In other words, he's been quite busy. So he may be excused for forgetting anything little in the midst of all this bustle.
With a grin, he says, "I neglected to keep making records!" Until one of my followers messaged me on Instagram or Twitter, saying, 'Jason, we love all these new songs you're playing!' When are you going to make an album of them for us?" And I had a 'Doh!' moment, like Homer Simpson.
We owe a debt of gratitude to this anonymous fan for prodding Carroll into the studio and resulting in What Color Is Your Sky, his first full-length album since 2011. It was well worth the wait.
What Color Is Your Sky is a pleasant change from most of what dominates country radio these days, with 15 tunes written or co-written by Carroll. He smiles as he continues, "I'm definitely not bro country." I don't want to seem arrogant, but I believe my songs are genuine. They're about the things that everyone goes through in life.
That's what What Color Is Your Sky is all about. Its songs depict stories of love, whether it's lost or found, shattered or triumphant. These lyrics are convincing because they are true.
As an artist, you have a responsibility not just to deliver music that your audience will enjoy, but also to ensure that there is some of yourself in each of those songs, he argues.
Carroll has been there: in the emptiness of love lost in All I'm Drinking 'Bout, the dizzy of early passion in Love Like July, and the warmth of a connection deepened by time and tribulations in the lovely Here with Me. Each song rings true because of how it is done.
Typically, country musicians will create or collect songs first, record them, and then take them on the road to perform in front of crowds. And they frequently bring in studio players to ensure that everything goes smoothly and antiseptically. Carroll, though, is not one of them.
He and his band pounded out their compositions onstage, adapting them over time to what felt right to them and rocked their venues, in part because of his Homer Simpson experience.
So it made logical to invite the guys into the studio as well, where they could put down their tried-and-true parts with the same zeal they'd demonstrated in performance after show.
Carroll explains, "We don't want to build a thing in the studio that we can't replicate live." That's why, with the exception of a brief appearance on 'Close Enough,' there's very no violin on the album.
Now, I adore the violin, but we don't have a fiddle player in our band, so we kept it as close to what we do live as possible. That brings us to the most shocking aspect about the creation of What Color Is Your Sky. Yes, the musicians are all from Carroll's band.
They did, in fact, pour their live enthusiasm into their recordings. You can sense that energy, despite the fact that the entire group never entered the same room at the same time throughout these sessions. Every previous album I've done has been at Nashville's A-list studios.
But, thanks to the wonders of contemporary technology, we were able to complete this record without ever stepping foot in a studio. I built my own isolation booth out of foam panels, so I performed a majority of the vocals at home. I'd go sing in my keyboard player's studio every now and then.
I completed all of the circuits at home. My drummer has his own studio, so he recorded all of his tracks there. I stayed in the studio with him from one o'clock in the afternoon until maybe three o'clock in the morning, finishing most of the drum tracks.
Carroll grinned as he added, "That was a long day, just listening to drums over and again." Why go through all of this trouble? Consider it a compromise between Carroll the artist and Carroll the family guy. He was born in Texas, but he considers North Carolina to be his home.
He explains, "I simply felt like I needed to be near to my kids." That is why I have never lived in Nashville. I was hoping to be able to take kids up from school. I'd want to take them to see a movie.
So, as much as I enjoy Nashville, I've been able to be a full-time father because I live here – approximately 25 minutes from a Walmart and 30 minutes from an airport.
Carroll's strong family values serve as the foundation for What Color Is Your Sky, which was recorded with his family nearby and is motivated by his desire to share his life with listeners via song.
He states, "I truly feel this is my finest record ever." I'd love for it to take off and fill my shelves with accolades, he adds. But if that doesn't happen, we'll carry on. I'm going to keep doing what I'm supposed to do. Music is the only thing in my life that I've given my all to.
Because this is, without a doubt, what I'm supposed to be doing. Carroll, on the other hand, will not forget. He says, "I've made a pledge to myself that this is the beginning of us recording a record every year and a half to two years."
