A new weekly show will take place in November at The Factory in Franklin called Music City Pickers LIVE, founded by Williamson County resident, Brady Seals.
Seals is probably best known for his tenure in multi-platinum country group Little Texas. During his six years as keyboardist and co-lead singer, they were voted ACM’s “Vocal Group of the Year,” received two Grammy nominations and celebrated three consecutive number one hits (What Might Have Been, God Blessed Texas and My Love), all which Seals co-wrote, granting him the ASCAP “Triple Play Award.”
We sat down with Seals to talk more about his first show. But before we talk about the show we wanted to know more about a couple of firsts for Seals including his first gig, car, a song he wrote, and a first full circle moment with a guitar.
First Car-It was a Ford Falcon, this old junked up car that sat in the back of my grandma’s house. It was painted an ugly pale blue but in my mind, I’m thinking I can spruce it up and make it a hotrod. It didn’t run so we had to have it towed to our house and the plan was to fix it up. I ended up leaving home at 16 years old to go out on the road and I didn’t have the time to make it my dream car.
One day, my dad called me and asked what should he do with the car. I told him I just don’t have time to fix it up so I guess you had better sell it. My dad didn’t have any paint brushes so he mopped on black paint and sold it for $300. That was my first car -I never drove it and I sold it for $300.
First Gig– I was 15 years old. It was at the Variety Show in my hometown. I put together my superband which basically consisted of anyone who could play something. I went to school searching for a guitar player, bass player, drummer, the whole band. At the time I was really into Prince music so I gathered everyone and we learned “Purple Rain.”
My Mom helped us create the perfect backdrop by gathering a small spiral staircase, Venetian blinds that we hung as a backdrop, and we found mannequin stands that stood two foot tall for the bass player and the guitar player. My Mom then found all of the fake flowers in different shades of purple but the best part was the lady from my church who made me a purple Prince jacket that went to the floor. Just before we performed, I could hear them saying “Brady is going to play.” I remember saying to myself, this is what I want to do from now on.
First Song– My first song was the worst ever-the name of it was “Country Is”, a direct rip off of a Tom T Hall melody. It goes something like “Country is walking in the moonlight,” that is all I remember, it was terrible.
First Song You Heard, You Wish You Wrote- “Take it to the Limits” by the Eagles. I heard that song, I just thought it was beyond anything that I could ever accomplish.
First full circle moment with a guitar– I own Music City Pickers and we would travel to different cities announcing we would be in town to purchase guitars. I had someone bring me a guitar with Keith Whitley’s name on the case along with believe it or not a baggage claim ticket with his address. Someone had found it in the basement of an old honky-tonk. So, I knew the case belonged to Whitley but I couldn’t verify the guitar was his. The person who brought me the guitar found a video of Whitley playing the guitar and so I bought it. It was not very long after I purchased it, I was contacted by someone who wanted to purchase it for a new artist but they didn’t say who. I then learned it was for Chris Young for his first performance at the Opry where he played a Keith Whitley song- “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”
First Show at The Factory– I’ve always been a fan of The Factory in Franklin. My wife and I put on three years of shows here called the Bridal Ball where organized a Bridal Show at The Factory. Then I heard that renovated the Boiler Room which is now called the Little Brick Theatre. Gordon Kennedy and I jumped on the opportunity to have a weekly show.
I’ve known Gordon Kennedy for a long time, this should be a great show. Guests for our first show include Ricky Skaggs and Larry Stewart from Restless Heart. The following week, we’ve already lined up J.D. Souther.
Music City Pickers, LIVE! is a weekly singer/songwriter show to be held in The Little Brick Theater.
Tickets are on sale now for Music City Pickers, LIVE which will debut with two shows (6-7:30 p.m. and 8:30-10 p.m. Nov. 3), followed by a special performance on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and then two shows every Thursday evening starting in December.
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