#2189 - Dennis Quaid

Joe Rogan (0:03)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

SPEAKER_2 (0:06)

Trained by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.

Joe Rogan (0:12)

Nice to meet you, man.

Dennis Quaid (0:13)

You too, man.

SPEAKER_4 (0:14)

It's been a pleasure.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

I've seen so many of your fucking movies. It's always weird when you meet someone that you've seen so many times in movies. It's like, all right, there he is, a real person.

Dennis Quaid (0:22)

Yeah, there they are.

Joe Rogan (0:26)

I didn't know you released a gospel album, though.

Dennis Quaid (0:30)

Yeah, last year.

Joe Rogan (0:32)

That's wild.

Dennis Quaid (0:33)

Yeah, it's called Fallen, a gospel record for sinners, because I wanted the biggest possible audience.

Joe Rogan (0:41)

Gospel record for sinners?

Dennis Quaid (0:42)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:44)

How long have you been singing gospel?

Dennis Quaid (0:45)

Well, you know, basically, I grew up at the Baptist Church, and so it's five songs that I grew up with, and it's five songs that I wrote before and during the making of the record. It's kind of like my spiritual journey, I guess. That's the way it turned out in the end. My wife, she put the order together, and that's what it seems to be, kind of my journey in life.

Joe Rogan (1:09)

Was this something that you had thought about for a while, or did it just kind of...?

Dennis Quaid (1:16)

Yeah, I wrote this song called On My Way To Heaven, and I wrote it for my mom to let her know that I was okay after I got out of rehab for cocaine in 1990 And then I wrote Fallen, which is kind of like taken from a... Remember that movie Thunder Road with Robert Mitchum? It's kind of like in that vein or that kind of feel to it. And there's this highway called The Devil's Backbone up near Bandera. And so it's a ride with the devil.

And you wind up getting left for dead on the side of the road.

Joe Rogan (1:59)

So this is just something that you felt like, like, fuck it, I've done everything else. Why not do a gospel album?

Dennis Quaid (2:05)

Yeah, you know, I've recorded. I've always been a songwriter. I got a guitar when I was 12 years old. My grandfather bought me, you know, Western Auto. It's a great place to buy guitars.

And you know, I realized I was never going to shred a guitar. So I, a songwriting became like a defense, you know, something you could bring to a band. Right. And so I've always done it. And, but I got this offer from Gaither, because they heard, Bill Gaither had heard this song On My Way To Heaven, asked me to do a gospel record. So I said, yeah. Wow. Yeah, it was a great experience, really, really. And On My Way To Heaven, in fact, Tanya Tucker heard it and she called me up out of the blue. I hadn't seen her like in 30 years and said she wanted to do it. So I said, OK. And then she called me 15 minutes later and she said, Chris Christofferson wants to do it.

Joe Rogan (3:05)

Whoa.

Dennis Quaid (3:06)

And wow, you know, so.

And Brandi Carlile is doing a backup singing on it. And it's in myself. And we're going to put that out this year as a single.

Joe Rogan (3:20)

Wow, that's awesome.

Dennis Quaid (3:21)

Yeah. Chris is just the greatest.

Joe Rogan (3:24)

I love that guy.

Dennis Quaid (3:25)

I love him.

Joe Rogan (3:26)

One of the highway men.

Dennis Quaid (3:27)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (3:28)

Come on.

Dennis Quaid (3:29)

Yeah. No kidding.

Joe Rogan (3:31)

Wow. So you were telling me that you got Hollywood in the 70s?

Dennis Quaid (3:36)

Yeah, I went out there. I was born in Houston, you know, and grew up there. And I was in acting class. Mr. Pickett, we always bring him up because so many people actually started working. My brother was, you know, his student as well. And my brother was already out there in California. And he had been nominated for the last atale and stuff. So I kind of realized, hey, you can actually do this stuff, you know, and get paid for it. And I went out there in 75 and, you know, just driven and got an agent after about a year.

Joe Rogan (4:17)

Wow. Did you have any previous acting experience?

Dennis Quaid (4:21)

Yeah, drama in college. I wasn't serious about it in high school. I was going to be a veterinarian. That's what I wanted to be. Really? Yeah. I was a vet's assistant up in East Texas. I'd spent summers up in East Texas, you know, in Jacksonville, Frankston.