Speaker 1: It's annoying, I'll say it. Thanks, No, it is. You're
Speaker 1: a little taller than you should be, you're a little
Speaker 1: more muscular than you should be, and you're just strikingly
Speaker 1: good looking. Sometimes it pisses me off. Thank you and
Speaker 1: good night. Yes, I know, I know.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 1: Today on the Bobbycast, Morgan Evans is here. You've seen
Speaker 1: the headlines, I've heard the song. Should probably watch everything
Speaker 1: unfold in real time. But today, for the first time,
Speaker 1: Morgan's actually going to talk about his side of the
Speaker 1: last few years, from a very public divorce to disappearing
Speaker 1: back home to Australia in therapy and rebuilding his life
Speaker 1: and making what might be his most personal record ever.
Speaker 1: I think it is. Now he's back with the brand
Speaker 1: new album Steell Talent out March twentieth, a new tour,
Speaker 1: and yes, a new love. Here he is unfiltered, honest
Speaker 1: and ready to talk. It is Morgan Evans. I feel
Speaker 1: like sometimes I want to text you, but then I
Speaker 1: look and see what time it is where you are
Speaker 1: at the time, and then it's like two in the
Speaker 1: morning because you're off in another country, and I don't
Speaker 1: text you. That's just my confession to you.
Speaker 3: As a friend, you should always text me.
Speaker 1: I don't like people texting me at one or two am,
Speaker 1: even though I have to do not disturb. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: I do wake up at night and check my phone sometimes,
Speaker 1: which is a bad habit. But I never did quite
Speaker 1: know where you are. And then you just you left
Speaker 1: for a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well I've been in Australia since Christmas.
Speaker 1: No, but you like left it felt like for years.
Speaker 2: Oh like left coming in to see you at the radio,
Speaker 2: sess that kind of thing you.
Speaker 1: Mad, Yeah, I just just you were just gone, yeah
Speaker 1: for a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Did you move move away from Nashville?
Speaker 3: No? No, we were on the road pretty much flat out.
Speaker 3: Like I remember.
Speaker 2: I think at the end of twenty two, I was like,
Speaker 2: I want to be so busy next year that I
Speaker 2: don't have time to think about my own life. And
Speaker 2: it turns out that people I was working with a
Speaker 2: really good at the jobs.
Speaker 3: So we just went hot.
Speaker 1: Ade you busy, You just went hot.
Speaker 2: And then I think at the end of that run,
Speaker 2: I think it was just important to kind of take
Speaker 2: some time to take stuck of life and actually just sort.
Speaker 3: Of take time creatively to make a record.
Speaker 2: I think after the first album that I put out here,
Speaker 2: it was just like on the run and everything was
Speaker 2: kind of made in between, and I actually didn't put
Speaker 2: out an album from twenty eighteen to like right now,
Speaker 2: And so I wanted this next thing to be a
Speaker 2: body of work that I was proud of and I
Speaker 2: love so much that I wanted to share with the
Speaker 2: world and come back and do all this kind of thing,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Okay, I just want to get to that iahwa Ska thing.
Speaker 1: Can I do that? Yeah? Can I go right to it?
Speaker 1: I'm just so curious. There you go.
Speaker 3: Is that in the press release or something? No? Did
Speaker 3: we talk about it?
Speaker 1: No? Oh, I just know about it.
Speaker 3: Oh, okay from Brett.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how I know.
Speaker 3: I talked about it a bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I'm so curious because I would love to
Speaker 1: do drugs. You know that's not considered like a regular drug.
Speaker 1: I just want to do any drug. I just okay,
Speaker 1: I just want to like feel free somehow, Like the
Speaker 1: closest I gets laughing gas And I had this tooth dentist. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have this tooth replaced. Dude, that's a freaking heaven.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like, sometimes I feel like I want to break my
Speaker 1: teeth so I can go and get laughing gas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I see, I've never had that. I've never done
Speaker 3: that before.
Speaker 1: Okay, but did you do did you do Ayahuascar?
Speaker 3: I did? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And do you say do is that the language? Do
Speaker 1: you do Ayahuascar?
Speaker 3: I think so?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, it's a it's like a comes in a
Speaker 2: liquid form. Nothing talk to me like I'm five, Well,
Speaker 2: I went to this place in Costa Rica and it's
Speaker 2: a I feel like there's probably more like informed people to.
Speaker 3: Talk about exactly what it is.
Speaker 2: But basically, it's a it's a liquid that's made from
Speaker 2: the combination of a couple of plants, and the active
Speaker 2: ingredient is d M T have you heard have you
Speaker 2: heard about that? And so the other ingredient in there
Speaker 2: that sort of makes it kind of like a slow release.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure people in the comments will correct me here. Effectively,
Speaker 2: that's kind of the the you know, technical description. But
Speaker 2: then yeah, you go along to these ceremonies. It's this
Speaker 2: sort of place that's made for it, like a retreat
Speaker 2: center or something, and yeah, every evening you go to
Speaker 2: this big building and the ceremony is held by a
Speaker 2: different sort of shaman or woman.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's the term even, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you should have go up and you you take
Speaker 2: a shot of this liquid, you drink it, yeah, and
Speaker 2: then you go and lie down and.
Speaker 3: See what happens. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I have friends that have used ketamine, okay for
Speaker 1: a lot of the reasons that I think I should
Speaker 1: use ketamine, and I I want to do a ketemine
Speaker 1: ayahuasca like smoothie. I don't know if that's that probably
Speaker 1: kill me, but I'm just always afraid when I get
Speaker 1: on something somebody is going to take a picture of
Speaker 1: my wiener. That is my that's my fear, Like, how
Speaker 1: do you seriously like it's like or it's like when
Speaker 1: I had to go get my head ankle surgery, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm going under, but I told my doctor
Speaker 1: I am petrified someone to take take a picture of
Speaker 1: my wiener. It's not even a weird wiener. I just
Speaker 1: think I'm that it's fitting that it's just so vulnerable.
Speaker 3: It is very vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I'm such a control freak, but I think
Speaker 1: that's why I've always said, and this is me not joking,
Speaker 1: I would love to do drugs or some sort of
Speaker 1: drug to get me to do. In the best way
Speaker 1: that I can explain it is this because I can't
Speaker 1: do that. My life. I've not been able to really
Speaker 1: master breathing deep and not being so tightly wound, okay,
Speaker 1: because of a lot of stuff get trauma, adult anxiety.
Speaker 1: So whenever it was like, man, I knew you had
Speaker 1: tried iyahuasca, I was like, I needn't know, Like what
Speaker 1: that felt like? How vulnerable that felt?
Speaker 3: Well, very vulnerable.
Speaker 2: I will say, the way that you just described what
Speaker 2: you're looking for, I would say, it's probably not.
Speaker 3: The best for that.
Speaker 1: It's not the best for that.
Speaker 2: No, because you do it in a group. There's quite
Speaker 2: a few people there, at least when I was doing it.
Speaker 2: Everyone has different experiences, but there was people I feel
Speaker 2: like I've done you know, I've spent a decent amount
Speaker 2: of time meditating you know part of this, Like the
Speaker 2: last few years, I would like try to learn how
Speaker 2: to do that. I went to this retreat for a
Speaker 2: weekend to do that as well, and I tried just
Speaker 2: about everything. We can get into it if you want,
Speaker 2: but I did. There was one lady at this Yahuascar
Speaker 2: retreat that was very tightly wound to the point where
Speaker 2: she was kind of like, this is the fifth time
Speaker 2: I've done it. Nothing's working. Nothing's working. And it is
Speaker 2: definitely one of those things that will work to a degree.
Speaker 2: But I think if you want to actually have a
Speaker 2: you know, positive or transformative experience, you need to be
Speaker 2: able to get into a state of.
Speaker 3: What will be will be.
Speaker 2: And I found the time that i'd spent meditating really
Speaker 2: helpful in that way because it was when I was
Speaker 2: sort of getting into that state that the actual you know,
Speaker 2: the medicine or the drug or whatever would actually take
Speaker 2: effect and be helpful.
Speaker 1: Drug maybe the wrong thing to call it. And if
Speaker 1: that's offensive to the Hyahuaska community.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to be I want to be not
Speaker 3: offensively that it was.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Well then what's the goal when you go
Speaker 1: to a place like that if it's not to just relax?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think just.
Speaker 1: Generally speaking, why would you go to Ayahaska?
Speaker 2: Well, so one of one of the reasons I went
Speaker 2: to this particular place is they they do a lot
Speaker 2: of like throughout the days, you can go to these
Speaker 2: kind of talks or lectures, and so they'll have like
Speaker 2: a neurosciences there and they'll explain the benefits of it
Speaker 2: and what's actually happening, or they'll have a therapist there
Speaker 2: and they'll talk about, well, hey.
Speaker 3: What's your experience.
Speaker 2: If you have this experience, maybe like allow this to
Speaker 2: happen or just go with this, or you know, do.
Speaker 1: You see things? Are you and I'm not joking, but
Speaker 1: are you like talking to things in your mind?
Speaker 2: I think everybody's experience is different, and it's a very
Speaker 2: hard thing to explain, and and it's not something i'd
Speaker 2: recommend to anybody. I think it's definitely like a last
Speaker 2: resort moment. And the moment that I went down there,
Speaker 2: I was in a point in my life where I
Speaker 2: was just like overwhelmed and confused, and it's like everything
Speaker 2: I thought was real.
Speaker 3: Was like not real, and it was just I was
Speaker 3: kind of down to find out anything. And I think
Speaker 3: at the end.
Speaker 2: Of it, people are there like for a search for
Speaker 2: meaning or purpose or to make sense of something. A
Speaker 2: lot of the conversations I were having with the people
Speaker 2: down there were around, you know, past traumas that they
Speaker 2: could go you know, and make sense of. And I
Speaker 2: think the best way I could describe, at least what
Speaker 2: happened to me during that was through kind of visual
Speaker 2: and like physical experiences. You were told this story or
Speaker 2: you have this experience of reliving things that have happened
Speaker 2: from different perspectives, almost like an out of body thing
Speaker 2: that you get to witness happen and you can kind
Speaker 2: of just take your person out of it, look at
Speaker 2: it objectively, and instead of being like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: that hurts so much, or oh my god, like I'm
Speaker 2: broken because of this, it's just like, oh no, that's
Speaker 2: what happened, and that's why, and now you're here and
Speaker 2: it's good that you know those things now and you're
Speaker 2: moving on.
Speaker 1: You took something from it.
Speaker 2: I think the way that I said it just then
Speaker 2: sounds really simple, but I think at the end of
Speaker 2: the day that is like turning pain into wisdom and
Speaker 2: then getting on with it.
Speaker 3: And at the end of that week everything felt lighter.
Speaker 3: For sure. It's been really helpful, and I have no
Speaker 3: desire to go do it again.
Speaker 2: Really, it was just a which is another thing I
Speaker 2: think is great about it. You know, I think it's
Speaker 2: still like unfolds and I kind of go back to
Speaker 2: the notes. So I would go home each night and
Speaker 2: like write down my experience, you know, and it's been
Speaker 2: a really good reset or like kind of I don't know,
Speaker 2: life navigation tool or something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've really thought about doing the ketamine here.
Speaker 3: The ketamine is a kind of you go into a
Speaker 3: doctor and they like give you.
Speaker 1: From my knowledge of it, because I have friends that
Speaker 1: have done it. Again, you need to be at a
Speaker 1: place where it's it's an option to hopefully get you
Speaker 1: to a healthier place. So it's not like I don't
Speaker 1: know what it's like to do crack, but it's not
Speaker 1: like doing crack. I don't know it's like to do crack,
Speaker 1: So I don't even know what it's not like. I
Speaker 1: don't know what, but it's not it's like a recreational thing.
Speaker 1: I guess is what I should We should get someone
Speaker 1: else into that one. I did have a show idea
Speaker 1: that I I can't do it because I just wouldn't
Speaker 1: do it, but I thought it would be the greatest
Speaker 1: TV show for me to do. A show called Bobby
Speaker 1: Does Drugs, and it was me trying drugs for the
Speaker 1: first time, every drug because I've tried nothing ever. I'm
Speaker 1: not even drinking alcohol. So I like every episode of
Speaker 1: like me drinking alcohol, me smoking weed. Let's try cocaine.
Speaker 1: Episode three, number four, we're doing crack and then just
Speaker 1: to watch and see what it does to me. Tell me,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't be I can't do it. I'll die. But
Speaker 1: wouldn't that be like a really interesting show?
Speaker 3: If you ever do this show, please let me do
Speaker 3: it with you.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't want to do it with me. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: let me do it. You would honestly, it's a funny idea.
Speaker 1: You you would pull me aside and go, don't do
Speaker 1: this show. As a friend, you would go, don't do it.
Speaker 1: But isn't that not a great concept? I love it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Bus Yes episode six, uh funnels cracked through his butt?
Speaker 1: Yeah well yeah, then we get harder jackass doing drugs.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, my friends that do have that have tried ketamine
Speaker 1: have done it for actual therapeutic reasons.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They would go to their psychiatrist. Their doctor would recommend
Speaker 1: they would go. I have two very close friends that
Speaker 1: have done it to a house. They like, take an
Speaker 1: uber to this house. I don't even drive. They are
Speaker 1: in a room. I don't know how the ketamine is done.
Speaker 1: If it's maybe yeah, lost los ange, I think is
Speaker 1: what it is. And the experience that they say is
Speaker 1: so macrom that they are able to see a little,
Speaker 1: like you said, themselves so much bigger than they are.
Speaker 1: But they're also going to places that are happy and sad,
Speaker 1: and they can look in the mirror and still tell
Speaker 1: it's like real life, like not Alice in Wonderland type stuff.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, they're able to have these crazy,
Speaker 1: crazy therapeutic trips, like I think that would be so great.
Speaker 1: I'm just such a control freak.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a I would say that that.
Speaker 2: Element of yourself that you're describing may impede experiences with
Speaker 2: psychedelic drugs or I don't know anything about ketamine, so
Speaker 2: maybe that too, maybe ketamine, because it's it's actually like drugs, drugs.
Speaker 1: Right, I'm we're gonna say again to the cameras, we
Speaker 1: don't know what we're clinically, we don't know what we're
Speaker 1: talking about. So allow us to have this conversation without
Speaker 1: being in the comments or anywhere saying we know, we
Speaker 1: don't know we're talking about. I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, well yeah, I'm not quick to speak on that,
Speaker 2: but I will say of all the people that I
Speaker 2: met at this retreat, I went by myself, which I
Speaker 2: all also I think is important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, flew down, stayed by yourself, the whole thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. It was like it was the end of
Speaker 3: the road thing.
Speaker 2: Man. It was like like I needed something, like I
Speaker 2: was desperately just looking for something to just like find
Speaker 2: some grounding. And I met all kinds of people there,
Speaker 2: like the lady that I mentioned who was like, why
Speaker 2: is in this working?
Speaker 3: Why is in this working?
Speaker 2: And then her actually her partner was a surgeon, and
Speaker 2: he was kind of, you.
Speaker 3: Know, she's dragged me down here, We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: And then a couple of days later he was like, wow,
Speaker 2: this is like a really kind of amazing transformative experience
Speaker 2: to people like me that had you know, really really
Speaker 2: great experiences.
Speaker 3: And then there was people that are like this is
Speaker 3: my sixth time I come every year or what you know.
Speaker 2: So there's all kinds of people that do it, and
Speaker 2: they're all looking for different things. But I think I
Speaker 2: essentially from my experience, it was a really positive one.
Speaker 2: But again, like I would never I didn't come back
Speaker 2: going like hey man, everyone should go do this, like
Speaker 2: it's a very intense, not an enjoyable experience, but the
Speaker 2: outcome is enjoyable.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 1: I did an intensive once, a five day intensive where
Speaker 1: I was I felt like I was at the end
Speaker 1: of my rope, where I think it had just been
Speaker 1: so many holidays in a row that I didn't have.
Speaker 1: I don't have family, really, and so all my friends
Speaker 1: then go to their families and I dedicated all my
Speaker 1: life to work, and that only goes so far. You
Speaker 1: reach a point eventually where you're like, what am I
Speaker 1: even doing if I can't have anyone to do it with?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: And so I went to place for five maybe six
Speaker 1: days they take your phone. I was staying in a cabin.
Speaker 1: There was no electricity in the cabin. There wasn't like
Speaker 1: the food hall, and much like you're saying, it sucked
Speaker 1: until it was over, and you're like, I just gained
Speaker 1: so much from that because I would be in therapy,
Speaker 1: a therapy part of it eight hours a day. Wow,
Speaker 1: so be four hours of break four hours one on
Speaker 1: one intense therapy where I don't I'm not a crier,
Speaker 1: and it's not because I'm not. It's not because I'm
Speaker 1: scared of like lack of masculinity. It's because I'm scared
Speaker 1: of vulnerability, weakness, right, I think that's why I don't cry,
Speaker 1: because I've always been I can't show people I'm weak
Speaker 1: because I'm weak, I'm a loser, and I can't. And
Speaker 1: I went to that. It just reminds me of what
Speaker 1: you're saying. It was very difficult. It was not fun,
Speaker 1: but it was really I remember driving home going I
Speaker 1: think it just gained more in that than I've gained
Speaker 1: in the last fifteen years of because I was at
Speaker 1: the end of my rope too, in a different way.
Speaker 1: And so I understand that because I would not do
Speaker 1: it again, but I'm glad I did. It was a
Speaker 1: lot of yours rooted in how public your divorce, even
Speaker 1: just like breakup slash divorce was. Is that where that
Speaker 1: root was rooted in?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was that and the personal side of it
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: And it would also stuck to be so far away
Speaker 1: from home and then something so personal is also happening
Speaker 1: to you. You can't even like reach out and touch
Speaker 1: your close family.
Speaker 2: Right all right, Yeah, for sure, I know that was
Speaker 2: definitely hard for my for my family too, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 3: It was It was a tough.
Speaker 2: Time, man, and that whole that whole time was really tough,
Speaker 2: and I think that sort of bled into the public side,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, but also like the business side of
Speaker 2: things and then the personal side of things. And then
Speaker 2: it sort of got, you know, to the end of
Speaker 2: that year where I didn't have time to think about
Speaker 2: my life. I was got to the end of it,
Speaker 2: and I was like, what is the purpose of all this?
Speaker 2: And what's real and what's not? And what the hell
Speaker 2: am I doing in the middle of it? And I
Speaker 2: think that was kind of the that was the end
Speaker 2: of the road kind of feeling.
Speaker 1: I hated this city for a couple of years whenever
Speaker 1: I had this stalker issue that was happening, like I
Speaker 1: wanted to leave the city, and I hated everything about
Speaker 1: it because it was like, what's even happening here? Who
Speaker 1: are my real friends? None of this matters? Like I
Speaker 1: had that relationship with the city. I don't anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: good again, right, But I hated it for a while.
Speaker 1: Did you ever hate this city?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I hated Nashville, but I definitely
Speaker 2: think I saw way far farther behind the curtain, if
Speaker 2: that makes sense. And I think I realized that I'd
Speaker 2: been pretty naive to.
Speaker 3: Maybe the.
Speaker 2: You know how, in our business there's so like maybe
Speaker 2: more than any other business, friendship and real life and
Speaker 2: business and art and all that sort of just melds
Speaker 2: into one, and so I was probably pretty naive to
Speaker 2: the boundaries on that kind of those kind of things.
Speaker 2: And I also think that I realized in a town
Speaker 2: like Nashville, which is maybe like one of the things
Speaker 2: that you could hate about Nashville or whatever, it's like
Speaker 2: similar to maybe La or New York, A lot of
Speaker 2: people come here with big dreams. They come here with
Speaker 2: dreams to do whatever it is, work in the music
Speaker 2: business or be a songwriter or a singer or recording whatever.
Speaker 2: And I think those dreams are so big that they
Speaker 2: got them out of their hometown or their country they
Speaker 2: come here, and those dreams are also big that like,
Speaker 2: there's times where like a moral compass can get clouded
Speaker 2: by the big dream and the desperation that can sometimes
Speaker 2: come along with that. And so you see all these
Speaker 2: people that aren't necessarily like bad people, just kind of
Speaker 2: ignoring maybe the right thing to do, or not being
Speaker 2: as genuine as they could be or should be or
Speaker 2: ordinarily would be. And I think that was just like
Speaker 2: a bit of a reckoning for me. I think maybe
Speaker 2: when anyone goes through a divorce or you know, you
Speaker 2: leave a management company, or I'm sure you've had this
Speaker 2: experience where you stop working with someone and then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden.
Speaker 3: All these people are like, well, hey, actually did you
Speaker 3: hear about this? You know?
Speaker 2: And so there was a lot of that going on,
Speaker 2: and I'd say the reason I didn't hate Nashville is
Speaker 2: because I think when that happens, you also find out
Speaker 2: who the real ones are, and so that was something
Speaker 2: to really kind of lean on and appreciate at that
Speaker 2: time as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask if it proved to
Speaker 1: you who you're and I don't throw the word friend
Speaker 1: around loosely, if you if you found out really who
Speaker 1: your friends were.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And I've got to say on air two man,
Speaker 2: during that time, you were such a legend for me,
Speaker 2: like personally going through divorces horrendous and I had no.
Speaker 3: I had no reference for it.
Speaker 2: Like my grandparents have been married seventy years, my parents
Speaker 2: have been married forty five years.
Speaker 3: My brother and sister are still together.
Speaker 2: None of my mate a divorce, so I was learning
Speaker 2: about that in real time, like you know, the nitty
Speaker 2: gritty of how all.
Speaker 3: That goes down.
Speaker 2: And then the public thing happened as well, and I
Speaker 2: think you reached out to me and you're like, hey, dude,
Speaker 2: if you need anything, just just let me know.
Speaker 3: Well maybe I reached out to you. I can't remember.
Speaker 3: Whatever way it happened. We ended up going to play
Speaker 3: pickleball one day.
Speaker 2: And you were just like, it was just so helpful
Speaker 2: to talk to someone that had been through public controversy before.
Speaker 2: And I still remember the advice you gave me, and
Speaker 2: it kept me going through that time because you said,
Speaker 2: there's only two ways you can deal with this. You
Speaker 2: need to go and say everything as loudly as you
Speaker 2: can and be as honest as you can, or you
Speaker 2: just need to go away, don't say anything and live
Speaker 2: your best life. And I got that same advice from
Speaker 2: my therapist and some rock star friends and country friends,
Speaker 2: but you were the first guy that gave it to me,
Speaker 2: and I just appreciated that so much because during that time,
Speaker 2: I had like a record label management team that were like,
Speaker 2: you need to go do a tell all interview and
Speaker 2: like or like do a podcast or like whatever it
Speaker 2: was at the time. And so, yeah, that gave me
Speaker 2: a really good grounding. I feel like you reaching out
Speaker 2: as a mate without a vested interest.
Speaker 3: I knew you weren't.
Speaker 2: Trying to like make money from me or anything like that,
Speaker 2: and so I thank you for that.
Speaker 3: True.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope you also know that I and this
Speaker 1: business is weird because everybody travels. Yeah, but like you'd
Speaker 1: be one of the people if you were like, hey,
Speaker 1: can you see if you match for a kidney, I
Speaker 1: would give you a kidney, Like I really would. Like,
Speaker 1: there's like seven it's hard in this town to have
Speaker 1: other creatives that you feel like you trust, even though
Speaker 1: you don't get to see them as much because this
Speaker 1: industry is I won't say nomadic because we don't move,
Speaker 1: but we're gone a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that if I don't see it for nine months
Speaker 1: and you came back and you're like, hey, yeah, whatever
Speaker 1: you need. Yeah, I got like seven people on this
Speaker 1: sound you're one of them. And going through anything, and
Speaker 1: I've had it happen to me anything extremely public where
Speaker 1: you are highly criticized, Especially the first couple of times,
Speaker 1: it just feels it's so foreign and it's foreignly hurtful.
Speaker 1: All you see and feel is all the negative, and
Speaker 1: that's I didn't feel bad for you. I empathize with
Speaker 1: you because I remember, I remember reaching out and I
Speaker 1: never tell anybody, Hey, if you need anybody, hit me
Speaker 1: up and don't mean it, because I don't say that
Speaker 1: very often. Yeah, but I'm like I can shed some
Speaker 1: advice based on the poor experiences that I've had. We
Speaker 1: built a little pickaball net out there on that court.
Speaker 1: We played. It's awesome. We went to Kansas, Iowa to
Speaker 1: a basketball game in the ice and snow, and it
Speaker 1: was just like, there are times where you really need community.
Speaker 1: There are times where I really need a community, and
Speaker 1: I hated to see that for you. I talk about
Speaker 1: perspective a lot, and you only get perspective if you've
Speaker 1: been through some crap. Like, perspective is never free. Nobody
Speaker 1: gets to have the benefit of a ton of perspective
Speaker 1: unless they've actually been through it. I think now you're
Speaker 1: back with a lot of perspective.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is one hundred percent sure, one hundred cent.
Speaker 2: Sure, it's funny you see everything a little little more
Speaker 2: differently now, But yeah, that meant a lot man, I
Speaker 2: don't want to don't want to let that slide.
Speaker 1: So it didn't slide, and I know it. And I
Speaker 1: don't even mind sharing this. I there's a text message
Speaker 1: that means a lot to me that I get to
Speaker 1: share now with people because sometimes I'll just say what happened.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Granger Smith on a podcast and
Speaker 1: I know Granger, no Grangeer for a long time, and
Speaker 1: his kid tragically died in a poll accident, and so
Speaker 1: Grangeer and I were talking about it, and Granger had
Speaker 1: set with this person who's had a similar thing, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I talk Granger, I so I can.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you did that that you sit
Speaker 1: there for hours and you listen to this person. I said,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm that good of a person
Speaker 1: to be and you message me You're like, dude, I
Speaker 1: was listening to that, like you are that good a
Speaker 1: person because you did that with me, and like I
Speaker 1: was like, dang, Like that made me actually like myself
Speaker 1: a little bit when I struggle with liking myself a
Speaker 1: little bit. So I appreciate that. But I know you
Speaker 1: meant it, and I hope you know that I meant well.
Speaker 1: I mean not even meant. It's not past tense, like
Speaker 1: cats out of the bag. We love each other. Now
Speaker 1: this is not just a normal interview, but like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I hated to see that for you, and I got
Speaker 1: really defensive for you. You didn't ask me to it all.
Speaker 3: No, that was hard. That was hard.
Speaker 1: It was really hard for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And let's take a quick pause for a message from
Speaker 4: our sponsor. Wow, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you're back too. You made music about it, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: but you have decisions to make, like what are you
Speaker 4: gonna put in the music?
Speaker 1: Because you just I'm in it. This is my opinion
Speaker 1: you had that you had things unfairly said about you.
Speaker 1: You're not saying this, I'm saying this, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: you have things unfairly said about you. Yeah, piss me off.
Speaker 3: Pissed me off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a whole You go through all the stages
Speaker 2: of grief with her, right like oh my god, and
Speaker 2: then you kind of get angry and like whatever, and
Speaker 2: then I don't know, like we've probably talked about this
Speaker 2: that day, but you know that that day was more
Speaker 2: about like your experience of how to best navigate personally,
Speaker 2: you know, making decisions, but dealing with an online kind
Speaker 2: of that kind of online vitriol is almost a skill
Speaker 2: you have to learn too, or I don't know, some
Speaker 2: techniques you have to learn for that, And what have
Speaker 2: you found that's the most the most helpful.
Speaker 1: So it never doesn't hurt. But if I'm ever in
Speaker 1: a bad place or I'm mentally slightly unwell placed, it
Speaker 1: hurts way worse. So I stay out of that area
Speaker 1: in times where I know that if for some reason
Speaker 1: there's some vulnerability in me, for whatever reason, something didn't
Speaker 1: go right at home, at work, maybe I didn't get
Speaker 1: to sleep like I think my education in that is
Speaker 1: unless I'm ready to battle, don't go into battle. And
Speaker 1: by battling, that's just reading it, that's just going into it.
Speaker 1: And with me, another thing is I always feel like
Speaker 1: everybody hates me. If I spend any time online or
Speaker 1: in DMS or just generally, I feel like everybody hates me.
Speaker 1: But I have to use the rational part of my
Speaker 1: brain to note that's not true. So I think I've
Speaker 1: developed that skill to go that can't be true realistically,
Speaker 1: Let's look at data. Because I always feel like I'm
Speaker 1: hated by everybody.
Speaker 2: It's funny how it's funny how you can have ten
Speaker 2: or a thousand or two thousand comments and then like
Speaker 2: one percent of them would be negative, and that like
Speaker 2: you almost like look forward to something like you'll ignore
Speaker 2: the non positives.
Speaker 1: How did you deal with things being said about you
Speaker 1: that you didn't feel were fair?
Speaker 2: I mean, like I said, there's some stages of it,
Speaker 2: Like I didn't come to this realization quickly or immediately, but.
Speaker 3: In my case, it didn't feel like it necessarily had
Speaker 3: a lot to do with me, but.
Speaker 1: It was presented as it was exactly you.
Speaker 2: It was, yeah, And I think I think maybe I
Speaker 2: was presented or made out to be or became an
Speaker 2: archetype for any guy that had done any woman wrong
Speaker 2: during that period of time. And like some of the
Speaker 2: stuff was just like what is that didn't even make sense?
Speaker 2: I can't think of anything off the top of my
Speaker 2: head right now, But I would read stuff like what
Speaker 2: like what are you talking about?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: And and like you say, it doesn't not hurt, But
Speaker 2: I found that the sooner I could catch myself before
Speaker 2: I felt the hurt, like I could read it and
Speaker 2: then maybe sometimes, like you say, like if you're jet
Speaker 2: lagged or something like that, you're more susceptible to it.
Speaker 2: But I don't know anyone that writes negative comments.
Speaker 1: I don't either.
Speaker 2: I've never I can't imagine you're doing it. I've never
Speaker 2: done it, And I can't imagine what kind of a
Speaker 2: space you'd have to be and to get online and
Speaker 2: want to write something about somebody like that. And so
Speaker 2: I guess the thought process kind of started there. And
Speaker 2: then every now and then I would see one, like
Speaker 2: especially if it was real vicious or something, you know,
Speaker 2: and then i'd click on the whoever said it, you know,
Speaker 2: and just have a look and just be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's okay, Yeah, that looks like somebody going through a
Speaker 2: tough time.
Speaker 1: When the divorce was finalized. How did that feel when.
Speaker 3: It was finalized?
Speaker 2: Ah ah, dude, it's like pretty it's pretty surreal. Heyh
Speaker 2: Like it all happens super quick, Like what do you mean,
Speaker 2: I mean from finding out that like that was what
Speaker 2: Kelsey wanted to do, to like getting a lawyer and
Speaker 2: having a pre nump and having three calls or four
Speaker 2: calls or something with the lawyer and signing the documents
Speaker 2: in the parking lot of the rhymen in the rain
Speaker 2: to like going home, you know, like that all.
Speaker 3: Happened in three and a half four months or something
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 1: How did you find out she wanted a divorce?
Speaker 3: She told me.
Speaker 1: Sit down, let's have a talk.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, were.
Speaker 1: You expecting that conversation?
Speaker 2: I was not expecting that conversation though, And maybe that
Speaker 2: was me being naive, I don't know, but I definitely
Speaker 2: wasn't and.
Speaker 3: Took me by surprise.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that whole time is such a blur, hey,
Speaker 2: Like it almost feels like somebody else just from where
Speaker 2: I'm sitting now, Like I just look.
Speaker 3: Back and I'm like, oh my god, it's.
Speaker 2: Just confused guy, you know. And I think even when
Speaker 2: I look back at like there was an interview that
Speaker 2: I did with you when over for you came out,
Speaker 2: and I look back at that guy doing that interview,
Speaker 2: sometimes it pops up on whatever social media and I
Speaker 2: just look like, I'm just like sad trying to make
Speaker 2: sense of where I'm at, you know, And.
Speaker 3: That was that was what that period was. I don't
Speaker 3: know that I.
Speaker 2: Should have been doing interviews at that point, if I'm
Speaker 2: being honest, when I look at that guy, I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, Like you were not like hitting me
Speaker 2: with hardball questions or anything, and I was just there
Speaker 2: kind of just like really sad. So yeah, it was
Speaker 2: just a kind of a whirlwind, life's changing moment.
Speaker 1: What do you tell your parents after she says you
Speaker 1: want to get a divorced? You just calm, Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: this is what's happening. Yeah, what did they say?
Speaker 2: I think they were kind of confused too, because they've
Speaker 2: been They've been there at the house with us, like
Speaker 2: I make confused like timing, but within like three months
Speaker 2: before that, and so they were kind of confused too.
Speaker 2: And like I said, they've been married for forty five years.
Speaker 2: They've been together since like sixteen and fourteen or something,
Speaker 2: so they don't really know much about breaking up and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. But yeah, I mean super concerned for
Speaker 2: me and obviously like wanting to make sure that I
Speaker 2: was okay. I think that was the general general sentiment.
Speaker 1: Did you write any music in the heart of your despair?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Some? Was it good?
Speaker 2: Well, I say some, So there was like four months
Speaker 2: there where I didn't really write, but for the song
Speaker 2: over for You, that was the only song that I
Speaker 2: wrote during that period and then, which was.
Speaker 1: A great song by the way, you came out and
Speaker 1: played it our show that night we set up and
Speaker 1: came out.
Speaker 3: Yea, yeah, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: I love that song and the way people have reacted
Speaker 2: to that song have kind of changed the way that
Speaker 2: I think about how powerful music can be in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways. But yeah, I definitely write a lot
Speaker 2: of songs during that time about it or just about
Speaker 2: how I was feeling, really, and a lot of that
Speaker 2: was like cathartic, and a lot of that was just
Speaker 2: like trying to express things that I didn't know how
Speaker 2: to express. Was any other good though, Man, I have
Speaker 2: a hard time thinking real sad songs are good.
Speaker 1: See, I only think sad songs are good. That's the difference.
Speaker 2: It's funny, Like it's funny you say that. I don't
Speaker 2: think that about other people's sad songs because I think,
Speaker 2: to me, it's so easy, like we could take any
Speaker 2: object in here, and you and I could write a
Speaker 2: sad song about it at a higher level than a
Speaker 2: happy song. I think if we had like twenty minutes
Speaker 2: to write it, you know what I mean. But that
Speaker 2: and so I think songwriter I've always had that in
Speaker 2: my mind of like it seems like the easy way
Speaker 2: out unless it's a really real thing, like over for
Speaker 2: you is a really real feeling for me. And the
Speaker 2: song Things that we drink to was you know, my
Speaker 2: longtime manager passed suddenly and I wrote that on the
Speaker 2: day of his memorial service. And so I do have
Speaker 2: these sad songs that mean a lot, but generally on
Speaker 2: a normal day when I'm trying to express something, I'm
Speaker 2: trying to find the positive in it, or look for.
Speaker 3: At least a positive way to look at it, if
Speaker 3: that makes sense.
Speaker 1: With this new music, and you wrote a lot about
Speaker 1: your last few years, right because of how you were
Speaker 1: I feel unfairly written about. Did you treat that a
Speaker 1: little more precious about what you were saying outwardly because
Speaker 1: you wanted it to represent the actual truth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was really thoughtful about the songs that I
Speaker 2: chose for this record from that period of time. You know,
Speaker 2: obviously wrote more than eleven songs in the last three years,
Speaker 2: but these these eleven tracks, to me, they all say
Speaker 2: something important on that journey of the last three years.
Speaker 2: So you know that was starting back in my hometown
Speaker 2: post wild aahuasca trip time, and yeah, all the way
Speaker 2: through the kind of stages of it, and then you know, finding.
Speaker 3: The ground again and then you know, building from there.
Speaker 1: Last question about that, because I got a lot of
Speaker 1: other stuff to talk about. Yeah, because you're just so
Speaker 1: annoyingly strikingly good looking. It's just it's so annoying, and
Speaker 1: I don't think people know that until they like see
Speaker 1: you in person. It's annoying. I'll say it. Okay, thanks, No,
Speaker 1: it is. You're a little taller than you should be,
Speaker 1: you're a little more muscular than you should be, and
Speaker 1: you're just I can be good look in sometime that
Speaker 1: pizzes me half thank you and good night. Yes, I know,
Speaker 1: I know. Final question though about that chapter, what would
Speaker 1: you now, what advice would you give you back then?
Speaker 1: Let's say when you and I were together, right when
Speaker 1: it was happening. Yeah, you've been through it. What advice
Speaker 1: would you give you back then?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, it's so funny because I feel like you gave
Speaker 2: me the advice, and you know other people gave me
Speaker 2: advice too, Like this is going to be a time
Speaker 2: right now that you look back on and you're really
Speaker 2: grateful for and at the time, it just seems impossible,
Speaker 2: you know, from like even every micro step of it.
Speaker 3: I remember.
Speaker 2: Just Nashville at that time, even after like hanging with
Speaker 2: you and like a couple of other mates and like, actually,
Speaker 2: you know, figuring out who like the real genuine people
Speaker 2: in my life were was like it was like the
Speaker 2: sky was falling or like the walls are caving in
Speaker 2: this town.
Speaker 3: Was just everywhere I went, Are you okay? I saw
Speaker 3: blah blah blah, I read blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: And I just going back to my hometown and like
Speaker 2: just catching up with the old mates. I go to
Speaker 2: the pub here, I mate.
Speaker 3: And I think so cool.
Speaker 2: Anyway, did you see the Nights game on the weekend
Speaker 2: and they just get on with it, you know, And
Speaker 2: you realize that Nashville feels like the center of the
Speaker 2: universe in a lot of ways, you know, in the
Speaker 2: country music ordered it is. But the well was a
Speaker 2: big place, you know, and where I was sitting in it,
Speaker 2: I just needed to get out of that for a second.
Speaker 2: And starting there, like the record starts there. I think
Speaker 2: the perspective that you get that maybe sometimes you can
Speaker 2: only get with time and experience of life. And I'm sure,
Speaker 2: it always takes longer than you wanted to those things
Speaker 2: ring true. I'm glad that I didn't go out and
Speaker 2: do a bunch of tell all things while I was
Speaker 2: in the midst of a workout how I was feeling.
Speaker 2: And I'm also really grateful for where I'm at now
Speaker 2: in life, and so it's hard to have any regrets.
Speaker 1: You're really good looking when you're When you get single again,
Speaker 1: where do you get to go to Australia? Like, what's
Speaker 1: the deal?
Speaker 3: Well, we were on tour. We were on tour that
Speaker 3: whole time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tough, and yeah, it wasn't really on the forefront
Speaker 2: of my priority list to get back into it, you know,
Speaker 2: so that took some time.
Speaker 1: I texted you because I knew you were dating Lacey.
Speaker 1: I know, I know Lazy from a version of Bouth
Speaker 1: the Oar Pass. We didn't date anything. We worked together,
Speaker 1: but I was like, you dated Lazy and you were like,
Speaker 1: why do you ask? Lacey is awesome, that's super cool.
Speaker 1: So when did you guys meet? How'd you meet?
Speaker 3: It's not really like a crazy meeting story.
Speaker 2: We kind of knew each other like doing radio shows
Speaker 2: and festivals and stuff like that. But a couple of
Speaker 2: years we just kind of, I don't know, connected on
Speaker 2: that level and enjoyed each other's company.
Speaker 1: And that's too vague of an answer. I want to
Speaker 1: accept that. Where did you like talk to her and go, hey,
Speaker 1: we should go on a date? Give me some I.
Speaker 2: Say, I have learned from my experience with my previous
Speaker 2: relationship and previous life that there is a level of
Speaker 2: detail that I think is healthy to share, and then
Speaker 2: there's a level that's like really healthy.
Speaker 1: I completely agree, unless you're talking to your friend and
Speaker 1: he wants some bugget No.
Speaker 2: Look, Lacey's a legends, like she's a proper legend, and
Speaker 2: she's actually really private, so she doesn't do any press
Speaker 2: or interviews or anything like that. And we just put
Speaker 2: this song out together, the two broken hearts, and we
Speaker 2: filmed a lot of content for it, like a lot
Speaker 2: of content of us singing the song together or doing
Speaker 2: life together. And you know that was filmed by people
Speaker 2: we work with. And then we would send that to
Speaker 2: you know, either we would cut it up or if
Speaker 2: someone a lady that works with Virgin, who I'm signed
Speaker 2: with now, I would cut it up and she would
Speaker 2: send it to She's like, ahy this is this little
Speaker 2: moment in between takes is like, this seems really cute.
Speaker 3: We should share that with the.
Speaker 2: Song over it or something and and listen and I
Speaker 2: would look at it and and we were both kind
Speaker 2: of decide, Ah, that's a little bit too inside, you know,
Speaker 2: that's too much of us to share at this point.
Speaker 2: And so we've been really intentional about sharing what we
Speaker 2: want to share and also like keeping what we want
Speaker 2: to keep to ourselves too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Where'd you go on your first date?
Speaker 1: Can you give me something like? Where? Like where do
Speaker 1: you take her on your first date?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: Man, I don't I'm not going to stop. I don't
Speaker 1: want you, but you know, okay, you can. I know you.
Speaker 2: I know you'll keep going, but I'm just gonna I'm
Speaker 2: going to keep pushing back. I really, I really care
Speaker 2: about her and and I'm really grateful for where we're
Speaker 2: at right now too. And I just don't want to
Speaker 2: I don't want to mess with it. Where'd you go
Speaker 2: in infestidate with your wife?
Speaker 1: We'd like to keep things private. Two can play this game.
Speaker 1: How long have you guys officially been together?
Speaker 2: Ah?
Speaker 3: Two years? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You live together?
Speaker 3: We did know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, we've just in Australia together too. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 4: The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Speaker 4: Bobby Cast.
Speaker 1: What album do you have here? This is hold it
Speaker 1: up for the camera please, Okay. So I guests come
Speaker 1: in and they bring an album that means a light
Speaker 1: to them and they tell us the reason why and
Speaker 1: it goes into the ultimate collection. So what do you
Speaker 1: have there?
Speaker 2: This is the first Keith Urban record that I ever owned.
Speaker 2: And I got this my mom dragged me along to
Speaker 2: this gig in my hometown at the Newcastle Workers Club
Speaker 2: because my grandma, her mum, was sick, and so I
Speaker 2: got dragged along this gig and turns out this guy
Speaker 2: was playing, and when I saw him come out on stage,
Speaker 2: he was like all the old rock and roll that
Speaker 2: I grew up on, all the old country music I
Speaker 2: grew up on, all put together and he was just
Speaker 2: ripping on the guitar and it was just like this
Speaker 2: light bulb going off in my head, and I thought,
Speaker 2: I need to find out where that came from. And
Speaker 2: that Christmas, my mom gave me this album on CD
Speaker 2: and I wore this thing out and I think I
Speaker 2: read the back about a million times, and so I
Speaker 2: kept seeing Nashville, Tennessee, and I think this record. Although
Speaker 2: I think maybe Golden Road might be my favorite Keith
Speaker 2: Urban record, this is the first one that pointed me
Speaker 2: towards him and Nashville and probably led me down this
Speaker 2: path that has led me to sitting across from you
Speaker 2: here all these years later. And I still love this
Speaker 2: record actually, and it's the one I would like to
Speaker 2: redonating it to the.
Speaker 3: To the collection.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Isn't it funny how music if you hear certain songs.
Speaker 1: I read this book a long time ago called I'm Okay,
Speaker 1: You're Okay, and it talks about the brain and how
Speaker 1: there's certain things that could be a smell. Smell and
Speaker 1: music are probably the two biggest ones. Then when you
Speaker 1: smell something or you hear a song, it triggers a
Speaker 1: part of your brain that, even for just a split second,
Speaker 1: puts you back into that place, yes, where you were,
Speaker 1: And as you're telling that story about being that kid,
Speaker 1: I can imagine that when a song fires off from there,
Speaker 1: you probably for a second feel what it feels like
Speaker 1: to be that kid again.
Speaker 2: Oh dude, black Top ends when he played that at
Speaker 2: the whatever award show that was with Brothers Osborne the
Speaker 2: other day. It was just like like time portals so good?
Speaker 1: Have you got to tell him that.
Speaker 3: I don't know that.
Speaker 2: I've gone into gushy detail with him, no, but I
Speaker 2: think he knows I'm a big, big fan and he's
Speaker 2: done a lot for me, especially as an Aussie man.
Speaker 2: Like he's like when I was out doing my first
Speaker 2: you know rounds at all the radio stations, they were like, oh,
Speaker 2: from Australia as opposed to like, I'm sure he was
Speaker 2: like country music from Australia.
Speaker 3: That doesn't make.
Speaker 2: Sense, you know, but he kind of made it made
Speaker 2: sense and so you know, being able to come in
Speaker 2: after that, Yeah, it's like a door already kind of
Speaker 2: you know, nudged open a little bit.
Speaker 1: I love Keith And I was in Australia once and
Speaker 1: it was Christmas time and I haven't already got for Christmas.
Speaker 1: It was one of those times where I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: and I have a friend named Nikita who is from Australia,
Speaker 1: and she was playing with me a little bit and
Speaker 1: she was like, you can come back and have Christmas
Speaker 1: with my family, And wasn't romantic at all, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I've never been to Australia, I'll go. So
Speaker 1: I didn't. I always feel like I'm intruding, so I
Speaker 1: didn't stay at her house with them, even though they
Speaker 1: had a room. I stayed in a hotel nearby. And
Speaker 1: it was crazy because Christmas was in the summer in Australia.
Speaker 3: How good is an ausy Christmas in the sun.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. It was like they were prawns against the prowns. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there were like people eating prawns for Christmas, and so
Speaker 1: that whole thing was happening. And I had tweeted something
Speaker 1: and Keith saw my tweet because I think I walked
Speaker 1: up on that bridge. There's the stairs. You go up
Speaker 1: on the bridge. What's that big bridge in Sydney.
Speaker 3: Sydney have a bridge, of course it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I go up on top of that. You
Speaker 1: climbed the bridge. It's awesome. I hate heights, but it's
Speaker 1: awesome too. And the wind's blowing so you feel like
Speaker 1: you're gona die and stuff, and so I'm up there.
Speaker 1: I took a picture of that. I posted it and
Speaker 1: Keith texted me and he's like, are you in Australia.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, he was like, we are too,
Speaker 1: come over to because they happened to be back home
Speaker 1: for went over to his and him Nicole together at
Speaker 1: the time, went over to their like condo in Australia.
Speaker 1: It was like a two layer and there were some
Speaker 1: Australian famous people there. I don't know a single one
Speaker 1: of them because they were all famous in Australia. There's
Speaker 1: a bunch of people walking around and going I am
Speaker 1: I you know whatever, and they were everybody was so nice.
Speaker 1: Do you remember any of the nights or anything. None,
Speaker 1: but they were prominent. Yeah, That's all I know is
Speaker 1: they were probably well obviously they were Keith and Cole's
Speaker 1: house too. But Keith would introduce me like this is
Speaker 1: somebody He's so yeah, and I just remember thinking, man,
Speaker 1: like I'm right in the middle of Australian celebrity culture
Speaker 1: and I don't really I don't. I don't understand it
Speaker 1: enough to respect it in the same way that I
Speaker 1: think of like if like I did Bear Girls the
Speaker 1: show once and he was talking about he all have
Speaker 1: super famous people and really not know who they are
Speaker 1: and they're massive in their area. But he's taking some
Speaker 1: like K pop artists out and that's no idea. They
Speaker 1: have ten billion fans with them. But Keith's awesome. Like
Speaker 1: I love Keith Urban and I love I just want
Speaker 1: to say that because I liked your story that way.
Speaker 2: I've been around him a few times and he's always
Speaker 2: been like complete gentleman. I would love to hang with
Speaker 2: him probably someday, but yeah, his music's done, his music's
Speaker 2: noting off.
Speaker 1: I probably make that happen. Yeah, give me a story,
Speaker 1: but let's see I make that. She has really great music.
Speaker 1: I like her anyway because we work together in a
Speaker 1: capacity for a while. Her what she's doing now, And
Speaker 1: I hope you're okay me mentioning this. We're talking about this.
Speaker 1: It's it's distinct, and it's such, it's so it's quality,
Speaker 1: it's so different and it's high quality stuff and so
Speaker 1: and I really like it. Like I'm a fan of
Speaker 1: the person that she's turned into. Yeah, can I say that.
Speaker 2: I foolheartedly agree, Yeah, you go all right, She's awesome
Speaker 2: and she's one of those artists too that as you know,
Speaker 2: there's people in this town that like come here and
Speaker 2: work really hard, and there's other people that come here and.
Speaker 3: They've just got a gift.
Speaker 2: And when she opens her mouth to saying it is
Speaker 2: just a gift and I'm so happy for and the
Speaker 2: music she's making. And I showed to that text you
Speaker 2: sent me to about digging her record and stuff, and
Speaker 2: she really appreciated that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1: No more, I'm not going to ask anything else lives
Speaker 1: you're going to lock up on me over here, all.
Speaker 3: Right, man, I've been to it. You got to learn
Speaker 3: something from what you go through, don't you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unless it's your friend, Yeah you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well hey, look let's go pay pickable something and
Speaker 3: you give.
Speaker 1: Them a nugget. Are you touring this record in the
Speaker 1: States at all? Because I saw a bunch of like
Speaker 1: you're going. I feel like you're getting so many flyer
Speaker 1: miles going back to Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're doing Australia New Zealand in May and June
Speaker 2: for the album too with Steeltown Tour, and then we're
Speaker 2: going to do the States later in the year, which
Speaker 2: if I tell your dates they'll probably change, so when
Speaker 2: they're confirmed or.
Speaker 3: Lena, are you happy to Life's good? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Like I said, it's like she's been a rollercaster or
Speaker 2: a ride or a haunted house maybe sometimes, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's good.
Speaker 3: It's good to be a live right now.
Speaker 2: It's good to have an Australian summer, and it's good
Speaker 2: to be back here with the record that I feel
Speaker 2: really proud about and the story to tell.
Speaker 1: How do you pick eleven songs? Because, like you said,
Speaker 1: you've written so many more? What's that process?
Speaker 2: Like it's kind of twofold in the reasoning for me
Speaker 2: as a listener, I feel like as albums have got longer,
Speaker 2: it's almost intimidating or something just to start it. Does
Speaker 2: that make sense to you? Like you probably get hit
Speaker 2: with music every day anyway, But I wanted to have
Speaker 2: a concise record eleven twelve songs And.
Speaker 1: How many think you wrote that that you considered?
Speaker 2: Poh, fifty maybe that I considered. There's probably more that
Speaker 2: I wrote, but like fifty that had purpose, you know,
Speaker 2: But I also didn't want any double ups, Like I
Speaker 2: didn't want any Well that song kind of already does
Speaker 2: that pick the winner, you know, or the one that
Speaker 2: feels the most authentic, And that's how I kind of
Speaker 2: got whittled down.
Speaker 1: Why do you name it? After your hometown.
Speaker 3: I named it after my hometown because it's kind of
Speaker 3: where this story starts.
Speaker 2: It's kind of where I felt like whatever this building
Speaker 2: of the next phase of my life started going home
Speaker 2: that Christmas and having that experience with the old mates
Speaker 2: and the old places and family, and that's the place
Speaker 2: that it all built from. It's also kind of unique too,
Speaker 2: I think for an Australian to be singing about place
Speaker 2: like that, Like there's some legends that have done it
Speaker 2: really well in Australia, but there's only a handful. And
Speaker 2: one of the things I love about America and Americans
Speaker 2: is the pride of place that they have, especially in
Speaker 2: country music, and Texas is like the glowing example of
Speaker 2: pride of place, and so to be able to have
Speaker 2: a song and articulate, you know, a love for a
Speaker 2: hometown like steel Town. And there's another song on the
Speaker 2: record called Land I Love, which is about Australia as
Speaker 2: a whole, which we have a fellow named William Barton
Speaker 2: playing on. He's a first Nation's Australian, like one of
Speaker 2: the world's foremost did we Do players, and he sang
Speaker 2: and beat box enchanted and played did we Do?
Speaker 3: On? This record and.
Speaker 2: Those two songs particularly, I feel like ground the record
Speaker 2: in a way that was really important and special to me,
Speaker 2: And so that's where the name came from.
Speaker 1: I remember why I was bringing up to Keith Throbin's
Speaker 1: story because when I was with him, he was talking
Speaker 1: about country music in Australia and he said that for
Speaker 1: a lot of his life, country music in Australia was
Speaker 1: wildly traditional and if you wanted to hear country music,
Speaker 1: it would be like on what the AM band, like
Speaker 1: what we consider like AM here. There weren't like big
Speaker 1: mass stations that were just playing country music. The kind
Speaker 1: of had to cross over and get played on a
Speaker 1: pop station in Australia. Has that shifted at all still
Speaker 1: or do they have modernish country music stations in Sydney
Speaker 1: or in Australia.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's shifting just now.
Speaker 2: Hey, Like it's kind of you know, as as Keith,
Speaker 2: I'm sure when his stuff was like really kind of exploding,
Speaker 2: you know with this record and the subsequent ones. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it just stayed super traditional down there, and for that
Speaker 2: reason stayed really niche like it was kind of you
Speaker 2: had to go to this first of went Tamworth, which
Speaker 2: is kind of the they'd have shows everywhere and was
Speaker 2: the kind of big moment for country music. And now
Speaker 2: I feel like since I moved here eleven years ago,
Speaker 2: every time I go back, they love it more and more.
Speaker 2: And I remember, like Sam Hunt had that song body
Speaker 2: Like a Back Road, and I remember I heard that
Speaker 2: on pop radio somewhere, and then I think the next
Speaker 2: time I went back, I saw like this guy riding
Speaker 2: a Harley in Bondi and he was like blaring Florida
Speaker 2: Georgia line as he drove through, and I was like,
Speaker 2: it's it changing around here to the point now where
Speaker 2: I think country might be the biggest touring genre in
Speaker 2: Australia right now.
Speaker 3: Like it's just exploded and.
Speaker 2: Radio has responded, and obviously people are finding it on
Speaker 2: streaming and the Internet and all that kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and it's quite amazing to see to the point where
Speaker 2: in my hometown on the weekend where you would never
Speaker 2: have found country music, or you'd have to go to
Speaker 2: one of like two or three little niche places on
Speaker 2: the outside of town to play country music. We played
Speaker 2: a festival to like twelve or thirteen thousand people with
Speaker 2: Laney Wilson on Saturday night, and it was just like
Speaker 2: in my hometown to be there playing Steeltown for the
Speaker 2: first time.
Speaker 3: Laney's there.
Speaker 2: There's a couple other big acts too, like Flatland Cavalry
Speaker 2: was there and Caitlin Bartson.
Speaker 3: It was just like, this is that's happening, you know,
Speaker 3: it's exciting.
Speaker 1: Did any of your stuff get played on pop radio there?
Speaker 3: It did? Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2: It was part of the I guess maybe around that
Speaker 2: time with the body like a background and whatever. It
Speaker 2: was the Floria Line song Meant to Be, I think,
Speaker 2: and then I think my song came out after those,
Speaker 2: and I think the programers were like, well, if the
Speaker 2: other stuff worked, maybe this will work too, and they did,
Speaker 2: and thankfully it did, and song Day Drink ended up
Speaker 2: becoming my biggest song down there, which is hilarious.
Speaker 3: Was the biggest song for a long time.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was just I guess good timing, maybe
Speaker 2: the right music at the right time, But it was
Speaker 2: really it was a really cool thing to feel having
Speaker 2: left there to try to pursue this music that I
Speaker 2: didn't find anywhere around me, to then be able to
Speaker 2: go home and then you know, share it with people
Speaker 2: in the places that I kind of grew up.
Speaker 1: In When did you get back into town, like.
Speaker 3: Forty eight hours ago or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, you do a great job because you've showed
Speaker 1: no jet lag or really none.
Speaker 2: But every time I've looked up, I'm like, what is
Speaker 2: that word that i'm you know, I know you've been gone.
Speaker 1: I haven't saw you on social media, and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: he's going to be burnt on one end. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you killed it. Well, thanks man, there's no exhaustion.
Speaker 3: Appreciate time.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the come by every week, friendly space and
Speaker 2: congrats to you.
Speaker 3: Man. So it's exciting to see what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Graduate you congratulate me in my room.
Speaker 3: Well you're on the on Netflix. Now you're on your wall.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got this sun that I thought you might
Speaker 2: have stolen, but no, it's a it's a replication.
Speaker 1: The one from my hometown. That is exactly that. It
Speaker 1: has bullet holes in it.
Speaker 3: Oh ship, how many?
Speaker 1: Oh it's probably more now, but there's probably like five
Speaker 1: or six.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's a that's like a country thing to
Speaker 2: do on the weekend, and it's not it's not a
Speaker 2: personal attack.
Speaker 1: You guys don't have guns though there right like for
Speaker 1: us yes, everybody had guns all the time, right, But Australia.
Speaker 2: I mean there's guns there for sure, but you have
Speaker 2: to but it's prevalent, right, Yeah, you have to go
Speaker 2: through like we had them at school.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not that's not really a thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like we had them in our cars or trucks
Speaker 1: and back like that school where you could see them.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not bragging or saying that's bad. Actually yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I didn't see guns at all growing up. Really.
Speaker 2: My dad grew up out in the country and he
Speaker 2: had I think a couple of hunting rifles, like at
Speaker 2: twenty two and something else. And I remember the scope
Speaker 2: being around the house when I was a kid, but
Speaker 2: they saw the scope. Yeah, they got rid of them
Speaker 2: before I was born. Well maybe just after I was born,
Speaker 2: when the Port Arthur massacre happened. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 2: the exact timeline of that, but they had them and
Speaker 2: then they got rid of them. And yeah, the gun
Speaker 2: law was a pretty tough town there.
Speaker 1: Well, look, we've done an hour. Do you feel good
Speaker 1: about this?
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 1: Anything else you want to say it's hard, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say something here. You say that it's hard for me
Speaker 1: to interview a friend, it's harder. It's the absolute hardest
Speaker 1: thing to do because I know too much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, we would have a conversation off air
Speaker 2: that would be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know too much. So then I don't want
Speaker 1: to put you in a place that makes you uncomfortable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But then I'm going, well, what does he really want
Speaker 1: to say? And I don't want to. So I hate
Speaker 1: interviewing friends. Yeah, I do it because I like my friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's the hardest thing for me to do, is
Speaker 1: to interview somebody that I know a lot about and
Speaker 1: care a lot about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, well, I appreciate you saying that. Let me
Speaker 2: say this too. So I've been away from this kind
Speaker 2: of press media, any sort of interviews, and this is
Speaker 2: kind of the first one I've done about the record,
Speaker 2: and so I'm kind of not giving the most succinct
Speaker 2: planned answers or whatever. But now there's something about doing
Speaker 2: press that is so much more intimidating because it's almost
Speaker 2: like I see stuff and stuff gets clipped out of
Speaker 2: context and then blown up for the wrong reasons and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So I had a level of kind
Speaker 2: of I guess anxiety coming into this, which had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with you or this space is just more
Speaker 2: I want to say today that it's gonna.
Speaker 1: Everybody's looking for the best clip to posts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just I guess I know that's going
Speaker 2: to happen. But I've never really talked about any of
Speaker 2: this stuff before. But I appreciate the chance to do
Speaker 2: this with you, man, so so thank you and.
Speaker 3: And good night.
Speaker 1: Fair enough guys, Record March twentieth. I'm going for memory.
Speaker 3: You got a good memory? Yeah, kicking offs.
Speaker 1: Boom, March twentieth. I hope people strain the crap out
Speaker 1: of it. I hope they would go to all your shows,
Speaker 1: and whenever you announced the American part of it, we'll
Speaker 1: be sure to share that on the radio show. On
Speaker 1: all this. I love you. I'm glad you were here.
Speaker 1: And great job. Not seeming tired like I think that's
Speaker 1: that's the whole thing. Great job because not for a
Speaker 1: minute to drive.
Speaker 3: You're the moster.
Speaker 1: No, that's true. I've had a long day, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you. Yeah, anybody else but you, I think i'd
Speaker 1: have been dragging. So I knew this would be easy.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: There, he is the great Morgan
Speaker 4: Evans thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production