot turned into a lifelong friendship that is now captured in an upbeat, fun, Country music video that the pair hope will inspire everyone to be who they are and continue chasing their dreams.

“At the end of the day, we just good ol’ boys, man,” Janson concluded. “I know that we hope to inspire people. When you watch the video, yes, it’s fun and yes, it’s awesome — holy crap, I can’t believe it’s happening — but we hope to inspire people… everybody in America. Young, old, or whatever walk of life you come from — The American dream is alive and well.”

He continued, “If you don’t dream big, you can’t win big…. People say ‘I can’t believe you got The Rock to join you.’ Well, quite frankly, if you don’t ask, you can’t receive and what’s the worst that could happen in life? Somebody could tell you no and you just kick down another door and go on through it.”

Check out more from Heather’s conversation with Chris Janson and The Rock above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Heather Froglear

Chris Janson is celebrating the premiere of his music video for his current single, “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” with some help from his new friend — and global superstar — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and they both visited with Audacy to share all the details.
The video shows the pals in their element cuttin’ up donuts in a pickup, raisin’ a cold one, and enjoying the great outdoors all while in their Bass Pro gear. “I did this and I asked him [to be in the video] because we’re friends and I thought it made sense, and I figured he’d like it because he’s a ‘Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get’ guy and we have a ‘Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get’ friendship,’” Janson told Audacy’s Heather Froglear. “The video is really fun, it’s unscripted. You’ll see we’re having a ball in it.”
The unscripted footage is a glimpse into the pair’s real-life friendship which all started in a parking lot where they bonded over a love for the outdoors, Country music, and humility.
“We met in a parking lot,” Johnson shared before detailing that Janson asked for a photo. “We were waiting for our cars to come around at valet and I get a tap on my shoulder, I turn around and he said, ‘Hey DJ, my name is Chris, I’d like to introduce you to my son, can my son take a picture with you?’”
Photo requests are nothing new to The Rock, who has one of social media’s biggest followings at 379 million, but little did he know, that the photo request would turn into a new, meant-to-be friendship.
“I had no idea who Chris was, Chris didn’t tell me,” Johnson explained. “We were talking for 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and finally, his wife, Kelly, when I met her… she goes, ‘I have to tell you, Chris is never going to tell you, but I know you love Country music, he sings Country music.”
Crediting Janson for his humble ways Johnson explained, “It’s a reflection of Chris and his humility, and his grace and who he is as a human being… usually when I meet people who are celebrities in their own right, — from whatever industry — I’m going to know in about a minute. They’re going to find a way to tell me.”
That evening in the valet lot turned into a lifelong friendship that is now captured in an upbeat, fun, Country music video that the pair hope will inspire everyone to be who they are and continue chasing their dreams.
“At the end of the day, we just good ol’ boys, man,” Janson concluded. “I know that we hope to inspire people. When you watch the video, yes, it’s fun and yes, it’s awesome — holy crap, I can’t believe it’s happening — but we hope to inspire people… everybody in America. Young, old, or whatever walk of life you come from — The American dream is alive and well.”
He continued, “If you don’t dream big, you can’t win big…. People say ‘I can’t believe you got The Rock to join you.’ Well, quite frankly, if you don’t ask, you can’t receive and what’s the worst that could happen in life? Somebody could tell you no and you just kick down another door and go on through it.”
Check out more from Heather’s conversation with Chris Janson and The Rock above.
Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Heather Froglear

Chris Janson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson | Audacy Check In | 4.19.24

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder joins us this week for a special Audacy Check In with KROQ's Nicole Alvarez discussing the band's brand new 12th studio album, Dark Matter, their upcoming world tour, and much more.

For fans who know Pearl Jam’s music inside and out, it can be easy to track the evolution of the band as musicians and human beings by listening to their new album, Dark Matter. After hearing the finished product, frontman Eddie Vedder admits with a laugh that he was still surprised by “just how good it sounded.” Vedder goes on to expound on the masterful abilities of their producer this time around, complimenting “how good this guy Andrew Watt made our band sound and the performances he was getting out of us.”

“It was moving very quickly,” Eddie explains. “It was recorded and written really quickly, and with the end of almost every night being just about a completed piece of music or, if not, very, very close. It just kept the momentum going, which, you know, we just hadn't recorded like that in a while.”

The biggest surprise, he adds, was “the power that was coming out of the speakers… it held up that loud volume. And then the lyrics, I think that you're writing lyrics just to -- not keep up with the music -- but to be part of the fabric, to mesh. or if there's a song with a tempo.” Speaking specifically about the album track “Running,” Vedder explains how the lyrics for the song “are part and parcel with the tempo and performances of that song. It's a frenetic lyric to go with a frenetic song.”

“Those are the things that, I guess, you're just surprised that you finish it,” he laughs.

Vedder credits Watt’s passion for music in general for bringing out the best of his band, and making them feel excitement in new, almost embarrassing ways. “It's pretty over the top,” Eddie says. “But I'm telling you, it's so pure. He wouldn't mind me saying this; it comes from such a pure place that it’s just truly undeniable. And I'm sure The Stones felt the same way working with him. He's just really focused. He also has this strange kind of ADD ability to recall. You know, it would be a detriment to maybe some people that maybe had a little bit more of a normal occupation.”

“He can remember a take that [guitarist] Mike McCreedy soloed 10 days ago, and he can remember that it was take number three,” Eddie continues. “He found the perfect occupation to put this kind of savant-like connection to music… he's using his powers for good. It’s pretty stunning and it bodes well for keeping things moving. Momentum is huge, and it also turns into positivity and confidence and flexibility… and then it's the ability to create an atmosphere where you feel like you can experiment, or try something, or, work harder to make it better. You’re not like, ‘OK, I think that's good enough.’”

“There was no ‘good enough,’” Vedder says. “It had to rise to the level… the guitar had to match the level of performance of Matt Cameron on the drums. The vocals had to match the high intensity of the guitar. It was just kind of, everybody keeps stepping up to reach kind of a peak or pinnacle of what is possible. You're always trying to do your best, but it turns out you could do even better.”

Eddie had a chance to work with Watt on his 2022 solo album Earthling, and remembers another trick that Andrew had up his sleeve for those sessions, which seem to have seeped into the new Pearl Jam offering as well. “What you could say about the mix is, everything's louder than everything else. Meaning, if you want to focus on what the bass is doing, it's more just attenuating your ear to the bass and all of a sudden that's the loudest thing. And then you say, ‘Well, what's the kick drum doing?’ Then that becomes the loudest thing, just by directing your brain, moving your ear like as if you were a horse catching up. Just tuning your radar, whatever you want to tune it into could be a background vocal or a guitar melody that you think is kind of in the back. But when you focus in on it, it's right there.”

“Every instrument kind of has its own lane,” Vedder adds. “I don't know where he maybe picked up on that, even through some of the more Pop music that he did, but it certainly can apply here.”

Fans can expect all killer and no filler on Dark Matter as well, Eddie says. “The only trick,” he says that needed to be applied to choosing the album tracks and sequencing of songs “was kind of telling the story, if there is one. Really, it was just quality piece of music after quality piece of music.”

“If I could say it without sounding too self-aggrandizing, but, a lot of records, there's a couple of songs that maybe you put in the more difficult listening category or something… There was no lack of good material,” he adds. “That doesn't always happen.” Forced to pick a favorite, "I think the whole record feels personal," he says. "There's a song called 'Something Special' on there, which is really kind of a parenting, mom and dad seeing their kids grow up and leaving the nest -- either going to college or going to high school -- and hoping you did a good enough job to know that they're gonna be okay out in the world. That's where they're gonna learn their lessons, and no matter [the] love and support that you raise them with -- and discipline -- there's gonna be a bunch of lessons out there. The world's gonna hand them difficulties, hopefully not on a daily basis, but you hope that you've given them the tools to navigate through the good times and the pitfalls. So, I could say that one's a little bit more unabashedly personal."

As the band’s Dark Matter world tour continues to take shape before kicking off this May, some of the nerves behind introducing these new tracks to fans have begun to subside and morph into genuine excitement. “If you would ask me four days ago, I would have been maybe a little more nervous, but we've just had our first couple of days of practice and I think everybody worked hard on the songs coming into practice, as opposed to learning them once we get here.”

“It felt a little daunting,” he admits, “as we said, the sound of the record is galvanized and has a lot of strength to it. So, can we do that live? That question has been answered in the last couple of days.”

“There’s a different kind of focus that happens,” he says when taking the stage, “and it's kind of being ready to find that or to be conscious of what might happen tonight… It could be a reaction from the crowd, it could be locking eyes with somebody and you can tell they're going through something… I have a pretty good vantage point and I can kind of find those things and that inspires me.”

“Another great pleasure of being in this band is standing right in front of Matt Cameron, who's just, you know, there's a lot of great, great drummers out there these days. It's a particularly healthy time to be listening if you appreciate drummers and what drummers can do behind the kit. But he's just so extraordinary. There's horsepower there… Literally, it feels like you're riding a racehorse and it's wild, and it's always different. The way he locks in with Jeff and then the way Jeff [Ament] and Stone [Gossard] lock in… and then it allows Mike a canvas to do his. It could be very technical and perfect and it could be Jackson Pollock as well.”

Given the chance, Eddie agrees with Nicole about grabbing the new PJ album and retreating to the best place to listen to new music: In a car, with the windows closed “whether you're moving or just still,” he says. “I mean, I do it in the driveway. I think my neighbors heard this record before me. But also, being out on the road with the windows open, that's pretty good too.”

“Some of my best listening experiences have been with Walkman's on a hike at the top of a mountain,” Vedder adds. “There's something about the outdoors, or on the shoreline. It's like nature has a hand in it… and I think probably because lyrically nature is in there. Nature and the ocean, and waves… whether it's a calm sunset or a storm… I think nature informs a lot of the lyrics as well.”

Giving us a preview of what's to come, KROQ's Nicole Alvarez had Eddie Vedder talking about Pearl Jam's fast-approaching Dark Matter world tour, namely their shows in Los Angeles on the 21st and 22nd of May at the Forum. “But the other one,” he revealed, would be the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA happening this September. “This year it's September 27th-29th and as of today, I can tell you the headliners on the 27th and 29th are gonna be our group.”

“So, Pearl Jam on the seashore… that's something to look forward to for us, certainly," Vedder adds. "And then in the middle on the 28th, we have Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The whole rosters are very impressive and inspiring and exciting… it should be good!”

After making their return earlier this year with their new album's title track, the Seattle Alt-rock faves officially revealed 2024's Dark Matter was set to arrive on April 19, produced by multi-GRAMMY award-winning producer Andrew Watt, marking the band’s first release since 2020’s critically-acclaimed Gigaton. 

Don’t miss our full Audacy Check In with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder above -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on Audacy.com/live.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Nicole Alvarez

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder joins us this week for a special Audacy Check In with KROQ's Nicole Alvarez discussing the band's brand new 12th studio album, Dark Matter, their upcoming world tour, and much more.
For fans who know Pearl Jam’s music inside and out, it can be easy to track the evolution of the band as musicians and human beings by listening to their new album, Dark Matter. After hearing the finished product, frontman Eddie Vedder admits with a laugh that he was still surprised by “just how good it sounded.” Vedder goes on to expound on the masterful abilities of their producer this time around, complimenting “how good this guy Andrew Watt made our band sound and the performances he was getting out of us.”
“It was moving very quickly,” Eddie explains. “It was recorded and written really quickly, and with the end of almost every night being just about a completed piece of music or, if not, very, very close. It just kept the momentum going, which, you know, we just hadn't recorded like that in a while.”
The biggest surprise, he adds, was “the power that was coming out of the speakers… it held up that loud volume. And then the lyrics, I think that you're writing lyrics just to -- not keep up with the music -- but to be part of the fabric, to mesh. or if there's a song with a tempo.” Speaking specifically about the album track “Running,” Vedder explains how the lyrics for the song “are part and parcel with the tempo and performances of that song. It's a frenetic lyric to go with a frenetic song.”
“Those are the things that, I guess, you're just surprised that you finish it,” he laughs.
Vedder credits Watt’s passion for music in general for bringing out the best of his band, and making them feel excitement in new, almost embarrassing ways. “It's pretty over the top,” Eddie says. “But I'm telling you, it's so pure. He wouldn't mind me saying this; it comes from such a pure place that it’s just truly undeniable. And I'm sure The Stones felt the same way working with him. He's just really focused. He also has this strange kind of ADD ability to recall. You know, it would be a detriment to maybe some people that maybe had a little bit more of a normal occupation.”
“He can remember a take that [guitarist] Mike McCreedy soloed 10 days ago, and he can remember that it was take number three,” Eddie continues. “He found the perfect occupation to put this kind of savant-like connection to music… he's using his powers for good. It’s pretty stunning and it bodes well for keeping things moving. Momentum is huge, and it also turns into positivity and confidence and flexibility… and then it's the ability to create an atmosphere where you feel like you can experiment, or try something, or, work harder to make it better. You’re not like, ‘OK, I think that's good enough.’”
“There was no ‘good enough,’” Vedder says. “It had to rise to the level… the guitar had to match the level of performance of Matt Cameron on the drums. The vocals had to match the high intensity of the guitar. It was just kind of, everybody keeps stepping up to reach kind of a peak or pinnacle of what is possible. You're always trying to do your best, but it turns out you could do even better.”
Eddie had a chance to work with Watt on his 2022 solo album Earthling, and remembers another trick that Andrew had up his sleeve for those sessions, which seem to have seeped into the new Pearl Jam offering as well. “What you could say about the mix is, everything's louder than everything else. Meaning, if you want to focus on what the bass is doing, it's more just attenuating your ear to the bass and all of a sudden that's the loudest thing. And then you say, ‘Well, what's the kick drum doing?’ Then that becomes the loudest thing, just by directing your brain, moving your ear like as if you were a horse catching up. Just tuning your radar, whatever you want to tune it into could be a background vocal or a guitar melody that you think is kind of in the back. But when you focus in on it, it's right there.”
“Every instrument kind of has its own lane,” Vedder adds. “I don't know where he maybe picked up on that, even through some of the more Pop music that he did, but it certainly can apply here.”
Fans can expect all killer and no filler on Dark Matter as well, Eddie says. “The only trick,” he says that needed to be applied to choosing the album tracks and sequencing of songs “was kind of telling the story, if there is one. Really, it was just quality piece of music after quality piece of music.”
“If I could say it without sounding too self-aggrandizing, but, a lot of records, there's a couple of songs that maybe you put in the more difficult listening category or something… There was no lack of good material,” he adds. “That doesn't always happen.” Forced to pick a favorite, "I think the whole record feels personal," he says. "There's a song called 'Something Special' on there, which is really kind of a parenting, mom and dad seeing their kids grow up and leaving the nest -- either going to college or going to high school -- and hoping you did a good enough job to know that they're gonna be okay out in the world. That's where they're gonna learn their lessons, and no matter [the] love and support that you raise them with -- and discipline -- there's gonna be a bunch of lessons out there. The world's gonna hand them difficulties, hopefully not on a daily basis, but you hope that you've given them the tools to navigate through the good times and the pitfalls. So, I could say that one's a little bit more unabashedly personal."
As the band’s Dark Matter world tour continues to take shape before kicking off this May, some of the nerves behind introducing these new tracks to fans have begun to subside and morph into genuine excitement. “If you would ask me four days ago, I would have been maybe a little more nervous, but we've just had our first couple of days of practice and I think everybody worked hard on the songs coming into practice, as opposed to learning them once we get here.”
“It felt a little daunting,” he admits, “as we said, the sound of the record is galvanized and has a lot of strength to it. So, can we do that live? That question has been answered in the last couple of days.”
“There’s a different kind of focus that happens,” he says when taking the stage, “and it's kind of being ready to find that or to be conscious of what might happen tonight… It could be a reaction from the crowd, it could be locking eyes with somebody and you can tell they're going through something… I have a pretty good vantage point and I can kind of find those things and that inspires me.”
“Another great pleasure of being in this band is standing right in front of Matt Cameron, who's just, you know, there's a lot of great, great drummers out there these days. It's a particularly healthy time to be listening if you appreciate drummers and what drummers can do behind the kit. But he's just so extraordinary. There's horsepower there… Literally, it feels like you're riding a racehorse and it's wild, and it's always different. The way he locks in with Jeff and then the way Jeff [Ament] and Stone [Gossard] lock in… and then it allows Mike a canvas to do his. It could be very technical and perfect and it could be Jackson Pollock as well.”
Given the chance, Eddie agrees with Nicole about grabbing the new PJ album and retreating to the best place to listen to new music: In a car, with the windows closed “whether you're moving or just still,” he says. “I mean, I do it in the driveway. I think my neighbors heard this record before me. But also, being out on the road with the windows open, that's pretty good too.”
“Some of my best listening experiences have been with Walkman's on a hike at the top of a mountain,” Vedder adds. “There's something about the outdoors, or on the shoreline. It's like nature has a hand in it… and I think probably because lyrically nature is in there. Nature and the ocean, and waves… whether it's a calm sunset or a storm… I think nature informs a lot of the lyrics as well.”
Giving us a preview of what's to come, KROQ's Nicole Alvarez had Eddie Vedder talking about Pearl Jam's fast-approaching Dark Matter world tour, namely their shows in Los Angeles on the 21st and 22nd of May at the Forum. “But the other one,” he revealed, would be the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA happening this September. “This year it's September 27th-29th and as of today, I can tell you the headliners on the 27th and 29th are gonna be our group.”
“So, Pearl Jam on the seashore… that's something to look forward to for us, certainly," Vedder adds. "And then in the middle on the 28th, we have Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The whole rosters are very impressive and inspiring and exciting… it should be good!”
After making their return earlier this year with their new album's title track, the Seattle Alt-rock faves officially revealed 2024's Dark Matter was set to arrive on April 19, produced by multi-GRAMMY award-winning producer Andrew Watt, marking the band’s first release since 2020’s critically-acclaimed Gigaton. 
Don’t miss our full Audacy Check In with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder above -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on <a href="https://www.audacy.com/live">Audacy.com/live</a>.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Nicole Alvarez

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