Colter Wall Passed on Joe Rogan Because He Was Working a Ranch
We already knew that the biggest podcaster on the planet, and perhaps the biggest media personality in existence at the moment had an affinity for the music of Colter Wall. Joe Rogan has shared his love for Colter’s music on a number of occasions via social media. But what Saving Country Music is just now catching up with is the fact that Joe Rogan actually invited Colter Wall to be on the show, and get this: Colter Wall turned him down because he was too busy working on a ranch at the time.
“You want to hear how authentic this cat is? We tried to get him on the show. We contacted his agent. This is what the agent said: ‘He works as a ranch hand in Texas over the summer. And when he’s done, we’ll get a hold of you,'” Joe Rogan says.
The revelation came in a November 2020 interview between Joe Rogan and comedian Tom Green. Tom wore a Stetson into the Joe Rogan studio, and it inspired Joe to start reciting the words to Colter Wall’s song “13 Silver Dollars”—the first song from Colter Wall’s 2017 self-titled album.
“’13 Silver Dollars’ by Colter Wall. [He] talks about having a John B. Stetson. Wakes up in the snow in a ditch,” Joe Rogan says, and then recites the last verse word for word:
“Well, I got my health, my John B. Stetson
Got a bottle full of Baby’s Blue Bird wine
And I left my stash somewhere down in Preston
Along with 13 silver dollars and my mind“
“He was 21, and he has this song called ‘Kate McKannon,'” Rogan continues. “And you listen to it and you’d swear to God it’s an 80-year-old man who’s been drinking and smoking his whole life. It literally doesn’t make any sense. You hear the song and you’re like ‘What the Fu&%?'”
Like Colter Wall, Tom Green is Canadian, and Green’s grandparents met in the small town of Swift Current, where Colter Wall is from. Green has been traveling around North America in a van recently, and also recently released a country song called “Right Now Is The Right Time.” It’s … well … a country song from a comedian.
“So when an up-and-coming artists says they can’t come on The Joe Rogan Experience—the biggest podcast in all of the world—that must just make you want him to come on the show that much more,” Tom Green remarked. “It must make you like him so much more.”
“No listen, I love his music, but I love authenticity,” Rogan responded. “So if that’s who he is … whenever he wants to, he can come here.”
Perhaps Colter Wall will come on when he releases new music. Colter recently said on Instagram, “I’m here to tell ya, LaHonda Records, the band and myself having been cooking up a new project! Keep your ear to the ground.”
Stay tuned.
Joe Rogan has previously had Sturgill Simpson on the podcast numerous times, as well as Chris Stapleton, Shooter Jennings, and touted Tyler Childers.
You can see the exchange below.
February 9, 2021 @ 11:44 am
Great country singer. Better than that crap Morgan Wallen tries putting out as country.
February 9, 2021 @ 2:31 pm
Look, I’m no fan of Morgan Wallen, but why is he the artist you bring up in your comment? I know he’s very popular and not that great, but at least his music is country-sounding, uses real instruments (most of the time), and his songs occasionally deal with unique and/or serious themes. Why not criticize Dan and Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Kane Brown, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Dustin Lynch, or a large number of other artists who release generic, forgettable songs that don’t even sound country?
February 9, 2021 @ 6:39 pm
I agree. I’m not a huge of fan of Wallen or even Combs, but their music is lightyears better than the infamous bro and boyfriend country singers. It’s great they are all the rage right now, not Kane Brown or Dan and Shay.
February 13, 2021 @ 5:38 am
Country music is simple music for simple people
December 29, 2022 @ 1:00 am
bah ha ha. You’re talking about the untalented. It doesn’t apply to a man like Colter Wall. Sorry, dude, but Canada is full of top talent and the only reason they don’t make the charts is because the charts are Jewish mob.
January 8, 2023 @ 7:28 pm
jeez, Anti – Semitic much? Colter Wall doesn’t make the charts because he is busy working as a rancher in the summer. Jews have nothing to do with it.
January 10, 2023 @ 9:15 pm
Did you mean racist? because anti-sentimentic is a racist label in itself. You aren’t above the rest, and certainly not chosen by any god for doing evil, like Cove id and controlling the music industry and pretty much everything else. Rogan works for the Jews and is married to one, he is doing what he does FOR them so how can you say they have nothing to do with this?
February 9, 2021 @ 12:01 pm
2 Legit 2 Quit
February 9, 2021 @ 12:10 pm
Sounds like Colter Wall’s got himself one smart agent.
February 9, 2021 @ 12:36 pm
He’d rather be like Ramblin’ Jack.
I also wonder if Colter noticed that Joe Rogan is an idiot and didn’t want to deal with that.
February 9, 2021 @ 9:11 pm
Awwww….Joe makes little Johnny mad lol
February 13, 2021 @ 9:33 am
I agree with John . Joe Rogan is an idiot. He should have just kept his ass in California. He doesn’t belong in Texas. Only austin would except him
February 10, 2021 @ 8:34 am
Let me guess, he’s an “idiot” because he has people on his show who you disagree with politically?
February 10, 2021 @ 9:37 am
Why do people assume everything is political?
I first heard of Joe Rogan he was ranting about the moon landing being fake. He comes up with some really stupid stuff. These days with a pandemic he seems to still do his podcast with in person guests in a small studio maskless. He’s an idiot.
February 10, 2021 @ 11:50 am
And he makes every one of those guests get tested before they come on. Maybe you’re the idiot.
February 10, 2021 @ 8:07 pm
Colter’s dad was the premier of Saskatchewan and was a highly respected Conservative politician here in Canada. Colter has shown support on his social media channels for his fathers politics. He’s probably not offended by Joe’s podcast lol.
Keep in mind Brad Wall, Colter’s father is NOT a Trumpian politician. While Canadian conservatives line up with Republicans on some key issues, a vast majority of them are pro-choice, pro-lgbt rights, and pro-healthcare. We’re nowhere near as far to the right as the US.
February 11, 2021 @ 9:50 am
Agreed but the politics aren’t really comparable or the point. Other people assumed that for their own reasons though fairly I was not clear enough. Rogan isn’t a Trumper either. I think he’s an idiot for completely different reasons though the idiocy does show up in giving lunatics like Alex Jones airtime. Mostly it’s that his approach to covid has a lot of gaping holes in it. My assumption, though it could honestly be wrong, is that he asked Colter to come to the studio and that’s what Colter did not want to do. I assume that because I saw Colter give remote interviews during this time period so I was skeptical that ranching was the only reason. Again, I could be assuming without enough info.
Colter himself doesn’t seem to like to talk bout politics particularly in America though I thought his alignment with his dad’s politics showed up in the overall patriotic theme of “Songs of the Plains.” But it was also hard not to compare that to Stompin’ Tom the way would we compare a similar effort to Johnny Cash in America.
February 9, 2021 @ 12:58 pm
No diss on the guy’s art, but he wasn’t exactly born under the yoke of blue collar ranch life. Isn’t he the child of a well-to-do Canadian politician?
In a genre were audiences place unusually high value on “authenticity”, where convincing your audience you actually live the “authentic” cowboy life holds real cachet, of course you’re going to work on a ranch and get those cool photos of yourself baling hay or rustling’ cattle for Insta, and getting the lingo down just right for your next batch of songs. Jack Elliot, born and raised in Brooklyn and admittedly a hero of Wall’s, did something similar.
I don’t mean to be a mean-spirited cynic, especially considering the Wall’s obvious and undeniable artistic talent, but “authentic” because of his perceived lifestyle as a blue-collar rancher seems like a stretch.
February 9, 2021 @ 1:04 pm
Truth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Wall
February 9, 2021 @ 1:23 pm
“Authentic” because like Ramblin’ Jack he actually went out and did it instead of just wearing a cowboy hat on TV. Country and Western has a long tradition of completely fake cowboys.
His dad was a big shot but Swift Current is still a small town on the prairie and Colter does not come across like a rich politician’s kid. He’s down to earth.
But I always wonder about his dad listening to Thirteen Silver Dollars. It seems like a it’s from a real story but there had to be a point where somebody realized who they had in custody.
February 9, 2021 @ 1:24 pm
“No diss on the guy’s art, but he wasn’t exactly born under the yoke of blue collar ranch life. Isn’t he the child of a well-to-do Canadian politician?”
Yes, his dad was a former premiere of Saskatchewan. Here’s a picture of him with this family when he was a teenager lol.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Colterwall/comments/hxbtl2/you_might_not_know_but_colters_dad_is_brad_wall/
He definitely did not grow up working on a ranch entrenched the cowboy lifestyle. I think his recent move to Texas was a combination of being genuinely interested in working on a ranch/owning cattle and making himself more marketable as an “authentic” country artist. I imagine he was concerned people would begin unearthing details about his past and begin calling him out as a hipster (rightfully so), so he wanted to prove his authenticity by actually taking up the lifestyle he writes about. For what it’s worth, he is a great artist and is better than most in the genre these days. His latest album was excellent. I’m glad he ditched the forced baritone vocals and now sings in a more natural tone. I’m looking forward to seeing him perform one day.
February 9, 2021 @ 1:58 pm
This is brought up almost every time Colter Wall is referenced, and folks act like they’re unearthing some deep dirt. Colter’s addressed this personally, as has his father, including on this very website.
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/colter-wall-gets-boost-from-three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri-film/comment-page-1/#comment-918168
“I’m the aforementioned politician you reference. I’ve read SCM for a while now and very much enjoy it. I have not posted, however I thought I might have some perspective to offer on this notion that he ‘comes from money’. I can tell you most assuredly ..he does not. He grew up middle class in a 40 year old 1100 sq ft bungalow in a small prairie city/town. Simply put, politics does not equal big money. Colter worked part time in high school to put gas in his car (a rusting out 78 Chrysler New Yorker he had to pay for – which only really ran in the summer but had alot of room for a guitar and amp) and saved for college. When he dropped out of college he worked on a farm/ranch to support part time touring he was doing to start out. Moreover he has never claimed anything but these things as part of his past. From what I have heard of his interviews he has only ever told his story- torque-free…relatively short as it is at this point. Thought I should offer that clarificaiton. Thanks to all who follow this site for their support of artists like Tyler Childers and Colter. “
February 9, 2021 @ 2:23 pm
Thanks and fair point, Trigger, but this article is about Wall’s perceived authenticity as a rancher and why he didn’t do a Rogan interview (because he was working on a ranch), not his music, so it’s not fair to chide readers and commenters when we discuss the very subject of the article.
Why can’t we all just let Wall’s music speak for itself and forget that he may not really be the wild west ranchin’ cowboy we’d like to believe him to be – because music is, in many ways, wish fulfillment and escapism?
February 9, 2021 @ 2:38 pm
Tex Hex,
I didn’t mean to chide yourself or anyone else, and I apologize it if came across that way. It’s just myself, Colter, his father, and many of his fans have been answering this same question for five years now. You may not have seen it, and I understand that. I just have grown a little short on the matter because it’s been brought up to me over and over. I’ve been at live shows and festivals, and folks come up to me, and act like they’re feeding me some dirt by telling me who Colter Wall’s dad is. I get emails about it all the time, and see comments like this. So when half the comments of an article are about it, it’s like “Oh, here we go again.” But I apologize for coming across sideways.
February 9, 2021 @ 3:01 pm
Thanks for the apology, Trigger, though none was needed honestly. My question is still, being that we’re all burned out on this topic of Colter Wall’s “authenticity”, why post a news item about Wall’s “authenticity” as perceived by Joe Rogan and not expect we’d discuss it in the comments section?
Knowing that Wall’s own family may in fact read this blog, I have to reiterate again that I (and I think most readers here) have the utmost respect for Colter and his music. The music speaks for itself. Whether he works on a ranch or not shouldn’t have any bearing on how we judge the music. His talent is self evident, so I’d hope him working on a ranch is a personal endeavor that doesn’t require discussion in the public sphere – but, I guess we can’t help it.
February 9, 2021 @ 3:03 pm
“My question is still, being that we’re all burned out on this topic of Colter Wall’s “authenticity”, why post a news item about Wall’s “authenticity” as perceived by Joe Rogan and not expect we’d discuss it in the comments section?”
Yes, it’s fair game.
February 9, 2021 @ 2:57 pm
About this ranching business. I was an early criticizer of Wall on this very site. His dads comment was a reply to a criticism i made about his son. I basically said the same thing as these commenters. I was kindly corrected.
That was several years ago. Colter has been working on ranches and farms for a while, both in Saskatchewan and in the US. How many years and seasons does he need to work to call himself a ranch hand or a working cowboy? I have worked various positions in the construction industry most of my life and most apprenticeships will lead to journeyman after 4 years. My point is, Colter is authentic, hes been working in this for awhile. As for background, hes from the most rural area of Canada…sheesh….you people are brutal.
February 9, 2021 @ 4:48 pm
The idea seemed to be that you aren’t authentic unless you are born that way. It seems a bit silly to me.
February 9, 2021 @ 7:45 pm
Well… all I’m gonna say is if he’s gonna write a song like “Talkin’ Prairie Boy” he should at least have a little cred. I think we all know now that he’s legit, but I don’t blame people initially questioning it. I wondered myself.
February 9, 2021 @ 3:38 pm
Fair enough. Thanks for the information Trigger. He’s a highly respectable and talented artist and I appreciate that he’s keeping the traditional style of country/western alive. Sorry if I came across as an asshole.
December 29, 2022 @ 1:18 am
It’s the same thing they do to Max Bernier. A politician who’s dad was not the kind of man everyone wants to see in govt. Two different people. I don’t know why everyone judges a man based on what their families lived. I guess they don’t have siblings who prove to themselves that everyone has their own personal views, beliefs and life.
February 9, 2021 @ 5:01 pm
Townes van zant was the son of wealthy people. Didn’t stop him from becoming one of the greatest songwriters of all time
February 9, 2021 @ 3:09 pm
I don’t know. Any interview I’ve seen of the guy, he comes across a bit shy and/or reserved. A Rogan interview is relatively deep and relatively intense. I don’t seem him on this show, and I don’t really need to. But, of course whatever he wants to do. I did a brief look through some comments on his Instagram and see people saying he just has to go on, like it’s going to make their life more meaningful or something.
February 10, 2021 @ 11:28 am
I think the reason people want him to go on Rogan is partly the format. Fans of his music want more than the old 3 minute interview on a late night show. I think people want the opportunity to really get to know the guy that writes the songs they love. I mean, as much as you can get to know someone through a 3 hour podcast. This could be any long form podcast really, not necessarily Rogan.
There’s a reason people are saying specifically the Rogan podcast. Like him or hate him, Rogan has reach. It would be a massive amount of exposure. Would the “Rogan bump” be bad for country music? Maybe Wall, and people like him, could bump their way into the playlists of more people.
February 10, 2021 @ 11:51 am
Sturgill Simpson’s appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast most definitely helped his meteoric rise.
February 9, 2021 @ 5:14 pm
from his song, “You Look to Yours, I’ll Look to Mine”-
So go about your earthly mission, don’t trust no politician, you look to yours and I’ll look to mine-
Some people could learn from that
February 9, 2021 @ 5:59 pm
Here is a good hour and a half interview from about a month ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VddB3deV7U
ends with a song.
February 9, 2021 @ 6:37 pm
All that publicity, and he didn’t even have to appear. Them ranch boys know a thing or two about roping.
February 9, 2021 @ 8:38 pm
I’m gonna word vomit about Colter’s ‘Western Swing’ for a bit. I’ve been listening to it on and off and letting it grow on me for a couple months now. This is the first album of his where he has really explored atmosphere and ambience in the recording itself.
Imaginary Appalachia and S/T are both great but, in hindsight, we see that Colter’s heart wasn’t in that gothic Country, Johnny Cash sound. Songs of the Plains sounded good, but I always found myself zoning out and not being able to focus on any one track. That perfect Dave Cobb production was too perfect.
Western Swing, however, utilizes different rooms, mic placements and arrangements to come alive. It’s like Colter is playing the atmosphere like it’s another instrument at his disposal.
Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes are masters of this technique – letting the recording atmosphere serve the song. You also hear it being done by bands that would identify in the Black/Death/Doom metal genres. Wayfarer’s A Romance with Violence comes to mind. If Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian had a soundtrack, it would be that Wayfarer album. It’s horror inducing, bleak, desolate, painful but somehow beautiful.
It takes real talent both from the artist and the producer to be able to serve the individual songs in recording but weave them back into a cohesive album that keeps the listeners attention and doesn’t suffer in quality from track to track.
Colter Wall has mastered atmosphere with Western Swing. He already had everything else and this was the final piece.
Western Swing and Waltzes and other punchy songs is Colter Wall’s cowboy black metal masterpiece.
February 10, 2021 @ 7:14 am
i tried wayfarer but all i could hear was noise.
February 10, 2021 @ 5:35 am
You people must think Johnny Cash is a fake asshole since he never shot a man in Reno and Merle is a lying stoner who lied about not smoking marijuana in Muskogee. And did Waylon actually have a 4 car garage? He certainly didn’t sell all of their expensive possessions and buy blue jeans with them. JMFC, get over yourselves
February 10, 2021 @ 10:41 am
Joe Rogan is just ewww.
February 10, 2021 @ 10:59 am
I’ll tell you something you probably don’t know about me Joe Rogan
I SMOKE ROCKS
February 10, 2021 @ 11:08 am
Perhaps. But his audience is bigger than the prime time lineups of CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all other cable news networks combined. This is one of the reasons he’s so demonized by the media. Because he stole their milkshake. So they portray him as a right wing nut even though he endorsed Bernie Sanders for President.
December 29, 2022 @ 1:27 am
Lol, he’s a dang clown and the only reason he has viewers is because Canadians are naive as hell. They will hang on the first clown who has a one-liner they like, Boom, one line, and they’re fans even though Rogan is just another shill, just like Ezra Levant. They make you believe they are for the people as opposed to the main stream media, but in actual fact, THEY ARE NOT!
February 10, 2021 @ 11:11 am
1. If you’re anti-Joe Rogan, you’re either an angry woman or a catamite. Get over yourselves.
2. “Well ackshually, Colter Wall is a poser whose dad was a high-ranking ~conservative~ government official!” the androgynous commenter said, looking wildly about to see if anyone understood, as xe did, the horror of the fact that not only might someone have different ideas than xey did, but that person might actually attract some fame for that specific reason.
Seriously, fuck off with the bullshit. It’s been known for years that Colter has used the earnings from his artistry to pursue what he loves – namely, the shit he sings about. There’s a YouTube video with Blake Berglund that alludes to this fact, with Berglund covering “Motorcycle” and adding a verse specifically about Colter’s foray into ranch/cattle management. Colter’s been forthcoming about it in interviews – see his recent one with Converse Cowboy on YouTube.
If everyone, in order to be an acceptable country artist, had to be Corb Lund, that is a rancher-turned-hobbyist-coutnry-artist, we’d have… Corb Lund, and that’s it.
February 11, 2021 @ 6:32 am
Never heard of Joe Rogan
May 23, 2021 @ 5:02 pm
Joe Rogan is a modern-day gatekeeper.
His role is to roundup the attention of a demographic of mostly working-class, heterosexual males in the 20-40 age range and to subtly introduce political/new-world-order narrative amidst dick jokes and general machismo banter. He’s there to legitimize such things as NASA, Astrophysics, Cryptocurrency, Pandemics, etc. While simultaneously going on the offensive against any narrative that questions even remotely the “official” cosmology of the world and society.
December 29, 2022 @ 1:31 am
yep, just another shill for the cabal. Cow dung. He doesn’t deserve any fancy title, and isn’t worthy of Colter Wall.