Scotty J: Yeah. Whether it's on tour or working on "The Way Life Goes" with your solo project. Are any or those artists kind of being recycled
from your days with Cinderella?
Tom Keifer: No. There weren't any other artists on "The Way Life Goes".
Everyone that played on the record were session players that I met through
Savannah because she was actually in Nashville before me. She's an artist
and singer/songwriter in her own right. So she was here before me and
really learned the lay of the land and introduced me to some incredible
musicians, and that's who played on my record.
Scotty J: How did you meet your wife? Did you meet her through your work
in the music industry?
Tom Keifer: I met her years ago at a Cinderella show, and we became
friends over the years. And then I started producing her in the 1990's and
we kinda got out of touch again. And we got back togeth er again when I
moved back to Nashville.
Scotty J: That's the way life goes right?
Tom Keifer: Yeah. That's the way life goes…and then one thing led to another and then we became a couple.
Scotty J: So I'm thinking about the title for your solo album "The Way Life Goes", and then I think back to some of your iconic songs with
Cinderella, which obviously you have a lot. But, you know, I'm thinking about a specific song "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)",
and throughout your career and your lifetime you've dealt with so many challenges. Would you say those songs correlate or would be a
culmination of all those experiences?
Tom Keifer: The songs on "The Way Life Goes"?
Scotty J: Yeah.
Tom Keifer: You know it was interesting searching for a title for this record. The title didn't come until the record was finished. We had
already signed a deal, and we didn't have a title for the record. We were proofreading the lyrics and going through them--and reading the
lyrics is a different experience than listening to them. You know? Because they really sink in. And Savannah and I are sitting in our living
room proofreading making sure every "i" was dotted and every "t" was crossed and the lyrics were right. There's the title track "The Way
Life Goes"--which it just seemed natural after reading the lyrics because there were so many slices of life in the lyrics. It's all real. It's all
real emotions and real experience. The whole record is. And I've always written from that place. But this one, when reading lyrics, it really
hit home. It's life. And this record is about life.
Scotty J: Going back to your early days in Pennsylvania when you were first starting out, did you ever think in your wildest dreams that
you'd have the kind of legacy in the music industry that you have now?
Tom Keifer: No. I still pinch myself. When I walk up on stage and see all those people out there, and they're singing the Cinderella stuff,
and now they're singing the new stuff, you know you can't see that stuff coming. I picked up a guitar for the first time when I was 8 years
old because I loved music. I cut my teeth playing covers, and ultimately started playing covers. It's one step at a time, and even in the
1980's when things were just exploding, suddenly we were on MTV and went from playing small clubs to big arenas. I never had that
feeling like “Hey man, we've arrived!” I always had the feeling that I better work hard and write better songs ‘cause this could go away.
You know what I mean? And that's a good thing. Fear is a great motivator. So when we were on tour, I was constantly writing. The whole
"Long Cold Winter" record, I wrote most of those songs while we were away on tour for "Night Songs", and "Heartbreak Station" was
written. I kind of avoided the party scene, and all that stuff when we were out. I buckled down and wrote songs and did demos and stuff