Kiefer Sutherland Reflects On Humbling Opry Debut, Preps For Album Release

The month of May ended on quite the positive note for Kiefer Sutherland. Known for his roles in such TV series as 24 and films such as A Time To Kill, Sutherland found himself performing on another stage – the Grand Ole Opry.

He said that the supportive nature of the show’s cast reminded him of one of his biggest passions. “It was surreal,” he told Sounds Like Nashville of his debut on the historic stage. “The whole experience goes by so fast. Everybody was so generous. It actually reminded me of roping. I was roping once and this guy’s strap snapped, and within two seconds, there was another cowboy taking his strap off of his saddle, and giving it to another cowboy. I remember thinking how crazy that was. I played hockey all my life, and I guarantee that if my stick was to break, the guy on the other team isn’t going to give me a stick. I always remembered that. There was a sense that I got that everybody wanted everyone else to do well. There was a generosity in that which moved me.”

When he first arrived at the Opry House, Sutherland found himself enchanted immediately by the circle of wood that was taken from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium – home of the show from 1943-1974.

“I remember going to sound check, and like an eight-year old boy, putting my toe in that circle,” he said. “I have as much reverence for the history of that place as anybody. It was an honor. I think humility is the word that sums up the day there. I just felt very humbled. The audience was great.”

For his first time on the Opry stage, he performed “Not Enough Whiskey” – a track from his upcoming album, Down In A Hole, and the Merle Haggard classic “The Bottle Let Me Down.” Sutherland says it was very meaningful for him to pay tribute to Haggard – an artist he had a memorable moment of interaction with a few months ago.

“I had played Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield about four months ago,” he recalled. “Scott Cox – the D.J. out there, was so helpful to us. He is very close with Merle, and got him on a Skype and the two of us chatted a bit. He was so incredible. He kept saying ‘I want to get you a guitar’ and ‘I’m so glad you’re doing this,’ and he had heard the song and really liked it. I just thought of what an honor it was to talk to him. I was such a fan of his writing, which really influenced me in the biggest way – on a personal level and also as a writer. We had a very warm exchange, and then I went back out on the road, and a few weeks later, he passed away. I felt so shocked by that. I really wanted to honor him with one of his songs as my way of saying how much I had wanted to talk to him again.”

The music of Haggard, as well as Johnny Cash, had an undeniable impact on Sutherland, who said that the real-life emotions of their compositions definitely set in with him. “They both wrote a lot of songs in the first-person narrative. I don’t believe that Johnny Cash actually went to Reno and shot a man to watch him die, but he took on that character. That’s in my wheelhouse as an actor, and that’s the kind of thing I like to do is to tell those stories. It was that first person narrative that got me into their music, and led me to want to write songs.”

Sutherland has been playing many of those songs on a recent promotional tour to spread the word about the album – which he has definitely enjoyed. “We’ve played thirty-six shows in forty-two days. There are so many things that I can pull out of it, one of which was something I was really thrilled about – not one show mattered more than the other. There were places where we were excited to go, but there wasn’t a single show that was less important. It was good to feel that every night was that important. That was very rewarding. I felt that every night that there wasn’t much difference between myself and the audience. I also think that my effort to write about my human experience on this record was very translatable. That was something I found to be very profound. It was a very special time.”

At what point during each stop on the tour does Sutherland feel his music is making an impact with the fans, rather than simply his celebrity? He admits that he can’t answer that alone. “It’s a question that I think is best posed to the audience, but I can say that the people who came to the shows – unless what I may have perceived before – wanted us to do well. They wanted us to be good. I think I was worried that they were coming to hate us, but that wasn’t the case. They were all incredibly gracious and kind. Having said that, I like my songs, and I love my band. I think we put on a great show. I think so far, the reaction has been positive.”

He’s counting down the days until the release of Down In A Hole – and nobody will be happier than him to get the music out. “That has been an incredible frustration, which I hope will come to an end in August. I’m so very excited about that.” He says that feeling is not that unusual – but this time, it is a little bit different. “It’s not something that I’ve never experienced – having a film that I’m really excited about and waiting for it to come out or 24, it’s a very familiar feeling. For me, this is on a more personal level. If the thing that I have enjoyed the most is playing the shows, it is helpful that people have heard these songs,” he says with a laugh. “I am looking forward to it coming out soon.”

One of the highlights from the album is “Going Home.” When asked where and what “home” represents, he said “It’s a very small group of friends and my kids. Thank God they all travel, because the physical location of a home is something I haven’t seen in quite some time. For me, home is always going to be those people.”

One of the most personal songs from the disc is “Calling Out Your Name,” of which he said “That was one of the first songs I wrote. It’s a very important song for me. When I was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, there was this quintessential moment – which I believe happens to everybody – where you lose that blind innocence of youth, and you become an adult – maybe a little more jaded. Something happens, something really hurts you, and with most of the people I know, if not all, it was a relationship. Mine was no different. It kind of ended in such a messed-up way. It was something that I thought was going to last forever, and it wasn’t. I think it was something that I was carrying around with me unresolved for a very long time. When I started to write about it – and I sat down on purpose to write about it, I realized we were so young, and this was something that has to happen, unfortunately, in life. Every time I’ve played it, what I was carrying around with me for all those years was gone. It was very cathartic in many ways, and I think it pushed me to write about other things. I’ve lost people in my life, and obviously, when someone dies and they are very young, that will always be unresolved – but writing about it helped me with those kinds of moments, too.”

The summer looks to be a busy one for Sutherland. He will be in front of the camera, filming his upcoming ABC series Designated Survivor, but will also be continuing to tour to support Down In A Hole.