A Conversation with Randy Houser – HuffPost 8.3.12

Mike Ragogna: Randy, playing off your hit song, is “this” truly how country feels?

Randy Houser: Well, it’s not very country, we’re at the Cannery Ballroom in downtown Nashville, but it will tonight when we get all that music in here!

MR: Nice. Now, you’re associated with the Pepsi/Billboard Summer Beats Concert Series featuring you and Gloriana and others. How did that come about?

RH: You know, it actually just came to me through my management company. I was asked if I would be willing to be a part of it, and I said, “Absolutely!” I think it’s a huge deal for all of these artists playing today. It’s also something just to be recognized by the people atBillboard, Pepsi, everybody involved.

MR: And I imagine it’s nice to have the fans be able to interact with you. One part of the deal is that they’re going to shoot you some questions and actually be able to witness some of the events through Twitter. Randy, how do you use social media?

RH: I use it pretty much all the time. I’m not one of those people that tweet every time I go to the restroom or I’m at Wal-Mart or whatever, but to me, it’s the closest we can come to getting one-on-one with a lot of our fans. Any time somebody tweets me and says they love a song, we re-Tweet them, or if they have a birthday, we say happy birthday. It’s just an easy way to make someone’s day. It’s simple for us and it’s a way that we can interact with our fans on a level that’s never happened before.

MR: Now, you’ve had some hits, “…Boots,” and “…Badonkadonk” with Trace Atkins. When you look back at where you came from and where we are now, do you notice–even from a technology perspective–do you notice the big changes over the last few years, or as an artist, do you think “Well that’s just another aspect of what I do”?

RH: I think that it definitely has been an improvement, and definitely something that we use, and I have noticed a difference in the fans and how they actually feel that they know you a bit more. When I started out, it was basically MySpace. It was before Facebook had come around, and it was a way to stay in touch with people, but it was nothing like being able to stay up to the minute like with Twitter and things like that. And everything is all linked now; Facebook fans and Twitter fans get information at the same time, and I think it’s cool to give fans fresh content and let them know what you’re up to. I do trust a pretty good part of that.

MR: “Fresh content.” That’s the bottom line, it’s always about creativity, isn’t it.

RH: Absolutely. Bad content, it IS content, but I see sometimes, there’s just too much. People want to put anything out there, and then it’s like, “What?” If something fun’s going on, we try to always have a camera around or something.

MR: Now you as an artist, from your first album to this latest one, what do you think is the major growth for you?

RH: I think it’s mostly the creative process. That’s been what I’ve had to adjust to. I think sometimes as artists, we can get in our own bubble too far, musically, and kind of leave the fans behind a little bit, and I think it’s important for it to be something that’s viable for fans to get and not something that’s too deep.

MR: Randy, what advice do you have for new artists?

RH: Well, you know, depending on what kind of music you’re wanting to do, get the best at it you can before you move to the place where you’re going to get noticed. In Nashville, it’s almost a “you must be present to win” kind of thing. It definitely helps, but another thing is, always be trying to build your fan base, use your social networking, develop your skills. Get in a bar somewhere or whatever your venue is, and learn how to entertain people and have fun with them. That’s the most important thing and the rest will come.

MR: With the Pepsi/Billboard Summer Beats Concert Series and the Twitter experience that’s happening out of this, do you feel like you’ll be taking some of that with you for the future? Are there lessons and things that you’ve learned from this that will be in your sphere from now on?

RH: I think we’ll definitely take something from it, and that’s the way that it’s fed to Twitter and up to the minute, where people are tweeting what’s going on and things like that. I think that’s something we can definitely incorporate in whatever we do.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne