Jerry Zinn, the man who heads up West Of Texas, was born in California, grew up the son of a military family, and subsequently saw the world throughout his childhood. But he found his home in country music by diving deep into his grandfather’s vintage record collection as a teenager. From that moment on, he knew he wanted to add his mark to the long history of country music. First started in 2003 West of Texas released a three-song EP in 2010 and began working on a full-length album, which was released in 2021. This was after he struggled with a nearly decade-long fight for his health and voice. That album went on to earn the band an Ameripolitan nomination in 2023. Zinn and West of Texas are back with a new album, Hot Motel Nights, that will surely rate with those who create real country music and with the fans of such endeavours alike.
Tell me a little about the inspiration of naming your band West Of Texas had for you when you started out?
I was sitting around with my drummer and we were throwing out ideas. We wrote a handful down, but I honestly didn’t like them. I wish I could remember some of those names now. I mean once you pick a name I feel like you’re stuck with it, so it had to be something that was going to stand the test of time. I’m always writing song titles and ideas down, and days before I had written down West of Texas. My thought about it was bridging the country music gap, but also the family gap between California and Texas. I also wanted it to say we were out west, without saying California.
In your wall of memories when did your love of the music you now play start for you?
Oh I see what you did there… My parents and grandparents listened to traditional country music and my grandad played guitar. His brothers used to come visit from Texas and they have these all night jam sessions. When I was 12 my grandad showed me my first chords on the guitar, though I wasn’t very interested at the time. When I was 18 my grandad passed away. We were living in Berlin Germany at the time, because my dad was in the military. A couple years later we moved back to California. Watching TV one day my sister and I saw these commercials for Time Life rock compilations of the 60’s & 70’s. We asked our parents to get them for us and my parents also ordered the country music compilations for themselves. Around this time, I found my grandad’s record collection and I fell in love with it. Then I started listening to the Time Life country compilations. I was hooked! I still have these CD’s and records and the Time Life compilations are on my phone now and I still listen to them.
Was it going against popular opinion about country that many had back then or did you arrive at the genre from other influences?
For a guy that was getting together with friends and playing indie rock, alternative and metal, I felt like I had to keep my love for country music locked in a closet. At the time, I was walking around the house singing Jim Reeves at the top of my lungs. I do consider him the person that taught me how to sing country music. Though I wasn’t about to let my friends know that. Garth Brooks was king at the time, so saying country music, meant Garth Brooks. I did not like Garth Brooks at the time, but I do appreciate some of his music now. At some point I did have my friends listen to things like Uncle Tupelo, the Jayhawks, the Palace Brothers, etc. Most weren’t into it, but I had a drummer friend that was. Now it would take me 8 years to start the band, because I couldn’t find anyone that could play in the country style I was going for.
When did you decide to start writing your own songs?
I was 17 or 18. This was right after my grandad passed away. I was in Berlin riding a bus and a guy that I went to school with was sitting a couple of seats from me. I knew he had a metal band and we started talking about music. He asked me, do you sing? I said, yes. Though, at the time, I didn’t. This was at least 2 years before I would move back to California and find my grandad’s record collection. He let me borrow a bunch of records and told me to learn some songs. So I sat down and had the lyrics in front of me and just started learning these songs. Pretty quickly I started understanding the patterns and formulas of song writing.
Was the intention always to be part of a band or had you considered going under your own name?
I always wanted it to be a band. I feel like I don’t have all the answers and I like to bounce ideas off of the band, or ask things like, do you like this or that? I’ve always felt if I can impress my band, I’m doing pretty good. Now I never thought of using my name, because Jerry Zinn doesn’t sound very country. For a time, I did consider using my grandad’s name Duke Henderson as a pseudo name. Maybe one day I’ll do something under that name.
This is album number two, how difficult a process has it been to get them to a released stage? I notice the recording dates for the new album run from 2022 to 2024 for instance.
Yeah I was really hoping to have it out before the end of 2022. I didn’t have much money to do this album. I was asking my band for favours to play on the album, but they were very busy. Right before Covid I put together a really good band. So once things started opening up we were ready to get out and impress everyone. Apparently, we impressed every singer/songwriter in LA, because all of a sudden, my band members were in high demand. They were each playing with a different band every night and going on tours for weeks at a time. After about 15 months of this, I couldn’t wait any longer and all the basic tracks (acoustic guitar, bass and drums) were sent to my brother in-law Jeremy Long in Nashville. He had played 90% of all the lead instruments on the first record and this new one is no different. But he was always busy playing every night and touring. I also wanted my friends Caleb Melo and Muskrat Jones to play some pedal steel on the record, so that took a little time. While my brother in-law started adding lead instruments, I got together with Ted Russell Kamp to help record my parts and produce the album. Ted is also very busy and since I work a full-time job, it wasn’t easy to schedule time to record.
Do you consider the physical product of CDs and vinyl to be an essential part of touring revenue?
Absolutely! Along with any other merch items (t-shirts, hats, keychains, koozies and so on). It all helps to recover cost for recording, manufacturing and to keep the band going.
Singles these days are largely digital releases, but that still requires producing graphics to accompany each release. How involved have you been with that side of making music?
Just about everything you see is coming from me in one way or the other. I’m always making notes on this stuff. The concepts for the album cover and singles all came from me. I take pictures of old records, so I can explain it to my graphic designer’s Taylor Hungerford, Dave Hofmann and Liza Orozco.
For the music video, I Can Almost Taste the Whiskey, I created a mock-up video, so they could see the look and feel I was going for. Using bits of Urban Cowboy, Drugstore Cowboy, Every Which Way But Loose, etc. I wrote the story and a list of the shots I wanted. I also co-directed the video with my friend Taylor Hungerford. My mind is almost always in creative mode.
You co-produced with Ted Russell Kamp, do you love that side of the process or is the live performance your favourite?
Oh that’s a tough one. I like creating something out of nothing. So to go from some scribbles on a piece of paper, to some guitar chords, to having a complete structure of a song, then layering on top of that, I absolutely love it. I have all these things in my head, but I can’t play all the instruments. So I’ll play a demo I did or a rough mix of a song and I either pick a melody I hear or I hum over the top of it and give the players notes. The lead guitar should start it off and it will do something like this … I also will have everyone listen to some songs I like. I explain the feel of the song, tempo, I show the band examples of styles in playing I’m going for.
I do love the energy of playing live with 4 or 5 other people. I love the crowd’s reaction to songs, having them dance, and to hear the whooping and hollering, it certainly helps to see and feel that energy.
You write solo and with co-writers do you have a preference?
I mostly write solo. There are a couple of co-writes on this record and those songs wouldn’t be as great as they are without those co-writes. Sometimes you stare at lyrics for so long, even though you don’t like them, you can’t come up with anything else. Now the co-writes, we didn’t sit down together and write these songs. I don’t think my brain really works like that, just sitting down with someone and trying to hammer out a song. I had all the songs written and was unhappy with a few lines here and there. Ted helped with two lines on 15% More of Your Love and a line or two on Tell Me. Teri Joyce helped with a few lines on Wall of Memories and rewrote about half of Whiskey, Wine & Empty Bottles. I gave David Serby a song called She’s In His Arms and told him, the first two lines have to stay. He rewrote just about all the song and went with my clock reference in those first lines. He also changed the title to Doin’ Time. These three are great song writers and I’ve learned a lot from them.
In the live situation do you have a regular touring band or do you have to seek out new players on a regular basis?
Since I need a day job to make ends meet, I don’t get out of town as much as I’d like. I have been to Nashville a few times. I can’t take off of work to tour all the way to Nashville, so I fly in and have my brother in-law Jeremy Long help put together a band. He knows all the songs from helping out with the recording and he knows all the best players. We’re hoping to get on some festivals this summer and we’re hoping there’s enough money to fly in and bring my LA band. In the new year, I’m hoping to get to Texas and I’m unsure how I’m pulling that off. I’m not sure it makes sense to rent a van for 5 guys, drive 6 hours to Phoenix to play, but then it’s another 14 hours to Austin. So I might just fly in and hire some friends to play with me.
Tell me a little of your song writing process. Is it done as you go or do you need a specific place to write ideas?
I have so much stuff in my phone. My Note Pad is packed with song ideas. Some are just titles, some are just one liners, some are almost complete songs. So it usually starts there. Sometimes I might have some chords that I’ve been messing with and I’ll look at my notes and just start singing a few lines of whatever I have. Sometimes I mumble over the chords and things just come to me. Sometimes a song can come in 10 minuets and some might take 10 months. I also will jump around to different songs. I could be writing a song today for a few hours and not finish it. Then I don’t get to pick up my guitar for several days and now I have a new song idea or title and will work on that.
These days there seems to be several other similarly minded traditionally-based acts out there who are slowly gaining support and even breaking into the bigger venues and festivals if not onto mainstream radio. Is that your experience?
I haven’t listened to mainstream radio for a lot of years, so I don’t know who those acts would be. In the last couple years I feel like I’ve lost track of what’s going on around me. I used to know who was the new happening band is or who’s putting out a new record. I’m curious of the bands you’re talking about. I guess the only few I can think of is maybe Silverda, Colter Wall, Charley Crocket…
You have a day job so is that difficult to balance with your life in music?
Yes I need the day job. If I was a gambling man, maybe I’d be living out of a van touring. At the same time, I’ve got two boys and I need to be around for them. I do like my job and I do work in the music industry. I work for Stoughton Printing, which is the oldest printing company making record jackets and media packaging in the world started in 1965. So I’m talking to record labels, artist and vinyl pressing plants all day. I’m a nerd about packaging, so if you buy one of my vinyl records, you’ll notice a difference in the packaging, especially the limited edition versions of the new album.
Now it is hard to balance work and music, because I want to play until 2am, but I’ve got to get up around 4:45am to go to work. There’s been lots of days where during breaks or lunches I lay on the floor of my office to take a nap. I call music my drug of choice. I’m willing to sacrifice some sleep to play music or go see other bands play.
What do you hold up as success against the need to survive financially in music today?
I’ve talked to a lot of bands over the last few years about challenges we face. For the most part, we’re all in the same boat. We’re all struggling to keep our head above water and pay our bills at the end of the day. We can all get onto social media and smile and say, look at me I’m playing music at this venue tonight. But I guarantee when that phones turn off, they’re hoping fans will come buy a ticket to a show and spend a few dollars buying merch. Because that band just spent $10,000-$15,000 if not more recording an album. Vinyl is around $4,000-5,000 and I’m talking to do 500 records. CD’s are $500-$800 maybe. $1,000 for other merch like shirts and hats. You can also add graphic design, press/radio promotion, and social media ads to that. Most of those musicians in your favorite bands, didn’t come from money. Before they joined this band they were bartenders, pizza delivery drivers, work in record stores, vintage shops, restaurants or a coffee shops. Most of them come off the road and go right back to doing these jobs until the next tour. So to answer your question, I’m surviving, but for how long, I don’t know.
How important has the country music on the West Coast been to you. I image that Dwight Yoakam through to Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were touchstones?
Those three are definitely at the top of the list. Years ago someone gave me a book called the Workin’ Man Blues. It was about the California country scene. They talked about bands and honky tonks that started in the 1930’s up to I believe the 1990’s. With the Bakersfield country music community being so small in the 1950’s and 1960’s, where you have band members playing in different bands each night, has really become the small LA country music community.
Now I know that LA or California is not the first place you’d think of country music. People have questioned me from different states, what does California know about country music? If you’re not convinced after you see me play, I’ve got a long list of artist/bands that have come out of the state that helped shape country music. There’s also the Fender Telecaster that started right here in California and I’d say that about 90% of country bands have a Telecaster in the band. That guitar has certainly shaped country music forever. So the West Coast country music scene is very important to me and I can preach all day about it.
How easy is it for an independent act like yourself to put together a tour either in the States or overseas?
It’s not easy. Trying to convince someone booking the Midwest to give you a date when they’ve never heard of you, isn’t easy. Mentioning I play country music from California is not opening many doors. I send songs, videos, album reviews and they don’t respond or they tell me everything is booked. It’s frustrating when you see bands that you’ve played with, that play your genre of music, get booked, but, the bar won’t book you.
I haven’t tried to book overseas, but a few people have contacted me recently from Europe and we’ll see what we can make happen.
Can you survive by staying in a particular area in the way that some Texas acts can?
California is not like Texas in that way. Bars don’t have very much money to pay. I think in the new year I’m going to have to cut back my playing in LA, because I can’t be out of pocket to pay my band. If we were to go out of town, you have to rent a van and have motel rooms and again, I can’t be out of pocket. I realise social media can make a band look nice and glossy, but honestly, there’s a lot of musicians struggling out there.
What do you think will be the future for West Of Texas?
So what’s in store for the future of West of Texas, right now besides a handful of dates booked, I don’t know. I really don’t know if there will be another album, because I don’t know if I can afford it. I can try to cut cost by going into a studio and recording the drums and overdubs will be added at home. I’m going to have get a hell of a lot better at home recording software though or the production could suffer.
We do have a few more shows this year. We have some summer festivals interested in having us play. We’ll be going up the West Coast in June. We’ve got a Nashville date scheduled the week of AmericanaFest in September and going to try to build a small tour out of that. I’m hoping to get to Texas in the new year, but we’ll have to see how that goes.
Does what’s happening in the USA now politically affect your opinion in any way?
I write country songs, not Rage Against the Machine songs. I do have beliefs and those are discussed with family and friends. I don’t express my beliefs on social media or make any political comments from the stage. There have been big artist express their beliefs and get cancelled over them, when they have every right to express themselves. I make music based on universal themes, because regardless of who you vote for, people still hurt, still love, and sometimes want to hear a little toe-tapper.
Interview by Stephen Rapid