Randy Jackson Reveal

The music mogul on his new album and what's goin' on in the head of the dawg

By Benjamin Bruce
MSN Music

Randy Jackson is a formidable force in the music industry. Besides an incredibly long and varied career, he's a judge on the star-making machine that is "American Idol," a radio host ("Randy Jackson's Hit List"), a music manager (the Paper Tongues and others), a label owner (Dream Merchant 21) and now he's released his debut album, "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1."

Listen to the full album | Hear more great music

I spoke with him on the eve of his album's release. Talking to Randy Jackson is just how you'd imagine, if you watch "American Idol." Lots of "dawgs" and "yos," but also obvious knowledge and passion about music.

MSN Music: So let me just dig right in here. This is being described as your debut album. Why now? 

Randy Jackson: I started a label about eight months ago with the Stax/Concord guys and I was thinking of a way to announce the label and what to do. And I always had this thought in my mind to some point to do a solo record as a producer and just put various artists on there. I thought, "Let me have some fun and put this together and see if I can get Miss Abdul to do something."

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It definitely seems like a formula you can continue to use.

I call it "Volume 1" to leave it open if I ever wanted to do a "Volume 2," although I don't know about that just yet. "Volume 2" I would make it completely different once again, you know, 'cause that's the whole idea with it.

"Volume 1" definitely has a wide range of moods and genres and collaborations.

It's almost like a movie compilation. I think there's something for all ages -- it mirrors the "Idol" audience. I mean, there's stuff on there for people from 5 to 105. But it's also trying to hearken back to just good music and good genres. You know, good, good, good songs. There's some country stuff, some blues stuff, some R&B stuff, some hip-hop stuff, some pop stuff, gospel stuff. It's autobiographical in a weird sort of way, with all the musical genres that I've worked in and how I grew up.

If you think about a kid growing up in Baton Rouge, La., the dirty, dirty, dirty South, there's zydeco music, there's blues, there's jazz, there's Dixieland. There's all kinds of rock, all kinds of stuff there.

Although that comes across and the album is quite varied, your stamp on the music is clear throughout -- do you think the fact that you've worked with basically everyone changes the way you are able to choose and work with other artists?

Yeah, I think that's what it is for me. I mean, if you look at this past year what I've done. I finished a Travis Tritt record. I did a record for Boyz II Men. I did this pop song with Paula. And there's every genre under the sun on this album.

Reviewing your biography, I just kept coming across things like, "What? He played with [Jerry] Garcia? And he played with Bruce [Springsteen]?"

Oh, yeah, those are my peoples, man. It's kind of who I am, you know, as a music guy. I love music, period, end of story. I just wanted to do a whole tasting and sampling of what's going on in the dawg's head -- in the head of the dawg. That's the d-a-w-g, dawg.

The highlights for me on the album were the crazy collaborations. "Wang Dang Doodle," "Willing to Try" and "I Understand" ...

This record was not really meant to try and find a bunch of hit singles. It's not really a competition record. It's just really trying to make a collection of songs that I like that are really, really good songs and that exemplify that the further music is apart, the closer it is together.

That's why on "Wang Dang Doodle" you've got Sam Moore, you've got Keb' Mo'  and you've got Angie Stone. On the gospel song ["I Understand"] we have a bunch of the gospel greats -- but Mariah Carey is on there 'cause she loves gospel. And I like the fact that Anthony Hamilton's on a song ["Home"] with John Rich [from Big & Rich] -- I kind of love that.

My favorite collaboration was Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin on "Real Love."

That song basically was just to prove that, listen, no matter where these people finished up, no matter what's going on, these two people can really sing.

How did you choose these two out of all the "Idol" options out there? Was it because those are the two that you most respect?

No, not at all. I really wanted to have a duet that people wouldn't ever imagine and I thought to myself, "It'd be interesting to hear these two because they can really, really blow." And they came in the studio and waxed it, dude. Like in a couple hours it was done.

I've noticed that when some of the older, more experienced singers get on "Idol" they do well.

Yeah, you know, this season Michael Johns is a great singer. What you have is people that just have a little bit more performing experience.

But then there's the flip side -- our favorite here is [David] Archuleta.

He's an amazingly talented kid who just turned 17. I don't care what age you are, if you've really got it, you got it.

So what's next for you?

I have a deal over at Warner Brothers so we got some other shows that we're coming out with -- we got the "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew" on Thursday nights on MTV right now. We got "Idol" rolling. Got the label rolling. I got some solo artists that I'm going to put out later this year.

I also manage a couple of great acts, this guy Van Hunt. Part of what I love about Van Hunt is he's really a lyricist. He's like the black Bob Dylan, if you will. He's really a poet for the people. I'm also managing a new band from Charlotte, N.C., called Paper Tongues. That is an amazing, life-changing band that you'll be hearing a lot about in the next five or six months.

All right, dawg.

All right cool, man, nice to meet you, dude.

Benjamin Bruce is a producer for MSN Music. He's written for Relix, American Songwriter and others.