Preston Creed Interview
Doug Burke:
Welcome to backstory song. I'm your host, Doug Burke. And today we're here with Preston Creed of the band Jagertown. Preston Creed is the front man and lead songwriter for the country Southern rock band Jagertown. The son of musicians, Preston has been singing and creating songs since he was a child in a seemingly nonstop flow of musical creativity. Jagertown shows are high energy performances whereas Preston says, "We play country music for people who want to party."
We're here with Preston Creed. Talk about Rearview.
Preston Creed:
Yeah, man Rearview. That was our highest starting single so far. We've had three singles on the national charts, country radio, and for band from Utah that's a big deal putting some country on the map. That album is called Black Top, but that was the single from earlier in the year. It peaked out all the way to number 26. And it was produced by Matt McClure and co-produced by a guy named Jeff King. Matt McClure is out of Nashville. He did the whole record. He did Lee Bryce's stuff. His bigger stuff initially three of his number ones. He did a number one with Dylan Scott, and another number one for a guy at Canada. So, he's just got a great pedigree. He works with all kinds of amazing people. And then Jeff King is kind of the session leader and kind of co-producer. And Jeff King is Reba's and Brooks and Dunn's guitar player and session player. One of the best session players around in Nashville. So, it was a great, great experience. We recorded the full album in two different blocks. And when we recorded Rearview, we worked at Ocean Way, which is a super world famous studio in Nashville. Everywhere you go from the bathrooms to the kitchen, there's platinum records hanging everywhere from albums that we all listened to that have been recorded there. That was an awesome experience. It was super humbling. There's three studios in that place. It's actually an old church that was converted years, decades ago to a studio. And it's got an awesome energy. From the songwriting standpoint, yeah, I'm writing all the time and it's kind of crazy. A lot of people don't know, but you send tons of songs. I sent him probably 20 songs and on that first round we did four. You're trying to pick the very best from what you've written and record that. And Rearview was the first song that we recorded in Nashville. And it happened to be a song that we were all pretty well confident is going to have a real radio friendly vibe and it did, it did well. And anybody can relate to it. The video was cool, what the director did with it. He used a girl as kind of the star of the video. And then there's different shots that cut to us playing kind of out in the middle of nowhere. And it can go either way. It's not a song that's saying guy or girl, it's basically somebody just moving on. And I had the idea for the song driving down the road and when you kind of catch your own eyes in the rear view and everything that's behind you. It's a breakup song, but it's also super hopeful, like the last line of, "Turn the key, this engine roars, roll down the window and unlock all my doors." So it's, you're opening yourself up to the possibility of what the future brings as you put everything else behind you. It's kind of the inspiration for the song and there's some fun lyrics in there. Things like there's a line in the bridge about shaking the shadows of shame for a new found truth, just fun, little, super hopeful, kind of forward-thinking lyrics in the song. And then a lot of people resonated with it. Had a lot of people say, "Oh, this is my song." Very close friends of the band and fans, people that were going through a difficult time when the song was released and it was kind of just became a lot of people's little theme song for that moment in their life. It did really well and we were super proud of the way it came out. And today it's been our highest charting single.
Doug Burke:
Was there any one individual, or was it a composite of people or even just your imagination that was in your rear view?
Preston Creed:
Yeah, it's for a lot of times when you're a songwriter and I remember I've told this story a couple of times, but I went to a songwriting conference with a guy named Steve Seskin, who in the nineties and early two thousands, he's got about seven number ones. He's from San Francisco, but he's actually a country songwriter, Nashville guy. He's written for Toby Keith and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw and a bunch of people. And when I was sitting there with him and he said, "When you're a songwriter, you're a fiction and nonfiction writer. So if you, if you never wrote about things that you didn't personally experience, you'd probably be disingenuous and if you only wrote about things that you personally experienced, you'd probably be kind of one dimensional." So, you have to kind of be a satellite dish for ideas and not every song that you write is going to be something that you... We've all gone through breakups, but if you're a songwriter, sometimes you just have to be able to, I imagine it's a lot like acting, you put yourself in the moment or you put yourself in the shoes of somebody that's experiencing that. Not necessarily saying that you're going through that right now, but you have to be able to kind of put yourself there and what would this person be going through? Sometimes some of the songs I write are stories that friends tell me, or I'm sitting on a train or sitting at a breakfast when you're on the road and you overhear somebody's telling a story and you're like, "Wow, that's an idea." I'm constantly putting stuff in my phone of one liners or ideas or stuff that people say. And then some stuff is yours. Some stuff is you put yourself in that moment. I've had songs that I recorded now that I had the idea of a feeling that I experienced when I was a teenager or something. So that's kind of where it goes. This particular song wasn't anything that I was experiencing at that moment, other than driving down the road and looking at yourself in the rear view and thinking about everything that's behind you. And it was a beautiful day. And then I went home. I had the idea for a chorus. I ride a lot while I'm driving and not actually write it, but I'll hit record on a voice memo and get an idea for a melody. And then I'll go home and grab my guitar, sit at the piano and kind of start functioning it out there. So, that's what this song... That's where this one came from.
Doug Burke:
How do you find or pick your producers for this song?
Preston Creed:
For this song it was Matt. We met Matt through our fourth album we produced in Utah and we had a song, we had two songs that were on the charts from that. We were working with the radio promotion company called Grassroots out of Nashville. And Matt happens to be married to a gal that works kind of hand in hand with them. And in our first couple of singles that we released, it made some noise, did great. And we thought, "Hey, there's something that happens in Nashville." There's definitely, they have the market kind of cornered when it comes to the country sound and the people that they work with. So, she introduced us to her husband through our management, and then it just kind of... He listened to this stuff. He doesn't just work with anybody because he's got to put his name on it and everything. So, he really liked the sound and the way things were going and he was perceptive to the idea of working together. So we just scheduled it up and we started going back and forth with songs that we had ideas for it and made it happen. So that's how it works.
Doug Burke:
So there's a lot of instrumentation on this.
Preston Creed:
Yeah.
Doug Burke:
So there must have been a lot of arrangements going on. Talk about that.
Preston Creed:
Absolutely. Jagertown consists of five people. So there's myself, I play acoustic guitar, sing. There's Liz, she plays violin, she's sings, there's our fiddle however you want to say it. And then there's lead guitar, Scotty plays lead, and Jesse plays bass and sings, and then Demitri plays drums, I call him meter. So, we're a five piece, but you can also hear other things happening in that song. There's some lap steel, a little bit of other production stuff that happens post-production. There are a few instruments that maybe we don't play ourselves in the band. So, when you go and you record, you get the basic meat of the song how to drums, bass, guitar, vocals kind of stuff. And then post production wise, when you leave then they bring in other musicians and kind of put the salt and pepper on the top. And a little bit of things that maybe will just kind of bring the song to life a little bit more. So that's kind of how that goes. And Matt has a stable of some of the best players in Nashville. So, you want the best lap steel guy, you get him. And he puts a little flavor on there for you. Some piano, so on and so forth. So that's kind of how that goes. There's a lot of other things that happen in post production when you leave. I mean, literally we will record for a week or two and then we'll leave and we won't even hear the songs for a month, two months. And it takes a lot of time to go through then post production process, and then the mixing and mastering to hear the final product.
Doug Burke:
You've been performing this live now for a while. You find that this song has evolved live or just -
Preston Creed:
Usually for us too, we perform songs before we record them. So they do kind of take on a life and then once it gets recorded, especially once it goes to radio you kind of have it down. I've definitely watched, the song hasn't changed per se, but I've watched as it grew in popularity and stuff. There's nothing quite like when you're on stage and you're in a new town or even in your hometown and people are singing every word. And that's just a testament to people listening. I think if you memorize every lyric and you're singing along, that means you've heard it a few times and you really like it. So, the song hasn't changed from when we recorded it, it's definitely still the same song, but just the response and then how it grew for the audience is awesome.
Doug Burke:
It's one of my favorites.
Preston Creed:
Thanks. Thank you.
Doug Burke:
Blame it on the wine.
Preston Creed:
Yeah.
Doug Burke:
I feel like this is a red wine.
Preston Creed:
It's definitely a red wine. In fact, there's red wine in the video. So yeah. In country music it's one of those genres, I was talking with my dad the other day, that's it's such a special, cool genre because you can definitely tell a story and that's what they want. The audience expects a story and there's all kinds of songs in country about beer and whiskey. And I love those songs it's great. And I thought it would be really cool to, and wine is such a... One of those drinks too. The joke is always that says an emotional group are juice of the grape. So, it's an emotional song and it's definitely one of those songs that has the idea that I think a lot of people can relate to, which is a couple that knows it's over, but when it gets late and they get lonely and maybe they've had a couple of glasses of wine, they end up making that phone call anyway, even though they know that something is actually not going to work out. And I was super excited that I actually got to write the screenplay for the video. So the video came out amazing. We worked with the same guy who did the music video for Rearview, only the difference with this video is we really wanted to have a storyline video. So, we cast it, had a bunch of people audition, male lead and a female lead. And the male lead, he just really killed it. They both did a great job, but the story comes through super well. And it's hard in a music video setting too, because the actors don't have dialogue. So, they've got to sell it, the story, without really being able to hear what they're saying. And they both did great. There's some cool shots. We actually shot it a few blocks from here. At least our part.
Doug Burke:
In Salt Lake City?
Preston Creed:
It was in the middle of winter. It was 5:00 AM and it was freezing cold. And then the song, it made sense because the first lyric, "it was a cold December day last I thought of you." So we wanted the breath to be showing in the video. We want it to seem cold and it was very cold. So the video is really cool because it has flashbacks of when maybe this relationship was working and now it kind of fast forwards to a time where these two aren't anymore, but they keep coming back together. It's kind of one of those songs where people are doing what they're doing, but they can just blame it on the wine. They're blaming it on the, how well we spent the night together, again, we keep ending up together, but it's not really our fault. It's because it's the wine, we can blame it on this. It's a great song. And the video really tells the story. We needed a ballad and from the ballads that we sent and we chose this one. I wrote that little guitar line that ended up being a fiddle line. Liz is so much better of a musician than I am. And so I brought this really simple little haunting, on guitar and she took it on violin and the producer was like, "Oh yeah, definitely a violin line." So, it ended up being her line and it's kind of one of those signature lines in music you call them hooks whether it's like a sweet child of mine thing or whatever. There's hooks within hooks. It's not only the lyric that you're seeing, but it's that line that keeps repeating. It's very, gets in your brain kind of a brain worm thing. I think it's one of those songs too, it did have a lot of relatability and the fact that we had a male and a female lead in the video it was kind of like both perspectives. So you had the guy's perspective and the girl's perspective. It was really fun in that way to portray that story.
Doug Burke:
I was wondering if it was a Nashville winter, or Utah winter for you, but I think you've answered that question. I was also wondering that December is that time of new year's resolution and it feels like this is like an anticipation of a failed resolution to come.
Preston Creed:
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It is. It's one of those things where you, maybe you keep doing what you told yourself you wouldn't do, if that makes sense. And I think a lot of people could relate to that. A lot of people did relate to it and just the subject matter. Yeah. It was definitely what you said. It's a failed resolution, but they're making some sort of peace with it and they're not taking as much responsibility there. They're kind of just in that place.
Preston Creed:
That was kind of fun.
Doug Burke:
Old Flame.
Preston Creed:
Yeah. Yeah. It's fun one. That came in the second block of the songs that we recorded. We did seven songs on the Black Top album and that one, we were getting ready to go back to Nashville earlier this year, we knew we were going to do three or four more songs. And once again, I sent another 15-20 songs. We were kind of rifling through what's it going to be. We definitely decided on one and I'd sent over a bunch of stuff, we thought we had them picked, so, this is a kind of a funny wild story of how it works sometimes. But we basically had them down to, "Okay, we're going to do these three songs." Or four songs, whatever. And two days before we got on the plane, I was listening back through they call them work tapes. So the work tapes that I had sent, basically it's just me and a guitar, maybe with a Metronome, like a click, so I'm playing in time and just some scratch vocals. And then I send the lyrics over and we kind of decided on a tempo and stuff. So, I was listening back through the four songs that we had sent and I just thought to myself, "Man we..." Jagertown always walks that line between, it says it on the side of the bus, rock and country. And we just didn't have a song in the group that we were going to release with this album that I felt like really felt like Jagertown. Something that kind of kicked it in the teeth and was high energy. That's how our, our shows are. We all come from different backgrounds, but we definitely try to put on a very energetic show. From Liz doing backbends while she's in splits, so she practically, while she's playing violin to Scott jumping around on stage, me and Jesse jumping around and Demitri's back there, his hair's flying. We were just in Colorado last week and playing at a large venue and he had a rockstar fan in front of his drums and his hair was just, it looked like an eighties video, it was awesome. Just blowing while he's smashing drums. So, we needed something that rocked and I had this idea and at the time, it was just a chorus for this song called Old Flame. The idea basically was you had a breakup, but then somebody who's not going to be alone for very long because they have a somebody that they can call, you're going back to a relationship, an old relationship you're fanning that old flame. And it's kind of a finger in your eye song to a recent breakup. And basically especially in this day and age I see it all the time on social media when people have a breakup. You don't want to post yourself alone in your basement, sad that you're the breakup has happened. You want your ex to think that you're living a better life and you've moved on. So that's kind of the song and people have related to it. It's fun. It's super upbeat. It goes over a great live. There's some fun lyrics within it. But I had the idea for the song and two days before we got on the plane and go back to Nashville, I got a hold of Matt, our manager the other night, I said, "Look, I've got this other idea. I think we need to scratch one of these other songs and we need to do this Old Flame song. I had a really fun, that really cool little hooky lick that was just super upbeat and kind of in your face. And I sent it to him and instantly he got back and was like, "Oh, we need to do that song." No hesitation. He just was like, "Yep, that's you guys, that's a hundred percent of your town and you need this song for this record." So, we recorded it and it's one of my most favorite songs to play. It's in a drop D kind of a tuning, so it's got that real fat rocking sound to it. And then just the lyrical content it's kind of on the nose and in your face a little bit.
Doug Burke:
Where do you put it in your 10 set list when you play it these days?
Preston Creed:
It goes, it's funny, it goes right in the middle somewhere. As you build your set lists and your shows, it should be kind of like an emotional roller coaster a little bit. You go up, you go down, you've got ballads, you've got mid tempos and then it kind of goes right toward the middle and it's where we're bringing the energy back up and kind of going to end on a big note. So yeah, it usually goes right around there.
Doug Burke:
So, just before break?
Preston Creed:
I hate taking breaks, honestly. I mean, we play so many different kinds of shows, whether it's country fan Fest where we're opening up for Luke Combs or something, and you're playing an hour and it's just an hour straight or we're traveling and we're playing some honkytonks somewhere and you have to play for a couple two, three hours. My favorite set is two hours. So, if it's a two hour set, I think that's perfect enough time to not need a break and also not give the audience a chance to get bored. Just pedal to the floor. Me and my drummer always laugh, we say all killer, no filler. Just straight ahead, and yeah. So it goes in the middle, somewhere in there.
Doug Burke:
So, Old Flame, is this purely your imagination or was there anyone in mind?
Preston Creed:
Yeah, no, I think this one came from a little bit more personal space. Yeah. Like reality. I've definitely had breakups before and you look back and you want to be the better version of yourself, so you can kind of show somebody what they're missing. So yeah, this one was a little more personal, I would say, even though it was an idea of old, it was more a not imagined. It was my own story, for sure.
Doug Burke:
Falling on the Blacktop.
Preston Creed:
Yes. Yeah. The new single. We're excited about that. I think, I mean, we've been a band for going on 14 years and we've five albums, couple of singles that were released. And it's probably one of my favorite songs I've had a chance to write. It was one of the last batch that we sent for the second round of recording and it was the song, like Rearview was, it was like, "We're definitely doing this song." It came from a couple of summers ago now. we're on the road touring, got home late, got off the bus in my Jeep. It was about 3:00 AM. I'm driving home back to where I live and no one was on the road and there was rain all over the place. And there was this lightning that was striking all over the place, but it wasn't touching the ground. So there's a light in there. Lightning strikes, but never touches the ground. And I was like, "Oh, what a fun metaphor for a relationship." And especially one that's kind of maybe over. This song kind of comes from a place of like, whoever is tortured, they're little tormented by the thought of what used to be. And as they're driving around they're seeing all these things rains on the blacktop and it's just kind of reminding them of that. The song came together great. Matt was super onboard with it. Lyrically and story-wise I think it's there. Country music is all about small town references and I grew up in a tiny town of about 3000 people in high school and looking back on those kinds of times and relationships and when you're all on it, like I said, I write in the car a lot. It was super exciting to hear how it came together. There's a lot of different instrumentation on there. You can hear the organ at the end. The violin is strong in there. The guitar licks, the different kind of stuff that we layered in and stuff that Jeff came and brought to the table with this song and gave it the feel that had, and the extra vocal work and stuff too. It's almost like a round in the end. Jesse and Liz keep singing and I'm kind of add lipping over the top of it. I love the song. I'm excited for what it's going to do in radio. It definitely is, it's kind of a mid tempo, but it feels totally like a Jagertown song. And I think anybody that liked Rearview and the other stuff that we did before. The radio promotion company is really confident that it has the potential to maybe be our highest single yet.
Doug Burke:
I love the symbol crash.
Preston Creed:
Thanks.
Doug Burke:
I think this is going to be a powerful drum song for the crowd to get into.
Preston Creed:
Yeah. And on that breakdown in the bridge the kick drum just keeps going. It's like a heartbeat. And so when we play it live, you can definitely see the vibe, the dancing, it doesn't go away. It doesn't have a total breakdown that needs to come back. This is one of those songs we were talking about earlier, how does it change live versus everything else? And this song, we were playing this on for a long time. In fact, the first time we ever played it was not this year, but last year this Country Fan Fest out in Tooele. And we were playing the Cam Ground stage. We always close the show. They're our sponsor. And there was probably about eight or 9,000 people. The wind was blowing. There's a really fun video of it live on YouTube that you can find. And it's cool to watch that because that was before the song was ever recorded. And you can kind of hear the progression of what it was when I wrote it. And that was the very first time that we'd ever even played it live versus what it became in the studio. So it was fun to watch that whole process. And from the very beginning the crowd definitely identified with it and it's been good.
Doug Burke:
I think the storms in Utah are the most dramatic in the world sometimes and the lightening we have here is dramatic, but this was lightening in Tennessee.
Preston Creed:
Well, this was, yeah. Actually it wasn't where I wrote it. I wrote it here. We were on the road and we'd just come off of a week or two tour run and it just happened to be when we rolled in town on the bus, there was this crazy summer storm. And so it was super early in the morning, nobody was out and I was driving back in this storm and just had this idea of a song and just... I love when songwriters use nature or things that you know when you use this metaphor is like this or like that we were the lightning that strikes, but never touches the ground, two big city hearts in a one light town. There's just a lot of reference to things that paint a picture for the emotion of the song.
Doug Burke:
We have a lot of one light towns.
Preston Creed:
Yes we do. Yeah.
Doug Burke:
Here in Utah.
Preston Creed:
Yeah. And big city hearts. People that would probably want to... They have dreams and going to do something else.
Doug Burke:
And we have a big sky where the lightning doesn't touch the ground.
Preston Creed:
Unbelievable sunsets and I, again, I find a lot of motivation when I'm driving around and have ideas and you're inspired by nature or whatever you're seeing. And if you can paint that into a song, it makes it all that much more relatable.
