With Hard Days, Soft Nights, Randy Ross closes one chapter and quietly steps into another. Written during his final stretch in Nashville and released after relocating to Northern California, the EP feels less like like an honest reckoning; eight years in Music City distilled into songs about work, love, mistakes, and growth.
Rooted in classic country influences and straightforward storytelling, the record leans away from trend-chasing in favor of substance and lived experience. In this conversation, Randy reflects on leaving Nashville, honoring his mentor Raymond Sisk, embracing self-acceptance, and why sometimes stability makes for the strongest story of all.
- This EP was written during your last chapter in Nashville and released after moving to Northern California. Does Hard Days, Soft Nights feel more like a new beginning or a farewell letter?
I would lean more towards farewell letter, but not necessarily a sad one. I still love Nashville and plan to spend a fair bit of time there, I really just needed a break from living there. I feel like this record when viewed as a whole is just me trying to make sense of my experiences the last 8 years in Music City, and trying to look at the positives and negatives extremely honestly.
- A lot of modern country chases trends, but your sound leans unapologetically vintage. Is that a conscious rebellion, or simply the music you grew up loving?
I’d say a little bit of both. I was introduced to a lot of old school country music at a young age but we still listened to the radio too up until about 2009, I feel like that’s when country radio started to get really bad. The sound of Country music has always evolved with trends in pop, and usually that ends up being a good thing. The real killer for me with mainstream country is just how dumbed down a lot of the songwriting has become. For awhile there it seemed like every song had just become “dirt road, pickup truck, {insert domestic beer brand}” and that’s just not what good country music is about. Fortunately though a lot more really good songwriters have been seeing mainstream success the last few years so maybe the tides are starting to turn on Bro Country.
- You didn’t write the title track, your mentor Raymond Sisk did. What made you feel that his song told your life story better than something you could have written yourself?
Well for me Ray is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard and I definitely wouldn’t be the writer I am today if he hadn’t let me hang around him so much when I was just starting out, so I would say anything he writes is better than something I could write myself. Some people make a very big deal about only singing songs they wrote, which is fine, but I’ve always loved singing the songs of friends and other artists that really influence me as a way to pay homage. It’s just an honor to get to put another one of my great friend’s songs on a record!
- “Hard Days, Soft Nights” celebrates work ethic and coming home to someone you love. In a genre full of heartbreak songs, why did you want to highlight stability instead of drama?
I just really related to the story of the song with where I was at in my life. And as you pointed out there’s definitely no shortage of drama a heartbreak songs out there, I’ve got plenty of them and so does everyone else. Sometimes it’s good to go the other direction.
Photo Credit: Katelyn Dowd - “I’m A Mule” is basically a self-acceptance anthem disguised as a honkytonk tune. What part of yourself took the longest to accept?
The same part of me that respectfully declines to go in depth on this question haha. Truth be told I’m still on the journey to self acceptance, that song is really just a reminder to myself to not get caught up in comparing where I’m at to other people.
- You left Nashville after years in the scene. Did stepping away from Music City change how you see the industry or how you see yourself in it?
It’s a bit too early to see if it will change how I see myself in it, and I don’t think it changes the way I see the industry. Maybe the reason I felt like I needed a sabbatical is because I need to start seeing myself differently and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I stayed? It’s hard to say for sure, but time will tell.
- “Good People” suggests that the late-night barroom characters aren’t as bad as they look. Who’s the most unlikely “good person” you’ve met on the road?
I don’t know if I’d say any of them were unlikely but you certainly meet a whole lot of good folks when traveling around. I wrote that song with my good buddy Kenny Sharp who’s also singing on the track with me, we were just trying to paint a picture of the kind of people you meet when you find yourself out in the nightlife often as musicians do. And how being known as good people in those circles comes with its own benefits.
- Country music has always been about everyday life. Do you think those ordinary stories are getting harder to find in today’s version of the genre?
Harder to find maybe, but I think there’s just as much good country music being made today as there ever was. It’s just not in the mainstream so you have to dig a little deeper to find the good stuff, but there is a lot of it out there.
- If someone listens to Hard Days, Soft Nights from start to finish, what do you hope they understand about the man behind the songs?
Just that I’ve lived out every one of them at one time or another, and that buried in the stories are a lot of things I’ve learned about myself over the years. And hopefully you can get something out of it for yourself too.
