Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Baste Records owner, Chris Wallin in studio to talk about his role at the company and what an A&R position entails.
Leahy: In studio, our very good friend Chris Wallin with Baste Records. Baste Records setting up a label launch here sometime in the very near future.
Wallin: Right.
Leahy: You’re going to have offices on Music Row?
Wallin: We will.
Leahy: I visited them the other day. They’re very cool. You got the cool factor going on, man.
Wallin: Oh, man. That’s the thing, too, is it’s is being on the Row. It isn’t the same Row that I came to years ago. It isn’t the same Music Row, of course, but there’s still something magical.
Leahy: We had Gary Chapman sitting in the very seat where you’re sitting in on Monday, and he told us the story of his arrival at Music Row 46 years ago. For those of you who are not familiar with Music Row, it’s actually a couple of streets, 16th, and 17th, that parts of them are called Music Row West, Music Row East, Music Row South, et cetera.
Sort of just adjacent to downtown. But he said that he would go, and you could just walk into one of the local houses on Music Row, knock on the door and maybe get a chance to play your song.
He said that the first opportunity he did that and he sold Father’s Eyes that way. And then a couple of years later, Amy Grant recorded it and it was, you know, his first big hit. Was your experience similar on Music Row back, what, 30, 40 years ago?
Wallin: Yes. And also, when I was like I said, when I was a kid, my mom used to take me around, and she would have 45 records and jukebox inserts, and she would take me around as a kid, and we would go around, and she would go to the restaurants and bars and see if people would put her record in their jukebox.
Leahy: For our listeners, sort of under the age of 50, tell them what a jukebox is. (Laughter)
Wallin: It’s basically if a large piece of furniture and if an iPod had a baby.
Leahy: You’d go in, and you’d press a certain you put money in it. And you could see they would have the old records there. You press a five if you like that particular song, it would come up. Now, you say a jukebox insert. So was that actually, like, the label? The little label where you could see on the selection menu who it was.
Wallin: And what song it was. She had to have those little labels handwritten. A few years ago, I actually found some of those, and I had a few of them framed, and I gave them to my brother and my nephew and some of the family for Christmas. I made everyone cry for Christmas. It was great.
Leahy: You are now the head of A&R for Baste Records, the new anti-woke label that’s going to have a launch on Music Row sometime in the next couple of months.
Wallin: Yes.
Leahy: What on earth, I’ve heard that term. He’s the head of ANR. And apparently, like, the head of A&R is like, a big deal at a music label. What does A&R stand for, and what does the head of A&R do?
Wallin: A&R stands for artist and repertoire.
Leahy: Artist and repertoire.
Wallin: It does.
Leahy: Okay. I understand artist. What is repertoire?
Wallin: Basically my job is to work with the artists and in their direction. And I’m going to be doing a couple of different things because I’m also coming on. I’m wearing a few hats because I’m also going to be writing with the artists.
I’m also going to be producing here and going in the studio and making sure that the artists have what they need. And just kind of working closely with the artist and make sure that they’re happy and that we’re making great music.
Leahy: You’ve been in the music industry. You have both been a songwriter. I think that’s your primary claim to fame, right?
Wallin: As a songwriter, yes.
Leahy: But you’re also a performer and a producer.
Wallin: And a producer.
Leahy: What’s the difference between those different roles?
Wallin: As a songwriter, you basically need to be a chameleon. You have to be able to take yourself out of a song because you’re writing for someone else. What you do is you go in and whatever song you’re looking for, you become that person because a song is just a three-minute movie.
Leahy: When you write a song, do you have an artist in mind for that song?
Wallin: Very rarely. Sometimes you do. For me, whatever song wants to happen that day, I just want to write a great, that kind of song. And sometimes it fits. Now, I’m not saying that we don’t know sometimes if somebody’s cutting recording in the next month, of course, we want to come in and try to do that, but very rarely do we say we’re going to write a Kenny Chesney song today.
Leahy: An interesting example from way back when Dolly Parton wrote the song I Will Always Love You for herself to perform. And then somewhere along the way, Whitney Houston asked if she could use that song, and of course, Dolly said, oh, yes, Whitney. Is that one of the best-selling songs ever?
Wallin: Oh, yeah. And she made lots of money on that song. Lots and lots.
Leahy: Are you going to sign a Dolly Parton to your label? (Chuckles)
Wallin: Come on, Dolly.
Leahy: Come on, Dolly!
Wallin: I’d love to have you, man. She’s a very nice person.
Leahy: This is the surprising thing to me about Dolly Parton. I don’t know anybody who has anything but nice things to say about her. How are you in this kind of rough and tumble industry for like 14 or 15 years old when she got started.
How do you navigate for half a century plus in the rough and tumble industry like that and have everybody say nice things about you?
Wallin: And still have a great name?
Leahy: Yes, that’s amazing.
Wallin: It really is amazing.
Leahy: So, Dolly Parton, if you’re listening, Dolly, you know, Chris would be delighted.
Wallin: Please come and see me.
Leahy: Part of Baste Records.
Wallin: I lived in Sevierville, Tennessee. I’m from east Tennessee.
Leahy: There you go. It’s a lot of stuff you have to do. It sounds really fascinating.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Chris Wallin” by Chris Wallin.
