Dustin Saylor – How Country Music Saved My Life + Album Release Party!
Northern California Native Dustin Saylor is re-releasing his new album “Simple Life” with a party on September 16, 2022 in Healdsburg, CA. The original party was planned for March of 2020, forcing him to cancel the party, but he’s ready to celebrate! We talk about his “hippy country” music roots, his boating project and Sunday Morning Breakfast.
Sue Bonzell
He’s played with Tyler rich and chase rice and he’s got new music. I’m excited. My very good friend Dustin Saylor is in the studios. Welcome, Dustin.
Dustin Saylor
Well, thanks for having me.
Sue Bonzell
I’m so excited that you’re here.
Dustin Saylor
Yes, me too. This place is amazing.
Sue Bonzell
Now you’ve come a long way to Nashville. To be here for the interview. You came here strictly for this interview. The entire trip is why he came here. You got the hat on from Bodega Bay. You’re from my hometown. Also. Talk about where you came from and where you grew up.
Dustin Saylor
I come from Sebastopol, good ol West County, Sonoma County and California, California. Sonoma County, California, northern California. Beautiful hippie. I call it a hippie country hick town, Scarlet, hippies and Hicks. Yes, well, we you know, so I’m a little mixture of both for sure. A little bit more hippie than probably cowboy but I’m good with that. Well, that’s
Sue Bonzell
that was kind of the town and kind of how you grew up. So you grew up playing music in the church, right?
Dustin Saylor
I did. Yes, I grew up I started 15. I started the youth group. The basically the youth pastor looks at me and says, you’re going to be the guy that’s gonna do the music. I said, Okay, so I grabbed the guitar and started learning and playing and little did I know, I was gonna say, I started writing songs right away, and I just haven’t stopped since
Sue Bonzell
now. Do you have a you have a great story about going to try out for American Idol. Tell us about that experience and coming home from that experience.
Dustin Saylor
So I woke up at like four in the morning to go do my audition. It was it was a ton of people’s a great experience. I didn’t get past the first round. And so I was really of course really bummed out really sad. Basically had a dark night of the soul moment, and just was dark on myself and I decide I’m just going to drive home I’m not having another night I was going to stay but I was by myself. So I just got in the car started driving home. And for about the first couple hours, I basically just thought, you know what, I just why am I even doing this? Who cares about music? I should just you know, whatever. And then I don’t know about big Bakersfield up on the i Five took a turn and I started to think to myself, well, what are my fear at the time I was really listened to like Coldplay. And so I was listening to that band as I was driving home and my father was they they were all in they fully committed they were 100% committed to music and at the time I wasn’t I was I was bartending and go into college and playing some gigs here and there. And so I literally came home and quit my bartending job. And I haven’t stopped doing music full time since
Sue Bonzell
and you’re making a great living doing your I mean, you gig a lot how many gigs a month,
Dustin Saylor
I do an average of 2020 gigs a month, 22 gigs a month, it is a lot you know, suddenly it’s like you do like in like four days, you’ll do like five or six gigs. And then my fiance always says I’m retired because I have like three days off a week. But it’s it’s just fine. We’re just teasing. But yeah, a lot of work a lot of music truly grateful that I get to do music from my from my life and
Sue Bonzell
I love so your music is very It has a very positive vibe to it. And you know, you and I’ve had a lot of conversations about your music and that’s kind of your your thing is, I just want to I just want to affect people. I want to have people feel good with my music. And so a lot of the songs you’re right, you do amazing covers of so many songs which you kind of got to do when you’re gigging but your music in particular, I want to talk about your album. And so the simple life is the album came out, right? Right.
Dustin Saylor
Oh yeah, we had an album release party planned April 10 of 2020. And obviously that didn’t happen. And then just over the next two years, like we just would just wasn’t working out. So we still haven’t even had an official release of this EP that I’ve made with my friends and it sounds we’re really happy about it. We’re stoked on it. So I guess we’re gonna give it another shot. We’re gonna go for it and have a I don’t know what we’re calling it but another release some kind of
Sue Bonzell
a rerelease? Yeah, we really last one. We can call the release party half baked. Be full bake. This might be a really good party. Yeah. You didn’t talk about being the hippie thing. Again. So now you got the hat on for Bodega Bay. You have a boat. About your boat. I know you spent a lot of time on your boat.
Dustin Saylor
Okay, so I was getting I was given a boat in Bodega Bay. It’s a 35 foot sailboat. It’s a it’s a it’s a story, the boat stories. I’ve been given two boats in my life. And so I guess my last name is sailor, I guess it’s just meant to be. And this boat was given to me out about a month ago. And the family there was a family living on it. And it was living on the hook which means it’s on the anchor so it’s not in a slip. And they lived on this boat for two and a half years. Wow. I couldn’t even imagine doing that in the winter. Hey, You know the whole thing you got to get on your little dinghy and go to shore to go to work every day forget that. Anyways they decided to move out of California and they were friends of mine and they wanted the boat to go to someone they knew and so they gave it to me and I’ve been getting it sail ready you know to basically took everything off the boat and and start from scratch and really excited to get out there in the ocean and go on those adventures. It’s common
Sue Bonzell
now you the other boat that you have. You did you did a music video on that was your simple life. You
Dustin Saylor
have some black music videos on that sailboat. It’s a little date, they call them a day cruiser. It’s just a little 24 foot boat. Perfect for just like filling up the ice chest on the boat and grabbing some beers and hanging out on the lake. It’s it’s a ton of fun.
Sue Bonzell
So okay, so he’s a sailor, so you got to spell it right essay Why lol? Yes. And sailor sailor. Yeah. So have you written any songs about sailing?
Dustin Saylor
I just started writing. Like last week about it.
Sue Bonzell
I didn’t even know I didn’t even know that I knew to ask that though. Yeah, just like,
Dustin Saylor
I got off working on the boat and Daga Bay and I came in I was just in that mode of being creative and grabbed my guitar and started playing some and it’s just about the songs about like a sailing crew that it’s it’s a metaphors for life, sometimes the winds blowing and sometimes the winds not blowing and you have to like just your mercy of the elements and just trusting the process and the flow of what of what brain of what your life brings you.
Sue Bonzell
That’s life. Right? Yeah. It’s hard to trust the process.
Dustin Saylor
Especially when you’re just sitting there wanting the wind to blow. Your sails aren’t moving. You’re just like, What am I gonna do?
Sue Bonzell
I hear that. I hear that. Okay, so you’re here in Nashville. Any plans to move to Nashville?
Dustin Saylor
Not right now. Okay. Yeah. All right.
Sue Bonzell
But you’re gonna come back.
Dustin Saylor
Oh, we’re coming back. Yeah. Venus. I’ve been having a great time. That’s all so much amazing music. We went to a song right around just a couple of days ago, which was so much fun. The place was absolutely packed. All the songwriters did such a great job. It’s just great to be around people who are writing songs, get their ideas, get that inspiration going. It gives you ideas. It’s just good to be around. Oh, yeah.
Sue Bonzell
Well, yeah. Just in having the opportunities to meet different people and be exposed to different styles and all of that. So. So yeah, so you need to come back more often. Yes. Well, that’s the plan. That’s the plan. Okay. We’re making plans. So I know you brought your guitar. Are you willing to play a little song for us?
Dustin Saylor
Absolutely.
Sue Bonzell
I think um, can I make a request? Sure. Sunday morning breakfast.
Dustin Saylor
Yeah, let’s go. Okay.
Sue Bonzell
Yeah. All right. So when we come back, Dustin is going to play the song Sunday morning breakfast. So we’re going to talk just a little bit more and we’re going to play my world famous game, truth or truth with Dustin Saylor?
Dustin Saylor
My name is Dustin Saylor. And here’s the song calls Sunday morning breakfast desk breakfast of the week. Sunday morning break this may just the way home baby girls smile, flex Sunland IT guy made thing time and lingo and I want to be the one that keeps you I’ll help turn your wrongs straight in search known as Joe Hart and his main goal so long and now you carry him long as you see me the way I’m alive begins I don’t want anyone by my side and baby on the way up and I must be dreaming there we go magazine with the low news the woods a man the few you’re all last seen in everything I’ve been waiting and he has been gone and long. So long. And now soon see As long as she is alive I don’t want any warning Mount Sinai and at all Miami wear my love again and I don’t own any lawn by my side and you all will you be mowing your own lawn along on the map it’s Sunday morning
Sue Bonzell
all right, it’s Dustin Saylor. That was Sunday morning breakfast probably one of my favorite songs off the album. It’s just got a lot of great songs. But that’s, that’s one of my favorites. Now, I helped you on a lyric video for this. And added in some stock video for that. And you had mentioned you’re like, I liked that there was some diversity. Because I think that that song really speaks to not just from a couple or a romantic standpoint, but like that family feel. Yeah. So let’s talk about the the song Sunday morning breakfast. How did you write that song? What was the inspiration?
Dustin Saylor
Okay. Well, I was, you know, I would been a bachelor for about 10 years. And I started dating Venus at the time. And she had come over and she was her daughter was with us and it was Sunday morning. And all of a sudden she’s like making this breakfast and doing all this stuff. And then she hands me this beautiful plate of food and I start you know, just like hits me like I’m having Sunday morning breakfast. And I hadn’t had a Sunday morning breakfast like that. Since I was a kid my mom would always make Sunday morning breakfast before church. And it was a thing that we did as a family, my dad and my mom, my sisters. And so just kind of reminded me of that. So I grabbed my guitar and I started writing that song and then I know I’ve been singing it ever since. And still having Sunday morning breakfast so having Sunday morning breakfast.
Sue Bonzell
Okay, I gotta ask what’s the your favorite go to breakfast food?
Dustin Saylor
Well, it’s not gonna sound that good, but it is really good. I like what we make as a breakfast salad. So it’s like you get this beautiful salad you get all kinds of like dressings for like we do healthier stuff. I don’t know what the kind of dressings we something we throw sausage in the salad and potatoes. Avocados. You know, we just kind of make a nice big breakfast salad is always so good.
Sue Bonzell
Yeah, breakfast salad. Okay, that’s a new one. We might have to get the recipe for the breakfast.
Dustin Saylor
Oh, yeah, I’ll make you a good breakfast salad. It doesn’t sound good, but it is good.
Sue Bonzell
Now all right. See, there we go. All right, we’re getting we’re gonna get into some more fun questions with my truth or truth game. So So yes, let’s do that. Now. I think I want to know truth. We ready? Truth. No more truth or dare? You just do truth or truth. It’s all about the truth. You get to pick your own questions.
Dustin Saylor
Oh, here we go. Tell us your cheesiest pickup.
Sue Bonzell
Well, he doesn’t. You don’t have to use him anymore. No. But there was a time when you were a bachelor.
Dustin Saylor
I know that. The the lie was never a pickup line guy because they are so cheesy.
Sue Bonzell
Do you have like, like douchey friends who have something?
Dustin Saylor
Was just like they I guess my my hands are always so bad. I would just it was just awkward every time I walk out hey, what do you like to drink? That’s my cheesy pick. What do you drink? And I don’t know. I don’t have a good one for this one. Okay, so
Sue Bonzell
if you walked up to a bar, and you said hey, would you drink it? Is there any drink that she could say where you’re like net? Oh, not interested.
Dustin Saylor
Not interested in? No. I’m actually pretty open. It could be anything from whiskey to wine, whatever she wants to drink as long as she’s fun to talk to.
Sue Bonzell
There you go. Yeah. Perfect. Good dating advice for the ladies out there. Right right around to talk to Yeah, be fun to talk to order a drink.
Dustin Saylor
All right. All right, here we go. What’s the one thing you do if you knew If there were no consequences. Oh,
Sue Bonzell
that’s trouble. It’s one of my favorites. So we get that one a lot. And I like that one. What’s the one
Dustin Saylor
thing I would do if there was no consequences? I would probably just eat ice cream every day.
Sue Bonzell
Oh, you went with the food like that. I would
Dustin Saylor
just oh man. I’ll have a sweet tooth if I could just eat sugar all the time.
Sue Bonzell
With no consequences. No.
Dustin Saylor
This is like, Oh, cool. I didn’t gain any weight. I feel.
Sue Bonzell
I’ll take the red dye doesn’t matter if
Dustin Saylor
it’s good cookies. Ice cream. Yeah, I got a sweet tooth. I gotta watch it.
Sue Bonzell
I like I like that answer. Because I’m kind of that way with like, I’m a foodie. And so it’s like, kind of like, if I could just like eat food. never gain any weight. Yeah, just eat as much as I want every now and be like,
Dustin Saylor
and then even sometimes just the gnarly, gross food to the burgers that are just, like random warning that you’re going to a place you shouldn’t be going to after you’ve been drinking all night.
Sue Bonzell
Like the Waffle House. Yeah, out here in Nashville. 3am You’re like, oh, man, don’t eat this and the light of day. It’s good at 3am Alright, let’s do one more. One more.
Dustin Saylor
Photo we got what do we got? Here we go. When’s the last time you cried? Actually, I cried at the concert the other day? Because this one song was hitting me it was the David nail song. Rain on me. Yeah, it’s a good song. Yeah, it was a really good song. And he crushed it. And it just got me like it hit my heart. And I was just Yeah, I was I got teared up. Yeah, he did great. Yeah, I
Sue Bonzell
had to I actually did that that night, too. There was a song about somebody was singing about their mama back home. And I was like, oh, hold it together, girl. Yeah. Music just hits you. And that’s exactly it like that. The power of country music is I think I think it goes beyond a lot of it. I love a lot of genres of music. And you know, you listen to a lot of different genres. But man and when it comes to country, like you said, it just it gets you it gets you in the heart and about
Dustin Saylor
- There’s something about country music. My mom says that she likes all kinds of music, but country’s music is what she lives by. And it just kind of gives a she has that she just there’s the morality. There’s just family values. There’s it’s just that’s like everyday life. It’s just speaking into our lives and being able to tell those stories, because it’s something to relate to, which is really nice. It’s
Sue Bonzell
a friend of mine say how come every single country songs about like beer and trucks and your girlfriend breaking up? And I’m like, because it’s reality. Part of that. Do you not understand?
Dustin Saylor
That’s what Yeah, exactly. It’s fine. All kinds of different country songs out there. But yeah, a lot of them about trucks. But the trucks are so many stories that happened in a truck right? Adventures breakups. Listen to the music going out with friends. Yeah, I mean, a truck can be many different things. Many different stories happens. Yes,
Sue Bonzell
it means more than just a truck. Yeah, it’s not about a truck. It’s more than just a truck. I think that might be your next song. I don’t know. It’s
Dustin Saylor
just a truck. Yeah, that’s a good song. Hey, we
Sue Bonzell
just came up with a hook. All right, well, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of out of your touring in Nashville to come out here to play with us and and play your song. So simple life you can get out now. Get it on all the streaming platforms, download Spotify, iTunes, all the things. And for sure, we’re going to be keeping an eye on Sunday morning breakfast because I have a feeling there’s going to be a really good video coming out for that. That’s right. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dustin Saylor
Thanks for having me.
Sue Bonzell
Absolutely. Thanks for watching up in country. Be sure to like and subscribe and leave us a comment. We do new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to follow up and country on Instagram Tik Tok and Facebook and you can follow me to add Sue Bonzell on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok.
Recent Comments