Craig Gerdes - Tough as Nails '2020

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Tough as Nails
02. If Guitars Were Guns
03. Between the Cradle and the Grave
04. Pennies, Feathers and Dimes
05. Highwayman
06. The Hard Way
07. Most Times I Lost
08. That Little Girl
09. Tonights Not the Night
10. Only the Road Knows
11. Tough as Nails (Bonus)
12. If Guitars Were Guns (Bonus)




 For Tough As Nails, Gerdes and his road band—lead guitarist Jake
Baxter, bassist Britton Wood and drummer Randy Noy—hit St. Louis’
Native Sound Studio revved up and ready to go, with producer/engineer David
Beeman at the helm. Beeman had also worked with Gerdes on 2019 single
“Tailgate n’ Tallboys,” a theme song commissioned by the
festival of the same name, a six-day, 30+ band country concert, held annually in
Peoria, Ill. “Tough as Nails was the first time that I was able to be
like, ‘Alright, boys, we’re pulling off the highway and going into
the studio for a week,’” Gerdes says. “Capturing the energy
of our live performances was crucial to me. So we just went in fresh off the
road and banged out the meat and potatoes of it in three days.”

The resulting LP—spruced up by Robby Man of Steel Turner on steel
guitar—reeks of spilled Jack Daniels, truckstops, pool halls and
tobacco-stained green rooms. Its second track, a hi-octane, four-on-the-floor
cover of Roger Alan Wade’s “If Guitars Were Guns,” acts as a
manifesto for Tough As Nails, a record that packs more grit and wallop than most
of its country contemporaries: “I play country music in my little cabin
home in the hood, I play rock & roll because it makes me feel good / I play them
ol’ blues to take a load off my mind, I play what I please, out of tune
and out of time.”

As with any artist worth his salt, Gerdes’ sound has been evolving since
the last record. Smokin’ Drinkin’ and
Gamblin’—anchored by Nashville pedal-steel icon Jim
Vest—was deeply indebted to the ’70s country on which Gerdes was
raised. But with Tough as Nails, he and his band just “let it all
go.” “We approached it like we would a live performance,”
Gerdes says. “I didn’t put no reins on it or nothing like that. I
just let it evolve into what it became. It’s a mixture of all my
different influences. With country music, the way I see it, it’s a
melting pot: rock & roll, Southern rock, rockabilly, the blues—it all
goes in there.”

The new album’s rock & roll leanings make sense when you consider the
influences of the lineup that has solidified as Gerdes’ backing band.
Baxter, now in his 20s, has been playing guitar with Gerdes since he was a
16-year-old worshipping at the altar of Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Duane
Allman. And it’s a similar story with drummer Randy Noy. “Ottawa,
Ill., the part of the state Randy’s from, is pretty blue collar, pretty
rock & roll,” Gerdes says. “He didn’t really know much about
country music when he joined the band. His biggest influence is John Bonham,
which is cool because I always wanted that kick, that drive to my sound. When we
started playing together, I was like, ‘Don’t hold back just because
you think we’re playing country. Play them drums like they owe you money,
brother.’ We were able to capture that kind of energy on the new
record.”

Sit with him for five minutes and you’ll know that Gerdes is a
natural-born storyteller. Really, Tough as Nails is a documentary in album form.
It deals with real people, real places and real struggles, collected along the
Interstate as Gerdes and his band play an endless parade of one-night stands.
The record is about family, community, honesty, tragedy, travel, the fleeting
nature of existence, even silent visitations from the ghosts of our loved ones.
Above all, though, Tough as Nails confronts the elusiveness of the American
Dream in the 21st century, giving voice to the plight of the working poor,
brought to life by an ex-steel worker from Pennsylvania, an out-of-work coal
miner from Alabama, a suicidal veteran wrestling with PTSD in rural Ohio, and a
teenage girl from god knows where trying to shake herself free from the grip of
heroin. Track after track, it’s a testament to fighting for your ideals,
taking your blows and doing your damnedest to press on in the face of adversity.

“All the stories in these songs are true,” Gerdes says.
“It’s about the people. I wanted the album to speak directly to
them, to things they’ve gone through. In my mindset, country music has
got to be real.”

Two years ago, with this same spirit of authenticity and connection in mind,
Gerdes launched a weekly, hour-long Facebook live series called The
Gatherin’. “Janel had the idea that we could reach people who
couldn’t make it to my shows,” he says. “We do it every
Tuesday night—either from the road, or at home in my garage, interacting
with people as we go. I play songs, they make requests, but most importantly,
there’s a back and forth. We talk about what’s going on in their
lives. And we try to help in any way we can.” 

Gerdes refers to the people who tune in regularly not as fans, but kinfolk. Many
of them have started to identify as “The Gatherin’ Family.”
Through this community, lasting friendships have been made, with Gerdes and
Janel, the band members, and with each other. “Life can be tough and we
all need each other,” Gerdes says. “Music is a great vehicle for
that. If that’s a way we can bring people together, that’s what
we’re gonna do—make a difference in their lives through the music,
and bring them together around a common passion. And the more they’re
together, the more they find out just how much they have in common.”

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