The Sit Down with John Hollier
A few weeks ago, John Hollier & The Rêverie released their highly anticipated new album, Rainmaker. Blending rock and roll, heartland grit, cinematic storytelling, and southern country soul, John Hollier's music offers a unique sound that reflects on his upbringing on a crawfish farm in central Louisiana. Rainmaker is the follow-up to John's first album Hollier in 2023. What started as a solo project for John, quickly evolved into his touring and studio band featuring Teddy Thibedoux Jones (sax), Zachary Scott Kline (lead guitar), Ray Akers (bass), and Brian Cox (drums). With plans to bring their sound to Europe later this year, we caught up with John to find out why John Hollier & The Rêverie should be an artist you need to get to know sooner rather than later.
Hey there, John.
Hey, how are you doing?
Not bad, thanks for taking the time.
Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I actually just spent some time in London—two weeks last fall.
What did you get up to then for the two weeks you were here?
I was on a writing retreat with Universal. I did two weeks in London, and also parts of Scotland and Ireland. I played some shows and then I went to Stockholm for a week and Amsterdam for a week. It was incredible. I told everybody, "I'm not coming home. I’m going to burn my passport. Never coming home." I loved it. I thought London was incredible. Right now, we're actively trying to get the band out to the UK for some stuff.
I think the UK is going to love your live show. It’ll go down so well over here.
I hope so, man. I hope so. It was interesting playing there. Everyone says the UK and Europe are a different crowd in a good way. I kind of had a taste of that. It was just acoustic, but I felt nervous because people weren't talking. They were ready to listen. I feel in the States, you have to really, really "bring it home" if you want people to shut up. I was nervous from song one. I was like, "Oh man, they're going to listen to everything."
I hope this doesn't sound insulting, but I couldn't picture you playing acoustic when listening to your music.
Well, that's the thing. I started off doing acoustic shows, doing mostly stripped-down sets. I could only afford to bring maybe one or two guys with me, and it slowly has grown into a very loud, reckless rock band. It is so hard to go from one to the other. There I am in London—I never thought I would be playing music in London—and of course, it has to be acoustic. We definitely have to bring the band back, for sure.
Hey there, John.
Hey, how are you doing?
Not bad, thanks for taking the time.
Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I actually just spent some time in London—two weeks last fall.
What did you get up to then for the two weeks you were here?
I was on a writing retreat with Universal. I did two weeks in London, and also parts of Scotland and Ireland. I played some shows and then I went to Stockholm for a week and Amsterdam for a week. It was incredible. I told everybody, "I'm not coming home. I’m going to burn my passport. Never coming home." I loved it. I thought London was incredible. Right now, we're actively trying to get the band out to the UK for some stuff.
I think the UK is going to love your live show. It’ll go down so well over here.
I hope so, man. I hope so. It was interesting playing there. Everyone says the UK and Europe are a different crowd in a good way. I kind of had a taste of that. It was just acoustic, but I felt nervous because people weren't talking. They were ready to listen. I feel in the States, you have to really, really "bring it home" if you want people to shut up. I was nervous from song one. I was like, "Oh man, they're going to listen to everything."
I hope this doesn't sound insulting, but I couldn't picture you playing acoustic when listening to your music.
Well, that's the thing. I started off doing acoustic shows, doing mostly stripped-down sets. I could only afford to bring maybe one or two guys with me, and it slowly has grown into a very loud, reckless rock band. It is so hard to go from one to the other. There I am in London—I never thought I would be playing music in London—and of course, it has to be acoustic. We definitely have to bring the band back, for sure.
The new album, Rainmaker, is now out. It's been about two and a half years for you between releases. How good is it to have it out there?
It is. It's just such a wait. I don't know how to say it other than I put a record out in 2023—I put it out myself. I used a studio band, did it in Nashville, and that record was supposed to last a little bit longer. The sound of our live show, though, had outpaced that record so quickly that I was kind of scratching to get some new music out immediately—it just didn't happen. The benefit of living in Nashville is we have the management, agent, publisher, and record label; you get everything you wanted, but to mobilize that many people takes a long time. That was the hard part with this album, as a lot of the stuff was ready to go for a while. Now that it's finally out, I don't know, I feel like I just shed a huge layer of skin. It gets quite frustrating when in your mind it’s done, it’s ready, and there are people telling you, "No, it's not ready. You've got to wait." It is mind-boggling! To be fair, I have to give credit and say they were right about some things. In hindsight, some of those songs needed to be redone. As frustrated as I was throughout this process, I have to give credit where it's due, and they were right about certain things. The songs that are doing well on Spotify—all of those had to be redone at some point. Looking back on it, it was all necessary.
In that timeframe, did you need to fight the urge to not drop an EP and stick with the process of wanting it all released as a full body of work?
Yeah, this is really my first time putting out an album with a lot of team members. I had the urge to put out an EP, and we probably should have done maybe an EP, but looking at it, I think Thirty Tigers does albums really well. That was kind of the "tunnel vision" goal: hey, we got to put out an album. It's not about a couple of good singles; it's not about a cool EP; we needed a body of work that we can bring home, and it just took a while.
The thing I love about this album is it just feels like a live album. There are so many acts where they sound totally different live compared to the album, and I feel like when you eventually get back here and you bring everyone, it's going to sound like the album.
I mean, that's a great observation because that's what we set out to do. I put out a studio album that was tame and held back, then our live show just exploded. It wasn't for any specific reason; that's just how everyone played off each other. It's impossible to capture that in a recording studio. About half the songs were done completely live. For some of them, we didn't even use a click track, so we couldn't redo vocals! That was a mistake! In hindsight, I don't care how good you are, you need to be using a click! That was one of those things we learned. It's very live. It's very raw. The energy I felt for a lot of those songs is there, and the producers did a good job capturing that.
To celebrate, you're doing a livestream very soon.
It's this Friday. My manager just did the exact same thing for a different artist here in Nashville. It's at one of these great studios, East Iris Studios, and they're known for a lot of the massive commercial pop-country stuff, but they open their doors on the weekends for takeovers. We’ve got a rehearsal here in a little bit, sound check on Friday, and we're just going to live stream it and not treat it like a typical show. We’ll open the door to exactly what you're saying—how some of these songs sound live. We're going to do a livestream, and we're going to talk to people and give them a look behind the curtain.
Going back a few years, these things were unheard of until we had no other choice. Is it nice to still take advantage of this outlet as an option to connect?
Absolutely. It just blossomed into a whole different side of performance. Honestly, I'm trying to keep up! Last night, we rehearsed, and they're trying to film the whole rehearsal so that we can use a little bit of this content. It just changes your perception of what people want to see and what you can give in the livestream. The game has changed. Volume.com is going to come with cameramen, and they do this all the time. It is a huge part of the music industry's business now.
I guess it's the same for you in the songwriting sense, with artists using Zoom to co-write.
Well, I'm lucky. I've only done a couple of co-writes online, and I don't do very well with that because I have too many thoughts. I have to pace the room! I have too much energy! I need personal interaction. Luckily, I haven't done that much, but I have mixed part of this album live through something like this. There's some software where the producer would literally chime in and we would listen to the song in real-time, make our tweaks, and keep listening. We'd spend hours doing it. I've never done anything like that, and I see other people starting to do it. I think all these satellite livestreams and digital interactions are part of it now.
It is. It's just such a wait. I don't know how to say it other than I put a record out in 2023—I put it out myself. I used a studio band, did it in Nashville, and that record was supposed to last a little bit longer. The sound of our live show, though, had outpaced that record so quickly that I was kind of scratching to get some new music out immediately—it just didn't happen. The benefit of living in Nashville is we have the management, agent, publisher, and record label; you get everything you wanted, but to mobilize that many people takes a long time. That was the hard part with this album, as a lot of the stuff was ready to go for a while. Now that it's finally out, I don't know, I feel like I just shed a huge layer of skin. It gets quite frustrating when in your mind it’s done, it’s ready, and there are people telling you, "No, it's not ready. You've got to wait." It is mind-boggling! To be fair, I have to give credit and say they were right about some things. In hindsight, some of those songs needed to be redone. As frustrated as I was throughout this process, I have to give credit where it's due, and they were right about certain things. The songs that are doing well on Spotify—all of those had to be redone at some point. Looking back on it, it was all necessary.
In that timeframe, did you need to fight the urge to not drop an EP and stick with the process of wanting it all released as a full body of work?
Yeah, this is really my first time putting out an album with a lot of team members. I had the urge to put out an EP, and we probably should have done maybe an EP, but looking at it, I think Thirty Tigers does albums really well. That was kind of the "tunnel vision" goal: hey, we got to put out an album. It's not about a couple of good singles; it's not about a cool EP; we needed a body of work that we can bring home, and it just took a while.
The thing I love about this album is it just feels like a live album. There are so many acts where they sound totally different live compared to the album, and I feel like when you eventually get back here and you bring everyone, it's going to sound like the album.
I mean, that's a great observation because that's what we set out to do. I put out a studio album that was tame and held back, then our live show just exploded. It wasn't for any specific reason; that's just how everyone played off each other. It's impossible to capture that in a recording studio. About half the songs were done completely live. For some of them, we didn't even use a click track, so we couldn't redo vocals! That was a mistake! In hindsight, I don't care how good you are, you need to be using a click! That was one of those things we learned. It's very live. It's very raw. The energy I felt for a lot of those songs is there, and the producers did a good job capturing that.
To celebrate, you're doing a livestream very soon.
It's this Friday. My manager just did the exact same thing for a different artist here in Nashville. It's at one of these great studios, East Iris Studios, and they're known for a lot of the massive commercial pop-country stuff, but they open their doors on the weekends for takeovers. We’ve got a rehearsal here in a little bit, sound check on Friday, and we're just going to live stream it and not treat it like a typical show. We’ll open the door to exactly what you're saying—how some of these songs sound live. We're going to do a livestream, and we're going to talk to people and give them a look behind the curtain.
Going back a few years, these things were unheard of until we had no other choice. Is it nice to still take advantage of this outlet as an option to connect?
Absolutely. It just blossomed into a whole different side of performance. Honestly, I'm trying to keep up! Last night, we rehearsed, and they're trying to film the whole rehearsal so that we can use a little bit of this content. It just changes your perception of what people want to see and what you can give in the livestream. The game has changed. Volume.com is going to come with cameramen, and they do this all the time. It is a huge part of the music industry's business now.
I guess it's the same for you in the songwriting sense, with artists using Zoom to co-write.
Well, I'm lucky. I've only done a couple of co-writes online, and I don't do very well with that because I have too many thoughts. I have to pace the room! I have too much energy! I need personal interaction. Luckily, I haven't done that much, but I have mixed part of this album live through something like this. There's some software where the producer would literally chime in and we would listen to the song in real-time, make our tweaks, and keep listening. We'd spend hours doing it. I've never done anything like that, and I see other people starting to do it. I think all these satellite livestreams and digital interactions are part of it now.
Looking at Rainmaker, you have a songwriting credit on every track. Was that quite important to you? Did you have to push Thirty Tigers back on using outside cuts?
Luckily, we had more songs than we could use, so I didn't get any pushback. Universal, my publisher, and I would argue, but they're probably my biggest champions. I told them, in today's world, almost all the artists that I'm seeing and interacting with—they're the songwriter, or at least have a songwriting credit on a lot of these tracks. I know there's a lot of these staff writers at Universal who are writing incredible songs that nobody's recording, though. I told them, "Please, if you hear something, throw it my way," but they kind of shut that down. It didn't matter to me as I think they believed enough and were like, "Hey, you've got some stuff here. You need to take this and you go work on this. Don't worry about other outside stuff." My homework on this record was taking 25 or 30 songs and chopping it down to 10!
With so many songs getting cut, is that pushing you to want to do another and get the third album out there already?
They are already talking! They're already talking about it, but I don't respond to those texts or emails! I'm like, "Y'all got to give me a little bit of time where the album is out and I can still feel the heat from the vinyl print." This stuff is fresh—give me a second! Yes, though, there will likely be an album being created by the end of this year, I bet. The thing now, though, is that it's no longer just myself. We've got a touring band that does almost all the studio work as well. It's an enormous amount of work mobilizing those guys and making sure that I like what they're playing, but also that they feel fulfilled playing their parts, too. It'll take a couple of months of getting this band to focus on new material, too.
There is a tour coming first, too. I guess that must be the most important thing for you right now.
Yeah. All hands on deck for May. We're going to start playing shows in a few weeks, and they're just populating the whole summer calendar and trying for August and September to come out to you guys and be in the UK.
Does it feel a bit surreal when you're talking about having the chances to add the UK to your touring calendar and being supported to bring the whole band?
It honestly doesn't feel real at all. I guess I've learned enough in this job—because it's a job now—that a lot of it is just talk. Once I see the confirmed shows from my agent, then I'll start getting excited. I'm not uncorking any wine just yet. If we get a London show with my band on the calendar, yeah, I'm going to pop some champagne! It's hard these days to get these shows booked. It's like, "Hey, we got so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and-so." We're trying to reach out to people, but that same person—that artist—is getting 100 other emails from different artists. It is surreal, but it also can break your heart so easily. At this point, I'm celebrating the album. We're going to play some shows and we're going to New Orleans again to do a show with Rebirth Brass Band, which is a bucket-list thing for us. Focusing on stuff like that right now, but there's a lot of commotion about going out to the UK. I think it's going to happen.
At what point did you realise it's your job now, not just a hobby?
Oh, I mean, great question. I really liked my part-time jobs, and I quit both of them last year. Last year was the first time I realized that Universal was really working me on the writing side. We were trying to get sync cuts; we're trying to get other people to record a John Hollier song. We were trying to get this album to be something special, and I realized, "I can't." I was teaching music virtually; I was recording songs for people and sending them tablature through Warner Chappell. I was also working at a grocery store in the kitchen. I don't know what I was doing, but I was happy doing it. Then it became a thing of like, "I can't do any of this anymore." My calendar—it's done. That was surreal. I felt like something happened because that's where you put your money where your mouth is. It's just like, "Hey, we can call this what you want, but until your bills are paid doing music, you know, you’re still teaching, you’re still chopping carrots in the kitchen!"
Then when they tell you they're paying for your flight to England as well, that just must be that.
Yeah, absolutely, because we’ll have to swim if Universal doesn't pick up the tab! We're going to take one of those two-month ship voyages, you know.
Well, I'm definitely ready for some shows soon and to sort you some British summertime beers.
Oh, absolutely. I've already dipped my toes in the water. I've been to an English pub, went to a Scottish pub, and went to an Irish pub. It was dangerous because you're like, "Well, this is the only thing I'm going to do!" Like, "What did you see in London?" "The inside of a bar!" We watched a lot of rugby. I kind of had to just pretend like I knew what I was watching. I was like, "No one has any pads on!" They're just plowing through each other at full speed. I was like, "This is insane."
Luckily, we had more songs than we could use, so I didn't get any pushback. Universal, my publisher, and I would argue, but they're probably my biggest champions. I told them, in today's world, almost all the artists that I'm seeing and interacting with—they're the songwriter, or at least have a songwriting credit on a lot of these tracks. I know there's a lot of these staff writers at Universal who are writing incredible songs that nobody's recording, though. I told them, "Please, if you hear something, throw it my way," but they kind of shut that down. It didn't matter to me as I think they believed enough and were like, "Hey, you've got some stuff here. You need to take this and you go work on this. Don't worry about other outside stuff." My homework on this record was taking 25 or 30 songs and chopping it down to 10!
With so many songs getting cut, is that pushing you to want to do another and get the third album out there already?
They are already talking! They're already talking about it, but I don't respond to those texts or emails! I'm like, "Y'all got to give me a little bit of time where the album is out and I can still feel the heat from the vinyl print." This stuff is fresh—give me a second! Yes, though, there will likely be an album being created by the end of this year, I bet. The thing now, though, is that it's no longer just myself. We've got a touring band that does almost all the studio work as well. It's an enormous amount of work mobilizing those guys and making sure that I like what they're playing, but also that they feel fulfilled playing their parts, too. It'll take a couple of months of getting this band to focus on new material, too.
There is a tour coming first, too. I guess that must be the most important thing for you right now.
Yeah. All hands on deck for May. We're going to start playing shows in a few weeks, and they're just populating the whole summer calendar and trying for August and September to come out to you guys and be in the UK.
Does it feel a bit surreal when you're talking about having the chances to add the UK to your touring calendar and being supported to bring the whole band?
It honestly doesn't feel real at all. I guess I've learned enough in this job—because it's a job now—that a lot of it is just talk. Once I see the confirmed shows from my agent, then I'll start getting excited. I'm not uncorking any wine just yet. If we get a London show with my band on the calendar, yeah, I'm going to pop some champagne! It's hard these days to get these shows booked. It's like, "Hey, we got so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and-so." We're trying to reach out to people, but that same person—that artist—is getting 100 other emails from different artists. It is surreal, but it also can break your heart so easily. At this point, I'm celebrating the album. We're going to play some shows and we're going to New Orleans again to do a show with Rebirth Brass Band, which is a bucket-list thing for us. Focusing on stuff like that right now, but there's a lot of commotion about going out to the UK. I think it's going to happen.
At what point did you realise it's your job now, not just a hobby?
Oh, I mean, great question. I really liked my part-time jobs, and I quit both of them last year. Last year was the first time I realized that Universal was really working me on the writing side. We were trying to get sync cuts; we're trying to get other people to record a John Hollier song. We were trying to get this album to be something special, and I realized, "I can't." I was teaching music virtually; I was recording songs for people and sending them tablature through Warner Chappell. I was also working at a grocery store in the kitchen. I don't know what I was doing, but I was happy doing it. Then it became a thing of like, "I can't do any of this anymore." My calendar—it's done. That was surreal. I felt like something happened because that's where you put your money where your mouth is. It's just like, "Hey, we can call this what you want, but until your bills are paid doing music, you know, you’re still teaching, you’re still chopping carrots in the kitchen!"
Then when they tell you they're paying for your flight to England as well, that just must be that.
Yeah, absolutely, because we’ll have to swim if Universal doesn't pick up the tab! We're going to take one of those two-month ship voyages, you know.
Well, I'm definitely ready for some shows soon and to sort you some British summertime beers.
Oh, absolutely. I've already dipped my toes in the water. I've been to an English pub, went to a Scottish pub, and went to an Irish pub. It was dangerous because you're like, "Well, this is the only thing I'm going to do!" Like, "What did you see in London?" "The inside of a bar!" We watched a lot of rugby. I kind of had to just pretend like I knew what I was watching. I was like, "No one has any pads on!" They're just plowing through each other at full speed. I was like, "This is insane."
One good bit about coming to England is explaining how to pronounce your surname is quite easy because of an old football manager called Gérard Houllier who managed Liverpool. So the trick with English people is if they can link it to sports, you’ll be fine.
Is there? I didn't know that. I am literally going to write that down because that is lore.
Fans even changed the lyrics to "Who Let The Dogs Out" to link to his name.
If we are playing in Liverpool, I already know what our walkout song is!
Hopefully that can happen. As I say, I think the UK crowd will love your sound and there are so many great festivals you would fit perfectly on the bill of.
Hopefully we’ll be flying over in the summer and that’ll be surreal. We’ll be knocking on some doors in Nashville and sending over a recording from East Iris Studios, 100 percent, and be there.
We’ll be counting down as soon as you announce something. Thank you so much, John, for your time today and again, congratulations on the album's release.
Yeah, man. Thanks for chatting.
Is there? I didn't know that. I am literally going to write that down because that is lore.
Fans even changed the lyrics to "Who Let The Dogs Out" to link to his name.
If we are playing in Liverpool, I already know what our walkout song is!
Hopefully that can happen. As I say, I think the UK crowd will love your sound and there are so many great festivals you would fit perfectly on the bill of.
Hopefully we’ll be flying over in the summer and that’ll be surreal. We’ll be knocking on some doors in Nashville and sending over a recording from East Iris Studios, 100 percent, and be there.
We’ll be counting down as soon as you announce something. Thank you so much, John, for your time today and again, congratulations on the album's release.
Yeah, man. Thanks for chatting.
