Speaker 1: Yeah, it's episode one oh four The Bobby Cast. We're
Speaker 1: gonna jump in with Steve Mokeler in a second. As
Speaker 1: I'm recording this intro part of it, I'm actually in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It is eleven pm Central Time, what us tonight,
Speaker 1: Wednesday night, Wednesday night, and I've been filming I mean
Speaker 1: Reckon not all day and I half for a week.
Speaker 1: And I'm about to fly back to Nashville. And that's
Speaker 1: for a later one. But i just want you to
Speaker 1: know where I am when I'm talking about this. Let
Speaker 1: me encourage you to check out the Dave Heywood podcast
Speaker 1: we just did from Lady and Abellum. Also Jimmy Allen,
Speaker 1: who's got that song Best Shot New Artists that's up.
Speaker 1: And if you're liking a podcast, tell your friends about
Speaker 1: I love if you told your friends about The Bobby
Speaker 1: Cast if they love music. Or check out Christian Bush
Speaker 1: from sugar Land. He's got one called geeking Out, where
Speaker 1: you talk to people about what they're super geeking out about.
Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. I mean, you think Christian would do
Speaker 1: you want about music, but he does a bit talk
Speaker 1: about it. But it's really cool because it's just about
Speaker 1: people who are super passionate about things. That being said,
Speaker 1: we have a David Lee Murphy Bobby Cast coming up soon,
Speaker 1: so Davidie Murphy has obviously might be a little dust
Speaker 1: about voices, a little fried from working all that today,
Speaker 1: but yeah, otherwise I would seeing that song perfectly. So
Speaker 1: that's coming up. But let's get into Steve Mokler. He
Speaker 1: wrote Riser for Dirk S Bentley. It's got a new
Speaker 1: song out called Born Ready, and he's gonna talk about
Speaker 1: how he drives around and plays shows for fans and
Speaker 1: are basically a camper. So here we go, Episode one
Speaker 1: oh four. Steve Mockler, the Bobby Cast. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: All right here with Steve Mokler, every buddy, what's up? Bobby.
Speaker 1: Good to finally get you here. I know, man, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for for inviting me, and I listened
Speaker 1: to this podcast all the time, so it's very cool
Speaker 1: and surreal to be in this chair. I'm in slippers,
Speaker 1: as you noticed a second a. But as I said,
Speaker 1: it's my house, so I could do whatever I want
Speaker 1: if we're in my house. I've been slippers too, but
Speaker 1: I had to tredge across town, so I needed something
Speaker 1: a little more serious. Today. I had a pretty chill day, man.
Speaker 1: I went to the y m c A this morning.
Speaker 1: Gracey and I walked around the track a few times
Speaker 1: and made some breakfast and finished reading the book and
Speaker 1: went for a walk, fielded some emails. It was pretty
Speaker 1: low key. Did someone cancel it right or did you
Speaker 1: just set today? No, No one canceled it right today.
Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of times mondays or just today.
Speaker 1: I have to to kind of just you know, gather ideas,
Speaker 1: get inspired and set a vision for the week. So
Speaker 1: it's funny. I know you mostly from Amy, my co host.
Speaker 1: Amy and Gracey, your wife are really good friends, and say, man,
Speaker 1: hang out Gracey all the time, she's we're jumping on
Speaker 1: the trampoline. I was like, Graysie, who's that Guysie moggler?
Speaker 1: That's she runted to Steve. Yeah, I had Steve's wife,
Speaker 1: and so they became good friends. And I guess the
Speaker 1: first time you and I ever spent any time any
Speaker 1: time together was an Amy's house when her kids. We're back.
Speaker 1: Because we had met a couple of times. I think
Speaker 1: we met in passing maybe a stage coach, that's real quick.
Speaker 1: We talked to stage coach. That was a whole disaster
Speaker 1: in itself. It's just so much. It's the stage coach
Speaker 1: is just so big and so hot and dusty. But
Speaker 1: then we were over to Amy's house the day her
Speaker 1: kids came in from Haiti. Back. That was a That
Speaker 1: was a rad day, man, that was a big celebration.
Speaker 1: That was a lot, even thinking back to the day,
Speaker 1: because I was on Hawaii and it was vacation for me.
Speaker 1: During that mid December to January, we just on the
Speaker 1: show We just go away, and I have a real
Speaker 1: problem with going away, but I went to Hawaii because
Speaker 1: it was disconnected, and I get there in the Amy
Speaker 1: calls and goes, hey, I need just come back because
Speaker 1: because we're gonna be here. So I'm I'm taking zig
Speaker 1: zag flights trying to get back because I land. And
Speaker 1: then a few hours later they land, and then we
Speaker 1: go over to Amy's and have a party. And I
Speaker 1: remember I looked at the staircase and you were sitting
Speaker 1: with an acoustic guitar. I think you were learning Party
Speaker 1: in the USA from Miley Yes, for the kids, for
Speaker 1: the kids. I do love that song though. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: remember looking up because Eric Passley was there and it
Speaker 1: was just really close friends at Amy's house. It was
Speaker 1: just people that in our personal life. It really wasn't
Speaker 1: a work thing. But the cool thing is you become
Speaker 1: friends with people that also do the same kind of
Speaker 1: thing that you do. And so musically it was you
Speaker 1: and I don't know who's getting work. I think Amy
Speaker 1: signed Taylor Swift guitar. I think that's what you were playing.
Speaker 1: That is what it was. That's wow, You're right, because
Speaker 1: I was I looked out, but I said, I know
Speaker 1: that guitar. It was a Taylor Swift sign guitar. It
Speaker 1: was you passed Lay and Walker Hayes and you're all
Speaker 1: playing music. And Amy's kids were just stunned by what
Speaker 1: was happening that night. I remember too, because I don't
Speaker 1: know if you do therapy. I go to therapy, and
Speaker 1: I was talking about therapist and he's like, hey, because
Speaker 1: I have I get to social anxiety level, and so
Speaker 1: I don't. I just don't do things social with people
Speaker 1: I don't know. And sometimes I don't even do things
Speaker 1: social because I know I'll get to this anxiety type place.
Speaker 1: He said, hey, find somebody that you think would be cool.
Speaker 1: And I've I haven't told you the story he said,
Speaker 1: and say, hey, let's hang out. Because that had two weeks.
Speaker 1: I had no idea what I was gonna do, and
Speaker 1: so he gave me this homework and we were naming
Speaker 1: his house and saying, hey, Steve, what are you doing? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You go no, because I was the only tip for
Speaker 1: two days. Grace's gonna have this thing. We're going to that,
Speaker 1: And that was my one attempt to make a friend
Speaker 1: and tell dude, I didn't I couldn't tell the back
Speaker 1: remember I remember I was. I was flatter when you
Speaker 1: asked me to hang out. I didn't. I didn't know
Speaker 1: the back story. I was like, hey, dude, I just
Speaker 1: been passing. I just thought of it. You want to
Speaker 1: go to garth. But really it was, oh man, I
Speaker 1: think Steve's nice. I'll see if you wants to hang out. Due. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got rejected, like junior high. No, you didn't get rejected.
Speaker 1: If you told me the whole story, we we'd be
Speaker 1: we'd be singing friends in low places that Friday night.
Speaker 1: But you picked your wife over me. I did, but
Speaker 1: I didn't know what was at stake. I didn't know
Speaker 1: I could have helped you out in that way. But
Speaker 1: I live rain check rain check for sure. I got
Speaker 1: a lot of music up here from you. I guess cool,
Speaker 1: you know more than even just getting into the music.
Speaker 1: Just I mean, I don't know much about you except
Speaker 1: and I don't purposely do a whole lot of research
Speaker 1: because I kind of like to pull things out of people.
Speaker 1: Except I guess you're you're Steelers fan. Huh, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: and your whole family Steve fans. My my mom's host
Speaker 1: side of the family is So I grew up in
Speaker 1: town called Bethel Park, just outside of Pittsburgh. So that's
Speaker 1: my mom's family is all die hard Stealer fans. And so,
Speaker 1: how did you get from Pittsburgh in Nashville? What made
Speaker 1: you take that job? Um? Well, I made this little
Speaker 1: c D when I was a senior in high school.
Speaker 1: After playing in bands and stuff and through middle school.
Speaker 1: In high school, I made my own project, like a
Speaker 1: singer songwriter thing, and UM, I had this guy who
Speaker 1: was at this little independent record label in Florida. Hear it,
Speaker 1: and um ended up offering me this little little record deal,
Speaker 1: and to me, it was little at all at the time.
Speaker 1: So he flies me and my dad down to Florida
Speaker 1: and and UH offers me this record deal, and I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I, man, this is all about to happen
Speaker 1: right here, right now. UM ended up not taking the deal.
Speaker 1: The deal. Um, I had this attorney that h was
Speaker 1: like the only music business guy that I met through
Speaker 1: a bunch of phone calls, and I trusted him. And
Speaker 1: he revised the d for me and marked it up, like,
Speaker 1: added a bunch of zeros on it, and sent it
Speaker 1: back to the label guy. And and UM, the label
Speaker 1: guy was like, you know, man, over insulted. We thought
Speaker 1: we had a relationship. You can either work with with
Speaker 1: us at the label or you can work with this attorney.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to choose. And it was a really
Speaker 1: hard decision to make, you know, because I was eighteen
Speaker 1: years old thinking everything was about to happen. But the
Speaker 1: the attorney said, you know, uh, he said, this is
Speaker 1: a long road and if you want to walk it,
Speaker 1: I'll help you do that, but I'd advise you not
Speaker 1: to get in bed with the first person who wants
Speaker 1: to sleep with you. That's how we said it. And UM,
Speaker 1: I just said, so I decided to turn down the deal,
Speaker 1: and but I knew I wanted to keep pursuing music
Speaker 1: and as my you know, as my main focus, and um,
Speaker 1: I was typing in my mom really wanted to go
Speaker 1: to college. So I was typing in music business stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, college stuff on Google and found Belmont and
Speaker 1: ended up applying there. And it was actually the only
Speaker 1: school I got into that I applied to. UM, and
Speaker 1: that's just by the grace of God, because really there's
Speaker 1: you know, schools that weren't as difficult to get into
Speaker 1: that rejected my application. But I got into Belmont, and
Speaker 1: uh I went there for two years. So that was
Speaker 1: kind of my segue into Nashville. What do you want
Speaker 1: to do a belt business? I studied music business for
Speaker 1: for three semesters and then I switched to English for
Speaker 1: my last semester. So you didn't study music. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I thought about I thought hard about that decision.
Speaker 1: I kind of talked to different you know people at
Speaker 1: the school and the film before I decided what to
Speaker 1: apply for. And um, you know, I just I just
Speaker 1: really felt I knew I wanted to be a songwriter.
Speaker 1: And I've never considered myself a great guitar player or singer. Um,
Speaker 1: I just I knew I wanted to to be in
Speaker 1: the scene and write songs. And you know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just id I did. I When I thought about
Speaker 1: the avenues of studying the instrument or my voice, that
Speaker 1: just didn't really excite me. So I studied music business
Speaker 1: just to kind of get an overview of what it
Speaker 1: was like. So what was the goal? Was it to
Speaker 1: be an artist or just to move down to be
Speaker 1: a song It was to be an artist. But I
Speaker 1: really didn't know. I didn't have any you know, it's
Speaker 1: not until you get to Nashville you really realize all
Speaker 1: the different types of artists and paths you can take.
Speaker 1: But I just knew I wanted to to to have
Speaker 1: a career making my own music, you know, whatever that
Speaker 1: looked like. And that was really as far as I
Speaker 1: thought about it. So you moved to Nashville. You didn't
Speaker 1: say you went four years? So you dropped out a college.
Speaker 1: I dropped out to actually pursue your craft. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: before I went my mom. My mom was real relieved
Speaker 1: I went decided to go to school, and she said, hey,
Speaker 1: if you I just want you to go to school
Speaker 1: for two years, you know, I want you to know
Speaker 1: what that experiences. She'd always say, have two years of
Speaker 1: college under your belt, and just so I wasn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't go there and count down. You know, I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't wait two years, I'm out of here. But
Speaker 1: you know, I just after two years, I um, you know,
Speaker 1: the classes were about to start getting harder. You know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was like, if I if I switched to English,
Speaker 1: I gotta take Spanish again, or if I go business,
Speaker 1: I gotta take accounting. And all the while, man, I
Speaker 1: was just getting really I just knew what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do, and I was just I couldn't sit in
Speaker 1: those classes any longer, and I wanted to get out
Speaker 1: and play. What would you tell a kid now that's
Speaker 1: finishing high school and they know they're going to do music,
Speaker 1: man um if they know it, man, I think I think,
Speaker 1: I personally think going to Belmont was great for me
Speaker 1: because it was a natural segue into this music community.
Speaker 1: Whereas so when I was at school, I was making
Speaker 1: friends just the way you would at any other college.
Speaker 1: But they were really talented, and they were they were driven,
Speaker 1: and they were they were doing the same thing I did.
Speaker 1: Or or years later. Uh, you know, my friends from
Speaker 1: Belmont now are people that are running publishing companies, are
Speaker 1: playing you know, band leaders and with big artists and
Speaker 1: writing hit songs. So but you know, I didn't have
Speaker 1: to do the whole networking. You know, check this out.
Speaker 1: It was kind of raised in the network and I
Speaker 1: didn't That was not intentional, but it was definitely a gift.
Speaker 1: And I really, I really have a I really admire
Speaker 1: guys that come here a little later, you know, when
Speaker 1: there twenty six after college and and they have to
Speaker 1: do that game. It's it seems tough, but I felt,
Speaker 1: I felt, not that I have any means, had an
Speaker 1: easy road, but that was one not school that I
Speaker 1: didn't have to get over. Who were people in your
Speaker 1: class meeting around the same time you're talking about just
Speaker 1: creating friendships. Yeah, there's this guy, Jeb Holmes is one
Speaker 1: of my one of my best friends, and he played
Speaker 1: guitar for Josh Turner and the band Perry Um. My
Speaker 1: ex girlfriend Parker Welling is a great songwriter. She had
Speaker 1: the number one song last week with Russell Dickerson. Yours.
Speaker 1: Casey Brown was also with that song. He was my
Speaker 1: sweet mate um for to Georgia Line was there at
Speaker 1: the same time. I wasn't tight with those guys um
Speaker 1: while we were there, but um, we definitely crossed pass
Speaker 1: a lot. And because I wasn't here, Yeah, that whole
Speaker 1: thing blew up. It was pre me. Yeah. So by
Speaker 1: the time I got to Nashville, they were already a thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I I missed the Independent. They signed with the label.
Speaker 1: They had a song that was blowing up into Were
Speaker 1: they already a thing in college a bit? They weren't
Speaker 1: even a band. They weren't even they were just friends,
Speaker 1: you know. I I I think Brian was. I think
Speaker 1: I think all I knew that they played at a
Speaker 1: church and we're worship leaders. And uh, I remember I
Speaker 1: was playing at this hotel Indigo. There's a hotel down
Speaker 1: on West End. They used to have writers rounds there
Speaker 1: and I would play there. And I remember seeing Casey
Speaker 1: Musgraves come in there when she first got to town.
Speaker 1: And usually, you know, I played there on a lot
Speaker 1: of Wednesday nights for about twelve people, And I remember
Speaker 1: seeing Brian and Tyler get up and performed together to
Speaker 1: saying a song called black Tears that Jason al Dean
Speaker 1: went on to cut. But I mean, no, they don't
Speaker 1: even know if they were called for to Georgia Line
Speaker 1: at that point, but it just they blew up. Man,
Speaker 1: it was crazy to see see I didn't see it.
Speaker 1: I wish I would have seen it. You know, it
Speaker 1: was part of the Sam blow up. Okay, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: to you was you know, poof was big. I didn't
Speaker 1: see the floor of Georgia line blow up. Yeah it was.
Speaker 1: It was the really first time i'd ever you know,
Speaker 1: watch somebody go for Man, you were at my school,
Speaker 1: you were at this bar playing for twelve people like me,
Speaker 1: and now you're you know, you're head, You're on the
Speaker 1: c m A Awards and just this you have the
Speaker 1: biggest country selling country song of all times. Nuts. Doesn't
Speaker 1: it show you, though, that if you have the right
Speaker 1: whatever it is, things can change, just like that on
Speaker 1: a dime, for anybody at any time in the creative space.
Speaker 1: It just takes the one whatever it is. Is it
Speaker 1: the right promotional vehicle? Is that the right song? Is
Speaker 1: that the right uh do at partner? Yeah? Because I've
Speaker 1: seen it happen seven or eight times. The chemicals just
Speaker 1: magically come together at the right time or and then boom.
Speaker 1: And it also inspires you to continue moving forward because
Speaker 1: at any time. It could happen for anybody. That's right.
Speaker 1: And that's how I feel watching a lot. And and
Speaker 1: I have been the benefit. Fishery a part of that
Speaker 1: as well, because I moved here and it was the
Speaker 1: right time the you know, the form. I had gotten
Speaker 1: older and a bit out of touch in the radio part,
Speaker 1: and they're bringing me and I was like a bull
Speaker 1: in the china shop and I was too aggressive, but
Speaker 1: it was a perfect time for me to commend it.
Speaker 1: So I benefited too from that. But even with listen
Speaker 1: to your music, it's just like I keep your songs
Speaker 1: are so good. I just keep wondering, when's that one
Speaker 1: going to be? Don't you wonder that like a little bit?
Speaker 1: Is it like which one is finally going to be
Speaker 1: the one? I I do sometimes, man, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I think for me, you know, my careers just
Speaker 1: has been kind of a steady, slow climb, whereas I
Speaker 1: screwed that. Man, let's go, let's get big. Let me
Speaker 1: talk about this for a second. Okay, So when you
Speaker 1: thought cyber criminals couldn't stoop any lower, you're wrong. They're
Speaker 1: stealing and selling social security numbers of infants. Baby, there's
Speaker 1: still an info from babies and they're selling it. Identity
Speaker 1: thieves can buy the infants information on the dark web,
Speaker 1: and then because of clean in credit history, they can
Speaker 1: take out mortgages, apply for credit cards, receive government benefits.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? And these crimes can go undetected
Speaker 1: for years. Caused huge headaches because kids don't know and
Speaker 1: they get older and all of a sudden they got
Speaker 1: a problem. But that's why live flock exists. Good thing.
Speaker 1: New life Flock identity theft protection adds the power of
Speaker 1: Norton Security to help protect you against the threats to
Speaker 1: your identity and your devices that you can't easily see.
Speaker 1: Your fix on your own life flock will work to
Speaker 1: fix it. No one can stop every cyber thread, prevent
Speaker 1: all identity theft, or monitor transactions at all businesses, but
Speaker 1: new LifeLock with Norton Security can uncover threats that you
Speaker 1: might miss. Go to life flock dot com or called
Speaker 1: one life flock. Use the promo code bones for an
Speaker 1: extra ten percent off for your first year. Promo code
Speaker 1: is bones life flock dot Com promo code Bones. So
Speaker 1: I like this one. I think I have Instagram. This
Speaker 1: one who came out and the the night it came out.
Speaker 1: But thank you and the Father the Fastest spend Now
Speaker 1: I'm just going to remember it here. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: Caitlin Smith and Gordy Sampson and Caitlyn singing on it too.
Speaker 1: I remember and I love that song. She is awesome man.
Speaker 1: Kitl was one of the first ones we ever did this, right, Mike, Really,
Speaker 1: We used to do this in my condo downtown and
Speaker 1: we just that's the reason our studios are crappy up here,
Speaker 1: because it's not a real studio. We just did a
Speaker 1: bunchet equipment together and said, hey, we're gonna do a podcast,
Speaker 1: and so some of the Caitlin Smith and Ryan heard
Speaker 1: like two years ago. Yeah, like hey, just come over
Speaker 1: to call the house and we started doing this and
Speaker 1: here we are over a hundred hundred hours later. But
Speaker 1: I love Wills that suitcase. Is that commercially your most
Speaker 1: successful song that you've put out? It is? Yeah, they
Speaker 1: were great many this it's fun in a bunch. So
Speaker 1: when you do something like this case, are are labels
Speaker 1: calling you? Because there's a buzz. There's a constant buzz
Speaker 1: about you. But it's almost like if you're not super
Speaker 1: shiny or not shiny at all, because if you're in
Speaker 1: that middle, no, it's a weird place to be. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's hard to have that outside or
Speaker 1: impossible maybe to have that outside perspective on on where
Speaker 1: I am in that I can give it to you you
Speaker 1: if you want it. You want you want the outside,
Speaker 1: you got it. Yeah, I have the because I'm not
Speaker 1: I don't do the game. I don't. I don't hang
Speaker 1: with industry people for this exact reason, so I can
Speaker 1: have outside perspective. So this is the Steve Mokler thing.
Speaker 1: Super good, super consistent, great songwriter, just waiting on that
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Everybody keeps waiting on it because everybody
Speaker 1: knows you're that good, thanks man. And so it's everybody
Speaker 1: just kind of waits. And the thing is, you're not sixteen,
Speaker 1: but you're not too old either, and you're good lucking enough.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't know. I don't know what
Speaker 1: everybody's waiting on. I don't know what's it. It's not
Speaker 1: that like you have a new style that you've reinvented.
Speaker 1: You're just consistently nailing them with triples, thanks man. That's
Speaker 1: that's a compliment. Dude, that that's a that's a great compliment,
Speaker 1: and that's that's that's a huge coliment consistently hitting triples
Speaker 1: and eventually those things start to go over the wall.
Speaker 1: After you hit enough triples. Trust me, aplay high school baseball.
Speaker 1: I'm super b adlet. Yeah, eventually you start to hit
Speaker 1: home runs and you hit you know, a riser for
Speaker 1: with you know, for Dirk. Yeah, do you ever think
Speaker 1: about keeping this one? Oh man? At the I recorded
Speaker 1: as well? Um, Travis meadows right, Yeah, yeah, you know
Speaker 1: this was a this song was a huge gift man
Speaker 1: and I I never thought the song would have the
Speaker 1: life it did with Dirk's um. So you I know
Speaker 1: Travis reporter it too. Yeah. Actually I don't think Travis
Speaker 1: released a version of it. I have he recorded the
Speaker 1: demo that I think is the demo that Dirk's uh
Speaker 1: listened to and it was inspired and recorded. But is
Speaker 1: that what we had, Mike? Do we just have it?
Speaker 1: And that's why I know it if I'm singing it
Speaker 1: and and I get the geek out on stuff and
Speaker 1: keep stuff. So you recorded the song? I did, and
Speaker 1: what did you do it? But I put it on
Speaker 1: this record called Wide Open. It was my third record,
Speaker 1: and I recorded it with this guy named Mike Rucky
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, and it came out. It wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: a single at that time. My whole team, I don't
Speaker 1: even think I had a booking agent yet. It was
Speaker 1: just me and my buddy, Tim was my manager. So
Speaker 1: uh we we you know, as far as what we
Speaker 1: did with it, we put it on a record and
Speaker 1: we went out and toward it. There was no nothing
Speaker 1: else really behind it but Dirk's. You know, Dirk's really
Speaker 1: gave that song a big life and um and and
Speaker 1: now when we go out and play it, it's cool
Speaker 1: because people a lot more people know it than from
Speaker 1: my version, for sure. So you wrote it, you cut it,
Speaker 1: you put it out. From when it comes out for
Speaker 1: consumption to when Dirks puts it out, what's that time?
Speaker 1: So Dirk's put it out first, so we actually, um man,
Speaker 1: it's hard to remember now, I don't know I remember
Speaker 1: if it was part of the agreement or what, but
Speaker 1: we definitely said, you know, he wanted to put the
Speaker 1: song out first and his team didn't, and we said,
Speaker 1: heck yeah, so my record came out. We didn't wait
Speaker 1: to put my record out. But just happened to come
Speaker 1: out after his. So then let me go back to
Speaker 1: my original question, why, when you finished writing it, would
Speaker 1: you go, hey, let's go ahead and pitch this song. Well,
Speaker 1: at that point, I was I was really going through
Speaker 1: a thing where I just I did. I wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what my aspirations were as an artist. I was really
Speaker 1: I was kind of a little bit tired, um from
Speaker 1: my first two records and really trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what box I fit in and um or at least
Speaker 1: tired of feeling that was something I had to do.
Speaker 1: And I just said, you know what, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna write songs, fall back in love with
Speaker 1: writing songs, and and and that was actually when I
Speaker 1: got married, and I actually, you know, I just kind
Speaker 1: of hunkered down here in town and and and just
Speaker 1: worked on my songwriting and um and that was when
Speaker 1: I recorded that song. So at the time, I wasn't
Speaker 1: really going, hey, let's I want to be a big star,
Speaker 1: I want to have this on the radio. I was
Speaker 1: just I was writing from a different placed. Was gonna
Speaker 1: put that as a single when he took it? No, No,
Speaker 1: I had no idea. Uh, I was just I was
Speaker 1: psyched when it actually just made it on the record,
Speaker 1: because I've had a couple of songs say they're gonna
Speaker 1: be on the record and they don't. So when I
Speaker 1: heard it was for sure on there, I was excited.
Speaker 1: And then I'll never forget the morning. Uh, I woke
Speaker 1: up and opened my email and and or I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was an email or Twitter, and I
Speaker 1: saw Dirk's released this whole riser campaign to announce his record,
Speaker 1: and I was just oh, man, I was just it
Speaker 1: was in the video was so inspiring, and uh it was.
Speaker 1: It was amazing for only Yeah, and that's a great
Speaker 1: When they announced the record and it's the name of
Speaker 1: your song, you pretty much know it that it's going
Speaker 1: to be a single. Rarely and it happens occasionally, it
Speaker 1: does ye know that's happened where they name it after
Speaker 1: a tract that doesn't come out. But most of the
Speaker 1: time that ends up being a song like a radio song. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you got it, that's true. But I wouldn't let
Speaker 1: my song. I've got so many self defense mechanism built
Speaker 1: at this point, I wouldn't let myself go there. But
Speaker 1: I was when it finally did, I was really excited,
Speaker 1: your wife really excited. We both were went to remember
Speaker 1: going to see Dirk's and going to see him in
Speaker 1: Birmingham on the Riser tour. And actually sorry the tour
Speaker 1: is named after the Yeah, dude, actually know it was
Speaker 1: l A. We saw him in l A. First we
Speaker 1: said we saw a couple of shows on that tour. Um.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah about the Risor t shirt, man, I
Speaker 1: was I was psucked. Didn't even get a free one.
Speaker 1: I didn't ask. I probably could have my way. He
Speaker 1: didn't know, he didn't know. Let's see Steve Mochlan. What
Speaker 1: else do Yeah, I like your sound. I'm a little
Speaker 1: partial because I to bring in anybody I want. So
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of your sound. You're the singer songwriter artist.
Speaker 1: That's what I like. Cool. Thanks, man. So when I
Speaker 1: hear like here, let's talk about ballad. Oh I love it.
Speaker 1: Let's fresh off the skiel and I'm totally into telling
Speaker 1: about this one. This song has a very unique backstory. Um.
Speaker 1: So there's a song on my last record called Siddle
Speaker 1: Saloon that's it's about a bar and my grandfather's basement.
Speaker 1: And in the second verse, I say, there's a line
Speaker 1: that says Grandpa and his brothers back when they were young,
Speaker 1: come down here once they and loaded those trucks. So
Speaker 1: one of my one of my agents at CIA, had
Speaker 1: to had been talking to Mac Trucks at the time
Speaker 1: and they were looking for somebody to write a song
Speaker 1: for them. So mag and I just played my record
Speaker 1: for CIA and told them about the you know story
Speaker 1: about that song long and how my grandfather was a
Speaker 1: mechanic and had a fleet of concrete hauling trucks and
Speaker 1: so being now is from Pennsylvania. And with that stat alone,
Speaker 1: they said, hey, maybe this guy can write your song.
Speaker 1: So the Mack Truck's team came to my Steel Town
Speaker 1: album release party and just got to know me, and
Speaker 1: we really hit it off and and they ended up
Speaker 1: asking me to write this song. And so I had
Speaker 1: a bunch of phone calls with them trying to write
Speaker 1: them the song. And as they unwrote, they were rolling
Speaker 1: out a new truck called the Anthem, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I just said, hey, cool, I would love that. Be awesome. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I end up writing the song and just loving
Speaker 1: it that. They paid me well more than that for
Speaker 1: any other song I've written any of the corporate stuff.
Speaker 1: That I do. It's just money. It's awesome money because
Speaker 1: they have so much of it. They don't even comprehend
Speaker 1: what a normal human once and we'll get and they
Speaker 1: just they just throw it at you. It's amazing. It was.
Speaker 1: It was cool and as cool as the money was,
Speaker 1: it was really cool to actually love the song for
Speaker 1: me to eat first before he loves on. You gotta
Speaker 1: eat real food and you gotta pick. But when you
Speaker 1: can do both, you know, that's that's the sweet spot.
Speaker 1: I agree, you got to eat first. You do gotta eat.
Speaker 1: So when you moved to town, how did you make
Speaker 1: money for the first couple of years, Well, the first
Speaker 1: couple of years I was here, out of college, out
Speaker 1: of coms. Okay, you just grind on the road, man.
Speaker 1: I didn't have enough gigs to do that. I I
Speaker 1: had a couple of jobs I worked. I I bought
Speaker 1: headlights off of busted cars and resold them to uh
Speaker 1: my ex girlfriend's stepdad's auto company. So the cars were busted.
Speaker 1: Not the headline, the direct cars headline for so Good. Yes,
Speaker 1: And actually at that time I lived in When I
Speaker 1: was driving over here, I was back in my oldhood.
Speaker 1: I lived on Lookout drive just a little bit away
Speaker 1: from here, and I drive around two different body shops
Speaker 1: in the area, and I'd go in there and with
Speaker 1: a little bit of cash and and um, you know,
Speaker 1: just I it was just this whole subculture of of
Speaker 1: you know, of business where these guys got headlights, are
Speaker 1: sitting on there waiting for guys like me to come
Speaker 1: in and they're hoping that I'll pay over pay for him,
Speaker 1: and then I'll sell them back and they'll be refurbished
Speaker 1: and sold on you know, eBay or something. Oh. It's
Speaker 1: fascinated with happy people made money too survive and then
Speaker 1: thrive creatively. Because I struggled hard for years. They just
Speaker 1: making money and living. So I'm fascinating with people's stories
Speaker 1: about how they were able to live when it was
Speaker 1: really lean. Yeah, and so you're in this flip this headlight,
Speaker 1: flipping headlights. I was doing that. I was also working
Speaker 1: childcare at a church on West End one day, Like
Speaker 1: you're watching kids watching kids, yeah, like a daycare, Like yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: Steve mcre daycare. So I was I was going from
Speaker 1: body shop into daycare and and then still trying to
Speaker 1: you know, do my shows. And at a certain point, Um,
Speaker 1: I was, I was making more money selling T shirts
Speaker 1: and CDs than I was investing in these headlights. I was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was seeing a faster return on on that.
Speaker 1: So I've eventually was able to stop doing it, But
Speaker 1: I was in this. I think my my break, I
Speaker 1: guess was getting to do this college touring scenes called
Speaker 1: naka and uh. So I drove around and played a
Speaker 1: lot of colleges a lot of times. It was you
Speaker 1: know that lunch time, um, you know when we're kids
Speaker 1: reading Chicken Caesar wraps with their back to you, and
Speaker 1: you're playing your own music, maybe mixing a little bit
Speaker 1: of Miley Sorry Cyrus to get their attention. And I
Speaker 1: did that for a couple of years, and I actually
Speaker 1: made good money doing that, but it was I could
Speaker 1: tell I really wasn't building a fan base and I
Speaker 1: wasn't getting better at writing songs. So I decided to
Speaker 1: change gears and stop doing that and be poor again. Word,
Speaker 1: And you know what being poor is also because you
Speaker 1: really find out who you are. Yeah, that's where that
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the only reason I can still know
Speaker 1: who I am, because I go, what would I do
Speaker 1: about if I still poor? Because it was I'm not
Speaker 1: poor anymore. I was poor for most of my life.
Speaker 1: And sometimes when I have these decisions like Okay, which
Speaker 1: lane would I want to go? I go, Okay, if
Speaker 1: you're still poor, which lane would you go? That reason?
Speaker 1: That's me real quick. Yeah, so you're you're out, you're
Speaker 1: playing colleges, you're playing cafeterias. Yeah, and you go, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's not for me, burnt out, burnout exactly. Then how
Speaker 1: do you start to develop a fan base? What do
Speaker 1: you do to develop a fan base? Well, a couple
Speaker 1: of things happened. Um, I became friends with these guys
Speaker 1: in town, Ben Rector. Well this actually before Ben record came.
Speaker 1: Town was Dave Barnes and Matt Worts. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you know much about those guys, but they were
Speaker 1: kind of, I would say, pioneer singer songwriters here in Nashville.
Speaker 1: They were they weren't signed in major labels, but they
Speaker 1: were building a following just by going out and making
Speaker 1: great records and playing clubs. And and those guys heard
Speaker 1: my first record and let me come out and open
Speaker 1: for them. That was one big break, um, where it
Speaker 1: was actually playing for fans for their fans, and um,
Speaker 1: and but shortly thereafter met Ben Rector and he did
Speaker 1: some touring with him, and he was the one that
Speaker 1: gave me the advice when I was like, dude, I'm
Speaker 1: burned out. I don't know if I could do this anymore.
Speaker 1: He remember him saying, man, you know you're gonna see
Speaker 1: a return on whatever you invest your time, and if
Speaker 1: you want to be a better songwriter, you should invest
Speaker 1: your time in writing songs. So at that point I came,
Speaker 1: I stopped doing that, and um, I just really started
Speaker 1: putting in time on music. Real. I'm a big bend
Speaker 1: Rector guy. I want to enjoy his style of music
Speaker 1: and too. Arkansas. Yeah, he's in Arkansas, Guys, I'm a Rector.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, he's awesome. Yeah, he's one of the best.
Speaker 1: We were on the Southwest flight from here to California.
Speaker 1: I think we're both in life in the bathroom and
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, dude, have you been I was
Speaker 1: like yeah, I said, hey, Bob. We talked like ten minutes.
Speaker 1: We took a league. It was all we say. I
Speaker 1: mean nice that it could be. I watched his a
Speaker 1: YouTube live. He did a YouTube live concert. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I knew that it was and it was
Speaker 1: the coolest live concert I've ever seen it. I think
Speaker 1: it was that I think Chapel Hill in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: And he's because he plays piano. He you know, he's
Speaker 1: just it. But it was really, uh a cool thing
Speaker 1: to see a live YouTube concert with someone that you
Speaker 1: see bouncing around town. Yeah, because you just say, he
Speaker 1: just walks, you know, in he's Nashville. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he still where he lives anymore, but yeah, he's
Speaker 1: He's seemed like a nice guy. He's a really nice guy. Man.
Speaker 1: It's it's always we we know, we did a lot
Speaker 1: of touring together at the beginning, and it's it's always
Speaker 1: crazy for me. You know, he's he's big time now. Man,
Speaker 1: it's he it's by being his friend, being his friend
Speaker 1: from from the beginning of that. It's again it's hard
Speaker 1: to have a glimpse of until you go to one
Speaker 1: of his shows and you're like, wow, man, the show
Speaker 1: still does And he's independent as far as much as
Speaker 1: you can be an independent artist. That's him and that
Speaker 1: has to inspire artists too, that you can just do
Speaker 1: your thing and if you do it the right way
Speaker 1: and you hit that right chord that a following will develop,
Speaker 1: and he's done that. He certainly has. Yeah, he's got
Speaker 1: a people pour into his shows, and he super serves
Speaker 1: his audience. Where we are now in this culture of
Speaker 1: I would say the nineties and back nineties to the sixties,
Speaker 1: where you could put something out and you just wanted
Speaker 1: to be mass popular for everybody. You just want to
Speaker 1: make the best thing and hope that most people loved you.
Speaker 1: We're in this culture now of super serving your slice
Speaker 1: of the pie so much that that's all I care
Speaker 1: about anymore. They're just talking to my people. I want
Speaker 1: to super serve my people, and that's it. And what
Speaker 1: I've noticed is my little slice. When I superserve my people,
Speaker 1: it starts to get a little wider. I'm not chasing this.
Speaker 1: If so, I would have send in top forty, but
Speaker 1: that wasn't for me. I wanted to come over here.
Speaker 1: These are my people, and I feed them as much
Speaker 1: pie as it can possibly eat. And I'm only feeding them.
Speaker 1: I don't care about anybody else. But I start to
Speaker 1: notice that I just feed them, that little piece of
Speaker 1: pie gets a little bigger and a little bigger, and
Speaker 1: I think that's where it's all going now. It's so
Speaker 1: many avenues, from streaming to YouTube, to radio to everything
Speaker 1: on the phone. There are ten tho quote unquote celebrities now,
Speaker 1: and you can try to be big for everybody and
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna care. Or you can be big to your
Speaker 1: specific group of people. And that's how you make it now,
Speaker 1: and that's how you continue to make a living. At
Speaker 1: least that's how I've done it. I don't even know, dude.
Speaker 1: Here's the song. I like this one, Fearful and take me.
Speaker 1: This is this is vintage right here. I'm amazing you
Speaker 1: pull this up? How old are you? Dude? I'm it's
Speaker 1: hard to listen to. Why I think I'm I think
Speaker 1: I'm why is this hard? My voice? Dude, it's it's
Speaker 1: so emotional, it's so so. It does sound like a
Speaker 1: vampire playing piano. I thought I actually looked a little
Speaker 1: bit like a vampire in this album cover. Shoot too
Speaker 1: long and hard to day. What would you tell this
Speaker 1: nineteen year old right now? Relax? I think I'd say, relax? Man.
Speaker 1: I was, um, you know at that point, man, I
Speaker 1: think I was. I was really thinking, um, I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, making that record and thinking, oh man, you know,
Speaker 1: someone's gonna pick this up and gonna be you know,
Speaker 1: tour bus, you know, in any minute now. And I
Speaker 1: was I was also you know, uh, I think really
Speaker 1: really in my head too about relationships. I was just
Speaker 1: I was just pretty uptight, um and it took for
Speaker 1: me a while to kind of chill out. But I
Speaker 1: think I would say, man, um, keep making music from
Speaker 1: your heart and uh, and don't be in a hurry
Speaker 1: and enjoy the ride. I think that's what i'd say.
Speaker 1: I have some songs here that you've written. Here's that
Speaker 1: Dirk Marty grawl before bad yeah before Afteriser, that was
Speaker 1: an Afteriser actually wrote that one with Dirks and now
Speaker 1: we Himby. Do you feel oh man, that's powerful? Right?
Speaker 1: It was awesome. So you know, if you're writing with
Speaker 1: and foreign artist and someone like Natalie Himby is there,
Speaker 1: that song is going to get used. I felt pretty
Speaker 1: good that day. I was. I was in a good spot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just a because those guys, they only have so
Speaker 1: many rights. An artist only has especially of that stature
Speaker 1: on the road all the time and only has so
Speaker 1: many rights, and they're writing for a specific reason. Derk
Speaker 1: is not just dicking around and he's there right, songs
Speaker 1: for him and then Natalie Himby who writes everything. I mean,
Speaker 1: so you wrote that with her and Dirk's yeah, and
Speaker 1: so you gotta feel pretty good. Yeah when Dirks goes yeah,
Speaker 1: I like it. It was awesome. It was it was
Speaker 1: It was a really fun day, man. I remember it
Speaker 1: was just that day. It just came easy and it was.
Speaker 1: It was a blast there, both so talented. So what's
Speaker 1: happened with you right now? Um? What do you? What
Speaker 1: do you people to consume of yours? Well, we just
Speaker 1: released that song Born Ready, which is the title track
Speaker 1: of the new record we have coming out, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna be rolling out a couple more songs and we're
Speaker 1: announcing a toorical the Born Ready tour this for this spring,
Speaker 1: so all the tour will kind of lead us right
Speaker 1: to the record release. The hurts thing like that depends
Speaker 1: on how much water I've had to drink or beer.
Speaker 1: Do you have to hydrate fully? Yeah? I mean yeah
Speaker 1: when I'm on when I'm on tour, I definitely drink
Speaker 1: a lot of water and that keeps me out of trouble. Howay,
Speaker 1: So you're getting there? Yeah, A water man need that
Speaker 1: water dude, you need it, and I don't really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Water and knees are the two things that never really
Speaker 1: thought much. If you just leave your knees, you're done.
Speaker 1: You're right, man, I guess mine are still all right.
Speaker 1: Drink a lot of water and take care of your
Speaker 1: knees and your teeth. How do you take care of
Speaker 1: your knees? Just not beat them up too bad? Or
Speaker 1: is there you got any knee exercise? A little thing
Speaker 1: like I'll do pull ups. I used to just boom,
Speaker 1: follow my feet. Now you go down and you're cushion
Speaker 1: it by bending your knees a bit, right. Just take
Speaker 1: it from someone a few years older than you. We
Speaker 1: were watching Olympics last night. That hitting the moguls, those dudes.
Speaker 1: I just crushes my knees to watch him. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can't ski though I've never been snow skan. I'm a snowboarder.
Speaker 1: I grew up doing that. I guess so you're from
Speaker 1: that bought a stupid question you pay. No, it's I don't,
Speaker 1: it's I don't. I wouldn't say it's that that obvious.
Speaker 1: But about a coat? Everything you want to ask, Oh,
Speaker 1: Steve Mockler, you feel like we you felt like we
Speaker 1: covered it over you did? Uh one of the crowdfunding
Speaker 1: things for your record back in the day, right, Oh yeah, man,
Speaker 1: early in the crowdfunding days. It was early. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: was the kickstarter like it was one of I was
Speaker 1: with this guy Andy Davis did it in here in
Speaker 1: town and and then we did one shortly after him,
Speaker 1: and it was from my second record, watching Time Run
Speaker 1: and uh, and it went really well. I went skydiving.
Speaker 1: I was like, if we're gonna ask people for money,
Speaker 1: I gotta do something cool. So I kind of made
Speaker 1: this whole thing where I was like, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: skydive and kind of made this metaphor. It's like I
Speaker 1: got the studio time. It's like jumping out of it,
Speaker 1: but I don't have the money to pay for It's
Speaker 1: like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. Are
Speaker 1: you gonna be there for me? So we called all
Speaker 1: the all the little packages parachute packages, and it worked.
Speaker 1: It was cool and and it made me overcome my
Speaker 1: fear heights you jumped out of a plane. Do you
Speaker 1: feel did you? Did you do something for everybody? Is
Speaker 1: what that is like? If you can sign something to
Speaker 1: send it to you. There's all different kind of packages.
Speaker 1: You know. You can you can get a sign poster
Speaker 1: and get the record early. You can, you know something,
Speaker 1: you could even write a song with me. That was
Speaker 1: one of the higher end packages. So there's all kinds
Speaker 1: of stuff. It was cool. Oh dude, it's I don't
Speaker 1: charge anybody now, man, let me been on that one. Uh, Steve,
Speaker 1: good to see buddy, Great to see too. Man. Pretty
Speaker 1: for having me. Yeah, I appreciate you coming to the
Speaker 1: house and check out Born Ready to These things gets
Speaker 1: to do all the time. Maybe the records all By
Speaker 1: the time someone hears this is the record takes be
Speaker 1: called Ready, it's gonna be called Born Ready. That could
Speaker 1: be the one you never know. It could be the
Speaker 1: one Nashal's waiting for you. I'm not going anywhere, man,
Speaker 1: I suppose watching you, you're just on that pressive I
Speaker 1: see it. You're just right there. You're just tinkering. People
Speaker 1: just don't know where to put you. And that's the
Speaker 1: best place to be because that means there's nowhere already
Speaker 1: carved out for you. When people don't know where to
Speaker 1: assign you, that's the best and the worst place to be.
Speaker 1: I'm a home run hitter, though I mean to strike
Speaker 1: out a live Nobody kne where to put me, and
Speaker 1: they still don't, and I scrub a lot. Nobody knows
Speaker 1: where to put you right now, And you know what
Speaker 1: it's awesome about that there's not a place already designed
Speaker 1: for you. Thanks man, that's encouraging. And if you want
Speaker 1: to hit home runs, that's what you do. Freaking you
Speaker 1: don't go into another person's hole. I'm gonna keep swinging.
Speaker 1: That's probably not a good thing out the way, don't
Speaker 1: ye Like. Yeah, I'm a fans fancy thank you. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Going by there is Steve moclaire. Yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: hanging out with us, See you next time. M