00:01
Case Sensitive
Hello and good afternoon, WKNC listeners. I am Case Sensitive, also known as Kara, here with my co host, Atomic man or Daniel, and a very special guest, the 14th Chancellor of NC State, Chancellor Woodson or DJ Ziggy.
00:17
Randy Woodson
Good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be here.
00:19
Case Sensitive
Thank you so much for joining us. We're just gonna. This next hour is gonna be very special. We're interviewing the chancellor.
00:26
Randy Woodson
We.
00:26
Case Sensitive
We have some of his favorite tracks that we're gonna play throughout the interview and we're just gonna kick it off.
00:32
Atomic Man
Yeah, yeah. So Chancellor Woodson.
00:35
Randy Woodson
Yeah.
00:35
Atomic Man
We met through your bag lunch program and. Yeah. And we got to talking about, you know, music tastes and I noticed that you were listing off a lot of bands that, like, I'm really interested in that I play on the show. So I just thought it'd be interesting to have you on here and just talk about your life and just, you know, I was reading about how you grew up in Arkansas, and I was interested, you know, like, how did little Randy Woodson in Arkansas get involved with music?
01:08
Randy Woodson
Yeah, well, for me, you know, growing up in the 60s and early 70s, music was a big part of my life. And like a lot of young guys, I wanted to play guitar and I wanted to be a. A guitar legend. Yeah, I wasn't. But the good news is I had a dad who was a great supporter. And one day he comes home from a business trip and he has an electric guitar he had bought at a pawn shop in Mississippi for me to. And I was 11 years old, so I started playing guitar 11, 12 years old. And it. It was a. It has always been a big part of my life. So music, it was a great time musically too. All times are. But, you know, growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, there were some amazing bands.
02:04
Atomic Man
Yeah.
02:05
Randy Woodson
That I followed. And my parents let me rock out in the bedroom upstairs and weren't too intrusive to my habits musically. That's what. As far as I'll go there.
02:19
Case Sensitive
So what was like one of the first albums you bought with your own money?
02:23
Randy Woodson
Yeah, but with my own money. I actually…I remember it very fondly. So there was a soul R and B singer in the late 60s named Wilson Pickett in the Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally. I mean, go back and look. These are some great tracks. And. And he came out with a recording of an. With the album named from the Beatles, Hey Jude. And so the first album I bought with my own money was 3.99 at the Sterling 5 and Dime Store in Fordyce, Arkansas. And it was Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett.
03:04
Case Sensitive
Wow. We'll be playing that later. So. We will.
03:07
Randy Woodson
When you play here, listen carefully, because there was a famed studio in Alabama called Muscle Shoals where amazing amount of great music came out of it. And the house band and Muscle Shoals in the late 60s was led by a guitarist named Dwayne Allman, who went on to found the Allman Brothers Band. And he played the lead guitar on hey Jude. And with all difference to the Beatles, it. It's a phenomenal recording of that song. So that's the first album about. All right.
03:41
Atomic Man
Yeah. And before the music, we'll just ask you a few quick fire questions. So just answer in like a sentence or less. If you could write a song with any artist, who would it be?
03:53
Randy Woodson
Yeah, it would be with Van Morrison, because he's always been. You know, he. He's consistently recorded great music from the 60s until today, and it's always been inspired by a jazz element to. To his music. But his lyrics are. Are phenomenally introspective. I mean, he's a. He's a great lyricist. He's also, over the years, had his struggles with the music industry, but he would be the one that. I would love to. I mean, I wouldn't be able to ride with him, but I would love to see how he does it.
04:35
Atomic Man
Yeah, we're also gonna play some of the Morrison today. Yeah. And so. Second question, first and. Or favorite live show.
04:45
Randy Woodson
Oh, so this is a band that probably no one has ever heard of, but me, I. I drove all the way to Dallas, Texas, to see Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heap. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
05:03
Atomic Man
They're awesome.
05:03
Randy Woodson
I love them. Yeah. So that was in 1973.
05:08
Atomic Man
Wow.
05:09
Randy Woodson
Yeah, it was a great show. I saw many, though. But, yeah, that was one that stands out for me.
05:17
Atomic Man
And then, last question. If you could see any artist or band that are alive or broken up, who would it be?
05:24
Randy Woodson
Yeah, I mean, I'd love to see the Grateful Dead again. I saw them several times in the early late 70s, and. Just a phenomenal show. It's. It's sort of like the current jam band craze in that their show was always more than their music. It was the audience as much and all the people around the. The performance. So that would be someone I'd love to see. Some are alive and once dead, but it's not the same. Yeah.
06:01
Atomic Man
Thank you.
06:02
Case Sensitive
So I think without. Without further ado, I'm gonna play a Grateful Dead track. This is. This is Morning Dew. Is this one of Your favorites?
06:09
Randy Woodson
Yep.
06:09
Case Sensitive
Is it? Okay, great. All right, so this is Morning Dew by the Grateful Dead on WKNC Foreign. We are back with Chancellor Woodson. I am Kara, here with my co host, Daniel. You just heard the Grateful Dead. The song was Morning Dew. And I know right before we played that track, you said it was one of your favorites.
06:34
Randy Woodson
Yeah, it's. I was saying to Daniel, one of the reasons I love the Grateful Dead is because, well, they're shows, but also as a musician, I love the. The chord changes that. That Jerry Garcia used in a lot of his songs, and it makes it easy to do a lot of interesting guitar licks over them. So great. Always a great show, though. Great musicians.
07:02
Case Sensitive
And I know you said your. Your parents really didn't interfere with, like, your taste in music. Did they influence it at all? Like, where did you get most of your. Your taste from?
07:13
Randy Woodson
You know, maybe negatively in the beginning, because I definitely was not a big fan of my father's music, and it was old country music. But as I got older and got into sort of Americana and bluegrass and really old Americana music, I found that some of his music wasn't that bad. Actually. One of his, early on, he loved Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and old country singers like that. And I became a fan later. Yeah, not originally.
07:56
Atomic Man
Yeah, it always works out like that.
07:57
Randy Woodson
Yeah, but he would. He's still alive. So it. But when I would play, occasionally when I was playing the guitar, he would wander into the room and say, actually that sounds good. But mostly it was like, what are you doing?
08:18
Case Sensitive
So given how your taste in music evolved and how looking back at your father's taste, you actually decided to like it, what do you think the best era of music? Well, it's been so far in your lifetime.
08:32
Randy Woodson
Yeah. So I missed a lot of musical eras. So let me start by saying there was a. A dark period in my musical experience, and it was largely a period when I was in graduate school in the late 70s, early 80s through sort of early parenting, kids, all that sort of stuff. So for me, a period of music I constantly go back to is the late 60s and early 70s, and currently I'm really attracted to. To a lot of alternative and Americana. I mean, one of my, like, I own everything. The Avet Brothers luminaires.
09:23
Case Sensitive
Oh, great.
09:24
Randy Woodson
So I listened to some new music, but I will say I don't know a lot about new music.
09:32
Case Sensitive
Do you. Do you keep up with, like, local artists at all, like the Ava Brothers or.
09:35
Randy Woodson
Oh, of course.
09:36
Atomic Man
Yeah.
09:37
Randy Woodson
Yeah, I do. And in fact, Just watched. They recorded a documentary that's on, I think HBO now that I just watched the other night. And there's a local connection to two members of their band live here in Raleigh. Yeah. Joe Quam, the cellist and the bass player whose name I've lost right now, lives here in Raleigh.
10:02
Case Sensitive
Yeah, Raleigh's got really great scene.
10:04
Randy Woodson
Yeah.
10:04
Case Sensitive
I'm like, yeah, but I don't get.
10:07
Randy Woodson
Out into it very much. I, you know, I listen to a lot of newer age bluegrass. Like there's a band out of Chapel Hill, Mandolin Orange. Oh, yeah, that's a great favorite of mine. I like Mipso, which is another sort of harder edge bluegrass. A band out of San Francisco called Front country, that's a driving bluegrass band. That's fantastic. So that tends to be. So there's a lot of new music that I'm really inspired by, but probably not what a lot of your Listen. Listeners listen to.
10:50
Case Sensitive
I know we've played definitely the Ava Brothers. Definitely Mipso, mandolin orange. Yeah, KC's big into those.
10:56
Randy Woodson
I, I say that acknowledging that in both cases, the band members are Carolina grads. We'll just get that out there.
11:08
Case Sensitive
Yeah, we respect our.
11:10
Randy Woodson
Neighbors when they produce talented musicians.
11:13
Case Sensitive
Good for them. So, so right before we get into this next track, one quick question. Do you have a timeless classic album? Is there one album that stuck with you forever?
11:24
Randy Woodson
Yes, I do. And I've already mentioned this name, so I'm gonna repeat myself, but for me, the timeless album is. Is Van Morrison, Moondance.
11:36
Case Sensitive
Okay.
11:38
Randy Woodson
It's got, you know, so that was recorded in 1969, maybe 70, and it's got, you know, some songs on it like Caravan, which is a all time great live performance song. Moon Dance, of course, and Crazy Love, which if you want to think about the love of your life, it's a great song.
12:03
Case Sensitive
We'll get into it. Well, we're going to take a quick air break right after we play hey Jude by Wilson Pickett.
12:10
Randy Woodson
Okay.
12:11
Case Sensitive
Keep it locked.
12:19
Atomic Man
Hello, WKNT listeners. This is Atomic Man, AKA Daniel, here with Case Sensitive, also known as Kara. And Chancellor Woodson has gone by DJ Ziggy.
12:32
Case Sensitive
You want to explain that really quickly?
12:33
Randy Woodson
Well, gosh, I mean, you put me on the spot, you know, having to come up with a name quickly.
12:39
Case Sensitive
We should have given you a couple weeks notice.
12:40
Randy Woodson
And you know, I grew up a huge David Bowie fan, so Ziggy Stardust and the whole. So I came up with it quick, you know, so I'm happy to be Ziggy.
12:52
Atomic Man
Yeah.
12:53
Randy Woodson
Also known as Chancellor, also known as Randy, or the guy walking across the campus. So. Yeah.
13:03
Atomic Man
So I'd like to ask you know, I think you have a very.
13:06
Randy Woodson
Unique experience in that, you know, you went from playing the rock band to.
13:10
Atomic Man
Doing research and then to, like, leading businesses, and now you're the chancellor. So I'm just interested, you know, like, glimpses of, like, what was the world like, you know, as you transitioned from one position to the other.
13:23
Randy Woodson
Yeah. Well, let's just be clear. I never made a living playing music and actually never, you know, had a view that I would, but it's always been a part of my life. And so, yeah, in the college experience, friends of mine, we played music together, and sometimes a little money was involved, but never. But music has always been a way for me to make friends, to connect with people, and to, you know, enjoy something that's a distraction from being a scientist or an administrator. And. But, you know, there have been periods, as I said earlier in my life, where it was more difficult for me to stay connected to music just because of things going on. But, Daniel, as I was telling you earlier, you know, it wouldn't.
14:15
Randy Woodson
Just like, my father bought me a guitar When I was 11, I bought my son a guitar. Yeah. And. And when there was a guitar in the house and he was learning, it got me back into it and actually got me into it in a way where, you know, I actually learned how to play it the right way. As a kid playing rock and roll music, you know, you just. Three chords and a bunch of dust. But, you know, there's a wonderful thing about the Internet. There's a. You have the ability to learn a lot.
14:51
Atomic Man
Pretty much anything.
14:52
Randy Woodson
Yeah. Yeah. And so I've become a better musician, actually, by getting started later in life again, and. But throughout all this time, you know, I've been able to balance being a leader of a university or a college or whatever I was doing at the time with enjoying music. And I've always found people to play with. And that's true today.
15:19
Atomic Man
Yeah. So I heard a rumor that the same people that you still jam with, that you're jamming with, you know, right now, those are the same people that you were jamming with back in the day, or.
15:28
Randy Woodson
No, that's a rumor, because back in the day, I was jamming in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and now I'm in North Carolina. So, yeah, when I moved here, you know, people started writing stories about my background, and there was always music in there that I played the guitar or whatever, and So a few people reached out to me that I have gotten to know over the years. And so every Sunday afternoon a bunch of older men and a 15 year old fiddle player gets together and plays music every Sunday afternoon. It's a lot of fun.
16:10
Atomic Man
That's awesome. That's an awesome ritual. Yeah, yeah. I'm actually. That's funny you mentioned that because I'm also trying to start that with my friends. So it's interesting that.
16:17
Randy Woodson
Yeah, until our violin player came along, I was the youngest member of the band. So that'll give you a sense of the age distribution.
16:27
Atomic Man
And you mentioned that your son was the one that got you back into music. And you were mentioning earlier how your son also had taken all of your, you know, your vinyl records. So I'm interested. You know, like, what do you think about, like, you know, how, you know, things like, you know, these 70s these 80s sounds are coming back and think like technology, you know, like. Yeah, from back then is also, are also going back, you know, like vinyls, you know.
16:50
Randy Woodson
Yeah.
16:50
Atomic Man
Resurging. So.
16:51
Randy Woodson
So I'll give you a funny story. You know, when we used to do the family trip and in the minivan kind of thing and my wife and I are throwing in CDs and our cassettes or whatever it was at the time of 70s music. And my kids, particularly my son, who fancies and fancied himself the big musician, used to really, you know, just slam our taste in music. And now I go over to his house and that's all he's playing. Yeah, right. You know, so he's. I think that, I don't know, that's a natural evolution. But for example, were talking, well, offline, were talking about some local bands that I like and actually two of those bands were introduced to me by my kids. So, yeah, it comes full circle. Yeah.
17:45
Randy Woodson
But I did get my vinyl back because my wife got me a turntable for Christmas and I, I brought those back home, Repatriated the albums.
17:58
Case Sensitive
All right, the next track that we're going to play is actually a vinyl that I took from my mother a couple months ago. This is Jackson Brown. The song is Doctor My Eyes. Do you like this one?
18:09
Atomic Man
I do.
18:10
Case Sensitive
All right.
18:10
Randy Woodson
Anything. Jackson Brown.
18:12
Case Sensitive
Yeah. All right, without further ado, this is Jackson Brown, only on wknc.
18:23
Atomic Man
This is Atomic man, case sensitive. You're with DJ Ziggy, Chancellor Woodson. Yeah. So were talking about vinyl and were having some interesting conversations, you know. You know, I guess something to start off with, you know, Is there one like vinyl that you're questing after? One particular, you know, that I had.
18:45
Randy Woodson
Years ago and lost or. Yeah.
18:47
Atomic Man
Or something that you just want and that it's hard to find.
18:50
Randy Woodson
Yeah, let's. You know, that. That's a good question. There. There's a lot missing from my collection that. With multiple moves over the years and children coming in and taking things at will. So there's a large part of my collection that seems to have disappeared and. And there are a few. For example, I had an early one of the, you know, not the first, but I. Right. When the Beatles White Album came out, that was one of my special collection. I had no idea where it is. Oh, man. And I want it back. So if any of my kids are listening and they have it, I'm gonna find it.
19:39
Atomic Man
Yeah. And. And, you know, you're also talking about, you know, like, the differences between owning music digitally versus you know, owning the vinyl. You know, what do you miss about, you know, that era of, like, collecting vinyls and what's something that you appreciate about, you know, the new way of doing things?
19:57
Randy Woodson
Yeah. The main thing I miss is having something tangible in your hand to read and look at during the listening of the music. And, you know, back in the day, I would get a new vinyl, a new album, and pull. Pull out the vinyl and put it on the turntable, but then spend all the time interacting with the music and the printed material. And as I was saying to you earlier, you know, I miss the fact that, I don't know, it's not as easy to discover what went into making the song, who's recording it, who's playing what instrument, who's singing backup, all the things that were typically in the liner notes of the. Of the vinyl. You know, you don't. You don't see, or at least it's more difficult to see. So I miss that part of. I felt like you.
20:57
Randy Woodson
You interacted with the artist more thoroughly than you do just listening to their music by really reading what they've. What they've written for you. Right.
21:10
Case Sensitive
Yeah. Now, because we have, like, streaming services and things like that, it's so easy to listen to just a single of an artist. But yeah, with vinyl, you are committed to the entire album.
21:19
Randy Woodson
Yeah, you are. Or at least it's. It takes an act of some energy to get up off the couch and go change it.
21:26
Case Sensitive
Right? Yeah, you can't. It's harder to pick and choose.
21:29
Randy Woodson
But. But having said that, you know, I'm. I wouldn't give up what we have now for anything because using services, Spotify others to, you know, to have constant streaming music and you just the. All of the examples that come before you. I, I get introduced to a lot of good music by that kind of service and I used to, you know, and still do, I'm sure by the radio as well. But when you think about albums, I don't know, it just was a more intense experience for me to put a new record on the turntable and look at all of the material in. Back in the day, you know, when I was buying a lot of albums, you know, the art was amazing. Yeah, right. All these bands had amazing art associated with their recordings.
22:33
Case Sensitive
Yeah, the accessibility factor of streaming is a, like a huge deal now.
22:38
Randy Woodson
The what?
22:38
Case Sensitive
The accessibility factor of. Yeah, just being able to stream and.
22:42
Atomic Man
But even then, like, yeah, it's cool to see that, like, there's a lot of bands that are still putting out vinyls and you know, people are like, you know, demanding it too and you know, maybe like they both can coexist because they serve different.
22:54
Randy Woodson
Well, they are coexisting and vinyl's experiencing a major resurgence. And it's the only challenge is that, you know, with radio and with streaming services, so many of us have given up our big bulky stereos that we use with a turntable and with CD and with cassette and everything back from the day that we got to go back and get some of those devices. Yeah.
23:24
Case Sensitive
Do we think cassettes are ever going to come back, like as big as vinyls?
23:28
Randy Woodson
We haven't even talked about eight track.
23:31
Case Sensitive
No.
23:31
Randy Woodson
Yeah, I had a 1973 Vega with an amazing eight track cassette deck in it. And you know, you. To carry your music in the car, you had to have a trailer behind your car because a track was a bad period in the music industry.
23:50
Case Sensitive
So you're not anticipating or excited about that coming back?
23:53
Randy Woodson
I'm not, no.
23:54
Case Sensitive
Okay. What about the Walkman? I had a Walkman in like elementary school and it was kind of bulky. I don't know.
24:02
Randy Woodson
No, I think we're good now. We don't need any of that.
24:05
Case Sensitive
Just the digital and the vinyl were good.
24:07
Randy Woodson
That's my final digital on the road.
24:10
Case Sensitive
All right, there it is. All right, we're gonna play a couple more tracks now. Next up is Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane.
24:17
Randy Woodson
Oh, yeah.
24:18
Case Sensitive
Not Jefferson Starship. I know you said you did not like the.
24:21
Randy Woodson
They went off the grid for me when Jefferson Airplane broke up.
24:28
Case Sensitive
All right, so this Is Jefferson Airplane Somebody to love on wknc when the truth is found. All right. And we are back with Chancellor Woodson. I just wanted really quickly, before our interviews up at 5, just wanted to ask about were there any styles of music that you were kind of excited to. You were excited to see fade out of the mainstream?
24:50
Randy Woodson
Yeah, without a. Without a doubt. And this may because of my age and my generation, but I just could not stand disco. And it was so frustrating for me to see bands that I had admired bow to that pressure. Even the Rolling Stones, for gosh sakes, play. Move toward, at least briefly, a disco theme.
25:21
Case Sensitive
What is it that you don't like about.
25:24
Randy Woodson
Just made no sense. I mean, I guess, you know, I like to dance as much as the next person, but it was. Just seemed so contrived and. Yeah, so I didn't. There was nothing musically exciting about it for me.
25:40
Case Sensitive
Wow. Okay.
25:41
Randy Woodson
I'm pretty clearly throwing on the gauntlet. It affected me in a very traumatic way.
25:46
Case Sensitive
Yeah, you didn't even have to think about that one.
25:48
Randy Woodson
But I'm old disco because, you know, seeing Saturday Night Fever once was enough. But, you know, the Beachies, who recorded a lot of that soundtrack before Saturday Night Fever and Before Disco, were actually an amazing. Some of their early work was really quite phenomenal. So don't write me about.
26:15
Atomic Man
You were talking earlier about, you know, your newly discovered passion for blues. Yeah. What. What, like, attracts you to the blues?
26:23
Randy Woodson
Yeah, well, it's. It's only new in that there's. I've actually listened to the blues a long time. I mean, I was all early rock, you know, was. Was inspired by the blues. So if you think about, you know, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and some of the great guitarists that I admired, you know, so much of their work was inspired by the blues. Right. But more recently, you know, there are some phenomenal young musicians, And Gary Clark Jr. Is somebody that's come to Raleigh several times. He's from Austin and a phenomenal guitarist. So, yeah, the blues. And for me, the blues were something that was an easy. Not that it's easy, but it's a.
27:11
Randy Woodson
It's an easier genre to master as you learn to play the guitar, because the minor pentatonic scale for the guitarist out there is something that, you know, you can master fairly quickly and then just learning the technique. So blues has always been something that. I play it late at night with the headphones on so as not to disturb my wife.
27:37
Case Sensitive
That's so nice and respectful.
27:39
Randy Woodson
I. I'm a very kind Man, I think everyone. Yeah, everyone.
27:42
Atomic Man
Could tell.
27:43
Randy Woodson
Yeah. Yeah. That's the way you stay married 38 years. Put your headphones on.
27:48
Case Sensitive
Everyone take note. And one last question. I know I asked you this earlier. No pressure to respond. If you had a personal anthem, what would it be?
27:57
Randy Woodson
Yeah. You know that you really put me on the spot with this one. Case sensitive. And this isn't a particularly inspiring song to a lot of people, but it helps me to focus when I need to focus. And it's a song written by Jackson Brown, but made famous by the Eagles called Take It Easy. That's it.
28:19
Case Sensitive
All right. That was it. I was. I wasn't sure if you were gonna have a solid answer, but. Yeah, that's good.
28:25
Randy Woodson
Well, you know, you gave me a few minutes to think about it, and I thought about.
28:28
Case Sensitive
I gave you an hour. Just so we're clear.
28:30
Randy Woodson
Well, it's in an hour.
28:32
Case Sensitive
Full disclosure.
28:33
Randy Woodson
Yeah. When you're 61, you know, an hour is a short period of time because it tends to move quickly.
28:39
Case Sensitive
Right. Chancellor Woodson's personal anthem, Take It Easy by Jackson Brown, made popular by the Eagles.
28:46
Randy Woodson
Yeah.
28:46
Case Sensitive
All right, well, on that note, it is about 5pm so our time here is up. Chancellor Woodson, thank you so much for coming in. This was awesome. We had a great time.
28:55
Randy Woodson
It's been fun. It's been fun. Thanks, guys. Thank you. All right.
28:59
Case Sensitive
And we're gonna close out. And we're gonna close out with the song I'm a Woman by Deborah Coleman, only on WKNC. Thanks again, Chancellor Woodson.
29:09
Randy Woodson
Thanks.