Lyric Video Premiere: Dallas Wayne: I Hit The Road (And The Road Hit Back)
When you are a touring entertainer, you are bound to have road experiences that are sometimes funny, sometimes very aggravating. Dallas Wayne’s new lyric video, “I Hit The Road (And The Road Hit Back)” falls in the second category.
“I think it was written during a period of time when I was facing having three bus engines go bad on me in a row,” Dallas says of the basis for the tune. “Those things aren’t cheap — you got to have them (buses) to stay on the road. I wrote the song with Robbie Fulks. We’ve been writing together 30 plus years. Both of us have spent a lot of time on the road since we were 15 or 16 years old!
“All in all, life on the road these days is more comfortable than it used to be,” Dallas continues. “We’re no longer in a car with quarters in your pocket to call the booking agent. It’s still a challenge — weather, promoters, venues — all sorts of things that you have to deal with constantly when you are out there.”
The song starts out with the typical end to a singer’s night … “Cymbal crash, last call 3 a.m., Jackson, Mississippi I’ll see you again, next stop Terre Haute, won’t be no hotel tonight” … then continues on as the singer reminisces about his days on the road, even remembering that his mother begged him to put his guitar down but because he was so determined to be a singer and entertainer, he wouldn’t listen to what she told him.
As the song continues, you realize he isn’t sorry he didn’t listen to his mother, but he realizes he might have missed out on some things in life he sometimes regrets … “Well if I’m ragged round the edges, look a little hard, life ain’t easy on this honky star…I spent my soul in a thousand dives, I’ve been on this highway since ’75…”
Thankfully all the nights don’t come with bad luck with the bus engine. Dallas says that just a few nights before this interview with Sounds Like Nashville, he had a great night in Bristol, where he now lives. “We had a fun night at the Paramount Theatre,” he says. “We played with the Mavericks, and we played this song and to hear the audience bellow “and the road hit back” was great. And the song doesn’t have to be just about musicians … it could be about anyone who travels in their job.”
Dallas says the part about his mom was pretty close to the truth. “My dad was a college professor, my mom was a teacher, and don’t get me wrong, they were supportive, but they didn’t understand the music business. I would talk to them and relay something that happened at a show and they would say, ‘I don’t understand you.’ As I aged into music they finally realized, ‘Well he can buy a house and make a car payment so I guess this music business is okay’.”
The native of Springfield, Missouri, has worn many hats in his life. He is a singer, songwriter, radio DJ, voice-over artist, actor and music producer. Right now his concentration is on the first three. Many country music fans will recognize him from SiriusXM Radio, where he can be found six days a week playing some of his favorite music. Monday through Friday he is on noon to 6 p.m. (EST) on Willie’s Roadhouse, channel 59. Tuesday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to Noon (EST) he hosts Outlaw Country (Channel 60) and Sunday from 10 a.m. to Noon (EST) he is back on Willie’s Roadhouse.
“Working on Sirius-XM takes up a lot of my time, but it does free me up on weekends to tour,” Dallas explains. “All these things, as I get older, I realize how interconnected they are. It’s the entertainment business and they are all similar to each other.
“The premise for SiriusXM is that they did not want radio people, they wanted musicians to do shows to share the stories of their experience as it relates to the music. When they offered me the job, the more I looked into it the more appealing it was to be able to do it and tour.
“The funny thing is people don’t know what you do. They only hear what you do for a living, they don’t hear the prep you do for each show; what you’re going to say and the records you are going to play. What makes it fun is you can go out and take a break from all that and do an album. Even though that is stressful, it all boils down to loving what you do no matter what it is.”
Dallas has released 13 albums over the years and many reviewers have complimented him by saying “This man sings pure traditional country music” and “He is the best traditional country singer out there.”
“That’s a pretty tall compliment … traditional country is what I grew up on,” Dallas says. “I love the style, the craft of the songwriting at the time. What I wanted to do at first was be a songwriter. In order to do that you have to play, and this led to all the other things I’ve done over the years.”
Dallas says he is delighted with his upcoming album, Coldwater, Tennessee, which was produced by Buddy Cannon, the man behind Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney recordings. “There’s not a lot of my albums that I go out and relisten to again and I love listening to this one. The credit goes to Buddy and the musicians. It’s a fun record to listen to and he is such a calming presence in the studio. All musicians and engineers adore him and they want to do well for Buddy. They would walk through fire for him because he would do that for them. The record is part of who I am as a person and I’m proud of it.”
When asked how Buddy came to be producer on the album, Dallas explains, “He and I were talking one night, just visiting, and he asked me what my plans were. I said, ‘I’d like to make one more record before I quit. I want to get back to the songwriting (because) the last two albums were cover tunes. They were fun to make but I miss the songwriting side.’
“Buddy said he would be honored if I’d let him produce it. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I sent him a few tunes, and I was going to write two or three to go along with it. I’m looking forward to the release of the album in April.”
Dallas loves what he is doing, whether it’s behind a mic doing his radio shows, the mic in a recording studio or on stage behind a mic in front of an audience. “You basically love your work no matter what it is. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel lucky doing radio, make albums or touring the world, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun,” Dallas says. “I’ll never take it for granted. Especially after Covid 19, the touring became important for people who were locked down at home. They listened to the shows on SiriusXM. What we do on radio is important to the people who listen to us. You do the same thing when you make a record, it is something that reaches people and another means of communication.”
Dallas has won numerous awards, among them awards the Will Rogers award from the Academy of Western Artists’ for DJ of the Year and Classic Country Major Market DJ of the Year. He was also a member of Haybale! when the Academy of Western Artists named them the Pure Country Group of the Year. He’s also won the CMA of Texas Choice Award and is a Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum DJ inductee. He has won two awards from the Ameripolitan Music Awards for Honky Tonk Group of the Year with Haybale! and for DJ of the Year.
Dallas says that he basically had no point of reference in his career choice. “It’s all I‘ve ever done. When I was 15, I knew this is what I was going to do. I had no idea of what I was getting into. It was all or nothing but being able to diversify my career in the entertainment business has made it easier.”
