Colorado Soundstage

I think that's my biggest goal right now, at least, is to try to be more present and take everything in when we're getting to experience it.

With the songs, I hope they're inspirational, I hope they're positive.

I hope they help people get through, you know, tough times, and I hope that we can manage to find a way to be like very present in the middle of all that, because it's really hard to be present when you're caught up in all of it.

You know?

You take me home to the mountain The wind my mother used to sing But beware the mouth of the dragon and his lungs of coal he keeps and his lungs of coal he keeps.

Red Rocks!

How we doing baby?

Make some noise for my boys up here on stage with me.

We are Shane Smith and the Saints from Austin, Texas.

So I started playing music in high school.

I grew up listening to all kinds of different stuff, but, My dad was listening to oldies from the Righteous Brothers, Temptations, Four Tops.

You know, my mother was listening to gospel music.

My brothers listened to, alt rock and punk rock.

And, like, my cousin got me into more of the singer songwriter music.

And that's what made me want to get into music more than anything is just the songwriting side of it and the storytelling side of it.

Adeline I had originally written as like a the bare bones, the blueprint of that, as like a singer songwriter, easy listening, almost like an Eagles type of vibe on an acoustic guitar and vocal.

Right.

My wife and I have have done a lot of work together, and she and I again kind of had reworked that, and she had just come to the table with like, I think you should turn this into just like an absolute indie rock banger, like, and just like nixed the entire singer songwriter vibe of it.

And they were in the recording of it.

You listen to it, it sounds like it's going to be like a singer songwriter song, and then all of a sudden it just crashes in.

After the first chorus.

And, anyways, yeah, but it was it was meant to be more of just like a harmony focused, easy listening song.

And then it ended up being one of the most powerful, like, high energy tracks on the record.

We just put out a new record.

We're going to play some new ones for you It's a full moon, It's shining like the truth And I'm gonna see it through somehow It don't feel right I was born with good intentions.

I'm begging for your wisdom right now.

Sing it if you know it Adeline I should've been fine by now.

But I am facing what we had Cause in the night, I can't deny the love from you, I'm missing hurts me bad I should have let you hold me back You're an old soul with an angel's intuition And I know you're on a mission down here.

Yeah, because I see you like I used to on the highway.

Just a fool a thousand miles from your tears And I am fearing that I should have been fine by now but I am facing what we had.

Cause in the night, I can't deny, the love from you, I'm missing hurts me bad.

I should have let you hold me back.

Should have let you hold me back.

Let you hold me back.

Oh, baby I miss you lying next to me.

Oh, why can't you see without you, there is no me I should've let you hold me.

Let you hold me back Should've let you hold me.

Should've let you hold me Should've let you hold me back should've let you hold me.

Let you hold me back.

Thank you so much.

Book of Joe is kind of crazy.

My wife's grandfather was named Joe and it's about him and he and his family, his mother and father were, Czechoslovakian and German immigrants.

And, they grew up really, really poor on, like, a, like a sharecropping type of situation out in the country, in east Texas.

And, it was during the depression, he was like about 11 years old.

And, he would tell me all these stories about the way they would live and the way they would survive and grow up.

And he was just really crazy.

But, he was telling me there was drifters during the Great Depression.

They would just wander up and down the roads and, like, look for, honestly, like goats to steal, chickens to steal, go live in the woods for a little while, live off of something they could get, get their hands on, and then kind of move on somewhere else.

One night, I guess someone was out in their barn trying to steal their chickens and their dad, like, tried to sneak up on him and set his rifle down and was like trying to crawl through a barbed wire fence.

And the gun backfired and shot and killed him, and he ended up having to raise and, you know, all of his brothers and sisters, he dropped out of school.

He was 11 years old.

His mother didn't speak English, and he managed to, like, bring that whole operation to be profitable as an 11 year old.

But that song is singing about him and, you know, can you remember, brother, the good old days in a cotton haze.

I can still see mother crying over daddy's grave.

And it's like.

It's just like painting that picture of his whole upbringing.

And he and his brother would to make extra money.

He played guitar, his brother Ed could play the fiddle.

And the second verse is like a tribute kind of to that.

And they would play for these traditional German dances out in the country.

All these, you know, poor farmers.

It's a powerful song to me, but I think most people obviously don't know that backstory, so they don't understand it.

This is another brand new one for you.

This is called Book of Joe.

We're going to play.

Can you remember, brother?

The good old days in a cotton haze.

How can you still see Mother?

Just crying.

Over Daddy's grave She said oh.

Oh.

And I can hear the old man say pick up the slack, it don't go that way.

You will learn in this life.

It's a rich man's war and it's a poor man's fight.

Mama spoke Czech and she couldn't read or write.

So we worked the farm and played dances on the side.

Cause I could pick a guitar enough to get by.

And Ed could saw the fiddle he'd make the people dance like fire.

Remember brother the good old days.

The good old days.

The good old days.

When I could hear the old man say pick up the slack it don't go that way You will Learn in this life.

It's a rich man's world, it's a poor man's fight.

Ohhhhhh... Can you.

Remember brother?

The good old days The good old days.

All right Red Rocks Now, keep a beat, let's go get your hands togehter.

Go go go Ohhhhhh ohhhhhh.

Ohhhhhh, ohhhhhh We started in in Austin, Texas, and there's a big fan base there that's kind of like a genre.

Like a subgenre like red dirt, Texas country type of music.

And it's really amazing, like an amazing infrastructure of support, really, for independent bands.

You know, we built ourselves up to about 200 people in any market, like whether it was in Lower Manhattan or it was Seattle and it was out, you know, wherever.

And that was just independently and without any kind of help from, from, you know, any Spotify playlists or anything like that.

We had gotten ourselves up to around 250,000 monthly listeners on our own.

We kind of got to around that point, and then things started really kind of, going downhill for us for a period of time.

We had a, we had an employee that was caught like stealing, like $30,000 from the business.

We had the IRS audited us.

We had, a bus fire, lost everything in a bus fire, lost all of our equipment, all of our instruments.

The business, like, was essentially broke.

Like it was just like.

I remember at one point when we were recording the Geronimo album, even before that.

And I remember writing a check that bounced at the studio, and it was with someone that I really look up to that works at that studio.

That was a part of a band that I really looked up to, and, and I didn't realize that I was over drafting on our, on my account.

And, and that was, I think, the lowest moment I ever felt because we were just trying to get this record done.

And I remember having a check in May, like, start pulling me up like the check bounced.

And he was all mad at me and I was just like, oh my God, what am I doing?

Like, we should just, you know, like, what are we doing here?

And I think that was one of the most like, pit of my stomach moments.

You know, it's been a while was kind of back to the dog days, of, you know, I had written.

I'd started writing that years and years and years ago by like, 2015, I bet.

And, you know, there was such a long period of time where there's, like, that longing to want to be home and to see your loved ones, and you just don't have the means or the money or the ability to get back.

And it was kind of written out of that desperation in that, that, you know, mindset.

And, and then it just kind of sat in the background for years and I never really finished it.

And then, I was driving to a ranch in West Texas just by myself.

I wasn't listening to anything.

And all of a sudden I just, like, started kind of thinking through this, like, melody for that chorus.

And that's when that the chorus, like, shifted into, you know, it's like it has this, like, repetitious, like thing to it.

And, and then I was like, yeah, this is, that's perfect for that song.

And it kind of like rose from the dead and, and and demo'd it reworked it, and then we recorded it and our producer, Bo Bedford, actually changed up a lot with it and helped kind of give it even more new life than it had.

Going into it.

Y'all help us on the chorus.

When you broke down.

I knew that day that you were on the way out And you were the one that I needed to find.

I gotta patch that levee, babe, And change your mind.

I'm gonna take a train back to Texas, freight-liner, won't you call my name.

Cause it's been a while.

Oh.

It's been a while since I've seen your face.

Oh.

the anger, oh Lord the anger, took a fall.

And it's like I'm a stranger You're still the best thing that I ever found.

Turn the wheels at the quickest of time.

Put the wind at my back, send me right down the line.

Before she's gone.

It won't be long.

I'm gonna take a train back to Texas Freight-liner, won't you call my name ‘Cause it's been a while.

Oh, and it's been a while.

Oh, since I've seen your face.

So it's been a while, It's been a while, it's been a while.

Oh, It's been a while Since I've seen your face, oh since I've seen your face.

Ohhhhhh Our band, You know, never.

We've never signed with a label we've never had.

We've just been independent since day one, and, And, it's it's been a very difficult path because of that, but it's made for a really kind of cult audience and like a family more than a fan base.

And, and we're really proud of that.

We managed to start building ourselves up.

We got with the management team in Denver, Seven S Management and Brian Schwartz and, and managed to rebuild a team.

And from that time on, in early 2020, it just started to grow.

And now here we are headlining my favorite venue in the world.

For the second time.

That's always been the goal is to play Red Rocks, just like, you know.

And maybe even to go there, you know, and see it.

You know, I'm from Texas.

This isn't in our backyard.

Exactly.

Hey.

What's up everybody?

How we doing?

Y'all care if we play something up here real quick?

All right.

Cool, cool, cool.

Hey, y'all having a good time so far tonight?

Awesome.

A little winded.

Not gonna lie, a little winded.

Tried to be sneaky.

Kind of sneaky.

But we're kind of winded.

All right.

This is one that, was one of the first songs I had ever written after moving to Austin, Texas and actually meeting this guy.

And, I sort of, and probably sometime around 2009 or something like that.

And, I hope that we end up rerecording this song because it's one of my favorite ones.

I wanted to do it for you tonight.

It is called Quite Like You.

I still get chills when I see.

Your face.

daydreams out on the interstate It wakes my mind and the colors fade.

But, I still get chills when I see your face.

Oh.

Every night, I pray for you.

I pray every wish you have comes true.

And you dance with the stars til the morning dew.

Every night I pray for you.

Cause I have seen the distant train.

She runs from the desert to the northern plains.

And every town I've been through.

Never come across another quite like you never come across nothing quite like you.

The boys are back, like you And I hope you don't never see no blues.

Let ‘em pour your tears.

Take your youth.

And your heart stands strong while storm comes through.

I hope you don't ever see.

No blues.

Cause I have seen The distant train.

She runs from the deserts to the northern plains.

In every town we've stopped through I've never come across nothing quite like you.

Never come across nothing quite like you.

Like you.

Oh.

Oh, whoa, whoa.

Cause I still get chills when I see your face.

Day dreams out on the interstate.

Wakes my mind and their colors fade.

But I still get chills when.

I see your face.

The ground was covered in tears of mothers and sweat to Ashes and fire in the sky.

Father told me no matter what you do, get home.

Don't you make your momma cry.

hmmmm Well It's been three months since I've been home never seen so much in a single night and hellfire turning night to day never felt so dark, yet so alive.

Momma told me to watch brother and give em hell and fire in the sky.

Father told me, no matter what you do get home, don't you make your Momma cry.

Ground was covered in Tears of mothers and sweat and ashes and fire in the sky.

I swear I did all I could do.

He's home, but I made our Mother cry.

ooohhh.

And I've never felt so alive.

Oh, Momma told me to watch brother and give em hell and fire in the sky.

Father told me no matter what you do get home, don't you make your Momma cry.

Don't make your Momma cry.

Yeah Please, mother.

Don't you cry.

Let's hear a new one Would you believe me if I said in my mind I've seen.

a doorway.

beyond the skies.

And it showed me love, reasons to never give up.

All in a moment, been frozen in time.

In my mind I ponder it In my dreams I'm lost in it, sing it if you know it, I saw lightning turn to flames.

And colors I can't explain.

I saw a thousand wild horses in the sky.

Somewhere within your eyes... Somewhere within your eyes.

And gone are the clouds the evidence without a sound.

I can't imagine a world where we are nothing more than chaos.

Chaos And in my mind I ponder it.

In my dreams I'm lost in it.

I saw lightning turn to flame and colors I can't explain.

I saw a thousand wild horses in the sky.

I found purpose within this life.

And emotion I can't deny, a thousand wild horses in the sky.

Some where within your eyes..

It felt a thousand miles away from here.

But I, I still remember it.

And oh, can't you feel the clouds give way up there, a thousand horses in the sky.

Somewhere within your, eyes.

Somewhere within your eyes.

Oh, oh.

Somewhere within your eyes.

Thank you.

I couldn't hold you.

But I dreamed that way sometimes.

In the old days, we'd rage.

But have you ever in your mind dreamed as far as a fire in the ocean.

Or a highway to the stars?.

I can dream my way back to your arms.

Hold my breath til I suffocate.

Anytime it plays in my mind.

Will I ever see your face?

Will I ever hold you again in this life?

Have you ever in your mind dreamed as far as a fire in the ocean.

Or a highway to the stars?

I can dream, babe I can dream.

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sing it with me.

Have you ever in your mind dreamed as far as a fire in the ocean or a highway to the stars.

I can dream my way back to your arms, y'all know the.

Drill.

Get the lights out on your phones.

Let's go.

Back to your arms Everybody.

Let's go.

Oh!

So my wife and I, write together, fairly often.

And she and I had both been on separate business trips and had come in on, like, a Sunday.

I think it was, And we just needed to go to get some quick dinner reacclimate.

You know, we hadn't seen each other in a while.

We had no intention of writing anything, but like, for some reason, we had like one like, you know, each of us had ordered like a bourbon or something and just like to just kind of cut loose and like, within like 15 minutes, all of a sudden we were working on songs together and we ended up writing like what ended up being Fire in the Sky, what ended up being All the Way and All the Way, she had told me she had been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash on his last record before he had passed away.

And, you know where he did the cover of hurt that became really famous and, there's just such a raw, that raw baritone, just like, vulnerable, just vibe to that whole record.

And, and she was talking about, like, trying to write like a lullaby, love song type of thing, but with that same vibe, because I have a similar kind of range of vocal as him.

And it it became just a really powerful.

I think it's like out of all the stuff we've ever put out, I think that one for some reason is going to have the biggest effect on people emotionally, like, for the long term.

Like it's just a really deep song and it's about a level of commitment that it's it's hard to find in a lot of, you know, relationships nowadays, you know, and like, and she and I have been together since we were 15, you know, it's like we've had every excuse in the world, you know, when you're when you're with a musician in your 20s and everything's terrible and you're about to be evicted or whatever, you know, it's like we've had every reason in the world to give up, but we did it.

And and I think that that's where a lot of that stuff comes from.

I got to say, really, really fast.

And I know, I know, a lot of y'all have been around supporting us for a very long time.

And I know a lot of y'all are here, kind of new in the last couple of years.

I just want to say thank you all so much.

Seriously, from the bottom of our hearts, this is just the coolest thing ever.

Getting to do this right here.

I know this is a Tuesday.

I know it's not easy and y'all made this happen and it means the absolute world to us.

I can't even tell you.

So thank you so much.

Seriously, we couldn't do this if it was.

If it wasn't for every single one of y'all that are here right now.

So thank y'all.

We're gonna play a little down low song on piano that I wrote with my wife, and I wanted to give a little backstory.

We, we reached out to our fans on this.

I think it hit home for a lot of people when they first heard it.

And, a lot of people submitted a ton of their home videos and home photos, to be played while we sing this tonight up on the screen.

So everybody that you see on these screens are real people with real stories, and they're our fans and we love them to death.

So shout out to everybody that submitted make some noise if you submitted some stuff here.

All right, let's play.

That first morning we locked eyes, I made a vow that you'd be mine, with every season we may sway.

We're together all the way.

All the way, Lord.

All the way I'll be with you all the way.

And when I crossed that Mississippi line, You couldn't help but cross my mind, with every passing sight or stone.

There your memory danced alone.

Cause I'm still yours.

And you're still mine.

Through the fading ends of time.

Despite burdens deep below.

I'll be with you as you go, all the way, Lord, all the way.

I'll be with you all the way.

And where you lay is where I'll lay.

I'll be with you all the way.

When age like poison steals your prime, I'll be there to hold the line.

With every wrinkle, shade of gray, I'll be with you all the way.

Cause I'm still yours.

And you're still mine.

And through the fading ends of time.

Despite burdens deep below.

I'll be with you as you go.

All the way, Lord, all the way.

I'll be with you all the way.

Thank you so much.

Thank you all for submitting on that.

Give it up for Chase, everybody on the piano, over here.

I think if I could give any advice to anybody starting out in this industry or let's say even as a songwriter, I would say don't ever put something out without critiquing it and and putting yourself in your 70 year old version's shoes, critiquing it.

Because one day you just might have to sing that song every night as a 70 year old.

And that was told to me from Ray Wylie Hubbard and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

I think somebody that was, more successful told that to Ray when he was younger.

And I just think that it just it's a it's a, it's a bit of wisdom that it's just like a repeating ripple, you know, of, of generation after generation, that I think it's very important to kind of see it through that lens before you ever put something out to the world, you know, be willing to trust, the right team members, like be willing to.

Build a really great team around you rather than just putting it all on your own shoulders for years and years, I just like I was just trying to handle all of it, you know, and I think that we maybe would have, you know, picked up a little more momentum quicker had we had a really great, powerful team around us.

But I think I just had a hard time trusting people, you know, for the longest time.

And in a way, I'm almost proud that it happened the way it did for us, even though it was much more difficult because had those opportunities come earlier, I don't know that we would have been ready for them.

You know, like I think our opportunities came when they needed to come, even though it took a decade and a half or something, or a decade longer than a lot of other bands.

To me, they came at the right time because we were ready for them to come.

You know, we were ready to show up for it.

And so, you know, in a weird way, I don't have any regrets when I see it through that angle.

You know, All I See Is You was, I was too broke to buy a Valentine's Day gift.

And so Bennett and myself, Bennett came up with the idea he wanted to.

He had a girlfriend at the time, our fiddle player, Bennett, had an idea that he wanted to record a song that he had written for his girlfriend, and I had, like, a some software on my laptop.

And so I tried to record it for him, and I was like, man, I should probably do something like that for Lauren.

And, and, anyways, I just started I just ended up writing, writing that song and, and recorded it also as like a, a gift or whatever, like a Valentine's Day gift.

And and then the irony of the whole thing, though, is like she, we kind of had an agreement like, okay, well, what's the this was, this will be our song.

We won't put it on the record or whatever.

And I was like, okay, all right, cool.

Yeah, let's do that.

Then we get in that we're recording the, Geronimo record and and the producer's like, man, we should we could really use, like, another song, like a more powerful, like, upbeat song.

And and I played him that demo of it and they were like, yes, we need to record that.

And anyways.

And she ended up just coming around to it and being cool with it.

And, if she hadn't, I don't know that we would have a career because it ended up being our it just went gold yesterday I found out.

And so, anyways, it ended up getting featured on the show, Yellowstone and all kinds of placements from that.

And, it's our biggest song by far.

We're gonna close this out the right way or what?

There'll be singing.

A storm's runnin through the midwest like a bandit out on the loose.

All the clouds they're black as night fall But all I see is you.

Rains pouring through the window panes, and the cracks of this roof, teas boiling from the spout out of pot.

But all I see is you.

It's like the nights in Salt Lake City where the snow fell down too soon people laughed and howled from their beers.

But all I could see was you And I remember our first night abroad, the sun traded ships with the moon, it was a lot to take in for some eyes from East Texas,.

But all I could see was you, Cause all I ever see is you.

I'll make my way to the doctor one day, when my eyes don't work like they should, just read the letters from large down to small.

But all I'll see is you.

Then when I'm old and weathered, from the winds of a life that consumed, I pray to God the day I'll find my death bed, all I'll see is you.

Cause all, i only see is you.

Every night.

Sing it as loud as you can, go.

Oh I will wait A few more nights, but until then, all I see is you.

A storm's running through the midwest,.

like a bandit out on the loose, get your hands together, All the clouds they're black as night fall, All I see you see is you, yeah.

Rains pouring through the windowpanes and the cracks of this roof, teas boiling from the spout of the pot.

But all I see is you Red Rocks, we love you to death, baby.

Thank you so much.

Thank y'all.