“I didn’t know any different” says Randy Houser when asked how he began his journey of music. “There never was a time that I can remember as a kid when I didn’t have something to make music with. Kind of like a toy you never get tired of playing with. After my folks split, I grew up with my Mama and sister in Lake, Mississippi. I felt like the man of the house even before I was one. I’d spend a few weeks with my Daddy every summer and Christmas. He’d teach me a new chord or song while I was there.
“He always made sure that my sister and I stayed hip to good music. Our tastes in music were fairly broad for two kids from a town of less than 500 people. We got a lot of good ole country like Merle, Conway, but we were also spoon fed the artists like Bonnie Raitt, Delbert, and B.B. King - just good soulful music.
“I started fronting bands pretty early, about 13 years old, and continued playing through high school. I received a scholarship to East Central Community College, where I was surprised that music could actually help me pay for some education. At the end of my second year of school, I put together a band called 10lb. Biscuit. We kept a couple of house gigs and packed this little honky-tonk three nights a week. It was just a hell of a lot of fun to be a part of that. Those were pretty wild times.
“I’d been trying to teach myself to write songs for years and about ten years into the process I decided that it was time to make the move to Nashville. Once settled, I concentrated on writing songs I would want to play live and record. After receiving a publishing deal, I got my first cut on Trace Adkins’ Songs About Me with a song called ‘Honky Tonk Badonkadonk’ inspired by something truly dear to my heart (laughs).”
After pulling the right songs together, it was time to get out there and play the local honky-tonks. Word started to get around town about how much fun we were having and the record labels started coming out to the shows. The result was me landing at my current label, Universal Records South.”
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