Sue Bonzell: He says that his best performances are in the shower. Today’s guest is Roman Alexander. This is Up N Country. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell. It’s all powered by the vLiveCast. Okay, are you ready for the shower story now?
He has over 6 million downloads of his song, Cocktail Conversations, and he is currently on tour with our new friend Levi Hummon. Hey, it’s Roman Alexander. Hey Roman. How’s it going?
Roman Alexander: I’m doing great. How are you?
Sue Bonzell: I am fantastic. So you’re out on tour right now, where are you currently?
Roman Alexander: Last night, we were in Omaha, Nebraska, and tonight we’re in Lawrence, Kansas. So college towns all the way.
Sue Bonzell: Awesome.
Roman Alexander: And it’s been fun. My song came out last night. I’m sure we’ll talk about it, the new one, but it came out last night around 11. So our time in… We partied a lot. It was a good time.
Sue Bonzell: Well, you look good for partying all night. I’m impressed.
Roman Alexander: I take it easy. I stay right here all the time. I’m just, I’m always cruising, always cruising.
Sue Bonzell: Well, you know you have another show, but it’s the next show, the next show.
Roman Alexander: Right.
Sue Bonzell: So you did mention you have a new song. Tell us about the new song.
Roman Alexander: Yeah, it’s called Better in a Car. It just came out today, actually. And so, or I guess midnight, but it’s a reflection of just growing up and where I spent most of my time was in a car. I love driving. When I needed to think, I go driving. And at the time, I wrote it really kind of about my first car, which is a 1998 Subaru Impreza Wagon, which is green and stick shift and-
Sue Bonzell: Oh my gosh.
Roman Alexander: It was not a lady magnet by any means, but the girl I was dating at the time in high school, that was my favorite place to be.
Sue Bonzell: Aw. That’s awesome. She was okay with the Subaru, apparently.
Roman Alexander: I’m not with her anymore, so maybe the Subaru had something to do with that. I don’t know.
Sue Bonzell: Who knows? Who knows? I don’t know. You’re going to have a new car soon anyways. It’s all good, right?
Roman Alexander: I just got my first car I bought for myself, was last year.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. What’d you get?
Roman Alexander: I got a Volkswagen Passat.
Sue Bonzell: Ooh okay.
Roman Alexander: I’m a car guy.
Sue Bonzell: Very cool.
Roman Alexander: Most guys like to drive trucks or something like that. I just, I like cars. I’m a car nerd.
Sue Bonzell: Do your friends make fun of you?
Roman Alexander: No because it’s a pretty nice car.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Good. All right. Good.
Roman Alexander: Yeah. If it was another Subaru, maybe, another wagon, I probably would.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, maybe. Oh, maybe, maybe. Now, so you’ve got this new song that just came out. Congratulations. I’ve heard you.
Roman Alexander: Thank you.
Sue Bonzell: I saw some video of you singing it in concert, it sounds amazing. And you’ve done a couple of duets with some amazing ladies, Ashley Cooke and Alana Springsteen, man.
Roman Alexander: Yeah. That’s right.
Sue Bonzell: Way to pick the talent. Tell me about working with them.
Roman Alexander: They’re great. Ashley’s a very special talent. She’s just got this thing about her with her artistry, where it just came very natural. Especially the song, it kind of formed itself. That was the nice part about it. There really wasn’t a forced effort to work with each other. We both knew each other, we’re both friends. And then that made recording the song a lot easier. As far as Alana goes, she’s like my little sister, I called her Shrimp Popper and she’s one of my favorite people ever. And that song we wrote with my producers. And my producers produced that song for her so she adopted some new producers out of it too.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah. I mean it really, both of those songs, really showcase both of your voices and your talents and it’s sometimes not easy to do a duet like that. Are you planning any new duets or collaborations with any other ladies coming up?
Roman Alexander: Not currently in the talks. I’m sure we’ll… Gosh, that phone is ringing. There’s no talks of it currently, right now, but who knows? We do have a song in the pile right now that I think will be the perfect duet with a female. Whether that could be somebody like Laci Kaye Booth or, if it was Kelsea Ballerini. I don’t know, we’re looking into some options right now. I just, I want it to come natural.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah.
Roman Alexander: It’s hard to top that.
Sue Bonzell: Absolutely, like I said, amazing songs and that they’re both amazing talents as well as you. Now, okay. So I got to ask, you get a lot of ladies screaming there at the concerts. I’ve seen you on stage, you’re grabbing their phones, you’re doing the videos. I mean, I love how you interact with them and I’m sure all the ladies are like, okay, is this dude single? So I got to ask for all the ladies, is Roman Alexander single?
Roman Alexander: I have a dog, so…
Sue Bonzell: Okay. You didn’t really answer the question, but he did say he has a dog.
Roman Alexander: Yes. I am on the free market.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Free market. Okay. Good to know. So have you ever dated a fan?
Roman Alexander: Never dated a fan. Never. Well, they became a fan of my music after, maybe, I don’t know.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Roman Alexander: And then they… When it didn’t work out, maybe they weren’t so much a fan. I don’t know. But, no-
Sue Bonzell: And then were you writing songs about them?
Roman Alexander: You got to have the inspiration from somewhere.
Sue Bonzell: Of course, a little heartbreak here and there doesn’t hurt a good country artist, right?
Roman Alexander: A little bit. Just a little bit.
Sue Bonzell: Just a little bit. Just a little bit.
Roman Alexander: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Well, very good. So, now I have, like I said, I’ve watched a lot of your videos and everything and I’ve kind of stalked you a little bit on TikTok because I’m addicted to TikTok. I noticed that you have a pretty significant tattoo you on your arm that looks like writing. And so-
Roman Alexander: I do.
Sue Bonzell: I’m just wondering what your tattoo says.
Roman Alexander: So I get that question a lot and I probably should just do a TikTok about it. That might help, but I don’t think it’s that big of an arm piece. It’s not like a work of art, but it is something very significant to me, it’s the lyrics to How Great Thou Art, which was my grandpa, his favorite gospel song. And it was the first song he ever showed me that Elvis Presley ever sang. So I have three Elvis tattoos on my arm. I have a song Cocktail Conversations that talks about the Elvis tattoo. And so I have an Elvis tattoo inside my arm, which is his signature. My mom’s name is Lisa Marie. So I have my mom’s name-
Sue Bonzell: Wow.
Roman Alexander: Is Lisa Marie after his daughter. So we’re a big Elvis family plus the How Great Thou Art. So I plan on getting more. We actually talked about it, Levi… Oh, hey guys, can we turn that off for a second?
Sue Bonzell: We are authentically on tour right now.
Roman Alexander: Sorry, buddy. Anyways, I plan on getting more. Levi mentioned something to me tonight about possibly going to get a tattoo after the show. So…
Sue Bonzell: Ooh, okay. Well, okay. We’re going to have to get-
Roman Alexander: [inaudible] like what the heck.
Sue Bonzell: Send me a video. I want live video of this going on.
Roman Alexander: Yeah. Okay. I’ll try to get a video.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Send it to me because I want to know, because I mean, I’m asking about the tattoo here. So now, you finished up high school and you moved to Nashville. So you’re on this musical journey. What has been the biggest stumbling block or the hardest part of this musical journey?
Roman Alexander: I don’t think I’ve had it yet. I’m sure. You always have people that, you get pushed back on things or you have days where you feel discouraged. I look back now and I think there are the days when I had zero money in my bank account, I had nothing going on and I was sitting at home, walk in and my lights might be turned off because I didn’t pay my power bill that month. Things like that.
Sue Bonzell: Man.
Roman Alexander: I look back and I’m like, those were cool. I miss those times and I miss having to work really hard for the things I want. I still do. I still work really hard for everything I want. But I’m saying, that was a time period where you were focused only on one thing and one thing only. There were no interviews. There were no photo shoots or video shoots. There was nothing. It was strictly just, how can I make music? How can I forward to make and write music? I don’t know how to write songs. I didn’t know who to write with. Those were challenges, but I think, more than anything, those are really, really amazing moments in my career.
Sue Bonzell: That’s cool. That’s cool. Okay. So now I want to know about, and actually, I’ve got coming up, the top five personal questions.
Roman Alexander: Sure.
Sue Bonzell: Can’t wait for that. Right. Okay. But before we get there, I want to know about your worst performance ever.
Roman Alexander: I could that… When you said worst performance, just immediately, something came to mind and it was a ride around in Nashville. My publisher, I hadn’t been signed yet and he was coming out to see me play. And if a ride around, you’ve ever seen them, it’s one guy plays one song or a woman might play another song and then somebody else might play and then just on and on and on. And then it goes back around. So it got time for me to sing and I forgot every single word to every single song. I played a cover song, didn’t know I was supposed to only play originals. And so they thought I wrote that song and I didn’t, it just, it came across. So it was really bad. I was shaky and off pitch. And I forgot the words to my last song and I just straight up, just looked, got the mic and I said, all right, I’m done. I just got up and walked off, so…
Sue Bonzell: Oh man, well you recovered well, right?
Roman Alexander: I think I have. You got to have those moments. They humble you.
Sue Bonzell: Exactly.
Roman Alexander: They let you know that you’re exactly where you need to be, when you’re supposed to be there.
Sue Bonzell: Well, you’re also a real authentic person. Oh my God.
Roman Alexander: I try, I try. Sorry, I messed up. I forgot, I make mistakes.
Sue Bonzell: Exactly. Exactly, you’re allowed. You’re allowed. Now, earlier before-
Roman Alexander: It’s the hard thing, you’re under the microscope. You’re not supposed to be having to make mistakes. That’s the hard part.
Sue Bonzell: Well, yeah. That is the hard part. It’s like people think that just because you are on stage or you are the performer and everything, that everything has to be perfect. And that’s just simply not the case. So-
Roman Alexander: That’s right.
Sue Bonzell: It’s the way it is, right?
Roman Alexander: Yep.
Sue Bonzell: It’s the way it is. So now, earlier we had a guest pop by, when you were there. Is he still there? Levi still there?
Roman Alexander: Levi Hummon. He might be gone. We’re getting the stage set up for soundcheck and everything. So, he might pop by. If I see him, I’ll bring him back over here. But yeah, he’s very fun to tour with.
Sue Bonzell: So, who’s currently your best country music artist friend?
Roman Alexander: He’s up there.
Sue Bonzell: Levi? Okay.
Roman Alexander: Him and Ashley are both up there.
Sue Bonzell: Nice.
Roman Alexander: Most of my friends are not country artists.
Sue Bonzell: Really?
Roman Alexander: Conner Smith is a really good buddy of mine.
Sue Bonzell: Okay.
Roman Alexander: I stay very close to Conner.
Sue Bonzell: Nice. So you guys probably do a lot together, I’m sure. Are you guys collaborating on any songs currently?
Roman Alexander: No, nothing right now. Maybe we will at some point, but right now I think everybody’s so… We’re still trying to build at such a early pace that I think we are still trying to get ourselves established, so it’s hard to do. It was even hard for me to even want to do a duet.
Sue Bonzell: Really?
Roman Alexander: But when it was Ashley, it was really hard to say no.
Sue Bonzell: She is pretty cute.
Roman Alexander: She’s awesome. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: She seems like an awesome person. Okay. All right. Are you ready? We’re going to do-
Roman Alexander: Yes. Oh, hit it.
Sue Bonzell: My top five personal questions for Roman Alexander. Okay. Do you have any fears that are totally irrational? Like, are you scared of-
Roman Alexander: Give me an example.
Sue Bonzell: Spiders or something like that? Like scared of spiders, something like… What’s your-
Roman Alexander: No… Snakes.
Sue Bonzell: Fear that you’re like, that’s kind of ridiculous.
Roman Alexander: I’m scared of snakes. I want nothing to do with snakes.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. There you go.
Roman Alexander: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: I’m with you. I’m with you. Totally.
Roman Alexander: I’m not going to say the only good snake’s a dead snake, but I will say the only good snake is a snake that I do not see. So…
Sue Bonzell: Yeah, exactly. Yes.
Roman Alexander: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, good. We’re on the same page there. Okay. Do you have any talent that you consider totally useless? Useless human talent.
Roman Alexander: I’m a car nerd. I think that’s kind of a talent. I love everything about cars.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. There you go.
Roman Alexander: Anything car wise, I’m kind of a nerd about. Maybe that’s a talent. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just an annoyance.
Sue Bonzell: So you know how to change your own oil, right?
Roman Alexander: I can. Yes, I can. Do I? No. But I can do it, yes.
Sue Bonzell: No, but you can. Okay. That’s actually not a useless talent. That’s actually a pretty good talent. So…
Roman Alexander: It does come in handy, but there’s German cars. They’re painted, you can’t even, they’re impossible to work on. So…
Sue Bonzell: So, you’re more like Ford, Chevy guy when it comes to working on cars?
Roman Alexander: Chevy.
Sue Bonzell: Chevy.
Roman Alexander: I like Chevy.
Sue Bonzell: There you go. See, everybody has a preference.
Roman Alexander: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: What is that about? It’s like a thing.
Roman Alexander: I don’t know. There’s got to be a rivalry between the trucks. I don’t know.
Sue Bonzell: I guess so.
Roman Alexander: A long as it gets from point A to point B, I’m a happy guy.
Sue Bonzell: All right. Good. Okay. When you are in the shower, do you ever sing?
Roman Alexander: Oh, do I sing? Oh, yes I do. I put on a full concert. Actually, I think my best performances are put on in the shower.
Sue Bonzell: I love that.
Roman Alexander: [inaudible].
Sue Bonzell: Like, wait, hold on. Get that recording going. Let’s go.
Roman Alexander: I would have more Grammys than Adele and Taylor Swift combined if there was an award for singing in the shower.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. There you go. A Grammy. We can start a new category. New category.
Roman Alexander: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: We can have you submit your shower singing for the award, how about that? Little contest.
Roman Alexander: That would be fantastic.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. I might have to start that contest, that might be kind of fun. It might just have to be the video record, I mean the audio recording, maybe not the video. I don’t know. We might get ourselves in trouble, but that’s a whole different show.
Roman Alexander: That’d be so fun.
Sue Bonzell: All right. Are you good at mimicking anybody’s accents? Can you do any good accents?
Roman Alexander: I can do Owen Wilson.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Let’s do it.
Roman Alexander: It’s just as simple as you go. Wow. Wow. Yeah, you [inaudible] right there. Right there. Yeah, I’m pretty good at impressions, impersonations. Really anything you want me to do, I could try to do it. That’s typically-
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Who else? Who’s like a… I don’t know, who would be good to impersonate? Well, everybody always does Matthew McConaughey, but…
Roman Alexander: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. Nah, nah, nah. You don’t want to do that.
Sue Bonzell: You can do it. That’s pretty good.
Roman Alexander: I think I can, yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Can you do Johnny Cash or something like that, or?
Roman Alexander: No, man. I could do Elvis man. Something like that. I can do a little bit of that. As far as Johnny, he’s a hard one to do. And everybody always wants to hear Donald Trump impersonation. Everybody just loved-
Sue Bonzell: Oh, there you go. Can you do that one?
Roman Alexander: The fantastic time. Just little things.
Sue Bonzell: That was good. Okay, that was your best one so far. That was awesome. Okay. Fun. All right. This is the final one. I mean, they’re not too terribly personal, but do you sleepwalk or talk in your sleep?
Roman Alexander: I don’t know. Maybe my dog has heard that. I don’t. Nobody’s told me yet, so maybe. I try not to, if that’s the case. I’m scared to hear what I say.
Sue Bonzell: Right. Okay. So you’re a regular, normal sleeper. Okay. Got that.
Roman Alexander: I would love to think I am. Yes.
Sue Bonzell: Normal sleeper, sings in the shower, does impersonations. Okay. We got it. This is Roman Alexander, in a nutshell, right there.
Roman Alexander: That’s right. That’s right.
Sue Bonzell: Awesome. Well, tell us, so what’s next for you? As I know, you’re on the tour. What’s happening in the next couple months?
Roman Alexander: Yeah. So I got the tour. We’re finishing up on the tour this week and next week. And then we go back to Nashville. We have a couple weeks off, just for the holidays. And then we’re back in Nashville for the final show of the tour. And then the next night we are in St. Louis with Old Dominion.
Sue Bonzell: Ooh, fun. Old Dominion. Love those guys.
Roman Alexander: Yeah. They’re good dudes.
Sue Bonzell: Tell them hello for me, I’m a big fan.
Roman Alexander: I sure will.
Sue Bonzell: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us and have a little fun, really appreciate it. Hope you guys have a great tour and hopefully I get to meet you in person sometime.
Roman Alexander: I plan to make it out West, sooner than later, so…
Sue Bonzell: Okay, good. We can have some wine. You like wine, right?
Roman Alexander: Cabernet.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, Cabernet. I think that’s probably the number one wine that, everybody I talk to says they like Cab.
Roman Alexander: Because, if they want a red wine, it’s not too harsh. It’s not too dirty or dark or whatever. You don’t have to get sophisticated with it. It’s just good.
Sue Bonzell: It’s just, it is good. It goes well with a meal also.
Roman Alexander: That’s right. It sure does. I had a meal last night with one.
Sue Bonzell: There you go. And what was your pairing?
Roman Alexander: Steak.
Sue Bonzell: Of course.
Roman Alexander: Yep.
Sue Bonzell: The classic. It’s classic. Awesome. Well, thank you again and like I said, hope to see you in person soon.
Roman Alexander: Thank you. You too. You all take care.
Sue Bonzell: Thanks for tuning in to Up N Country where we have new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to visit UpNCountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP club, where you’re going to get exclusive backstage access. And if you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell. I’ll see you next week.
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