Life As A Worldwide Roadie With Tom Mayhue

Summary

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On the Bus with Troy Vollhoffer

Episode: Life As A Worldwide Roadie With Tom Mayhue

Date: December 4, 2025
Guest: Tom Mayhue (Tour Manager for Guns N’ Roses, Boxmasters, Carole King, Alice Cooper)
Host: Troy Vollhoffer (Founder of Country Thunder)

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Episode Overview

This episode invites listeners onto the “bus” with Troy Vollhoffer and legendary roadie/tour manager Tom Mayhue. Through career-spanning stories and candid insight, Tom shares his journey from a young aspiring guitarist in California to working with some of the biggest acts in music history. The conversation covers the evolution of live touring, hilarious and heartfelt on-the-road tales, the business behind massive touring productions, and Tom's unexpected foray into acting.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tom Mayhue’s Start in the Business

[03:44]

• Tom began as a musician in Santa Rosa, CA, then shifted focus to roadie and tour work after realizing “I’m never going to catch them,” referring to legends like Van Halen and Randy Rhoads.
• First big touring gig: Aldo Nova (1982), opening for Cheap Trick.

"For a 21 year-old kid, you know, tour in the U.S. and Canada. Driving a truck, loading gear all day—I couldn't have been happier. 300 bucks a week, but I loved it." — Tom Mayhue [04:59]

Networking & Career Progression

[05:12-06:54]

• Built connections with top roadies like Adam Day (Slash/ACDC/Journey).
• Joined Dawkin, then moved with them to management under Q Prime (Cliff Burnstein & Peter Mensch).
• Insight into how Q Prime developed Def Leppard, Dawkin, Metallica, focusing on gradual, sustainable growth:

"Cliff always came out and said: listen, you don't want to do this with your career because... our deal is steady. Let's build this thing." — Tom [07:07]

The Evolution of Touring Business

[08:02-10:07]

• Early days: Club shows, then larger festivals (e.g., Woodstock), but lacked logistical structure.
• Merchandising (thanks to figures like Peter Grant/Bad Company) became a major revenue source alongside records and touring.
• Tom would tour “11, 11 and a half months a year—hated going home.”

Joining Guns N' Roses

[10:07-12:53]

• Approached by original manager Alan Niven after their first record.
• Sent his brother out first, later joined at the end of the Monsters of Rock tour (1988), starting as Stephen Adler’s drum roadie, quickly promoted to stage manager.
• Witnessed GNR’s rapid ascent: from 300,000 to 18 million records sold in under a year, surpassing Carole King's Tapestry.

"It was like the Beatles caught fire. I'd never seen anything like it in my life." — Tom [11:25]

The Songwriting Elite: Carole King & Industry Legends

[12:54-14:04]

• Stories about Carole King’s influence, her ties to hit writing in the Brill Building.

"Not many people could say they wrote songs for the Beatles." — Tom [12:54]

Working with Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters

[01:27-03:36, 14:04-16:33]

• Met Billy Bob through mutual friends and became his go-to tour manager, eventually working on both music and film sets.
• Billy Bob’s rule: “don’t mix film and music,” which relaxed after Tom proved his value.

Acting Career — Trailer Park Boys Adventures

[14:19-17:55]

• Got SAG card alongside Billy Bob for a cameo in Trailer Park Boys, leading to more acting opportunities.
• Improvised much of his performance, found “be meaner!” to the main cast was the recurring direction.
• Noted the fun and family of these productions, with major guest cameos (e.g., Ronnie Wood, Duff McKagan, Rick Nielsen).

Working with Taylor Sheridan & Landman

[19:16-21:27]

• Billy Bob got the script for Landman directly written “in his voice” by Sheridan. Tom was involved onset.

"I've never seen anything written so well for a person...Billy had his voice nailed." — Tom [20:00]

The Business of Touring & Production

[23:14-25:53]

• Massive technological evolution: from unsafe, heavy loads to modular, efficient equipment.
• Importance of cost management and letting skilled production managers communicate directly with artists:

"Any manager that doesn't allow their production people to talk to the artists—they're idiots, absolute idiots." — Tom [24:38]

• Discussed mega-tours (Taylor Swift, Metallica) and the relentless escalation in touring scale and costs.

The Impact of COVID on Touring

[26:18-26:46]

• Pandemic triggered industry-wide retirement: “At least about a third of our industry” left, forcing a generational reset.
• Despite industry shifts, Tom and Troy both confess a continued "itch" for the road.

Proud Moments & Reflections

[27:14-28:17]

• Tom’s proudest career moment: “seeing [Guns N' Roses] get back together again”—the full circle, professionalism, and camaraderie after tumultuous years.
• Recalling Axl Rose’s guest stint with ACDC, shepherded by Tom.
• Tom expresses gratitude for a fulfilling, globetrotting career.

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Notable Quotes

• On early career humility:

  "I realized I'm never going to catch them... I'm not even going to be in their league, ever." — Tom [03:44]

• On the glory of road life:

  "I would tour 11, 11 and a half months a year. I hated going home... Never stopped. Didn't want to stop. I just loved it." — Tom [09:42]

• On the explosion of Guns N’ Roses:

  "It was like the Beatles caught fire. I'd never seen anything like it in my life." — Tom [11:25]

• On Billy Bob Thornton's dual passion:

  "This acting thing came secondary to him. It worked for him, and he's amazing at doing it, but his heart is music." — Tom [22:58]

• Touring wisdom:

  "Smart production managers will go to the artist and say, how much money do you want to make? Do you want to take this home or do you want to leave it on the table?" — Tom [24:17]

• On managers blocking communication:

  "Any manager that doesn't allow their production people to talk to the artist, they're idiots, absolute idiots." — Tom [24:40]

• On seeing GNR reunite:

  "To see that happen again, that's definitely one of the shiniest moments...they got to see things full circle." — Tom [27:19]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Roadie Days & Networking (Aldo Nova, Dawkin, Metallica):
  [03:44] – [07:07]
• Touring Technology & Business Models:
  [08:10] – [09:47], [23:14] – [25:53]
• Guns N’ Roses Rise:
  [10:07] – [12:53]
• Carole King & Brill Building Legends:
  [12:54] – [14:04]
• Billy Bob Thornton, Boxmasters & Acting:
  [01:27] – [03:36], [14:04] – [17:55]
• Landman & Taylor Sheridan:
  [19:16] – [21:27]
• COVID’s Impact on Touring:
  [26:18] – [26:46]
• Proudest Moments & GNR Reunion:
  [27:14] – [28:17]

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Memorable Moments

• Tom realizing he was better suited to the road than playing music — and never looked back.
• The surreal shift from opening clubs to being part of a band that suddenly outsells Carole King in record sales.
• Spontaneously landing an acting gig with the Trailer Park Boys that leads to a recurring character.
• Guidance to artists and managers: let production pros do their job—and don’t let ego get in the way of smart business.
• Reflections on legacy: seeing GNR reconcile and play together again, and realizing his lifelong run is still filled with passion.

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Conclusion

Tom Mayhue’s story is a testament to the dedication and resourcefulness required in the music industry’s backstage world. His candid tales and behind-the-scenes wisdom provide a rare glimpse into the evolution of modern touring, the unpredictable path of working with icons, and the humility and hustle it takes to survive—and thrive—“on the bus."

For music, road, and festival lovers, this episode is packed with insight, humor, and inspiration.

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Transcript

[A]

Smart production managers will go to the artist and say, how much money do you want to make? Do you want to take this home or do you want to leave it on the table?

[B]

Brilliant.

[A]

Now a lot of artists like Lady Gaga and Beyonce, when they're young and they're touring Guns N Roses, no difference. You two Stones, they're all the same. They want everything until they start seeing the cost of everything, they're like, wow, I just went out for six months and really didn't make that much money. Any manager that doesn't allow their production people to talk to the artists, they're idiots, absolute idiots.

[B]

Welcome back to on the Bus with me, Troy Volhofer. Today we have a guest with a thousand stories from the road. Touring legend Tom Mayhew. Tom has managed tours for some of the biggest bands in the history of music, including Carole King, Alice Cooper and of course Guns N Roses. He's here in Montana, tour managing last week's guest, the Boxmasters, and was kind enough to stop by the bus. Please welcome Tom Mayhew. We had a big treat today on the bus at Country Thunder or wherever the hell we are today. We're in Montana and I got my dear friend here, Tom May, here. How are you, Tom?

[A]

I'm very well, my friend. How are you?

[B]

Welcome.

[A]

Thank you. It's good to be here.

[B]

You know, we could go the Boxmaster sat in that chair.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Why don't we just start with the Boxmasters? We're going to go back in time. We're going to go back in the time capsule up may his career. Okay, but let's start with the Box Masters. How did you ever end up with Billy Bob Thornton?

[A]

The Boxmasters. A good friend of mine who's out here as a guitar tech right now, his name is Bobby Overdorson. He's kid out of Detroit. Now Bobby called me and said, hey, coming to town, going to do a show with Billy Bob Thorton. I believe it was at the El Ray. And this was about 21 years ago somewhere roughly around there. And I said, I want to go curiosity one thing. And I massive, massive fan. I fell in love with the guy in Sling Blade. So it was on the Guns and Roses tour bus. He was on constant rotation. So every night after the show we watched Sling Blade. I mean, for a good solid year we were out for a little less than three years. But for a good solid year, every night, Sling Blade on the bus. I went down to the show and Bobby introduced me to Billy afterwards and couldn't have been nicer. And so I said, here's my number. Give me a call if you ever need, you know, somebody on the road. And he said, okay, great. And I go, well, that's the last time I'm ever going to hear from him. So about two weeks later, he called me and said, hey, I got a little situation. I was wondering if he might want to come out and give me a hand. And I'm like, absolutely. So I jumped at the chance, got out there with him, and. And I said, hey, if you're going to give me the. The power to do this, you know, jewelry manager, I got to have the power to be able to replace some people and make some changes here, because I already know some of the people on your crew, and I think they're a liability for you, and I want to clean it up. So that's what I do. So he said, sure, what are you thinking? And I told him, and we made some changes. And so anytime that Guns N' Roses wasn't on the road, I was with Billy. But right out of the gate, you know, he's like, hey, I don't mix my. Any of my film stuff with any of my music stuff. And I'm like, great. I hate actors. A bunch of creeps. Anyway, so about nine weeks later, that changed, and he invited me to come work with him on some film stuff. And so I asked him, I go, why the change of heart? And he said, well, I didn't realize that you were as good as you were at your gig, so I'd like to kind of have you around, you know, whenever I can have you. And I'm like, I take that as a huge compliment, and, yeah, I'll do it. So for the last 21 years, it's either Axel or Billy or my guys.

[B]

Let's go back a little bit. So your brother and yourself got into show business, I'm assuming, as teenagers. Tell me how it started.

[A]

You know, I was aspiring guitar player, you know, a little musician creep milling around in Santa Rosa, California, and. And I had some friends of mine that were musicians, and so I started working for them. The love for playing music kind of faded. Not super quick, but in. In reality, I mean, guys like Van Halen who came out, Randy Rhodes and George lynch, and these guys that are so capable, I'm like, I'm never going to catch them, you know, I'm not even going to be in their league ever. So I found that musicians struggle with all kinds of problems, either singers, guitar players, or drummers or whatever, you know, usually had, you Know, some kind of an issue. I just wanted to travel, I want to see the world. And so I started out Rhodian for my friend Paul Taylor, who lives in Nashville. His first touring job was with Aldo Nova.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I had met the production manager and worked my way in there and got got on tour with them. And that was in 1982 and we were out opening for Cheap Trick. So bang, there it was. They had just come off of Live at Budokon, the next studio album was One on one and. And we were out there. It was just, you know, dreams coming true. So for a 21 year old kid, you know, tour in the US and Canada.

Driving a truck, loading gear all day, I couldn't have been happier. 300 bucks a week, but I loved it.

[B]

And Aldo had a big hit. The big, probably the biggest hit in North America or the world at that time. Yeah, right.

[A]

It was massive and big song. You know, he struggled with some issues. He had, you know, some childhood problems. So the gig didn't last all that long. But I met another friend out there by the name of Adam Day. Adam. Adam Day is probably one of the greatest guitar techs on the planet. He's with Slash, this guy forever. He did Angus from AC dc, he now does Neil, Sean from Journey, but he's always high profile guy. And he was another Bay Area kid out of Hayward, California. So me and Adam became great friends and after that ended up going out working together on Dawkin, which was my next jump.

[B]

Went over to Q Prime.

[A]

Went over to Q Prime. So at the time, this is right as Peter Manch was coming into Q Prime and Cliff Bernstein had signed, he signed Def Leppard and Dawkin. And just like a couple weeks later just picked up this little kid band out of the Bay Area called Metallica. And these guys were young, I mean they were super young. They're 18 probably years old or something. And it was really interesting how Cliff Bernste would fight bands. You know, Cliff signed everybody, AC, dc, Aerosmith, you name it, he signed them all. So Cliff would go in, he was really smart and he would go in and he'd ask the guys in the music store, he goes, who's a hot guitar player right now? And so bunch of, you know, after go visiting a few different stores. Evidently when I was working with Dawkins, so these kids said, George lynch, he's a just a monster guitar player, you should check him out. So he got the record and he ended up signing. Signing them, yeah, Q Prime, I mean probably one of the most legendary management companies on earth. You know, there's some really big ones in the UK and for the United States, I don't think they get back bigger than Cliff Bernstein.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So he was the man.

[B]

Great music minds. I mean, him and men have, you know, Peter's the muscle and, you know, and Bernstein has an amazing collective mind of music and, and a memory that is unbelievable.

[A]

What those guys had, which I appreciated more than anything in the world, and it's something that I learned at a young age is back then you could develop an artist like, wow. You know, they did their first Breaking the Chains record or whatever. But when Cliff picked him up and they went into, you know, the next chapter of their careers, Cliff always came out and said, listen, you don't want to do this with your career because then you're going to go down. Yeah. He goes, our deal is steady. Let's build this thing. So, you know, the, the first record that he was attached to, they did about 600,000 units. The next record they did, did about a million units. The next record after that did just under 2 million. So they're always, you know, there's an arc to musician's career. You want to get it up and you want to plateau that thing to where you can get it to. You get longevity out of your career. Now look at Def Leppard, for example. I mean, those guys are crushing it today. Yeah, they're still great guys.

[B]

It's pretty interesting when you think about how fairly new business, the touring business in rock and roll. I mean, it only started really in the 60s.

[A]

It started in the 60s and it was all small scale, little club kind of things. And then, you know, you know, it started ramping up a little bit. Then obviously Woodstock happened and. But they still didn't know how to do it. They couldn't figure it out. It was like a club level. It just was a massive amount of people. So it was insufficient. And so people started getting in and dialing it in a bit. How do you transport it? How do you move the artist? How do you, you know, the tour buses were, you know, brought around and, you know, people are like, bus? Why would you be on a bus?

[B]

Well, in the country, guys were kind of the, the founders of the tour bus thing.

[A]

They were, but it was more like a school bus kind of, you know, a bunch of seats, more like a college football team moves, you know, and it's not like, you know, opulent and, you know, there's nothing, nothing sexy about it. So to watch the whole Change of it all. I mean, the money got better. People got smarter than, you know, Peter Grant from Led Zeppelin. Up with merchandising. Yeah. Bad company shirt. When I was a kid, everybody had a bad company shirt. My dad had a sailboat in San Francisco Bay. And we went out one day and this guy threw a sale up, and it was a bad company sale. And me and my brother lost our minds. We're like, oh, my God, that's so cool. They knew how to brand stuff and. Which brought another revenue source for, for artists to be able to. To get money from. And. And back then, it was great because they could. You would get your royalty from your record for your sales, and then you get your mechanicals and your airplay and all of that. Then you could add your merchandise on top of it and your touring. So there was three good revenue sources if you were willing to put the work in and get out there and beat the road. So when I started, I would tour 11, 11 and a half months a year. I mean, I hated going home. I go home to the holidays to see my parents, and then I'm just dying to get back out again. So I just constantly circled the globe. Never stopped. Didn't want to stop. I just loved it.

[B]

So your longest tenure was with Guns N Roses? Axel Rose. How did you run into those cats?

[A]

Their original manager, guy named Alan Niven. Alan called me after they made their first record and said, hey, I'm going to send these guys out on a tour. We'd like you to come out and run the.

[B]

Run the show here was that opening for Alice Cooper.

[A]

That was the beginning of it. Yeah, yeah. I said, I can't do it. You know, there was no Internet or anything like that. You know, there wasn't even. There wasn't even a fax machine yet. I went to the store and I bought a magazine and started reading articles. I'm like, oh, my God, these guys are wild. And I go, I. I go, Dawkin is going to break up. We have an expiration date on this band. I go, since I've been here from the beginning, I'd like to see it through. And then we had this. The last run that we were doing was Monsters of Rock in 1989, which was Van Halen, Scorpions, Dawkin, Metallica, and Kingdom Come. So we went from. Started at the Orange bowl in Florida and then work our way all the way across the states in Canada, where I think Mile High Stadium was the last show that we did on that. On that tour. And after that date. It was July 30, 1988. So I told Alan, I can't do it. But I go, let me send you my brother. I go, he's ready. And I go, when I'm done with talking, I'll come join you guys. So I sent my brother out there. I called him a few weeks later and said, how is it? He goes. He goes, you know, these guys are. I think they got something there. There's something super special about him. He goes, now they're wild. You know, they're kids and they're, they're. They like to go out and have fun, but they're super talented. And so I said, great. Well, I go, as soon as I get this thing wrapped up, I'm coming. So sure enough, July 30, 1988, I flew to Cincinnati, to Riverbend was the first show. Me and Adam Day, we came together. So he was doing slashes guitars, and I came out as Stephen Adler's drum rode. And that lasted about a week. And I took over a stage manager. We had a production manager out there that was a creep. And we got rid of him, just started, you know, fine tuning it in a bit. And when I got there, they had sold about 300,000 records. And then during the next like six to nine months, they had sold 18 million albums. I mean, it was like. It was like the Beatles caught fire. It was unbelievable on the success and the level. I mean, I'd never seen anything like it in my life. And they had just passed Carole King. Tapestry was the largest selling debut album by an artist. So she did like 17 million copies of Tapestry, which is just unfathomable amounts of numbers back then. And guns beat it. About 18 million. And we got to meet Carol through the whole thing, and she's an amazingly wonderful woman. And me and my brother were fortunate enough to go out and tour with her a few times, which was just a blessing. She's amazing, amazing woman. Love her talent, just kindness. Just a great woman. She wrote everything. I mean, she wrote for the Beatles.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not many people could say they wrote songs for the Beatles. And she started out in. In Brooklyn at like 15 years old. Her mom would come get her after school and drive her into Manhattan and she'd go to the Braille Building, which was Jerry Goffin's building. She ended up marrying Jerry, but the five writers in there were Jerry Goff and Carol King, Barry Manilow, Neil Sadaka and Neil Diamond.

[B]

Neil Diamond.

[A]

So those five powerhouses do. I mean, they wrote everything, all the fabric when you were kids, you know, like, things go better with coke. They wrote that. They wrote, you're in good hands with all state insurance. I mean, they wrote everything, every commercial. So they had already figured it out. And then Carol became a piano player for James Taylor, right, because she wanted to do some live stuff. And then one day, James just walked up to the microphone and said, I'm gonna have Carol do one of her songs. And she was terrified, just mortified. It's like, oh, my God, don't do this to me. And she started doing some of her own songs, which were the songs off of Tapestry because she'd written with James Taylor and stuff too. Like, you Got a friend and all that stuff. And it just. She just blew up and. And became the biggest selling artist of all time.

[B]

So after, you know, you're doing Billy Bob, you're doing Guns N Roses, you got both. Both counts going, flipping back and forth. Now where I want to go is someplace that I think our listeners and viewers will and will be kind of surprised. But you have an acting career.

[A]

I do. I have a friend, Mike Smith. They call him Bubbles. He's in a show called the Trailer Park Boys up in Canada. And so we were out with Guns and Roses, and Axel said, hey, I want you to meet my friend Mike Smith. Bubbles. Do you know Bubbles? Are you kidding me? What do you mean? And he goes, well, he's got this comedy troupe out of. Out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and you got to check these guys out. So I started hanging around with Smith. He would come out to Guns and Roses shows, and he'd come up on stage with us and do his song Liquor and Horse and do it with the band. And so he's like, you work with Billy Bomb? And I'm like, yeah. I go, he's, you know, one of my best friends. He goes, do you think he would ever do something like a little part for a movie? And I go, well, why don't you write something and I'll give it to him. So Smith went home, wrote a little thing and emailed it to me. And me and Billy were over in. In LA somewhere recording. And so I got it and I printed it out and I gave it to Billy. And he read it and he just burst out laughing. He goes, oh, yeah, I'll do this. So he told Smith, he goes, I'll do it if he gets home. May he was SAG card. He goes, done. So they wrote a little skip. I played Verne Troyer, Mini Me's security guard, and Billy was the Director of this, you know, fake movie they were doing called Micro Ninja, starring Vernon Troyer. And the Trailer Park Boys were the ninjas. And you can only imagine that it's just. That's just an absolute disaster waiting to happen. And so Billy came in and did, you know, I think our scene was five minutes or something like that. We did it. And those guys are like, oh my God, that was just such an amazing experience. I was back on the road with. With Guns. And I saw, you know, Bubs came up to another gig somewhere and he goes, hey, look, we just signed this deal with Netflix and we got the show called Trailer Park Boys out of the Park Europe. And then we're going to do Trailer Park Boys out of the park us. Do you want to do it? And they go, can you act? I don't know. I go, I'm, you know, I'm too stupid to be afraid of a camera. So let's try it. Let's see if it works. So we flew over to Europe. We started in London, I think, and then we did Scandinavia in this, you know, bunch of, bunch of cities, like eight cities or something. Went and did a little scene in each one of these. And so the first day I'm like, where's my, where's my script? And they go, well, it's not done yet.

[B]

We'll.

[A]

We'll get it to you. You know, we kind of do it on the day of the show. And I'm like, now that made me nervous and I got scared and I'm like, I can't act. And, and, and now you're going to throw the script at me the. You know, right before the cameras are on. So I just clear. Had gotten a van with these guys. So what they would do is each morning we'd go to the set around 8am usually hungover. These boys like to have fun.

[B]

They run hard, right?

[A]

Oh, they run hard. So I'm reading my script and, and I'm. I'm sitting up in the front seat and I kind of shake my head and they go, what's the matter? And I go, I would never say this. They go, what would you say? I go, I would say this. And they go, well, that's 10 times better. Say that. So you just kind of dig into your character and then you. I learned how to improvise right on the spot, which made me feel a little more comfortable. And then I was more part of the, the whole, the whole process then. So you started gaining confidence. So by the end of the six week, you know, I was really into my character, and they're like, be mean. Be meaner. And I'm like, be meaner. They're like, just be as mean as you could feasibly be to us. This is what this part's all about. I didn't realize it, that people, they don't forget when you're mean to their favorite characters.

[B]

Oh, yeah, I know.

[A]

So when you go out somewhere, I mean, I went back and filmed something else with him, and I got. The audience gave me the corn pretty bad. They're like, as soon as they saw, which kind of empowered me, and I go, wow. I didn't even realize that people knew.

[B]

You know, you're the villain.

[A]

They could even remember the villain. So I did that, and I had a great time doing it. Smith came to me again and said, man, I'm writing this movie about my band was going on tour. He goes, you think Billy do it? And I go, write something. So he wrote. Wrote a script up, and Billy goes. He looks like. He goes off 110 pages. He goes, let me read part of it. And so he sits down, he starts reading it. He's just laughing at. About 40 minutes later, he read it all. He just powered through it. And he goes. He looks at me, he goes, oh, I got to do this. And so I called Bubs up and go, hey, he's in. Get your little manager creeps or whatever to call his agent. But you better do it now because he's up for doing it. So basically, the story is Bubbles in the Shitrockers get invited to go over and tour Europe with Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters. Everything disastrous is going to happen with these guys. So there's fun and games all the way through it. And then we had some of our friends come out, like some great cameos, great cameos. We had Ronnie Wood from the stones and Duff McKagan from Guns n Roses, and of course, Rick Nielsen. You know, one of our heroes from Martin Freeman, who did Fargo with Billy came and did it. I mean, there was a bunch of people in it. And Eddie Kramer, Eddie Krame did it, which is amazing. I mean, that guy's recorded everybody. The Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin. I mean, everybody.

[B]

Hendrick.

[A]

Hendrick. I mean, what a career.

[B]

So we switch gears just for a second. So let's talk about a day in the life of you and Billy Bob Thorton on the set of Landman. How does it work? Tell me about it. What's A Day in the Life like?

[A]

Well, Billy got a script from Taylor Sheridan, who's an amazing writer and he's written all of these shows. So he went out to do a cameo in 1883 for, for Taylor with Sam Elliott and Tim McGraw and Fa. He went out there, did this cameo. And Taylor goes, hey, I'm writing a show in your voice about West Texas oil called Landman. And so he sent Billy the script. So Billy shoots it over to me. He goes, have a read through on this. So I read it and I go, oh my God, I've never, I've never seen anything that was written so well for a person. And I mean, he had his voice nailed. So Billy goes, hey, come and do this thing with me. And I'm like, okay.

[B]

You know, it's funny, the night that he got the call.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

From Taylor, we were on tour together. We were somewhere in South Dakota, South Carolina. And it was like the last date of the tour. You weren't there on that one, I believe.

[A]

Right, right. I was out with guns.

[B]

Yeah. I get this call in the middle of like six in the morning from. He hadn't been to bed. He goes, dude, I got, I got to come over. You got any cold beer? Yeah, I got a Bud Life for you. And he comes over and he's like, I think I'm going to do this thing. I sent this to Mayhew and I. Well, and, and, and, and he was kind of pumped. And then at the end of the. The night after we played the gig, we had an after tour party and it was a. And he was like, I think I'm going to do this thing. Which is so interesting four years ago that he got that and now it's coming to fruition.

[A]

Taylor a good writer and I mean, he can do. He juggles so many different projects. The hardest working guy I've ever seen in my life. And how he juggles the amount of stuff that he does. He's doing five, six shows at a time and doing all the dialogue and writing all of. For every character. I can't ever see anybody replicating what, what this guy has been able to accomplish. And he's only 10 years into it now. And so I can only imagine where this thing is going to go. But he's brilliant. I mean, just absolutely brilliant.

[B]

That's awesome. So what, what's coming up? So we're on tour right now. You're on tour till the end of October. Then what happens? What's next for Tom May here?

[A]

Billy's got a movie that we're going to shoot and I got a part in that One, we're not quite sure where we're going to shoot yet. We thought we were going to shoot it in Pittsburgh, but it looks like the location may change because it's an independent film. Financing, you know, comes to play in all of this stuff. Then we'll do that and we'll go straight from the movie with few, you know, a few week break. And we'll go right back to Landman.

[B]

I was so intrigued by watching your whole last year, the whole press junket for Landman. And then the day after that's done, I get a call from Billy Bob and he's like, what's up? And I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm in the studio, like the day after.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And that was, like, relentless. It was. It was global. He did. He was. London one day, New York the next, L. A the next.

[A]

For me, I bought a house up in Nevada and 20, 23, and not in a row, but to date, and with little bits and Bobs. I've been home, I think about 114 days. But I'm blessed. I couldn't, Couldn't be happier. And, you know, I've just had such a fortunate experience of artists that I've worked with in my life that I just can't beat it.

[B]

When you're doing something that is your passion and your life calling, it's not work. I mean, it can be. It can be a little rub, but it's. Yeah, of course not work, though. No. I wake up every morning going, holy smokes. Like, I. I'm blessed to be doing what I'm doing.

[A]

And so does Billy. Every day he wakes up and goes, man, I am absolutely blessed to be able to do everything I wanted to do. And his background is great, too. I mean, he was a musician his whole life. This acting thing came secondary to him. It worked for him, and he's amazing at doing it, but his heart is music.

[B]

So you've been in the business, you know, for 40 years, technology over from where you started to where we are today. Is that a plus or a negative?

[A]

Absolutely, A plus. It was very difficult when we started. Massive amounts of weight. You know, people were hurt by things that could crush you. And we didn't really have all of the physics worked out, how to move everything correctly. But a guy like Jake Berry got in there and started, you know, with sound companies going, you need to stack stuff this way. Needs to be able to fit on a ramp. We need to be able to push it up a ramp. And get it into a truck. Truck without it falling over, hurting anybody. And then the company started going, okay, what if we make our units a little more modular? And, you know, all of a sudden, the line array came out, you know, because PAs were massive. And fuel goes up, trucks go up, everything goes up in costs. So the smaller the packaging, you could do it. You get way more bang for your buck. Now you're paying for it. But you could put on the show that you want to do. Smart production managers will go to the artist and say, how much money do you want to make? Do you want to take this home or do you want to leave it on the table?

[B]

Brilliant.

[A]

Now, a lot of artists like Lady Gaga and Beyonce, when they're young and they're touring, they want everything. You know, Guns N' roses, no difference. YouTube, stones, they're all the same. They want everything. Until they start seeing the cost of everything. They're like, wow, I just went out for six months and really didn't make that much money. Any manager that doesn't allow their artists or their production people to talk to the artist, first off, they're idiots. Absolute idiots.

[B]

There's something wrong there.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. That means they don't know what they're doing or they're scared of their position, and they shouldn't hire the best people in the world around their tourists. They should just get somebody that'll do what they want. But if you let somebody like a Jake and an Opie and a Charlie Hernandez and a Spring. Oh, those type of quality people, let them get in there and go, tell me the picture you want to paint. I'm going to go try to put it all together. Now, here's what we've come up with. Okay, I like all of that, but can you change this? Absolutely. Go back to Redraw and start dialing in and getting it worked out. Guy like Obi knows where every single case and every truck's going to go before the. Before you even put a box in the truck. So you know what? Your costs are going to be super important for artists to trust their production managers. As long as the production managers know what they're doing and communicate with that artist, because they are the ones that are going to have to take that picture and deal with it every day in every building and every single situation and everything else. Some tours start out at 50 trucks and then end up at 5. The smart thing to do is start out at 10 and keep it 10 the whole way. Some of them, it doesn't matter. I mean, like. Like the success of Taylor Swift, I mean, she can pretty much do what she wants right now in her career.

[B]

Metallica is doing that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Metallics is carrying the big show, and, yeah, I've been doing it for four years and selling out stadiums everywhere.

[A]

And it's great because they're doing it in a multiple package, but, like, she's doing it on her own, you know, so it's a. It's a. It's a different animal. It's a win, win. Because ticket prices are so damn expensive these days.

[B]

You know, the cost of everything is expensive. Everything's expensive.

[A]

Fuel trucking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All the way down.

[B]

Do you think that happened? I mean, I saw the increase after Covid.

[A]

Really. It didn't help, but. But Covid kind of streamlined a lot of things, too. But one thing bad that happened in Co. Covid is a lot of my friends that I toured with retired.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And so at least about a third of our industry.

[B]

Oh, we had a total reset after.

[A]

Covid, without a doubt.

[B]

Oh, yes.

[A]

Everybody went, you know what? I can figure this out without having to be on the road all the time. I'm not coming back. And. Which leaves a massive gap now.

[B]

I kind of laugh because I. I don't understand not being on the road. Like, I get the itch if I'm home for a month and a half. You're like, me, I gotta go. It's time to go, you know, gotta work.

[A]

I mean, I've been out now my 44th year of touring, and I don't care if it's, you know, doing rock shows or. Or. Or making movies or doing whatever. We got to be going.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's the one thing I love about Billy. I can barely keep up with the guy.

[B]

So. For Tom Mayhew, what was. What would you say is your most proudest moment in show business?

[A]

As far as, like, my Guns and Roses stuff was seeing the guys get back together again. Because it. I went up, you know, with them with. Through all of their height and their success, and then seeing the breakdown and then the breakup of the band and seeing it all come back together again. The kindness and the way that the guys treated each other and the respect that they had for each other. To see that happen again, that's definitely one of the shiniest moments that, you know in my career, because they got to see things full circle. How long it lasts, I'm not sure. Everybody's getting older, so let's see how long they'll do it. Another thing was watching Axl go out and sing with ACDC and cover those shows for Brian. He did 23 dates with him.

[B]

And were you out on those dates?

[A]

All of them. Did all the rehearsals with him. I went to all the auditions with him. I mean, it was intense and Axel absolutely killed it. It was so fun and he had an absolute blast doing it.

[B]

Well, I'd like to thank you, Tom, for being here today and taking out this. It's a show day today and you carved out a couple for us here today.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Thank you very much.

[A]

My pleasure, Troy.

[B]

It's awesome.

[A]

Anytime.

[B]

Great to be a dear friend of yours. And now it's time for a little segment called Keeping up with Country Thunder where we tell you the fans what's going on behind the scenes. Well, the temperature has dropped, the days are getting shorter and shorter, and we're just a few weeks away from the official start of winter. But Country Thunder 2026 is right around the corner. We're talking warm weather, great music, and amazing times. We're kicking things off with country thunder Arizona, April 9th to the 12th, 2026, and then we'll be going strong all spring and summer. Florida, Saskatchewan, Wisconsin, before wrapping up in Alberta. I can't wait to get back on the road and watching the world's best artists up on stage singing their hearts out right next to you. Head over to countrythunder.com to see the incredible lineups. Can buy tickets now? We're on sale. Get your tickets while they last. And I'm not blowing smoke. I can tell you how excited I am for Country Thunder 2026. Seriously. I think it's going to be our greatest year yet. A big thanks again to Tom Mayhew for joining me on the Bus today. Just want to say thanks to all of you for commenting and reviewing on our show. We love hearing from you and it's a great way to share on the Bus with other music fans. So if you haven't yet, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcast. That's it for today. I'm Troy Volhoffer and I'll see you back here for another episode of on the Bus.

Be sure to follow Country Thunder on all our social platforms. At Country Thunder, we have new episodes dropping bi monthly. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you know when the new episodes hit the feed.

[A]

If this goes over good and you know, people don't just like ban me from the interweb or something. I'd like to get into in depth someday about some of our shared music experiences.

[B]

We'Ll do another episode I think I would love to do that on the plate.