No Fear

CW Follows Keith Anderson as he climbs the Rockies on his bike—and talks about his mom, the early years and his new music.

Watch the Keith Anderson Video As “I Still Miss You,” the first single from his new C’MON! CD was climbing into the Top 10, Keith Anderson invited CW to tag along with him and his band mate Phillip Sanders during a mounting trip in Colorado. Here’s some of what he had to say during this exclusive interview. For more about Keith, check out the Aug. 25 issue of Country Weekly.

CW: Ever had any serious falls or injuries? What’s the worst spill you’ve taken?
KA: I’ve fallen a couple of times and it’s usually my hands that I beat up, because you’ve got the brake and the gear shifters on the hands, and that’s usually what you get caught on something. But no guitar-playing hand injuries yet.
CW: I know you’ve done some running and weightlifting to stay in shape on the road. What does biking bring to your fitness program that running doesn’t?
KA: Yeah, as much as anything, it’s just something different to stay in shape— Instead of gettin’ out there every day and running, especially in the summertime. You get out to those fairs and festivals and they can be so far out in the middle of nowhere, tryin’ to find a gym is a little tricky. Plus you just run every day and it starts beatin’ up your legs, your knees and your back. This gives you some way of not only gettin’ out there and exercising, but going to see the city. That’s the other thing, you always have to rely on the runner at the fair or festival to take you somewhere. And you usually just have time to go work out and come back. And this gives us a chance to work out and see the cities also.
CW: Can you run down your basic weekly workout schedule?
KA: Well, from 8 a.m. to 12, it’s hard-core jump-rope cardio and sit-ups [laughs]. No, I’m kidding. Whenever I wake up, I try to get an hour of cardio a day, whether that’s running or at the gym doing a combination of treadmill, stairclimber, elliptical . . . whatever. But I try to get at least 45 minutes, preferably an hour of cardio a day. And then, if we have the extra time, I try to hit some kind of body weight workout, high reps though. I don’t want to get any bigger! I’m as big as I ever need to be! I’m tryin’ to always slim down and cut up and stay slim.
CW: Let’s talk music a little bit. Congrats on the success of “I Still Miss You.” It’s really an excellent record. You talk in the lyrics about “praying like hell.” Are you someone who prays on a regular basis? Or are you more inclined to let it slide until there’s a major life crisis of some kind?
KA: Yeah, I do. And that’s one of those songs that started out so strong, one of my co-writers [Jason Sellers and Tim Nichols] told me one of the cool things about writing. I’ve been a fan of writing for forever, so I’ve known of Jason and Tim forever and one of them was tellin’ me about how much he liked “Every Time I Hear Your Name” and how that had struck a chord with him on a past relationship. So we kind of started writing it in the terms of a breakup song, but it’s just taken on such a new meaning for me personally, with stuff I’m goin’ through [his mother’s battle with brain cancer and eventual passing on June 30]. And we get a lot of phone calls and a lot of emails from people who’ve lost loved ones in their lives, passed away or died overseas while fightin’ for our freedom, and it’s just kinda taken on a whole new meaning. And that’s the deal. You go through something like that, and you pray so much to get over it. And it doesn’t always work, but we liked the word play of that I’ve been “prayin’ like hell.” A contradiction in terms, but I think everybody knows what we were talkin’ about.
CW: I’m glad you decided to release your version of “Lost in This Moment.” It’s a great song. How did you and Big & Rich both recording it come about?
KA: We hadn’t talked about it. And John & Kenny would be the first to admit, that’s not something that people would’ve seen them recording, Big & Rich singing a big wedding song. John and I always felt like that was a hit. When we first wrote that song with Rodney Clawson we started pitchin’ it to everybody. Neither one of us had a record deal at the time. He had just left Lonestar and hadn’t started with Kenny yet, and I didn’t have my deal yet. So we pitched that to everybody in town, and nobody recorded it. So over the years, we both knew it was a good song, and we were both in the studio recording and had cut it. And we were talkin’ . . . just catchin’ up on life really, ‘cause we’d both been touring so much. And he said, “Hey, you got the first single on the new Big & Rich record!” and I said, “That’s great man, and you’ve got another song that’s gonna be on my second record.” Then we discovered it was the same song [laughs]. They were slotted for a single before I was. I was never mad, they’re great friends. Maybe disappointed because I knew it was the kind of song that could’ve been a big hit, and turned out to be a really big hit. And it’s the kind that could help anybody’s career. But since it was their time to put it out, you just get behind it and cheer ‘em on and pray for the best. Because that’s part of my success, too. And it went No. 1 and was nominated for the CMAs last fall and the ACMs song of the year this spring. So it’s been a good success story for all of us.
CW: “I Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody” is one of my favorites on the record—a great vocal performance, very visual, great images, very sad. Have you ever been in a situation where you, as the song says, “became all those things that now I hate”?
KA: Yeah, in an early relationship, early on. There was a jealous side of me I didn’t think I had, didn’t think I could have. I just became really weird and possessive and stupid. And may end up regrettin’ it forever. But certainly learned a lot from that. Yeah, yeah, I’ve been there.
CW: Adaleine”—GREAT images of the naked lady on his arm, dancing. Yet another way of remembering a love who’s gone—”it still stings every time I think about Adaleine.”
KA: That whole thing came from Chris Wallin—I wrote that with Jeffrey Steele and Chris Wallin—and Chris was talkin’ about his grandpa. We were actually trying to write a song about his grandpa who was a preacher, but had just been really wild growin’ up and had a crazy wild past. So we were actually tryin’ to write things from his sayings from the pulpit. These fire and brimstone talks. And nothin’ was comin’ about. He started laughing and said, “I’ll never forget. The first naked lady I ever saw was a tattoo on his arm.” And Jeffery and Chris and I all looked at each other and it was like, “Well, there’s our song.” So we just made up a story and it made more sense for it to be an uncle than a grandpa.
CW: In “Closest I’ve Ever Been,” you sing about racing for pink slips and coming close to meeting Jesus. What IS the closest you’ve ever been to meetin’ Jesus?
KA: It’s not quite a racing story. But when I was still playing college baseball, I was in a summer league in Tulsa. And I was driving from my hometown of Miami to this summer league, twice a week to play ball. It was about an hour and a half drive. And I was workin’ construction during the day. Then goin’ out there playin’, then driving all the way back. And I was always so tired. And I completely fell asleep at the wheel on the way back. Woke up as I was just hitting the side rail. Just nicked it, but enough to where it just freaked me out.

Watch the Keith Anderson Video

August 11, 2008
story by David Scarlett and Jerry Holthouse
photo by JOE HARDWICK

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