I think I think I could be very wrong about that. I'm not going to fact check it. Well, maybe we will. Hello and welcome to WNC, original music episode 117, the Chinese Dragon episode.
Very happy to have on the podcast this week, Brady Jakeen Brady is a singer songwriter, also a filmmaker and just a very talented all around artist in the actual area. This was recorded at Pailor rooftop bar in Asheville, North Carolina. You can find Brady's music at radijakeen.com and also we'll have links to not only that website, but all his music in the episode notes and also make sure to check out his YouTube page. He's got a lot of really fun stuff there.
He's got a lot of videos. He does reviews of movies. He does, as I said, independent films, just a lot of really cool stuff there. Now here is Brady Jakeen.
Thank you very much. The river is actually a really, really old song. I think actually a lot of the first couple songs I did were pretty old, just because sometimes when I play really long shows, I start pulling from the deep cuts of stuff I've written a while ago. So that song was written when I was really, really young and kind of dealing with a situation where I had like these two.
And this is always weird for me to talk about songs like this because the way I write these things is sometimes purposefully like a little ambiguous and super upfront because I like having people kind of picking apart, seeing what the pulling themes and pulling things that maybe are in their life as well. So it's kind of a situation where I was young and I was encountering these different choices, these two different choice points that I had to kind of choose from. And it was just kind of a situation where it felt like if I went either way, the other one was going to just instead of choosing something and then going in the right direction, it was like you would choose that thing and then you burnt that other bridge or that that river was just going to run dry and there was no way you're going to get that back. And it's just kind of song about feeling like no matter what choice you make, you're screwing somebody over or you're just having a bad time in some way.
So that's kind of where I was at. I was really young. It's even it was even kind of hard to remember writing that song and all that kind of stuff. That's an interesting subject for someone who is that young that you're thinking about, you know, you've got to crush on and stuff like that.
Dude, I'm ancient. I'm ancient. I know I'm young, but like, dude, I feel I feel so old and a lot of songs I write are kind of about that feeling just because like I know I'm young, but sometimes I just like, I don't know, I think the internet is a big part of that. I'm like there's so many like young people now that are just skyrocketed to fame or to, you know, these great heights that even being like 22 now feels like, Oh, why am I not?
You know, I mean, there's this whole thing now and you make a lot of young people feel bad and real old because they're not achieving these great heights. You know, I mean, it's crazy. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know. Yeah. People don't think about, you know, those are the people that you see versus, you know, because they're very, very, very, moderately, moderately, you can have the minimal amount of success. And it really seems like a lot, you know, like people who are influencers, you know, yeah, their influence is just that they're on the internet and they're that's their fame, you know, yeah, they're crazy.
They wear a coat and show people, but it makes them money. So it does and it can be a really good thing. Sometimes, like, obviously, like there's, if people act right and they're a good kind of role model and all these things, it can be a really good thing. But it's also just, it's inevitable.
I mean, if you, if you're young, you look at someone your age who's a millionaire already and it's just like has millions of like fans and everything, you just, I don't know, you really got to be doing what you love for that reason. Otherwise, you're not going to stack up to these people. Like if I, if I wanted money as the main primary reason for music, I would have checked out so long ago because it's just like, I mean, Justin Bieber was way younger than me when he made way more money than I'll ever make. So it's kind of crazy.
But I love it. Yeah, you know, that's the reason. You got to stick with that. It feels like I'll drive through through the night.
The carry up anyway, races, thoughts of goals, start to show. It feels like I'll drive through through the night. It feels like I'll drive through. That song City Lights was a another really old song.
It was one I used to, one of my really big early influences, oddly enough, was John Mayer. And though now I'm super weird and I love like really, really weird and eclectic folk music. But when I was just getting into guitar, I mean, John Mayer, just the way he played and the way he emoted through his guitar really drew me in. So that kind of bluesy acoustic feel is the reason that that song kind of came about because I haven't written a lot of songs like that since.
But I was really young. I was playing that, I mean, back in early, early high school, even. I was playing that song, which is why it's pretty simple. And, but yeah, that's only, and automatically it's, it's pretty simple.
It's one of the first songs where I just wanted to capture a mood instead of maybe like going on this whole emotional journey. I just wanted to capture this mood of like, I used to take eight hour or two day drives with my family to go to New York or go to Florida. And sometimes it'd be really late and we'd be going through the pass through Atlanta, Georgia or something like that. And there's just that feeling of when everyone in the car is just tired, the lights are out in the car and then you just go through this city and it's just something about that maybe as a kid, but even now I kind of get that or it's just kind of, there's this magic to it probably because you're driving through the city.
So you don't have to go through all the bull crap that comes with maybe living inside of a city. But like there's just something to that mood and I wanted to kind of grab that and put that in a song and whether I did or not is up to whoever listens to it. But yeah, I mean, that was another really old song, but I like to play sometimes and people like the kind of the bluesy hop to something like that. So it's a fun track.
I like to play. I know that mood you're talking about when I grew up like in the forum in the country and there was a town near us and sometimes like, especially like in the summer on like a Tuesday night, you know, you would just get bored and just go and just drive, you know, like you're not like looking to meet other people or something like you just go and drive around just because it's something to do and because it's a different feeling. Yeah, I love it. I love it.
It's just a, I'm not really a big city person per se. I mean, I love things about the city. I don't know. Sometimes I'm in between like, I feel like I'd like to live close enough to a city that I can go and I want, but also live far enough away that I can be on my own.
But yeah, there's something nice about that about city life like that. You know, it's super loud, but if you're driving through, it's actually really quiet and peaceful and you just get that visual stimulus of the lights, you know, it's just a show. I love it. I'd never see it through.
It's inside a straight love, since I know just it's still the others dying. I'm losing time. I ship among the rocks and I should ever be all those that I would love. It's inside a street, first rate loves in spite of me.
I'm telling what just it's still the others dying. I just fight. Clifty thoughts. How many names?
I'm losing time. I'm losing time. Clifty thoughts. How many names?
I'm losing time. Clifty thoughts. How many names? That's actually finally a newer song.
A lot of these aren't released. They're not out anywhere. I have, what is it now? I have like 14 songs.
I have like three EPs and two singles now. I know we've talked about so far, I think it's on any of those. This song, Voyager Part 1, is a song that I would love to release on an album that I've been planning for years now and writing songs to. It's Part 1.
I played Part 2 later and I'm sure we'll talk about that too. There's this idea of an album that I've been wanting to do for so long, but it's one of those things where I want to kind of wait until I maybe have more people who would listen to it because it's just so much work to make an album. Especially the way I would want to make it would just require endless hours and stress and anxiety, which is kind of what the song is about actually. The reason it's Part 1 is because I wanted to book the album with Part 1 and then Part 2 at the end and Part 1 is kind of about this lack of faith and just complete anxiety and just how that disrupts everything and just the feeling of bearing everything on your own shoulders and how that is just so overwhelming half the time.
And luckily that's Part 1 so it doesn't have to stay super depressing the whole time because it kind of resolves. But yeah, that's a song that hopefully I will release if I ever put out that album. I'm gonna say when I put out that album so that people kind of experience it in its whole because I want it to be a big production with drums and a whole soundscape that I'm planning for this album. But yeah, I just want to get some more support, some more people listening to music and maybe on the YouTube, all that kind of stuff so that work feels a little validated at the end of it because it's so much work.
Yeah, you hate to put something out like that and it just kind of goes, man. Yeah, a song is one thing and even that, I mean, it's crazy. I mean, I stress for months but an album would be 10 or more songs and that's just, well, I mean, I love it and I'd be happy to do it but I want people to listen to it also. I want to have people join in the feeling of it and not just be like I did all that and then kind of, I don't know, I just want to listen to it.
I see a lot of people do that though where they like they're very popular but they'll have something that you see as one of their early works and you can tell they really put a lot of work into it thinking that's going to be the thing that makes me very popular, you know, gets my music out there but you really do, you know, I guess you don't want to start with your piece of your mouth. Magna Mova's. Yeah. You don't want to be the first thing you make.
It's a lot to live up to after that. And it's kind of a lie that is told to us or that we tell ourselves to and that like even this, I'm doing it like right now with this album, I feel like I'm waiting to put it out because like part of me thinks like you're never going to be able to make that again. Like I'm very proud of what I've done already with it and there's always going to be a part of you that's like I don't think I'll replicate that or what I make will never be that good. And that's just such a lie because like every song I write that's new that I get excited about, I'm like, oh, this is, you know, I'm not going to be able to do this again and then I write another song.
I didn't know, you know, so it's such a lie that like that, oh, I don't want to put this out because I don't want to do my best thing. And then it's never really your best thing though. It's just kind of a journey and it's really weird. I don't know.
It's a weird feeling when I make stuff. I have to kind of remind myself that I don't know. I hope that creativity tank isn't just going to run dry and that's going to be that, you know. Okay.
More from Brady Jakin and just a few moments. I want to remind you to go to BradyJakin.com and also check the show notes for like his Spotify and his YouTube channel, which I talked about earlier. Also I just wanted to note Brady mentioned that he played a very long show here. I think it was about three hours, maybe more, but around three hours show just him and his guitar and it was just great from beginning to end.
At the end there, you didn't see him fatigue or anything, you didn't see any. He wasn't putting filler in there. All of a sudden he had a few covers in there. The covers were great.
Just a really, really quality show all the way through it. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast, WNC Original Music. You can also visit wncoriginalmusic.com and look to the right or the top depending on what you're looking at it from and there will be places to subscribe there on all your favorite podcast places. Subscribing is always free and if I have anything to say about it, it always will be.
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If they're close to you, go and see them live and maybe just sometimes drop them a line and let them know that you like their music, that you just really enjoyed it. That'll mean a whole lot to them. Sometimes I get emails and messages saying, I like this person, I like their music on the show, but I usually don't pass it on to them because of petty jealousy. So make sure to when you can contact a musician directly, but also listen to and buy their music.
What's up? I'm Ron from Violet Twin and you're listening to WNC Original Music. So that is another song that I would want to put on that album, which is kind of, and it's kind of a thematic through line in that album of kind of, I know it's called Chasing Winds, but to use it worse analogy, that idea of chasing your tail about something, like you're so focused on the shore and getting there that you're not living in the moment ever and you're just always trying to compartmentalize and grasp these big ideas. And when you can't do that, it really wigs you out and frustrates you.
And that's kind of about things that are bigger than me or than us and that I've tried to kind of fit into a box and so that I can understand them. And then when I can't do that, that's frustrating. And the whole album is kind of about being okay with that and allowing yourself to realize that there's things you can't control and there's things that you aren't going to understand. And that's kind of the beauty of it sometimes, even though someone like me doesn't want to let anything out of my control, I want to understand and grasp everything.
So that song's kind of about that feeling of just chasing something that you're not going to attain, but trying to be okay with that kind of and that journey, I guess. How does that idea of having things that you can't control and trying to control and trying to gain control, how does that fit in with being both a musician, a filmmaker, just a general artist, a creative artist, because you could have gone into medicine or a currency or a attorney or something like that or any kind of occupation there where you had more control, but it's almost like you intentionally went into something that you have to have more. You get to exert the control versus being kind of structural. Yeah, that's you probably nailed why I went into it.
I mean, it fit to answer how it fits into it, really freaking difficult only, because it is a thing where, and I did a podcast with a few friends a while ago, and I think I said something similar to this, where every time I make something, it's a struggle with that, where it's like, I want to be in perfect control and I want to say I'm writing a song or something, or I'm shooting a film or music video or something. I have this thing in my head and I want it to be that and I'm going to exert control over everything to make it that. Sometimes that can be good. It's obviously good to have a vision.
It's good to know what you want, but I've learned from doing this enough that that thing that you're making, whatever it is, is kind of alive in itself. It's really weird. It's very strange. I don't know if it sounds kind of hippy-ish or anything, but that thing is its own thing, and every time I make something, it always turns out differently than I thought it was going to be.
It's still true to what I set out to do, but sometimes it gets there in a weird way where it becomes something else, and you have to kind of come to terms with that. I have to sit there, and maybe it for a whole week, I think I just suck, and I'm like, this isn't working out. And then I have to come to terms with the idea that, okay, this song or this film or whatever I'm doing, it's not what I thought it was, but it still can be good. And that's a really hard thing to come to terms with.
So it can be really good to have that control, but it's really difficult. You can tip very easily into just manic anxiety because things aren't going your way. So you have to hold it, but you can't hold it so tight that you choke the life out of it. It's really a delicate balance that I don't walk very well a lot of the time, honestly.
But I try- Right, so from being boring. Yeah. I want you like a video game. I want you to master a video game.
You don't want to ever play that again. Yeah, yeah, and I will. I'm sure I'll never master any of this. Right.
Ever. I'm too dismayed. I be full soon. I'm so fizzed, sick, and fired my heart into.
So you see, it's my desire. Teach your ways to me. Medicine and dole and is to be efficient. Catch me by.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry and I bassed the song loosely on what happens in that folk tale of the same name the fox in the kingfisher because it had these very interesting themes of of desire and control and letting go and coming up short and all those things that were it was so alien because I didn't. You know, obviously, I wasn't part of that culture anything, but at the same time, you apply it so personally to me that I felt like it was okay to actually reference it by name and by what's in the lyrics from the song. So yeah, that was one of the first songs I've done a lot since then, that was actually based on a folk tale that I didn't write and then for all in influences from that full tale and added my own, you know, different wordings and themes and you know, so on and so forth, which is why it's weird. And sounds like I'm, you know, reading some story from somewhere, but hopefully people latch on to kind of what the song is about and I've always liked the finger picking pattern in that song too, even though it's really old.
And I don't know, it's weird to think of something that wrote so long ago, but yeah, that's kind of what was in my head writing that song at the time. And what is it, King Fisher? It's like a, I think in the story, I can't remember what this is exactly because it was like, oh man, the story is about a fox that goes along and oh man, this has been so long and just it meets different characters. I feel like one was a bear or something and one was a king fisher and I'm not sure if that's, and that is just that big, like it is, I'm pretty sure it is a bitch, but it's like one of those giant like carp types or something that can come up and I think, I think I think I got very wrong about that.
I'm not gonna fangirl me. Right, but yeah, and just learns things from each of those things. So he meets other characters too, but the king fisher is in the title. So I just took the title straight from it.
I feel like that was the best way to do it. I could be very wrong about that. That'll be the contest for the next podcast. I'd be like, yeah, you have to tell the meaning of words and five of these songs here.
Like with that. Okay, that's part one with Brady Juckeen. I want to thank him for being on. Just a real pleasure to see him live and talk to him, really interesting and fun guy.
Again, check those show notes for links to his music and to his YouTube channel and check BradyJuckeen.com for all of that. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast and see live music whenever you can. Starting back up, see it safely, but do go and see it as you're able. I got my second shot this week and they kind of looked at me before I left and said, you know what, maybe you need to come back for a third.
I don't, I didn't take it personally, but I don't know what to think about it. For the closing song this week, here's a track from Girl in the Garden. She is an up and coming singer songwriter from Boise, Idaho, my hometown. You can find her at girlinthegarden.com.
Have a good week. Given the circumstances.