We caught up with Chucky Trading Co. and fired a bunch of questions at them! We’ve followed Chucky Trading Co. for about a year now and are always thoroughly impressed with the creativity and musicality that we hear. Read on…
To us, your music has a timeless quality to it and we feel that the combination of CS Taber and Everett Young is a musical match made in heaven! What brought the two of you together and why do you feel your skills blend so effortlessly?
CS: Thank you! Ev and I knew each other long before we made music together. We met at university and immediately became friends. We share political views and love debating what’s wrong with the world! I knew he had made several excellent pop albums but Ev didn’t know I was a songwriter and had once been a touring musician. There were a lot of bad memories from that time in my life and I never talked about it. Several years later when COVID isolation struck, I started writing new songs and on a whim, I sent Ev a couple of demo tracks (Grace and Sweet & Sour). Ev was living in Florida, working as a producer, mastering engineer, and scoring films, while I was in Kansas working at a university. He loved the tracks I sent and flew to Kansas to talk me into doing an album with him. The record we made was Chucky Trading Co, out December 1, 2021.
I think we click musically because of our long and deep connection outside of music and because we respect the complementary roles we play. Also, Ev is a true multi-instrumental and production genius!
What are you working on at the moment?
CS: Ev is scoring several films at the moment, while I record the basic tracks for our next album. Everett will start working on the album later this month. This new album, “A Sky of Hopes,” will include 13 new songs I wrote over the past year. With “Sky”, Chucky Trading Co will add a third member to the core group. Patricia “Danger” Taber, who sang backing vocals on the first album will now be a full member and she sings lead on about half of the songs. Danger and I have been making music together for a long time. We were founding members of the band “Three a.m.” a few years back, and when that band broke up, she moved to Nashville.
Tell us about your influences. Your bio reads as though you have lots of musical experiences and influences to draw on.
CS: Yes, we do have a wide range of influences. I grew up in Ghana and moved to Appalachia when I was a teen. So, West African High Life to folk and bluegrass. Ev was raised on 80s pop and older jazz. Danger and I both love the vocal harmonies of the 1970s Laurel Canyon music scene. My songwriting and our arrangements blend all of these influences. It isn’t anything conscious. It’s just what feels natural to us.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
CS: Well, I think the model today forgot about the artist! The piracy revolution (Pirate Bay) fought to take down the music companies and make recorded music free for the consumer. Streamers (Spotify) came along intending to directly connect artists and recorded music to consumers, but they ended up compromising with the record companies, who have always screwed artists. Now streaming services, in alliance with record companies, sell our music to consumers but pay the artist almost nothing in return. So there is no real money in recorded music anymore and artists only really get paid for live performances. If I could wave a magic wand, I would eliminate record companies as gatekeepers for music and I would significantly increase the share of streaming revenue going to the artist. As it stands, what incentive is there to keep independent artists making music instead of becoming engineers or advertising execs? Most of us do it for the love of making music. Not sure that is enough to keep great music flowing.
What is your favourite song to perform, and why?
CS: Chucky Trading Co does not perform together because we live more than a thousand miles apart. But we perform live separately. I mostly do singer-songwriter gigs, just me and my guitar, playing original music. Tumbleweeds, which is the last track on our first album, is my favorite of my songs to play.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever been given?
CS: Work for the music, plan for the audience, and let success surprise you! This is something a drunken bar owner in Tennessee told me at a gig. I especially like the first part. If you’re doing it for any reasons other than to make great music, you will not make great music, and you are bound to be disappointed. On the last part, I have been shocked by the response to the CTC album! Not that we have made a lot of money (lol, see my comments on the music business), but we have a real audience and they love our music!
What’s the worst career advice you’ve been given?
CS: An old, now ex-girlfriend told me that I should give up music and focus on being a “success.” I listened to her for too long.
Aside from music, what are you passionate about?
CS: Family and friends, politics, social justice, sports.
What’s the dumbest interview question you’ve ever been asked? (please don’t say this one!!)
CS: Hahaha! I think the dumbest question is the one I get asked most often. What’s that song about? I don’t think artists should define what their songs mean, just like visual artists should not explain their paintings. The listener should develop their own understandings of your work.
Do you have any upcoming shows to tell our readers about?
CS: I would love to bring the musicians together for a tour, but we don’t have anything planned. Maybe after the second album if it does as well as the first one!
Thanks so much for chatting with us today, CS, we look forward to hearing more awesomeness!
Want to know more about Chucky Trading Co.?
https://www.chuckytradingco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/chucky.trading.9
https://twitter.com/ChuckyTrading
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5xSHIVGjWbx37FVhy6ngOH
https://soundcloud.com/user-232628786
https://chuckytradingco.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/ChuckyTradingCo
https://www.instagram.com/chuckytrading/