Wyoming Raised: The album, their influences, and their roots

By: Amy Rasdall, Media Marketing Specialist, WyoRadio/Wyo4News ([email protected])

August 27, 2021 — August has been an incredibly busy month – especially for the boys in the locally famous country band Wyoming Raised.

A few months ago, they got the go-ahead to book studio time at the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas, in September to record their first album. The entire month of August has been a whirlwind of show after show, practices and writing sessions, information gathering – and of course, fundraising. The Sonic Ranch has been the studio of choice for stars like Midland, Dirty Heads, Cody Jinks, Flogging Molly, and even Dropkick Murphys.

 

Wyoming Raised – set to depart the day after their August 28th show at the Pour House in Rock Springs – will spend almost a month on the 3,300-acre home to one of the world’s largest recording facilities. Dakota Knezovich, Braxton Knezovich, Brayten Bettelyoun, and Austin Torres have an incredible September ahead of them.

I interviewed Dakota and Braxton Knezovich just a few days before the beginning of their self-described dream come true, in a quiet little space at Sidekicks Book and Wine Bar.

So you’re headed to the Ranch – how excited are you, and what parts are you excited about?

Dakota: I can’t speak for all of us, I know I’m personally pretty nervous, but I’m also excited as well. I’m just nervous… I mean, being as it is our first time in the studio – seeing what everything’s about and learning and wanting to make sure we represent well. I’m also extremely excited because this is one of the biggest – one of my dream studios that I’ve wanted to go to – one of our [favorite] bands goes there, and lots of other people.

Braxton: I’m very excited – they’ve got a bunch of different guitars and basses you can play, all sorts of instruments – I think they have a total of like 5 different kits, about a hundred snares…  just a plethora of stuff we can choose from. We can really get that sound that we’re looking for. And then – at the same time, I am nervous, too, like ‘Kota – I’ve been working with Cory [Zampedri] from ZamTrip, he’s been teaching me up on some stuff, like playing with click tracks and giving me the base knowledge of what will be going on. VERY excited, I mean, we talked about it – a few years back, we talked about going into the studio, and it was all, “Yeah, it’d be really cool to go there one day.” I remember one day Dakota called me and gave me the news. I was working, and I told my boss – you gotta give me 10 minutes, because oh my goodness, you know? I didn’t think it was real! And even now, we’re leaving in what, 4 days? I don’t think I’ll know until the plane hits Texas ground that we’re actually going to our dream studio.

Dakota: Pretty emotional moment, I remember that. And even Cody [Zampedri] from ZamTrip has been helping us out, getting us mentally prepped, and telling us a lot of stuff that we’ve got to be ready for. I’m extremely thankful for all the musicians we have in this community because we’re super tight and try to help each other out as much as possible.

 

Braxton: That’s a good point. I love the community around here; it’s very supportive – it’s awesome. Because we’re all so different – you know, being able to either play for them or watch them play – being able to ask advice… there’s variety within the community, and that’s awesome, very supportive. I love it; I love it here.

Dakota: Most of us are pretty tight and good friends, too – it’s really nice.

How many songs are you going to record when you’re down there?

Braxton: Twelve. Yeah, it should be a full album. We’ve actually been deciding that – we’ve been pulling all-nighters for the past 2 months: what order is it going to be? What’s the album’s name? What’s the cover art, you know – we’re kind of getting ahead of ourselves, maybe. We’ve got 11 songs right now, and one of them we’re going to do as a full band, and we’ll also do an acoustic, broken-down version of it.

Dakota: Well, that’s what the plan is…

Braxton: Yeah, it could change. As of right now, going into Sonic Ranch, we have 11, 12 songs that we’re going to plan on recording.

Is there a producer there you’ll use?

Dakota: Yes, his name is Charles Godfrey – he’s done Cody Jinks and Whiskey Myers… those kinds of guys, so…. Pretty excited. I got asked that question about what are we going to name the album, and I decided I’m just going to wait until it’s finished and let it tell me what we should name it. Let it tell me.

 

 

 

Braxton: A big thing we’ve been talking about is, it’s cool to have an album name that’s one of the songs on the album, but we also want to find a name that’s more of a theme of the album; you know what I mean? Like it’s not really a track on the album or anything, but like ‘Kota says, once we’re done recording, just listen, and whatever we decide and whatever we feel at the moment, we’ll go with that.

Sounds good! What do you think is your biggest musical influence right now?

 Dakota: As a collective or single?

Either, you can give both…

Braxton: We have to mention Midland.

Dakota: Yeah, Midland for sure. They’re probably one of the bigger reasons why we tried to go to the Sonic Ranch because that’s where they did their first album. Well, I guess it’s mainly a demo, but it’s where they went, and they’re one of our biggest idols that we have – they’re one of the silver horses bringing back old country, so for me, anyway – I can’t speak for everybody else…

Braxton: You can speak for me on Midland. [laughs] For sure. Lots of people, you know – you’ve got really big bands, like Brothers Osbourne, Midland… The Cadillac Three, we kind of really like a lot. But – and I’m not just saying this ‘cause it’s in an interview, but – ZamTrip. They’re a huge reason that we’re even playing. For our 13th birthday, their present to us was lessons with them. I went and took lessons with Cory, and [Dakota] took lessons from Kyle, and that’s the sole reason that we’re playing music right now, is those guys. So, I can’t stress enough how big they are, just like in our hearts – those guys mean so much to us.

Is there anything you’d like people to know about Wyoming Raised?

Dakota: How we’re kind of… I feel like we’re relatively new, and the fact that half our band has only been with us for the past year. It’s just kind of cool how when we all came together, things just kind of clicked more live and in practice, too. It’s cool how that came together.

Braxton: Yeah, that’s it. I mean, me and ‘Kota had been playing together, but as a drummer – you and the bassist are kind of on key, and our bassist [Austin Torres] has been playing with us for only 3 or 4 months, you know? We’re relatively new in the sense of our line-up.

You can’t even tell live, though.

Both: Thank you!

The first show I saw with the new line-up was… “Whoa!”

Braxton: Really? That’s awesome. And the two new guys, Austin and Brayten [Bettelyoun], they’re amazing…

Dakota: They bring so much to the table.

Braxton: They really do. Just in terms of attitude, performance, songwriting – those two really helped us out a lot. I don’t think we’d be going to the Ranch right now if we didn’t feel comfortable with those guys. Another thing is, going back to the whole Wyoming music scene (at least in the southwest and Rock Springs) – everybody’s… we’re all kind of doing something different. You’ve got rappers like Sickamore and T00M3R, and you’ve got ZamTrip, and [Sin City Screamers] – and we’re all playing a part in a bigger picture. I hope one day it just kind of works out for all of us; we all get to take off – because everybody here – it’s crazy. It’s not talked about a lot, unfortunately, because we’re a smaller town, but there’s just SO much talent in this community that it’s just absolutely bonkers to me. It’s just nuts how awesome everybody is here. We talk about ZamTrip, but it’s a lot of people here. I’m sure you remember playing Music For Vets with us, that line-up – we wouldn’t be the band that we are today, going up to Texas as one for everybody, you know? It’s just… I love the community here. We’re going to Texas to record our album, but going back to our name – we’re still Wyoming Raised, we still love this state and this town and everything. That’s where our hearts are always gonna be, is here.

 

Do you have a favorite song that you like to play live?

Dakota: Actually, probably the consensus right now is ‘Neon.’

Braxton: Yeah! ‘Neon.’ It’s what we’re wanting to start the album off [with], we’re not sure of the order, but we’re wanting to start the album off with it. We’re all country fans, obviously – I love Dwight Yoakum, the 80’s country, and ‘Kota’s a little bit different… we all like [country] music… my favorite band’s Metallica. We all have our musical influences, but it’s just kind of nice to be able to form it into [our own music]. I feel like if we were all of the same opinion, we all liked only one band and only one song… that wouldn’t help with the creative tendencies as much. Yeah, I’d go with ‘Neon’ – it’s a little rock-y, but it’s still true to country and everything, it’s just ‘us.’ We’re playing music that we want to play.

Neon is a great song.

Braxton: That’s a huge one; we’re playing music that we want, we’re writing music that we want to hear. That’s what it is; we’re not trying to follow someone else. Nowadays, it’s kind of hard not to sound like someone else, just because there’s so many bands, but we’re just trying to play music that we like and want to listen to. We want to go and record this album, and then put it in our CD player and listen to it on the way home or something.

Dakota: CD player… [laughs]

Braxton: Well, I want to put it in a CD player!

Dakota: I think ‘Neon’ is probably the band’s [favorite], as far as originals go. It does have a little driven guitar, but it starts off kind of mellow and kicks in real good on that second verse; I feel like – I like the storyline that we came up with a lot, personally.

Of course, it’ll be a little while before it’s all pressed and ready and available, but when it is – it’ll be on Spotify, Apple Music…

Braxton: Oh yes, we’re going to get it on Spotify, Apple Music / iTunes… MySpace. [laughs]

Dakota: [snickering] Yeah, you’re talking about CD players, MySpace – might as well. I do like the hard copies; it’s just cool to have the hard copy.

Braxton: Same reason a lot of bands will put out records and vinyls and stuff.

They’re really making a comeback.

Braxton: They really are; it’s crazy.

Dakota: A lot of things are coming back, I’ve noticed – a lot of ’80s, 70s, even 90s styles – like how people are dressing is coming back…

Braxton: Oh, the mullet, too…

Dakota: It’s exciting to see it in a bunch of different things, I’m sure you’ve noticed – there’s even a lot of cool musicians coming down the pipeline, as well.

Anything else you’d like people to know?

Braxton: I just want to thank everybody, you know? Because not only the bands, the people around here – just the amount of support that we’ve gotten – it’s crazy, we wouldn’t be going without a lot of people here.

Dakota: I heard a quote from somebody that perfectly describes Wyoming people as a whole: when asking why we only have sagebrush that grows out here, it’s the only plant that can live where it goes from 100 degrees down to -50, and the reason why it survives is because its roots grow together to basically keep itself alive, and that’s how Wyoming people are – we just hold each other up together. It means a lot to us that the community comes and watches the local musicians, ALL of us. And they’re willing to help send us down [to Texas] and help us try to make our dream happen.

Braxton: We hope we can do proud by them, and hopefully we can come back with a good enough album they can –

Dakota: – be proud of.

Braxton: We want to be that: Wyoming Raised. We want to be supporting Wyoming – we want to be repping that a lot. No matter where we’re playing, our roots are always going to be here. We want the album to kind of be prevalent on that. You know, this album is like – the child of everybody. [chuckles] It’s like us playing at the Saddle Lite, or we have songs about us playing at 1 am in a bar to 4 people. That’s our roots – looking back at it, it’s all stories…  we wouldn’t be going to the Sonic Ranch without all those people or stories. So yeah – just a HUGE thank you to everybody.