Drivin' N' Cryin' N' Barkin'

Drivin' N Cryin' N Barkin'

Photography by Southern Vintage Photography

Written by Julie Murray, Head-writer, Lowcountry Dog Magazine

Last month I spoke with Tim Nielsen, the bass player for Drivin’ N Cryin’. This Atlanta-based group has been around since 1985 and recently had their 33rd anniversary. They celebrated by creating a brand new album, Live the Love Beautiful, and embarking on a spring/summer tour around the southern United States. When you get the chance to speak with a famous musician on the eve of his tour to promote his band’s new album, what do you talk about? His dog, of course! “Since this is a dog magazine, I'm going to ask you a few questions about your dog. What kind of dog or dogs do you have right now?” “It's a Mal-Shi, a Maltese Shitzu combo, named Bailey.” OK, now can I tell you how happy I was to hear this from a seasoned, badass rocker who has played with bands like Soul Asylum and The Black Crowes tell me that his family dog is a fluffy white pupper who loves to go on golf cart rides? “[Our] favorite place to go with the dog in Charleston is the Pitt Street Bridge in Old Village. She loves riding in the golf cart, she's so smart that if you say ‘golf cart’ or even start putting your shoes on, she's like ‘Yep, we're going’. She loves it.”

Bailey lives by the lyrics, "A toy never played with is not a toy at all, a day never lived in, is not a day at all"

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

Bailey the Mal-Shi, who’s namesake is George Bailey from It’s A Wonderful Life, came from Houston, Texas, a Southern doggo who recently went back to her roots. “We took a family trip to Austin a few months ago and [the airline] had this great ticket price so we decided to take the whole family and we decided to take her with us, we got one of those little dog purse things, so she went back to Texas and she did wonderfully.” I could tell what a cherished part of the family Bailey was right away. “She's the best dog. I mean, I've had big dogs, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and stuff and Bailey's my favorite.”

Bailey love golf cart rides to Pitt Street Bridge!

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

Photo by Southern Vintage Photography

Even though I could have talked about dogs with Tim for the entire length of the interview, I knew that y’all would *probably* like to hear more about the band and what they’ve been up to. Their biggest news is the new album that comes out on June 21, 2019. We can expect classic Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ tunes, rocking Americana, gritty and deep. Some things, like the soulful and timeless music of a band that is ingrained in the fabric of our Southern roots will always be the same, even though the music scene has changed dramatically since the band started up in the 80’s. “I think that the music business has definitely changed because of streaming; downloads and digital music are the number one thing...And the concept of the record company has changed a lot too because people hire a lot of independent contractors to carry out the duties of publicity and radio marketing and retail and all that kind of stuff so it's changed a lot, you know. Social media, the internet, that's really all you need.” As we all know, sometimes social media and the digital age has its downside [read: comments on literally ANY post] but it also makes it way easier for musicians to get their music heard. “That's definitely a great advantage. It’s very simple and we have a distribution deal, so distribution means it's going to be out digitally in every format and then the records are going to get to the record store and Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart, whatever.” It seems like life has been pretty good to Tim. He is a founding member of a successful band that has put out multiple albums, several of which have been in the top US Chart positions and in 2015 was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. I’m always curious, though, about what people would have done if they hadn’t taken a certain path.

Catch the new album, Live the Love Beautiful on June 21st!

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing? “I’m a pretty good carpenter and I’ve been a craftsman and contractor in the past and I still do a little bit of carpentry. I enjoy doing that, working with my hands, but, you know, I might be a fishing charter guy…we have some fans of ours that are fishing charter captains and we get to go out with them all the time.” If Tim ever decides on a career change, I can guarantee the line to book his fishing charters would be out the door. Cruising around the Charleston waterways, drinking a beer with a rock legend while he tells you stories about his life and takes you to the best fishing spots…to many fans, it couldn’t get better than that. We also talked about things we would tell our younger selves. “Just be thoughtful and courteous, my younger self was probably a bit high strung and crazy, like most people.” I told Tim that I wish I could tell 20 year old Julie to relax and not worry so much about everything and everyone and he agreed, that would be good advice. “Yeah, absolutely, relax! Life is gonna get stressful enough so just enjoy being young.” Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ is currently on tour and Tim will return to the Lowcountry for their May 24th show at the Windjammer on Isle of Palms. You can purchase tickets on their website, https://www.drivinncryin.com/, and also be sure to check out their new album when it rolls out on June 21, 2019. And if you’re ever in Old Village, keep an eye out for a sweet little white dog, riding on a golf cart with her fur blowing in the wind and a big smile on her face.

Drivin' N Cryin' has been rocking since 1985.

Don't miss Drivin' N Cryin' live at the Windjammer on May 24th!