Tell us about the Roman family. Everybody has secrets, everybody has agendas; it’s just typical drama with music mixed in. That’s been one of my favorite parts of doing this—all the music. It’s been a lot of fun to work with these different people and sing with them. What about your character, Albie Roman? He’s just old-school, set in his ways. He’s a little reluctant about the changes and different directions the music industry’s going in. He’s an old dinosaur. But at some point, he has to accept a lot of it and deal with it. He does it in his own surly way. I’m pretty much playing myself. Are the songs in Monarch new? We’ve done a couple of originals, brand-new things. But most of it’s just old, covered, classic country songs, interspersing some pop stuff too, current pop stuff that some of the younger characters are singing. Your recent album, The Way I Wanna Go, is also diverse. How did it come about? Well, I wanted to do an album for my 25th anniversary, so I had the grand idea to put 25 brand-new songs on it. We had plenty of time to do it during COVID, so we just kept recording more songs and we finally ended up with 25 that I was proud of. I think my voice is probably as good or better on this album than anything I’ve ever done. Is Monarch going to be anything like Nashville? I can’t really answer that question. I never watched Nashville. I probably would be ostracized for publicly admitting that, but I never did. How would you describe Monarch? It is this make-believe life of the first family of country music. The character that I play and the character that Susan Sarandon plays are the matriarch and patriarch of this entertainment dynasty. And it’s just all the drama and intrigue, and everything that circulates around it. All these people are incredibly flawed, so it’s just never-ending drama. Because of all your years of experience in country music, did the writers sit you down and ask you for anecdotes from your career that they might incorporate into the show? They have asked me a few things here and there. I don’t know, it’s strange to be put in that position, but by and large they haven’t really had to lean on me for anything. I don’t know where they’re getting all their inside storylines but they’re not coming from me. But they do seem to be pretty real. Susan Sarandon is an Academy Award–winning actress. Were you nervous the first day working with her? Absolutely. Yeah, terrified. Sure. But then I quickly realized after she left—after the first few weeks we’d been working together, she left to go do another project for a while—and somebody asked me, “I’m sure you feel a sense of relief now, not crossing swords with her every day.” I was like, “You know what? I’ve found the opposite is true.” There’s this comfort that comes from working with somebody that is as accomplished and as good as she is. You go into the scene with her, and you know that it’s going to be good. She’s going to be there. You can depend on her. She’s going to carry the scene. You just have to swim in her wake and hang on. I don’t find that to be intimidating or nerve-wracking at all, I find it to be comforting. To what do you attribute country music’s current popularity? It just keeps evolving to stay current. Not just stay current but set the trends. It’s always been that way; country music has been changing ever since the day that it started. It’s constantly evolving and changing. It’s doing that now and people gravitate to that. There’s something in it for everybody. It’s a pretty big tent, so whatever your musical needs may be, they can probably be met in country music. How did the break for COVID-19 help the new album? This is the first opportunity I’ve had to do vocals on an album with sufficient vocal rest. It’s always been [I] go out on the road and gig for a few days, and then come in; rest a couple of days and then go in the studio and sing. That’s the way I’ve always done it. But I literally had weeks of vocal rest before I’d go in to do master vocals on this project. So I think that I can hear the difference in my voice on this record; it’s rested. Your collaborations with Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan are not a surprise, but Pitbull, Melissa Etheridge, Keb’ Mo’ and Stevie Wonder? Did you know these people? I’ve known Keb’ for a long time. We’ve been threatening to work together for years. This was the first time that we finally went in the studio together. We’ve done a couple of events together before, but this was the first time we recorded anything. And then some of the other collaborations, those were suggestions that came from my producers, my record label. At first, I sat and scratched my head. But then I was like, “You know what? Let’s do it.” Everybody that we approached said, “Yeah, sure, I’ll do it.” We sent them the songs and they thought that they were something they’d want to participate in. In the case of Snoop [Dogg] and Pitbull, they wrote verses. What an honor to have them participate like that in this project. I didn’t expect that. You coached The Voice with Blake Shelton. Do you like doing TV? Is TV exposure good for your music career? You know, I enjoy it. I enjoy the acting thing. I really do get a kick out of it. It’s been something that I’ve dabbled in over the years and I’ve been fortunate enough to be in several movies and a few television shows. Then this opportunity came along [to do Monarch], and it seemed like something that I thought was in my wheelhouse, something that I could do convincingly. So I jumped at the chance. It’s something I enjoy doing and it does take me out of my comfort zone. It challenges me. And I don’t think you can continue to grow and experience new things if you don’t get out of your comfort zone. I’m always ready to try something like this. But I’m never going to forget who brought me to the dance and continue to do that. I’m always going to play music as long as somebody wants to listen to it. You’re a big guy, your size can be intimidating. But one of the country magazines described you as a “gentle giant.” Would you say that’s accurate? I don’t know, I think both of those are probably a matter of perspective, everything’s relative. If I’m standing next to Shaq, I don’t look so much like a giant. And I don’t know how gentle I am either. But if somebody wants to describe me as that, if that’s their perception, that’s cool. I don’t have a problem with it. You do a lot of work on behalf of veterans. How did you get started with that? Well, I started a long time ago doing USO stuff. And then after I did some of that, it just seemed to be a natural progression to start working with veterans’ organizations. It just happened and I’m really glad. It’s been probably the most rewarding thing that I’ve had a chance to do in my career. It’s been my privilege to work with these people over the years and I’m better for it. I hope I get to continue doing it. And you wrote a song to pay homage to the vets? I’ve recorded a lot of songs. I try to put something on every album that I do that pays tribute to the men and women that serve. This new album’s no exception. I don’t know, it’s just something I feel the need to do. How was it working on the movie The Desperate Riders? It was a Western, working with a director that I’d worked with before, Michael Feifer. I’d done a movie with Michael years ago [Wyatt Earp’s Revenge] and he reached out and asked if [my wife] Victoria [Pratt] and I would be interested in doing a Western together. We read the script; thought it’d be fun. We did it and had a good time doing it. What is life looking like for you? Is it looking good? Oh yeah, absolutely—I hope. We’ll get this show wrapped up and then it’s out of my hands. We’ll put it out there and see if people enjoy it. But my plans are to go ahead and tour again next year, do as many shows as we can do. Just keep plugging along.
