Catching up with Kostas

Dwight Yoakam also recorded several of Kostas’ songs, including "Nothing's Changed Here," "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose," and "Send a Message to My Heart,” a duet with Loveless. Yoakam's 1993 album, “This Time” included a song co-written by Kostas: the single "Ain't That Lonely Yet," which earned Yoakam a Grammy.

During the early 1990s, Kostas also wrote singles for McBride & the Ride, Travis Tritt, Holly Dunn, Martina McBride, Jo Dee Messina, and The Mavericks. In 1994, he signed to Liberty Records as a recording artist. His only album, “XS in Moderation” was released that year. The RollingZone recently caught up with the soft-spoken singer-songwriter at his home in Belgrade.

RZ: Wow! What an amazing mind you’ve got. Can you share your secret to the prolific songwriting that has had such widespread success?

K: Can’t explain it. I don’t think anybody can. If you’re meant to be something, that’s what you’re gonna be. I think it goes beyond what we ...you’re born with a Muse. You imitate, emulate and then create. Everybody has a calling in life and it’s a matter of figuring out what you want. Luckily for me, it was music. First you pick up a guitar. You hear things in your head, imitate what you hear and go on from there as the years go by. There was something that you just fell in love with along the way. You just absorb it, and later on it serves you, as well. I’ve put in nearly 30 years sitting on barstools, traveling all over making a living.

RZ: Right, but not everyone who does that experiences the success you’ve had.

K: If you’re successful, I think it has to be because you stay in the game. The other thing is that you have to keep striving to get in a better place. If this is what you’re gonna do in life you figure out different patterns for writing the melody and the words just come when you start thinking about it. Most people that write songs are where the game is — you have to make connections. The best way (although it didn’t work this way for me) is to go to Nashville, NY or LA, to make that effort.

RZ: How has the industry changed?

K: I think the industry today is being run by narrow, tunnel-visioned people. So you have accountants and lawyers in charge of artists’ careers and artists are not fully developed by the time they hit the airwaves; they’re just doing stuff they learned a week or two before they went into the studio. It’s all just bubblegum crap for the most part. The R & R being played today isn’t what it was. The bands in the old days traveled and played and wrote the songs coming out of them. There aren’t bands anymore, but artists. It used to be bands. Now you if you wanna be a star, just pretend that’s what you are (a lyric from one of his songs). People are assuming positions they’ve never attained.

RZ: Is that your philosophy of life?

K: People today, regardless of what they’re doing in life, I think they’re searching for their identity. A lot pretend to something they’re not. It didn’t used to be this way. I’m being realistic in my own mind about what I see.

RZ: Are you tech-savvy?

K: I think the tech stuff can help artists, but I haven’t really done much in the line of becoming computer savvy. I’m about the most laid back person around, and that’s the way I like being. I’ve got nothing to prove.

RZ: Do you remember much about Greece? Visit often?

K: I remember lots of relatives! Everything is almost in black and white — there are memories of faces and places. Greece is full of dancing people who like to play music, dance, drink and eat. Most of the time in the winter I miss the climate. I go back on occasion; I have many relatives still there.

RZ: Are there similarities between Greece and the U.S.?

K: I think the world has become a closer-knit community. No matter where you go, especially between Europe and the U.S., it has become modernized. Lots of places have passed us as far as modernization: like Dubai, Singapore, and Tokyo. It’s all like one big American Town, like Randy Newman’s song, “Political Science.”

RZ: You lived in Nashville for awhile, didn’t you? How was that?

K: I lived there six years; Tennessee is not Montana. It just ...hell, when you grow up someplace it’s home. I just came home.

RZ: What do you love about Montana?

K: I’m tangled up in it so I don’t know. I’ve been here all my life, so it’s home. I like everything about it — the people, the mountains, rivers, lakes, and everything that lives here.

RZ: Do you ski or hike?

K: I ski from a distance. I’ve done plenty of hiking over the years. Now I hike up and down the stairs.

RZ: Have you ever been frustrated or disappointed with the way an artist interpreted one of your songs?

K: Never; I’ve been fortunate. Most of my songs have been well interpreted. There may have been little things I’d have done differently. I like my versions better, but I like theirs, too.

RZ: How about the flip side — ever been really pleased with an interpretation?

K: I’m particularly pleased every time I hear one on the radio. All the artists, Dwight, Patty, The Mavericks... it just brightens me up whenever I hear one of my tunes. You know, they’re all joyful noises to me.

RZ: Which musicians have influenced you over the years?

K: Most all of them; I began listening to the same stuff everybody else did, from Buddy Holly to Elvis to Eddie Cochran. I liked the Stones better than the Beatles, I liked the Kinks better than most. I liked country as much as R & R. I was primarily influenced from the country of the 50’s and 60’s.

RZ: Are there artists you admire today?

K: The guys I grew up with in Billings — John Uribe and Dave Weir, Ron Horton and Jerry Mullen, Ronnie Taylor, Mark Dickson, Kelly Roberti and Mark Whitman. Dick Dillhof, Mike Devine.. and many, many others. There’s all these guys I’ve played with over the years. We have a lot of really fine musicians here. But to be honest, there’s nobody I’m listening to on a daily basis. I go back to the stuff I like, from Leonard Cohen to the Doors, to the Beau Brummels and The Byrds — it’s refreshing.

RZ: Sounds like you enjoy the past in numerous ways — you own an antique store?

K: I do. I am liking the past. I collect Montana-related things; everything from calendars and Montana history books to memorabilia.

RZ: Do you have any personal favorites among your songs?

K: I think every time I heard one of my songs on the radio it was my personal favorite ‘cause it was always a thrill. It made me feel good. Other people have favorites, but all my songs are my little babies.

RZ: Speaking of babies, you have a daughter; is she interested in music?

K: She’s my wonder-child and, yes, is interested in music. She is in the ninth grade and has her favorites: modern stuff, but also older things.

RZ: Has the downturn in the economy affected you?

K: I thank God for what I’ve been given and that it hasn’t affected me. I don’t go out and play a lot. I do a few things here and there and that’s plenty. I’ve got other things to get done.

RZ: What do you do when you’re not writing hit songs?

K: I am raising my daughter and a little pug named Bella Mia. I’m helping my mother. I still write songs — at this point, what I write may or may not get cut, but I continuously do what I do. It takes me a little longer to get my product to Nashville and to the ears of the powers that be, but I’m still involved.

RZ: Do you get up early?

K: I sure as hell do. I wake up the birds. I used to write a lot of songs in the early morning, but a lot of times you end up (yawns) ... writing in the afternoon or whenever. Since I’m not involved in writing with other people, there’s no appointments to keep.

RZ: Do you listen to the radio?

K: You won’t like this, but I listen to talk radio. On occasion I do listen to KGLT. I think they do a wonderful service throughout the course of a day, playing a variety of old and new stuff. I think they brighten up peoples’ lives. Music is essential. Even though it’s one of the things that’s subtle, it does make us feel good. Stirs up the blood!

RZ: Any wrap-it-up comments?

K: I think my music has touched a lot of people and for that I feel grateful and pleased. And I hope and think that the people who have heard my music are feeling the same thing. I like to think I’ve written some listenable and good three-minute songs. Some go up to 10 or 15 minutes. At least they used to, depending on what drugs were available.

RZ: Should we say that?!

K: Go ahead; I’m not running for office.