Sue Bonzell:
He has played with Scotty McCreery, Brantley Gilbert, Chris Young, and the Eli Young Band, just to name a few. And he has a collective fan base of over 1 million followers. I am super excited to introduce you guys to Kaleb Austin.
Hey Kaleb.
Kaleb Austin:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Sue Bonzell:
How’re you doing today?
Kaleb Austin:
I’m doing well. How are you doing?
Sue Bonzell:
I’m doing great. I’m happy to see you there on my screen. So, where are you calling in from?
Kaleb Austin:
So, we’re in Salt Lake City.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay, awesome. Okay, good. I’ve been talking to a lot of people in Nashville, and I don’t know if you drink wine or not. We’re out here in wine country, so…
Kaleb Austin:
I do. Every now and then, I do. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
Do you? Okay, good. What kind do you like?
Kaleb Austin:
Honestly, I’m not too picky, really. I mean, I kind of like Merlot, but I’ll drink whatever.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay. More importantly, what does your wife like to drink, if she drinks wine?
Kaleb Austin:
She likes more of the sweeter wine. Like, what are those, Zinfandels, and things like that. Nothing too crazy or bitter, but yeah, she’s mostly likes vodka, to be honest.
Sue Bonzell:
So I found you on TikTok and actually, I think I found your wife first on TikTok, and she has done some great videos of you, capturing you with your family. How many kids do you guys have?
Kaleb Austin:
Yeah, so we have four in total. So we’re super busy, yeah.
Sue Bonzell:
You are super busy, and they are different ages. I know I’ve seen the little ones on your videos a lot, and I just love it. You’re sitting there and you’re feeding your baby and you’re singing. And these kids are singing with you, and I just absolutely love that. So tell me about family life with you guys, and it seems like you’re singing all the time.
Kaleb Austin:
I am, yeah. I mean, I grew up doing that. My family’s filled with musicians, so I kind of grew up doing that. So I’ll sing all the time. I’ll put on the radio and sing to mostly nineties country playlist that I love to listen to. And so I’ll just sing all the time.
And I’ve been doing music for quite a while, but my wife started to capture these moments and things and throw them up on TikTok. I’m not a technical guy, per se, not real great at all the social media stuff. And so she started to do all that and it really gave me a new chance of doing music. So, my kids are forced to listen to me all day long, but I think they love it.
Sue Bonzell:
It seems like they do. They get really excited when your song comes on. I’ve watched lots of your TikToks and everything. I love the fun things that your wife does with you. She kind of messes with you a little bit, doesn’t she?
Kaleb Austin:
Oh, all the time. On and off camera, everyday. Yeah. All the time. She’s messing in with me, yeah. So she’ll find all kinds of funny ways to just catch me singing or make me sing, or one of the things she does, she hasn’t done it in a while, but I’ve always got to be on my toes. She’ll just huck a beer across the room at me, and then I have to catch it or, stuff like that. You know what I mean? So, it’s always fun because it’s spur of the moment and it makes us laugh. So, we have a lot of fun doing it. It’s a good time.
Sue Bonzell:
It does seem like it, it does seem like it. Now, what I also found out is that, you tried out for American Idol, Voice? Tell me about what happened there.
Kaleb Austin:
Yeah. So, not much. So I tried out for American Idol first when I was, I think, 18 or 19 years old, and I didn’t make it very far at all, not even past the first round. I thought I was going to win. I’m like, “I’m going to go in there and knock their socks off.” No, it didn’t happen.
And so a few years later, I went out for The Voice and I made it to the second round in The Voice. And then got knocked off there, tried again, didn’t even make a past the first round after that. And I was living in Nashville, at the time when I tried out the second time, doing songwriting. So, music’s gone up and down. I’ve been told, “no,” a lot, but it’s something that I just never gave up on. And thank goodness for my wife and what she’s done for me, because she’s really the reason that I’m talking with you right now.
Sue Bonzell:
Absolutely, yes. Like I said, I found your wife first and then I found you and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I need to meet these people. They’re awesome, they’re having so much fun.”
Kaleb Austin:
And if she was more done up, she would definitely come and say hi. I went out there and asked her for some help and she’s like, “I don’t even have my makeup on.” And I was like, “Sorry.”
Sue Bonzell:
Well, she’s gorgeous. She’s gorgeous.
Kaleb Austin:
She is, yes.
Sue Bonzell:
No matter what.
Now, you’ve got a new song called Sun Goes Down, and I watched as you guys saw that it went to number one on iTunes, which was super exciting. Tell me more about that.
Kaleb Austin:
Yeah. It was, I mean, because we don’t ever… We’re brand new to all of this, pretty much. So we don’t really know how to gauge or track anything. It’s like a big surprise to us. So, I was just sitting there, I’m just kind of watching the phone, not knowing what’s going to happen. And when it went to number one, it was just a flood of emotion because we work really, really hard on advertising, promoting. We go and do everything we can while it’s in its pre-order phase. For a solid two months, it’s just work before that. So it was an awesome, humbling, gratifying experience to see that happen. Because I never thought I’d have a number one in my career, ever. So it’s something cool to have happen, to see that.
Sue Bonzell:
That is really exciting. I’m excited for you just because, like I said, I’ve kind of been listening to some of your music, following what you’re doing, loving what you’re doing, and you do have an EP coming out. Is that correct? You’re working on that now?
Kaleb Austin:
Yeah, yeah. I do. It’s going to be a six-song project, so we’re working on that. In fact, we go back to Nashville at the end of July to record the next single, that’ll probably come out for pre-order sometime in August, and then the remaining EP will come out in January or February, so it’ll be out. And then next year, we’re planning to do a U.S. tour, probably play 40 or 50 dates next year.
Sue Bonzell:
Great.
Kaleb Austin:
Going to be busy.
Sue Bonzell:
I love it, I love it. Well, are you willing to sing us your new song?
Kaleb Austin:
Yeah, definitely.
Sue Bonzell:
Okay.
Kaleb Austin:
Absolutely. I mean, the verse chorus okay with you? Is that fine?
Sue Bonzell:
Sure, let’s hear it.
Kaleb Austin:
Or the whole thing?
Sue Bonzell:
Let’s do the whole thing, if you’re up for it.
Kaleb Austin:
Sure yeah, not a problem. So this is, Sun Goes Down.
[singing Sun Goes Down by Kaleb Austin 00:07:38]
Sue Bonzell:
Nice, thank you. I love that song.
Kaleb Austin:
No, thank you. Thank you, thank you.
Sue Bonzell:
Now you wrote that song for your wife?
Kaleb Austin:
I did, yeah, I did. So I wrote that about four or five years ago for my wife. At the time, we really had, not a whole lot of money, not a whole lot of anything going on. Living in a tiny, little, one bedroom apartment with very little. So, it was about me and her, staying in and having fun together. And remembering to, kind of, block out the world every now and then, and just remember to have fun with each other. It was cool because, actually, today is our five-year anniversary.
Sue Bonzell:
Today?
Kaleb Austin:
Today, yep.
Sue Bonzell:
Happy anniversary. I’m so excited for you.
Kaleb Austin:
Thank you, thank you very much. So, it was fun because I wrote that song for her so many years ago and we put that song out kind of for our anniversary, in the months that are for our five-year anniversary. So it was fun to see that all come full circle and to be able to do that for her.
Sue Bonzell:
I love it. I mean, what great advice for other couples, too. You’re, obviously, doing something right. You guys are having fun together, and that’s good advice. I, personally, love when your wife is just throwing out song titles or something to you, and then you just sing them, like how you do that?
Kaleb Austin:
She does that all of the time.
Sue Bonzell:
It’s like, that’s a good library you’ve got going in there.
Kaleb Austin:
I mean, at the beginning, it was kind of hard. She would stump me a lot, but it just got to where she knows the stuff that I do well, or the stuff that she likes, and so I try. And I’ve listened to music for so long, singing with my family growing up, especially that era of country music, that I do the best that I can with it. And hope… and usually, if she gives me an artist or something, it’s a little easier than one specific song or something like that. But I try and stay on my toes all the time, and we go live like three to four nights a week. So I’m playing and singing requests from people all over the world for about 20 hours every week, so it really kind of keeps everything fresh for me.
Sue Bonzell:
My favorite game she plays with you is pick a beer.
Kaleb Austin:
Oh yeah?
Sue Bonzell:
Puts out the beers, and you get to pick one. And underneath is the name of an artist, and you need to sing a song. I mean, I’m like falling in love with your wife. I think she’s really cool.
Kaleb Austin:
She’s awesome. She is awesome. She’s easy to fall in love with.
Sue Bonzell:
She is. And watching your videos and everything, we mentioned before about your family and everything, you can tell you are a great dad. So I’ve got to give you kudos. I’m watching you with your kids. I mean, it’s just… Your channel, everything that you guys, I just love it. I’m a fan, what can I say.
Kaleb Austin:
Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Sue Bonzell:
Well, awesome. Thank you for being here today, thank you for playing your song. And we’re going to look for you, doing big things. Going on your tour next year, the EP coming out. Can’t wait. So, it’s kalebaustinmusic.com. Is that correct?
Kaleb Austin:
It is, yeah. And thank you so much, Sue, for having me on here. This has been a really cool time, so thank you.
Sue Bonzell:
Absolutely. Take care.
Kaleb Austin:
You too.
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