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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a

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Speaker 2: Walk Nashville. I hope everyone is having a great summer.

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Speaker 2: Give us a follow on Instagram at Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: You can find us there. And you know, we talked

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Speaker 2: to Kelly Lange and now today we're going to talk

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Speaker 2: to her husband, TG Shepherd. I also got to sit

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Speaker 2: down with him. Did you know that he left home

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Speaker 2: at the age of fifteen in West Tennessee to pursue

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Speaker 2: a career in Memphis. He initially recorded pop music and

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Speaker 2: toured as an opening act for groups like The Beach Boys,

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Speaker 2: and then eventually he had a close friendship with Elvis Presley.

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Speaker 2: He adopted the stage name TG Shepherd around nineteen seventy four,

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Speaker 2: and his very first single, Devil in the Bottle, It

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Speaker 2: went straight to number one in nineteen teen seventy five. Wow.

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Speaker 3: TG.

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Speaker 2: Shepherd has been in Nashville for a long time, and

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Speaker 2: today he is going to take us through Nashville music history.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer

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Speaker 1: songwriter Sarah Harrelson.

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Speaker 4: Hi, listeners, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of the

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Speaker 4: Ticket Walk Nashville Podcast, and today we are taking a

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Speaker 4: walk with a true legend of country music, a man

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Speaker 4: who has spent five decades at the top of the charts,

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Speaker 4: and this year we are celebrating a massive triple milestone

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Speaker 4: in his career, the fiftieth anniversary of landmark albums Motels

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Speaker 4: and Memories and Solitary Man, as well as the forty

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Speaker 4: fifth anniversary of the iconic crossover smash I Loved Him Everyone, TG.

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Speaker 5: Thank you so much for being podcast today.

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Speaker 3: That's wow. What intro? Where do I send a check? Well,

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Speaker 3: it's been Sarah.

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Speaker 6: It's been a heck of a ride, I mean. And

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Speaker 6: to still be here like today, gusting with you all

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Speaker 6: these years later. I never would have dreamed in my

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Speaker 6: life that fifty years later I'd still be here doing

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Speaker 6: this and still on tour every week.

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Speaker 3: It's incredible.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, you continue to tour release music.

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Speaker 5: As I mentioned, this year's the forty fifth anniversary of

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Speaker 5: your hit I Loved Them Everyone.

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Speaker 7: What was it about that specific song that you think

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Speaker 7: allowed it to cross the gap and bridge country fans

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Speaker 7: and pop audiences together.

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Speaker 6: Musically or melodically. When you heard that song, it was

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Speaker 6: in a minor key when it started.

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Speaker 3: That caught your ear.

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Speaker 6: Because it was a little different than other songs you

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Speaker 6: would hear, and it was just.

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Speaker 3: With me.

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Speaker 6: When I get ready to record songs, I always try

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Speaker 6: to pick songs that hooked me melodically, and then I

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Speaker 6: take the time to listen to the words to make

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Speaker 6: sure they connect. But that melody has got to be there,

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Speaker 6: that melody that you catch yourself whistling or humming through

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Speaker 6: the day after hearing a song a few times, you know.

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Speaker 6: Funny thing about loved them everyone. I remember the day

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Speaker 6: that we left the studio. I remember saying to myself,

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Speaker 6: I believe we hooked magic today.

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Speaker 3: It was just something that I felt, and I just

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Speaker 3: in my gut, I.

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Speaker 6: Knew that we had cut something that was going to

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Speaker 6: alter my life, and it did.

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Speaker 3: That was my first big, big crossoverly Yeah, so it

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Speaker 3: was one of the little songs you know, we were

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Speaker 3: very fortunate to have.

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Speaker 5: I definitely love that song. And nineteen seventy five, that

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Speaker 5: was a monumental year for you, with motels and memories

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Speaker 5: and solitary. Man, when you looked back at that one

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Speaker 5: doow of time, what was the energy like in Nashville

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Speaker 5: and did you have an inkling that those records would

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Speaker 5: be celebrated you knows a century later?

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Speaker 6: Oh gosh, no, I never thought my career of lasts

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Speaker 6: more than a couple of years.

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Speaker 3: Uh. Well, Neil diamond was a friend, and.

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Speaker 6: That song was always one that I love, Solitary Maid

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Speaker 6: and Motails and Memories. There's a there's a story behind

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Speaker 6: every song, Motils and Memories. I hear a knock on

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Speaker 6: my door one night in Memphis when I was living there,

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Speaker 6: and the guy was standing there and he said, Uh,

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Speaker 6: I'm Don Miller, and he said, I am a high

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Speaker 6: school teacher or high school principle, and I've written a

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Speaker 6: song that I think they would be ahead for you.

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Speaker 6: And normally I wouldn't invite a stranger into my house

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Speaker 6: to hear a song. Yeah, but something told me to

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Speaker 6: invite him, and I invited him in, and I heard

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Speaker 6: Motels and Memories and I said, you've written the number

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Speaker 6: one record.

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Speaker 3: I recorded it, and sure enough it was number one.

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Speaker 6: Of course, Solitary Man was just one of my favorites

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Speaker 6: for years.

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Speaker 3: With Neil Diamonds.

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Speaker 6: I had to do a remake on that, but it's

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Speaker 6: exciting to still be able to celebrate that part of

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Speaker 6: my life and career all these years later.

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Speaker 5: It's such an incredible story. And as you mentioned, you're

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Speaker 5: still very actively touring with new shows being added.

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Speaker 2: At your website.

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Speaker 5: What is it about the live performance aspect that keeps

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Speaker 5: you energized for the road after all these years?

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Speaker 6: You know when you stand on stage after doing it

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Speaker 6: for fifty years and you look out and you see

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Speaker 6: the Crown singing your songs back to you that were

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Speaker 6: number one before they were born.

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Speaker 3: So that is a miracle.

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Speaker 6: Then, I'm sure you see it when somebody assist what

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Speaker 6: is longevity in an artist's career?

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Speaker 3: That is longevity.

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Speaker 6: That's what creates longevity is when you've got people and

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Speaker 6: young people in their teens that are singing your songs

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Speaker 6: that are forty and forty five years old. So that

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Speaker 6: keeps me energizing, keeps me going, and makes me have

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Speaker 6: more fun now than I've ever had in my life.

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Speaker 6: On say, I love perform I hate the traveling, but

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Speaker 6: I love performing.

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Speaker 7: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's so special that you still get to tour

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Speaker 5: and you also continue to record and perform some of

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Speaker 5: these shows with your wife Kelly Lang. You have had

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Speaker 5: and you recently released a do at Christmas album last

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Speaker 5: year together, titled Tender Tennessee Christmas. What's your favorite Christmas

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Speaker 5: song to performed together.

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Speaker 6: I kind of like, uh, Christmas would withoutue.

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Speaker 3: A song that she wrote. But I kind of like

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Speaker 3: the standards too.

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Speaker 6: I mean, I've always have yourself am Merry Little Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I've always loved that one.

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Speaker 6: It's hard to pick one because it's all in the

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Speaker 6: fabric of my life as a.

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Speaker 3: Child, you know, hearing those songs.

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Speaker 6: But we we Tender Tennessee Christmas is probably one of

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Speaker 6: my favorites, which is the title of the You know,

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Speaker 6: funny thing is we shot the video for that first single,

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Speaker 6: Johnny Cash cabin over on his property and it was

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Speaker 6: just a hoot.

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Speaker 3: I can almost feel Johnny Cash in the room. It

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Speaker 3: was weird.

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Speaker 5: But it has to be so special performing and recording

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Speaker 5: music together. As someone who has navigated the industry through

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Speaker 5: vinyl and cassettes and CDs and now streaming, what do

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Speaker 5: you think is the most important thing that hasn't changed

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Speaker 5: about making a great country record?

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Speaker 3: Good questioned me, That's a great question.

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Speaker 6: Everybody's ever asked me that what hasn't changed is the heart.

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Speaker 6: I think that goes into when a performer is singing

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Speaker 6: a song. I think the people out there who are

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Speaker 6: listening and know if your heart's in it, are you

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Speaker 6: just singing it for the buck?

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Speaker 3: Are you just singing it to be singing it?

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Speaker 6: That part to me, has it changed I every song

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Speaker 6: I sing or every word that comes out of my mouth,

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Speaker 6: I truly mean because I'm afforded a great luxury of

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Speaker 6: having a platform to be heard, and the people deserve

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Speaker 6: for me to be honest with them when they hear me,

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Speaker 6: to really believe what I'm singing is real.

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Speaker 3: And so that's one thing that as they changed and

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Speaker 3: they'll never change for me.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, that's great.

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Speaker 5: I definitely agree that authenticity is so important no matter

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Speaker 5: what platform is.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, TG, thank you so much for being on

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Speaker 5: taking a walk in Nashville today. My last question for

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Speaker 5: you if we were to take a walk through one

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Speaker 5: specific era of Nashville seventies, eighties, nineties, or today, which

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Speaker 5: decade would you like to revisit for an afternoon and

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Speaker 5: who would you want to run into on music Row.

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Speaker 3: It'd be the seventies.

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Speaker 6: I'd want to run into the studio and see Wayland

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Speaker 6: sitting behind.

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Speaker 3: The console recording.

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Speaker 6: I'd like to run into another studio and maybe see

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Speaker 6: Christofferson singing and writing one of his monster hits. That

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Speaker 6: was a very magical era that the seventies on Music

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Speaker 6: Row when it.

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Speaker 3: Was Music Row. Of course, Music Row as we.

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Speaker 6: Knew now gone skyscrapers and the condos and office buildings.

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Speaker 6: So I'd say the seventies is probably the time that meant.

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Speaker 3: The most of me and I reminisce the most. Whales.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that and taking us

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Speaker 5: back in time today.

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Speaker 7: We are looking forward to your.

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Speaker 5: Upcoming shows and new music. TG Sheppard, thank you again

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Speaker 5: for being here today.

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Speaker 3: Oh Sar, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.

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Speaker 1: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions,

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Speaker 1: Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman,

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Speaker 1: and Take It a Walk hosted by Yours Truly buzz Night.

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Speaker 1: All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are

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Speaker 1: part of the iHeart podcast network