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Speaker 1: I've said many times that I don't think I ever

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Speaker 1: would have become president if I hadn't been born in

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Speaker 1: Arkansas just after World War Two into a family that

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Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of money to spend on entertainment.

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Speaker 1: We didn't own a television until I was ten, and

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Speaker 1: like most people, we knew our biggest form of entertainment

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Speaker 1: was storytelling. So from a young age, at the dinner

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Speaker 1: table with my extended family or at my grandfather's little store,

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Speaker 1: I heard stories all day long. And when you were

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Speaker 1: a kid, you couldn't tell a story unless first you

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Speaker 1: proved you could listen to one. So when someone would

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Speaker 1: tell a story, he turned to me and say, Bill,

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Speaker 1: did you hear that? I said yes, He said, did

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Speaker 1: you understand it? What was the story? So I'd repeat

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Speaker 1: it back, And after I did that a couple of times,

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Speaker 1: I could tell a story if I had one. Now,

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Speaker 1: why am I telling you this because from a young

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Speaker 1: age I learned that once you really start listening, you

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Speaker 1: discover that everyone's got a story, and every person story

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Speaker 1: has value. And when we truly hear other people's stories,

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Speaker 1: we can recognize some part of ourselves in them too.

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Speaker 1: Then our differences begin to slip away, and we become

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Speaker 1: people to each other, not cartoons. I'm very lucky to

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Speaker 1: be joined now by someone who's one of the most

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Speaker 1: acclaimed storytellers working in music today, not just because of

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Speaker 1: what he has to say, but because of his ability

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Speaker 1: to hear what others have to say as well. Raised

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Speaker 1: in rural Alabama by an extended family who loved playing

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Speaker 1: music together, Jason Nizble is a four time Grammy Award

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Speaker 1: winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His workspans rock, folk, Americana,

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Speaker 1: and country genres. He's also an outspoken advocate for progressive

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Speaker 1: causes and a voice for fairness of and sensible public

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Speaker 1: health measures in the music industry and all across our society.

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Speaker 1: His most recent album with his band, the four hundred Unit,

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Speaker 1: it's called Georgia Blue, and it's a collection of covers

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Speaker 1: that pay tribute to the state of Georgia, with proceeds

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Speaker 1: going to organizations standing up for voting rights there. Jason

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Speaker 1: can tell his own story much better than I can,

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Speaker 1: so I'm going to turn to him now. Jason, welcome,

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Speaker 1: and thanks so much for talking with me today. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for having me, and thanks for that

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Speaker 1: kind introduction that was nice to hear. One of the

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Speaker 1: reasons that I was so interested in talking to you

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Speaker 1: is that I identified with so much of your childhood

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Speaker 1: and how it led you to your calling. So let's

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Speaker 1: start by telling us a little about where and how

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Speaker 1: you grew up and how that led you into both

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Speaker 1: playing music and writing songs. Yeah, you know, I grew

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Speaker 1: up in Green Hill, Obama, which is uh, northwestern Alabama,

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Speaker 1: right up in the corner by Mississippi and Tennessee. And um,

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Speaker 1: my grandfather on my dad's side was a Pentecostal preacher

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Speaker 1: and um, a musician by hobby, not by trade. He

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Speaker 1: he painted houses by trade. But uh, he and my

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Speaker 1: dad and and my uncle had a house painting company

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Speaker 1: together and so they all worked together. And then my

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Speaker 1: parents were really young when I was born. My dad

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Speaker 1: was nineteen, my mom was seventeen, and the only you know,

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Speaker 1: they were both working throughout my childhood. So the only

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Speaker 1: place that I really went for childcare was to my

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Speaker 1: grandparents house. And my grandfather, you know, he wouldn't watch

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Speaker 1: a lot of TV. He would watch old westerns and

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Speaker 1: uh he liked watching baseball. But outside of that, you know,

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Speaker 1: nothing really him being a Pentecostal preacher. Everything else was

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Speaker 1: a little bit uh beyond what he was willing to

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Speaker 1: to watch with his and son. I did one year

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Speaker 1: I talked to him into watching the Grammys because I said,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is not like music videos, this is

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Speaker 1: actual people performing and accepting awards. And it was the

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Speaker 1: year Bono said the F word on live on air.

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Speaker 1: So I never got to pick what we did ever again.

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Speaker 1: In my grandparents house, that was the end of that.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we watched baseball games together and old westerns,

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Speaker 1: and we played music together. And most of my time

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Speaker 1: with them was spent playing rhythm guitar while my grandfather

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Speaker 1: played what he referred to as a lead instrument like

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Speaker 1: banjo or mandolin or fiddle. I was born in Tinny,

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Speaker 1: Southern tim I grew up with all my family around.

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Speaker 1: He made music on the BArch on Sunday, now old

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Speaker 1: man with old guitars again Winston Live. He would show

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Speaker 1: me these three chord gospel songs and old country and

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Speaker 1: Western songs, and uh if I would accompany him for

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Speaker 1: a couple of hours playing rhythm guitar on the big,

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Speaker 1: huge flat top acoustic. When I was you know, too

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Speaker 1: small to really reach my arms around it. Then he

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Speaker 1: would reward me by playing the blues. So he would

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Speaker 1: tune his guitar to an open tuning and play slide guitar.

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Speaker 1: Something something when you feel like giving up something. And

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Speaker 1: this happened hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times when

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Speaker 1: I was a kid. Every day, you know, I would

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Speaker 1: go over there in the summer all day and after

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Speaker 1: school I would walk across the track field to their

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Speaker 1: house because they lived behind the school, and I would

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Speaker 1: just stay with them and we would play music, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think it was his way of spending

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Speaker 1: time with me and connecting with me, and also just

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Speaker 1: keeping me busy and giving me something to do where

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't get myself in trouble. Turn out to be

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Speaker 1: pretty effective. Chalk. Yeah, I got really lucky. I got

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Speaker 1: really really lucky because, you know, music was introduced to

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Speaker 1: me as a way to communicate with the people that

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Speaker 1: I cared about. And the first songs that I heard

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Speaker 1: were songs that had been around for a long long time.

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Speaker 1: I mean this was in the eighties, you know, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't in the nineties, forties or fifties, but the songs

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Speaker 1: that I was here and we're already h tried and true,

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Speaker 1: and they stuck with me. And the way those songs

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Speaker 1: were written and the way those stories were told, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, it influenced the kind of music that I

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Speaker 1: wound up making as an adult, and and all the

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Speaker 1: things that are important to me, uh now really came

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Speaker 1: out of that time that I spent with my family

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Speaker 1: making music. I love a lot of your songs, and

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Speaker 1: they reveal both a lot about your own life and background,

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Speaker 1: and I think you're rather remarkable ability to create characters

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Speaker 1: and scenes from your own imagination. And one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite of your songs, the Last My Kind You You've

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Speaker 1: got a riff that says, Mama says God won't give

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Speaker 1: you too much to bear. That might be true in Arkansas,

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Speaker 1: but I'm a long long way from there. Mama says

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Speaker 1: God won't give you too much to beg might be

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Speaker 1: true in Arkansas, but I'm a long long way from me.

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Speaker 1: Where did the Arkansas thing come from? So when I

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Speaker 1: was a teenager, I worked at what was then the

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Speaker 1: largest Walmart in the world. It was in Florence, Alabama,

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Speaker 1: and they had me out in the parking lot pushing

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Speaker 1: buggies even I think uh Sam himself came in at

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Speaker 1: one point in his overalls. You know, he would go

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Speaker 1: into some of the stores back in the days and

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Speaker 1: not tell anybody he was there, and just go in

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Speaker 1: and look around and check up on everything. And I

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Speaker 1: was working there during the Tickle me Elmo Black Friday

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Speaker 1: in the nineties, you know, when people were fighting and

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Speaker 1: climbing all over each other. Um, that was the first

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Speaker 1: real job that I had. And when I was writing

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Speaker 1: this song, you know, the character that I created in

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Speaker 1: this in this song was of course based on myself,

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Speaker 1: but also he was somebody who was from a small

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Speaker 1: town in Arkansas and had tried to get out and

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Speaker 1: and tried to make something of his life by leaving

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Speaker 1: the place where he grew up. And uh then when

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Speaker 1: he got out into the great big world, he realized

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Speaker 1: that things were a little more complicated than he had thought.

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Speaker 1: I'm very interested, and you're making your acting debut and

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Speaker 1: Killers of the Flower Moon. Yeah, I think it's one

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Speaker 1: of the best books I read in years. I'm very

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Speaker 1: interested in the plight of Native America, both historically and today.

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Speaker 1: And I love Marty Scorsese. So tell us a little

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Speaker 1: about becoming an actor and how you felt about that

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Speaker 1: was terrifying. It was one of the one of the

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Speaker 1: scariest things I have ever done in my professional life.

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Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I took that to be a

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Speaker 1: good sign because I've been playing music and writing songs

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Speaker 1: for a long time and that's not really frightening to

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Speaker 1: me anymore. And uh, I went through this long process

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Speaker 1: of auditioning. All of it was done in the room

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Speaker 1: I'm in right now via zoom, just like this, because

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Speaker 1: it was during the pandemic, you know. And uh, and

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Speaker 1: she said, all right, next time, we're gonna have you

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Speaker 1: come back in the audition, uh, for Marty. And I thought,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, you know they're taking this seriously. I

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Speaker 1: didn't realize it was going to go this far, you know.

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Speaker 1: So I come back and there's there's Scorsese, and I

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Speaker 1: do that audition and they and you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: hear back for a couple of weeks, and they said, okay,

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Speaker 1: you got one more around. You gotta read with Lee

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Speaker 1: and Marty's gonna be watching, you know, giving you guys pointers.

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Speaker 1: And it's like, I gotta read with Leo on zoom

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Speaker 1: in my bedroom at my house and this was on

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Speaker 1: my birthday last February, on my birthday, and I was

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Speaker 1: I was terrified. I thought, there's no way they're gonna

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Speaker 1: put me in this movie. I mean, this is a

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Speaker 1: big part. You know, there's a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: of lines, and I've never done this before. But I

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Speaker 1: read with DiCaprio and found out that afternoon that I

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Speaker 1: had gotten a gig, and so I went out and

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Speaker 1: spent about three months in Oklahoma. Um, you know, surrounded

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Speaker 1: by people uh who were either professional actors and the

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Speaker 1: best of the best, you know, the people that Scorsese uses.

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Speaker 1: Everybody from the makeup person to the prop directors all

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Speaker 1: everybody was really really good at their job. But there

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Speaker 1: was also a large group of UH of indigenous folks

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Speaker 1: oh stage, and then people from other tribes who were there.

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Speaker 1: Some of them were playing their grandparents or their great

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Speaker 1: grandparents or you know, people in the community that they

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Speaker 1: had known when they were children, heard stories about. And

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Speaker 1: one day something that will always stick with me, we

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Speaker 1: were shooting a scene where um, I was sitting with

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Speaker 1: the uh the three sisters. You know, there's three sisters

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Speaker 1: as the story revolves around, and we were shooting and

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Speaker 1: saying together, and they were all speaking in O Sage

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Speaker 1: to each other and uh yeah, and they were all

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Speaker 1: speaking the language, you know. And the three actors had

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Speaker 1: learned the O Sage language in order to speak it

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Speaker 1: for the for the movie. And there was an O

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Speaker 1: Sage man who was an extra and his job was

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Speaker 1: when they when they rolled tape, his job was just

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Speaker 1: to walk across in front of us, and that was

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Speaker 1: all he had to do for that scene. But he

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Speaker 1: couldn't do it. And this is a man in his

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Speaker 1: late forties probably, And I looked up and every time

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Speaker 1: they would call action, he would just stop and shake

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Speaker 1: his head, and he looked like he was to overcome.

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Speaker 1: And finally we got the scene done. And the next

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Speaker 1: day we were shooting in a different location and I

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Speaker 1: went up and introduced myself to him, and uh, he said,

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Speaker 1: you know, my grandfather, he said, had written the O

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Speaker 1: Sage to English dictionary and this was the first time

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Speaker 1: that I've ever heard it spoken in conversation this way,

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Speaker 1: you know. Um, And uh. That really had a huge

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Speaker 1: impact on me. At that point, I thought, this is

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Speaker 1: more than just entertainment, you know. It was a really

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Speaker 1: beautiful thing to be a part of I'm just thrilled.

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Speaker 1: I think it's it's a stunning book, and I can't

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Speaker 1: wait to see the movie. I think it's gonna be great.

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Speaker 1: I can't see how it's not gonna be great, just

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Speaker 1: from everything I witnessed my my first day there. Um,

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Speaker 1: I had a rehearsal with Marty and De Niro and

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Speaker 1: DiCaprio and and me, you know, and I'm I'm not

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Speaker 1: a professional actor. This is the first time I've ever

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Speaker 1: spoken in a movie. And we're rehearsing Saturday morning, and

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Speaker 1: Marty introduces me to Robert de Niro, and I said,

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Speaker 1: Mr de Niro's great to meet you. I'm happy to

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Speaker 1: be on the set, honor to work with you. And

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Speaker 1: I think he thought that I was in character, because

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Speaker 1: you know, we were just rehearsing when wearing their street clothes.

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Speaker 1: But I think he didn't realize this is really how

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Speaker 1: I talk. I think he thought the accent was was

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Speaker 1: some kind of method acting, and he was so confused.

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Speaker 1: And after a few days and he saw that I

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Speaker 1: just normally spoke like this, it was fine. You know,

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Speaker 1: he opened up. There's no problem. I can see he's

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Speaker 1: very attuned to that. I remember one night he appeared

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Speaker 1: at a fundraiser for Hillary, which he was running for

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Speaker 1: the Senate, and I was there and he said, you know,

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Speaker 1: you could be a big liability to your wife because

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Speaker 1: of your accent. So he said, you gotta learn how

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Speaker 1: to say forget about it. Whether they would saying in

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Speaker 1: New York City so he said, so he had me

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Speaker 1: up in fron a few hundred people. You don't practicing

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Speaker 1: the line forget about it? Forget He's really that's identified.

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Speaker 1: I guess we'll leave in town again. When moving out

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Speaker 1: and moving in got a breaking news to all my friends.

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Speaker 1: With anyone more after this. One of the things I'd

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Speaker 1: like to you to talk about is how you came

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Speaker 1: to feel comfortable being a performer and using your fame

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Speaker 1: and physician to advocate for everything from good public health

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Speaker 1: policies including requiring attendees at your concerts to be vaccinated,

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Speaker 1: to to voting rights. How did that happen? Did you

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Speaker 1: always know you were going to do that? Events drive

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Speaker 1: you in that direction? And were you're worried about losing fans?

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Speaker 1: You know, at the start, all I wanted to do

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Speaker 1: was make music, and that was all I did with

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Speaker 1: any of my spare time. Um, I wanted to play

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Speaker 1: the guitar. And I started playing the guitar when I

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Speaker 1: was seven or eight years old, and I spent hours

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Speaker 1: every day playing the guitar. My parents would have to

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Speaker 1: pride out of my hands to get me to eat dinner.

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Speaker 1: You know. I slept with a guitar in the bed.

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Speaker 1: And then after I realized what songwriting was when I

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Speaker 1: was probably twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Um, and the fact that

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Speaker 1: I could merge, you know, the two things that I

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Speaker 1: loved the most at that time, which we're reading books

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Speaker 1: and playing the guitar, I could merge them together into

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Speaker 1: one thing. Um. Then I just wanted to do that

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Speaker 1: all the time. And I never had an end goal

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Speaker 1: in mind. I mean, I got in front of the

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Speaker 1: mirror and dreamed that I was a rock star like

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Speaker 1: every other kid with a guitar at that age. But

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Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't think too much farther than the

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Speaker 1: process because I just loved the sound that the instrument made.

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Speaker 1: And I know, as a musician, you probably understand that

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Speaker 1: it's that kind of uh communication. You know, you can

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Speaker 1: get outside yourself, but you can also show people the

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Speaker 1: depth of your spirit and the depth of your soul

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Speaker 1: and and and really more than just technique, you can

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Speaker 1: show people how you feel, you know, how your how

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Speaker 1: your innermost self feels. And that to me was was everything. Um.

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Speaker 1: But then when I got older and it started to

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Speaker 1: become a job, what struck me was how fortunate I

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Speaker 1: had been, you know, to be born into the family

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Speaker 1: that I was born into, where we were a close

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Speaker 1: knit family, and we had a lot of musicians around

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Speaker 1: and they were willing to spend the kind of time

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Speaker 1: with me to teach me how to love music. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, because I think, really, you know, talent, what

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Speaker 1: people call God given talent, it's just being fortunate enough

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Speaker 1: to love something so much that that's what you want

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Speaker 1: to do all the time. And uh. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: when I grew up in Alabama, we were all about

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Speaker 1: the same uh social class. I mean we were you know,

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Speaker 1: I was probably middle class for the place where I

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Speaker 1: grew up, but for the rest of America, I would

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Speaker 1: have been closer to the bottom. You know. But it

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Speaker 1: didn't occur to me at that point because I thought, well, nobody,

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Speaker 1: we're all, you know, living on a farmer's home loan

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Speaker 1: in the same little brick houses. Uh, you know, going

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Speaker 1: to the same public school. There was fifty four people

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Speaker 1: in my graduating class, and I went to the same

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Speaker 1: building from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Um, we were

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Speaker 1: all in pretty much the same boat. I got a

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Speaker 1: little bit older and I got out in the world,

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Speaker 1: went to college, and I thought, oh, I grew up poor. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, it occurred to me, well, these people all

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Speaker 1: have more than I had when I was a kid.

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Speaker 1: But then I got older than that, and I started touring,

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Speaker 1: and I rode out through the Navajo Nation, first time

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Speaker 1: I ever went out where, you know, I went through

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Speaker 1: Uh Reservation and and and saw how folks were living

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Speaker 1: in that part of the country. And I thought, oh,

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Speaker 1: I was fine. I grew up with way more than

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Speaker 1: I needed. You know, I didn't have extra, but but

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Speaker 1: I was just fine. I got very, very lucky to

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Speaker 1: be born to the people that I was born to

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Speaker 1: in that place. And the more grateful I am, the

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Speaker 1: more responsible I feel to use whatever platform I might

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Speaker 1: have uh for something greater than just serving myself. It

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Speaker 1: really all comes from gratitude. For me. Every time I

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Speaker 1: count all the things that I've been given, it gives

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Speaker 1: me a responsibility to try a little bit harder to

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Speaker 1: express myself in ways that might help people who don't

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Speaker 1: have that kind of voice. Um. And that's really it,

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Speaker 1: you know. I just I have to be able to

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Speaker 1: go to sleep at night. And I've been very lucky,

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Speaker 1: you know. I've got to do everything I want. I

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Speaker 1: have a beautiful family. I have all these old guitars

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Speaker 1: and amps that I really could just sit around and

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Speaker 1: play with all day like I was fifteen years old. Um.

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Speaker 1: But I also have a voice that people are willing

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Speaker 1: to listen to to some extent, and I think I

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Speaker 1: have a responsibility to use that and to tell people

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Speaker 1: the truth and where I stand on it because I

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Speaker 1: have been so fortunate and I am so grateful for it. Well. Thanks,

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Speaker 1: that's a wonderful thing. Tell our viewers about Georgia Blue.

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Speaker 1: How did the album come about and what did you

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Speaker 1: do with the money. When the Georgia results from the

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Speaker 1: presidential election, we're coming in and it looked like Biden

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Speaker 1: might win, I thought I gotta do something to celebrate this.

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Speaker 1: And this was all spur of the moment, you know.

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Speaker 1: Right there, as I was looking at my phone, I thought,

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Speaker 1: I've got to do something to celebrate this because Georgia

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Speaker 1: is about to go blue. And so I tweeted, if

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Speaker 1: Georgia goes blue, um, you know, I'll make a record

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Speaker 1: of all of our favorite Georgia songs, either written by

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Speaker 1: Georgia or this or about the state of Georgia or

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Speaker 1: somehow connected to the state of Georgia. And then we'll

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Speaker 1: donate all the proceeds to uh voting rights organizations, you know,

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Speaker 1: people who are trying to make it easier to vote

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Speaker 1: in the state of Georgia. So Georgia went Blue and

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Speaker 1: I produced it myself and used my band and brought

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Speaker 1: in a bunch of friends to sing. Because there's some

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Speaker 1: music that I don't feel qualified singing. Uh, Like I

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Speaker 1: love the blues more than anything else in the world.

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Speaker 1: I could. I could listen to uh uh you know

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Speaker 1: Elmore James or a Son House um all day and

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Speaker 1: never get tired of it. But I don't feel qualified

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Speaker 1: to sing the blues and any kind of commercial capacity

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Speaker 1: because I think I'll always just be a student of

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Speaker 1: that particular type of music, in that particular way of life. Um.

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Speaker 1: So I'm also not gonna sing uh you know, precious Bryant.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sing a James Brown song. I didn't

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Speaker 1: want to sing Midnight Train to georg just so I

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Speaker 1: brought in some friends of mine who I knew could

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Speaker 1: pull that off. And my friend Britney Spencer came in

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Speaker 1: and she's a young black country singer here in town

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Speaker 1: who did the Gladdys Night part. And then she and

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Speaker 1: my wife. This was something I was really very very

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Speaker 1: happy about. But Brittany and my wife rewrote the lyrics

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Speaker 1: of It's a Man's World James Brown's song, keeping that

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Speaker 1: same title but writing it, you know, from the perspective

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Speaker 1: of a woman and the James Brown estate. Let us

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Speaker 1: do that, and let us put that song on that

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Speaker 1: record and put it out. And I think what they

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Speaker 1: did with it was just brilliant and really beautiful and

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Speaker 1: and sort of the high point of the whole project

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Speaker 1: for me. Yeah, I thought maybe it was the best

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Speaker 1: track on the record. It was so interesting. There was

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Speaker 1: something happening there that was really really outside of the norm. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then we got a Da Victoria who is a

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Speaker 1: blues singer but also a country singer um and she's

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Speaker 1: here in Nashville as well, and she sang on the record,

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, we we we covered some rock songs,

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Speaker 1: and we covered some R and B songs and some

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Speaker 1: blue songs. And I got Baila Fleck and Chris Seeley

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Speaker 1: to play on an R. E M song on night Swimming,

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Speaker 1: and we did kind of a kind of a hillbilly

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Speaker 1: version of night Swimming. Um. And that's kind of like

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Speaker 1: having like Michael Jordan and Lebron James, you know, play

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Speaker 1: pick up basketball with you one day, because those two guys,

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Speaker 1: I know a lot of people who aren't in the

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Speaker 1: bluegrass world might not realize this, but Baila Fleck and

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Speaker 1: Chris Theely are about as good at what they do

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Speaker 1: as anybody is at anything, you know. So that was

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Speaker 1: that was a real honor. It was a great album.

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Speaker 1: So you gave the money to voting rights activists. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: the money went to UH, Black Voters Matter and UH

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Speaker 1: and fair Fight and stand up with a certain one.

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Speaker 1: How do you deal with the people who disagree with

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Speaker 1: you on this who are your face? Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't think most of them are my fans, and

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Speaker 1: I don't think most of them ever were gonna be

401
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Speaker 1: my fans to start with. Um, I think that's rule

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Speaker 1: Number Number one for me is is you know, just

403
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Speaker 1: realize that most of the people who are pushing back

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Speaker 1: and who who are arguing with me, weren't ever on

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Speaker 1: board with what we were doing. Because I've been singing

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Speaker 1: songs about, you know, my beliefs and uh and and

407
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Speaker 1: what I view as the truth for a long time.

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Speaker 1: I've never held back. I mean, I used to be

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Speaker 1: in a band called to Drive by Truckers, UM, and

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Speaker 1: we were we were very you know, seriously to the

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Speaker 1: left as far as what we were singing about, you know,

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Speaker 1: and and uh and unafraid to say those things in

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Speaker 1: the songs. And and I learned early on that you know,

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Speaker 1: if if you if you just go ahead and get

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Speaker 1: it out there, you're gonna weed out most of the trouble,

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Speaker 1: you know, right off the bat. So I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of them are are coming to me in bad

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Speaker 1: faith and saying I used to be your fai and

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Speaker 1: but now I'm not because of the vaccine, because of this,

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00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 1: because of that. But I don't think that's really true. Um.

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Speaker 1: And for the most part, I don't. I don't deal

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Speaker 1: with them if I feel like I have an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to make a point. Then I will use what they're

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Speaker 1: saying to me in social media as a prompt to

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Speaker 1: make that point to a broader audience. But um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I can't spend my time arguing with with people who

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Speaker 1: just disagree with me and refuse to see my side

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Speaker 1: of the story. Why do you think that the culture

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Speaker 1: we grew up in has moved so far to the

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Speaker 1: right and it's so vulnerable to the kind of siren

431
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:45,320
Speaker 1: song of the narratives they're getting. Um, I think they

432
00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 1: may be a little more desperate now than they were

433
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: twenty or thirty or forty years ago. It's easy to

434
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,760
Speaker 1: convince hungry people to be afraid, uh, you know, and

435
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: I think they're having a harder time making ends meet,

436
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: um financially, Um, you know. And I think, uh, what

437
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: has happened with um prescription painkillers, with you know, with

438
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,400
Speaker 1: with with Fenton Hill, before that, meth amphetamine, before that

439
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 1: crack cocaine. I think, you know, especially now with the

440
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 1: epidemic of opioids. You know, I think a lot of

441
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 1: hope is gone from a lot of people who when

442
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: I was a kid growing up in Alabama, and maybe

443
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: when you were a kid in Arkansas, you know, they

444
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,440
Speaker 1: had more things to be proud of, and they had

445
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 1: more paths to succeed. And I think, now, uh, you know,

446
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: they're they're missing some of that hope, um, And so

447
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: it's easier to to convince them, um of the things

448
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: that the right tries to convince people of. This is

449
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,440
Speaker 1: somebody else's fault. This is another group of people's fault.

450
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:56,639
Speaker 1: This is the fault of immigrants, this is the fault

451
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: of elites, this is the fault of the Libs, this

452
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: is you know, it's easier to convince people of those

453
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: things when they're desperate, and right now, rural Americans are

454
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: at a pretty desperate place, you know, for a convergence

455
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 1: of reasons. I think we were and death was it, Joe,

456
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: We'd go out on the sidewalking snow. We'll be right back.

457
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:34,399
Speaker 1: Last night I dreamed I've been drinking, same dream I

458
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:39,199
Speaker 1: had about twice a week. I had one glass wine.

459
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: I woke up feeling fine. And that's how I don't

460
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 1: even was a dream last night. I'm dreaming that though

461
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: you're coming up on your coming up on tan for sure. Yeah,

462
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,640
Speaker 1: I got lucky. I'd called my brother ten years younger

463
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: than me. I called him this morning, and he loves music.

464
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 1: And I told him I was going to interview you,

465
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: and I said what day is today? He said, tell him,

466
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: I'm chasing it. You know. Interesting people always know though,

467
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: Like if somebody tells you that they're sober, and you

468
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 1: don't believe him, ask them how long? How many days

469
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 1: do you have and and and they don't know up

470
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,200
Speaker 1: to the month at least, you know, right off the bat,

471
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 1: they won't have to add it up. Um. Yeah, that's

472
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,200
Speaker 1: good to hear, you know that. I mean I've lost

473
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 1: some friends. Uh, you know, Finton Neill has taken some

474
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: friends of mine recently who didn't know that that's what

475
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 1: they had, you know, something else that they thought they

476
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: were doing that had been cut with Finton Neill to

477
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: say the dealer's money and you know, a little bit

478
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: too much, and that was it. You know, I'm spending

479
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 1: a lot of my life on this. I tell you.

480
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 1: We do a lot of work with faith groups all

481
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:54,439
Speaker 1: over the country in my foundation, but ironically especially in

482
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,119
Speaker 1: the South where a lot of them really they agree

483
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: with this across political lines, that they got to do

484
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: something about us. Yeah, because we gotta keep people alive

485
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:08,439
Speaker 1: until we can. You know, do the things we need

486
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: to do on the supply side. So long term, what

487
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 1: do you think would help the most on the OPIJORID crisis. Yeah,

488
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this the the stigma, it's still

489
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 1: preventing us in a lot of ways from from solving

490
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: the problem or even or even helping with the symptoms.

491
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,960
Speaker 1: Like when I was playing, I do every October, I

492
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 1: do a run at the Rhyman Auditorium downtown here in Nashville,

493
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: And that's about the only time I go down to Broadway,

494
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: you know and hang out. And I was down there

495
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: watching all all kids were party and raisin hell, you know,

496
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 1: and I thought, Man, Nashville is never going to give

497
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: out testing kids for finneill in cocaine. I mean, if

498
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 1: if they did, you know, it would probably save a

499
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: lot of people's lives. But I think, you know, I

500
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: know they're doing it in New York, Chicago, l a UM,

501
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: and I think it's a good thing because kids will

502
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: use it, they will test their drugs if they're giving

503
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: the testing kids and the education on what can happen

504
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: if they don't. What do you see doing with your

505
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: life for the next ten years. Where do you think

506
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: this is going. I think, if I'm lucky, I can

507
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 1: just keep doing this because I love it. I love

508
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 1: it so much. You know that there's challenges in writing

509
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: songs and and making records and working with different producers

510
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 1: and engineers and musicians. It's plenty challenging for me. And um,

511
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: I still I just love working the machines so much.

512
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: It's just like when I was fourteen or fifteen, you know,

513
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 1: and and I had cheaper versions of the instruments that

514
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: I have Now, you know, I go back to being

515
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: fourteen or fifteen, except now I've got a nineteen fifty

516
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 1: nine less Paul and a big Marshal and a barn

517
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 1: and can go out and turn it all the way

518
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 1: up and nobody makes me turn it down. And you know,

519
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 1: I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy that,

520
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 1: because there's still the fifteen year old inside out of

521
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: me is still so excited to do it. Um, I

522
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: just want to keep writing songs and making records and touring.

523
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: I don't think I'll ever retire. Uh, you know, I

524
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: just I just love my job so much. And um,

525
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,239
Speaker 1: you know, if I see something that I feel like,

526
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 1: like with the vaccine stuff, you know, I anytime I

527
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: see something like that, that that I don't know, helps

528
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: me do my job and be happy when I'm on

529
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: stage and not be concerned and not be worried about

530
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: people's safety or about um, you know, the kind of

531
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: audience that I have. You know, I just want to

532
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: keep making those right decisions and uh and keep making music.

533
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,560
Speaker 1: And that's it. Ten years, twenty years, thirty years, That's

534
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: that's all I want to do. Do you think that

535
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 1: a lot of the vaccine deniers really understand and believe

536
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,680
Speaker 1: that if you get vaccinated, yeah, you might still get

537
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: test positive because these variants come at us pretty quick,

538
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 1: and the vaccines are directed at this target, and when

539
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 1: the target moves a little bit, it may get through.

540
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: But the death rate is still thirteen to sixteen times

541
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 1: higher for people who aren't vaccinated than for people who are.

542
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 1: And I don't understand why that's not enough. It doesn't

543
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 1: seem like much of a decision there, does it. Well.

544
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: The thing that really bothers me, the only thing I

545
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,080
Speaker 1: ever dealt with like this, in addition to vaccine, But

546
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: nobody thought about vaccines when when I was there. But

547
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 1: when I was a governor, all the bikers came to

548
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: see me, and they had a big group, and they

549
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: kind of liked me before, you know, and they had

550
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 1: they wanted to repeal the helmet law and I wouldn't

551
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 1: sign it. I told him I was going to veto

552
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: it if they did it. And so they came in.

553
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: They're all sitting there, you know, Tattoo's letter jackets. It

554
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 1: was great. I liked them, but they were sitting in

555
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 1: my office and they said, how can you do this?

556
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: You know, we we thought you were a guy who

557
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: believed in liberty. I said, I do believe in liberty body,

558
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 1: I said, I also even responsibility. And yes, if you

559
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: want to kill yourself and destroy your motorcycle, you have

560
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: a right to do that. You go up and drove

561
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,719
Speaker 1: a sucker right off a mountain. But I said, if

562
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: you don't wear a helmet, what you're really saying is well,

563
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: I might get hurt, and I might get severely brain

564
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: damage that I might be imbobile for the rest of

565
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: my life and the rest of you have to support me.

566
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: Or I might get hit by a scared seventeen year

567
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 1: old driver and I could destroy that kid's life because

568
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: he never get over the fact that he hit me.

569
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: I said, you guys act like your choices just to

570
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: operate in a vacuum, and they don't that we whether

571
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: we like it or not, you know what we do

572
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,200
Speaker 1: im facts other people, and I have not been I

573
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 1: wish I could make the argument better than I apparently have,

574
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 1: because you know, there's still a lot of people hold

575
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: them out out there. Yeah there are. And I like

576
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 1: the way you say that that you wish you could

577
00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: make the argument better rather than saying I wish the

578
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: bone heads would understand what I'm saying, but you know

579
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: I have. I mean, I think sometimes they assume they

580
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: being people who don't believe the vaccine is uh a

581
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 1: good and healthy and smart idea. I think a lot

582
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 1: of those folks assume that we're all arguing in bad

583
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 1: faith for some reason or another. And I think that's

584
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 1: part of the problem right now. It's like it's it's

585
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 1: it's hard to convince somebody. Uh No, I really mean

586
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: this what I'm saying, I really truly mean I think

587
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: you should get the vaccine, or I think this job

588
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: should mandate vaccines, or I think this venue should mandate vaccines.

589
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 1: That's the reason that I'm telling you this is because

590
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: I believe it. And I think we've gotten to a

591
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 1: point where so many bad faith actors have come onto

592
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,959
Speaker 1: the scene and argued things that they didn't really believe

593
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: in order to rile up their fan base, or their

594
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 1: constituency or their family. Um, you know that that it's

595
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: easy to assume that everybody is arguing in bad faith.

596
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,400
Speaker 1: I think if we could figure out a way just

597
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 1: to just to convince people that, you know, I'm not

598
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: trying to trick you into anything, I really just truly

599
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:12,880
Speaker 1: believe this is better for all of us, then you know,

600
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: we might be able to make some progress with it.

601
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: But some people just don't want to listen. But I

602
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 1: wish you would think about that, because you your songs.

603
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 1: I read these lyrics, and you reach people in a

604
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 1: place where their defenses aren't, where the walls aren't solid.

605
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,399
Speaker 1: Your best songs feel like they are the song for you,

606
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:41,359
Speaker 1: a song for me, Leon Russell's great song, I love

607
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,239
Speaker 1: you in a place that has no space or time.

608
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,279
Speaker 1: I love you for my life. You're a friend of mine.

609
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 1: You give people the fact, the feeling that you're their friend.

610
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,880
Speaker 1: And I wish you'd think about that. Because we have

611
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 1: to do a better job we can't give up. I

612
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: just don't think you should ever underestimate your power to

613
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:04,880
Speaker 1: reach people. But getting through all that because most Americans

614
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,440
Speaker 1: don't want that. Most Americans really don't want to give

615
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: up on their country. They don't want to give up

616
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,319
Speaker 1: other neighbors. They don't want us to become a hate

617
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:18,640
Speaker 1: field country. And you have it's amazing to me, maybe

618
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 1: just because I identify what your upbringing, but it's amazing,

619
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,520
Speaker 1: and I wish you will thank you, Mr President. I

620
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. I mean, we have we have the

621
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 1: we have the songs and the stories and the movies

622
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: and the ability to to get people's defenses out of

623
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 1: the way before we tell them the story that we

624
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 1: want them to hear. You know, that's kind of the

625
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 1: beautiful thing about about music. It it's it's like, look

626
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,880
Speaker 1: at this magic trick. All right now, I'm going to

627
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 1: tell you something that I that I want you to know.

628
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: And and that's how I learned about people who are

629
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 1: different from me. Um. You know, listen to Muscle Shoals records,

630
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,759
Speaker 1: you know, cut thirty minutes away from where I grew up.

631
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,360
Speaker 1: You know, otis reading and the staple singers and Aretha

632
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 1: Franklin's early stuff, and I thought, oh wow, these people

633
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: can't be much different from me at all, because what

634
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 1: they're saying is resonating perfectly with my own experience, you know. Um,

635
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:17,879
Speaker 1: so yeah, I think there's a way, there's a there's

636
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 1: a path through the defenses, uh with the arts. I

637
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: really believe that, and uh yeah, thank you good luck.

638
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,839
Speaker 1: Couldn't be happy in the city tonight. You can't see

639
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 1: the stars from you on like sidewalks dirty in the

640
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:38,360
Speaker 1: river is worse underground. Trains are run in reverbs. Nobody

641
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,440
Speaker 1: here can dance like me. Everybody clapping on one end,

642
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 1: three man, last of my damn I last? Why am

643
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: I telling you? This is a production of My Heart Radio,

644
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Speaker 1: the Clinton Foundation and at Will Medium. Our executive producers

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Speaker 1: are Craigmanescian and Will Molnadi. Our production team includes Mitch Bluestein,

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Speaker 1: Jamison Kansufas, Tom Galton, Sara Horowitz, and Jake Young, with

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Speaker 1: production support from Louis Referee and Josh Fornham. Original music

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Speaker 1: by What What Special Thanks to John SIGs, John Davidson

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Speaker 1: on hell, Orina, Corey Ganstley, Kevin thurm Oscar Flores, and

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Speaker 1: all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm Chris Thrasher, and I serve as the Senior Director

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Speaker 1: of Substance Use Disorders and Recovery with the Opiated Response

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Speaker 1: Network at the Clinton Foundation. According to the Centers for

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Speaker 1: Disease Control and Prevention, each year we lose tens of

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Speaker 1: thousands of lives to an opiate overdose in the United States,

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Speaker 1: and now with COVID nineteen, this tragic and preventable epidemic

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Speaker 1: has only worsened. An intensive vide at the Clinton Foundation,

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Speaker 1: we're working to combat this crisis head on by getting

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of doses of the life saving medication

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Speaker 1: and locks on into the hands of community members, first responders,

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Speaker 1: and recovery homes nationwide. We are committed to making this

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Speaker 1: life saving medication affordable, available, and accessible. Our work is

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Speaker 1: aimed at reducing both the stigma and the shame that

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Speaker 1: is all too often associated with persons who suffer from

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Speaker 1: a substance use disorder. We know that addiction is not

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Speaker 1: a moral failing, but rather a chronic illness. One of

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Speaker 1: the cornerstone initiatives within our Opioid Response Network is our

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Speaker 1: pioneering work with our faith leaders from across this country.

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Speaker 1: Our nation's faith leaders are trusted messengers who serve as

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Speaker 1: a solemn source of support to the countless victims and

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Speaker 1: their families. They have a unique ability to educate, to motivate,

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Speaker 1: and to mobilize their communities, and it's second to none.

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Speaker 1: We work with these faith leaders from across traditions to

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Speaker 1: equip them with the knowledge, the skills, the resources, and

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Speaker 1: perhaps most importantly, the confidence that they need to fight

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Speaker 1: the opioid epidemic from the pulpit and beyond. Together, we

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Speaker 1: can save lives, We can reduce stigma. We can create

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Speaker 1: a future of hope where no individual or family needs

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Speaker 1: to suffer from the harsh realities, isolation, and struggles of

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Speaker 1: a substance use disorder. There is hope. We invite you

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Speaker 1: to learn more about our work and see how you

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Speaker 1: can get involved. Please visit us at Clinton Foundation dot org.

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Speaker 1: Slash podcast