It’s been about a month since Rob Baird released his third album Wrong Side of the River and with that, he’s grown into the kind of artist he’s always felt like he was going to be. We recently sat down with Rob and had a chance to chat about the new record and his career overall. In the course of our short conversation he talks with us about the new project, the cool new video trilogy, featuring songs “Ain’t Nobody Got A Hold Of Me,” “Wrong Side of the River,” and “Horses”, and much more.
Matt Bjorke: How would you compare Wrong Side of the River to your past projects?
Rob Baird: I think I’ve grown up a little bit from age 25-29 and what I wanted to do musically is quite the journey. We were able to explore more of the Americana side with, hopefully, more mature songwriting. I got to make the record I always wanted to make.
Matt Bjorke: What inspired you to create the video trilogy?
Rob Baird: We were able to work with this guy named Matt Bizer, who is a fantastic director and he had a whole vision for these songs and he and I and my manager Larry decided to tell the stories of these songs. We shot them from Nashville to Memphis to Southwest Texas and it introduced people to the music from the record. It’s been really fun to see it get out to the world.
Matt Bjorke: It’s always an interesting thing to have something like this go out and see how the songs change with the audiences and how they port the songs into their own vision and lives.
Rob Baird: Yeah, and everybody gets their own twist on it, which is cool. It was a fun opportunity and to have it finally out is great.
Matt Bjorke: It’s not often that any artist, let alone an “independent” artist to get the opportunity to create a trilogy like that.
Rob Barid: It’s been great, I haven’t had the kind of exposure before so the trilogy helps that to get people aware of the album.
Matt Bjorke: What drew you to the Americana scene as an artist?
Rob Barid: I felt like for me to reach the people I wanted to reach and the music I wanted to make, it’s where I needed to go. The Americana Music Association folks have been great and accepted me and it’s been really cool to have them see that I’m not just a Texas Country guy trying to do “Americana” and that I’m serious about making the music.
Matt Bjorke: It seems like Americana is a the most open place to let an artist be an artist to create.
Rob Baird: I totally agree there.
Matt Bjorke: For me, it’s an interesting catch-all with a wide variety of people and artists within that format, even if it’s closely intermixed from country and Texas country stuff.
Rob Baird: For sure.
Matt Bjorke: You are on your own record company now?
Rob Baird: Yeah, I started my own label Hard Luck Record Label. When I started in the business and just signed with Carnival, I was excited but my Dad said “Son, you have a long way to go in the business and it’s gonna take a lot of luck and that luck is hard-earned.” So I named it after that. And I’ve produced a few artists and hopefully we’ll put their music out on there and for my own music I’ve now got a great team around me and it feels like the natural evolution. We have a great team and we’re all ready to make the next step.
Matt Bjorke: And Carnival seems to have been a great starting point for you.
Rob Barid: They were really great and kind to me.
Matt Bjorke: They also seem to be the kind of place that helps an artist build a career and they know that artists will eventually move on and are totally OK when that happens.
Rob Baird: For sure, man. It’s been a journey and it’s good to be where we are now, in our hands and we’re taking a lot of chances and we run the ship here and we’re excited for the future and where this record takes us.
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Rob Baird’s new album Wrong Side of the River is out now. You can buy a copy of it at Apple Music or the CD via Amazon. You can visit his website for more info and tour dates.
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