WEBVTT - The World Isn't Flat 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.599 What's up. It's Granger Smith. This is the Granger Smith Podcast, 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.000 Episode six. If you got a question for me that 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.560 you would like me to answer in depth on a podcast, 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:27.960 and go ahead and tweet me at Granger Smith and 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.159 hashtag Granger Smith podcast. I could search for that. You 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.839 type your question and I'll get it answered. Thank you 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:38.040 guys for listening. In episode one, I started talking about 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.360 how I became a fan of music, which was the 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.640 reason I started this crazy journey, because I was a 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.879 fan first. But what you need to understand is that 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.839 my journey was a little bit different, a little bit unorthodox, 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.880 from a lot of other country artists. I got my 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.360 start on the road over a decade of beating up 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.560 honky tonks and dance halls and trying to make one 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:03.640 fan of the time, as opposed to staying in Nashville 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.160 and writing songs and creating a buzz within the industry. Now, 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.880 there's a reason that I did that. There's a reason 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.039 that my path drastically changed because I was living in 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.160 Nashville and I was on the songwriting path. And by 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.240 the way, neither way is right or wrong, but there 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.800 was a couple of events that led me in the 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:25.000 opposite direction. There's even a place that helped me make 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.240 my mind up, and I should probably thank them, but 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.240 I'll never support them again because they exploit the dreams 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.040 of young country singers, and I guess I'll talk about 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:38.480 that here we go. You hear that, Yeah, that's the 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.680 sound of nothing. That's the sound of a lonely quiet 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.800 hotel room. And I kind of welcome the quiet because 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.880 we're we're in the middle of a lot of craziness 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.560 right now. Luke Bryan, who we're on tour with, is 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.160 currently doing his farm tour, so we're not on that 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.640 part of his tour. So in the meantime, we're doing 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.520 what we call flight dates. That means we we fly 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.080 commercially to all these different cities and then we put 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.040 on a show with rented gear. Let me give you 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.880 a window into this craziness. Pulling out my phone looking 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.120 at my schedule. Yesterday we were in Tampa, Florida. We 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.919 drove to O Calla, Florida. Today, Nashville, Tennessee, then Mobile, Alabama, 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:23.480 home for a day, then Westfield, Massachusetts, Norfolk, Virginia, Boston, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:31.360 mass Fort Collins, Colorado, Indianapolis, Indiana, home for a day Perry, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.640 Green Bay, Wisconsin. And then finally we fly out to Fresno, California, 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:37.440 where we're going to meet the buses and they're going 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.440 to take three or four days to drive out there 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.240 on their own. We play three days in California with 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.680 Luke Bryan home for four and then I'm gone for 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.000 thirty one days. That will be the longest I've ever 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.160 been gone as a musician from home. Thirty one days 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:58.840 in the US. That's insanity. That's going to be me 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.600 living a lot on faith time, talking to my three 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.640 little ones and my wife. It's not easy. It's not 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.359 the glamorous life that you might think it is. It's 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.440 a lot of missing home, which is probably part of 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.600 what inspires me and the guys to be better, to 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.240 be better versions of ourself, because we have that passion 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.080 to win, because we better not lose. If we're using 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.400 this much time away from home, we can't lose. We 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.880 got to be at our best right. A lot of 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.320 this craziness is happening because I have a brand new 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.280 album coming out on October twenty seventh. It's called When 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.640 the Good Guys Win And If you don't mind before 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.080 anyone else hears it. I would like to play a 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.880 little bit of this record exclusively right now, right here 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.400 on this podcast. Here's a snippet, so I don't get 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.000 in trouble, but this is the title track, When the 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.360 Good Guys Win. He's a greasy ranch turning on a 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.280 big black Chevrolet, first in, last out every day. He's 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.280 a mega give a dollar if you need me hotter 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:07.400 kind of good old boy. There's a single white trailer, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.120 couple lakers on the edge of town front or sun 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.080 going down and Matt Bruded Banks swinging and the swing 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.880 like a dream is where it is ring. Don't you 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.560 love it? When the Good Guys? When? Don't you love it? 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.880 When a ship comes in? Yeah? Man, every now and 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:32.640 then what goes around comes around again? Don't you live? 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.520 A little long shot? Prayer? Und your dog on a 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.880 hill of a tailor. He wants a kiss and she 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.920 leans in. Don't you love him? Win? The good Guys win? 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:47.480 And there you have it. I hope you guys like 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:49.880 this album as much as I enjoyed making it, and 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:51.720 I'll be I'll be playing a lot more of it 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.200 before October twenty seventh, when it comes out. You know, 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.760 things weren't always this crazy, quite the opposite. When when 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.599 I first started, I was a rocky road Let me 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:15.599 tell you about that. So I was a teenager. I 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:17.880 had an album out. One album. I had ten songs. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.880 It was called Waiting On Forever. I was a sophomore 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.440 at Texas A and M University. I was in the 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.039 core cadets there, and so I had I had friends, 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.240 I had a built in fan base already, and the 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.919 only thing I didn't have was a band. So I 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:36.960 went to the school paper and I put out an 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:41.360 ad and it said country singer needs country band, serious 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.560 gigs in line. And I was truthful about everything except 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.000 for the serious gigs in line. I didn't have any gigs. 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:48.800 But I figured if I could get a band, if 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.360 we could find a place to practice and rehearse and 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.200 play some of these songs off at this album, and 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.960 we'd be off to the races. I ended up meeting 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.560 a bunch of the guys from that ad. Started with 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.000 a keyboard player, and then we found a guitar player, 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.279 and then one of my friends that kind of knew guitar, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.080 then he learned bass. So we weren't the best band, 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.000 but we were able to play the songs well enough 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.000 to go get us a gig. Now, the college station 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.240 music scene, it was good to me. I was able 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.520 to get a couple of local bar gigs. I met 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.680 some of the owners. They were very willing to have 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.560 us play their stage because when I came to play, 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.520 I brought all my friends and they would pile in 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.400 there and make the bar money. You know. That's the 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.600 way that I got my first publishing deal. We had 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.640 several companies from Nashville flying down interested in seeing me play, 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.640 and I ended up signing with EMI at the time. Now, 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.640 I went over this in my songwriting podcast. But I 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.520 left Texas A and M to go to Nashville to 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.719 write songs. What I didn't know was how much I 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.479 was gonna miss playing the songs live. And I hadn't 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.280 even really started yet. And it didn't take long in Nashville. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.080 And I don't know what came first, the lack of 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.840 success from my songwriting career at the time, or my 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.600 need to jump back on the stage. But I met 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.120 this guy named Trent Willman, and Trent and I became 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.720 great friends. He was a fellow Texan. We wrote a 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.360 lot of songs together, and he was starting a band. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.440 He had a house gig in Louisbourg, Tennessee, this place 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.559 called Big Gems Now where I fit in with Trent 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.440 and Big Gems is. I had been spending a lot 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.160 of my spare time after songwriting during the day learning 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.400 the steel guitar, the pedal steel guitar. I had a 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:41.560 lot of hours at home by myself. I always loved 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.280 the steel guitar and it was a passion of mine 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.120 to learn it. Now Trent knew that he had heard 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.840 me play just hanging around. He said, hey, man, you 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:57.680 want to be in my band. I said, yes, I do. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.600 I spent the night with Jim Beamon, Johnny Walker Red 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.280 woke up with a very train running through my head. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.520 I'm a bear man. I had a blast in that band. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.480 We called ourselves cow Camp. I actually turned twenty one 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.680 on stage at Big Gym's playing for Trent Now. These 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.640 days were very important to me for a couple of reasons. One, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.760 that was my first and only true experience as a 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.199 band member, not the front guy. I was learning how 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.920 to take directions and follow his set list. The other 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.800 really important thing was every night Trent let me sing 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.200 a couple of songs. So during this house gig, not 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.000 only did I learn a lot from watching Trent, but 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.480 I got to get up and practice a little myself too. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:49.600 Now you know a side note. You know who our 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.520 drummer was during that time. It was Chris Lee, who's 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:55.920 now my current tour manager. So as you can imagine, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.640 Chris knows a lot about me. He's seen many phases 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.400 of my life. In fact, let me call Chris real 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.520 quick and see if he has anything to say about 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:15.640 cal Camp. What's that? Brother? I just was gonna call 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.720 you real quick. Do you ever think about cow Camp? 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.160 I'm actually on the podcast right now talking about caw 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:32.280 Camp days. Hard to believe that you're a great stoke 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:37.160 guitar fighter back dude and you a drummer. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.200 even more so be a drummer. Yeah, I was just 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:42.920 talking on this podcast. So that's kind of where I 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.040 cut my teeth in the honky Tonk World, my one 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.200 and only time of being a band member and not 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.040 the front guy. Yeah. That's uh, that's caite a way 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.040 to cut your teeth. Because we drove an hour to 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.440 get there and then played for about five hours, taking 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.360 ten minute breaks between sets, and then we drove an 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:07.480 hour back home. Those were some regulous nights for sure. Yep, 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:15.800 I'll see you somewhere on Friday, Boston something West Springfield, Okay. 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.160 I had a great experience at big gyms, and it 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.520 lasted for a few years. I think what ended that 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.079 gig for me was Trent got a record deal on 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.360 Sony Records. He took off and went and put out 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.800 a big radio single and hit the road. And now 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.960 it was time for me to really focus on me 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.400 being a singer. And that's when I made my best 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.199 worst decision at the time of my career. I turned 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:57.080 my focus to downtown Nashville, Broadway Street, broadways, cutthroat singers, 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:01.120 guitar players, musicians, songwriters, all trying to make a name 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.960 for themselves, to get a record deal or end up 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.800 on somebody's big tour. You've seen it. It's a big 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.079 tourist attraction in Nashville. There's a bar on every corner, 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.040 and every one of them has live music seven days 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.559 a week, starting at ten am, going all the way 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.680 to two am. It's four hour shifts with no breaks 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.120 for the bands, and they're playing only for tips. At first, 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.160 I loved it. Challenge accepted. Right, you have to stand out. 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.880 You have to have something about you that draws people 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.679 in more than the guy down the street. Otherwise you're 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.160 not gonna get customers. You're not gonna get people standing 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.920 and there watching you play, and you're not gonna get tips. 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.240 Now I won't name the name, but it's the Purple 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.120 Bar on that street, and that's where I started. And 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.320 I played three gigs per week on that stage, Monday 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.720 morning at ten am to two pm, Wednesday afternoon two 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.760 pm to six pm, and Friday six pm to ten pm. 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.600 These shows were every week of the year, so my 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.200 Monday morning gig was just me and a guitar. The 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.560 only other person in the room during that hour was 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.360 the bartender because people aren't drinking beer at ten am, 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.360 usually on a Monday morning. But we always left the 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.000 doors open, even on the cold months, because God forbid, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.040 some tourist might be walking down the street that wants 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:25.600 to hear some music. I don't think there's ever been 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.080 another season of my career that I've been more excited 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.360 to tell you about. More things. We've got Yee Energy, 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.959 the energy drink that me and my brothers created that 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.800 I call the unofficial sponsor of this podcast. We have 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:40.920 a whole new apparel line coming out in the fall. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.280 We have a brand new album called When the Good 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.559 Guys Win, releases October twenty seven. Right after that, we're 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.599 gonna start a headlining tour called the Don't Tread On 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.360 Me Tour, and we're probably coming to a city or 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.320 town near you. Oh when there's this guy named Earl 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.319 Dibbles Junior, who I need to explain, by the way, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.680 one of these podcasts. But he has a new song 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.280 coming on this album and I cannot wait to show 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.320 you guys the music video that we made for it. 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.600 I realized that it is you, guys that allow me 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.120 to do what I do. Thank you for that support. 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.480 Back in the Purple Bar that I'll leave unnamed, the 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.440 owner is always on me. He's always on me about 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.280 the time that I wasted in between songs. He wanted 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.480 one song to end and another song to start right away. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.320 He didn't even want me to tell the band what 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.400 the next song was. He wanted the band just to 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.240 follow along because he didn't want any space for a 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.600 customer to have the opportunity to leave and go to 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.160 one of his competitors. He also had a big say 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.720 in the songs I was playing. He wanted the most 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:47.280 popular songs played all day repeated. Of course, no originals. 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.080 Don't even thinking about playing an original song, you know. 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.319 And I was okay with that, especially at the beginning, 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.840 because this wasn't about me playing my original music. This 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.480 was about me being on stage consistently in front of crowds. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.000 The crowds were all different. Sometimes I had to perform 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.839 in front of seven people, and then sometimes on a 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.199 Friday night it would be so packed you couldn't put 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.600 another person in there. And it was a good education 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:12.560 for me to learn how to put on a good 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.360 show no matter what, no matter what song I was playing, 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.199 or no matter who or how many people were watching. Now, 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.960 even though this was a great education, I still had 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.680 a little bit of a problem. I wasn't able to 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.800 pay the bills with these tips, and more importantly to me, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.200 I couldn't pay the band very well on the tips. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.320 Keep in mind, we had a tip jar and it 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.720 was all based on one dollar bills, so everyone on 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.920 the street, everyone in Broadway was asking for one dollar 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.560 bills tips. So one night I decided to change that 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.720 I started saying on the microphone this little slogan. I 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.200 would say, we have the best deal in town. We 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.600 will play any song you want for a twenty dollars bill. 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.720 And we acted like it was this that was a 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.520 huge bargain and they were getting a great deal, and 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.840 people would kind of chuckle and laugh. They knew, but 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.440 you know what, people started pulling these twenties out and 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.480 putting in the tip jar, and the band is they're 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.200 kind of getting jazzed up because they know we're all 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.200 splitting this four ways. At the end of the night, 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.480 we went backstage and we took this pickle jar at 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.560 the big tip jar, and we turned it upside down 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.760 and there was just twenties falling all out, wadded up, 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:24.800 and we were getting excited and we were unrolling these 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.280 twenties and counting them. Up ended up being four hundred 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.440 and eighty dollars divided four ways. That was one hundred 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.040 and twenty bucks each. That was about sixty or eighty 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.800 bucks more than we ever made in a single night. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.840 Of course, Chris Lee, my tour manager, is my drummer 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.280 at the time, and with this epic night on Broadway, 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.560 we decided to celebrate, so we hit the town bar 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.120 after bar after bar. The only thing I remember in 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.600 the aftermath of that night was that we ended up 0:15:55.720 --> 0:16:01.600 using every dollar that we made on beer. In fact, 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.880 I think Chris spent another additional three hundred bucks or so, 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.600 and then we were even more broke than we started. 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:13.600 But at least it's a good story. That was the 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.160 night that things changed between me and the Purple people. 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:19.840 You see, when I came back for the next show, 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.320 the owner who was never really on my side, I 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.600 was a pawn in his game. Well, he called me 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.880 up one day and he wanted to discuss this twenty 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.320 dollars a song thing, and he said, if you're going 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.320 to ask for twenty dollars a song, I'm going to 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:34.880 get a cut of it because this is my bar. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.600 I said, no way, man. If I'm going to ask 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.280 for it and somebody tips me twenty bucks out of 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.000 their pocket, that's for me and the band that's playing 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.560 the song, And that's not what he wanted to hear. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.320 I showed up that Friday ready to play like I 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.520 always did, and when I got there there was another 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.200 band loading in onto the stage, putting their stuff up there. 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.360 He had double booked me on purpose because he knew 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:04.720 that's all I had. All I had was that stage. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.240 I stormed into his office. I said, what the hell man? 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.960 He said, oh, well, I'm sorry. He played it off 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.920 like he had no idea. He goes, I'll tell you what, Granger, 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.520 I don't want things to go bad between us. So 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.960 I'm opening up a bar across the street, and I 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.040 would like you to play my grand opening. It's going 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.520 to be a big deal, so big that I'll actually 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.119 pay you one hundred bucks for you to split between 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.160 you and the band, and then you can keep whatever 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.120 tips you get on top of that. Okay, done, I'll 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.280 book it. I've never heard of him paying a band, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.879 but I'll take it. I need the money. So that 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.080 show rolls around. I go play it with the band. 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:42.960 After the show, I collect my tips and I go 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.120 to the bartender and I say, hey, I'm just here 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.720 to get my hundred bucks, and she goes, I don't 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.880 know what you're talking about. And I said, well, the 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.600 owner agreed that he was going to pay me a 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:54.520 hundred bucks if I played the show. And she said, well, 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:56.600 you're gonna have to talk to him about it. So 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.120 I went down there, and he said, man, I never 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:00.760 told you I was going to pay a hundred bucks. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.879 You know, it's tips only around here. Man. I was 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.800 so mad. That was the first time, straight to my face, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.080 a bar owner had lied to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:13.040 the last. It would happen many times after that. But 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.600 that's when I learned about what this business is. Sometimes 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.919 the dark side of it, screwing over an artist, a 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.919 starving artist. It's just I'm just trying to make a 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.720 few bucks to keep this stream alive, you know. So 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.120 I went home. I didn't have an argument. I went home, 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:37.160 and that Friday came, you know, my big Friday gig, 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.880 and I didn't show up on purpose. My phone rang, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.480 it was him, didn't answer. Rang again. I didn't answer, 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.080 and I was just hoping that minutes were going by 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.960 at six o'clock when all those customers would start leaving 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.080 because there wasn't a band playing, and he would have 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.040 to scramble to find somebody. I don't know what happened 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.480 after that. I never talked to him again. And you 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.240 could do whatever you want. I'm not gonna tell anybody 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.880 not to go there, but I'm not You're not gonna 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.200 see me there. But you know, that was an important 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.320 night for me. Something changed in my mind. I was 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.399 done with Nashville officially, and it wasn't the people, and 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.439 it wasn't music row, it wasn't all the reasons you 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:29.080 commonly hear it. I needed to get back on a stage, 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.600 a real stage where I could play my songs. I 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.239 had been writing a bunch. I had a bunch of 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.200 songs that I felt like were good enough to play 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.879 in front of an audience, and I needed that. I 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.359 needed Texas. I needed a real band. I needed to 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:48.640 go home and become the artist that I wanted to be. 0:19:54.440 --> 0:20:02.240 And then, really, it's been big to follow. It might 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:09.840 be the death of me today when he sayn the os, 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:16.600 the Poms didn't have a man, you ain't going nowhere. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:22.080 You're thinking that the word slash. I remember writing those 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.399 words driving in a U haul truck with all my 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:31.000 stuff from Nashville to Texas one rainy night, and it 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:37.840 was the best drive I've ever made. Even what's ironic 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.639 is before that, the best drive I ever made was 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:46.560 moving to Nashville. But now I was armed with knowledge 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:51.440 of the business, knowledge of the craft of songwriting, and 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.679 I was ready to take on the stage. I was 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.520 ready to start a band, a real band that was 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.920 going to play original music with me. And I did 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.000 just that. I put together a band. I moved to 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:08.000 College Station, Texas, lived on my uncle's couch, re enrolled 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.520 to Texas A and M. And people asked me when 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:13.960 did you get your start. Now, there's a couple answers. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.320 I could say when I first started playing guitar and 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.320 doing those North Texas oprys at home. I could say 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:22.920 when I got my first big songwriting gig in Nashville. 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.600 But to me, what really feels like the start is 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.600 this moment April two thousand and four, when I moved 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.880 back to Texas, started the band and began the journey 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.399 that I'm still on today. I went and bought a 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:39.280 little used trailer in an old PA system and hooked 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:41.439 it up to the back of my truck, piled in 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:43.720 the band, and we were armed and ready to play 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.280 any gig that we could possibly find. And that's what 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:50.480 we did, and it led to all kinds of crazy stuff. 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.040 I even got punched by a fan one time while 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:57.200 I was singing that feels like a whole new podcast. 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.640 That's probably gonna be on episode seven when I talk 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.679 about the Honky Song Journey. Thank y'all for listening. Happen 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:10.600 sack that out of the blue Sky listener bo last Yeah. 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:15.040 When it happens like that, nothing in Loones turns right 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.000 into you, Julie. All you can do just to keep 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:21.000 her around until the moon goes down in her back 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:24.680 at your house. One things to another, you loveing each 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.080 other and when looking you never look back. It happens 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:32.240 like that. Don't forget. You could ask me questions, tweet 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.439 me hashtag Greater Smith Podcast and I'll answer them on 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.800 the next one. Love you guys, thanks for listening.