The Perfect Interview

My motto is “no one will suck on the Billy Dukes show.” If an interview goes poorly, I'm to blame. I didn't do enough preparation to ask questions that would elicit
interesting responses.

After a thousand or so interviews - comedians, rockers, country stars, rappers, metal heads, mechanics, authors, tattoo artists, and interior decorators – I've learned the trick isn't finding out what listeners/readers want to know, it's discovering something that listeners/readers don't know they want to know.

For example, asking Lady Antebellum how they settled on their name is a predictable question, that leads to a dull story one can probably find on Wikipedia. On the other hand, asking Charles, who grew up in North Carolina, if he roots for UNC, Duke or NC State will elicit some emotion. As it turns out, Dave's parents still live in this area.

The best answers are short and punchy. James Otto was spectacular this summer on the QDR deck. Darius Rucker was also very good last Saturday. Anytime an artist can riff on local eateries or hang outs, I'll tune it.

All four interviews went well during the Brad Paisley show. I worried about Josh Thompson because he showed up early and I was under prepared. Fortunately Mad Dawg was there to assist, and we've got enough experience between us to pull out an interesting interview with the groundskeepers if we needed to. When all else fails, I'll steer the conversation to current events or “lifestyle” questions. We found out Josh wore overalls through most of high school, and often gets stuck singing “It's Raining Men” while playing Suicide Karaoke. Josh's interview clocked in at a neat and tidy four minutes, which we broke into two 90 second clips.

Earlier this summer, Kellie Pickler was entertaining, but frustrating. Imagine one, nine-minute-long run on sentence. Somehow we lost control and couldn't get it back. I blame myself; I think I was distracted by her beer, which she rested between her “assets” during the entire interview.