Summary

Back in 2011, we chatted with Aaron Beavers of Shurman. Surprising everyone, they reunited in August 2025 for a number of tour dates.

Sloane kicks things off with a warm welcome to Aaron from the band Shurman, and it's all about that sweet, sweet vibe of creativity in music. Right from the get-go, they dive into the heart of the matter, how music festivals bring artists together, not just for the love of the music, but for the chance to reconnect with old friends and share new tunes. Erin reflects on the joys of making music with pals, highlighting how it’s less about the cash and more about the camaraderie and experiences. They chat about Shurman's latest holiday record, which started as a tongue-in-cheek joke during a scorching Texas summer but turned into a surprisingly successful project. The convo flows from the essence of their musical journey in Austin to the quirky tales of life on the road, making it clear that for these musicians, it’s all about keeping it real and staying connected to their roots.

Links

• REMINDER: IGNORE ALL LINKS OR EVENTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE FROM 2011
• Shurman
• You will probably enjoy this conversation from 2015 with Aaron Lee Tasjan
• Toss a few in our Tip Jar!

Show Notes

Diving into the vibrant world of music and creativity, the latest episode of Country Fried Rock brings listeners a delightful chat with Aaron from the band Shurman. The conversation flows like a sweet melody, starting with a nostalgic recount of a recent rendezvous in Nashville, where the duo reminisces about the electric atmosphere of outdoor shows and the camaraderie that music festivals foster. Aaron expresses the joy of jamming with old friends, highlighting the essence of music not just as a profession but as a cherished connection among musicians who rarely get to meet. The discussion unfolds into a nuanced exploration of the challenges faced by artists, particularly the struggle for exposure in an industry that often prioritizes profit over passion. Aaron shares candid insights about the realities of touring life, the financial hurdles, and the sheer joy of performing despite the odds.

As the episode progresses, the conversation takes a fun twist as Aaron reveals the story behind their latest holiday record, which unexpectedly became a hit. What started as a playful idea during a scorching Texas summer evolved into a project that not only showcases Shurman's musical prowess but also weaves in a sense of humor and irony about creating Christmas songs in the heat. The banter between the hosts and Aaron adds a laid-back vibe, making it feel like a friendly hangout rather than a formal interview. The narrative delves deeper into the roots of their music style, with Aaron sharing anecdotes about his punk rock beginnings and the evolution of their sound, blending country, rock, and soulful influences. This episode is not just a glimpse into Shurman’s journey but a heartfelt celebration of friendship, creativity, and the joy of making music.

Listeners will leave with a sense of connection to the artists and a greater appreciation for the stories that shape the songs they love. With a sprinkle of humor and a whole lot of heart, this episode paints a vivid picture of the music scene and the bonds it creates, inviting everyone to tune in and enjoy the ride.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Country Fried Rock

04:24 The Birth of a Band

09:48 The Journey of Musical Discovery

20:54 The Journey to Austin: Musical Authenticity and Personal Growth

22:22 The Influence of Austin's Music Scene

Takeaways

• In the heart of Nashville, the vibe of music festivals is all about reconnecting with old friends and sharing creative energy, rather than just chasing the big bucks.
• Aaron from Shurman passionately shares that music is deeply rooted in friendships, and collaborating with old pals is the ultimate creative high.
• The unpredictable journey of creating a Christmas album during a scorching Texas summer led to unexpected musical success, showcasing the magic of spontaneity.
• The rich musical history of Austin has given Aaron a sense of authenticity and confidence that fuels the band's creativity and growth.
• Aaron reflects on how his songwriting has evolved, highlighting the transformative nature of music and how past experiences shape current expressions.
• The camaraderie and support among musicians in Austin creates an inviting atmosphere where creativity flourishes, contrasting sharply with the competitive nature of larger cities.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Shurman
• Blues Traveler
• Mother Truckers
• Blue Shop
• Stonehoney
• Whiskey Town
• Vanguard
• Sustain
• Universal Republic

Recommended If You Like

Country Fried Rock, podcast episode, musician interviews, creative inspiration, Nashville music scene, Shurman band, Americana music, Texas music, music festivals, songwriting process, holiday music, music collaboration, indie music, country rock, live performances, recording studio, acoustic music, music industry insights, musical influences, music promotion

Transcript

Speaker A

00:00:00.800 - 00:00:10.080

Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity. Country Fried Rock Music Uncovered Hey, Sloan.

Speaker B

00:00:10.080 - 00:00:12.080

How you doing? This is Erin from the band Sherman.

Speaker A

00:00:12.320 - 00:00:16.320

Hey, Erin. Thanks a bunch for being with us. I'm so glad I got to meet you in Nashville this year.

Speaker B

00:00:16.720 - 00:00:21.120

What a fun time that was. Wasn't that great? Amh great. I just had such a blast.

Speaker A

00:00:21.520 - 00:00:27.520

Perfect weather, perfect time. Country Fried rock out in Nashville. A little outdoor show of you solo.

Speaker B

00:00:27.880 - 00:00:38.360

Yeah, you know, it was kind of a laugh that popped in with some old friends, and I never turned down, if I can make music with old friends, that's kind of as good as it gets, you know?

Speaker A

00:00:38.680 - 00:00:41.800

You know, that is exactly what music festivals are all about.

Speaker B

00:00:42.120 - 00:01:37.170

You know, it really is, because you're, you know, half a lot of those times the bands that are playing are doing it in order to get exposure. You know, they're not doing it so for the huge payday. And so you're kind of just going, well, okay, I'm eating the show. I'm handling the expenses.

I'm doing this. I'm taking care of himself, which as musicians, have a hard time doing, in case you haven't heard.

Yeah, but, you know, those kind of conversations, you get to meet with all your old friends who are touring all over the country as well, and you don't get to see them except for maybe south by southwest and the AMAs and all the clients and CMJ and, you know, a couple times a year, you'll all get together and you're lucky enough, there's instruments around and everybody gets to play some songs and, you know, not only catch up on what everybody's girlfriends, wives, kids, brothers, sisters, moms and dads are doing, but also, you know, get to catch up musically on whatever it's got coming down, you know, the creative pipeline as far as what's their new song or what's they're excited about and a lot of times, you know, what bands we're kind of all listening to.

Speaker A

00:01:37.170 - 00:01:47.610

You know, it's funny that you say that, because that's actually how I found you. We did an interview a while back with Josh and Teal from the Mother Truckers, and that's how I found Sherman.

Speaker B

00:01:48.010 - 00:02:20.130

Oh, yeah, we love Josh and Teal. They're both. They both make appearances not on the same song, but in separate songs.

Our holiday record that we have, Little Sherman, the holiday album. Oh, cool. She'll sing the song. I always wanted to do a duet with her, so I wrote a song to do with my drummer and bass player, Mike.

And then I also always wanted to have an instrumental, just like full on, you know, guitar, rock, you know, instrumental. And never be able to do that. When you're friends with someone like Josh Z, those kind of things seem a little bit more possible.

Speaker A

00:02:21.650 - 00:02:25.970

So wait, I know that you have other things in the work for 2012. You have a holiday record out too?

Speaker B

00:02:26.330 - 00:04:03.200

Yeah, we just released it last week as a matter of fact. It's been incredibly successful. I mean we've had. It's the most record we've ever sold online of any album we've done.

It's basically we did after we finished our last studio record.

It was kind of as a joke, our bass player said, you know, it was the middle or, you know, end of July, middle of August, when we were wrapping up the new studio record and we were experiencing what was the hottest summer that Texas had ever had and the history of keeping track of temperature. And we had almost like 100 plus days and we just built our new studio and we didn't quite.

One of the last things that we kind of dealt with when we were making the studio was the air conditioning and the how will we cool this thing off? Kind of a two story, like little mini house behind our drummer's house. It's just we call our little tree house. But it was 125 degrees in that studio.

You have to keep the AC off while we were tracking. So there was very much a sense of urgency. We've got to get this or I'm going to pass out.

And as a joke we kind of said the end, like we should make a Christmas record. You know, it's 100 and, you know, 104 degrees, you know, and we're writing songs about like it's snowing outside and all this kind of stuff.

And we were doing it totally tongue in cheek, right. We started like writing these songs, like good. This is a good song, you know.

And so we started recording it and sending some stuff around to our friends. Like kind of jokingly like John Popper from Blue Shop. Yeah, you know, everybody's from Roger Klein, the Peacemakers and Friends in Stone, Honey.

And we ended up thinking, why don't you guys come down and help us make this record. We're gonna just do some original, maybe a couple of choice little covers. Like we did a cover of a band.

I didn't know that the band did a Christmas song, but a fan sent it to us.

Speaker A

00:04:03.200 - 00:04:04.280

I didn't know that either.

Speaker B

00:04:04.520 - 00:04:24.740

Yeah, it's called it's a song called Christmas Must Be Tonight. They actually did a few different alternate takes of it off Kingdom Come record I think it was. And they sent us a copy of the.

Of the song and loved it and we wouldn't actually cut it. Caught the guys from Stonehoney to come in and do some harmony vocals and our. And and Phil from Stonehoney played guitar on it.

So yeah, it was really kind of a cool project.

Speaker A

00:04:24.980 - 00:04:33.380

When I first heard about the band Sherman, I was trying to spell it with an E. And you know we're based in the south and the war is not over yet here.

Speaker B

00:04:34.260 - 00:04:36.020

So I thought exactly why it's with you.

Speaker A

00:04:36.100 - 00:04:40.020

I thought, wow, that's really brave of a Texas band to name themselves Sherman.

Speaker B

00:04:40.020 - 00:06:24.120

Well, it's even crazy because I actually, you know, my high school years and my mother lives in Georgia and so yeah, to have General Sherman as part of your name after what he did in the Civil War, probably not the best marketing. And oddly enough, I mean that's how the name kind of how came about. I mean there's a couple different reasons.

It was like one of those things where the name clicks with me because for a few different reasons in my life I thought of it when I was younger aiming a band Sherman because my mother went to high school in Denison, Texas and their arch rival was the Sherman Bearcats.

And I always thought that would be really funny because at the time I was trying to put together punk bands and if you had a punk band, it didn't offend your parents or at least a really good name. So it was early on that was in junior high when I was putting their punk my skate punk dude. And it's funny enough, I don't remember.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Ben Peeler on the phone and he said we were talking about the super bowl was going on in Atlanta. And he said, you know what they need? They need Sherman to come back through there and melt all that ice. Is this kind of a joke? You know, I was like.

And it was like, you know what that's. And at the time I was. The band was called Blue Train, which is just a horrible name. And even a funnier story is like I basically living in Los.

I got offered a gig.

I was out at the bar and this guy who was like, yeah, I booked a whiskey at Go Go and I just moved to la and I was, you know, like starry eyed trying to put a ban together. I didn't even have a band. And I just said I have a Band I want to come play. There he goes. Great, man. He's like, how about next Friday night?

And he's like, what's the name of the band? And I was looking around the room and there was all these posts, like, all these rock posters everywhere in this bar that we were at.

And there was also this in the corner. It was that John Coltrane poster that said Blue Train on it. Blue Train. And I came to find out later that they were the guys.

Blue Train were the two guys for Baywatch. Wasn't really a really hip maybe.

Speaker A

00:06:24.840 - 00:06:31.080

Yeah, you're cool. When you started your first little skate punk band, were you writing your own stuff then or were y' all covering punk?

Speaker B

00:06:31.080 - 00:07:12.300

Oh, yeah, I was writing, like, kind of got into music through.

I had an English teacher who I always really loved music growing up, but I had an English teacher in, like, middle school who got me into all these poetry contests. Started getting really into that.

It was funny because I was a lost kind of punk kid trying to get into sports and, you know, awkward seventh grade taller guy in my class and doing poetry, you know, I kind of really thought about it. And then I entered a few of these contests and I won one of them.

And I actually got some where I was like, poetry's kind of hokey, but when the songwriting. Now, that's pretty cool, you know, that sounds a chickal. Like, I learned really quickly. Okay, this. All right, I get it. I get it.

The rest is a lot of truck stops and Florida line vans down the.

Speaker A

00:07:12.300 - 00:07:17.620

Road, you know, did you have some musical stylers or specific bands that you were trying to model yourself after?

Speaker B

00:07:17.940 - 00:07:48.400

You know, when I was first coming out, I was into punk rock. I think secretly I wanted to be like, a member of Van Halen, you know, I think everybody did in the early 80s.

And you're living like I lived up in, like, North Dallas.

I just remember a friend of mine's mom took us to go see Van Halen in concert, and I came out with, like, you know, four bandanas tied around my left leg, if that tells you anything. Mom, I think I want to get a sword for Christmas. She's like, a sword? What are you going to do with the sword? I was like, I don't know.

Dave Lee Roth throws one around, looks pretty cool. Seems to get a lot of chicks.

Speaker A

00:07:49.280 - 00:07:51.680

Women will throw their underwear on stage at me, mom, if I do this.

Speaker B

00:07:51.680 - 00:08:08.140

Exactly right, you know, does something. I can't figure it out. I figured out that the results are positive results, but I can't figure out why the sword is doing this.

I didn't get it until I saw, you know, Sami remains the same. Then full circle. Hey, this is Aaron from Sherman on Country Fried rock.

Speaker A

00:08:08.620 - 00:08:14.060

As you were first forming those bands, what kind of music were y' all working on and how did that move to where you are now?

Speaker B

00:08:14.460 - 00:10:56.360

I'd say it was a lot more folk and a lot more country. We had like a stand up bass player at the time and so I was like an air force brat as a young kid.

So I kind of traveled around a lot and my family just in general, you know, Winnebagos and trailers and pop up trailers. And their idea of having a good weekend was going on camp for three days.

And so, you know, the camaraderie of being on the road, it was just something that always just really, really, really, really came, you know, for me. Something I've always loved. Still to this day, I really. It's one of my favorite parts about, you know, being a musician.

But you know, I did a lot of traveling kind of growing up and I think it kind of set me on a path of, you know, wanting to make music. But when I went, right before I moved to Hawaii, I guess there's this long winded circular story here.

I. I had a bunch of friends that were going to be moving out to Hawaii. They were all kind of saving our money.

And what I was actually doing, I was working on them mountain as like a lift off in the summer, you know, like, I just like kind of bailed out of college at Arizona State and I was like, what am I gonna do? I'll go up to Colorado mountains, you know, it's snowing and I've always wanted to do that. So I got a job doing that.

I met a bunch of these crazy, you know, mean guys who are all like kind of getting in this new sport called snowboarding. And everybody was like, you know, it was like a really cool time to be there. A bunch of us had this kooky plan that went to snowman.

So we were gonna save up all the money we made at the resort and, and go to Hawaii. And at the time, my dad was a polyhouse.

I flew for free and said, oh, this will be, you know, I can still come home for Christmas and live there for a while. I ended up going out there for a few years and I only went out with like a few, a handful of records.

And one of those records was the Uncle Tupelo record, you know, the one with the date on it, 1992, whatever. And I just Was over the

Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity.

Country Fried Rock Music Uncovered Hey, Sloan.

How you doing?

This is Erin from the band Sherman.

Hey, Erin.

Thanks a bunch for being with us.

I'm so glad I got to meet you in Nashville this year.

What a fun time that was.

Wasn't that great?

Amh great.

I just had such a blast.

Perfect weather, perfect time.

Country Fried rock out in Nashville.

A little outdoor show of you solo.

Yeah, you know, it was kind of a laugh that popped in with some old friends, and I never turned down, if I can make music with old friends, that's kind of as good as it gets, you know?

You know, that is exactly what music festivals are all about.

You know, it really is, because you're, you know, half a lot of those times the bands that are playing are doing it in order to get exposure.

You know, they're not doing it so for the huge payday.

And so you're kind of just going, well, okay, I'm eating the show.

I'm handling the expenses.

I'm doing this.

I'm taking care of himself, which as musicians, have a hard time doing, in case you haven't heard.

Yeah, but, you know, those kind of conversations, you get to meet with all your old friends who are touring all over the country as well, and you don't get to see them except for maybe south by southwest and the AMAs and all the clients and CMJ and, you know, a couple times a year, you'll all get together and you're lucky enough, there's instruments around and everybody gets to play some songs and, you know, not only catch up on what everybody's girlfriends, wives, kids, brothers, sisters, moms and dads are doing, but also, you know, get to catch up musically on whatever it's got coming down, you know, the creative pipeline as far as what's their new song or what's they're excited about and a lot of times, you know, what bands we're kind of all listening to.

You know, it's funny that you say that, because that's actually how I found you.

We did an interview a while back with Josh and Teal from the Mother Truckers, and that's how I found Sherman.

Oh, yeah, we love Josh and Teal.

They're both.

They both make appearances not on the same song, but in separate songs.

Our holiday record that we have, Little Sherman, the holiday album.

Oh, cool.

She'll sing the song.

I always wanted to do a duet with her, so I wrote a song to do with my drummer and bass player, Mike.

And then I also always wanted to have an instrumental, just like full on, you know, guitar, rock, you know, instrumental.

And never be able to do that.

When you're friends with someone like Josh Z, those kind of things seem a little bit more possible.

You have a holiday record out too?

Yeah, we just released it last week as a matter of fact.

It's been incredibly successful.

I mean we've had.

It's the most record we've ever sold online of any album we've done.

It's basically we did after we finished our last studio record.

It was kind of as a joke, our bass player said, you know, it was the middle or, you know, end of July, middle of August, when we were wrapping up the new studio record and we were experiencing what was the hottest summer that Texas had ever had and the history of keeping track of temperature.

And we had almost like 100 plus days and we just built our new studio and we didn't quite.

One of the last things that we kind of dealt with when we were making the studio was the air conditioning and the how will we cool this thing off?

Kind of a two story, like little mini house behind our drummer's house.

It's just we call our little tree house.

But it was 125 degrees in that studio.

You have to keep the AC off while we were tracking.

So there was very much a sense of urgency.

We've got to get this or I'm going to pass out.

And as a joke we kind of said the end, like we should make a Christmas record.

You know, it's 100 and, you know, 104 degrees, you know, and we're writing songs about like it's snowing outside and all this kind of stuff.

And we were doing it totally tongue in cheek, right.

We started like writing these songs, like good.

This is a good song, you know.

And so we started recording it and sending some stuff around to our friends.

Like kind of jokingly like John Popper from Blue Shop.

Yeah, you know, everybody's from Roger Klein, the Peacemakers and Friends in Stone, Honey.

And we ended up thinking, why don't you guys come down and help us make this record.

We're gonna just do some original, maybe a couple of choice little covers.

Like we did a cover of a band.

I didn't know that the band did a Christmas song, but a fan sent it to us.

I didn't know that either.

Yeah, it's called it's a song called Christmas Must Be Tonight.

They actually did a few different alternate takes of it off Kingdom Come record I think it was.

And they sent us a copy of the.

Of the song and loved it and we wouldn't actually cut it.

Caught the guys from Stonehoney to come in and do some harmony vocals and our.

And and Phil from Stonehoney played guitar on it.

So yeah, it was really kind of a cool project.

When I first heard about the band Sherman, I was trying to spell it with an E. And you know we're based in the south and the war is not over yet here.

So I thought exactly why it's with you.

I thought, wow, that's really brave of a Texas band to name themselves Sherman.

Well, it's even crazy because I actually, you know, my high school years and my mother lives in Georgia and so yeah, to have General Sherman as part of your name after what he did in the Civil War, probably not the best marketing.

And oddly enough, I mean that's how the name kind of how came about.

I mean there's a couple different reasons.

It was like one of those things where the name clicks with me because for a few different reasons in my life I thought of it when I was younger aiming a band Sherman because my mother went to high school in Denison, Texas and their arch rival was the Sherman Bearcats.

And I always thought that would be really funny because at the time I was trying to put together punk bands and if you had a punk band, it didn't offend your parents or at least a really good name.

So it was early on that was in junior high when I was putting their punk my skate punk dude.

And it's funny enough, I don't remember.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Ben Peeler on the phone and he said we were talking about the super bowl was going on in Atlanta.

And he said, you know what they need?

They need Sherman to come back through there and melt all that ice.

Is this kind of a joke?

You know, I was like.

And it was like, you know what that's.

And at the time I was.

The band was called Blue Train, which is just a horrible name.

And even a funnier story is like I basically living in Los.

I got offered a gig.

I was out at the bar and this guy who was like, yeah, I booked a whiskey at Go Go and I just moved to la and I was, you know, like starry eyed trying to put a ban together.

I didn't even have a band.

And I just said I have a Band I want to come play.

There he goes.

Great, man.

He's like, how about next Friday night?

And he's like, what's the name of the band?

And I was looking around the room and there was all these posts, like, all these rock posters everywhere in this bar that we were at.

And there was also this in the corner.

It was that John Coltrane poster that said Blue Train on it.

Blue Train.

And I came to find out later that they were the guys.

Blue Train were the two guys for Baywatch.

Wasn't really a really hip maybe.

Yeah, you're cool.

When you started your first little skate punk band, were you writing your own stuff then or were y' all covering punk?

Oh, yeah, I was writing, like, kind of got into music through.

I had an English teacher who I always really loved music growing up, but I had an English teacher in, like, middle school who got me into all these poetry contests.

Started getting really into that.

It was funny because I was a lost kind of punk kid trying to get into sports and, you know, awkward seventh grade taller guy in my class and doing poetry, you know, I kind of really thought about it.

And then I entered a few of these contests and I won one of them.

And I actually got some where I was like, poetry's kind of hokey, but when the songwriting.

Now, that's pretty cool, you know, that sounds a chickal.

Like, I learned really quickly.

Okay, this.

All right, I get it.

I get it.

The rest is a lot of truck stops and Florida line vans down the.

Road, you know, did you have some musical stylers or specific bands that you were trying to model yourself after?

You know, when I was first coming out, I was into punk rock.

I think secretly I wanted to be like, a member of Van Halen, you know, I think everybody did in the early 80s.

And you're living like I lived up in, like, North Dallas.

I just remember a friend of mine's mom took us to go see Van Halen in concert, and I came out with, like, you know, four bandanas tied around my left leg, if that tells you anything.

Mom, I think I want to get a sword for Christmas.

She's like, a sword?

What are you going to do with the sword?

I was like, I don't know.

Dave Lee Roth throws one around, looks pretty cool.

Seems to get a lot of chicks.

Women will throw their underwear on stage at me, mom, if I do this.

Exactly right, you know, does something.

I can't figure it out.

I figured out that the results are positive results, but I can't figure out why the sword is doing this.

I didn't get it until I saw, you know, Sami remains the same.

Then full circle.

Hey, this is Aaron from Sherman on Country Fried rock.

As you were first forming those bands, what kind of music were y' all working on and how did that move to where you are now?

I'd say it was a lot more folk and a lot more country.

We had like a stand up bass player at the time and so I was like an air force brat as a young kid.

So I kind of traveled around a lot and my family just in general, you know, Winnebagos and trailers and pop up trailers.

And their idea of having a good weekend was going on camp for three days.

And so, you know, the camaraderie of being on the road, it was just something that always just really, really, really, really came, you know, for me.

Something I've always loved.

Still to this day, I really.

It's one of my favorite parts about, you know, being a musician.

But you know, I did a lot of traveling kind of growing up and I think it kind of set me on a path of, you know, wanting to make music.

But when I went, right before I moved to Hawaii, I guess there's this long winded circular story here.

I. I had a bunch of friends that were going to be moving out to Hawaii.

They were all kind of saving our money.

And what I was actually doing, I was working on them mountain as like a lift off in the summer, you know, like, I just like kind of bailed out of college at Arizona State and I was like, what am I gonna do?

I'll go up to Colorado mountains, you know, it's snowing and I've always wanted to do that.

So I got a job doing that.

I met a bunch of these crazy, you know, mean guys who are all like kind of getting in this new sport called snowboarding.

And everybody was like, you know, it was like a really cool time to be there.

A bunch of us had this kooky plan that went to snowman.

So we were gonna save up all the money we made at the resort and, and go to Hawaii.

And at the time, my dad was a polyhouse.

I flew for free and said, oh, this will be, you know, I can still come home for Christmas and live there for a while.

I ended up going out there for a few years and I only went out with like a few, a handful of records.

And I just Was over the moon about that record.

And it's funny because right before I left town, I had a neighbor, he's like, I got a couple of records for you before you leave.

And I think you really dig the thing.

And he is like, one of them is a band called Whiskey Town.

I was like, oh, I actually, you know, I had read something about those guys.

He gave me this record, Rural Feed Delivery, which was the first record.

And he gave me, you know, Uncle Tuple record.

And I told a longer story.

I'd actually seen them years previously accidentally to a friend named Josh Rouse.

My songwriting.

I was a duo with this guy in college named Josh Grouse, who's another Americana guy you might have heard of.

He's really, really great singer, songwriter.

And he took me to see Uncle Tupelo one time, you know, and I had no idea who they were and changed my path, you know, musically.

Those are the records I brought over Hawaii.

So when I came to la, I really wanted to start a band.

And I was living and, you know, crashing on a friend's couch in Hollywood and I thought, I want to start like a really, like broken down country band with banjo and a lap steel and stand up bass and brushes on drums and I'll play acoustic.

And we did.

And it was actually really.

It was really funny.

We actually ended up.

Our very first show was opening up for John Doe.

No way.

Yeah.

And it was just like, wow, this is kind of a good way to start this.

Our second or third show was opening for Whiskey Town at Whiskey A Go Go.

No way.

I remember thinking, there's something going on here.

Because I looked out in the audience and I recognized singer from Green Day and Winona Ryder and all these stars and James Iha from Smashing Pumpkins.

All these people were like, in the audience.

I was like, wow.

Like this country thing here is like.

And it was cool because I'd grown up in East Texas and I'd grown up listening to all kind of like what I call outlaw country and Jerry Jeff and all that.

My uncles.

My dad was the oldest of five boys and I was around my uncles a lot and they had very big influence on me musically.

You know, they listened to, you know, everything from Nugent to Skynyrd.

And then they listen to all kinds of just like, you know, David Allen Coe and Funky Outlaw, you know.

Yeah.

This guy said something vulgar type country rock.

Did he say that?

Oh, my God.

I don't know.

Just kind of.

It was actually a lot more country than Sherman is now.

I mean, we still have those themes in our music.

We still have.

You know, our guitar player plays banjo.

We still have lab steel and all that stuff and train beats and songs.

But I. I think we tried to expand that a little bit more into more of rock and roll and kind of soul music, you know, Because I really wanted to do something that was a lot more Motown sounding as far as vocally.

I wanted to be something that kind of like.

I like to see those little ear worms that get in your ear, and you just can't stop thinking.

You can't stop hearing them.

Like all those Motown hits, talking about going back to the kind of old soul kind of thing that's happening.

There's a lot of that.

And it's funny because it's coming from a roots perspective, though.

Kind of like the old roots and the old blues and old folkies.

They kind of had, like, some.

Those really small lamps that were kind of distorting with funky, hollow body guitar.

And it's a certain guitar tone.

You hear it on all Lucinda Williams records and Steve Earl's records, and you hear it in Kenny Vaughn and all these guys that are just like.

To me, like, the people who are really like the.

You know, some of the best people in the genre, you know, all three of those people, I think, are just saints, you know, and you're hearing all their music, and it's just that kind of like, there's just a. I don't know, but it grabs me, and it's like one of those things that is how I really connect with a lot of these bands and bands even in town, when I go see them play, like, the first time, like the band of Heathens and some of these people.

That's like, I heard that guitar sound that.

Yeah, okay.

This guy grew up.

He likes David Lindley.

He probably listens to Little Feet.

All right.

You know, he likes the Birds.

I can hear it.

You know, I can hear this guy listening to that guitar tone.

It's.

It's like, okay, yeah, these people are part of my try, you know?

Yeah.

And you do hear that, even just listening to it.

I know exactly what you're saying.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like I was just thinking of you hearing the Sun Volt records and all those.

It's like.

To me, it's like the one thing that kind of.

It seems to tie a lot of things together, you know?

Mm.

It's been a while since the last Sherman record, But then suddenly you have a lot coming on in this calendar year with the semi joke Christmas record.

That ended up being kind of something.

A cool little side project.

Yeah, you know, it's the.

I can remember.

It's kind of.

I went out in the beginning of this year and did a few months on the road with my buddy John Popper from Blues Traveler.

Sherman had opened up for Blues Traveler a couple tours ago, even a couple years ago, I guess, and the tour wrapped up at Fillmore in San Francisco.

And it was just one of those days where, like, you know, John was sitting backstage and I was, like, showing the band some new songs that I'd written.

And I figured if you're gonna play the film more and you want to work out some songs, you know, it had sound checks.

Fillmore's probably, you know, you may as well do it.

Like, if you're gonna get new vibe or the ghosts from Rock and Roll past it, they're gonna be there anywhere.

So John happened to hear our soundcheck and came up to me after soundcheck and said, hey, you know, I really dug those new tunes you were showing the band.

And I have this band that I'm putting together, and I would love for you to be part of it.

Cool.

He said, I have an old friend, John O. Manson, from back in the New York days.

He kind of brought us in the Spin Doctors up, and he's just an incredible performer, and he's gonna be producing the record.

We're gonna make it at his house or at his studio out in Santa Fe.

And, you know, he was kind of talking all this stuff, and I was, like, thinking, you hear about these things.

I mean, I've looked up to John, my musical since the first HORDE Festival that I was at.

And I was at the very first one.

We probably went to all of them, where I saw Wilco for the first time and the Mother Hip Crow and a lot of bands that I ended up really loving.

And he was just like, I'll get you a call.

And a couple months later, he called and said he was coming to Austin.

We wrote some songs.

I wrote a few songs for the record.

And we ended up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for, like, five weeks.

And we made a record, me, him, and John and a really great rhythm section and a bunch of great players from the Mexico area and people that John has known for a long time.

And it just kind of turned into this little, like, project where we started.

Like, we ended up getting a record deal, and we ended up going on the road and getting the tour bus and the whole crew and all this.

You know, it was kind of Crazy out of nowhere and we're playing, you know, some of the late night TV shows and that's how the year started.

We put out a record in February and it was.

I basically toured with, with John Popper and the Dusk, Great Troubadours through June and also doing Sherman dates and both of us doing south by Southwest crazy kind of schedule.

And I had a, you know, a six or five month old son at home.

Oh my goodness.

And then as soon as the tour was over, I took some of the, you know, things that I got from the tour and we built and put together our own recording studio here in Austin with some of the stuff, you know, that I collected and our drummer had a lot of.

And we actually put together our own recording studio and put it all together and recorded a couple of records.

I had a couple of records come out on, you know, labels and my first record came out on Vanguard.

Last record came out on Sustain, which is part of Universal Republic.

Right.

Really, you know, going through that whole machine.

One of the things that really happens to you musically is they kind of keep you from releasing much material because they're really trying to really wring out every, you know, ounce of music out of an ounce of time out of these tracks that you submitted for an album.

Right.

That album has taken maybe you recorded three years ago and you're on the road promoting it.

Sick and tired of the tune.

I mean, I went through that in spades.

And I decided that, you know, one of the things we did with the John records, that we went into a studio with the band and if you, you know, I took some classes and Pro Tools and learned how to edit and produce and make records as far as the technical aspect of it.

And so in our drummer and bass player, we all kind of took these classes and we learned how to make records and we got the gear that we wanted in our own place and we never have to ask again if it's okay for go make a record.

So, you know, what did we do when we came there?

We went and made three records and then we even went and recorded a live record as well.

We really had like a prolific time and we plan on releasing at least a record every year and hopefully too, because, you know, my previous release, you know, History was like every four years.

And I started to look at it as like, it'd be like releasing a record as a freshman in high school and trying to.

And saying all these things about how you feel about girls and life and all that stuff and then trying to stand behind that as you're graduating as a senior and just change.

I mean, that's how much your headspace is different, where you're like, I had no idea what I was talking about.

Oh, my.

And that's kind of how it is about releasing a record every four years.

You almost feel like, yeah, four years ago.

And that's.

I felt.

And that's something that impacted me greatly and moved to.

Right.

It's like.

But I don't feel that way now, maybe.

Right.

It's interesting that you point that out because, you know, even something that may start out very authentic like that, at some point, you've moved past it.

And it explains, I guess, for listeners sometimes why something might not feel real after time, even though it may have been in the.

At the initiation of it.

I mean, I think I was.

I was.

A friend of mine sent me a video just the other day of this, like, little show Ryan Adams recently played on Letterman.

And he did, like, you know, an hour and a set.

He'll let you come and play a couple songs if you want to.

They'll let you play as long as you want.

But most people just do a couple songs because they know it's being recorded.

He sat down, played.

But he did that song, you know, New York, I'll always love you, New York.

But he did it, like, really slow with a piano, and it was like.

It probably had a whole different kind of meaning to him now than it did when it came out.

Right around 9, 11.

Yep.

I mean, I think that that.

And that's how you keep material current, I think.

And it's something we really strive to do with Sherman is like.

Some of the older songs we do in our set, we try to do.

If they were like a barn burner telly, you know, rock and roll song.

Maybe try doing it with a banjo roll and a nylon string guitar with brushes on a snare.

Change it into something that you feel is like, you know, lyrics.

For me, one of the things I try to not tell people a lot about what songs are about is because they change sometimes, you know, And a song that maybe it wasn't written for someone per se is later on is about that person.

And I've done a lot of things in my life where it's like, I'll write a song about something and then it'll kind of.

It will happen, you know, like, about, you know, the song leaving Los Angeles and going back to Texas, you know, for this new record.

And lo and behold, it's like, I wrote that song before I moved to Texas.

And it's funny enough, it's like sometimes you'll put these things in motion, you know, with words.

And I think it's.

You look at it as from a.

Creating your own destiny, you know, if you want to get new age, you better however you want to look at it.

But, you know, you can kind of put these wheels in motion by doing these things.

Like I said, a song will change after you sing it for a while.

What you're thinking, your intent, and the delivery of the lyric is different now.

And if you've written the song with enough like, little.

Little can be looked at from a couple different angles, for sure.

And you have a chance to kind of move around in that song and have, like, experiences with it, which I think is really kind of cool.

Something I just recently discovered.

And it's helped me to really rediscover some of my older material that I kind of had shied away from playing.

Unless someone was really adamant about, like, no, I want to hear stay off your first record.

You know, like, okay, I know the song.

I remember the lyrics.

So I just kind of rediscovering another way to kind of play it.

Kind of make some of the older material seem fresh again, you know?

Hey, everybody, it's Aaron from Sherman.

Make sure you go out and pick up our new record inspiration at your local vinyl store or at www.shermanville.com.

country Fried Rock.

What has Austin brought your music?

I think authenticity, that maybe, and a confidence that I have never had.

You know, I really was overwhelmed by this town.

Every time I would tour and come through here.

It was a town that I. I stopped in a lot.

It was always in the back of my mind that one day I would just love to live in Austin.

I mean, I'm a native Texan, so I always thought about returning to the state at some point.

You know, just when you start thinking about kids and that kind of.

The lifestyle I was able to lead as a kid, you know, with being the kind of boy that was in third grade and could have walk out of my house without having to anyone to really have to worry about some creepy dude in a van down the street.

I mean, I basically would walk from my house to a big lake with my black lab dog and my Daisy BB gun and a fishing pole.

Had to spend the whole afternoon.

And no one was worried about, you know, whatever.

You know, I grew up in a very innocent place in East Texas.

I was worried about.

They're more worried about you dying from boredom or something like that, you know, I always thought Austin was just a town that just had so much musical history.

And then the more I learned about, you know, musical history, Austin, I realized, God, I don't even know.

I need to really study this a little bit more.

As I come to Canaan, listen to people who shape this town, I realized why there's so many musicians here.

And, you know, it's one of those towns where you go to the bank and you tell them I'm a musician, and then I'll go, oh.

They don't look at you like, oh, you know, this text is gonna bounce.

You know, they're like, girl, that's great.

Oh, really?

Where do you play?

You play around town?

Yeah, my neighbor plays in Sleep at the Wheel, and, you know, blah, blah, blah.

It's like, I don't know.

It's just a talent's really, really supportive.

And I came here, I was really overwhelmed by the talent and also by the camaraderie of all these people who seem to know each other and where all the shows and, wow, you know, this guy's hanging out from this band and this band and this band.

And I know this guy, and he plays here and he plays in this band, and he's also on a side band with Alejandro Escovedo, et cetera, et ce.

And now that's my life.

You know, it's like, I have all these great bands that I really love that if I wasn't friends with them anyways, I would be at the show.

And it just so happens that they're a friend of mine, so I'm able to kind of maybe, you know, get backstage and drink some beer while they're playing, you know, which is always a perk.

But, you know, I just feel really.

No, I mean, seriously, I feel really, really blessed to be in this town.

There's so much talent.

It's like one of those things where you can go out on a Monday night and see Ian McCloggin from the Faces for free.

You know, it's like, oh, my God.

I mean, where else in the world is that even a possibility?

And it's here at Just Philly Gentlemen, and people don't.

It's like you run into Robert at the Whole Foods, and he lives in town, and no one's acting crazy or asking any weird questions.

He just, like.

He's here hanging out with, you know, Nancy Griffith, and they're getting some, you know, soy cheese, right?

Not a big deal.

You know, it's like, you know, I don't know, there's just not.

There's no protectiveness.

Not much that I've found.

I mean, there are in any town.

And the biggest band in town has always got some sort of air of like, you know, we're the biggest band in town.

Yeah, whatever.

But you know, here it's this like no one really cares.

And I'm coming from Los Angeles.

I mean, it's like, it's just a complete difference.

People are playing down everything they're doing.

Oh yeah, man, I heard your song on that shit.

Yeah, you know, it's tv.

I don't really watch TV in la.

It's like they're coming out going, you know, in la they're coming out going, did you hear my song on my TV show?

And everyone's like, like, you mean that show that you did in your cousin's basement that comes on at, you know, 5:00am Cable access?

Oh, I didn't see it.

And you know, he went out to shut up about it, you know, you know, kind of difference, I think.

And I have so many great friends in Los Angeles.

I'm not the state of California.

I love it.

Beautiful.

And I, I just love living there and I still love going back there.

But, you know, just, I don't miss the whole like trying to get ahead thing that happens and at any cost, you know, that's the nasty part of it where it's just like, like you meet these people and you're like, how do you know?

I know this has a great heart.

And they moved out here from Kentucky and yeah, they're in a desperate spot and they, they're clawing their way up to the top and they're doing it at the expense of all these friendships and relationships.

And you know, I'm not saying that that doesn't happen to everybody a little bit in this music business some along the way it's hard to keep everybody happy and keep yourself, you know, but at the same time, you know, it's.

Life's about having like, you know, a synchronicity and a relationship with people who is mutually beneficial to everyone involved.

And it's like so much further when you're trying to help each other up rather than trying to stuff each other down so you can get up a little bit higher instead of bringing everybody up with you where you guys can make a human pyramid and you know, the top of that beanstalk.

Yeah, it's just a laid back town in general.

And you know what?

We have good barbecue here.

Oh, see, I'm gonna have to get.

Good barbecue I'm gonna have to.

I'm gonna have to argue with you on that because y' all eat beef barbecue.

Oh, you better believe it.

For breakfast, it's pork.

Pork is barbecue.

I can do ribs that way, but I don't.

The one thing I will give is at least barbecue is a noun for you all as well.

It's not an action that you do outside.

Exactly.

Oh, you better believe it.

Having had the chance to live and travel in places and stuff, what have you discovered to eat or drink on the road that's been something you want to seek out again?

One of my favorite things you were talking about the south, and I was thinking about some things that we really like.

We always seem to get when we go through the Southeast is we're always trying to get Brunswick stew.

Oh, yeah.

You know, it's kind of a Jordan.

There's a place in Noonan, Georgia, that we'll go to.

It's off Highway 41.

And there's something.

Every time, you know, we have, like, a little ritual, you come out of Atlanta and you drop down Highway 41, you throw some Allman Brothers on, you get about halfway through, eat a peach when you pull up in this place.

And it's just.

It's just a great little, you know, like one of those places.

And we all, you know, we joke a lot on the road that one of the things we're about to start, just jokingly, is that barbecue vlog.

Because it seems like every time.

Every time we go to, someone's trying to tell us what a great place for barbecue is.

Oh, yeah.

You know, we're trying weird things like, hey, this guy, you know, he does these things, these Dr. Pepper ribs, and you gotta come over here and check the place out.

I believe our guitar player Harley's gonna start a barbecue vlog.

Cause we literally joked.

All we eat on the road is Mexican food and barbecue.

And it's like, I guess that's part of how we keep in touch with being at home in Austin is by, you know, finding tacos, late night taco trucks, and barbecue joints on the road.

You know, it kind of reminds us of home, I guess.

Favorite barbecue place in the whole world is a place called Cooper's Barbecue.

And it's in Llano, Texas, and they have one in New Braunfels now, just recently opened up.

And Terry Cooper is the guy over there who's kind of our buddy who's, you know, one of the family.

He just handles all of our CD release parties.

He just brings out, you know, enough food for 100 people for our whole backstage area and all our friends.

So we kind of have a little bit of, like, a barbecue sponsorship, and I feel like we kind of made it.

I don't really know what else we need.

You know, we have guitar strings, and we have.

We have a guitar string deal.

We have a barbecue deal.

It sure is.

Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me, Erin.

Have a great day.

Thank you so much.

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