Read Southall Loves Long Songs & Doesn’t Understand Why Some Fans Dislike 8-Minute Ballads

It’s about time someone stood up for long songs.

This week, Southall frontman Read Southall stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about the band’s 10 years in the red dirt scene, why they changed their name, how their 2023 self-titled album came together, growing up in Oklahoma and how that inspired his love for country music, how weird it is to think that Koe Wetzel used to open for him, when fans can expect new music and much more.

Listen to any Southall record (or any of the former Read Southall Band projects) and it’s easy to tell that the band loves to rock. And rock music often carves out space for longer, more exploratory songs. You won’t ever hear a pop-radio hit longer than three minutes. Hit makers typically like to keep things short and sweet.

But Read Southall doesn’t share that same view. He’s all for a long song, and to prove it, he and Chase Rice teamed up for a track that pushes eight minutes in length just last year. The Southall frontman spoke about how that came to be during our interview, saying:

“He had this song called ‘Oklahoma’ and he knew that I was from Oklahoma and… out of nowhere they were like, ‘Hey do you want to come and sing this song about Oklahoma?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ Came to Nashville, drove down to Chase’s and we were recording it at his house. Got to meet some killers players. Just absolute legends.

And I think they were excited because Chase was like, ‘Alright, we want to have fun with this one. We want to rock this one up.’ And I think it was nice for those guys to just let loose and play whatever they want. We just let them do whatever they wanted to and it was great. It ended up really cool. It’s like an eight minute song.”

Here it is, if you haven’t had a chance to check it out:

That’s the type of song that makes a dude go, “Hell yeah.”

And while we were on the topic of longer song, I voiced the fact that I don’t understand why music fans are so hesitant to like a song – or even give it a chance – if it’s over four or five minutes long. Read Southall agreed, and explained that as an artist, it doesn’t make much sense to him to see fans get up in arms when a song pushes the traditional timing format:

“I don’t understand that. It’s just free, you know what I mean? I’m not charging you extra money because it’s longer. And if you get tired of it after minutes, skip it.”

@whiskeyriff “Get your money’s worth.” // The new Whiskey Riff Raff podcast with Read Southall is LIVE now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #southall #readsouthall @Southall ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Think about it. Some of the greatest songs ever recorded – like Don McLean’s “American Pie” or Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” – are over eight minutes long. Yet when some people cue up and album and see a song that’s twice as long as normal, they’re immediately out on it. Like Read Southall said… it’s not like you are getting charged more for it. How hard is it to consider the longer tracks free music, and carry on?

Sorry… I’ll get off my soapbox and direct you to listen to the latest episode of Whiskey Riff Raff. Download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.

Cheers, y’all.

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