WEBVTT - Asking my best friend to make a VERY tough decision 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.520 What's up, guys. Welcome to The Granger Smith Podcast, Episode 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.080 thirty six. Thank you guys so much for watching, Thanks 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.560 for listening. I'm grateful for this platform. I'm grateful for 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:15.160 the first amendments that I could exercise my freedom of speech. 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.720 Get on here, speak to you guys, tell you what's 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.520 on my mind, tell you about what's going on in 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.880 my life, tell you about the stay of the world, 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.200 at least the way I see it, and to invite 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.800 some of my friends on here to chat. So, if 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.320 you're new to this podcast, thank you, Thank you for watching. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.199 If you're on YouTube, and I would encourage you to 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.400 go backwards. This whole thing started in the back of 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.400 my bus on tour, and I wanted to give people 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.519 an idea of who I am and where I came from, 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.720 especially when it comes to music business. How we ended 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.920 up here, How did ye ye come around? How did 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.880 I start even playing guitar? Who are my influences? That's 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.840 that was the inspiration behind this podcast originally. Then it 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.200 is now shifted to every Monday. We're gonna put these 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.680 out early every Monday, so hopefully you're commuting to work 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.639 and it gives you something to do. To listen to, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.880 to watch wire commuting to work, and it gives me 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.759 a platform sometimes to answer questions, sometimes just to get 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.760 in front of a camera and keep you guys updated. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:29.840 So regardless, thank you for all that. The world, as 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.960 far as my world and touring is still very slow. 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.400 We're looking to get back soon. I know we have 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.640 a couple of dates in June. Those are in Texas. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.880 There are some dates in July, and I would expect, 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.319 and I've been saying this that this will continue to 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:52.600 double and double and double every month until late fall 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.680 we're back. I mean, our December is full, so hoping 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:03.320 that that stays the same like it's always been. It's 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.360 going to be really fun. And as I believe, and 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.520 I kind of preach this to people, I feel like 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:10.799 we're living in a pent up economy right now. There's 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:12.400 a lot of people that just want to go out 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.680 and want to grab a beer and listen to a band. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.160 I know I do, and so I feel like so 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.480 many people, especially those the majority that have not lost 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:28.520 their jobs unlike me, are saving money that they would 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.360 have spent at the movie theater, are going out to 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.400 the bar or even going to the beach or things 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.560 like that. So I am excited that when this tour 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.480 does the floodgates open, it's going to be crazy. It's 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.360 gonna be fun. We'll be able to pack out some 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.919 rooms again and fill that passion. I'm also going to 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:49.720 put an album out in the fall. I don't know 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.280 exactly when, but I do. I am looking at a 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.000 whiteboard right here that I've written all of the songs 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:57.919 that I know are going to go on there, and 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.680 the process that those songs are in as far as 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:05.040 what they need instrumentation wise, what they need vocally. Some 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.400 lyrics need to be tweaked tweaked, But I'm looking at 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.000 that board right here, so that that's gonna be fun. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:11.920 Because when this when the flood gets open and we 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.360 do start toring like crazy, I'm gonna have a bunch 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:19.680 of new songs to play. So today is a fun 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:24.720 podcast with one of my best friends and my tour manager. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.560 He is notorious on the internet, so many people know 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:34.800 him for his big personality and big biss. I want 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.560 to introduce you if you don't know him already, and 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.920 uh and hear the backstory of how we got together, 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.680 how we became friends, and then how we eventually became 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:50.080 friends that work together very closely. This is an interview 0:03:50.560 --> 0:04:28.160 with Chris Lee did kids in dcl my tires and school. 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:36.320 Long line of five, four of husband dined back rang 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:53.680 once evage. Yeah, that gation. So the year was two thousand. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:59.360 I just moved to Nashville. I moved to Nashville July first, 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.400 two thousand. I didn't know anybody there. I didn't have 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.440 any friends at all. I had a couple connections through 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:13.200 people that knew somebody that moved to Nashville, and then 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.839 I knew that you were there. I had heard that 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:23.080 Chris Lely, the drummer from the Garland Opry, moved to 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.880 Nashville a few years before me. It was big news too. 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:32.000 I mean at the time, I just you know, there 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.960 was a small group of Texans that lived there around 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:41.640 my age. So I went into a bar called Silverado's, 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:48.200 a dance hall, country honky tonk, and I was there 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:53.000 just having a few beers. And I had known I 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:54.880 don't know even know if you know this, but in 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:59.080 my desperation to have a friend, God, I went through 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.120 the Yellow Pages, which used to be a thing, Yeah, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.920 not a thing anymore. I went through the I was sorry, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.480 White the white Pages I already forgot. So this is 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:13.400 the white Pages book, the Nashville Metropolitan White Pages, And 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.960 I went through and found the Lees, and there was 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.920 like four Chris Lee's. This is a sign of the times. 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.560 I would call starting with the first one, just called 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:30.159 the number. Hello, Chris, yep, Chris Lee from Garland, Texas. 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.839 They'd say huh, I'd say sorry, roll number. So I 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.040 did that four times and none of them were you. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.520 So fast forward a few months. I'm in I'm in 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.440 this honky tonk and this guy comes up to me. 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.960 I barely recognized him. Cowboy hat. No no, no no, no, no, no, 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.480 you weren't cowboy hat. You were very uh slip dressed. 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.640 At the time, I believe. Okay, there's a phase I 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:59.240 was in. I guess yeah. And and this this guy 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:07.680 super Tank in a colder month and you said you 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.880 Granger Smith And I'm like, you know, at the time, 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.920 no one said that to me. I was like yeah, 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.520 and he was Chris Lee growing up and I was like, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:24.080 my god, Chris, I found you, man. It was it 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.360 was a really big deal to me that I found 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.840 a guy from Texas and the guy I had been looking, 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.080 and we weren't really I wouldn't consider as good friends. Yeah, 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:34.680 we knew each other. We knew each other, we were 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:39.960 acquaintance acquaintances, and no one at the time had everybody's 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.920 social media account or phone numbers that just didn't exist. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.120 Cell phones are actually pretty new, Like if you had 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.960 a cell phone number, you you didn't have a long 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.400 contact list. So, needless to say, we hit it off 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.320 that day at Silverado's, had a few beers exchanged to 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:01.520 phone numbers, and then our our although we had known 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.520 each other probably five years before that, our real friendship 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.640 began then starting with a co write I believe was 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.240 the first thing we did. Yeah, so Allison, who I'm 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.600 still married to. We were a boyfriend and girlfriend at 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.840 the time. We invited you over to her apartment. Okay, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:22.320 and okay, I remember I hadn't heard you play or 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:26.120 sing since our Garland Oprey days, which was you know, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.840 probably three years before. Yeah, but uh yeah, we had 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.920 you come over and like, I don't even think we 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.840 were gonna write. We were just gonna play and just 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.319 hang out and drink a few beers and everything. And 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.320 I like played for you a little bit, and You're 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.560 like Oh, that's great. And then you started playing and 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.720 I'm like, oh my god, I don't remember this guy 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.080 being this good back at our opery days. But something 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:52.920 happened in those couple of years. I think maybe you 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.320 had gotten out and started playing in your own band 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.320 and everything, but I think that might be a little 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.280 bit of exaggeration or you just don't remember. It was 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.040 a major lead. I mean you were, you were a good, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.640 you know, a little singer in your your grown opry days, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.240 but there was a drastic change. And at that point 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.000 I was like this, this freaking guy's gonna he's gonna 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:16.200 be huge. He's gonna make it. Well, so I'm still 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.920 waiting for you to make it, by the way, Yeah, 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:23.800 right Somewhere around that time, I was also needing a roommate. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:28.120 I had an extra room, and so I asked you, Hey, 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.559 you going to be my roommate? Yeah, And you were like, well, man, 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.800 I was kind of I'm just kind of crashing at 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.400 my girlfriend's apartment and I was kind of actually have 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:41.440 a whole lot going on. And I remember the one 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.840 time we met to write and I don't know if 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.240 you remember this or not, but I said, whatever, parking 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.199 lot em I publishing or something. I said, meet me there. 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.000 I'm driving a big white truck, and you said, cool, 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.720 I'm driving a big red truck. And you pulled in 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:03.120 with the legit big Ford pick up diesel and I 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.400 was driving a just a normal fifteen hundred seventy one Chevy. 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.480 But the funny thing wasn't what what occurred to me 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.480 was that at the time I was driving a big 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.920 truck because no one was driving a truck in Nashville. Really, Yeah, 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.800 And another Texan comes in and actually had a legit 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:25.439 big truck and we hit it off. Soon after, I 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:30.200 mean you moved in. It wasn't long after the Silverado's 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.520 run in. Yeah, yeah, we were. We became good buddies 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.880 and fellow honky tnkers. Yeah we would, so starting then 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.600 we would. We would go out together, hit the honky tonks, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.480 hit downtown Nashville, which if y'all haven't been in downtown Nashville, 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.760 it's always a good time, and did a lot of 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.240 a lot of things that were pretty reckless, you know, 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.120 Carolins at the time. Our kids will eventually listen to this, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.240 so we can't get into too much of that. But 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.920 we we spent our early twenties, living it to the fullest. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:12.000 Put it that way. We wrote songs together. We both 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.760 sang together at times, and then sometimes I would sing 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.200 and you'd play drums, and then sometimes I would play 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:22.120 steel guitar and you would sing or play drums with Trent, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.280 and our relationship grew basically building the backstory of us 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.520 because I don't think anybody really knows you other than 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.480 tour manager. Ye, so there's not much else to that. Well, No, 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.680 you're you're actually a really good artist, really good songwriter. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.000 You've always been a great singer, great guitar player. Not 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.880 just a guitar player, but just you're the kind of 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.640 guy that could pick up any instrument because you have 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.839 a really good ear. You could pick up piano, guitar, drums. 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.720 It's important to know that I'm not great at any 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.240 of those things, right, I get a little bit good. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.360 It depends on who you're comparing yourself to. Compared to 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.679 the rest of the world, you're a pro at all 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:09.600 those things. And I guess we also stayed really good 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:11.880 friends because our schedules were really different. We stayed out 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:16.160 of each other's way, and you had a day job 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120 that was very demanding, and you were gone a lot, 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.360 and then we would come together on the weekends and 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:27.000 do our Shenanigans. So about two thousand and four, I 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.720 moved back from Nashville back to Texas to start a band, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:35.000 asked you to come with me. You said, no, good reasons. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.600 You know, you had roots in Nashville, you had a 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.200 serious girlfriend at the time who is now your wife, 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.679 and you had a good job, so it would have 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.200 been silly to leave with me. I was because part 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.679 of my going back was going to finish college live 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.839 on my uncle Johnny's couch and nothing going on. I 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.520 was going to start to open Mike Night, so there's 0:12:55.559 --> 0:13:02.960 nothing to go back for. So things developed you your 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.559 career started really taking off. You became a regional manager 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.240 at a company called Syitechs. Is that right? Regional manager, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:14.840 district manager, district manager. That was a hard and I 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.400 mean the way that you lay this out there, you 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:18.880 make it made it sound like you didn't have a 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.840 whole lot going on in college station, and that is true. 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.480 You know, you were trying to develop some roots and everything. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.600 But it still was a difficult decision for me not 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.920 to make that move because I really just as I 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.360 do today. I firmly believed in what you were doing 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.080 and in what you were as an artist. And I 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:39.800 didn't know what role I was going to have in 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:41.560 that someday, but I knew I had to be a 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.320 part of it, so that that was a difficult decision 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.200 for me not to make that move to College Station. 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.480 And this is coming from a diehard Texas Longhorn fan too, 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:54.600 moving to College Station. And that being said, College Station 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:59.440 has kind of always been known as a Texas music hub, 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:04.640 along with Austin and Lubbock, and there's probably a handful 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.560 of others. So if you're playing Texas country music, you're 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:09.880 gonna want to live in one of the San Marcus 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:16.040 New Bronfuls, College Station, Austin, Lubbock, Dallas, Fort Worth. Uh. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.520 And so that's what I guess. That's why you in 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:24.680 Houston's probably somewhere on that list. Yeah. Yeah. So years 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.920 go by, you get married, I go, I go to 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:35.480 your wedding, you have a baby. I'm starting to tour 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.240 a little bit more. We're barely touring at all outside 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:40.880 of the state of Texas, but we are going to 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.760 Nashville and doing some bar gigs, and every time we 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.800 would go to Nashville. I would crash at your house, 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.640 you know, and we would we would catch up. But 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.400 still never really thought during that time that there was 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:59.600 a huge future with us past that it didn't seem 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.360 like it beca As your roots were getting deeper, my 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.960 connection with Texas was getting stronger, So it was a gosh. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.640 I don't know when it was. It was actually before Meadow, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:14.720 your first child, that I asked you again. In fact, 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.440 I invited you down and you came. It's a college 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.240 station because I remember drinking beer at the Dixie Chicken, yep, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.400 And I said, I want to I want to invite 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.400 you down to join me. And I don't think I 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.880 said tour manager. I think it was like, just be 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.120 in the band or be part of it, because you're 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.120 also a really good lead guitar player, so you could 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.400 have done anything at that point. Yeah, I don't remember 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.360 what the title was. I think it was just to 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:40.840 be down there and just be a part of it, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.320 which I oh, you know, I would have been grateful to. 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:48.280 My sales pitch to you was move, move everybody. Actually 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.800 it's just Allison, move Alison. But Alison had a good 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.920 job and in your job was My sales pitch was 0:15:58.480 --> 0:15:59.800 I know you got a good job. I know you're 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.640 making consistent money, but you're not doing music. Man. You 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:06.560 love that, you want to be in music, and you 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.520 said no again. Both of the times you said no 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.720 were really good decisions on your part. It wasn't it 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.080 was too early, but it But it's funny looking back 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.600 because then it was that was probably I don't know 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.000 what year it was, but it was twenty thirteen when 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:29.320 things Earl Dibbles was out and which you helped write 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.360 the country Boy song, So you're kind of at the 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:35.000 ground floor of Earl Dibbles. You saw that what that 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.040 did for us as a band. And then two years 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.320 after Earl Dibbles, I asked you again, this time with 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:46.200 a mission to be my tour manager, because I'm sitting 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.400 here thinking, I don't want to hire a glorified merch guy, 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.320 no offense to merch guys. I don't want to hire that. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.520 Tyler was done, you know, Tyler was done with trying 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.760 to be tour manager. He was already had his eyes 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.640 set on management. And I just wanted a friend, someone 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.480 that knew me. And so I remember that phone conversation. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.000 I said, my goal is to bring in somebody that 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.280 could they could shoot me straight all the time that 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.199 supports us as a band, wants to push us, but 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.280 at the same time knows when to say, dude, shut 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:23.359 the hell up. You're wrong, You're wrong on this situation. Boy, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:27.000 did you take that run with what? Some things never change. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.840 But I remember you said, let me think about it 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:36.200 with al and you had two babies at home? We 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:40.399 had uh God, you lose count over the years. Do 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.960 you have as many as I do? We had three, 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.680 did you? Yeah? We had cannon. You had cannon. Okay, okay, yeah, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.159 it was twenty thirteen in March two thirty. So I 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.280 remember you said, let me think it over. You called 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.800 me and we talked. I was in Nacadoches. You laugh, 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.600 you because you had extended this off for a couple 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.000 of times, and I think it had kind of become 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.600 a joke to you a little bit, because I remember 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.359 you kind of laughed it off when you threw it 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.720 out there. And I remember hanging up after that conversation 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:14.280 and I was like, why is he laughing this off? 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:16.920 I am going to move down there and I am 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.080 gonna take this job. One of these days. I don't 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.399 know if this is the day, but I am going 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.000 to do it. So I felt a little bit upset, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.840 and I remember calling you back saying, Hey, I'm taking 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.639 this serious, just to let you know. So then that 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:35.400 started the conversation with Alison. And I cannot praise her 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:40.720 enough for that move, because she loved Nashville, she loved 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.400 being there, she did roots, she had friends and everything. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.280 But when I hung up with that phone conversation, she 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.720 saw something in my eyes. She saw a spark that 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.879 she hadn't seen in years, and it was the music 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.800 business came back calling. You know, I had settled into 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:58.639 my normal life. I used to wear a khakis and 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.320 button up shirt and I had to tell tell them 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.200 what you did. And I had a great thing going. 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:09.399 I was a district manager for Syde Text, which was 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.440 a basically a glorified laundry company right right there. They're 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.480 great and what they did and everything, but h that's 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.159 what I did. I ran that branch. It was like 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.600 a it was kind of like a Michael Scott in 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.720 the laundry world. You started that company as a as 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:27.200 a temp employee, yep, delivering the linens, running the route, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.480 which is grueling in my mind. Yeah, you'd get up 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:34.440 at what time I'd get up, like at too. Oftentimes 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.320 you and I would play down town Nashville at Tootsies, 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.159 and I would go straight from playing downtown and I 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:41.800 would sleep in my big old truck out in the 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:43.679 parking lot for an hour, and then I'd go to 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:47.600 work and do the same thing the next night. But yeah, 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:51.560 so progress through that company, and I got as far 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.240 as I knew I was going to get. And it 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.440 didn't matter what I accomplished in that company. It didn't 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.480 matter what kind of awards or you know, how high 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.240 up I was to make it. There was always something missing. 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.840 And I just had that just like you. Maybe not 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.240 to the extent you have, but I had that musical gene. 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.639 It is to the extent you're Otherwise you wouldn't be 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.399 sitting here. Yeah, but I just couldn't shake it. I 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.320 knew I was never going to find true happiness in 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.359 my work life unless I was doing something in music. 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:28.359 And so that call was. I had prayed, literally prayed, 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.920 and I pray all the time, but I remember that 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.399 prayer very very distinctively a couple weeks before, and I 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.560 asked God, I said, God, if you want me to 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.399 just stay here and keep doing this and be a 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:41.959 district manager and stay with this company, I'll do it. 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:44.080 I'll be the best damn one when I didn't say 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.040 damn to God, but I'll be the best one you 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:52.119 want me to be. But if you want me to 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.320 go do something else, and you want me to really 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.040 venture out and do this music stuff, give me some 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.640 kind of a sign. And that sign came a couple 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:03.240 of weeks later in your phone call. And I love 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.320 telling that story because it's a it's the truth for 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.679 one thing, and it's a it's a great example of 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.600 how you put your life and you put something into 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.720 God's hands, He's gonna direct you. Yeah, you know that 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:20.240 is awesome. You you came in and you said yes. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:24.600 Shocked me. I was very happy. And you came in 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:31.639 and you came into a situation that was kind of volatile. 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:33.639 You know. We were playing, we were we were in 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:39.200 an old bus, old blue bus called Atlantic Express, and 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:45.080 the band was kind of unorderly, you know, and one 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:48.199 of the tasks I said was, you're you're gonna have 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.960 to get this band in line. We can't get them 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.320 to do anything. All they do is drink and we 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.280 need them to like that's fine, but we need them 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.720 to play the show first, and then we also need 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:01.800 him to load their stuff back in the trailer when 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.960 they're done, because they had a tendency of finishing the 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.840 show and then getting drunk and disappearing. And then it 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.160 would be I've never heard of a band like that. Yeah, 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:14.639 it would be. It would just be a couple of 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.520 people left over to get all of their stuff and 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.119 put it back in the trailer. So I remember when 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:20.280 you first came in, it was like, all right, one 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:24.439 of your jobs, man, is a doing that? And b 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.040 you had to deal with these club owners. Yep. I 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:31.520 don't know how to describe them besides saying it's an 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:36.320 interesting bunch club owners. Nightclub owners is a is an 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:40.480 interesting breed, and as in most things in life, most 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:42.760 of them are good, really good guys, but you get it. 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:44.960 You get a few of them one out of ten. 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:50.240 Maybe that it's a scary situation you're trying to get 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.200 cash from a guy, especially with a band like us 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:55.200 when we were just starting to pop, we would play 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:59.840 a eight hundred capacity room and they would think that 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:01.679 no one was going to come in they would predict 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.000 a thousand or excuse me, two hundred people would come 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:08.680 in and we would put seven hundred and fifty and 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.440 it would shock them. And they're paying cash at the door, 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:13.399 So say people are paying five bucks at the door. 0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:16.879 Then at the end of the night, they would estimate 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.639 to us, when I was still involved in that, they 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.800 would estimate how many people were there, about three fifty. 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:25.960 I'll pay I'm gonna open up this safe and then 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:29.280 give you a water cash. It's just beer soaked cash, 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:33.120 you know, just a handful of it and just put 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.600 it on the desk and say, well, rebook you later. 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.480 And so part of your job at the beginning was 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:41.879 to go, nope, I need discounted. I need to know 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:43.760 why you think it's three fifty because I think it 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:48.920 was seven fifty. And that was That was your job 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:51.800 and it has changed a lot, but the original tour 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:55.879 manager for us, that was your job. Yeah, for sure. 0:23:57.080 --> 0:23:59.280 I remember the getting the ban in order being a 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:02.359 huge deal. Yeah, early on. And these are great guys 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:04.359 that are most of them are all still with us, 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:08.480 but that was it was just kind of what band 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:10.959