John Wayne Schulz Interview
Doug Burke:
John Wayne Schulz, a true American cowboy born in Montana and raised in Karnes county, Texas between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, has his roots sunk deep in country music. He began performing as a young child at rodeos in the local honky-tonks. Inspired by his mother who was battling breast cancer, he tried out for American Idol in 2010 and made it to the top 40. A true patriot, John Wayne signed up for the US marines and became a pilot and a flight instructor.
In 2016, American Idol came calling again and invited John Wayne to try out. And once again, he made it to the top 40. Sergeant Schulz spent the next 12 months serving overseas in active duty on a year-long deployment. In May, 2019, Sergeant Schulz returned home to a heroes welcome and immediately picked up where he left off with his music. So we're here with John Wayne Schultz and we're going to talk about Beautiful Water. This is a song about H2O.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's right.
Doug Burke:
Which is actually becoming rare on Earth.
John Wayne Schulz:
It is.
Doug Burke:
Tell us the backstory of Beautiful Water.
John Wayne Schulz:
Beautiful Water is a song that I wrote back in 2009, and it was a song that I wrote about praying for rain. I grew up in a small town in South Texas. And in those small town communities all over the United States, these communities are farming and ranching communities. And they rely upon water. The amount of rain that you have allows the crops to grow, allows the rain to make the hay grow. And you have to have that for your livelihood in a lot of these small towns where you're a rancher or a farmer. And so we had a two-year period from 2006, sorry, 2007 to 2009, where we had a two-year drought in Texas. The rainfall was just not there. And for two years, farmers' crops didn't grow, the hay didn't grow. So we had to ship hay in from out of state. The farmers had to claim insurance on their crops every year. And so it just got bad to the point to where it was kind of a borderline crisis. And you'd start seeing all of the businesses in town, say, please pray for rain. And so I was witnessing this happen with these small town communities to where they decided to turn to God and to start praying and put a little faith in the fact that we might get a little moisture to help us out. In life I think sometimes you go through hard things to help you be a little more humble and to help you maybe press forward with a little more faith after an experience. So I was sitting at my house one day and it just began to rain. I mean, it was pouring rain. It was to the point where it had rained for so long, and such an amount of rain to where that drought was over. That two-year drought without water, it was done. And I sat there at the house and watched it rain. I remember how beautiful that was just looking at that waterfall from the sky. I had this idea for a song that I wanted to write called Beautiful Water right there. And so I grabbed my guitar really quick, and in 20 minutes, I sat there watching it rain with my guitar, and I wrote the song Beautiful Water. And it just seemed like the lyrics just flowed right into my mind and the music was kind of there. I think sometimes whenever you write a song you struggled to come up with maybe some ideas, or we struggled to come up with lyrics and the music and the melody. But this song, it's the only song I've ever written where it's just been immediate. And it just flowed down on that paper like it had already been written.
Doug Burke:
Melody and words.
John Wayne Schulz:
Melody and words. And after 20 minutes, that song was done, and I was able to sing it to my family and say, hey, what do you think about the song I just wrote? And really, there was only this ... That was the second song I've ever written in my life and I was 21 years old. I hadn't done a lot of songwriting up to that point. It was almost a spiritual thing for me to see that rain come down and the good Lord bless us. So that song Beautiful Water has been one that I've played at some of my shows and the people in the community sure were able to relate to it because they understand how important that rainfall is. And so Beautiful Water has been a song that has always been what's been heavily requested by people that come and watch me play.
Doug Burke:
Has it changed over time when you play it live?
John Wayne Schulz:
I think beautiful water has changed over time. I was out in Twentynine Palms, California with a group of my Marines, and we were out in the desert and it was so hot. And all of a sudden we saw this storm cloud come just rolling out of the Northeast, and it was so dark. It came and it rained on us in the middle of the desert. I mean, it was 120-something degrees and all of a sudden the storm came and the rain was just sideways. It was kind of like Forrest Gump, we had some sideways rain. And so we had some sideways rain out there, all of US Marines, and it was blowing so hard that it almost would sting. We were covered behind anything we could try not to get just completely soaked by this rain and we were soaked immediately. And it blew for an hour, and then all of a sudden it switched directions and it blew another hour the opposite direction. And the whole time all the Marines knew my song Beautiful Water. The whole time they were just saying, screw you Schulz. They're just like, Beautiful Water, we hate it. They were like, quit singing the song. And I said, "I was inside when I wrote that song. Don't blame me." I was indoors when I wrote that song wasn't out in it. So it was just funny. Because I think the song has changed over time as people have been able to relate to it more. And I've been able to put more emotion into the song. This is the first song I was ever able to watch people actually relate to and be able to say, that song has really touched me in a certain way. You talk about how the song has changed over time. I had someone come up to me one time and said, "I'd never been baptized before." And I don't know what religion they were but they said, "I've never been baptized but I listened to your song, and I just thought to myself, man, that water they you're singing about, I thought you were singing about like being baptized." And they said it really inspired me to want to be baptized and they went and got baptized, and change their life with that song being a piece of maybe their turning to God. I'd never thought about beautiful water being a like in a sense of like turning to God or that the water that blesses us that God can give us, the well of water, the springing up as they talked about in the scriptures. But I think it's kind of turned into more of a spiritual song over time than it has just a small town song, where we just need rain so the crops will grow.
Doug Burke:
It does have faith in the in lyrics, faith in God.
John Wayne Schulz:
It really does.
Doug Burke:
You are praying to a God to give us-
John Wayne Schulz:
It really is. It's a song about prayer. And I think whenever I wrote it, I didn't realize how spiritual the song was. I think that I was actually kind of oblivious to how spiritual the song was until I really had other people give me feedback. I just thought, you know what, Lord, send the rain on down. It's kind of like just kind of more of a thought than it was a plea. And it's turned into more of a plea, the song has. I just can't believe how the music has really turned into kind of an anthem for some people in my small town down in South Texas, especially whenever we're heard for rain.
Doug Burke:
That was the first song you recorded?
John Wayne Schulz:
Beautiful Water was actually one of the very first songs that I've ... No, it was the first song that I ever recorded, that I wrote. So that was kind of an inaugural song for me in that sense, too. I lost my mother to breast cancer back in 2011. And I didn't record that song until 2012. It was a year after she passed. I remember sitting in the studio, and we just had listened to Beautiful Water with the full band. And it was complete. The song was done.
Doug Burke:
One take?
John Wayne Schulz:
Well, we had done several takes. Right. We'd done several takes. But I just remember sitting there listening to that song once it was done when we'd finished it in the studio, with the band, with all the effects that we had put into it that we wanted to put there with my voice and the backup singers. I remember having this moment where I couldn't believe I heard that song with a full band. It came to life for me because I had sang it acoustically for so many years there. And my first thought was ... I picked up my phone to call my mom because I wanted to tell her how excited I was that the song was done and that I wanted her to hear it. Just for that split second, I grab my phone to call her, I had the realization she's not here. And I thought, man, I wish he was here. I could just Call her and tell her, hey, I can't wait for you to hear the song. It's done. I know that she hears it and that she's heard us play it several times and she loved that song and was very proud of the songwriting that was done on that.
Doug Burke:
You remember where you were the first time you heard it on the radio?
John Wayne Schulz:
The first time I ever heard-
Doug Burke:
Your own music.
John Wayne Schulz:
My own music on the radio-
Doug Burke:
Beautiful Water, specifically.
John Wayne Schulz:
All right. The very first time I ever heard the song on the radio was one of my friends recorded it. I guess there's a radio station in Victoria, Texas that actually played it for the first time, and said this is the very first time that John Wayne Schulz chose to have his original music played and it's right here. And they recorded it for me on the radio, because I was with my Marines out in the middle of the desert. I wasn't anywhere near radio that I can listen to music on and we were busy doing marine stuff. I heard it for the first time on my phone. I have a recording of the radio from one of my friends. And I just thought, I couldn't believe that it was on the radio. And here I am in the middle of the desert, not even in a place where we have any radio reception. So that was my experience with my first song on radio was actually being with my Marines and wasn't able to hear it.
Doug Burke:
Did you take leave from the Marines to go into the studio? Or were you a Marine while you recorded it?
John Wayne Schulz:
So I've served in the Marine Corps reserves for ... We're coming right up on seven years now.
Doug Burke:
So you were in the reserves.
John Wayne Schulz:
So reserves. I have basically a civilian schedule until you train once a month and we just actually got back off a deployment just about five months ago. We were overseas for a year. But it was one of those things where I was able to have the time and go into the studio and record everything on my own time. So I was grateful for that.
Doug Burke:
Anything else on Beautiful Water? Let's Just Be Single. Is that a breakup line? Is that the best breakup line ever?
John Wayne Schulz:
Let's Just Be Single, if you asked if that's the best breakup line, I was listening to the radio, which apparently a lot of people don't do anymore. Listening to the radio a while back, and they said that some of the best breakup lines or the number one breakup lines are, let's just be single, I think we should start seeing other people, or I just need some space. Those are kind of the kind of the breakup line kind of phrases that people like to use.
Doug Burke:
"There are 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."
John Wayne Schulz:
That's right.
Doug Burke:
Paul Simon said. And it's not about you, it's about me.
John Wayne Schulz:
There's a million different ways it can be done for sure. This song came with a real experience. This was an actual experience that I had to where I was dating this girl from California, we were on and off with each other for about four years. That's a long time to be on and off with someone. And we really had a lot of feelings for each other and developed a lot of feelings for each other. She is a phenomenal person, one of the very best girls that you can possibly meet. I've always been so up and down with that relationship. And she's just always been very steady and consistent. So it was one of these things where I went and talked with her and I wanted to just tell her, let's just be single. And that's hard. It is really hard to talk to somebody that you love and you absolutely revere and for some reason, you just don't feel like you need to keep going with it. Whatever reason that is. And it was really hard for me to do. And so I came home from that talk with her, and then I wrote the song, Let's Just Be Single. And I was hurting so bad inside of my heart that I just thought what do I do? I just don't know how to really kind of get through it. I thought, you know what, I just grabbed the guitar and I just started playing a little melody. And so a lot of the words from this song are the actual words that I used in our talk, in our breakup. There's a lot of lines in the song also that I totally threw in there that weren't part of the conversation, and that's just to kind of make the song a little more catchy. Make it a little more not so generic and kind of thing. But the funny part of the story was, I get a call after the song was released from that girl. And she said, "Hey, I heard your new song." And I said, "Okay, which one?" And she said, "Let's Just Be Single." I said, "Oh, okay." And she said, "Did you write that song about us? Because there's a lot of lyrics in there that sounded awfully familiar." And I said, "Well, I'll be completely honest with you." I said, "That song I wrote about us and you. And after we broke up I went back home and I wrote that song." And what was funny is, for the next 30 minutes, I just laid the phone down with it on speaker and she just chewed me out for the next half hour. So I was just sitting there, just listening to her chew me out. Bless her heart, she had every right to say everything that she told me. So after she was done with giving me an earful, my only response was, "So when are we getting together?" So when do you want to hang out next? I tell you what, I'm so bad. I played all kinds of mind games that it's not great. So we've spent time with each other since then. You know what, she's amazing. She's totally forgiven me, luckily, for the whole song and everything. She's told me, "Don't write any more mean songs." And I said, "Yes, ma'am." A phenomenal girl that's really inspired some fun songwriting.
Doug Burke:
Have you played that song in front of her?
John Wayne Schulz:
No, I have not. In fact, we haven't really even talked about it since-
Doug Burke:
Since the half hour on the speakerphone.
John Wayne Schulz:
Exactly. That song it definitely got me in a lot of trouble with her. But that's the beauty about songwriting, is that you can actually take a real experience and you can put your heart and soul down on a piece of paper and put it into a guitar. And you can actually let your heart begin to be mended by the power of music. That's really what the song was about, was about me trying to mend my broken heart over the whole experience. I was just so entertained by how things kind of played out once the song was released, and she called me and was very upset about it. I'm not laughing that she was upset. I'm just laughing that I got in trouble for it because this is something that like you see in a movie. A guy writes a song about breaking up with a girl, she hears it, calls him and she's upset. And then afterwards you're like, so when you went hang out? It's like, come on. It's like some Hollywood stuff. I mean, you can't make it up. Every time I date a girl, they always start wondering, is that song about me? Or I hope that song is not going to be about me. And I've actually had a bunch of other girls that I've dated in the past contact me out of the blue and say, hey, did you write that about me? And I'd tell them no, no, no, absolutely not. And I started thinking, jeez, how many girls have I dated? And how many times have I used the phrase, let's just be single?
John Wayne Schulz:
And so is one of those wake up calls to where it's kind of like, jeez, you've dated a lot and there's a lot of girls out there that apparently feel like you need to stop breaking up with them so much. So every time I date a girl and they get started to get to know me and they hear the song, they just start thinking ... Because they voice it to me, I'm never going to be that song, am I? And I'm like, I hope not. But we'll see, kind of thing.
Doug Burke:
Well, it seems like relationships get to a point where one or the other you ask, where is this going? I guess the answer is, this is going to a place where we're both going to be single.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right. That's exactly it. And that's what this song is all about. It's about that.
Doug Burke:
Because the answer is you're not ready for the commitment.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right.
Doug Burke:
But you can't stay in non-commitment land forever with someone you're dating.
John Wayne Schulz:
It's true.
Doug Burke:
You got to get married or move on. Is that sort of life's sort of biblical rule?
John Wayne Schulz:
I think it is. And that's the thing that girls have talked to me about whenever we've broken up is, they're like, well, you can commit yourself 100% to the Marines, and you do so well with that, and you can commit yourself to your music and you can commit yourself to being a pilot and flying people places, but you can't commit to me. I hear that all the time. And they're like, I know you don't have commitment issues, you just don't want to commit. And I'm like, "You're right. We're finally getting somewhere." I don't know. There's a lot more songs that can be written about really everything we've talked about more than just Let's Just Be Single. Maybe I just need some space or maybe we should start seeing other people. It's kind of like maybe that's to come.
Doug Burke:
So the Jukebox Ain't Broke, is this your answer to Alan Jackson's Don't Rock the Jukebox? What is this about?
John Wayne Schulz:
That song of Alan Jackson's I grew up playing as a kid, Don't Rock the Jukebox. As a kid growing up, I remember going into some old places and actually seeing jukeboxes and ones that still worked, that actually would have the arm grab the old 45, wherever they ... Kind of ever do box it was made for at the time.
Doug Burke:
They were called 45. That's what we actually called the Single when I was growing up.
John Wayne Schulz:
There you go. You see how confused I am.
Doug Burke:
It had an A side and a B side of the Single
John Wayne Schulz:
There you go. I remember watching the arm come down and grab the record whenever you selected a song and it would actually place it, then the needle would come on and it would play. And it has these big machines that are just ... They're bulky and they're big and they seem to be just kind of the center of the room. They usually have these neon lights. And they're just kind of these iconic things that it's just one of the things that like really captures music. And it doesn't matter if it's country music or if it's rock or jazz, whatever it is. Those jukeboxes are really the ... They look like the heart of the music in a joint or in a venue. I just remember thinking as a kid, jukeboxes are really cool. I liked them. I liked him a lot. But I've grown up in an age now to where we've got music on our phones and you can play them in your car, you really don't listen to radio that much anymore. Even CDs are something that people aren't really using that much anymore. The Jukebox Ain't Broke, definitely not an answer to Alan Jackson's Don't Rock the Jukebox. But it was kind of along the lines of wanting to be setting the scene in a place just like Don't Rock the Jukebox. You're definitely in a place where jukebox is present at the bar or at the at a place where you're out to dance. Where the idea of the song came from is I'm a huge fan of Longmire, the TV show, Longmire. In the very first episode of Longmire, you'll see the bar owner in that kind of pop up behind the jukebox. And he tells Walt, Walt Longmire, he says, "The jukebox is broke, Walt, it only plays country. I was watching that show with my best friend. And I thought, man, that's a song. That is a song. And there's a cool little hook line that they put into the episode, but I looked up, if anybody had written a song with that hook line and nobody had. I thought, you know what, there's a lot of people that are not big fans of country music, but then they end up becoming fans of country music eventually, through a friend or maybe they get their heart broken, or maybe they're very patriotic. They hear a country song where it kind of turns their ear and starts to change their mind that, country music there's more to it than I thought. And some of my friends have told me, I don't really listen to country but I like your country. I thought that there was a song there for sure. And so The Jukebox Ain't Broke or The Jukebox Is Broke, is really the title of it, is about two buddies that are hanging out and he's just saying, hey, the jukebox is broke. It only plays country music. It doesn't play any of the other genres of music that I want to listen to. It's broken. Then his buddy is explaining to him, no, you don't understand. The jukebox ain't broke. Country music is enough. It is enough to help you mend your heart. It's enough to help you have a good time. It's enough to help you through anything you're going through with life. It talks about that archetype of a person that maybe sits at the bar, who will drown their sorrows away in country music and letting that kind of in their heart. And so we decided to write this song and my best friend, Brandon Boder and I, wrote this song together one day and we put it together in I think maybe 30 minutes we wrote the song. We wanted this song to have a really traditional sound to it. This is a Western swing song.
Doug Burke:
Classic.
John Wayne Schulz:
Classic Western swing. And I played music growing up with some of the best Western swing players out there. David Waters who was a guitarist for me for a long time, he's in the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, phenomenal guitarist. He really turned me on to a lot of Western swing. People like Billy Mata that I grew up listening to and knowing, Bobby Flores was another that really played a lot of Western swing. I revered these men and they helped to shape me in music. And this song, I knew that it needed to have a very traditional sound and we wanted to make it a shuffle that two step and shuffle sound. It's a signature sound of Texas honky-tonks. We wrote the song with that shuffle and we just made it really Western swing. It's got the twin fiddles in there. And we wanted you to feel like, man, I am in a honky-tonk in Texas. when I'm listening to the song. We wanted to really transport somebody into that atmosphere in their mind.
Doug Burke:
So the two fiddles, very prominent in the song.
John Wayne Schulz:
Yes.
Doug Burke:
Tinkling piano keys?
John Wayne Schulz:
There is. Kind of a saloon kind of sound.
Doug Burke:
A saloon piano.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right. Yeah. So we really wanted to get the musicians going on this song and to really bring it to life with what we were trying to talk about in the song with the lyrics that somebody is kind of being converted to country music. Yeah.
Doug Burke:
So the elements of Western swing, shuffle beat, tinkling saloon piano keys, twin fiddles?
John Wayne Schulz:
Twin fiddles, yeah.
Doug Burke:
What else? Is that the core of what you need?
John Wayne Schulz:
I think that country music today, people have a lot of opinions about it. I think country music has more opinions about it now than it has in the history of country music. There's been so many different types of genres that have kind of wiggled their way into country. I think that we've seen country music really have its face changed in the last 10 to 20 years, 2000s and now into 2010 and on to now. I believe that this sound really helps to hold on to the roots of country music. I've heard a lot of great new country music that I like. But I grew up with a very traditional sound with my band. And I grew up with a dad who listened to very traditional sound that was in love with people like Merle Haggard. I was in love with people like Johnny Cash and Ernest Tubb and all the guys that are just some of the very forefathers of a lot of the sound in Nashville. Well, we wanted to make sure that we grab the roots of country music and to just give the solid, heartfelt feelings that the shuffle and the twin fiddles can offer and the ability to have someone hear a traditional song come out brand new. One of my favorite bands is a Midland that's really hot in the scene right now. And these guys are playing some of the smoothest traditional country music that I've heard but it's all brand new. That brings a lot of hope to me because I feel like there's not really a place for this song, The Jukebox Is Broke. But guys like them are really busting open the door for that traditional sound to come back into Nashville and to have a place and to be credible.
Doug Burke:
I think the only place you see jukeboxes are at the IHOP anymore. Is that right? Or do they have them in ... You're from near San Antonio in Houston, which is closer?
John Wayne Schulz:
I grew up in the San Antonio area.
Doug Burke:
You call it San Anton?
John Wayne Schulz:
San Anton.
Doug Burke:
You're San Anton. You're a Spurs fan?
John Wayne Schulz:
I really haven't followed a lot of sports but-
Doug Burke:
Too busy in the honky-tonks?
John Wayne Schulz:
There you go.
Doug Burke:
I understand that. But where you come from, do they still have jukeboxes?
John Wayne Schulz:
There's definitely jukeboxes in a lot of places that I still go to. There's actually a place here in Utah, the shooting Star Saloon, they've got an old jukebox in there. And we love to go in there and put quarters in that thing and pick the songs. There's a certain sound off of those old 45s that you can't really hear today. Everything is so mastered and everything is so well produced that you can actually take those old 45s, play them, and you will get a tone and a sound that is just vintage. I don't believe that it can be replicated very well with the technology we have. It's almost too advanced to give a lot of that fatter sound that the 45s could offer with the mix that they put on those 45s.Sometimes one of my best friends, Travis Bishop, who now plays keyboard for Neal McCoy, him and I would hook up his old record player that he had bought. I don't know if he got it at a pawn shop or somewhere. But we would hook up these old records that we'd find at the pawn shop and him and I would just sit late at night and listen to these old 45 records of these classic songs like classic George Strait, or we would listen to some Merle Haggard or we would listen to some of our favorite bands that were recorded on those old vinyl records. And we couldn't believe the tone we were hearing. I think that that's something that we should really try to incorporate in the newer country music, is trying to get a lot of the older tones that you would hear on those old records to now be a sound that the newer generation can hear. And they can say, that tone came from a long time ago. It wasn't broken and it's not broken now. So why fix it? And that's something that I hope that we can continue to put in my music, is a lot of that older, traditional sound.
Doug Burke:
So you go into the studio, how do you select the fiddle players and the piano player and other musicians for this song? You're going for this vintage, classic vibe, how do you communicate that to them? Or is it just their blood.
John Wayne Schulz:
One of my good friends that runs a studio out in Tyler, Texas, I told him about what sound I have. And I actually recorded the songs in my own little studio and I played each instrument in my studio to try to give a little bit of the sound I'm going for. And whenever he heard it, he said, I understand exactly what you're going for. He was able to actually select the players from around Texas that he believed would be able to give me that tone and give me that sound. And so we essentially handpicked the people that we wanted for these songs, and boy did they deliver? And I was very happy with what I heard. I think that's an important thing that whenever artists want to go to record a song, they need to have the right musician to play that number. Brent Mason's one of the best guitarists to ever live in. He's one of the top guitarists in Nashville and he's on so many different people's records. And they want that tone. They want that signature sound that Brent Mason can offer. And when you hear him play, you know that's Brent Mason.
Doug Burke:
What is it about it that sounds like it. I know exactly what you're describing. Is it the type of guitar he's playing or his style or a combination of everything?
John Wayne Schulz:
It's a good question. Every guitarist has their style. Whenever you hear-
Doug Burke:
Santana.
John Wayne Schulz:
Santana, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, you can recognize they're playing. They have a certain tone and they have a certain voicing in their guitar that really puts a stamp on them. You can hear it. Brad Paisley, anytime I hear, I could pick his guitar out anywhere. I just know his tone and I love that. You can almost hear Brad Paisley in that tone.
Doug Burke:
This sounds like a twang, an American twang to me. And then maybe that's a classic Western swing vintage component is that American twang. But the combination of the elements is beautiful. The twin fiddles, what are you looking for when you have to fiddle players play? What is it about two versus one that you're trying to expand the sound of that? What are you looking for there?
John Wayne Schulz:
Whenever you put twin fiddles together, in my opinion, it's really hard to not make it sound like country. It's one of those things where you are able to bring to life a certain emotion with those twin fiddles. I listened to Faded Love as a kid, which was a song that had been around for decades before I was ever even a thought. And in Faded Love, you hear these twin fiddles play. I remember the captivating ability of those twin fiddles that I was just drawn to that sound. And first off a fiddle's got its own tone. But when you put two together, boy, it's almost like you're hearing two hearts cry to you in a certain sense. I felt like having twin fiddles on this song would be able to really bring forward the emotion of traditional country music that it has to offer. It's almost signature. Especially in western swing, twin fiddles or just, I mean, that is kind of the bread and butter right there. That's your meat and potatoes. And people just love to listen to the fiddle. I mean, even Alabama said, "If you're going to play in Texas, you got to have fiddle in the band." And they're so true. You got to have that tone because those people want it and they love it.
Doug Burke:
You use the feeling of lonesome in the song. That seems like a classic vintage idea.
John Wayne Schulz:
Yeah.
Doug Burke:
Talk to me about being lonesome in a song.
John Wayne Schulz:
With all the Songwriters that you've been able to get to know and interview and have on your show, I think that they all can concur that being lonesome is one of the best places you can be to have creativity. I think you need to take those opportunities when you're heartbroken or whenever you're sad or you're lonely, to make it a creative experience or a creative opportunity. And in my life, I feel like I've missed out on a lot of opportunities where I was heartbroken and I could have written some great music. But I kind of chose to not do that and I regret it. Now whenever I feel a certain emotion if I'm going through something in life, it's amazing to me how much emotion inspires songwriting. I'm sure you can agree with me that real experiences in life make the best songs. And you love hearing the backstory to songs mainly because you understand there's more to it. Where did the song come from? That's what I ask myself whenever I hear songs is, I would love to hear the backstory to that song because somebody went through something and they had a certain emotion going on, and they were able to write this tune. I would love to know the backstory. To me that is the most satisfying thing with songwriting, is that you can literally help someone else feel your emotion, or help someone else get through their hard time because you can now allow them to relate to you. And they say, man, I understand exactly what that guy is saying and that emotion and I'm right there with them.
Doug Burke:
So there's an evolution of the protagonist in this song.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right.
Doug Burke:
Tell me what happens in your head.
John Wayne Schulz:
The story of the song, the guy that's saying, hey, the jukebox is broke, it only plays country, he becomes converted to country music by the end of the song. And he realizes, holy smokes, this genre of music, it speaks to me. It's patriotic. It can heal a broken heart. It can relate to me. It can drown my sorrows. And it can help my heart cry whenever I've been just completely broken up with or relationships ended. And he realizes, dang, country music is good for me, it's right for me. At the end of the song the lyric changes from the jukebox is broke to the jukebox ain't broke if it only plays country. He kind of becomes a believer in country music. I wanted to write that because I felt like there was some of my friends who I've actually watched convert to country music and become country music fans. Not that they have left another genre that they're faithful to. Because if you look at my playlist on my phone, you'll be surprised at how many songs on there are not country. I would say not even 50% of my playlist is country. He added the genre country music to all the songs and music that he likes, and can see now that it's something that he can really relate to.
Doug Burke:
So in the Marines, did you convert anybody to become a country music fan in this way?
John Wayne Schulz:
In the Marine Corps there's been a couple of Marines that are also musicians that I've been able to serve with.
Doug Burke:
The Marines like country music.
John Wayne Schulz:
Marines love country music.
Doug Burke:
Okay, good. That was to make that clear.
John Wayne Schulz:
But there's also a lot of Marines that don't. And they're more into metal or hard rock or-
Doug Burke:
Hip hop.
John Wayne Schulz:
Yeah. All kinds of different genres, R&B. But there there has been a couple Marines that I've known that said, getting to know you has helped me to like country music more. I think the more they got to know me, they would realize, you know what, this is an all right dude and he plays country music. And they actually listen to my music and they'd say, knowing you and hearing this music, I feel like I can understand it relate to it and they have kind of become country fans over the deal. So that's really cool.
Doug Burke:
So they're Jukebox Ain't Broke Anymore.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's right. Their jukebox is getting bigger. They're putting more records in that jukebox. So that's good. So my good friend, Pete, who I wrote Hard to Keep a Good Man Down for, he was actually writing in a truck on a ranch down in South Texas and he was looking at it with a real estate agent. And they're just looking at all this ranch land and he was thinking about buying this ranch. My friend, Pete, told the real estate agent, he said, "This is totally off topic, what they're doing." He said, "I got a friend of mine who plays music and write songs and I love his music and he's great. But I just wished that he could play on a bigger stage and get to know some people in high places."
Doug Burke:
All his friends are in low place.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right. All my friends are in low places, I can tell you that much. But now we don't have friends in low places. But he told that real estate agent, "I'd just love seeing him on a bigger stage." And he said, "You know, I have a friend in San Antonio who owns a dance hall, Cowboys Dancehall." And he said, "Let me call him and see if he would have him come play." And that guy has never heard me play before. But he just trusted Pete. Whoever this guy is, he must think highly of. So they called up to Cowboys Dancehall in San Antonio to a guy named Mike Murphy. Mike Murphy ended up hearing me singing. He said, "You know what, my friend, Keith Stegall in Nashville needs to hear this guy." So he called Keith and next thing I know, Keith's on a plane flying from Nashville down to San Antonio. And he watched me play in the Cowboys Dancehall for a Wednesday night, college crowd. After I was done-
Doug Burke:
Were you nervous?
John Wayne Schulz:
You know what, I don't normally get nervous ever with really anything in life. But, boy, was a little nervous because I thought, this guy has made Alan Jackson who he is, he's worked with George Jones, he's worked with Zac Brown Band. He's had hits recorded by George Strait. Like this guy is the guy. I just thought, I can't believe this guy is wanting to listen to me sing because who am I? I'm just a little kid from South Texas who loves to play country music and I'm nobody special. He listened to me play and after I was done and I got offstage, my manager came back and she said, "Hey, he wants to meet you." And so I walked over and Keith was. And he shook my hand and he said, "I want you to come to Nashville and let's write some music. Let's get your feet wet."I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that he invited me to do that. Because I thought about all the other talented people I've seen in my life that's very worthy of that invitation. It's an amazing thought that with music, you never know what's going to happen. I've always been the kind of person where I've never had the mentality of I'm going to do music full time because that's the dream. I'm the kind of person that's like, nope, I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket. I'm going to become a pilot. I'm going to serve in the Marines. I'm going to learn how to train horses. I'm going to make sure I have several different ways that I can make money.
Doug Burke:
Besides Uber driver.
John Wayne Schulz:
Right. Yeah, maybe I can do that. But I wanted to make sure that I was able to support and take care of a family one day, because that's my number one. A lot of people ask me, what's your number one dream. And they would guess that it's music. My number one dream is to be a good husband and a good father. And if I don't accomplish that in my life, I haven't accomplished a thing. And so music is just something that I've always thought if it can be an opportunity, the Lord wants me to do this, then I'll give it my best shot. So I've done everything that I can possibly do, Doug, to not have a career in music, but it keeps coming back to me. I literally tried not to do it, and I can't keep it away.
Doug Burke:
You've been on American Idol twice.
John Wayne Schulz:
I've been on American Idol twice. Did that for my mom. I would have never done that on my own. I did that as a favor to her.
Doug Burke:
So tell me, what did you play at American Idol tryout?
John Wayne Schulz:
What did I sing?
Doug Burke:
Yeah.
John Wayne Schulz:
I sang a song called Believe by Brooks & Dunn. Which was really neat because after I had sang that, they had actually posted on their Facebook page and Instagram. Check out this awesome rendition of a belief by this guy on American Idol. I was over the moon. I couldn't believe that they posted that on their social media account that people should go listen to me sing Believe. And I thought, oh my gosh. I just thought, no, I'm not worthy. But how cool was that?
Doug Burke:
And who were the judges then?
John Wayne Schulz:
Both seasons, I'll tell you all the judges. The first season was a Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler, and Jennifer Lopez. And then the second time I was on American Idol was Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban.
Doug Burke:
So why did you do it a second time?
John Wayne Schulz:
American Idol had sent me an email and let me know that they were doing the last season. It was the finale season of American Idol on Fox Network. And so they sent me an email and said, hey, we're doing the final season. If you want to audition, we'll put you through all the early auditions and get you straight to the judges if you want to do it. And we want to make the last season the best season. I saw that email and I was like, next email. I just did. I paid no attention to it. I thought, no. No. Absolutely not.
Doug Burke:
Been there, done that?
John Wayne Schulz:
Yeah. Been there, done that. And I told my sisters on the phone, I said, "You know the craziest thing? I got an email from American Idol said I should come back and try again." And they said, "Well, why don't you?" And I thought, great. Here we go. So I ended up going back and I ended up making it the same spot that I made it the first time as top 40. I was grateful for that experience.
Doug Burke:
What was the song you sang in the second?
John Wayne Schulz:
Let's see, what did I sing? The Dance by Garth Brooks.
Doug Burke:
And that's out there and it's widely viewed.
John Wayne Schulz:
People can look it up. I was the second most viewed audition on the final season of American Idol. Something like 18 million views or something like that. I can't even get a girl to look at me once and there's a whole bunch of people on the internet that are apparently watching my audition.
Doug Burke:
Maybe you should sing The Dance for the Girl.
John Wayne Schulz:
Yeah, there you go. Maybe I'll just change my tactics a little bit.
Doug Burke:
I've been asking all the songwriters when they write a love song, and you didn't give me a love song.
John Wayne Schulz:
I haven't even written a love song.
Doug Burke:
You haven't written a love song. Okay.
John Wayne Schulz:
It's probably why.
Doug Burke:
Okay. Fair enough. Yeah, when you write a love song was it about someone in they'll say, yeah, it was about my wife. And I said when you brought it home to her, what did she say? And they're like, they generally don't... I want to I want to get a good story out of one of you songwriter writes on a love song where the wife or the girlfriend said ... Your girlfriend said, we got to get married tonight. Let's fly to Vegas or something.
John Wayne Schulz:
I've had a couple of those that I've written a song about it. Maybe you just inspired me. Maybe we should write a song together.
Doug Burke:
A love song together?
John Wayne Schulz:
About going to Vegas.
Doug Burke:
To get married in the Chapel of Love?
John Wayne Schulz:
Exactly. Get Married by Elvis. Yeah. There's a song in there somewhere.
Doug Burke:
I am always Elvis on Halloween.
John Wayne Schulz:
Are you really?
Doug Burke:
Oh, yeah. And I do my own impression of the King.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's good.
Doug Burke:
Someone told me this that there's 80,000 people on their IRS filings who file as their occupation Elvis impersonator.
John Wayne Schulz:
80,000.
Doug Burke:
There's a lot of Elvis impersonators out there.
John Wayne Schulz:
You're kidding me.
Doug Burke:
I don't. I think it's a joke or it might not be true.
John Wayne Schulz:
I didn't think there'd be ... I wouldn't even guess that there are 8,000.
Doug Burke:
But like a lot of people don't really have a job. So what are you going to write? And they hate Elvis impersonators like I think a gag or something because it can't be that many Elvis impersonators.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's a lot.
Doug Burke:
I actually started writing and playing Camp Elvis. Where you go to go to Vegas. Is actually a movie that I was writing. You go to Vegas and learn how to be an Elvis impersonator. It's called Camp Elvis. And they train you and like everybody goes out on the strip. And then The Hangover came out. So they kind of did that.
John Wayne Schulz:
So do you have one of those Nudie suits with the cape and everything and all that?
Doug Burke:
My kids cut off the legs to make it fit them for one of their Halloween parties at school. Actually today, because we're here in mid late October, I was at the Guitar Center. And the store next year it was Spirits of Halloween, one of those temporary pop up big box thing. And I went in to get a replacement, Elvis outfit, and they didn't have an Elvis outfit.
John Wayne Schulz:
Not a single one of them.
Doug Burke:
Not one in the costumes.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's un-American.
Doug Burke:
I think that is. That should be criminal for a Halloween store to not sell an Elvis outfit.
John Wayne Schulz:
That's like one of the most number one like Halloween costumes you would find like, here's the most like-
Doug Burke:
In San Antonio?
John Wayne Schulz:
I would say anywhere in America, the most typical thing you find is like, okay, what are we going to look at? We see a ghost, we see a pumpkin, there's an Elvis outfit.
Doug Burke:
And Michael Jackson's next to it with a glove and the Reds Sequin shirt.
John Wayne Schulz:
Exactly.
Doug Burke:
Maybe there's fewer Elvis impersonators today than there used to be. Maybe everybody quit and now they're-
John Wayne Schulz:
Maybe over in Asia, there's probably a ton there.
Doug Burke:
Who do they impersonate now. Michael Jackson, I guess, in your-
John Wayne Schulz:
I've seen quite a few Prince impersonators.
Doug Burke:
The Prince impersonator. He's the new Elvis.
John Wayne Schulz:
He is the new Elvis. People like them dress up like him.
Doug Burke:
Purple Rain stuff.
John Wayne Schulz:
Big colored stuff.
Doug Burke:
Yeah. Well, thank you. So much. This has been a true pleasure. And I look forward to hearing you play.
John Wayne Schulz:
Man. Doug, thank you so much. You're a wonderful man.
Doug Burke:
You are too.
John Wayne Schulz:
Thank you for giving us a chance as songwriters to have our voices be heard with some of the songs behind ... Well, actually some of the stories behind the songs and that's a phenomenal thing.
