I would say Jim Vallance was the first “big name” guest that agreed to be on the podcast. I had spent weeks reaching out to various potential guests with no luck at securing a guest, so when Jim said he would be on the show, I was pumped! I’d been familiar with Jim for many years. It must have been 2017 when I became a big Bryan Adams fan.
I know I was definitely listening to Bryan a lot before I finally saw him in concert at the Saddledome in Calgary on his 2018 tour. When I first start listening to any artist, I do a deep dive on their Wikipedia page to learn about their career, and how they made their albums. The first thing I noticed when examining Reckless, the first Bryan Adams I listened to, was that a guy named Jim Vallance co-wrote all these great songs. From there it made me realize how prolific of a songwriter Jim was seeing all his other amazing credits. I don’t remember the exact moment when I thought about asking Jim to be on the show, all I know is that when the idea came to me, I knew it was a great one.
He was a big get for this brand new podcast, and his appearance did not disappoint in the slightest. I had already recorded an episode a few weeks before with my agent Eugene Foley, and that experience helped me tremendously when it comes to recording a podcast over Zoom. It’s also a great time to be making a podcast considering I can have anyone on the show no matter where they are. Jim’s based in New York, and I’m in Calgary. A few years ago it would have been a hard thing to set up, but nowadays it’s a breeze.
It was absolutely incredible to speak with Jim given his career. He’s a guy who’s written a song that topped the Billboard Hot 100, and had numerous other top 10 hits. He helped put together “Tears Are Not Enough” with David Foster, the Canadian answer to songs like “We Are The World.” Hearing him tell that story of recording with artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Geddy Lee all in the same room was so fascinating. It was also interesting to hear him talk about his relationship with Bryan.
I was curious to learn about their process of creating a song. There’s been plenty of analysis of songwriting partnerships like Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, and John-Taupin, so I wanted to see how Adams-Vallance worked. Jim said they don’t have a specific way of working together, they just get together and go back and forth with ideas until they have a song.
As a guy who’s still getting my start in the music business, I haven’t had the chance to interact with a ton of people who have made it and had amazing careers, so my conversation with Jim was a true honor. Having him on the podcast was the moment I knew I might have something with this concept.
