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Did You Know Texas Ranger From ‘Talladega Nights’ Is A Southern Rock Artist?
Have you ever wondered what your favorite childhood actors have been up to? Well, this is a story for you if you're a fan of Talladega Nights.
If you've ever heard yourself saying, "Chip, I'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey!" Then you've quoted a line from Grayson Russell, who played Texas Ranger in the iconic film.
Russell scored the role of Texas Ranger when his mother saw a newspaper ad for an open casting while his father was out of town preparing for a fishing competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJ7UKsSHF4
Later, going on to act as Fregley in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. While he's well known for these roles, Russell candidly says acting fell into his lap.
A career in the music industry has always been what the Alabama native hoped to pursue.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCenPWFvezR/
Russell has had music pulsing through his veins from a young age. At two, he used to tell folks that he was George Strait, and at three, his family formed a traveling band that performed at local churches.
"I started touring doing gospel music with my folks when I was five. So I've done music my whole life; I started singing myself when I was three."
Russell caught the music bug even more when he was introduced to the Bee Gees at age six, prompting him to form a band with his fellow second-grade classmates. Hilariously, during this time, Russell was on set for Talladega Nights, and his co-stars would make up stories about being related to the Bee Gees while also getting him to perform on set.
"I made them come over to the house and have rehearsals on the karaoke machine...
All the guys from 'Talladega Nights' would get me to sing Bee Gees songs on set. They would be like, 'Hey, I'm the long lost brother; here's a Bee Gees song you've never heard before.' And they would make up something, you know just pull it out of their ass. Then, they would proceed to sing me a Bee Gees song."
Russell told Whiskey Riff.
A full-circle moment, fourteen years later, Russell was playing a show at Johnny Cash's farm when a man who mixed four records for the Bee Gees walked up to him and said he was a big fan of what Russell was doing. Once the two fostered a friendship, he sat in this man's basement and played two unreleased Bee Gees records, work tapes, demos, and more for Russell. His childhood dreams were coming true, and this moment Russell recalled was the inception of his forthcoming record.
Thus kickstarting the writing and recording of his upcoming album Living And Women Vol. 1.
"It was really important for me to write the whole record. Everything but the covers. The reason for that being, I didn't want people to just assume that I quit acting, had nothing else to do, and was sitting on a wad and decided to cut a record like everyone else. When, in fact, I've been traveling and loading up PA systems since I was a five-year-old."
Russell has released two singles from the project, "Corn and Kerosene," followed by his latest release, "Beneath The Bow." The Southern rock-inspired melodies, which Russell describes as something between Lynyrd Skynyrd and U2, pair with Russell's raw, booming voice as he sings lyrics from his life experiences and hardships.
"I haven't figured out how to write something that isn't something I haven't truly lived in the middle of... 'Corn and Kerosene,' for me, are just comparing what extent you will go, what will you sell, what will you connive to make your freaking dreams happen. No different than my folks selling drugs or liquor or whatever they had to do...because there's not a lyric in that song that isn't true.
It's not fun, it's not glamorous... because I've had a whole slew of mistakes, and half of this album is cautionary tales."
Russell opened up, saying that wearing his heart on this sleeve and leaning into his songwriting has been one of the most nerve-racking things compared to being on set with Tom Hanks.
However, Russell found inspiration in sharing the dark and raw experiences after hearing Morgan Wade perform at the Grand Ole Opry. Just as Wade convinces her audiences that every lyric in her songs is something she's lived through (which she has lived through many of them), Russell hopes he can portray the same vulnerability through songwriting and music.
Russell has that feeling down pat. His music authentically highlights his life experiences, and he's paired the heavy emotions in his lyrics with a catchy melody, making for a stellar listening experience. Russell does not yet have a release date for his debut album, but based on the two singles he's released thus far, he is cooking up something good.
"This is everything I've intended to do my whole life. I am me when I do this from what I write and what I choose to write. This is me."
Fire up his singles while you're here. You'll dig this if you like what we cover here at Whiskey Riff.
"Corn and Kerosene"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4I1-aN6Oag
"Beneath the Bow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRrVSagE5s
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