Speaker 1: What's up. It's Granger Smith and this is the Granger
Speaker 1: Smith Podcast, Episode seven. It seems like every time I'm
Speaker 1: talking about music now people are asking me about this podcast,
Speaker 1: which blows me away because I never thought it would
Speaker 1: become something that I love to do this much. Episode seven.
Speaker 1: So five episodes I've done now in the back of
Speaker 1: my bus. I did one in the Lonely hotel room,
Speaker 1: and then today I'm a home. Our home is outside
Speaker 1: of Georgetown, Texas. We live out in the country, and
Speaker 1: I have a couple days off. We're gonna leave here
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. I'm gonna go to New York City. The
Speaker 1: band is going to Albuquerque, and then we all meet
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas the day after that. And then things
Speaker 1: get really crazy, really crazy, because we have an album
Speaker 1: coming out October the twenty seventh, that's in a few weeks,
Speaker 1: and I thought it would be pretty cool for this
Speaker 1: episode to tell you the stories behind the songs and
Speaker 1: not you know, fancy stories like I would say on
Speaker 1: the radio. I'm talking about digging deep and telling you
Speaker 1: where these came from, how they were built, crafted, created,
Speaker 1: and why these are the ones that made the cut.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you now this album called When the Good
Speaker 1: Guys Win. The theme of it is living for today
Speaker 1: because tomorrow is not guaranteed. That's been the theme all along.
Speaker 1: It started about a year ago when I fell off
Speaker 1: the stage, broke a couple of ribs, punctured a lung,
Speaker 1: and so much of that made me think about life
Speaker 1: and made me wonder why we all always worry about
Speaker 1: tomorrow and the next show and the next album and
Speaker 1: the next tour. And I've been preaching to my band
Speaker 1: and crew this whole year. Let's enjoy this tour that
Speaker 1: we're on today. Let's enjoy the show we're about to
Speaker 1: play tonight, because that's all we have, right. And so
Speaker 1: as I tell these stories, as I talk about these songs,
Speaker 1: I have some help here in the room with me.
Speaker 1: Say hi everybody, Hi everybody. These are my two kids,
Speaker 1: Lincoln in London, and they know these songs better than anyone,
Speaker 1: So it only makes sense that they help with the podcast. Right,
Speaker 1: do you guys like this album? Yeah? All right, let's
Speaker 1: get started. Hey DJ, Hey Sunset, Hey full Moon Creeping
Speaker 1: up over then find in the Distance, Hey Summer Breeze,
Speaker 1: Hey to Lane Road. I Got a girl that means
Speaker 1: the world to mean, if you wanna help me, let
Speaker 1: her know. Gimme Something is the first song on the album,
Speaker 1: track one, and I think it's a great way to
Speaker 1: lead into the songs because here we have this very innocent,
Speaker 1: descriptive narrative from a guy out on a date with
Speaker 1: a girl and he really likes this girl, and he's
Speaker 1: calling for help through all the signs in the night,
Speaker 1: the stars, the moon, the radio, as if they're all
Speaker 1: friends of his and they can help have influence on
Speaker 1: her and how she feels about him. Gimme something, she
Speaker 1: convanced to throw up her hands to hunt through her hair,
Speaker 1: falling down, Jimmy, Something that'll take your breath to win
Speaker 1: and make or think that Heaven dry here right now.
Speaker 1: Something that'll get those eyes something at me back. She's
Speaker 1: falling Carter down, the stars tonight, anything in turn the
Speaker 1: space that's in between us in and nothing come will
Speaker 1: give me something. Yeah. One of the on the song's
Speaker 1: name is Justin Wilson. You're going to hear that name
Speaker 1: a lot because he had a hand in six of
Speaker 1: the songs on this album. He's a genius writer, he's
Speaker 1: a brilliant singer, and he sang the demo on the
Speaker 1: song originally, and it freaked me out because then I
Speaker 1: had to go in make this record and sing it
Speaker 1: and know that I wasn't going to be able to
Speaker 1: do any justice to what Justin did. But man, he
Speaker 1: makes me better and I feel lucky to be able
Speaker 1: to soak up anything I can from him. Gimmy something, givy.
Speaker 1: Some said this album is number nine for me, and
Speaker 1: people want to know what makes this album different from
Speaker 1: the others. Well, that's pretty easy. See. I was touring
Speaker 1: constantly during twenty sixteen and seventeen, so the only way
Speaker 1: I could make this album was on the road, writing, editing.
Speaker 1: A lot of the recording, believe it or not, was
Speaker 1: all done on the road. I sang every song at
Speaker 1: home and it's not a studio, it's really a closet,
Speaker 1: and and I recorded the drums and the bass and
Speaker 1: some of the bigger guitars in the big studio, but
Speaker 1: everything else was on the road. And I think that's
Speaker 1: really going to reflect back on the songs, because here
Speaker 1: I am sitting on the back of the bus and
Speaker 1: I'm parked in a parking lot watching people pull in
Speaker 1: and they're getting out and they're lining up in the
Speaker 1: venue that I'm about to play, and I get to
Speaker 1: look at the exact people that I'll eventually deliver these
Speaker 1: songs to. What better way to do it? And on
Speaker 1: top of that, I get to have writers out on
Speaker 1: the road with me and we go and they watched
Speaker 1: the show that I'm about to play, and then we
Speaker 1: go back to the bus and we say things like, A,
Speaker 1: you did this and it was amazing, Let's do more
Speaker 1: of that, or be you know, I watched the whole
Speaker 1: show and I didn't see very much of this. Let's
Speaker 1: write that, And I think that's how I ended up
Speaker 1: recording You're in It. You're in at this track two
Speaker 1: on the album, and it's got this beat that's perfect
Speaker 1: for a live show. It has energy, it has some
Speaker 1: mystery around it, and yet it's still a country love song,
Speaker 1: just as that bojo that you know on a Saturday
Speaker 1: night a packed house and the lights come on in
Speaker 1: the front of the stage. It works. You read it
Speaker 1: every single good time. We're in a redvine in my mind,
Speaker 1: jam fine, you read it every down of what could beat? All?
Speaker 1: I see you and me not reading everything. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the USU hoes all. I know is Gerl
Speaker 1: you're in One of the writers on this song. His
Speaker 1: name is Justin Adams, and he's an artist himself, a
Speaker 1: great dude and a great artist, and this is his
Speaker 1: first major cut as a songwriter. So I'm so proud
Speaker 1: of him for that. And you know, that brings up
Speaker 1: something that I've never felt before, and that's the responsibility
Speaker 1: of singing another songwriter's song. And as a songwriter myself,
Speaker 1: I know how impactful that could be, and I know
Speaker 1: how important every cut is. And so here I am
Speaker 1: out on the road writing and bringing guys out with me,
Speaker 1: and inevitably that one of the writers would say, hey, Granger,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to play something we wrote a
Speaker 1: couple weeks ago and see if you dig it, maybe
Speaker 1: you could help finish it for me, And so they
Speaker 1: would play it, and several times I would think that
Speaker 1: song is amazing, and no, I'm not going to help
Speaker 1: you finish because it's already done, but I want to
Speaker 1: record it. And then I kind of get this new
Speaker 1: ownership in the song in a way that I've never
Speaker 1: felt before, and I feel this responsibility of thank you
Speaker 1: for allowing me to be the voice of your idea,
Speaker 1: your baby, and they're thinking, thank you for giving my
Speaker 1: song a chance. And so it's this mutual camaraderie that's
Speaker 1: such an amazing feeling. It's like having a teammate in
Speaker 1: this crazy music business, and that's awesome. This podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by EEE Energy. My name is Granger Smith,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking about my brand new album that comes
Speaker 1: out October twenty seventh to the world called When the
Speaker 1: Good Guys Win. And I got to tell you guys,
Speaker 1: in case you didn't know, I understand in this crazy
Speaker 1: world of streaming music, which is great. You know. I'm
Speaker 1: all about people hearing the music however they can, and
Speaker 1: streaming is very important because it gets my name out there.
Speaker 1: It spreads the message so that hopefully you and your
Speaker 1: friends could come see me in concert. But I also
Speaker 1: want to talk about the few people that actually still
Speaker 1: buy records and what that does to an artist and
Speaker 1: the team around them. You see, it helps build our story,
Speaker 1: it helps build our reputation. It allows us to have
Speaker 1: bigger tours and deeper spots on festivals. Buying the CD
Speaker 1: itself is actually a really cool piece of memorabilia you
Speaker 1: could bring to the show. When we could sign for
Speaker 1: you too. So if you're one of those people that
Speaker 1: still buys records, God bless you, and I hope you
Speaker 1: know that you're keeping our dream alive. I want to
Speaker 1: get back to this track listing on my brand new
Speaker 1: album When the Good Guys Win, and to talk about
Speaker 1: that a little bit more. I have two people sitting
Speaker 1: with me right now that know these songs better than
Speaker 1: most because they've been listening to these songs since they
Speaker 1: were just demos. They're my two kids, Lincoln in London.
Speaker 1: They're six and three. Okay, so you guys can sit
Speaker 1: on my lap. Wait, first of all, do you guys
Speaker 1: like all my new songs? Yes? What's your favorite song
Speaker 1: of mine on the new album? Ooh ooh? I know what?
Speaker 1: They rocket you out? You're in it? What do you
Speaker 1: like about your in it? I like it because Lincoln
Speaker 1: always gets me and dance moves and he always says
Speaker 1: MoMA on the front porch rocket. Yeah, Lincoln seems to
Speaker 1: be like in rocket ships. Right now. That's a battery, Boddy.
Speaker 1: You can't put batteries in your mouth. Why do you
Speaker 1: like that one? Because? I like it because it's funny
Speaker 1: and it has lots of dance moves. Well, that's the
Speaker 1: second time you liked the song because of the dance moves.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you. On track number three called
Speaker 1: raise your Glass, dance moves is not the first thing
Speaker 1: that comes to my mind, but a really cool song
Speaker 1: with a great message about celebrating the good times is
Speaker 1: could be in me on it song, Boys, I got
Speaker 1: the first round, could be the last second, hell Mary,
Speaker 1: game winning touchdom, could be hitting it off with the
Speaker 1: one that you're hitting on, turning the page new day,
Speaker 1: finally moving on. Whatever it is, Yeah, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: Raising your Class made the coast to all of the
Speaker 1: times and me the most. Go on and let you
Speaker 1: worries roll out off your beasts. Still got some man
Speaker 1: to make, a whole lot of shots love to take,
Speaker 1: so let's hold them high, lil tonight like it's out last,
Speaker 1: Raising your Class. So this whole album was produced by
Speaker 1: Frank Rodgers, Derek Wells, some stupidly talented guys that are
Speaker 1: some of my good friends and me. I'm way too
Speaker 1: OCD and way too too much of a control freak
Speaker 1: to not also produce all my albums too. And I
Speaker 1: remember on raise up your glass and keep in mind
Speaker 1: that this is all edited on the back of my bus.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to the to the guy building the beats,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I wanted some kind of Grandfather
Speaker 1: clock like and he found it and it worked. This
Speaker 1: song is one of those songs that could have been
Speaker 1: about it. It could have been stripped down one guy
Speaker 1: and a guitar, but we gave it this energy. So
Speaker 1: it's strong and powerful, and I think the message is
Speaker 1: strong and powerful. And we're gonna be able to stand
Speaker 1: up there and play this live and although it may
Speaker 1: be a little sentimental lyrically, sometimes we're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to stand up there on stage and deliver with power
Speaker 1: and I love raise up your glass. What a good
Speaker 1: message to take mess? All right, what's next? Track number four?
Speaker 1: It's the first time I get to talk about SGOP. Now.
Speaker 1: There's a group of buddies that I've developed a relationship
Speaker 1: with over the last few years, starting with at the
Speaker 1: boot fits announced these guys Andy Albert, Jordan Schmidt, my
Speaker 1: buddy Justin Wilson, who we talked about at the beginning,
Speaker 1: and me. The first tour that we took together US
Speaker 1: four was when I was on the Florida Georgia line
Speaker 1: tour in Canada last fall. We brought these guys out
Speaker 1: and we hit it off immediately creatively and as friends.
Speaker 1: So when we got together on the bus with some guitars,
Speaker 1: it just felt right. We wrote a bunch of really
Speaker 1: good songs, back to back to back. At one point
Speaker 1: we decided we needed a name for our group. You know,
Speaker 1: every great group of songwriters. Not that we're great yet,
Speaker 1: we're trying to be, but every great group of songwriters
Speaker 1: has a name. After a bunch of beers and a
Speaker 1: bunch of songs and a good day of writing. We
Speaker 1: were at dinner and talking about how we're wanting to
Speaker 1: make a name for ourselves and we haven't established anything yet.
Speaker 1: Somebody said we're just a small group of people, and
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, that stupid name became stop and it stuck,
Speaker 1: and we've been saying it ever since now. Out on
Speaker 1: this tour, one of the members of Florida Georgia Lyon
Speaker 1: Tyler Hubbard. I think it was a little bit jealous
Speaker 1: because we were writing songs and he wasn't. And he's
Speaker 1: just a very, very creative guy. He loves to be
Speaker 1: right at the center of creation, so he came to
Speaker 1: me one morning. He goes, hey, hey, Grange, if you
Speaker 1: guys are writing songs and you get on something today,
Speaker 1: will you please let me know? Will you send me
Speaker 1: a text? I said, sure so, sure enough. After breakfast
Speaker 1: we came back, we started writing a little bit, and
Speaker 1: as soon as we got a groove and we got
Speaker 1: something feeling right and we got a few words, I
Speaker 1: texted Tyler and I said, hey, man, we're on something.
Speaker 1: And thirty seconds later he was coming in the bus,
Speaker 1: put his reading glasses on, pulled out his phone, pulled
Speaker 1: up his notepad, and we were off to the races.
Speaker 1: Here's what we wrote, in order a drink. It goes
Speaker 1: down smooth before you can blame. It turned into the
Speaker 1: first single on the record. Happens like that. It started
Speaker 1: with the first line, It led to the second line,
Speaker 1: and then the third, and it was just some guys
Speaker 1: with guitars, grooving, not knowing where it was gonna go.
Speaker 1: And sometimes good songs happen like that. It happens love
Speaker 1: that out of the Blue scatters in the blood lash. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when it happens like that, nothing the loss right into you. Judy.
Speaker 1: All you can do just to keep her around soil,
Speaker 1: The moon goes down in your back at your house.
Speaker 1: One thing will do another. You love each other when
Speaker 1: looking you never loved back. It happens like that. This
Speaker 1: song will always be special to me because for the
Speaker 1: music video I used my wife and our little baby boy, River,
Speaker 1: who was one year old at the time. So happens
Speaker 1: like that is a very personal song for me. I'm
Speaker 1: die Kanja the kiddy Cat. Well, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: have a kitty cat song on this album, but a
Speaker 1: candy cat song. Well, what we're talking about cats? Oh,
Speaker 1: it happens like cats. Yeah, well that's a parody about
Speaker 1: happens like that. So it happens like that, your favorite cat?
Speaker 1: All right, what they're talking about is I made a
Speaker 1: parody if my own happens like that, called I happened
Speaker 1: to like cats? Trying to make the kids laugh, being silly.
Speaker 1: I'll make a funny video one day it goes like this.
Speaker 1: It's Saturday night. What could be better than crocheting cat
Speaker 1: names all over in my sweater. I've never been a
Speaker 1: dog kind of got chet's in their tails, scratching themselves
Speaker 1: and barking all night. My best friends are at my house,
Speaker 1: are in around cloning my cats ride me out. I
Speaker 1: happen to like cats, the ones with the blue, blue lives,
Speaker 1: even the green. Yeah, I happen to like cats. Give
Speaker 1: me a feed line over a cane and they got
Speaker 1: nine lives. You need to spouse when you got putsy
Speaker 1: Katz all over the house, Milo and sprinkled snowball and
Speaker 1: mister Dingles. Yeah, it's a matter of fact. I happen
Speaker 1: to like the care it goes on. But I'll spare you.
Speaker 1: I'll spare you from the rest of it. But it's
Speaker 1: kind of sad that my son Lincoln, that's his favorite
Speaker 1: song on the album, even though it's not on the album.
Speaker 1: But I'll put it out one day. I'll make a
Speaker 1: I'll make a video one day for it. Speaking of Lincoln,
Speaker 1: he has his singing debut on this album. And this
Speaker 1: is a song that I wrote with SGOP. It's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite songs I wrote with them, and one
Speaker 1: of my favorite songs now to play live. We've been
Speaker 1: playing it live and it's a song about the good
Speaker 1: old things in life, the things that no matter how
Speaker 1: much time goes by, they still hold up. Now. When
Speaker 1: I first made the demo of this song. Lincoln loved
Speaker 1: it and he sang it all the time, so I
Speaker 1: thought he deserved to start the whole song off on
Speaker 1: the album goes like this, that red paint good bad tractor,
Speaker 1: massy red paint takes a couple more cranks these days,
Speaker 1: but it still holds up. Yeah, still holds up. Bat
Speaker 1: forty five wax wheeling song. Every time it comes on.
Speaker 1: If mind having a little crackle in the bottle, but
Speaker 1: give a little time and it'll get you down deep
Speaker 1: in the gut. It still holds up. It feels good,
Speaker 1: still turn like a kitten, like a deep draw edge
Speaker 1: and like a cold last bottle cold, and my chicking
Speaker 1: in the kitchen man and never get sold my shoe
Speaker 1: I am, and where I'm from? Damn right? Sure know
Speaker 1: you old country music. I love the way this one feels.
Speaker 1: And the idea was very simple. I was with Sgop.
Speaker 1: We were on the bus and we were listening to
Speaker 1: the songs we wrote the day before, you know, test
Speaker 1: them out, see how they were. And sure enough, Andy
Speaker 1: Albert goes, hey, they still hold up, and I said,
Speaker 1: yes they do, and that's the title we need to
Speaker 1: write today. And recording it, we put some good old
Speaker 1: Waylon Jennings Phaser guitars, and I hope that in thirty
Speaker 1: years people could look back on this song too and say, still,
Speaker 1: you know, music has always been healing for me, and
Speaker 1: no matter what event I'm going through in my life,
Speaker 1: good or it seems like music is the first thing
Speaker 1: I turned to, especially songs that make me feel good.
Speaker 1: And that's what this next song is, track number six.
Speaker 1: It's it's a song that every time I hear it, it
Speaker 1: it just makes me smile. And so much of this
Speaker 1: music business is about getting more people to listen to
Speaker 1: you and evolving your sound. But this song is about
Speaker 1: the good guys, and it makes me think about all
Speaker 1: the good guys in my life. Dad, uncle's, brothers, Grandpa,
Speaker 1: and I think there's something to say for cutting a
Speaker 1: song on a record that that, if not for any
Speaker 1: other reason, just makes me feel good. He's a greasy
Speaker 1: ranch turning on a big black Chevrolet first in, last
Speaker 1: out every day. He's a mega dollar give a dollar
Speaker 1: if you need me hot or kind of good old boy.
Speaker 1: There's a single white trainer, couple lakers on the edge
Speaker 1: of town front for Sun Going Down and Matth Brooded,
Speaker 1: Thanks Swinging and the swing like a dream is where
Speaker 1: it is? Don't you love it? Win the Good Guys Men.
Speaker 1: Don't you love it? When and shit comes in? Yeah? Man,
Speaker 1: every now and then what goes around comes around again?
Speaker 1: Don't you love it? Long Shot? Prayer on your Dog
Speaker 1: on a hill of a tear, he wants to kiss
Speaker 1: and she leans. Don't you love him? Win? The Good
Speaker 1: Guys Win? I think this song has got my favorite
Speaker 1: line of the whole album. He's a make a dollar,
Speaker 1: give a dollar if you need me holler kind of
Speaker 1: good old boy. I know some guys like that. I'm
Speaker 1: sure we all do. When the Good Guys Win. Is
Speaker 1: also the title of the album, but it wasn't always
Speaker 1: the title. It actually happened last minute albums in the past.
Speaker 1: A lot of times I've known what the title was
Speaker 1: gonna be before I wrote the first song. This one
Speaker 1: was different. I had a title, I had a working title,
Speaker 1: and we were just about to go public with a
Speaker 1: press release, and just a few days before something happened
Speaker 1: that changed the course of this record Forever. Hurricane Harvey
Speaker 1: hit the coast of Texas. We all watched it on
Speaker 1: the news, and we saw the strength of people. We
Speaker 1: saw the strength of my home state. We saw the
Speaker 1: good guys. We needed to recognize the good guys. Right
Speaker 1: then and there, watching the news, it became very clear
Speaker 1: I would now rename the album When the Good Guys Win.
Speaker 1: February seventeenth, twenty seventeen. I'll never forget that day. We
Speaker 1: were on tour in Riodoso, New Mexico, playing a show
Speaker 1: at a casino called Inn of the Mountain Gods. At
Speaker 1: that point, it was about two and a half months
Speaker 1: after I had fallen off the stage in New Jersey,
Speaker 1: broke my ribs and punctured a lungk I spent three
Speaker 1: weeks on the couch, in six weeks recovering before I
Speaker 1: could start playing again. Now, the reason this date was
Speaker 1: important to me is because I was gonna go snow skiin.
Speaker 1: And this is a truly redemption thing for me because
Speaker 1: snow skin is one of my favorite hobbies. And as
Speaker 1: much as everyone said, man, you just broke some ribs,
Speaker 1: you're still kind of recovering, you probably shouldn't go get
Speaker 1: on a mountain, I needed to. You see, snow skin
Speaker 1: is one of those things where I could shut the
Speaker 1: world off. I could feel the cold wind in my face,
Speaker 1: and the snow under my boots. I could see views
Speaker 1: that I feel like, man, it's not supposed to see
Speaker 1: at that kind of temperature and that kind of altitude.
Speaker 1: It's God's gift. And no matter what people said about
Speaker 1: my ribs at the time, I needed to be on
Speaker 1: that mountain. And that morning was cold. It was really cold.
Speaker 1: There was a snowstorm that had moved in. The visibility
Speaker 1: was pretty much nothing there in the blizzard, and I
Speaker 1: was at the very top of the mountain, which is
Speaker 1: twelve thousand feet. I decided that I should wait out
Speaker 1: the blizzard or twenty minutes, so I found a lodge
Speaker 1: at the top of the mountain and cruised on in.
Speaker 1: Kicked off my skis, found a fireplace in the corner
Speaker 1: and a table, sat down, took off my goggles and
Speaker 1: kind of shook off the snowpowder and then brushed away
Speaker 1: the drops of water that had formed on the table
Speaker 1: from my hat. I pulled out my phone. There was
Speaker 1: barely any service. I noticed that I had an email
Speaker 1: for my producer, Frank Rogers. I can't make this story up, y'all,
Speaker 1: this is exactly how it happened. I pulled up the
Speaker 1: email and he had sent me a song. He said,
Speaker 1: I know we're not looking for songs right now, but
Speaker 1: I think you need to hear this. Now. Keep in mind,
Speaker 1: Frank doesn't send me songs very often, but he's got
Speaker 1: a good ear. And when he does, I'm gonna listen.
Speaker 1: And I've got some time. I was sitting here by
Speaker 1: this fireplace, put in my headphones. The download takes forever,
Speaker 1: but I finally get it. I hit play, and there
Speaker 1: it was the moment when the perfect song meets the
Speaker 1: perfect moment and the perfect time when the listener was
Speaker 1: needing to hear them message. And right there at twelve
Speaker 1: thousand feet sitting by that fire, I started crying. Everybody's
Speaker 1: got a first kiss, but not everybody makes it last.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got a long list. Some someday I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: that boom, but nobody needs time to let run's out.
Speaker 1: Oh so why take a left when you can take
Speaker 1: a ride now. Everybody's got a beuture, but not everybody
Speaker 1: makes a beast. Everybody's got a chastity, but some don't
Speaker 1: take until it's too late to take it back. Everybody's
Speaker 1: got a last friend, but not everybody brings it. Everybody
Speaker 1: does but not everybody lives. Not everybody lives. Everybody lives
Speaker 1: hit me like a ton of bricks, and I needed
Speaker 1: to hear that. I struggle so many times with being
Speaker 1: a musician, and is what I'm doing worth the cause,
Speaker 1: worth the effort, worth the travel. And there on that mountain,
Speaker 1: I got that message again that I'm on the right path,
Speaker 1: I'm living, I'm following the dream. And although I didn't
Speaker 1: write this song, I feel such a huge responsibility and
Speaker 1: a big ownership than this because it impacted me. And
Speaker 1: now I have to deliver the message because if there's
Speaker 1: someone out there that needs to hear it, and I
Speaker 1: could be the one that gets that to them, someone
Speaker 1: that might be on that mountain my guy was at
Speaker 1: the time, then it's all worth it. It's worth it.
Speaker 1: Track number eight is a song called Stutter. I wrote
Speaker 1: this with SGOP and I was wandering from the very
Speaker 1: beginning to write something different, something that was a whole
Speaker 1: new flavor for my live show. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: so different when I wrote it that even the guys
Speaker 1: in the stop said, hey, we got a bunch of
Speaker 1: good songs that are you sure you want Stutter? And
Speaker 1: then they heard the final version of my recording. They said,
Speaker 1: oh I love it now who I'm stumbling, bumming, bumbling
Speaker 1: my words like wood, Yeah, I'm ben slipping up girl.
Speaker 1: You're making me stutter, stutter, Yeah, you're making me stutter,
Speaker 1: stutter and the studio stutter was a challenge for me
Speaker 1: because there's so many moving parts. I could produce a
Speaker 1: song like still holds Up in my Sleep, but this
Speaker 1: one is a lot more involved and it challenges me.
Speaker 1: And I like that about Stutter. I'm very proud of
Speaker 1: the way this turned out. I'm glad I fought for it,
Speaker 1: and I still think there's something really really special about
Speaker 1: this track. You're making me stutter, stutter, Yeah, you're making
Speaker 1: me stuttered. My question is do you think anybody else
Speaker 1: out there needs to listen to this album? Me? Lincoln
Speaker 1: has an answer, go, I know what elephants. You know
Speaker 1: what elephants eat water? Well, they eat water. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: the question was with their trunk, But the question was
Speaker 1: do you think anybody should listen to this album? I
Speaker 1: would say yes, why because you're a singer and you
Speaker 1: have fans. Shouldn't there be more than just me being
Speaker 1: a singer and have fans that someone should listen to
Speaker 1: this album Hold on a second, Lincolns got go ahead, buddy,
Speaker 1: Thank you Lincoln. I'm glad we got that straight anyway.
Speaker 1: Track number nine is another SGOP song, and the story
Speaker 1: behind this one is we were in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Speaker 1: and it was Andy Albert's birthday and I told him
Speaker 1: that day I said, hey, man, we got to write
Speaker 1: your birthday song. And everyone kind of giggled. I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm serious. Need we need to write Andy a birthday song.
Speaker 1: And they're like, well, what, how do you write a
Speaker 1: birthday song? Where do you put birthday candles in it?
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, we can. I said, what if
Speaker 1: we write a song about living life to the fullest
Speaker 1: no matter how old you are, And we certainly feel
Speaker 1: young at heart, So what if we had a song
Speaker 1: called never too old to Die Young. They never too
Speaker 1: old to die young, never too tall, never too lad
Speaker 1: to get to living cause you only kid one, never
Speaker 1: too good to be back, They never too scared to
Speaker 1: be tough. Don't count them candles on the cake, over
Speaker 1: the trips through around the world. I never do old
Speaker 1: die jump. I never do old jump. Don't count the
Speaker 1: candles on the cake or the trips around the Sun.
Speaker 1: There it is Andy. We got your birthday song and
Speaker 1: we even got candles in the cake in the lyrics.
Speaker 1: That's not easy to do. And I love this song
Speaker 1: that the message is part of the backbone of this
Speaker 1: whole album Live for Today. No matter your age, you're
Speaker 1: never too old. I never do olda die jump. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I never do old jump never. Justin Wilson is part
Speaker 1: of s g OP. But if you remember, he also
Speaker 1: wrote the very first track give Me Something Now, the
Speaker 1: first time I ever had him out on the road
Speaker 1: with me. We're gonna sit down and write and he said, so, man,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna write about? And I said, Justin,
Speaker 1: do me a favor. Watch the show tonight. They were
Speaker 1: about to play study the show and see if you
Speaker 1: if you see anything that I'm missing. He said, okay,
Speaker 1: good plan. That night. I get back on the bus
Speaker 1: after the show and he's like, man, he had he
Speaker 1: had a guitar out ready to go. He goes, I
Speaker 1: got something. I watched your whole show and man, I
Speaker 1: dig it. I dig the energy. But you know, I
Speaker 1: know you and your wife, and I know the love
Speaker 1: that y'all have. That that innocent love that you guys have.
Speaker 1: And I don't see that at all in the show.
Speaker 1: I don't see you stand up and delivered that very
Speaker 1: personal love song. And I've got an idea for you.
Speaker 1: And I said, what he goes, Love ain't blind? Because
Speaker 1: I see you. I said, brother, you're a genius. And
Speaker 1: we got to work. Loving blind and I see it
Speaker 1: all the time and night. It's wearing a dress making
Speaker 1: me smile, stealing my breend. I used to think it
Speaker 1: was true. I but baby, it's a lie. Loving blind
Speaker 1: because I see it was the perfect song. But I
Speaker 1: needed one more thing. I needed to convince my wife
Speaker 1: Amber to make an appearance. I see, and I got her.
Speaker 1: Here she is at the end. You know. Putting the
Speaker 1: songs in order on an album is called sequencing. It's
Speaker 1: kind of a lost art. It used to be really
Speaker 1: be important when the only way to consume music was
Speaker 1: on an album starting at number one and going all
Speaker 1: the way down the bottom. It's not like that anymore.
Speaker 1: Because of streaming. You could pick the single that you
Speaker 1: want and you play them all out of order, so
Speaker 1: the sequence doesn't matter as much. But it does to me.
Speaker 1: And maybe I'm just old school, but I still think
Speaker 1: it's important on what songs go and what order on
Speaker 1: this album. I took a piece of paper and I
Speaker 1: wrote fourteen titles on it, and I cut them into
Speaker 1: four fourteen different rectangles, put them on the table, and
Speaker 1: then move the order around until I found the right
Speaker 1: order of moments, right the peaks and valleys of the
Speaker 1: story that I wanted to be told, whether it was
Speaker 1: music or lyrics. The order is very specific. I put
Speaker 1: it there on purpose. I wrote in the album notes
Speaker 1: on this record that a few of these songs will
Speaker 1: be heard by many, and many of these songs will
Speaker 1: be heard by only a few. And that's okay. That's
Speaker 1: something I've accepted because that's the reality of the world
Speaker 1: that we live in today. People want one single, maybe two,
Speaker 1: and they don't consume the record. But if you did,
Speaker 1: and if you listen to the whole album, and if
Speaker 1: you listened in order, you're one of the rare few,
Speaker 1: and you're someone close to my heart. Thank you for that,
Speaker 1: and I really hope you enjoy it. We been lost
Speaker 1: in streets and me on a concrete cree then in
Speaker 1: somewhere up there is a sky full of stars, but
Speaker 1: we can't see Homan. Enough is enough. Let's pack up
Speaker 1: in point this truck where the moon shines down on
Speaker 1: a little tin move too, cabin in the pines and
Speaker 1: the joy sound. It's just me and you setting too
Speaker 1: large offside. Let's move we out where the black side fens,
Speaker 1: where it takes my time to get us in the paradise.
Speaker 1: There's a little house and a battery life at the
Speaker 1: end of a four wheel drive. Or here's a moment
Speaker 1: on the album called four wheel Drive, and it really
Speaker 1: speaks to that longing to get out, to get away
Speaker 1: from the creeld and to start over. I love the
Speaker 1: piece that it brings a thinking about this cabin out
Speaker 1: in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I wrote
Speaker 1: it with Frank Rogers and Mike Fiorentino in College Station, Texas.
Speaker 1: This was Frank Rogers saying, man, what if we have
Speaker 1: a song called four wheel drive? And I said, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not really interested in a song called four wheel drive.
Speaker 1: Haven't we already done that. We've had a backgroud song,
Speaker 1: we have a lot of songs like that. And he
Speaker 1: get says, no, no no, no, no, it's not about a
Speaker 1: four wheel drive truck. This is about a house that's
Speaker 1: out somewhere so far off the beaten path that you
Speaker 1: need four wheel drive to get there. But the hook
Speaker 1: is referring to the driveway the house at the end
Speaker 1: of a four wheel drive. I thought that was so cool.
Speaker 1: I got out my guitar and I started playing the
Speaker 1: little lick da you know, and it became the thing.
Speaker 1: And at the very end, if you listen close enough,
Speaker 1: I talked to Amber into singing one more time. Here
Speaker 1: it is four wheel drive at the end of a
Speaker 1: four weeks trn boy Slave, little Fine wait to dip back.
Speaker 1: Take me to the end of the four wheel bang
Speaker 1: take me. I'm glad I'm doing this podcast. It reminds
Speaker 1: me that I love these songs. I know that sounds funny,
Speaker 1: but not to get caught up in music business and
Speaker 1: industry and I forget that. The reason I'm doing all
Speaker 1: this is because I love these songs, and I hope
Speaker 1: that you love them too, And I hope that by
Speaker 1: me talking about it and explaining them helps you understand
Speaker 1: them on a deeper level. And that's pretty cool. Moving
Speaker 1: on to track twelve, this one has the most different
Speaker 1: path of any of the other creations on this record.
Speaker 1: Now there's four writers on this song. I'm one of them,
Speaker 1: but I was never in the same room with any
Speaker 1: of them at any point of writing this song. Jordan Schmidt,
Speaker 1: a member of SUOP, had been working on the song
Speaker 1: called Repping My Roots. He emailed me what he'd been
Speaker 1: working on and he said, hey, man, I was thinking
Speaker 1: about you when I was writing this song. It kind
Speaker 1: of feels like something you would do. What do you think,
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I didn't listen to it
Speaker 1: right away. It took a while, and then my brother
Speaker 1: Tyler heard it and he said, hey, man, that song
Speaker 1: Wrapping my Roots, Man, I think you could do that.
Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, let me dig into it.
Speaker 1: So I pulled it up. I listened to it, and
Speaker 1: immediately I started envisioning my version of the song, my
Speaker 1: lyrics of the song, which was a completely new second
Speaker 1: verse full of new lines in the chorus, and a
Speaker 1: new first verse. So you know, he got to this
Speaker 1: point where I'm thinking, I'm about to change this whole song.
Speaker 1: I hope these guys, the other three writers, aren't going
Speaker 1: to be mad. But the compromise is that if I
Speaker 1: make it my song, then I can cut it, put
Speaker 1: on the album and if I don't cut it, then
Speaker 1: they could have their version back and go pitch it
Speaker 1: to anybody else they want to. So here I am
Speaker 1: sat in the back of the bus and I pulled
Speaker 1: up the microphone and I didn't even have to use
Speaker 1: a pen and paper. It was just all in my head.
Speaker 1: I turned on the mic and I started singing, and
Speaker 1: I sang my version sent it to Jordan and he said, dude,
Speaker 1: that sounds like a smash, and I was relieved. I
Speaker 1: were that read and wide on a Friday night, when
Speaker 1: my hometown takes the field, I say, yes, sir, Yes,
Speaker 1: ma'am trying to beat the bench man. That's how I feel.
Speaker 1: No matter where my heart runs, I remember where I
Speaker 1: came from. Still got that rais ride, that's small down
Speaker 1: bride that flag red, blat and blue. Got that trust
Speaker 1: from my handshake. Thats from a long base, hard work gone,
Speaker 1: my boots. It's those friends still don't got with me?
Speaker 1: Is that down? It mean those memories still don't got
Speaker 1: a feezing me? Yeah? I got a piece of ban too.
Speaker 1: In everything I do, fpen my rooms. I'm reveen my room.
Speaker 1: I love it red and white from my old high
Speaker 1: school football team made this song my grandpa's Les Paul guitar,
Speaker 1: my dad's old truck I fixed up when I was sixteen,
Speaker 1: And I love that we talk about trust from a handshake,
Speaker 1: which is something that's so important to me. You can
Speaker 1: learn so much from a handshake. I love all the
Speaker 1: images that at colored are wrapping my roots. It's those
Speaker 1: friends still don't got with me. It's that down it made,
Speaker 1: those memories. Still don't got a feezing me. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: got a piece of bin too. In everything I do,
Speaker 1: besides playing all these songs, I feel like I need
Speaker 1: to also explain the cover of this album, the cover
Speaker 1: of When the Good Guys Win, because it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different for me. It's two gloves, two work gloves.
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, black and white laying on
Speaker 1: a table, and a lot of you are probably thinking,
Speaker 1: what the heck did the gloves mean? Well, let me
Speaker 1: tell you. We were in New Mexico. This was actually
Speaker 1: the day before I went to Riodoso when I heard
Speaker 1: everybody Lives remember that story. Well, we went to New
Speaker 1: Mexico to shoot the album cover, to shoot the pictures,
Speaker 1: and we got with our favorite photographer, Eric Ryan Anderson,
Speaker 1: my brother and I and we went out to the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere and we started snapping away, taking some
Speaker 1: pictures that we hoped would be the cover of this album.
Speaker 1: When we got back, we looked at him and we
Speaker 1: kind of got with our graphic designer and we put
Speaker 1: some things together and we put the you know my
Speaker 1: name on there, and we laid it out and we
Speaker 1: had about three different choices of what could have been
Speaker 1: the album cover, all with my face on it, and
Speaker 1: you know, they were okay. I could have gone with
Speaker 1: any of the three. And I told Tyler, I said,
Speaker 1: you name it, that it could be. Okay, it looks
Speaker 1: like another Granger album, but I wondered if there was
Speaker 1: something more, something cooler. And I started thinking that night,
Speaker 1: and I started thinking, you know, my parents. My parents'
Speaker 1: place is out in central Texas. My mom lives on
Speaker 1: a small cattle ranch. When dad passed away in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: we got Eric Ryan Anderson, the photographer, to come out
Speaker 1: there and to shoot a bunch of pictures, just iconic
Speaker 1: images from my dad. You know, his tractor, his hats,
Speaker 1: his tools, his work bench, his grape vines that he
Speaker 1: used to make mustanger rape jelly with all kinds of
Speaker 1: things that were just special to my family. But as
Speaker 1: I started thinking about these images, I told Tyler, my brother,
Speaker 1: I said, what if what if the album cover is
Speaker 1: one of these What if it's the gloves? Like, what
Speaker 1: what better way to represent the hard work on an
Speaker 1: album than my dad's work gloves. Of course, he he
Speaker 1: would be He would say, Granger, why are you using
Speaker 1: these old work gloves for your album cover? He would
Speaker 1: he wouldn't think that made any sense. But it's special
Speaker 1: to me. And then when the when the album title became,
Speaker 1: when the good Guys Win, And now I look at
Speaker 1: that title and I see my dad's gloves when the
Speaker 1: good Guys win, man, that makes it, That makes it personal,
Speaker 1: That makes it special to me. And I also hope
Speaker 1: that by seeing the gloves, it helps separate it from
Speaker 1: the other albums I've made in the past, and you'll
Speaker 1: remember it by that. And if you're one of the
Speaker 1: few that actually buys this record and actually has a
Speaker 1: physical copy, then you can open it up and you
Speaker 1: could see a lot of these other images I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: The headlights from Da Tractor is the CD itself, you
Speaker 1: could see one of his old fencing tools. You know
Speaker 1: you when you open up the cover, and this album
Speaker 1: is a piece of me, but it's also a piece
Speaker 1: of my family. That makes it special. I got one
Speaker 1: for you. Don't tread on me. I love that. Why
Speaker 1: that's Arl Dibbles because I like it because you look
Speaker 1: funny in the costume. Well, it's not a costume, that's
Speaker 1: a that's Rold Dibbles Junior. That's what he wears. You
Speaker 1: look funny, Lincoln, What do you think I look funny
Speaker 1: in that quote? Well, whatever your opinion is about his
Speaker 1: overalls and muddy boots. Track number thirteen features an old
Speaker 1: alter ego of mine named Earl Dibbles Junior. Now, the
Speaker 1: challenge with writing a new Earl song is always where
Speaker 1: do we go from here? Have we not already covered
Speaker 1: at all? With Earl? He's a simple man. And it
Speaker 1: was my tour manager, Chris that kind of sparked this
Speaker 1: whole idea. He said, man, what if the title was
Speaker 1: come and take it like the old revolutionary War in Texas?
Speaker 1: Revolution slogans you know the flags and people bring to
Speaker 1: our show all the time. And I said, dude, that
Speaker 1: is perfect and we'll use it. But there's a slogan
Speaker 1: even closer to Earl's heart than that, don't tread on me.
Speaker 1: I'm a survivor, you damn right. I'm a fighter. I'm
Speaker 1: a big bukiding trut I'm bringin ain't you. You're discaple,
Speaker 1: So don't you be offended when Granddad needs defended this
Speaker 1: bag I'm waven says, I'm staying ring. Don't tread on me, No,
Speaker 1: don't tread on me. No. We went in the studio
Speaker 1: and cut it with the loudest guitars and the loudest
Speaker 1: drums we could possibly do, because that is what Earl does,
Speaker 1: and like anything Earl does, don't dig too deep on
Speaker 1: this one. It's nothing but fun. It's the anthem, it's
Speaker 1: the I don't cry ye yee and don't tread on
Speaker 1: Me are synonymous. It's the same thing. They go hand
Speaker 1: in hand together, peas in a pod. It's like if
Speaker 1: you have one tattoo, you might as well get the
Speaker 1: other on the same arm. There's fourteen songs on this album.
Speaker 1: You know which one's my favorite. Don't tread on Me, No,
Speaker 1: tread on me Ye. In the past, when I've had
Speaker 1: Earl songs on records, it's always the last song. That's
Speaker 1: not the case for this one. I felt like there
Speaker 1: was one more message that needed to be heard, one
Speaker 1: more idea that needed to be consumed before the book
Speaker 1: was closed. I was on tour in Connecticut last year
Speaker 1: with Frank Rogers, just me and him were sitting in
Speaker 1: the back of the bus, and he said, can I
Speaker 1: talk to you about it? A little idea that I've
Speaker 1: had about a song. I don't know if you'll like
Speaker 1: it or not. In fact, I don't know if anyone
Speaker 1: would like this for a song. But I was in
Speaker 1: New York City a few days ago and I was
Speaker 1: up in the hotel and I was looking down out
Speaker 1: of the window. I saw all these people and all
Speaker 1: these cars and crazy neon lights. Everyone was in a hurry.
Speaker 1: And the first thought that came to my head was
Speaker 1: we're living in a fast food world, dying for a
Speaker 1: home cooked meal. I said, oh my god, Frank, I
Speaker 1: want to write that song right now. And the song
Speaker 1: we finished was beautiful and it's never going to be
Speaker 1: a big radio hit, but it's a story I needed
Speaker 1: to tell. This city's moving faster than the speed of
Speaker 1: me on light. Night turns in day, and then it
Speaker 1: turns back in tonight without rest. I guess that's what
Speaker 1: we wanted. And it's a fast food world running in
Speaker 1: a gunning twenty four seven three sixty five. Order it
Speaker 1: up and get what you like. Yeah, surely is something,
Speaker 1: but here's the deal. Nothing's read. It's fast food world
Speaker 1: dying for a home cooked I'll hit the podcast with
Speaker 1: that thought. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you
Speaker 1: enjoy when the good guys win as much as I
Speaker 1: did make in it Lincoln and London. Do you got guys,
Speaker 1: have anything else to say? Thank you everybody for listening
Speaker 1: to this album, and I hope you really like it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you everybody. Welcome to this album. What did you like? Say?
Speaker 1: That was perfect? Buddy, Welcome to this album. We'll leave
Speaker 1: it at that. Love you guys, Bye bye bye bye
Speaker 1: bye bye