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Speaker 1: To our never ending quest to present you with the

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Speaker 1: country's greatest country music talent. Today, we're going to meet

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Speaker 1: and chat with Zack Griffith. He is self taught. He

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Speaker 1: is from Nelson, sort of. He won the Gold Guitar

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Speaker 1: a couple of years ago at just eighteen. He has

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Speaker 1: toured with Kaylee Bell and got a co sign from

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Speaker 1: Laney Wilson though less. His latest single dropped over the

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Speaker 1: weekend and he's off to Australia's biggest country music festival

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Speaker 1: as well. Zach Griffith is with it with us. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: good morning, and good to meet you too, mate. So

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Speaker 1: Johnny Cash is where it all began. He was the

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Speaker 1: one favorite Johnny Cash song is what.

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Speaker 2: Oh man, It'll be hard, but I guess you can't

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Speaker 2: go far wrong with you know the staple Foalshom, Prism,

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Speaker 2: ring Afire or Prison Blues.

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Speaker 3: Or all the all the classics.

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Speaker 1: I woke up Sunday morning, Sunday morning, Sunday morning. I

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Speaker 1: love is that Chris Christofferson or Johnny How much do

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Speaker 1: you can't out country met? Mate? I won't you can't

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Speaker 1: out country meet? When? When did you get into it?

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Speaker 2: And why I was about I would have been about

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Speaker 2: seven years old, so a wee while ago now, And

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Speaker 2: it was the Walk the Line movie about about Johnny Cash,

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Speaker 2: you know, with work Queen Phoenix and Res Witherspoon, and

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Speaker 2: I saw a snippet of that on TV and I thought,

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Speaker 2: I want to be just like that guy. I want

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Speaker 2: he's the man. And yeah, I got a little guitar

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Speaker 2: and tried to teach myself for two or three months,

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Speaker 2: couldn't do it, threw it in the corner and picked

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Speaker 2: it back up a few months later, and I've just

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Speaker 2: been playing ever since, really, just self taught listening. Can listen, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know you listen to.

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Speaker 1: You're clearly naturally gifted though, because one thing to teach yourself,

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Speaker 1: but it's one another thing to get to where you

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Speaker 1: are now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I guess I guess you could. Yeah I

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Speaker 3: must be. I guess.

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Speaker 1: So Who's who's told you along the way that actually

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Speaker 1: there's some talent there?

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Speaker 3: I guess. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Kaylee Bell she's been a big you know, she really

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Speaker 2: has boosted boosted my confidence, especially with taking me on

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Speaker 2: that tour that she did last year. And it's it's

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Speaker 2: you know, getting the praise from people that you look

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Speaker 2: up to and people that are doing what you want

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Speaker 2: to be doing.

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Speaker 1: Is It's what I like about country music. We've known

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Speaker 1: Kaylee Bell for years and everyone's nice in country music. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: have you met any pricks yet? I've made a single eye?

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Speaker 3: You have. No.

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Speaker 2: Most of the time, it's good. I'll tell you what

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Speaker 2: it'd be, the older ones. Some of the older ones. No,

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Speaker 2: everyone's pretty good. You just everyone's on common ground and.

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Speaker 1: There's a camaraderie about it and they want you to

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Speaker 1: do well.

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Speaker 3: That's yeah, that's all, And that's you know, that's what

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Speaker 3: you want.

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Speaker 2: You want the backing from from the people, and it

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Speaker 2: just makes you feel even better when you do have people.

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Speaker 1: The gold guitars you went I can't remember, but its

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Speaker 1: several years ago. You went to No. X number of categories.

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Speaker 1: You sort of won them all, Yeah, including the including

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Speaker 1: including the gold guitar.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the big the big one. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Did that change things materially for you? I?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think that was probably something i'd definitely been

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Speaker 2: working up to. You know, there's there's there was a

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Speaker 2: handful of country music awards around the country in the

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Speaker 2: South Island that I did and managed to win a few,

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Speaker 2: you know, over the years, and then that was the

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Speaker 2: sort of main one. So so wanting that really was

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Speaker 2: was a testament to to me and and was yeah

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Speaker 2: the thing that made me go, Okay, I must be

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Speaker 2: must be doing all right, doing this thing myself. You know,

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Speaker 2: I've done this all my on my own terms, you know.

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Speaker 1: And you're still only twenty one, which is still pretty young.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, just the young man.

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Speaker 1: The song that you're going to play you wrote. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's right, because when I heard that, I can't conceive

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Speaker 1: of the words coming from a twenty one year old.

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Speaker 1: It's way more sophisticated than a twenty one year old's experience.

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Speaker 1: So how do you explain that?

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Speaker 2: I guess country music it makes you do, it makes

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Speaker 2: you do these things. And I guess there is a

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Speaker 2: little thing with songwriting where if it's not, you know,

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Speaker 2: you try.

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Speaker 3: I feel like it.

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Speaker 2: It's always easier to write something that's true to you

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Speaker 2: and something that's happened to you, but you can always

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Speaker 2: make stuff up to and people aren't going to know

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 3: But I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I guess I just did the words come out. That's

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Speaker 2: just I guess I'm just that's.

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Speaker 1: And do you have an understanding when the words. People

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Speaker 1: will know what I mean when they hear the song,

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Speaker 1: because it's brilliant. When the words come out and you

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Speaker 1: write them down, do you think, yeah, no, there's something

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Speaker 1: here to do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, I think. I guess yeah, because you

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Speaker 2: never know. Really, it's sort of you got to play

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Speaker 2: it to other You've got to play a song to

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Speaker 2: other people too, to sometimes get a bit of a

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Speaker 2: gauge of we are at But you get a fairly

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Speaker 2: good idea if you've got a good one on this one,

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Speaker 2: throw that one out of the back.

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Speaker 1: So where are you? Are you professional yet?

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Speaker 4: No?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know was out there? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I'm nearly going to go full time with this thing,

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Speaker 3: hopefully this year.

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Speaker 1: This year old Because you've been at that. You've been

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Speaker 1: at the bakery.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, the Wakefield Bakery down.

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Speaker 1: There and down there what I love and didn't know about.

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Speaker 1: I knew the bakery story, but what I didn't know

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Speaker 1: about the bakery story was the girl on the bus.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So that's because I'm asking him before we go to

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Speaker 1: where I go, howd you get the job at the bakery?

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Speaker 1: So the girls on the bus?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, the good bus.

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Speaker 2: Girl on the bus liked her, and yeah, she got

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Speaker 2: a job at the baker. I thought, well, I'd better

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Speaker 2: try my hand there at the baker.

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Speaker 1: You want you wanted into the bakery.

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Speaker 2: Not any good at bacon? Yeah, no, I wandered in

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Speaker 2: and got a job. And yeah, and it's sort of

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Speaker 2: just sparked like that.

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Speaker 1: And you are together though too. Yeah, yeah, so not

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Speaker 1: only a job but a relationship that started on the

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Speaker 1: school bus. How cool is that?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty It's pretty special.

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Speaker 1: Man, is nan is Nana still your manager?

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Speaker 2: She'd like to think so. She she's an she always

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Speaker 2: will be, but not not officially. Okay, Yeah, great supporters,

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Speaker 2: you know, very supportive family, and that's what you got

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Speaker 2: to have.

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Speaker 3: Couldn't do it.

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Speaker 1: Without because I always asked the same question because as

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Speaker 1: a parent of five myself, some of which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: are older than you. So this just makes me an

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Speaker 1: old fart asking these questions as every parent goes through

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Speaker 1: the when you do this, and most kids go through

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Speaker 1: what you're going through, a bit of guitar or a

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Speaker 1: bit of music, or I want to play the drums

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Speaker 1: or I want to be Ozzie Osborne or whoever it

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Speaker 1: happens to be. How do the parents handle it? How

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Speaker 1: did your parents handle it? Did they back you? Said,

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Speaker 1: just do whatever you want to do?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, support from dayjop Really, I think it was there

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Speaker 2: was never any any any holding me back. They never

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Speaker 2: never want and didn't want me to do this. They

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Speaker 2: never wanted me to go to university and get a

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Speaker 2: high paying job. It was do it makes you happy

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Speaker 2: and you're doing what you love. You just keep at it.

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Speaker 1: Far out Well that's working out. Well, okay, so the

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Speaker 1: song you're going to sing. How much of your material,

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Speaker 1: by the way, is you versus covers? Saw you do

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Speaker 1: Kenny Rodgers?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I do do it, yeah Keinny Rogers And yeah, I

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Speaker 2: do a lot of covers really, but no, that's what

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Speaker 2: I yeah, used to do before I sort of started

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Speaker 2: songwriting about four or five years ago. So yeah, I

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Speaker 2: have written heaps of songs, really, a lot of songs,

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Speaker 2: you know, like forty or fifty songs, but so many

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Speaker 2: of them are just you know, unheard, you won't you

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Speaker 2: won't hear them because they're terrible. But yeah, I've got

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Speaker 2: a good little backlog of songs really, and it's good.

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Speaker 2: That's yeah, just got to keep writing them, and we'll

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Speaker 2: keep We'll keep putting the good ones in.

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Speaker 4: Well.

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Speaker 1: I built this song up a bitterll be good.

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Speaker 3: You better.

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Speaker 1: Exactly if the song is cooled.

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Speaker 3: Sunday sober hit me.

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Speaker 5: Sick good bat of Forever girl like wesh you.

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Speaker 4: Well good, I'd make it a bit.

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Speaker 3: Don't know if you can tell.

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Speaker 5: Strinking and smoking and helplessly hoping and everything under the song.

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Speaker 4: She's gone into her spot in my bed is still warm.

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Speaker 4: Just clean your head up song.

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Speaker 5: But in the end we were dancing like you strangers

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Speaker 5: standing while they played out favorite song in my head.

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Speaker 4: We were laughing over love and to happened down the

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Speaker 4: road only we know weird. We go so roll. God,

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Speaker 4: she still looks so pretty. I wonder does she miss me?

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Speaker 4: Keep this song?

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Speaker 5: Ain't so to this heartbreak? Soul chasing after her shadow?

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Speaker 5: Oh Lord, the trails gone cold?

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Speaker 3: Where the hell do.

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Speaker 4: I go on? Now?

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Speaker 5: Every thought I've seen this, Lord, Yeah, I've been drinking

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Speaker 5: and smoking and helplessly hoping.

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Speaker 4: Everything under the sun. She's gone. It's so long.

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Speaker 3: What did I do so wrong?

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Speaker 4: I hate the man I've become.

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Speaker 5: But indeed we were dancing like you strangers standing.

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Speaker 4: While they played our fame song.

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Speaker 5: But in my head we were laughing all the love,

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Speaker 5: and it happened down the road.

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Speaker 1: Only we know.

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Speaker 4: We we go so wrong. God, she's still so pretty.

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Speaker 4: I wonder does she miss me?

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Speaker 5: Keep this song day so till this hotbreak soul Ude.

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Speaker 4: They say you can't live in the path.

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Speaker 5: But as long as she's gone soul and I've got lived.

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Speaker 4: But in the end we were dancing like you strangers

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Speaker 4: standing while they played a favorite song.

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Speaker 5: In my head we were laughing all the love. Then

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Speaker 5: it happened down a droll only we know weird we

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Speaker 5: go so.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. God, she still look so pretty.

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Speaker 4: Won you know she missed?

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Speaker 5: We keep this Sunday Solve till this heartbreaks. Sunday solve

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Speaker 5: till this hardbreaks solve.

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Speaker 1: Sensational, Well, mate, there's absolutely brilliant the way you play

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Speaker 1: that guitar. You're a natural. You're just the moment that

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Speaker 1: you hit the big question from the text, A lot

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Speaker 1: of feedback on the text. Everyone loves you. A quest

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Speaker 1: question Mike's steak and cheese pies to die for at

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Speaker 1: the Wakefield bakries.

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Speaker 3: Oh mate, I'll have to bring you some. You are

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Speaker 3: They're incredible.

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Speaker 1: Anytime good nice to see good luck with it all

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Speaker 1: come back. It's very much nice to see it, Zach Griffith.

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Speaker 1: For more from the mic Asking Breakfast listen live to

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Speaker 1: news Talks it'd be from six am we days, or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio