Sue Bonzell: Welcome to Cow Chair Sessions, where we highlight new up and coming country artists. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell, and I have a special guest today, my friend Dustin Saylor. I got to play his song on the radio and he is here, live at the Cow Chair Sessions studio. Okay, welcome to Cow Chair Sessions, we have a special guest today. My friend, Dustin Saylor is in the studio. Welcome.
Dustin Saylor: Well, thanks. Thanks for having me, happy to be here.
Sue Bonzell: I’m excited because you are our very first guest, part of our maiden voyage.
Dustin Saylor: Let’s go. I’m always ready for an adventure.
Sue Bonzell: So I’ve known you for quite a while. You’re one of my favorite musicians here in Sonoma County.
Dustin Saylor: Thank you.
Sue Bonzell: I do a fair amount of following you around. I’m kind of like a stalker, which is super fun. But you play in kind of the country folk realm?
Dustin Saylor: Absolutely. American country singer songwriter. That’s what I call myself.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, and you play a fair amount of cover songs as well?
Dustin Saylor: I do.
Sue Bonzell: One of my all time favorites, David Allan Coe.
Dustin Saylor: You Never Call Me By My Name.
Sue Bonzell: We used to yell this out to have you play it.
Dustin Saylor: I had to shut them up eventually, so I just decided to learn the song.
Sue Bonzell: And you do it really well.
Dustin Saylor: And it’s a crowd favorite.
Sue Bonzell: It is a crowd favorite.
Dustin Saylor: They love it, and I love it.
Sue Bonzell: It’s so good.
Dustin Saylor: Such a good song.
Sue Bonzell: So who were your influences as you were developing your music style, who were your biggest influences?
Dustin Saylor: Well, when I was a young man, it was Dave Matthews Band, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty. I did love 90s country, like Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt. I saw him at the LBC a couple years ago, that was an amazing show. I could’ve sat and listened to him. John Prine, a singer-songwriter that just has influenced my songwriting. Modern songwriters, Luke Combs always blows me away, Chris Stapleton. I’m a fan of Chase Rice, I think he’s awesome.
Sue Bonzell: He is awesome.
Dustin Saylor: Yeah, I follow him on Instagram. I’m always stoked to see him. And Thomas Rhett is one of my other favorite ones, and Jason Aldean, he’s great.
Sue Bonzell: See, now you’re just making a whole list of like all of my favorite singers.
Dustin Saylor: I know, they’re awesome.
Sue Bonzell: And we’re going to put that list, and then there’s Dustin is on the list too.
Dustin Saylor: That’s right let’s go.
Sue Bonzell: You’re one of them, this is great, it’s great. So you have a new album that you have just released. Is this kind of the first studio album you’ve done, or what have you done in the past?
Dustin Saylor: I have done other recordings. The first EP I did I was a youngster, I was like 20. And I’m not that much older now, but this is my new EP I just released in 2020. Well, last year, but we weren’t able to have a party. But we’re going to have one, it’s coming soon. And it’s a EP called Simple Life. And it’s just about having that simple life. Waking up, having the ones you love close to you, working hard, giving to your community, that kind of stuff.
Sue Bonzell: So did you write some of those songs during our pandemic?
Dustin Saylor: No, a lot of these songs are written maybe a year or two ago. Or I guess two, three years now.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. So I know a little bit about you, and I know you’ve got kind of a yoga thing going on too?
Dustin Saylor: I do yes, I love yoga.
Sue Bonzell: So normally you wouldn’t think yoga, country music. But I mean I kind of like that.
Dustin Saylor: I guess not, yeah that’s true.
Sue Bonzell: So tell me about what yoga is for you and what it means to you?
Dustin Saylor: Yoga was something that came into my life and reconnected me to my spirituality in a really unique, different way. I grew up going to church every Sunday and that was great, but kind of just had a lot of questions throughout my life. And yoga was something that I was able to come to. I got my yoga teacher training, I’m a yoga teacher, it’s fun. But yoga has been a beautiful thing. I would not be able to touch my toes if it wasn’t for yoga.
Sue Bonzell: I don’t know if I can touch my toes.
Dustin Saylor: It’s so funny. So it’s increased my flexibility not only in my body, but in my mind, and in my soul.
Sue Bonzell: I can imagine that kind of helps you get a little bit grounded as well when you’re doing your song writing, really getting into the flow, that kind of thing.
Dustin Saylor: Working on your breath, being present, really allowing yourself to feel what’s happening in the moment and then expressing that. And so yeah, it’s definitely helped my song writing.
Sue Bonzell: I love that. So you have the new album, I’ve got a copy of it right here. Simple Life, look at that, that is pretty cool. Would you be willing to play some music for us here?
Dustin Saylor: Absolutely.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, this is cool, I’m really excited about this. So in just a minute, we’re going to have Dustin play live his new single, Simple Life, that I did play on the radio so that’s exciting. We have a very cool message from my friend, Cynthia. So right after that, Dustin is going to play for us live, at the Cow Chair Sessions studio.
Cynthia: Hi, Cynthia here from Homerun Pizza, and I am so excited to invite you to our three year anniversary party with special guest Dustin Saylor. That is Sunday, June 27th, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. We hope to see you there.
Dustin Saylor: This is my song, Simple Life. It’s about a West County girl. We all know who they are.
(singing)
Sue Bonzell: Okay that was amazing. You are truly, very, very talented, clearly.
Dustin Saylor:
Well, thank you.
Sue Bonzell: Now that song, amazing song, Simple Life. You have a new video-
Dustin Saylor: I do.
Sue Bonzell: For Simple Life, and I’m excited. I feel like I’m just going to premiere it. I know people have maybe seen it, but we’re going to premiere it here on the show.
Dustin Saylor: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Let’s take a look at that right now.
Dustin Saylor: (singing)
Sue Bonzell: Okay, killer video.
Dustin Saylor: Thank you.
Sue Bonzell: How much fun was that to shoot out on the San Francisco Bay?
Dustin Saylor: It was an incredible shot. It was actually Clear Lake, but I don’t know.
Sue Bonzell: Was it Clear Lake? It looked like it was the Bay?
Dustin Saylor: Yeah I know, it did. And it was beautiful.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, that is awesome.
Dustin Saylor: But we had an incredible time. I had like five guys on the boats, and cameras everywhere, and I was there sailing. And it’s my sailboat.
Sue Bonzell: Really?
Dustin Saylor: Yeah, so oh my gosh, that day couldn’t have been better. It was such a fun day.
Sue Bonzell: It was beautiful. I know, I’m thinking to myself, man, I know he’s got camera people and equipment on this sailboat. Wow, that’s kind of a little bit risky.
Dustin Saylor: It was risky. The guys were hanging off the edge of the sailboat, trying to get the shots just right. And luckily it was a beautiful, sunny day. It was in January, so it was a little cold, but we had so much fun.
Sue Bonzell: Well it turned out beautifully. Congratulations on the song, the album. Don’t forget you can get Dustin Saylor’s Simple Life album. Where’s the quickest place to get that Dustin?
Dustin Saylor: You got Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, whatever your choice is, it’s out there for you.
Sue Bonzell: And what is your website?
Dustin Saylor: Dustinsaylor.com.
Sue Bonzell: All right, Dustinsaylor.com. Thank you so much for being here.
Dustin Saylor: Thank you for having me.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely.
Dustin Saylor: Awesome.
Sue Bonzell: Thanks for joining us at the Cow Chair Sessions, you can follow me on TikTok. I’m Sue Bonzell, and we’ve got even more new country artists to highlight. We’ll see you next time.
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