WEBVTT - Telling the TRUTH on social media 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:04.360 What's up everybody. Welcome to the Granger Smith Podcast. Thanks 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.800 for listening on your favorite podcast app. Thank you for 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.959 watching if you're watching on YouTube, and thank you for 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:13.480 joining on this journey. It's been it's been a wild ride. 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:15.800 We've had a lot of episodes. Thank you so much 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.599 for all those that have started at the beginning and 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.120 heard this story and heard me talk to some friends 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.639 and heard me hear from some really interesting people. And 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.320 if you're brand new, well thanks thanks for listening. This 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.600 is such a crazy time, such a wild time in 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.839 the music business without a major tour going on, so 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.080 there's so many other other things that we have frian 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.279 and different pans all over the countertop. Here I want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:43.519 to tell you some of the ways you can keep 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:44.880 up with this. Of course, a lot of you guys 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.239 know the Smiths. You could follow us, me and my 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:52.160 family on the Smiths YouTube channel, on the smith YouTube page. 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.760 You could follow me Granger Smith right here on this 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.200 podcast every single Monday. This is also where you're going 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.160 to find our old Doublis Junior's also where you're going 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.640 to find our truck restoration videos. A lot of you 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.120 guys have been asking commenting every time you see a 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.800 new video pop up on the Granger Smith YouTube site, 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.760 you've been saying where is the truck? How where's the truck? 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.640 In the process of the restoration the seventy four gmc 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.160 uh and I've I've posted on here before. I feel 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:20.759 like i need to tell you guys. First of all, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.760 I'm so sorry that that series has been stalled a 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.640 little bit. The cab is at the body shop right now, 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.800 and the body shop is you know, we've done everything 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.399 on the frame up into the body, so the cabs 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:37.720 at the body shop they're putting the new roof on it, 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.280 and they got We got a big heilstorm that hit 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.360 us in Texas about a month ago, and so the 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:47.600 body shop got swarmed with work everybody. Everybody has to 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:49.800 understand that they're doing this work for us for free, 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.320 so when real work comes in, they got to take 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.360 the cash. So we totally understand that we're on a 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.440 little bit of delay. But I'm told that as you're 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.760 watching this podcast this week, we're supposed to get a 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.280 lot of stuff done on that cab, where finally me 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.120 and Butcher and Bull could pick it up and start 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.200 that series again. You could also find our series live 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.200 at the EU Farm right here on this YouTube page. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.600 But it will be moving soon to a brand new, 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.760 new and improved EE Nation fan club that is in 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.120 development that we will be launching very soon and all 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:27.200 these live shows will be going to that. And we 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.480 don't have an official brand sponsorship today for this podcast, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.120 so I will talk to you about ee apparel, which 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.560 I always love to talk to you guys about EEU apparel. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.120 I'm right here sitting here at the headquarters at the 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.360 EE Farm as we speak. This is always a passion 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.519 project for me, as it has been for many many 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.919 years with me and my brothers, and I want to 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.679 first of all always thank you guys for joining EE Nation, 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.079 for being a part of this brand, of this lifestyle 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.640 that is so much bigger than just music or just 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:02.160 one person. And I am so proud every day to 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:07.440 know that we have the responsibility of representing this lifestyle 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.280 through this brand. The month of August coming up, there's 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.440 a lot of new stuff we have August second, our 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.040 back to school release that's gonna be really important August fifteenth. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:19.840 Some of you might not think this is important, but 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:21.600 actually we've been working on this for a long time, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.880 but that's our leggings release. And Amber has been working 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.640 so hard on these leggings. I mean she's been working 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.200 on this stuff for almost a year trying to find 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.040 the perfect leggings. I know that sounds crazy, but it's 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:35.520 the real deal and these suckers are going to be amazing. 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:40.360 That's August fifteenth. Then we get into September fourth through 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.520 the seventh. We're gonna have a Labor Day weekend sell 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.000 That one's gonna be really amazing. I've seen some stuff 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.640 all leading up to September eighteenth, our fall launch, and 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:51.520 you guys know how these launches go. You got to 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.920 get there early. Everything's gonna sell out, but it's so 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.640 worth it. We're gonna have early access through this fan 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.160 club that I'm talking about, and I'm going to release 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.200 a lot more information as that time gets closer. And 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.920 you know what's really cool about the September eighteenth fall 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.600 launch for Yigie Apparel. What's really cool is the next week, 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.400 my brand new album is going to come out September 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.960 twenty fifth. A lot more that you need to know 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.400 about that and that will be coming soon. Today. This 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.640 is a great chat a great friend of mine, one 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.400 of the pioneers in Texas country music. One of the 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.040 guys that many times has been called the king of 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.560 Texas country music, and he has he has lived life 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:41.000 to the fullest and he has live a life worthy 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.560 of you guys hearing his story because he's had a 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.479 lot of love, a lot of loss, and a lot 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.280 of redemption. So, without further ado, I want to I 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.960 want to introduce you and introduce you guys to mister 0:04:54.080 --> 0:05:30.480 Josh Abbott. Welcome to the Grand Smith Podcast. Did Kids 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:38.200 in deesel my tires and schools, Long line by four, 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:53.640 Husband down on back Home Range and co one page. Yeah, you'reation. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:02.279 So I believe it was two thousand nine. We were 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:08.080 at Anton's downtown Austin. Yeah, a party and it was 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:13.160 like a benefit I think. And there was a bunch 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:17.039 of artists there, a bunch of Texas country industry people there. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.360 And I remember I played a couple of songs acoustic, 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.640 a bunch of people played. Yeah. Yeah, it was a 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.040 bunch And you remember on the nine talking about Yeah, 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.880 I think it was like a showcase of sorts. Yeah. Yeah. 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.480 So my my radio promoter at the time, she said 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.919 to see that guy over there. I think it was 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.280 a red trucker cap you were wearing. That was a 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.200 good memory. Man. She said, that guy is about to 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.400 blow up. He's about to blow up. Was like, what's 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:47.080 his name? Josh Abbott. That was the first, the first 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.720 time I saw Josh Abbott. I appreciate it. Shout out 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.800 to Angela was the one that did that, and and man, 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:59.240 she was right, yeah, because you skyrocketed from there. And 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:01.279 so what do you think I'm right about two thousand 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.920 and nine? Yeah, it's probably, well, I don't know when 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:10.000 we necessarily skyrocketed, but that was probably, I mean, definitely 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.600 is two thousand and eight or nine, Yeah, because we 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.480 actually started touring in two thousand and eight. So we 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.239 formed our band in two thousand and six just for fun. 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.720 Then we eventually, I think maybe in two thousand and seven, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.280 recorded that taste Ep Yep, and it just caught so 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.560 much fire and Lubbock that we were like, Okay, we're 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.640 onto something here. So literally, in January of two thousand 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:40.840 and eight, I dropped out of grad school and signed 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.440 a I didn't really sign any paperwork, but essentially orally 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.440 signed an agreement to be booked by Bruce Kalmick, who's 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.880 now our manager, and so I'll never forget it. I 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.000 mean literally we started in January two thousand and eight 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.880 in terms of like making it. So you know, we 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.240 had we hired Angela to push songs on the radio. 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.200 I don't even know we hired her at that point. 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.000 It might have been a few months out down the road. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.160 She was definitely, if not then she was definitely in 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.880 talks with you. Yeah, yeah, she's she was great. She 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.120 was a huge supporter and believer in the music and 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.880 really got a lot of Texas radio to play it. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.720 And when we were just nobody here since since we 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.880 met at least, yeah, man, I mean, you know what's 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.360 funny is that you you reflect on that memory and 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.680 I remember that show. I also remember, you know, I 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.280 also remember on that show. I'm pretty sure my fiddle, 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:34.480 our fiddle player, Preston he uh he he hd, like 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.400 really slippery boots in that stage was really slick, and 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.280 I think he slipped and fell on it. I'm not 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.440 one hundred percent sure that was the show, but the 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.080 show I remember meeting you guys at two way long 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.440 ago we played a show in Tyler together. Yeah, and 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.000 I mean there was like seventy five people there maybe 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.160 or you were already you're already on your way then maybe, 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.640 But I mean same, the reason it was, I wasn't 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:03.240 I remember it as a weekday night. I think it's 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.880 like a Wednesday night. The only thing I remember about 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.560 that venue was the big red curtain that they had 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.000 that would that would kind of dramatically open up for 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.280 everyone to watch you. And you know, they opened it 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.480 and I'm like, oh, yeah, baby, there'll be a lot 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.640 of people out there and they're just one. We just 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.880 weren't in a position of celtickets yet, I will say. 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.040 I will say though, I remember that show very well too. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.640 And and the reason I know you were skyrocketing, First 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.440 of all, you had a bus, and you know there 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.199 was a time when like it was a very defined 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:37.000 position if you had a bus. And and when you played, 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.839 everyone rushed the stage. They might have been saving. I 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.680 think it's more than saving. It might have been a 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.880 buck fifty, but they all rush the stage, and it 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.160 was like, Wow, this guy's a real deal. And I 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.200 don't know, I think before before we dive into this stuff, 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.240 we need to take care of probably for the listeners here, 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.120 we probably needed to to find Texas Country Yeah, sure, 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.200 because as you know, when both of us started venturing 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.000 out of Texas, that was always a question either you 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.920 got it and you knew it or you just said, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.880 what is Texas Country? Right? This is like a big question. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.560 So and I know that it's defined differently, but how 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:23.600 do you Josh Abbott, the one who has seen I 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:28.280 could say that you are top five ever of all 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:34.760 artists that have experienced the extreme presence of what Texas 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.520 Country has to offer. So how do you define it? Well, 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.120 you know, I appreciate the compliment. I definitely think we've 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.559 you know, we accomplished a lot more than I thought 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:49.400 we would. But you know, it's a music. It's music 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.160 that speaks to our culture. I almost I almost think 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.319 of Texas Country as the same way you would if 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.760 you found out you went to if you go to 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:00.559 Europe and you found out they had their own kind 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.160 of music scene over there some other specific place, right, 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.000 Because you know, we sing about these locations in Texas, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.800 and even if we're not like name dropping Rivers and 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.800 and that whole kind of like stereotypical, cheesy quote unquote thing, 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:23.360 but there's just something about like our culture, the way 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.640 we are raised down here, right. I mean, it's just 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.360 very different as a whole compared to a lot of 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.199 the other a lot of the rest of the country. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.280 There's there's a very strong sense of pride. You know. 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.160 I caution on the word nationalism because that just seems 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.240 to be like so grossly interpreted these days. And I 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.959 don't want anyone to think I'm referring to like Nazis 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.640 or anything. But I just what I mean is Texas 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.400 we think of ourselves as a nation. You know, we're 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.480 our own country Texas. Yeah, that's fair enough. So I 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.360 just think, yeah, we have our own music scene, we 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.960 have our own seen a music that that people support, 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.199 and it's you know, it's just very uniquely different than 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.640 anywhere else in the country. I mean, I think the 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:15.240 Seattle Portland, that kind of Northwest Coast rock scene is 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.720 probably you know, maybe as close as it gets to 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.560 kind of mimicking what we do. It could even maybe 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:27.040 even argue like the Southeastern kind of style and even 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.400 a little bit of that, you know, Southern rock kind 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.439 of has its own thing. But still there's just nothing 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.760 infrastructure wise like we have in Texas, where there's venues 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.240 stacked on top of each other, across the state and 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.720 you can play a city four times a year and 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.560 they're not going to burn your crowd out, which is crazy. Yeah, 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:50.640 infrastructure absolutely, fans are absolutely part of that. It's hard 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:56.240 to define the actual style of the genre because especially 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:01.040 it's Heyday when you have you have Jack Ingram, Whiskey Myers, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:07.560 Kevin Fowler, you have some very different styles of music 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.720 all under the same umbrella. It could all play a festival. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.360 It is a little weird like that, but you know what, 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:14.960 in the same sense, it's kind of like that with 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:20.160 national mainstream country, you know. I mean there's Luke Combs, Yeah, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.600 and there's Miranda Lambert, and there's Carrie Underwood, and there's 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.880 Carly Pearce, and you know, there's Florida Georgia Line and 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.000 you know, there's a whole spectrum of music that kind 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.760 of gets put under the same umbrellas. It's almost the 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.720 same in Texas, I think, you know, with just there's 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.000 some of different styles. Yeah, there's more singer songwriter guys. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.200 There's more rock bands then that you got your honky 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.040 tonk cowboy hat wearing, you know, fiddle playing bands, and 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.160 I don't know, we've fallen there somewhere. Could you could 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:56.560 tour in the state of Texas and you specifically could 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.920 put on jat Best, specifically in Lubbock, And how many 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.040 tickets would you sell average on a Jabfest in Loveock, Texas. 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.840 This was supposed to be year ten. I say supposed 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.559 to be because I really don't think that we'll be 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.720 able to have a jab Fest. I understand that I'm 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.960 hoping I'm wrong, but we've had it nine years and 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.400 I'm pretty sure we've sold out the Saturday night starting 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.440 in year three every year. How many tickets is that? Oh, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:29.640 a little over seven thousand. And then we added a 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.600 Friday night show a few years ago, and we've sold 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.840 it out a couple times, but we don't play both nights. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.560 We did one time, and I honestly didn't enjoy playing 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.360 two nights in a row because I just kind of 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.720 wanted to hang. So now we just have it to 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.280 where we have other bands headlined the Friday night and 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.560 I'm off. I just get to hang, yeah and visit 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.680 with them and friends and family, so that when Saturday 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.120 comes around and it's a show day, I'm not distracted 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.800 by all that stuff. But yeah, it's pretty it's been great. 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.840 I mean, that's just an unbelievable number, seven thousand tickets. 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.080 Most people, way, especially from the mainstream nationals. People that 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.040 are listening to this, you know that are your fans 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:11.080 from across the country, or they might not even know 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.200 who I am. Right because of this podcast, they'll discover me. 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.880 And for them to hear that we have venues where 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.880 we put five thousand plus people in there, they're probably like, 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:26.120 what the yeah? Oh yeah, and that's what again, that's 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.600 going back to what we talked about originally, is that's 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.080 what makes Texas music so unique. Yeah, we could have 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:38.600 a chart system with number one songs selling merch. I 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.840 mean I learned merch from Texas Country, agreed, I mean 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.960 far beyond anyone I've ever seen. You know, It's funny. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.800 Hold one, when I've been asked this question before about 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.160 what's the difference between Texas Country and mainstream country, I'm like, 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.400 you know what, Honestly, we don't put our faces on 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.560 our shirts. Yeah, and we just talked about this. I've 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.680 never seen the Texas Country artists put their face like 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.560 on a shirt, like a tour shirt and sell it 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:12.560 at shows. But every mainstream artist does it. And it's 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.840 I have no idea why there's a difference. I don't either, 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.520 except for when we first started open up for national 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.720 acts and and our merch would have like ten times 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:27.520 to merchant. We would be at nobody. The other tour 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.760 managers would be just saying, hey, you got a limiture merch, 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:32.240 this is crazy. You got to take some of the 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.640 os are way too high, looks like old Navy said over. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.520 But we learned that partly because that was just a 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.920 big part of our income. Yeah, and Donna Hue taught 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:46.560 me that early on. That's one of the things I 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.720 wanted to tat me don hu and Watson Man and 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.560 gotta throw a foul in there, because see, for sure, dude, 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.040 he would take me. He would take me as a 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.120 nobody opening act and bring me over to the merch 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.600 table at the end of the night, and then as 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.280 this endless line if people were coming to take a 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.200 picture or get something signed, he would say, did you 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.160 meet Granger? Yep? And you know what, man, A lot 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.760 of artists do that. And I think that's another thing 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.320 that separates us, because first of all, just the act 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.400 of signing. How many country artists on the national mainstream 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:22.680 charts sign autographs after shows, yeah, you know, and I'm 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.840 not I'm not critiquing that because for some of them, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.320 that would be that would be horrible, that would be 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.760 a really horrible experience for them. Right, they get done 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:33.600 playing into a huge show, and they got there to 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.000 sign autographs and they're there for five hours, you know, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.440 And then what people don't understand is that's not really 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.560 fair to the venue and the staff have been there 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.120 all day long. And now you know, if you sign 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.199 autographs for hours and hours and hours, it's cool for 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.600 the fans, but all those people that work there, you know, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:54.439 it's not really cool for them to Nebraska. So you 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.359 have to learn that balance. But that's a big difference 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.320 I think between the two scenes as well. It's just 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.840 the op that I think, would you have a closer 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.280 relationship with fans? I mean, because you know, we're all 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.800 from Texas, right, most of us, So it's kind of like, 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.080 you know, you your fans probably are friends with someone 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.480 you went to high school or college with at least 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.080 early on, or you know, even as you've I've been 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.639 around now for a little bit, but now you know, 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.199 I meet people all the time who, hey, I move 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.840 next door to your old room mate from college, and 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.920 so there's just a real kind of closeness to that. 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.639 You know, the proximity feels really close. Whereas you know 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.040 you're not going to find that in mainstream quite as 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.240 much because looking at the country as opposed to the state. Yeah, 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.879 there's a there's a feeling in the crowd in a 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.720 Texas country concert. There's a feeling that, hey, I want 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.480 to do that. I could do that, I could make 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.159 a CD. It's literally what I start a band and 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.639 do that. It's literally what I said when I went 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.439 and watched, So take me to that moment. So I 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.280 was already playing guitar, started playing guitar probably around twenty one, 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.879 twenty twenty twenty one, not the year at the age. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:11.359 It was a long time ago. And I started writing 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:16.320 songs maybe in two thousand and four, three somewhere in there, 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.600 you know. And I was going to the Blue Light 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.320 and love it because I was going to Texas Tech, 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.720 and you know, Wade Bowen was obviously he was the 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.840 guy everybody listened to because he was a Tech alumni. 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.520 He was just older than me by a couple of years. 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.240 So everybody loved Wade and then all of a sudden 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.679 through that I started hearing about Randy Rogers band and 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.920 Eli young Ban and I mean we would we would 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.320 listen to their CD at the pre party and we'd 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.320 all roll up there together, we'd pay our ten bucks 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:50.840 or whatever seven bucks to get in, yep, and we'd 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:56.480 watch these bands. And I remember just feeling so just 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:02.720 what's the word, I'm looking infatuated, just inspired by there's 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.159 this little stage and there's this band that looks like 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:06.880 they're having the time of their life and they're playing 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.080 their own songs. I've never heard any of them until 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.280 a friend of mine gave me this CD and said 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.840 you should listen. And you know, I would always be like, well, 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:17.359 how come they're not on the radio. And it's like 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:19.439 it's a different thing. You'll you'll learn, you know. And 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:21.520 because for me, growing up, even though I grew up 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.439 in love it, Texas country was not a really it 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:25.960 wasn't a thing that was played on the radio like 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.320 it is today now it's very normalized, but back then 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.560 you never heard it on the radio. So I was like, 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:32.600 you know, who are these guys? Which makes it even 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.320 more cool? And yeah, and so I remember I was 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.719 at specifically as a Randy Rodgers show one, not at 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.960 blue Light, and I just remember being like, I can 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.920 do this. I could totally be that guy, like I'm 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.399 an okay singer and I'm an okay writer. And looking 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.480 back now it's both. There's a mixture of being naive 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.560 and maybe cocky in those statements, but I'd like to 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.600 think it was just more confidence. I was just like, 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.800 I can totally do that. So I started writing songs, 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.399 put together the band with my fraternity brothers, and we 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.719 just started playing blue Light once a week. And you know, 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:11.680 I won't lie about it. I mean, I think part 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:16.280 of the reason we caught some success early on, if 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.280 you know, if I'm being humble about it, is, uh, 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.480 we were all on a fraternity right, and specifically my 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.760 bass player at the time, shout out know Hugh he was. 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:28.960 He's pretty popular in our fraternity and a lot of 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.120 people just love Neil. So we would go play blue 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.560 Light on Tuesday Wednesday night. Am I talking close enough 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.439 to the mic here? Right? Okay? I didn't know. They 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:41.200 are pretty directional and so anyway we'd show up, Well, 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:43.880 we were the it thing to do on Tuesday night, 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.920 so you know, all our fraternity brothers, not all of them, 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:49.080 but a bunch of them would come out and they'd 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.200 bring their girlfriends, well, they'd bring their sorority sisters and roommates, 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.800 and then they'd bring their boyfriends. And the next thing, 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:56.560 you know, I was like, yeah, I mean, I'm not 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.399 gonna lie. There were some nights where there was fifty 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.200 people there, but there were a lot of nights were 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.000 in college and there's it's sold out on a Tuesday night, 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.160 and me and all the guys are making like five 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:13.399 hundred bucks each and we think we are kings, Like 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.359 it does not get better than this, right, Like this 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:19.240 is great? And yeah, I just kind of went from there. 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.840 And what's crazy is and I say this a lot, 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:27.040 but sometimes those days it's all relative to where you 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:29.439 are in your life, because maybe that was maybe it 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.840 didn't get any better than that, because well, those were 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:36.440 pretty awesome nights. They were pretty great, you know, when 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:38.320 you're the in five hundred at the time, when you're 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:40.800 a college kid, five hundred bucks is a lot of 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.560 money single college did, yeah, you know, and you can 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:47.840 pack out the blue light and not have to worry 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.520 about traveling expenses. Make five hundred bucks. It's not a 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:54.360 bad deal, but you know, you realize real quick, can't 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.080 do that forever, right, So you have to at some 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.360 point parlay that and take the next step. And that's 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:01.720 what we did. So took the next step. A couple 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:03.879 of the band members changed because they just didn't want to. 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:06.440 They honestly did it for fun and they didn't want 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.720 to be in a touring band. They just didn't want 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.960 that wife, and so me and the banjo players stuck 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:15.800 it out. We found Preston on the fiddle, and we 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.639 found Eddie on the drums, and literally the four of 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.159 us have been, you know, work together since two thousand 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.800 and eight. It's a hard thing at the beginning finding 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.120 guys that you say, hey, we got a gig on Friday. 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:30.399 I know you have a job, but we got to 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.640 leave at like two pm. Yeah, And they're like, man, 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:35.960 I can't get off till five, know, And eventually you 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:38.280 got to say, you can't be in this band anymore. Yeah, 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.040 it's funny you say that. So again, I was in 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:43.280 grad school. The rest of the band was all in college, 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:45.840 except for I think Eddie, our drummer. He was he 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:50.239 had already finished his music, his two year program at 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:54.720 South Plain's Music School, and so Preston was in school 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:57.760 in Amarillo at West Texas A and m or Kenton 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:00.840 Canyon just outside of Amarillo, and so I was like, 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:02.600 he's such a great fiddle player and a fun dude 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:05.680 to hang with, and I love the kid. Like, we'll 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:08.200 adjust on his schedule. So we had like we set 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:12.560 it up to where Thursdays we had to play within 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.680 three hours of Lubbock Max, so we would never take 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:19.080 a gig pass that. So luckily for us in the 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:22.120 Texas scene and Lubbock, we would play Amarillo, Midland, Odessa, 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:26.120 San Angelo, Abilane, Wiched All Falls, or Lubbock's and that's 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:29.119 what we'd play on Thursday night, and then from there 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:31.160 we'd rout it right and we'd go to like Dallas, 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:34.479 Fort Worth, Hill Country, San Antonio, Austin, and then on 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:38.720 Saturday we might venture to East Texas Corpus, Houston and 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:41.479 Sunday the long drive all the way back to Lubbock. 0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:43.800 And that's what we did for a couple of years 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.119 living out there, and then we all finally kind of 0:24:46.160 --> 0:24:49.639 moved and relocated in twenty ten when things were hopping 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:51.880 a little bit. Yeah, things were hopping a little bit 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:58.280 in the spring of twenty ten is when She's Like 0:24:58.320 --> 0:25:02.560 Texas came out, which was kind of the That's what 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:05.199 changed the game for us, because not only did we 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:08.680 have that song, She's Like Texas, which has become just 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:14.679 kind of a massive regional success story, changed life. It 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:17.159 changed my life. And then we followed that up with 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.320 the duet I did with an unknown artist at the 0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:24.760 time named Casey Musgraves. And the music video is pretty wild, 0:25:24.880 --> 0:25:28.679 isn't it For everybody listening that doesn't know. Granger and 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.360 his wife are in the music video. And I don't 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:36.000 want to give away the plot because it's actually like 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:43.840 a little controversial, and but y'all's makeout scene is still 0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:47.280 it's top notch. That's you know what I mean. It's 0:25:47.359 --> 0:25:50.240 it's it's underrated because, you know, because we were never 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:52.760 a big band at that time, so it never got 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:54.920 the attention to deserve. But that's that's a cool music video, 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:57.000 and I appreciate you being in of course. Man. Fun fact, 0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:00.760 Amber was pregnant with London on that shoot, showing yet 0:26:00.760 --> 0:26:04.480 so then she's eight Now. I just remember being like, 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:07.480 I knew it was your wife, but I was like, 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:10.760 you know, no, you know, I can't tell the story 0:26:10.800 --> 0:26:13.480 because I don't want to ruin the plot for the video. 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:16.080 But she was like she did not you know, she 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:18.960 was like she didn't want to kiss me. And I 0:26:19.040 --> 0:26:21.920 was like, well, look, I don't blame you. It's fine. 0:26:21.920 --> 0:26:24.359 I totally get I'm not here as good looking as 0:26:24.440 --> 0:26:27.679 your husband. This doesn't we're just acting here. I like, 0:26:27.720 --> 0:26:29.760 this doesn't have to be real. And she kissed me 0:26:29.800 --> 0:26:32.080 on the cheek and it worked for the video because 0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:33.639 really it didn't need to be any more than that. 0:26:34.200 --> 0:26:36.199 So well, if you're watching on YouTube, we'll link that 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:42.560 music video top of description series. That's funny, Yeah, amazing memories. 0:26:42.720 --> 0:26:45.399 So where do you think go back to Texas Country? 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:47.960 Where do you think it came from? This thing that 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:52.359 became so huge and so regional and so accessible to 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:55.479 a young musician and so appealing to a fan that 0:26:55.560 --> 0:26:59.240 had a lot of state nationalism. And it wasn't just Texas. 0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:01.640 I mean Oklahoma jumped on sure, Arkansas jumped on board, 0:27:01.680 --> 0:27:05.240 Wesan jumped on board. New Mexico did Oklahoma more so? Yeah, 0:27:05.280 --> 0:27:07.760 I mean I would almost argue they have something different 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:10.720 than what's Texas Country. We all get closed in together. 0:27:10.800 --> 0:27:13.560 Texas country red dirt country. I think there's two very 0:27:13.600 --> 0:27:17.040 distinct sounds and approaches. So where did all of this 0:27:17.160 --> 0:27:19.320 come from? Well, you know, that's a great question. And 0:27:19.320 --> 0:27:22.480 why I don't pretend to be a historian, I would say, 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:26.240 you take a look at like, I hope I'm using 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:30.600 this word correctly. The epistemology m the way we view 0:27:30.640 --> 0:27:35.919 the world, right, I think that's what that means. And 0:27:36.000 --> 0:27:41.240 so in Texas again, we have you know, we come 0:27:41.240 --> 0:27:45.520 from descendants of people who you know, want Texas to 0:27:45.520 --> 0:27:48.560 be their own country again, right, So there's that very 0:27:48.560 --> 0:27:53.080 independent sense among us. So it creates this pride. And 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:57.040 we're a big state. So that allows geography, for sure, 0:27:57.200 --> 0:27:59.200 for a lot of area to to kind of sing 0:27:59.240 --> 0:28:04.199 about and cover. And you know, honestly, I just think 0:28:05.840 --> 0:28:09.280 some there's always been I don't but I think there's 0:28:09.320 --> 0:28:14.480 always been some sort of disdain for the mainstream radio. 0:28:14.720 --> 0:28:17.439 Which is so funny because you know, I listened to 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:20.879 old country from the seventies and eighties and I'm like, 0:28:20.960 --> 0:28:25.000 I love this. But at the time, the guys who 0:28:25.000 --> 0:28:28.280 were in the Texas country scene, they knocked on you know, 0:28:28.400 --> 0:28:31.760 Terry Allen, you know, He's got a song called the 0:28:31.800 --> 0:28:34.600 Flatland Farmer, who talks about this farmer up in the 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:38.680 middle of the country who never got famous, but he 0:28:38.280 --> 0:28:40.920 he he can outpick out play in the Nashville Star. 0:28:41.520 --> 0:28:44.280 And we actually covered that song one of our records. 0:28:44.320 --> 0:28:47.479 But anyway, so yeah, I don't know. I don't want 0:28:47.480 --> 0:28:50.200 to get too wordy here. I'm not a historian. I 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:52.240 bet there are some guys that probably have a better 0:28:52.320 --> 0:28:55.880 understanding of maybe who started it and how it dominoed here. 0:28:56.240 --> 0:28:58.200 I mean I can recite you a bunch of names, 0:28:58.280 --> 0:29:00.720 especially from the Lubbock area, you know, going all the 0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:04.720 way back to like the Flatlanders and even before them. Yeah, 0:29:04.840 --> 0:29:08.760 but the word of mouth is just it's unreal how 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:11.880 that worked because this was before really social media at all, 0:29:12.400 --> 0:29:15.600 and it was word of mouth that was taking these concerts. Like, 0:29:15.600 --> 0:29:19.360 for instance, I was in College Station in early two 0:29:19.400 --> 0:29:23.960 thousands and I remember seeing Pat Green core Mora was 0:29:24.000 --> 0:29:28.240 opening at Shadow Canyon Old Club there right there on 0:29:28.280 --> 0:29:33.560 the University and it was just packed, I mean slam packed, 0:29:34.240 --> 0:29:38.520 and everyone knew all the words, including me. Everyone had 0:29:38.560 --> 0:29:42.440 the record, including me. Yeah, and then Corey starts the show. 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:44.880 Everyone knew all the words and everyone had the record, 0:29:45.600 --> 0:29:50.400 and that was just no one thought about it in 0:29:50.520 --> 0:29:52.800 terms of is this guy on the radio or not? 0:29:53.520 --> 0:29:57.320 It was it represented a good time with our friends 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:01.240 and pat saying about all the He was the background 0:30:01.360 --> 0:30:03.640 music to all of our fun parties that we had, 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:07.520 and so is Corey. In the year two thousand and 0:30:07.960 --> 0:30:11.960 that became the soundtrack to our lives then. And I 0:30:11.960 --> 0:30:16.959 think there's something attractive about the unknown, right like moths 0:30:16.960 --> 0:30:19.560 to a flame. There's something about that because in the 0:30:19.640 --> 0:30:23.080 process of discovery with music, I mean, don't you even 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:26.800 still to this day you discover. You might listen to 0:30:26.840 --> 0:30:29.720 a band who has one song and you're like, oh 0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:31.200 my god, I love them. I got to share this, 0:30:31.320 --> 0:30:33.520 right yeah, And you want to be able to You 0:30:33.560 --> 0:30:35.560 want to be the guy to share it with your 0:30:35.600 --> 0:30:37.200 friends and be like, y'all got to listen to this 0:30:37.240 --> 0:30:38.760 because I think this is going to blow up. This 0:30:38.800 --> 0:30:40.600 is huge. You know, I still do it all You're 0:30:40.680 --> 0:30:43.200 really good at that, and well, you know, social media 0:30:43.240 --> 0:30:49.200 platform has always partly been really helping younger artists. I 0:30:49.320 --> 0:30:52.200 love doing it and I think if I was going 0:30:52.280 --> 0:30:54.360 to have a job in the music industry besides being 0:30:54.360 --> 0:30:56.080 a singer, would be A and R because I've just 0:30:56.120 --> 0:31:03.000 always had some sort of natural ability to see a star, 0:31:03.920 --> 0:31:08.640 you know, even when they weren't necessarily shining bright at 0:31:08.680 --> 0:31:12.000 the time. But to me, it's always like you see 0:31:12.000 --> 0:31:13.920 a star, you know it, you know what I mean, 0:31:14.440 --> 0:31:16.719 everyone knew you were super talented. You just had to 0:31:16.720 --> 0:31:19.600 like get out of the Texas country scene and sign 0:31:19.640 --> 0:31:22.840 a record deal and crush it, you know. And seriously, 0:31:23.400 --> 0:31:25.920 hats off to you, because I mean, you've done it. 0:31:25.920 --> 0:31:28.600 You've accomplished so much. My record deal came way later, 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:31.080 so did yours. Yeah, we didn't sign a record deal 0:31:31.160 --> 0:31:35.720 until twenty fifteen, really, and it's crazy what all the 0:31:35.720 --> 0:31:39.880 stuff that happened before that. It's crazy to think that 0:31:39.960 --> 0:31:42.920 was all brought on by the infrastructure of Texas country, 0:31:43.120 --> 0:31:44.880 for sure. You know. I remember you did a quote 0:31:44.880 --> 0:31:48.880 one you did an interview years ago, and you talked 0:31:48.880 --> 0:31:52.160 about how the Texas country scene was kind of like 0:31:52.200 --> 0:31:54.720 the It was was almost like the miners that would 0:31:54.720 --> 0:31:57.680 prepare for the majors. Quote. You know what, though, I 0:31:58.800 --> 0:32:01.400 didn't think that you were necesscessarily wrong. I think that 0:32:01.480 --> 0:32:04.240 just some people in Texas kind of took it wrong, 0:32:04.280 --> 0:32:07.040 because again, no one wants to feel inferior to any 0:32:07.040 --> 0:32:09.920 other genre or any other state. But I totally got 0:32:09.920 --> 0:32:12.080 what you meant. What you meant by that was it 0:32:12.200 --> 0:32:15.200 trained you to visit radio. It trained you to get 0:32:15.240 --> 0:32:18.080 your band and crew and infrastructure set, and it trained 0:32:18.120 --> 0:32:21.400 you in a way that like when you when you 0:32:21.440 --> 0:32:24.320 signed your record doing you started touring nationally and being 0:32:24.320 --> 0:32:27.080 on like big tours with all these other huge artists, 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:30.400 you were way more prepared than for that. Then let's 0:32:30.400 --> 0:32:33.760 say the normal act who had moved out to Nashville, 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:35.920 signed a record deal, had the first song on the radio, 0:32:35.920 --> 0:32:37.760 and then got put on a tour and they had 0:32:37.760 --> 0:32:40.200 no clue how to tour as a band. I have 0:32:40.280 --> 0:32:42.880 no clue what they're doing with their merch absolutely, and 0:32:42.920 --> 0:32:44.680 I totally got what you meant by it. So just no. 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:47.560 I remember you text so fans should know this. You're 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:50.680 such a good guy. You texted me an apology for 0:32:50.760 --> 0:32:52.960 making that statement, and I remember replying to you like, 0:32:53.680 --> 0:32:57.000 you do not have to apologize for this statement because 0:32:57.600 --> 0:32:59.800 I get what you meant, and if people want to 0:33:00.480 --> 0:33:05.720 misconstrue that, then you can't. You can't be responsible for interpretation. 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:08.640 Let me que responsible for intent. I want to take 0:33:08.640 --> 0:33:10.160 a quick break on here, and then I want to 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:12.560 I'll tell you what I said in the interview that 0:33:12.640 --> 0:33:22.040 became notorious. So I was this was coming off of 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:28.800 a national radio hit for me, and a reporter said, 0:33:30.240 --> 0:33:33.560 how do you attribute having this hit coming from nothing 0:33:33.640 --> 0:33:37.040 and having this hit on national radio? And I said, well, 0:33:37.080 --> 0:33:39.720 it came from Texas Country. And he said, well, what 0:33:40.720 --> 0:33:42.920 does Texas Country mean to you? And I said, man, 0:33:43.360 --> 0:33:46.000 it's everything to me. It taught me everything I know. 0:33:46.400 --> 0:33:48.400 It taught me just like you said. It taught me 0:33:48.920 --> 0:33:51.800 how to make my first radio call, how to walk 0:33:51.840 --> 0:33:55.320 into a radio station and say here's me, and here's 0:33:55.360 --> 0:33:58.440 my band, and here's my song. It was the minor 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:02.760 leagues for everything thing in terms of training. It trained me. 0:34:02.840 --> 0:34:07.320 But that one quote again got screenshot out of an article, 0:34:07.600 --> 0:34:10.680 and then it stood. It floated around, and there was 0:34:10.960 --> 0:34:14.480 a couple guys that took it really bad, a lot 0:34:14.520 --> 0:34:16.359 of guys probably were neutral on it, and a couple 0:34:16.400 --> 0:34:20.279 of guys actually defended me. I talked to all of them, 0:34:20.400 --> 0:34:23.279 all the above. I talked to everybody because when that 0:34:23.360 --> 0:34:27.000 came out, it crushed me because I thought, here, I 0:34:27.040 --> 0:34:30.279 am thinking, I'm trying to pay homage. Yeah, to the 0:34:30.320 --> 0:34:33.680 only reason I'm actually standing on this stage. Yea, and 0:34:33.920 --> 0:34:37.759 the whole thing collapsed underneath me. Again. You know, I'm 0:34:37.760 --> 0:34:40.200 not trying to be prophetic, but again, you cannot be 0:34:40.280 --> 0:34:43.840 responsible for interpretation. You have to be responsible for intent. 0:34:44.000 --> 0:34:47.160 Your intent was pure, and anyone that knows you knows that. 0:34:47.280 --> 0:34:50.760 So if anybody wants to misconstrue it and be an asshole, 0:34:50.960 --> 0:34:54.000 they can be an asshole. Yeah. Yeah. And I stand 0:34:54.040 --> 0:34:57.120 to this day saying I have nothing in my music 0:34:57.160 --> 0:35:00.400 career without Texas Country and the infrastructu Sure that it 0:35:00.480 --> 0:35:04.239 taught me the grind that it taught me, the resilience 0:35:04.520 --> 0:35:08.040 and and persistence that it taught me through through a 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:10.560 lot of times at the at the midnight rodeos when 0:35:10.640 --> 0:35:14.879 we were having a really bad night and I got 0:35:14.880 --> 0:35:17.360 back in the van and decided to go do it again. Yep. 0:35:17.520 --> 0:35:19.720 And a lot of national acts that sign a record 0:35:19.719 --> 0:35:21.520 deal right out of the gate, they don't ever have 0:35:21.560 --> 0:35:24.280 that opporationality to do that. They never do that because 0:35:25.480 --> 0:35:29.200 first of all, they're shielded. Their booking agency and label 0:35:29.320 --> 0:35:31.560 won't let them go put themselves out there and be 0:35:31.680 --> 0:35:33.960 vulnerable and show up and play to nobody. It's not 0:35:34.000 --> 0:35:36.360 their fault. To their credit, they didn't have what me 0:35:36.400 --> 0:35:39.480 and you had, right, They just they hunker down, they 0:35:39.560 --> 0:35:42.520 visit radio, they get a hit, then they go on 0:35:42.560 --> 0:35:44.880 to her, and then they open for somebody who's big. 0:35:45.200 --> 0:35:47.920 So you're naturally in front of crowds, and then you 0:35:48.040 --> 0:35:51.719 get a false, a false reading on how you're doing. 0:35:52.040 --> 0:35:55.239 For sure, there's there's acts that will go for years 0:35:55.840 --> 0:35:58.560 never headlining their own show. I'm not even at a club. 0:35:59.280 --> 0:36:02.719 They spend years on the road with somebody big, and 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:05.319 they think, I think things are pretty good. I think 0:36:05.600 --> 0:36:07.839 crowd loves me. And then they go out for the 0:36:07.840 --> 0:36:12.400 first time at Cotton Ideas or whatever in Knoxville and 0:36:12.440 --> 0:36:15.440 no one comes and they cannot understand it. And so 0:36:15.520 --> 0:36:17.400 then they just they think they need to rethink their 0:36:17.400 --> 0:36:19.759 whole sound and everything they do. Yeah, and they think 0:36:19.800 --> 0:36:24.959 they have to pander and play a bunch of covers. Yeah, 0:36:25.000 --> 0:36:27.840 exactly right, Like you know what I mean, Hey, let's 0:36:28.960 --> 0:36:30.840 you know, we don't want them to be bored tonight, 0:36:30.960 --> 0:36:33.120 so let's, you know, let's play ten covers or you 0:36:33.560 --> 0:36:36.080 played twenty songs, you play ten covers, you know, And 0:36:36.120 --> 0:36:37.759 I know when you're a young band, you don't have 0:36:37.800 --> 0:36:39.839 a lot of originals, so that's you know, there's something 0:36:39.840 --> 0:36:41.640 to be said for that. But it's like, I mean, 0:36:41.680 --> 0:36:43.480 I've gone out and I've seen some of these you know, 0:36:43.560 --> 0:36:46.960 shows of people and I'm like, you know, they might 0:36:47.000 --> 0:36:50.520 have one hit, right, yeah, and they're opening and they're 0:36:50.520 --> 0:36:52.879 playing a twenty five minute time slot. Well, the other 0:36:53.000 --> 0:36:55.600 five songs were covers. I'm like, yeah, you just played 0:36:55.640 --> 0:36:58.880 me five stuff cover songs and then your hit. You 0:36:58.920 --> 0:37:02.000 didn't take this opportunity to show all these people that 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:04.600 you have more than the one song. So weird and 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:08.520 we said the right word there there. They haven't understood 0:37:08.520 --> 0:37:11.440 the vulnerability of standing there and delivering an original music. 0:37:11.480 --> 0:37:13.920 And maybe they're not going to clap at you. Maybe 0:37:13.920 --> 0:37:15.480 they're going to go to the bathroom or go get 0:37:15.520 --> 0:37:18.320 a drink, and that is really that kind of rejection 0:37:18.440 --> 0:37:21.640 is really hard. The one of our very I wish 0:37:21.760 --> 0:37:23.640 my band was in here with me because we laugh 0:37:23.680 --> 0:37:26.719 about these stories all the time. One of our first gigs, 0:37:27.440 --> 0:37:30.040 when again we signed with Bruce, he puts us out 0:37:30.040 --> 0:37:32.560 on the road. God bless Bruce. At the time, you know, 0:37:32.640 --> 0:37:34.680 he was still very young and green in his career, right, 0:37:34.840 --> 0:37:37.280 so he's doing the best he can. He books us. 0:37:37.719 --> 0:37:40.439 I think we were getting like five or six hundred 0:37:40.480 --> 0:37:46.160 bucks to play a steakhouse in Madisonville. I always remember that. 0:37:46.800 --> 0:37:49.720 So we go there, we get we get like free food, 0:37:49.800 --> 0:37:51.600 and so that that alone, it's kind of worth it, 0:37:51.760 --> 0:37:54.520 right for a bunch of young dudes. And so we 0:37:54.600 --> 0:37:57.440 set up and play. There's only like three people there 0:37:57.560 --> 0:38:00.640 listening to us, and I kid you not. At one point, 0:38:01.880 --> 0:38:04.000 I don't think anyone was in there except for the 0:38:04.040 --> 0:38:08.440 waiter pushing the broom across the floor in front of us, 0:38:08.800 --> 0:38:13.480 like cleaning. And I was like, Okay, we have to 0:38:13.520 --> 0:38:16.640 have a little more pride than this, you know. I 0:38:16.719 --> 0:38:19.880 mean we may be nobody's but yeah, we're not doing 0:38:20.080 --> 0:38:23.160 any good playing to nobody, you know, like we've got 0:38:23.200 --> 0:38:24.920 to be We have to get in front of people. 0:38:24.960 --> 0:38:28.520 Send my whole philosophy's flip to I'm going to open 0:38:28.560 --> 0:38:30.680 for everybody and anybody, and I don't care if it 0:38:30.760 --> 0:38:36.120 pays fifty bucks, five hundred bucks, or zero dollars. I 0:38:36.160 --> 0:38:38.239 want to be in front of a crowd, you know 0:38:38.280 --> 0:38:40.440 what I mean. My goal as a young artist was 0:38:41.520 --> 0:38:44.399 I want to open, and I want people leaving talking 0:38:44.400 --> 0:38:47.680 about the opener, So I would fire up my guys 0:38:47.719 --> 0:38:50.920 every night. We're bringing it tonight. Every night we're bringing it. 0:38:50.960 --> 0:38:52.839 And you know, it works when you're a young band 0:38:52.880 --> 0:38:55.240 and you're a new band and there's an infectious energy 0:38:55.280 --> 0:38:59.520 to that. Yeah. Absolutely, If you are the first music 0:38:59.600 --> 0:39:02.680 artist I've had on this podcast, really you the first. 0:39:03.239 --> 0:39:06.040 I'm honored you're the first. So yeah, we're getting some 0:39:06.120 --> 0:39:08.840 good conversation. And I've told a lot of stories on 0:39:08.880 --> 0:39:11.560 here about music and U and about those early days. 0:39:11.760 --> 0:39:15.160 But you're the first artist that's backing these stories up 0:39:15.200 --> 0:39:18.239 with me. That's I'm honored. Thanks buddy, of course. Man. 0:39:20.080 --> 0:39:24.800 So outside of Texas Country, you've also over the last decade, 0:39:25.920 --> 0:39:30.120 you've you've made it through being i mean, essentially the 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:34.759 king of the genre. Maybe we had our moment for 0:39:34.800 --> 0:39:38.000 a couple of years. I think that we were. It's 0:39:38.040 --> 0:39:40.680 hard to you know, I use that raise that term 0:39:40.800 --> 0:39:45.080 king very cautiously because you know, it's people like who 0:39:45.080 --> 0:39:47.200 they like, and you know, there's a lot of big, 0:39:47.239 --> 0:39:49.600 popular bands. But I do think that you know, in 0:39:49.640 --> 0:39:51.960 Texas Country, there's been a torch that's been passed and 0:39:52.000 --> 0:39:55.200 it's kind of gone from Pat to Ragweed maybe and 0:39:55.239 --> 0:39:58.359 then to Randy obviously, and I think you know, we 0:39:58.400 --> 0:40:01.319 carried that torch for a couple years of kind of 0:40:01.360 --> 0:40:03.680 being the van in Texas, and man, what a time. 0:40:03.920 --> 0:40:06.279 I wish we could. I wish I could relive those 0:40:06.360 --> 0:40:09.600 days in a way. I wish I wish I could 0:40:09.640 --> 0:40:12.799 relive that success and moment with my life now, if 0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:15.000 that makes sense. Yeah, because you have a wife and 0:40:16.360 --> 0:40:18.399 a lot differently, And so I was going to say 0:40:18.920 --> 0:40:21.560 that over that course of time being the king of 0:40:21.600 --> 0:40:26.960 Texas Country, you also experienced the same highs and lows 0:40:27.160 --> 0:40:32.160 that any major celebrity would go through in such high demand. 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:36.960 And you you lived your life out in the open, 0:40:38.560 --> 0:40:40.239 partly because you had to because you were in such 0:40:40.239 --> 0:40:44.319 a huge spotlight. But but I watched you go through 0:40:44.400 --> 0:40:50.600 highs and lows in front of everyone, and through all that, 0:40:52.160 --> 0:40:55.360 my hat's off to you for how for you sitting 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:59.400 here today and uh and still maintaining the integrity that 0:40:59.480 --> 0:41:01.759 you have as a person and as a friend. But 0:41:01.840 --> 0:41:04.480 you yeah, well, but you've been through some low stuff. Yeah, 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.040 I mean, and we can dance around it. I can 0:41:07.120 --> 0:41:09.440 just talk about it for a second. I was married 0:41:09.480 --> 0:41:14.520 previously I was a really shitty husband, really shitty. I 0:41:14.600 --> 0:41:18.759 was so focused on my career, I was so selfish. 0:41:18.880 --> 0:41:23.920 I drank way too much every single day, and I 0:41:24.040 --> 0:41:28.680 just had insecurities and I was just a bad person, 0:41:29.040 --> 0:41:32.879 I think for a couple of years there. And so 0:41:33.080 --> 0:41:37.319 we ended up getting a divorce and I deserved it, 0:41:37.480 --> 0:41:39.160 and I think that was a moment where I really 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:41.080 had to reassess my life, like is this what you 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:44.319 want with Josh? You know, like, yeah, you've played all 0:41:44.320 --> 0:41:46.520 these sold out shows, Yeah, you got a record deal 0:41:46.600 --> 0:41:48.799 at the time we had one, And it was like, 0:41:49.640 --> 0:41:52.840 but now you've lost you know, the person who really 0:41:52.880 --> 0:41:55.960 loves you and her whole family and a bunch of 0:41:56.000 --> 0:41:58.880 your fans kind of you know, I just don't have 0:41:58.960 --> 0:42:02.239 the same positive view of you. And I'm like, I 0:42:02.239 --> 0:42:05.680 don't want this one thing to define my narrative because 0:42:06.360 --> 0:42:08.960 I mean, I don't think I'm a bad guy. I 0:42:08.960 --> 0:42:12.000 don't think i'm that guy. I think I just I 0:42:12.160 --> 0:42:14.279 was a bad guy for a short amount of time, 0:42:14.560 --> 0:42:18.120 and so it's hard to admit that. But I think 0:42:18.280 --> 0:42:20.560 I grew from it in a way where I'm proud 0:42:20.600 --> 0:42:23.319 of where I'm at now. I mean, I don't have 0:42:23.360 --> 0:42:25.160 any issues with the things that I used to have 0:42:25.239 --> 0:42:28.800 issues with, and I have a wife and two kids 0:42:28.840 --> 0:42:31.200 now and life is beautiful in a way that if 0:42:31.239 --> 0:42:33.560 my music career goes away, which right now it is 0:42:33.760 --> 0:42:37.440 right like, no one's doing a career right now. But 0:42:37.480 --> 0:42:38.719 I mean, if it goes away and I have to 0:42:38.760 --> 0:42:41.600 go get a normal job, I'm actually fine with that 0:42:41.920 --> 0:42:45.759 because I love where my life's at right now. There's 0:42:45.800 --> 0:42:49.080 just a happier place. And so yeah, Highs and Lowe's, man, 0:42:49.160 --> 0:42:51.640 I mean, there's been a lot of them. And if anyone, 0:42:52.239 --> 0:42:56.120 if anyone doesn't understand, let me, let me paint the 0:42:56.120 --> 0:43:02.480 scene for you. Josh skyrockets to the top of Texas Country, 0:43:03.320 --> 0:43:06.120 and I hope that we've done a good job defining 0:43:06.400 --> 0:43:08.120 what that is. If you don't know what that is. 0:43:08.440 --> 0:43:12.960 But the fact is you you rose so fast from 0:43:13.320 --> 0:43:15.800 the boy that was in Luveck, Texas looking at the 0:43:15.800 --> 0:43:17.960 stage at Randy Rodgers saying I want to do that 0:43:18.520 --> 0:43:22.680 to just a few years later, you're making, you know, 0:43:23.120 --> 0:43:27.040 any kind of tour date sell out. I'm talking if 0:43:27.080 --> 0:43:31.480 there's a festival, you're probably headlining it or or direct 0:43:31.480 --> 0:43:34.120 support or direction. I mean, but you're equal and we 0:43:34.160 --> 0:43:37.040 have no we haven't earned it. Yeah, we have no tenure, 0:43:37.200 --> 0:43:39.360 we have no You know, you have to pay your dues. 0:43:39.520 --> 0:43:41.319 I don't think we paid our dues long enough, and 0:43:41.360 --> 0:43:46.080 I think that caught some resentment from the traditional longtime 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:48.800 fans of the scene, as well as some other bands 0:43:48.800 --> 0:43:50.719 who just honestly didn't like to be They didn't like 0:43:50.800 --> 0:43:54.160 a new gap bypassing them. Yeah. So if you're if 0:43:54.160 --> 0:43:57.080 you're trying to put yourself in Josh shoes, imagine imagine 0:43:57.120 --> 0:44:00.680 that where you're in such high demand, You're you're fending 0:44:00.719 --> 0:44:03.359 off the haters that don't understand why you've You've come 0:44:03.440 --> 0:44:07.120 up so quickly. You're trying to satisfy everyone that loves 0:44:07.120 --> 0:44:09.080 your music so much. They don't want you to change. 0:44:09.440 --> 0:44:11.000 They want you to just keep spitting out the same 0:44:11.040 --> 0:44:13.840 record over and over. And I'm like those those records 0:44:13.840 --> 0:44:16.399 we put out early on, there's some stuff I love 0:44:16.440 --> 0:44:18.600 about them, but there's a lot I don't like. If 0:44:18.600 --> 0:44:21.399 I could restart my career now, right, I wouldn't put 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:25.480 a song like Taste out. And that sounds hypocritical because 0:44:25.520 --> 0:44:27.719 if we hadn't put that song out, I don't know 0:44:27.760 --> 0:44:31.400 that I'm here right now, because that song created such 0:44:31.440 --> 0:44:36.120 a magnetic you know following. I mean you could go 0:44:36.520 --> 0:44:38.960 to to the to the to the river or the 0:44:39.040 --> 0:44:41.879 lake or anywhere across Texas after that song came out 0:44:41.920 --> 0:44:46.880 and people were playing it, and you know, but I 0:44:46.880 --> 0:44:49.560 wouldn't put that song out now. And even a song 0:44:49.640 --> 0:44:51.680 like She's like Texas, I'd polish that up a little 0:44:51.719 --> 0:44:53.799 bit better. There's some there's some lines in there that 0:44:53.880 --> 0:44:59.000 are a little bit understandable, and you can't there. They 0:44:59.000 --> 0:45:02.040 are pieces of history better forever part of you. And 0:45:02.120 --> 0:45:06.120 it doesn't matter. Well. The process informs the results, so 0:45:07.640 --> 0:45:11.040 I can second guess things. Wish I hadn't done certain things, 0:45:11.080 --> 0:45:14.240 but all of these things have led to a moment 0:45:14.360 --> 0:45:19.480 now or I'm good. I live in Tuscaloose, Alabama. On 0:45:19.560 --> 0:45:22.239 the bus We're playing a club that night. I'll never 0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:26.160 forget it. And it was probably three o'clock in the afternoon, 0:45:26.520 --> 0:45:29.839 sitting on the bus, just finished soundcheck, and my crew 0:45:29.960 --> 0:45:33.160 starts kind of grumbling, you're seeing this, you're seeing this. 0:45:33.360 --> 0:45:38.240 It's like, what, Josh, you see this? Josh start passing 0:45:38.239 --> 0:45:41.840 the phone around and you are public on Twitter, Yeah, 0:45:41.880 --> 0:45:46.040 about your your current separation from your current wife. Oh yeah, 0:45:46.080 --> 0:45:48.040 and that was dumb. I wish I could take that back. 0:45:48.280 --> 0:45:49.719 I don't know. I don't know, because what I was 0:45:49.719 --> 0:45:52.560 about to say is you could have you could have 0:45:52.680 --> 0:45:58.600 lived that privately. But I think I would like to 0:45:58.640 --> 0:46:01.239 think that you inspired a lot of peace people to 0:46:01.480 --> 0:46:04.840 live life in truth and light and honesty. That was 0:46:04.880 --> 0:46:07.040 the goal, it really was. I think what you did. 0:46:07.080 --> 0:46:09.480 That's what I read in those those tweets. It was, 0:46:09.560 --> 0:46:13.040 you know what, this happens a lot. And I promise 0:46:13.080 --> 0:46:16.680 I'm not the only person that's guilty of cheating on 0:46:16.760 --> 0:46:19.799 their wife and being an alcoholic out here on the road, 0:46:19.800 --> 0:46:22.080 and all sorts of other stuff. And I would never 0:46:22.200 --> 0:46:26.520 name names, right, but there are a bunch of other 0:46:26.520 --> 0:46:29.440 people who are guilty of those and have gone through 0:46:29.440 --> 0:46:33.840 divorces themselves. But everyone's so scared keep it so quiet, 0:46:34.000 --> 0:46:37.080 You're right, don't want to damage the reputation. And I 0:46:37.120 --> 0:46:38.799 think that was just a moment for me where I 0:46:38.840 --> 0:46:43.000 was just over the fakeness and was like, I used 0:46:43.160 --> 0:46:47.040 this celebrity path. I use the word celebrity pretty loosely, 0:46:47.080 --> 0:46:49.560 but you know what I mean, the being in the limelight, 0:46:49.680 --> 0:46:55.160 being in the radio. You know, I mean I'm not saying. 0:46:55.360 --> 0:47:01.399 You know, there's there's different levels oferity, you know, but 0:47:01.640 --> 0:47:03.920 if I I the way I felt about it was, 0:47:04.520 --> 0:47:08.239 if I was gonna use that path and trajectory of 0:47:08.320 --> 0:47:09.960 kind of getting my music out there, being on the 0:47:10.040 --> 0:47:13.319 radio and playing shows and being the guy, it would 0:47:13.360 --> 0:47:17.000 be really, you know, disingenuous, fraudulent, whatever you want to 0:47:17.040 --> 0:47:21.480 call it, for me to like not admit my failures too, 0:47:21.880 --> 0:47:25.960 Like this can't just be a narcissistic praise everything I do, 0:47:26.160 --> 0:47:29.600 which is I'm so over the narcissism that I see 0:47:29.640 --> 0:47:32.240 on a daily basis on social media from other artists. 0:47:32.239 --> 0:47:36.040 But you know, and I'm guilty of it too, and 0:47:36.120 --> 0:47:38.640 we're all guilty. There's there's a balance of self promotion 0:47:38.800 --> 0:47:42.080 and narcissism, yeah, because we are still a product. But 0:47:42.120 --> 0:47:43.799 at the same time, you got to be real. You 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:46.360 gotta be real, and I wanted to be real with people. 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:49.440 You played a show that night, too, didn't you. I did, 0:47:49.680 --> 0:47:51.520 because it was like a Saturday I played with the 0:47:51.600 --> 0:47:59.680 Randy opened for Randy in Wichita, Kansas, and he immediately 0:47:59.760 --> 0:48:01.919 after I posted I'm on the bus, I'm in the back, 0:48:01.960 --> 0:48:06.759 I'm bawling, and he comes over there and just he 0:48:06.840 --> 0:48:09.399 literally just walks in the backlune and just sits next 0:48:09.400 --> 0:48:13.640 to me, gives me a hug. It's like, hey, buddy, 0:48:13.640 --> 0:48:15.680 I wish you would have talked to me before he 0:48:15.719 --> 0:48:19.640 posted this. You know, he encouraged me to, you know, 0:48:19.719 --> 0:48:21.720 probably the smartest thing in the world be to delete 0:48:21.760 --> 0:48:23.880 it and try to cover up a little, you know, 0:48:23.880 --> 0:48:27.080 a bit and save some face. But it was too late, 0:48:27.200 --> 0:48:30.120 and I just didn't. I was just in I wasn't thinking. 0:48:30.160 --> 0:48:32.320 I was just in a really bad spot. I just 0:48:32.400 --> 0:48:35.200 knew my life was crumbling, you know. I mean we 0:48:35.200 --> 0:48:37.120 were on the record label for a couple of years. 0:48:37.160 --> 0:48:39.640 At that moment, we still hadn't had a single radio 0:48:40.640 --> 0:48:43.120 you know. Here it is, my life's falling apart, and 0:48:44.080 --> 0:48:46.319 it's like Johnny Cash moment for me, you know, and 0:48:46.400 --> 0:48:49.280 walk the line, you know, where you reach that point 0:48:49.280 --> 0:48:52.720 where it's like, Okay, you better get your shit together, dude. 0:48:53.160 --> 0:48:55.560 And so I'd like to think that since then I 0:48:55.600 --> 0:48:59.319 got my shit together, you definitely have, as you mentioned now, 0:48:59.600 --> 0:49:04.880 beautiful wife to beautiful children. And so looking back on 0:49:04.880 --> 0:49:08.759 that tweet, does it not feel like that's part of 0:49:08.800 --> 0:49:11.600 your life and you need it is? But you know what, 0:49:11.800 --> 0:49:15.640 there's also a part of me I went, I cringe 0:49:16.040 --> 0:49:19.399 at the idea of my daughter talking to me about 0:49:19.400 --> 0:49:22.680 it one day. Yeah, dad, how could you do that? 0:49:23.640 --> 0:49:27.320 Why are you such a bad husband to your first wife? 0:49:27.520 --> 0:49:29.040 And you're gonna you still have a long time. And 0:49:29.200 --> 0:49:31.600 another thing is, you know, there's I almost feel like 0:49:31.640 --> 0:49:34.440 I carry a scarlet letter on me. I don't anymore, 0:49:34.520 --> 0:49:38.799 but for years I did. In fact, we when we 0:49:38.880 --> 0:49:41.640 released front Row Seat album, I almost made the album 0:49:41.680 --> 0:49:46.080 cover an a and it for Abbott, but also write 0:49:46.080 --> 0:49:52.200 the scarlet letter. So but it sucks for my wife, right, 0:49:52.280 --> 0:49:56.480 my wife now, who's everything and is so gracious and 0:49:56.520 --> 0:49:59.040 perfect for me in my life and I would do 0:49:59.080 --> 0:50:01.800 anything for her, does it. But I think it sucks 0:50:01.800 --> 0:50:04.960 for her because I put myself out there like that 0:50:05.000 --> 0:50:07.720 and now there's people think like, oh, that's her husband, 0:50:08.040 --> 0:50:10.560 you know, but he oh, I got you? Does that 0:50:10.640 --> 0:50:13.200 for her too? And she probably you know, I think 0:50:13.239 --> 0:50:16.400 she's probably self conscious of some of the things of 0:50:16.400 --> 0:50:18.840 the mistakes I've made in my past and probably embarrassed 0:50:18.880 --> 0:50:21.240 by them. But in the same sense, if I hadn't 0:50:21.280 --> 0:50:24.560 gone through that road, right, I wouldn't be with her 0:50:24.640 --> 0:50:27.920 now and have these kids, and so it's kind of 0:50:28.000 --> 0:50:32.400 like you know you, you you know, people say I wouldn't 0:50:32.480 --> 0:50:35.200 change a thing. I would change some things, right, but 0:50:35.280 --> 0:50:37.839 I would hope that my path got right back to here. 0:50:38.680 --> 0:50:42.120 And when you change things, am I not? Yeah? So yeah, 0:50:42.239 --> 0:50:44.359 I think that you have a long time to come 0:50:44.440 --> 0:50:46.400 up with that answer to your daughter. But it's somewhere 0:50:46.400 --> 0:50:49.680 along the lines of baby. Let me tell you, I 0:50:49.719 --> 0:50:54.239 have made mistakes. I've learned so much. And then I 0:50:54.360 --> 0:50:57.279 learned from those mistakes, and then I got better. And 0:50:57.320 --> 0:51:00.279 then I met your mama and she taught me. She 0:51:00.440 --> 0:51:05.080 changed and I've never known. And then you were born, 0:51:05.600 --> 0:51:07.640 and then I looked into your eyes for the first time, 0:51:07.680 --> 0:51:10.040 and you taught me. I knew kind of love that 0:51:10.120 --> 0:51:12.680 I didn't think I was capable of having agreed all 0:51:12.719 --> 0:51:15.080 because of my broken past. I've balled my eyes out 0:51:15.080 --> 0:51:17.440 when my daughter was born the moment I got to 0:51:17.480 --> 0:51:19.880 hold her. I mean I was crying. Same for my 0:51:19.920 --> 0:51:23.120 son too. But really, he'll listen to this one day 0:51:23.120 --> 0:51:25.680 and be like, what the hell did more from my daughter? 0:51:26.239 --> 0:51:29.720 Because you know I I just after going through everything 0:51:29.719 --> 0:51:31.560 I went through, I didn't think that I would have 0:51:31.600 --> 0:51:34.200 a family. I was like that ship sailed. Right, I'm 0:51:34.200 --> 0:51:38.600 just gonna be the single bachelor guy for the rest 0:51:38.640 --> 0:51:40.600 of my life probably, and maybe if I get married 0:51:40.600 --> 0:51:42.600 one day, I'll just marry someone who already has kids. Right, 0:51:44.200 --> 0:51:48.080 So having a daughter in that way was just, uh, 0:51:48.239 --> 0:51:53.720 it changed, just changed everything for me. And I'm proud 0:51:53.719 --> 0:51:55.880 of of my life now and I'm proud of you 0:51:55.920 --> 0:51:58.680 know what we're doing. And you know, we might not 0:51:58.760 --> 0:52:01.200 be our band. We're not probably as popular as we 0:52:01.280 --> 0:52:05.640 used to be, because you know, when you're the it band, 0:52:05.640 --> 0:52:09.360 it only lasts so long, right, it goes away. It 0:52:09.400 --> 0:52:12.319 goes away for everyone right now away everyone who comes 0:52:12.400 --> 0:52:14.680 is the it guy for country music, and he is. 0:52:15.120 --> 0:52:17.759 He is badass and probably going to stay at that 0:52:17.880 --> 0:52:19.840 level for a long time. But at some point he'll 0:52:20.160 --> 0:52:22.440 he'll be the He'll be the guy with five or 0:52:22.440 --> 0:52:24.919 six albums instead of two albums. Right. It also doesn't 0:52:24.960 --> 0:52:27.440 mean he's any happier than you are, are in a 0:52:27.480 --> 0:52:29.120 better place in life than you will. I don't know. 0:52:29.200 --> 0:52:31.759 And you know that, Oh yeah, you do know that. Yeah, 0:52:31.760 --> 0:52:34.320 And ever since I've known you for over a decade, 0:52:35.480 --> 0:52:38.759 you you have a tendency in conversation to kind of 0:52:38.800 --> 0:52:41.879 backfedal and play yourself down a little bit. I do 0:52:42.280 --> 0:52:45.760 you always have? You did that when you were the king. Yeah. 0:52:46.400 --> 0:52:50.120 And and my point to all that is you you have. 0:52:50.640 --> 0:52:54.719 You had that ability to rise so fast and to 0:52:54.840 --> 0:52:58.320 fall in love again and be renewed and then have children. 0:52:58.680 --> 0:53:01.359 You have all that ability. There's nothing to say that 0:53:01.360 --> 0:53:04.400 there's something on the horizon. Isn't even bigger than everything 0:53:04.680 --> 0:53:07.080 in your career wise? I hope so, because I'm so 0:53:07.160 --> 0:53:08.839 proud of the music that we're putting out right now. 0:53:08.880 --> 0:53:11.600 The newest song that we put out, it's called the Luckiest. 0:53:11.600 --> 0:53:14.920 It's how we named our son luck I think it's 0:53:14.960 --> 0:53:18.839 the best song we've ever put out. And the thing is, 0:53:19.000 --> 0:53:21.879 every artist says that, every artist says their newest song 0:53:22.280 --> 0:53:24.520 is the best song they've ever put out. But ask 0:53:24.600 --> 0:53:27.239 me in five years, because I didn't tell you, Luckiest 0:53:27.719 --> 0:53:30.600 is my favorite song. I think it speaks to my life, 0:53:31.440 --> 0:53:36.120 the direction, the gratefulness and my kids and the appreciation 0:53:36.360 --> 0:53:38.799 for everything that's come along the way. You know, that's 0:53:38.800 --> 0:53:40.640 a love song not only do my wife and kids, 0:53:40.640 --> 0:53:43.279 but it's also a love song honestly to the fans too. 0:53:44.000 --> 0:53:45.879 Like right in that song, I don't know that you've 0:53:45.920 --> 0:53:48.200 heard it. It says, you know, I can't believe the 0:53:48.239 --> 0:53:51.320 life I've been given. Yeah, I'm lucky. I know it's true, 0:53:51.680 --> 0:53:53.680 but I feel the luckiest to be loved by you 0:53:54.239 --> 0:53:56.640 so good, and I think that's i' will be able 0:53:56.680 --> 0:53:58.360 to sing that to the fans every night and be 0:53:58.480 --> 0:54:02.480 like lucky because of y'all. Y'all all paid a concert 0:54:02.480 --> 0:54:04.359 ticket price to come here, and some of you bought 0:54:04.360 --> 0:54:07.680 our shirt. There's millions of bands that you could spend 0:54:07.680 --> 0:54:09.480 your money on, and you came to do it for mine. 0:54:09.800 --> 0:54:11.560 I don't want to take that for grants, especially when 0:54:11.640 --> 0:54:14.200 we get to play again one day. That's going to 0:54:14.280 --> 0:54:16.560 even mean it more to us. Togethers like us that 0:54:16.640 --> 0:54:19.960 people are risking a lot more just to see us, 0:54:20.960 --> 0:54:23.439 and I think we'll even feel that gratefulness even more. 0:54:23.480 --> 0:54:26.200 But man, if you say that your latest song is 0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:30.520 your best, I don't think anything else matters in your past. Yeah, 0:54:30.600 --> 0:54:32.640 you say, Every artist says it, but I don't think 0:54:32.719 --> 0:54:36.399 you can really believe it unless it's real. Yeah, Oh, 0:54:36.440 --> 0:54:39.960 I believe it. You know I believe it. Let's take 0:54:39.960 --> 0:54:42.480 a quick break and then I want to talk about 0:54:43.160 --> 0:54:55.120 possibly post music for you. Let's do it. So politics, Yeah, 0:54:56.320 --> 0:54:59.920 I had to go here. Yeah, everybody, everybody sees that 0:55:00.120 --> 0:55:03.200 I probably post more about politics, and a lot of 0:55:03.200 --> 0:55:05.920 other artists I would say, do you have aspirations in 0:55:05.960 --> 0:55:12.080 the political world, I'll say this, yes, yeah. Even ever 0:55:12.080 --> 0:55:13.960 since I was in college, I thought I wanted to 0:55:14.040 --> 0:55:15.919 be in politics, but I didn't know that I wanted 0:55:15.920 --> 0:55:18.640 to be the politician. When I got out of college. 0:55:18.880 --> 0:55:21.240 Between college and grad school, I actually worked on a 0:55:21.239 --> 0:55:30.920 political campaign on as on a representative campaign, and I 0:55:30.960 --> 0:55:33.759 realized real quick I did not want to be on 0:55:34.239 --> 0:55:37.120 the political team unless I was the politician. Just a 0:55:37.680 --> 0:55:40.160 lot of grinding for not a lot of pay, and 0:55:40.920 --> 0:55:42.839 kind of saw the trajectory of that, and I just 0:55:43.080 --> 0:55:45.280 I never wanted to move to Washington, d C. Anyway. 0:55:45.400 --> 0:55:47.880 So I was just kind of quickly like, you know, 0:55:47.920 --> 0:55:49.440 if I'm ever going to be in politics, i'm going 0:55:49.520 --> 0:55:52.960 to be I'm going to stick to Texas and I'll 0:55:52.960 --> 0:55:55.480 cross that road down down the line. But obviously I've 0:55:55.480 --> 0:55:57.879 been focused on my career for the last I mean, 0:55:58.040 --> 0:56:01.160 like I said, we started touring making it serious in 0:56:01.160 --> 0:56:03.759 two thousand and eight, so twelve years now. Yeah, you know, 0:56:04.000 --> 0:56:07.520 been doing it for fourteen. But I think I'm at 0:56:07.560 --> 0:56:10.799 a point now where it's an interesting like hmm, you know, 0:56:10.880 --> 0:56:13.680 And I've had talks with Governor Abbit and Senator Cornyn 0:56:13.760 --> 0:56:16.400 and some other elected officials, and they all know that 0:56:16.440 --> 0:56:21.560 I'm fifty percent serious about maybe me running for governor 0:56:21.600 --> 0:56:24.279 one day so Texas could see another Governor Abbit, they 0:56:24.320 --> 0:56:27.080 could yeah, you know, but I won't run against Governor 0:56:27.080 --> 0:56:28.839 Abbit now because what did you say, by the way, 0:56:29.400 --> 0:56:31.239 when you talk to him about it, Hey, things, it's great, 0:56:31.560 --> 0:56:33.520 you know, I mean obviously you know, what's what's he 0:56:33.560 --> 0:56:36.400 gonna say? No, Tosh, you would hate this job. No, 0:56:36.640 --> 0:56:39.239 He's like, you know, if you're called to do it, 0:56:39.280 --> 0:56:41.239 and you he's like, you know, I don't know if 0:56:41.239 --> 0:56:42.680 there was him that said it, or corn In or 0:56:43.040 --> 0:56:45.480 someone else, but they're all kind of like the general 0:56:45.520 --> 0:56:47.960 consensus is. You know, normally, when you're going to be 0:56:47.960 --> 0:56:50.040 in politics, you really have to work your way up 0:56:50.080 --> 0:56:53.080 to get that name recognition to be able to climb 0:56:53.120 --> 0:56:56.520 the ladder. Right, It's where you've got to start local small, 0:56:56.600 --> 0:56:59.719 you get bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. He's like, you know, 0:57:00.040 --> 0:57:02.400 you've spent the last twelve years getting name recognition on 0:57:02.520 --> 0:57:05.479 radio across Texas. You have more name recognition than them. 0:57:05.760 --> 0:57:08.440 You know a lot of politicians do. So yeah, if 0:57:08.440 --> 0:57:10.400 you ran, you already have that gone for you. So 0:57:10.440 --> 0:57:14.560 it's just got it's about, you know, wanting to accept 0:57:14.560 --> 0:57:17.520 the challenges that come with you know, running for politics 0:57:17.560 --> 0:57:22.040 and then obviously being elected. So I do entertain the idea. 0:57:22.560 --> 0:57:27.160 My wife is very against it, really very So I 0:57:27.240 --> 0:57:31.520 won't run unless she unless she gives me your blessing, 0:57:31.640 --> 0:57:33.160 and I don't know if she will because I think 0:57:33.200 --> 0:57:36.880 she's you know, we have kids, and I think she 0:57:37.000 --> 0:57:39.720 doesn't want to see my name and some of the 0:57:39.760 --> 0:57:41.920 things I've done in the past drug out again all 0:57:41.960 --> 0:57:45.400 across the newspapers. Which it's not like I've you know, 0:57:46.320 --> 0:57:49.920 it's not like I had a DWI or murdered someone 0:57:50.000 --> 0:57:52.480 or anything. But I mean, you know, just being a 0:57:52.520 --> 0:57:54.920 country music singer and kind of going through the stuff 0:57:54.960 --> 0:57:58.280 I've gone through. You know, she's just afraid there might 0:57:58.320 --> 0:58:00.800 be a picture at leaks of me smoking though you know, 0:58:00.840 --> 0:58:05.080 there might be you know, some stories that come out 0:58:05.160 --> 0:58:08.200 that aren't flattering, right because they were so long ago. 0:58:08.200 --> 0:58:10.320 But that's what we do, That's what that's what our 0:58:10.400 --> 0:58:14.520 society does. In elections. In politics, it's nasty and it's 0:58:14.960 --> 0:58:17.480 find the dirt, even though that has nothing to do 0:58:17.560 --> 0:58:22.960 with someone's ability to you know, actually you know, create 0:58:23.000 --> 0:58:26.480 policy and understand it and work with others. But that's 0:58:26.520 --> 0:58:31.600 what politics is. And so anyway, yeah, long winded answer. 0:58:31.920 --> 0:58:34.200 I do want to run one day, but only in 0:58:34.240 --> 0:58:36.080 my wife will let me. So going back to the 0:58:36.760 --> 0:58:39.160 tweet that we talked about, you know, when I was 0:58:39.160 --> 0:58:42.640 in Tesscalus and you're in Wichita. That makes more sense though, 0:58:43.000 --> 0:58:45.919 to look back and go, yeah, I've had some problems. Yeah, 0:58:46.000 --> 0:58:49.120 there's no right, right, There's no one's gonna come up 0:58:49.160 --> 0:58:51.320 and go, I know something about Josh. You guys don't know. 0:58:51.600 --> 0:58:54.480 Ye'll be like tell me, yeah, you know, because you've 0:58:54.480 --> 0:58:57.000 been very public. That's a good thing. I do still 0:58:57.040 --> 0:59:02.160 hear stories sometimes about me and they're completely wrong. I 0:59:02.240 --> 0:59:05.120 mean there's not even one person accuracy to them. And 0:59:05.440 --> 0:59:09.960 it blows my mind because people be mad, be mad 0:59:10.360 --> 0:59:14.800 at something they've heard from and it wasn't even true. 0:59:14.840 --> 0:59:18.840 Like I'll give you an example. A buddy of mine 0:59:19.360 --> 0:59:22.480 was eating I think he had a Josh Abbat shirt. 0:59:22.480 --> 0:59:24.000 He's a good friend of mine, and he was eating 0:59:24.000 --> 0:59:27.400 at like a Mexican restaurant in Mexican food restaurant in 0:59:27.480 --> 0:59:30.680 New Bronfols or something like that, and it was either 0:59:30.680 --> 0:59:33.960 the waitress, the bartender or something was like, you know 0:59:34.000 --> 0:59:37.120 you like Josh Ababan. He was like, yeah, yeah, I 0:59:37.200 --> 0:59:39.320 like his music. You know. Well she was like f 0:59:39.360 --> 0:59:42.600 that guy, and he's like, why do you say that? 0:59:42.640 --> 0:59:46.720 And she's like, I heard he's got a kid in 0:59:46.760 --> 0:59:54.919 Abilene that he never accepted or sees and doesn't want 0:59:54.920 --> 1:00:00.240 anything to do with. And I honestly died laughing because 1:00:00.240 --> 1:00:04.080 I was like, it's just not true. So he found 1:00:04.080 --> 1:00:08.919 out the name of the person who's claiming this right, 1:00:09.640 --> 1:00:11.960 and you know, I looked her up on like Instagram 1:00:12.040 --> 1:00:13.760 or Facebook or something like that, and I was like, 1:00:13.800 --> 1:00:17.920 I've never even met this person, much less created a 1:00:18.000 --> 1:00:20.480 child with them. Yeah, I don't eve think I've ever 1:00:20.520 --> 1:00:22.520 talked to this person unless it was in a meeting Mary. 1:00:22.680 --> 1:00:25.280 So I mean, like anyway that that I probably shouldn't 1:00:25.280 --> 1:00:27.360 have even told that story. Life be like, Bay, why 1:00:27.360 --> 1:00:28.600 do you tell these stories? It was like a new 1:00:28.640 --> 1:00:31.640 song a child. Oh no, I'm not right, But it's 1:00:31.720 --> 1:00:35.320 just funny because again, you just hear stories and you know, 1:00:35.360 --> 1:00:40.800 we live in a society where we accept truth at 1:00:41.400 --> 1:00:45.080 immediately right truth bias. We we read something in a 1:00:45.120 --> 1:00:48.840 tweet it's true because someone said it, and that makes 1:00:49.000 --> 1:00:51.400 no sense because there's no credibility to a lot of 1:00:51.400 --> 1:00:53.360 that stuff. But that's the world we live in. And 1:00:53.400 --> 1:00:57.120 so you know, headlines and X amount of characters and 1:00:57.600 --> 1:01:01.760 short fragments they do damage. And so again, I want 1:01:01.760 --> 1:01:04.000 to run for office. I think i'd be great at 1:01:04.000 --> 1:01:07.280 it because I am a Republican, but I have some 1:01:07.320 --> 1:01:10.960 democratic views in terms of like social views, you know, 1:01:11.600 --> 1:01:14.040 and I think it's time that the Republican Party gets 1:01:14.080 --> 1:01:21.880 past the antiquated, you know, narratives of being against homosexuality 1:01:22.000 --> 1:01:26.680 and having the others. Everything on the ticket has to 1:01:26.680 --> 1:01:29.480 be one ideology, and it's a huge problem. And if 1:01:29.560 --> 1:01:32.080 that is a huge problem, because if you don't cater 1:01:32.200 --> 1:01:35.760 to that, you'll lose your you'll lose your base. But 1:01:36.520 --> 1:01:38.760 it's like, well that's you know, that's not what I believe. 1:01:38.840 --> 1:01:40.400 So I'm like, if I ever ran, i'd be like, yeah, 1:01:40.400 --> 1:01:43.000 I'm a Republican because I'm for small government. I'm for 1:01:43.440 --> 1:01:45.520 I don't think I don't want the national government coming 1:01:45.520 --> 1:01:47.440 in here and tell on Texas how to handle itself. 1:01:47.840 --> 1:01:52.560 Texas can do handle itself just fine. But in the 1:01:52.600 --> 1:01:56.880 same sense, like I'm you know, let's let's put casinos 1:01:56.920 --> 1:02:01.840 on the coast. I mean, how many dollars lead this 1:02:01.960 --> 1:02:05.280 state and go to New Mexico, Oklahoma or Louisiana. How 1:02:05.280 --> 1:02:11.160 many billions, billions right go across the border to those places. Now, 1:02:11.280 --> 1:02:13.440 Vegas you don't really count because that's a destination, But 1:02:13.760 --> 1:02:16.240 how many people drive across these the Texas border to 1:02:16.240 --> 1:02:18.680 go game one these other states? And what if we 1:02:18.760 --> 1:02:21.240 had some casinos in Texas and what if it was 1:02:21.800 --> 1:02:23.440 you know, what if there was like a tax on 1:02:23.520 --> 1:02:27.000 it on those casinos, and you know, people that are 1:02:27.000 --> 1:02:28.560 against it say, we yeah, but you don't, you don't 1:02:28.600 --> 1:02:31.080 understand what it decimates, what it does to the communities. 1:02:31.120 --> 1:02:33.000 I'm like, well, let's let the communities vote on it, 1:02:33.480 --> 1:02:35.800 you know, because some of them may be so hungry 1:02:35.840 --> 1:02:39.520 for economic prosperity that they say, maybe we can manage 1:02:39.520 --> 1:02:44.240 this responsibly as citizens and police ourselves and not fall 1:02:44.320 --> 1:02:47.280 victim to some of the entrapments so to speak that 1:02:47.440 --> 1:02:51.080 occur with you know, with a casino being in your city, 1:02:51.120 --> 1:02:54.360 and so that legalize marijuana. I mean, why does Texas 1:02:54.360 --> 1:02:56.360 have to be so behind on it. I mean, there's 1:02:56.400 --> 1:02:58.240 so many states that are done. It does mean people 1:02:58.280 --> 1:02:59.800 have to do it, and it doesn't mean that we 1:02:59.840 --> 1:03:02.520 have to just full blown like, hey, any amount is fine. 1:03:02.880 --> 1:03:04.720 Smoke as much as you want. Like, there's still a 1:03:04.720 --> 1:03:07.680 lot of rules around it, right, like don't operate a vehicle, 1:03:07.920 --> 1:03:11.120 you know, don't you can only have x amount and 1:03:11.160 --> 1:03:13.960 so forth. And it's been proven so many times that 1:03:14.000 --> 1:03:17.160 it's it's way easier on yourself than alcohol. But we 1:03:17.200 --> 1:03:22.720 get alcohol is very legal. Gay marriage, homosexual marriage, everybody 1:03:22.800 --> 1:03:26.200 uses different terms, right, But I mean, why do I 1:03:26.240 --> 1:03:29.440 care if they get married? Now on a level of 1:03:29.520 --> 1:03:32.000 church for church and state, I don't think that the 1:03:32.040 --> 1:03:34.040 country or the state should be able to tell a 1:03:34.160 --> 1:03:36.760 church they have to marry someone because that would go 1:03:36.800 --> 1:03:42.160 against maybe their their their you know, beliefs system. But 1:03:42.320 --> 1:03:44.880 if there is a church that says, yeah, we'll marry 1:03:44.920 --> 1:03:47.840 a gay gobble, why can't they get married? Like, who cares? 1:03:47.920 --> 1:03:50.520 It does not bother me in my life, you know, 1:03:50.600 --> 1:03:52.600 why can't they have those rights? Why can't they have 1:03:52.640 --> 1:03:54.880 the ability to be on each other's insurance and things 1:03:54.960 --> 1:03:59.040 when they're partners together, Like I just I wonder why 1:03:59.080 --> 1:04:02.680 we can't reach these compromises, and the hypocrisy of it 1:04:02.720 --> 1:04:06.360 all is what kills me, is because especially like I'm 1:04:06.360 --> 1:04:09.080 a Republican, but the Republican party, where the core of 1:04:09.120 --> 1:04:13.120 that is free will, right, small government, free will. We 1:04:13.160 --> 1:04:15.240 don't want the government tell us what to do. We 1:04:15.280 --> 1:04:19.280 want less regulations, less laws, right, So why are we like, no, 1:04:19.320 --> 1:04:23.200 you can't can't be getting married? No, no, you have 1:04:23.240 --> 1:04:26.320 all these restrictions when it's convenient for some sort of 1:04:26.360 --> 1:04:30.160 like Christian conservative narrative. But even that I think is outdated. 1:04:30.440 --> 1:04:34.640 I think a lot of modern Christians, while they necessarily 1:04:34.680 --> 1:04:41.000 wouldn't be like, yeah, homosexuality is is okay. I think 1:04:41.040 --> 1:04:43.640 a lot of people are now are like, well, you know, 1:04:43.680 --> 1:04:46.120 the Bible definitely addresses it, but it addresses a lot 1:04:46.160 --> 1:04:48.480 of things we're all guilty of, right, And That's where 1:04:48.480 --> 1:04:51.760 I'm at, Like, my sin is no less or worse 1:04:51.840 --> 1:04:55.280 than someone else's, So you're right. And there's a big 1:04:55.280 --> 1:04:58.560 difference between church and state. And there's no no apostles 1:04:58.560 --> 1:05:02.240 in the Bible. Never did they ever say we have 1:05:02.320 --> 1:05:05.880 to overthrow the government the Roman Empire because they're wrong 1:05:06.360 --> 1:05:09.760 and they need to be Christian. In fact, when the 1:05:09.840 --> 1:05:13.760 Roman Empire did become the Roman Catholic Empire, it actually 1:05:13.960 --> 1:05:16.840 was still really bad. It's really bad for sure. So 1:05:16.920 --> 1:05:19.960 that having that separation of church and state, Uh you 1:05:19.960 --> 1:05:22.440 could you could, you could worship your own way in 1:05:22.520 --> 1:05:25.720 your own church. Yeah, but the lawmakers could make laws 1:05:26.280 --> 1:05:30.000 and it doesn't have to contradict each other. And uh, 1:05:30.240 --> 1:05:32.280 and we've we've kind of been caught up in that 1:05:32.320 --> 1:05:35.360 a lot. And you know, it's just like there's all 1:05:35.360 --> 1:05:38.560 these you know, hypocrisies of the left too. I mean, 1:05:38.560 --> 1:05:42.040 there's there's so many right the Party of tolerant, but 1:05:42.160 --> 1:05:44.560 they don't want to be tolerant of people who don't 1:05:44.560 --> 1:05:48.160 believe what they believe, which makes no sense at all. Right, 1:05:49.800 --> 1:05:53.000 And uh, you know in today's culture that we live 1:05:53.040 --> 1:05:56.080 in now, we see these race riots occurring, and we 1:05:56.120 --> 1:05:59.800 see Black Lives Matter as a political agenda and and 1:06:00.200 --> 1:06:02.600 you know, a movement, and there's a balance to it 1:06:02.640 --> 1:06:04.160 all because you have to the way you have to 1:06:04.200 --> 1:06:10.120 tread that right, like, you know, black lives do matter, right, 1:06:10.240 --> 1:06:15.560 all lives do matter. And but you can't but you 1:06:15.600 --> 1:06:19.040 say one it alienates the other something and I do 1:06:19.080 --> 1:06:22.200 think that there's probably some sort of yeah, institutional racism 1:06:22.280 --> 1:06:25.760 that kind of still exists as a byproduct or from 1:06:25.880 --> 1:06:28.760 trickling down over the years, right like laws that weren't 1:06:28.760 --> 1:06:32.000 place years ago, that have just kind of only gone 1:06:32.040 --> 1:06:34.760 away in little bits, and today they're you know, I 1:06:34.800 --> 1:06:37.520 do think that it's very obvious that the African American 1:06:37.920 --> 1:06:43.479 the black community is you know, covered in poverty and 1:06:43.600 --> 1:06:47.760 they need a hand and and you know, I don't 1:06:47.800 --> 1:06:50.480 know how to fix that. But I think when it 1:06:50.520 --> 1:06:53.760 really angers me when I see Republicans who don't think 1:06:53.800 --> 1:06:56.480 it's a big don't think it's a problem. Of course 1:06:56.520 --> 1:06:59.800 it's a problem. What you just said is interesting because no, 1:07:00.640 --> 1:07:03.240 this is that you said the exact sentence that no 1:07:03.360 --> 1:07:06.160 politician is allowed to say. Right now, I don't know 1:07:06.160 --> 1:07:08.680 how to fix that. Oh, but yeah, that's what we 1:07:08.720 --> 1:07:11.560 want them to say. We want we want someone to 1:07:11.600 --> 1:07:14.320 finally tell us. I don't know how to fix that, 1:07:14.720 --> 1:07:17.000 but I'm working on it. I'll put it. I'm putting 1:07:17.360 --> 1:07:19.560 all the best people I know on this, and we 1:07:19.600 --> 1:07:22.720 will figure it out. Right now, I don't have an answer. 1:07:22.760 --> 1:07:25.120 I just realized it's a problem. But they always feel 1:07:25.160 --> 1:07:27.040 like they have to talk they always feel like they 1:07:27.040 --> 1:07:30.280 have to communicate like a solution, and sometimes it's I 1:07:30.280 --> 1:07:32.320 don't know if I have a solution, and I don't 1:07:32.320 --> 1:07:34.200 know if my solution is the best one, but here's 1:07:34.240 --> 1:07:37.200 what we have, you know, and and so. But in 1:07:37.240 --> 1:07:40.120 the same sense, you know, these I think the rioting 1:07:40.160 --> 1:07:42.040 and the burning and the looting and all that is 1:07:42.160 --> 1:07:46.600 just it's really just painting and perverting what is a 1:07:46.720 --> 1:07:49.240 what can be a really positive moment in history for 1:07:49.560 --> 1:07:53.280 civil rights, you know. And uh, I think it's okay 1:07:53.320 --> 1:07:59.800 for Republicans to go, yeah, you know, clearly there's some 1:08:00.080 --> 1:08:02.760 sort of you know, there's some sort of reason that 1:08:03.040 --> 1:08:05.680 African American men are being killed at the rates that 1:08:05.720 --> 1:08:09.080 they are by police officers. And I know that I'm 1:08:09.120 --> 1:08:11.520 getting into such deep stuff, right. I know that there 1:08:11.520 --> 1:08:13.160 are people who listen to the podcasts who say, well, 1:08:13.200 --> 1:08:15.000 you have what about black on black crime? Yeah, but 1:08:15.000 --> 1:08:17.400 that's we're not talking about black on black crime. We're 1:08:17.439 --> 1:08:19.400 not talking about white on black crime. We're talking about 1:08:19.439 --> 1:08:23.360 police and African American men, and there is some sort 1:08:23.360 --> 1:08:28.280 of weird correlation there, and I think we have to 1:08:28.280 --> 1:08:31.240 address that, you know. But in the same sense, I 1:08:31.400 --> 1:08:34.760 can't I don't personally feel like I can go out 1:08:34.800 --> 1:08:41.360 there and post and tag black lives matter, because even 1:08:41.360 --> 1:08:45.280 though yes, those three words aligned together, Yes, for sure 1:08:45.320 --> 1:08:48.400 they do, but it's become a political movement, and that 1:08:48.439 --> 1:08:52.160 political movement accepts dollars and it becomes a pack and 1:08:52.200 --> 1:08:56.479 donates money to, you know, candidates across the country that 1:08:56.520 --> 1:08:58.600 I might not support, And I don't want to be 1:08:58.720 --> 1:09:02.519 bullied into sup you cannot something that I don't want 1:09:02.520 --> 1:09:04.880 to support. So you know, if you if you act 1:09:04.920 --> 1:09:06.840 one way, or you're racist. If you act another way, 1:09:06.840 --> 1:09:09.719 you're not. And I just think the whole thing is bullshit. 1:09:09.880 --> 1:09:11.760 I think, why can we not just look at this 1:09:11.800 --> 1:09:14.760 from a lens of common sense and agree that, you 1:09:14.800 --> 1:09:19.160 know what, there's some truth to both sides, and let's 1:09:19.200 --> 1:09:22.439 find the real truth in the middle. So what's a 1:09:22.520 --> 1:09:27.439 reasonable timeline your wife willing that we could see Josh 1:09:27.479 --> 1:09:29.120 Abbot on a ticket one day, I don't know, I 1:09:29.200 --> 1:09:33.519 mean ten years, fifteen years. If she told me I 1:09:33.520 --> 1:09:36.840 could run in twenty twenty two and Governor abbotstep wasn't 1:09:36.840 --> 1:09:39.000 going to run for reelection, I would run. I just 1:09:39.000 --> 1:09:42.120 don't want to run against Governor Abbot because you know, 1:09:42.200 --> 1:09:43.800 and we have shared the same last name. First of all, 1:09:43.800 --> 1:09:46.400 it would be just very confusing. Thanks for voters, it 1:09:46.439 --> 1:09:51.080 really would be. Yeah, And I like Governor Abbit, and 1:09:51.200 --> 1:09:53.880 he's in a weird spot right now because the whole 1:09:53.880 --> 1:09:58.559 world is looking at him because Texas you know, opened 1:09:58.640 --> 1:10:02.160 up quote unquote two soon and we saw COVID rates 1:10:02.160 --> 1:10:03.800 spike up again, and then he had to come in 1:10:03.840 --> 1:10:05.880 and do something he didn't want to do, and that 1:10:06.040 --> 1:10:08.840 was shut the state back down. So he's it's like 1:10:08.880 --> 1:10:11.719 he's damned ivy, dude, damnit Ivy doesn't like, he's got 1:10:11.960 --> 1:10:14.200 both sides mad at him because he hasn't done it 1:10:14.360 --> 1:10:16.280 quote unquote the right way. And I'm like, he's in 1:10:16.320 --> 1:10:18.320 a no end spot. Let's all show him some grace. 1:10:18.600 --> 1:10:21.559 This is an unprecedent in time and history, Like this 1:10:21.600 --> 1:10:25.200 is weird, weird. The most developed country, you know, developed 1:10:25.240 --> 1:10:28.519 nation developed in this time of the world and we're 1:10:28.760 --> 1:10:32.519 undergoing this weird pandemic that you know, really sets us 1:10:32.560 --> 1:10:36.880 back to you know, times decades ago. Right Like it 1:10:36.920 --> 1:10:39.479 feels like I feel like we're living in the nineties again, 1:10:39.520 --> 1:10:42.640 where every mills at home and no one travels and 1:10:42.680 --> 1:10:45.120 goes out and yeah, you know, I'm rambling now. But 1:10:45.520 --> 1:10:47.840 you asked about the if I would run. Yeah, I'm 1:10:47.880 --> 1:10:52.640 run in twenty twenty, and my wife would let me. Yeah, 1:10:52.720 --> 1:10:54.720 but I don't see her change in her mind in 1:10:54.720 --> 1:10:57.719 the next couple of years, and I think Governor Abbit 1:10:57.720 --> 1:11:01.960 will run for reelection, So whenever the next one would 1:11:01.920 --> 1:11:06.280 be twenty twenty six, twenty thirty, twenty thirty sounds good man, 1:11:06.280 --> 1:11:10.639 it's ten years from now, right, Yeah. Wait, I'm off 1:11:10.680 --> 1:11:12.920 on my years. I'm a dumb as far as when 1:11:12.920 --> 1:11:14.760 the election years are. I know I'm not off on 1:11:14.760 --> 1:11:17.120 my years because he's not running for governor right now, 1:11:17.400 --> 1:11:20.040 and it's twenty twenty now it's president's Yeah, so every 1:11:20.080 --> 1:11:22.000 other twenty two, I think, is when he's up, and 1:11:22.000 --> 1:11:25.280 then it would be twenty twenty six and twenty thirty, 1:11:25.360 --> 1:11:27.679 so who knows. Maybe in twenty thirty that's the year 1:11:28.800 --> 1:11:32.960 that I run for governor. And let's get that ee 1:11:33.040 --> 1:11:36.559 Nation vote. We'll bring you back on there. Rekindle that 1:11:36.640 --> 1:11:38.200 how many of your fans are so bad at me 1:11:38.320 --> 1:11:40.040 right now for some of my viewpoints. But that's the 1:11:40.040 --> 1:11:43.120 thing is, I would just hope that people could listen 1:11:43.280 --> 1:11:48.040 to the approach I'm coming from because I don't come 1:11:48.080 --> 1:11:52.640 from a very polarizing viewpoint of very far right or 1:11:52.760 --> 1:11:55.519 very far left. I'm more right than left, but I'm 1:11:55.560 --> 1:11:58.000 closer to that middle, and I'd love to see more 1:11:58.040 --> 1:12:01.280 people get there and go. Yeah, man concede that point. 1:12:01.320 --> 1:12:02.679 I think a lot of people could use a little 1:12:02.720 --> 1:12:05.479 common sense when it comes to politics, and it doesn't 1:12:05.479 --> 1:12:09.680 exist right now on either side. Yeah. We'll bring you 1:12:09.720 --> 1:12:13.479 back on the podcast in twenty thirty to rekindle that, 1:12:14.360 --> 1:12:18.800 hopefully many times between now and then. But I'll end 1:12:18.800 --> 1:12:22.640 with this too. The one the one fraternity that me 1:12:22.640 --> 1:12:25.400 and you both belonged to that neither one of us 1:12:25.479 --> 1:12:29.280 wanted to get into, was we lost our dads. I 1:12:29.320 --> 1:12:32.800 lost my dad in twenty fourteen, and the first show 1:12:32.840 --> 1:12:35.400 I played back was with you in South Padre Island, 1:12:35.400 --> 1:12:39.160 Texas and opened up for you, remember, And it was 1:12:39.200 --> 1:12:41.960 a terrible show for me personally, in a great crowd, 1:12:42.360 --> 1:12:46.200 terrible show for me personally. I was just really going 1:12:46.240 --> 1:12:50.040 through the motions, and me and you had a good 1:12:50.040 --> 1:12:55.559 talk after the show. One year later, right this sever 1:12:56.560 --> 1:12:58.719 What year was it? My dad died in twenty seventeen, 1:12:58.840 --> 1:13:02.479 but it was March, that's right, So same month March 1:13:02.920 --> 1:13:07.640 Texas Independence Day. Yeah, my dad was March fifth, so 1:13:08.400 --> 1:13:11.479 the the night of the the invasion of the Alamo 1:13:12.040 --> 1:13:15.200 or the the the night and they breached the walls. 1:13:15.760 --> 1:13:23.559 So I, uh, I have this connection with you because yeah, 1:13:23.600 --> 1:13:28.040 I remember I reached out to you and you lost 1:13:28.040 --> 1:13:31.840 your dad a similar way that I lost mine. And 1:13:31.920 --> 1:13:36.599 it was I don't know why that I that I 1:13:36.640 --> 1:13:41.599 took that really hard with you. And I guess now 1:13:42.000 --> 1:13:45.080 knowing that it was three years but the same month, 1:13:45.640 --> 1:13:49.320 three days apart, maybe it was that point in my 1:13:49.360 --> 1:13:52.520 life where I had kind of come to an understanding 1:13:53.120 --> 1:13:56.120 that he was gone, and then you lost your dad, 1:13:56.760 --> 1:13:59.559 and it just, like I said, I don't know why, 1:13:59.600 --> 1:14:02.439 but it just really hit me hard. And I remember falling. 1:14:03.200 --> 1:14:05.640 We're friends and we empathize with each other, and I 1:14:05.640 --> 1:14:11.400 remember bawling, balling, and I was I'm not a crier. 1:14:11.680 --> 1:14:14.120 I'm not, and I don't just ball all the time, 1:14:14.520 --> 1:14:19.840 but man, I really cried, real tears thinking about your dad, 1:14:19.880 --> 1:14:23.760 who I had never met. And I remember thinking that 1:14:24.080 --> 1:14:27.759 where's the sadness coming from? It? It's not my dad 1:14:28.120 --> 1:14:31.639 that I'm sad about. It's not rekindling an old feeling. 1:14:32.360 --> 1:14:37.720 I think it was me knowing your heart and how 1:14:37.760 --> 1:14:43.840 crushed it was. Was so devastating to me to know 1:14:43.960 --> 1:14:49.080 that someone else, a buddy, would spend a night like that. Man, 1:14:49.360 --> 1:14:51.519 I mean, I can't even talk about it still. It's 1:14:51.560 --> 1:14:53.720 been three and a half years and I choke up. 1:14:56.360 --> 1:15:00.200 That was definitely the hardest moment of my life. He 1:15:00.200 --> 1:15:02.639 didn't get to meet my daughter. She was born two 1:15:02.680 --> 1:15:04.960 months after he died. She was born May fifth. He 1:15:05.040 --> 1:15:09.479 passed away March second, so I think we buried in 1:15:09.560 --> 1:15:15.439 March sixth. So, man, just rough time. That was a 1:15:15.479 --> 1:15:18.160 weird year. We followed that up with and it's just 1:15:18.200 --> 1:15:23.680 so much change, Right, my dad died, had a baby, 1:15:24.120 --> 1:15:27.000 and my wife and I got engaged. You know, our 1:15:27.040 --> 1:15:32.600 story might not be the the Christian movie story of 1:15:32.800 --> 1:15:35.200 you know, high school sweethearts that fell in love, got 1:15:35.200 --> 1:15:38.040 married and then had kids. We dated for a year 1:15:38.080 --> 1:15:39.960 and we were definitely in love. I already knew I 1:15:39.960 --> 1:15:41.720 wanted to marry her. I'd already told my parents that, 1:15:41.840 --> 1:15:45.679 I'd already told some of my team that. But yeah, 1:15:45.680 --> 1:15:49.160 we got pregnant first. And so anyway, and in that fall, 1:15:49.240 --> 1:15:51.080 we released the album Until My Voice Goes Out, and 1:15:51.080 --> 1:15:54.640 we were in Vegas for the shootings, and luckily, fortunately 1:15:54.680 --> 1:15:58.880 I wasn't down there. I had just left, probably thirty 1:15:58.920 --> 1:16:01.479 minutes before, to go back to the hotel room to 1:16:01.600 --> 1:16:04.360 check on my wife, who was up there not feeling well. 1:16:04.560 --> 1:16:06.240 And the whole reason she came out was to see 1:16:06.280 --> 1:16:08.720 Jason Aldan. She's like a big fan, right, yeah, big 1:16:08.720 --> 1:16:10.960 fan of all countries, so she wanted to watch Jason Aldan. 1:16:11.439 --> 1:16:14.000 She comes out there and she wasn't feeling good, so 1:16:14.720 --> 1:16:17.080 she stayed in the hotel, and so I went to 1:16:17.200 --> 1:16:18.800 check on her. And that's why I was not on 1:16:18.840 --> 1:16:21.000 the side of the stage or backstage when that happened. 1:16:21.080 --> 1:16:23.760 And maybe my story is a lot different right now 1:16:23.840 --> 1:16:26.559 if I was so so many what ifs. And I 1:16:26.560 --> 1:16:30.400 appreciate your heart and saying that about my dad, you know, 1:16:30.600 --> 1:16:33.320 because you know, I don't want to get into a 1:16:34.400 --> 1:16:36.360 I don't want to try to compare situations at all. 1:16:36.400 --> 1:16:41.040 But I remember when you suffered a loss. Yeah, I 1:16:41.120 --> 1:16:44.000 bawled once again. We were kind of connected with that too, 1:16:44.040 --> 1:16:46.000 because we had seen each other a few days before 1:16:46.640 --> 1:16:49.000 and you took a picture of me and riv and 1:16:49.040 --> 1:16:53.160 texted it to me. Yeah, and that's why did I cry. 1:16:53.200 --> 1:16:57.240 Several times. We just our hearts broke. That was one 1:16:57.280 --> 1:17:00.479 of the last picks. Yeah that I have me and him. 1:17:01.400 --> 1:17:04.200 You took it at Lone Start Jam and so yeah, 1:17:04.200 --> 1:17:06.760 we we have. You know, I don't want to, I 1:17:06.760 --> 1:17:08.599 don't want to end like on this kind of note. 1:17:08.640 --> 1:17:14.680 But but me and you have really intertwined history, some 1:17:14.800 --> 1:17:18.320 highs and some really lows. And I like to think 1:17:18.360 --> 1:17:21.360 that we're not even halfway done with with our history, 1:17:21.479 --> 1:17:25.439 me and you together and uh and I just I 1:17:25.479 --> 1:17:27.919 appreciate you driving over here for this, for this podcast, 1:17:27.960 --> 1:17:29.320 and I hope that we get to do it. It's 1:17:29.400 --> 1:17:32.160 my first musical artist. I hope we get to do 1:17:32.200 --> 1:17:34.160 it many more times down anytime. Ye