1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: Music Saved Me. One day, this man came to the 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Orphanage with an acoustic guitar. His name was Niley, So 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: Niley came and he played I'm going to Alabama with 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: a banjo on my knee, and he might as well 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: have stuck me with a stun gun or something, because 6 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: I sat there in front of that man, and I 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: was just enamored with the way the notes came off 8 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: of that instrument and the way that his voice moved 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: in and out. And I think that made me such 10 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: a fan to this day of live music, because it's 11 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: like a painting that you see happening in front of 12 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: you and then it goes away. 13 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 2: I'm Lynn Hoffman and this is the Music Saved Me Podcast, 14 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 2: where we explore the profound connection between music and emotional healing. 15 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 2: In this episode, we are so excited to welcome country 16 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 2: music singer, songwriter and super cool guy Rocky Lynn, a 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 2: talent known for his powerful storytelling and emotional depth, and 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 2: Rocky's journey through music is totally intertwined with his personal experiences, 19 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 2: including his search for identity and family, which has showcased 20 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,839 Speaker 2: so beautifully in his new Amazon Prime and PBS film 21 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 2: called Where I belong Rocky Lynn, Welcome to Music Save Me. 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 2: It's so great to have you here. 23 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Lynn. I've been a fan for a 24 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: long time and I'm grateful to be on your show. 25 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, and congratulations and all the 26 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,279 Speaker 1: great work that you do for charities and for people 27 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: to spread their music around the world. I appreciate the 28 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:35,559 Speaker 1: opportunity to be here. 29 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 2: Well, thank you for being here. And I have to 30 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 2: tell you my husband walked up the other day and 31 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 2: ask me why I was had a box of tissues 32 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 2: next divan. It's like I am watching the best documentary 33 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: right now. What a wonderful film that you have out 34 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 2: there that I think everyone should see for so many reasons, 35 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 2: on top of just your personal story and Ernie. But 36 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 2: can you share for us how your early experiences shaped 37 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 2: your relationship with music without giving away too much because 38 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 2: so much is covered in the film. 39 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: Well, I think that that's a great question. I think 40 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: that music was the first thing that gave me solace 41 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: in my life. You know, it was tumultuous growing up 42 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: in an orphanage, especially in the you know, they don't 43 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,399 Speaker 1: they don't have orphanages anymore. But back in the mid 44 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: sixties when I was a child, an orphanage is for 45 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: those that don't know, it's the Barium Springs Home for Children. 46 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: Was a big concrete building that held about two hundred 47 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: of us kids and and and it was. It was 48 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: a difficult upbringing, not necessary to anything that was. It 49 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: was just a bad hand I got dealt, you know, 50 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: a difficult hand to begin with. But we would be 51 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: taken to this place called Little Joe's Chapel three or 52 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: four times a week, where this man would scream a 53 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: salvation and preach at us. But before they would preach, 54 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: people would sing. And I loved hearing the music. I 55 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: couldn't read at that point in my life, and they 56 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: would be singing like when the Saints come marching in 57 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: and bringing into sheaves. And I didn't know what sheaves were. 58 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: I guess I still don't know what sheaves are. But 59 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: I would just make up my own words to the music, 60 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: and it gave me a sense of peace and solace 61 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: in my soul. And one day this man came to 62 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: the orphanage with an acoustic guitar. His name was Niley. 63 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: There's a name you don't hear much, right, You got 64 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: any friend's named Niley, right, So Niley came and he 65 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: played I'm going to Alabama with a banjo on my knee, 66 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: and it might as well stuck me with a stun 67 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: gun or something, because I sat there in front of 68 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: that man and I was just enamored with the way 69 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: the notes came off of that instrument and the way 70 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: that his voice moved in and out. And then you 71 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: have to realize at that point, I hadn't really heard 72 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: any other music. There were no record players or radios 73 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: or TVs in this facility, so the music was what 74 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: happened live. And I think that made me such a 75 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: fan to this day of live music, because it's like 76 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: a It's like a painting that you see happening in 77 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: front of you and then it goes away. So the 78 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: magic of live music is just there. That's why when 79 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: I go to concerts, I don't use my phone. I 80 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: tried to. I try to be experience what's happening in 81 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: that area. But I remember Nihley singing those songs and 82 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: me realizing that this was what I wanted to do 83 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: on Earth, and so I decided at four years old 84 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: that for the rest of my life, I'm going to 85 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: try to learn how to play the guitar and sing songs. 86 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: And I'm one hundred and ten now and I've been 87 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: doing it forever, and I'm still trying to figure out 88 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: how to play the guitar and sing. And it's my 89 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: place where there's solace and there's introspectiveness and there's peace. 90 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: And that's what it does for me, and I think 91 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: in a lot of respects it does that for other 92 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: people as well. It sure does. 93 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 2: Now, can you share what inspired the title of your 94 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 2: new album Love and how it basically reflects your journey 95 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 2: up until this point. 96 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: Well, there's a song on the album called we Need 97 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: a little More get Along. And my friend jako Jmenez, 98 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: who's a great accordion player, he played on Streets of 99 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: Bakersfield and all those great records. He's a great accordion 100 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: he played on this song, and that song kind of 101 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: wraps up how I think where we are in the world, 102 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: we need a little more get along, a little more 103 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,799 Speaker 1: everybody trying to look at what's right with the situation 104 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: as opposed to what's wrong with it. And we don't 105 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: really need to be at each other's you know, figurative 106 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: throats all the time, and I think that we could 107 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: use more love in our society because that's what opens 108 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: up all the Bible said, you know, the three greatest 109 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: things in the world are hope, faith, hope, and love. 110 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: And so the album before Love was faith, and then 111 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: this album is love. And it's all songs about love, 112 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: but not just songs like I Love you, you Love Me. 113 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: It's songs about things. How did you deal with things 114 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: with love? A great example would be the second song 115 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: on the album, which is called Heavy Load. I wrote 116 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,239 Speaker 1: that song after this young man went into a church 117 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: in Charleston, South Carolina, and the people that were in 118 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: the church invited him to pray with them and be 119 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,239 Speaker 1: part of their Bible study meeting, and then he shot 120 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: all the people in the church. And I thought, how 121 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: do we as people? Because I don't think. I think 122 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: if you hold on to hate and you hold on 123 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: to adversity, and it just festers like a cancer inside 124 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: of you, and so you have to forgive. And coming 125 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: from that's another thing, like coming from an orphanage where 126 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: sometimes great things didn't happen, you know, foster homes and 127 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: places like that. We could have made a really ugly 128 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: movie about child abuse and rape or whatever you wanted 129 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: to make it about. When we made a movie about hope, 130 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: about holding on to your dreams regardless of what those 131 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: dreams are, and having the wherewithal to go out and 132 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: search for that. And I think where the greatest place 133 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: that is is, like in the back of the song 134 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: heavy Load, how do we forgive and treat that situation 135 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: with love? So it's more of a question, I guess 136 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: than it is an answer, because I don't have an 137 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: answer for it, but I'm asking how do we do that? 138 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 2: It's like you're making medicine with your music. How in 139 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 2: what ways do you feel music has healing powers? I'm 140 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 2: sure there are many, but what do you believe are 141 00:07:44,360 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 2: the key reasons for the healing? Wow, it's just it's 142 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 2: so profoundly it's just so powerful. What does it make 143 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 2: you feel like when you witness people being helped by 144 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 2: your music and your words? Even you know, when you're 145 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 2: performing at large venues. 146 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: Well, I'm fortunate enough that before we were playing, you know, 147 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: theaters and larger venues, that I played a lot of 148 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: places where I was entertaining people that necessarily didn't want 149 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: to be entertained, like bars and Casine and places like that. 150 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: But yet, so my goal was to see if I 151 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: could somehow or another get their attention. But then when 152 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 1: I started my charity Tribute to the Troops, we started going. 153 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: We go to families who have lost heroes in Iraq 154 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,079 Speaker 1: and Afghanistan or come home and lost their battle with PTSD. 155 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: We treat them all exactly the same. We call them heroes, 156 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: but it's still mothers and fathers that have lost their children. 157 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: And when I would sing to them, we started visiting 158 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: the homes and occasionally I would sing in the yard. 159 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: I would write songs about them. I have a song 160 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: called Heroes Come from Small Town that's on our Songs 161 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: for Soldiers record, and all of those songs are true stories. 162 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: So that particular song was written for a man named 163 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: Matthew Milzark who was from Moose Lake, Minnesota, and he 164 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: and his bruddy moy they joined on the Buddy system 165 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: and then they got separated and Matthew went to Iraq 166 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: and he lost his life, and so I wanted to write, 167 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:00,319 Speaker 1: we were going to this man's house. I wanted to 168 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: write something that would be specifically for him. So the 169 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: song begins. Matthew grew up farming in Moose Lake, Minnesota. 170 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,319 Speaker 1: It's not an imaginary situation. That is where he grew up. 171 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: That's where he was. In the chorus, it says heroes 172 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: come from small towns, poor kids in class, clowns. And 173 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: when I sung that for that family, I was speaking 174 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: directly to them, and it gave some sort of solace 175 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: and peace in their life, and I could see it 176 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: come over their faces. And I think about that every 177 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: day when I come in my studio when I'm writing songs. 178 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: Is how do we do that? And I think we 179 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: do that when by being as honest as we possibly 180 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: can to realize that in Matthew's situation, he never was 181 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 1: able to play, to have a family and have a home. 182 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: He died so that we could continue to do that. 183 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: Every day I come in and in my studio when 184 00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: you walk in the door, I've got it. I've got 185 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: his picture where he joined the Marine Corps and I 186 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: touch it. And I just touched the picture and I 187 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: say to Matthew, hey man, today, I'm going to try 188 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: to do some good in this world, because he did 189 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: some good in this world. And it'd be really super 190 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: great if all of us remembered that and that's what 191 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: Tribute to the Troops is about, remembering those people. 192 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 2: Yes, I did want to bring that up. Actually, Motorcycles 193 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 2: and a Tribute to the Troops is a remarkable thing 194 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 2: that you actually started, and I know this from your film. 195 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 2: Before you were signed to a major record deal. You 196 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 2: started this charity that still exists today. Can you tell 197 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 2: us a little bit about what made you decide to 198 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:44,560 Speaker 2: do that. 199 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: This is our twenty second year and what we do 200 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: is once a year, well once a year in a 201 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,680 Speaker 1: bunch of different states, because we were in five states 202 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: only for many years, and then a couple of years 203 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: ago we spread out to all fifty states. We just 204 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: did the Virginia Ride actually last Saturday, so a bunch 205 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: of people came from all over the country. They it's 206 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: an all volunteer organization, so they volunteer their time, they 207 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: bring their motorcycles. And now we've got it where you 208 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: don't have to just ride a motorcycle. You can drive 209 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: your car or whatever. And we go specifically to the 210 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 1: home of that hero where he grew up, where he 211 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: learned to play ball, where he played catch with his dad, 212 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: and we stand in their yard and we tell them 213 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: that we will remember the family we just visited with 214 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: Staff Sergeant Jeremy Brown, and he's from Beckley, West Virginia. 215 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: He was born premature, a month's prematurity. Weighed three pounds 216 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: and fifteen ounces when he was born on November tenth, 217 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,959 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. And that's what I spend a month 218 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 1: learning about the guy and learning all about him so 219 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:53,959 Speaker 1: that when we stand in that yard, we can tell 220 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: his story, not just his military story he lost his 221 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: life in a hum v trying to keep ied an 222 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: ID suicide bomber from killing a bunch of young men, 223 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: but the years before that, when he struggled with being 224 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: bullied in high school, and he struggled with all of 225 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: the illnesses of being born early and not having the 226 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: medical technologies that we have now. So what Tribute does 227 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: is say to these families in a very loud and 228 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: clear voice, that we will remember that there's an empty 229 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: place at your table every day, that mother Teresa Brown 230 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: doesn't sit down to have dinner every day, that there's 231 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: not an empty place at her table. And that's something that, 232 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: thank god, I can't relate to on a first person basis, 233 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: but on a human level, I can feel sorry for 234 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: that mother and father, and I can let them know 235 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: that we as a nation are grateful for what they 236 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: have done. And that's what tribute to the troops is about. 237 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: We've been fortunate enough to visit probably over five hundred 238 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: homes and we've sent help send one hundred and twenty 239 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: seven children to college whose parents had been killed in 240 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: the war. And it's not for any other reason. Then, 241 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: it's an act of love and kindness that we do 242 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: for another person that has given the ultimate sacrifice for us. 243 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 2: Well, may it continue another twenty two forty four sixty 244 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 2: six years because it's beautiful work that you do, and 245 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 2: congratulations on the success. And we wouldn't be able to 246 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 2: even do this to help if they didn't give their life, 247 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 2: So you know, more of us should be able to 248 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 2: do what you're doing. It's frightening and heartening at the 249 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 2: same time when you think about it, really, especially with 250 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 2: everything going on today. 251 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: You were talking about the power of music and the 252 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: first year two thousand and five that I went to 253 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: Afghanistan and Iraq on the days off that we weren't 254 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: playing the green zones, the places where the whole band 255 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: could play, they would let me go for like motor pools. 256 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 1: Wait are what they call fob before it operating bases 257 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: out in the in the little parts of the you know, 258 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: the places where we're deployed as a nation. Those guys, 259 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: you know, they just come back from you know, fixing 260 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: a tank that was in a battle or something, or 261 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: or are doing a patrol to the last thing. They 262 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: want to hear some come. I heard one guy one 263 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: kid wants not kid. But you know I'm one hundred 264 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: and ten, so they're all kids to me. He was saying, 265 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: what does this come by? Oh, I don't hear some 266 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: guy play guitar? And but then somehow or another music 267 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: finds a way. That's where those songs where I wrote 268 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: from their point of view. The whole album is songs 269 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 1: like heroes come from small towns and I'm proud to 270 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:43,960 Speaker 1: be a soldier and I'm just trying to relate to 271 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: them at their level. Because it was those men that 272 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: pointed me in the right direction. I went into the 273 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: military the day after I graduated high school. And those 274 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: non commissioned officers, those people who were the drill sergeants, 275 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: they were all Vietnam guys. Then they had been to Vietnam. 276 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: They were tough and they were rough around the edges, 277 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,679 Speaker 1: but they pointed me in the right direction. So my 278 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: goal for going there was to say thank you to them, 279 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: not to say, oh, look what I've done. And I 280 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,880 Speaker 1: think in life, the more that I can make whatever 281 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: I do about the people that I'm doing it for 282 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: rather than myself, the more I don't think successful is 283 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: the right word. But the more. 284 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,400 Speaker 2: It's a selfishness that you don't have to feel bad 285 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 2: about because it's all about giving. It's about giving. The 286 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 2: stuff you receive back is it's almost like you feel 287 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 2: guilty to get it because you just want to give it. 288 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 2: I totally get that. What are some specific songs that 289 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 2: got you through particularly hard or difficult times in your life? 290 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: I know when you were. 291 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 2: Younger, I can give away a little bit about Your 292 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: Kiss and Jimmy Hendrix were your first albums, but putting 293 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 2: those aside or unless they were the things that helped 294 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 2: you when you were young, but were things. Are there 295 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,880 Speaker 2: certain songs that stand out to you today that maybe 296 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 2: got you over a hump that you didn't think you 297 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 2: were going to be able to get over? 298 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: Well, I think yes. I think in many instances. Music 299 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 1: has helped me through so many things in my life 300 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: and help me. I don't really get like, I don't 301 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: get knocked down. Like to me, a no is just 302 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: a not yet answer, you know. And I don't expect 303 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: this to be easy, this thing that we're trying to do. 304 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: I think it should be hard out of reference to 305 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: all the people that have come before us, the great 306 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: people that we haven't even heard of. I've played with, 307 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: you know, living in Nashville for all these years and 308 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,159 Speaker 1: playing in all those bands that I played in. I 309 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: played with many people who the whole world should have 310 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,120 Speaker 1: known but didn't for what reason, one reason or another. 311 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: So if I'm lucky enough to be sitting here with 312 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: Lynn Hoffman on her show and the world hearing about 313 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: my music, then I should be humble and grateful for that, 314 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: And so I try to always think about it in 315 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: those sort of terms. But I remember, I remember Sean 316 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: Mullen's record when it first came out, the one that 317 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 1: had what the hit that he had, whatever the hit 318 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,040 Speaker 1: was on it, but the rest of that album, it 319 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: was almost spoken word in a lot of instances like that. 320 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: And at that point I was living in my van 321 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: and playing three hundred days a year in nightclubs and 322 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: bars and casinos, and I didn't drink. Ever. It's funny 323 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: because I made a living in places where people are 324 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: always drinking, and I haven't had that many girlfriends before 325 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: I got married, And I think that's because people. At 326 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: one person asked me recently, they said, how what was 327 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,640 Speaker 1: that like? And I said, well, you know, you think 328 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:30,320 Speaker 1: it would be that time where you were partying a 329 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,159 Speaker 1: lot and having lots of one night stands or whatever. 330 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: But it wasn't that way because I didn't drink and 331 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: I didn't do drugs, and so at ten o'clock there 332 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: might have been girls I wanted to date, but at 333 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: two o'clock, very seldom was anyone left that I wanted 334 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: to go out with. So I'd go back to the 335 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: hotel room and practice that sort of thing. And I 336 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: think that those singers that moved me and had been 337 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: always the ones that I kind of fall back on, 338 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: were never really the great singers that had like the 339 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: high ranges and the loud voices as much as they 340 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: were communicators, people like Jackson Brown and Bob Dylan and 341 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: Tom Petty and Bruce Robinson and people who where the 342 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 1: lyrics of their song go beyond their lives and somehow 343 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: translate into your life as well. 344 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 2: Is there a specific song on this new album Love 345 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 2: that has special meaning to you, extra special meaning to you? 346 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: Well, they all kind of do in that, in that 347 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: in that they come from a place where I'm trying 348 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: to be as honest as I can. I think that 349 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: Richard Lee, who's a great Hall of Fame songwriter and 350 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: I wrote it, was lucky enough. I was lucky enough 351 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: to write with him on several occasions, told me once 352 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,680 Speaker 1: that the more personal you can make a song, the 353 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: more universal it actually becomes. Because we as humans, whether 354 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: we live here or whether we live in Kourgistan or 355 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: or in the Himalayas, are going through the same things. 356 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: We have a family, we want to feed that family, 357 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: we want to eat, We want to have our own 358 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: freedoms and our own lives. So when I try, I 359 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: try to write from that perspective. But the song More, 360 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: which is the first song on the album, I wrote 361 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:14,200 Speaker 1: about my mother, who adopted me when I was five 362 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: years old, and she was the first person that ever 363 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: cared if I had anything to eat or if I 364 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: had clothes on my back, and you think that's that's 365 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,399 Speaker 1: not something you would think about. But if you had 366 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:32,120 Speaker 1: spent five years not having something to eat, or necessarily 367 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: having clean clothes or people that cared, it's a big 368 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: deal when someone finally says, hey, let me make sure 369 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: that you're doing okay here. And so after she passed away, 370 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: I thought she used to tell me all the time. 371 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 1: I would say I love you, mama, and she would say, 372 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: I love you more so, and I thought, what did 373 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: that mean? What did she mean by that? And she 374 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: was unable to have children herself, and they were allowed 375 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: to adopt only because they adopted the older kids. The 376 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: young baby would get adopted right away usually, but if 377 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: you made it to where I was an older kid, 378 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: you were pretty much there for the duration because people 379 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: adopted babies, not older kids. But my parents were lucky 380 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 1: enough to be really hard working, fantastic people that didn't 381 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 1: have a lot of formal education. My mother had a 382 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: third grade education and my dad had a fifth grade education. 383 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: He's really he was really smart, really hard working. He 384 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 1: just grew up in the depression with ten brothers and sisters. 385 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: His dad got horribly injured in a car accident when 386 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: he's in the fifth grade. So he quit a lot 387 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: about his age and went to a solid meal and 388 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: went to work. And then when they couldn't have children, 389 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: they went to adopt, and they got me. And so 390 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:42,920 Speaker 1: when I would say I love you, she would say 391 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: I love you more. I thought, what does that mean? 392 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,640 Speaker 1: And I think, I really think then that she meant 393 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: she loved me more than herself, that she everything in 394 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,239 Speaker 1: her life revolved all of a sudden around me. And 395 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: that's how I feel about my children and my family, 396 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: and I know that how you feel about your husband 397 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: and your family as well. And so I came up 398 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: with the line, I'd give you my seat on the 399 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,640 Speaker 1: train to Heaven if only one of us could go. 400 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: And that's what started that song, with the idea, and 401 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: then it moved into family and other things. Because the 402 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 1: great songwriters that write country, the Bobby Braddocks and the 403 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: Hank Williams and the Dennis Morgan's and the Richards Lee 404 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: Richard Lee's, they're all double on taunders. They all say 405 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 1: one thing that they mean something else. And I'm not 406 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: claiming to be any of those people or be able 407 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: to write like that, but that was my idea where 408 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: it started from somewhere and moved into a different realm 409 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: that hopefully has a universal platform that other people can 410 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: relate to as well, because ultimately it's all love. 411 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, absolutely, you had to tell me the line 412 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 2: from the song again to make me cry again. It's 413 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,400 Speaker 2: just amazing. And actually watching that film and hearing all 414 00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 2: of the people that you've worked with and continue to 415 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 2: work work with, and how they speak about you and 416 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 2: your drive and made me want to ask you, where 417 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 2: do you continue to get the drive to make new 418 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 2: music and to work with new musicians. 419 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 1: Well, I've also been fortunate enough to be able to 420 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: do this thing that I love and that I would 421 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: have done for free. I would have done it anyway 422 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: for a living, at all sorts of levels where it 423 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:30,919 Speaker 1: was just enough to get by for a while, and 424 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: then there might have been a little extra. My daughter 425 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,920 Speaker 1: went to college and we were able to take care 426 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: of that and take care of her. So for me, 427 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: I think the desire is always there, and I always 428 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,159 Speaker 1: I'm always looking for a way to share it or 429 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:47,879 Speaker 1: to get better. 430 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:48,119 Speaker 2: You know. 431 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: I practice every day because I want to figure out 432 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: how to learn how to play the guitar. That's my goal. 433 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,439 Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to have an attorney once that 434 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: really gave me some great advice. He was trying to 435 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 1: help me get a record deal before I got a 436 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: record deal, and he said to me one day, he said, 437 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,199 Speaker 1: you know, you don't really have any money, and you 438 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: don't have any connections, and you don't really have a 439 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,920 Speaker 1: group of people that can help you get on this program. 440 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 1: But I think you might make it because one you're 441 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: just too stupid to quit is that I was too, 442 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: and I think I am, you know, because and I 443 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 1: know that you interview, you know, the great musicians like 444 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: Jelly Rowl and Pat moynahan, who's one of my crazy heroes. 445 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: I love every word that's ever come out of that 446 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 1: man's mouth, you know. And I think that they get 447 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,360 Speaker 1: to sing the big stadiums full of people. But I've 448 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: been fortunate enough to sing to two people at a 449 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: motor pool in Kourajistan, or to a backyard to a 450 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: mother and father whose son isn't there anymore. And I 451 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 1: get just as much joy, if not more, out of that, 452 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: than I do sing it in front of a million 453 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 1: people at Rolling Under like we did every year in 454 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: front of the Lincoln Memorial to me, it's about the 455 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: song and the connection to the people, whether it's one 456 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,360 Speaker 1: person or whether it's a whole bunch of people. 457 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 2: And how does it feel when you see that connection happening. 458 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 2: I think that it was something that I read when 459 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,320 Speaker 2: you test out new songs by performing live, and if 460 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 2: they don't react the songs out, you're just broken the 461 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:26,640 Speaker 2: trash canner. 462 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,199 Speaker 1: For years, I mean, I played nightclubs back when you 463 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: could make a living play nightclubs like all the big 464 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: dance hall, Billy Bob's and Grizzly Rose and all those 465 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: and we would play there for a whole week and 466 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: then drive five or six hours and play another place 467 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: for a whole week. And I didn't play cover music. 468 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 1: I just played my music because if I wasn't going 469 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: to try to make it on someone else's dime, who's 470 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: going to be my dime or nothing. So experimenting with 471 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: those songs was a great way to figure and I 472 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,399 Speaker 1: learned that. When I first moved to Nashville, I was 473 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: a bandleader at a place called Barbara's, which was down 474 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: in the Printer's Alley, and all these people would come 475 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: through there, and I remember one night Jeff Silber came through. 476 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: Jeff Silber and Larry Larry Henley wrote a great song 477 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: called when Beneath My Wings, which at the time was 478 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: a big song out in the world. I guess it 479 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: still is, and people would always come up and sing 480 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: that song because at Barbara's the thing was the band 481 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 1: would play the first three or four songs and then 482 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: it was just come in, sit in and play and 483 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,160 Speaker 1: people from all over would come in, and a lot 484 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: of Toby Keith and Kenny Chesty and whole bunch of 485 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: people came through there. But Jeff Silber was there and 486 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: he was going to get up and sing when Beneath 487 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: My Wings and everyone that had ever done it. When 488 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: I would play it, they would want the band to 489 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: get really big and in the chorus there you all 490 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: my hero. It would be that kind of thing, right. Well, 491 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: when Jeff came up, he said, could we do this 492 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: without the band? Could you just play it on the 493 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: acoustic guitar? And I thought, well, yeah, I guess so, 494 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: you know, and I remember that little Austin outa at 495 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: the beginning to look and when I did that, it 496 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: took on a different because it's not this thing. And 497 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: then when he went to sing Lynn, he didn't go. 498 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: Do you ever know? You know he must have been 499 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: cold there in my shadow. He didn't do that. He said, 500 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: it must have been cold there in my shadow. And 501 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: I got it. It wasn't like this big trim. It 502 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: was that this person was there to help them when 503 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: he had nothing. He was literally the wind beneath his wings, 504 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: the one that propped him up, that helped him. And 505 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: I've had so many people in my life do that 506 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: for me, whether they did it knowingly or not knowingly, 507 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: starting with God, who didn't let me die in a 508 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: garbage dumpster in the middle of the world when I 509 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,960 Speaker 1: was a few hours old, to get through the army 510 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: where men help me live in places where you get deployed. 511 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: To all these mentors and people in the world that 512 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: pointed me in the direction that I'm going good, bad 513 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: or ugly, whatever that direction is. And it's all been 514 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: something that when I heard that man sing that that 515 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: lyric translated to me in the way that I want 516 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: to translate my lyrics to other people. So I don't 517 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: sing the lowest in the highest note. I just try 518 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: to communicate what I'm feeling as deeply inside of me 519 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: as I can and if you do that, you'll find 520 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: your tribe because there are plenty of people out there 521 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: going through the same thing. 522 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 2: Oh yes, there are. Wow. It's amazing to me, even 523 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 2: just when you're talking with me on this podcast right now, 524 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 2: how much of a message you can get through without 525 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 2: even a lick of music. Just the words. The words 526 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 2: that you're saying, they hit home even to me. So 527 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 2: many people have so much of that in their life 528 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 2: that you described. And boy, if we had another hour, 529 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 2: I could I could share a lot more. But this 530 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 2: is about you, Rocky Lynn. So I don't want to. 531 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 2: I don't I don't want to stray away. It's hard 532 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 2: for me, though, to bite my tongue because I sometimes 533 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 2: hear so many things that you're saying that are like, 534 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 2: oh my. 535 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: God, that's that's me, that happened to me. Share you 536 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 1: don't don't bite your tongue. I would like to hear it. 537 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 2: Oh well, I mean I grew up with nothing and 538 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,640 Speaker 2: you know, shared a bedroom with my brother in a 539 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 2: tiny apartment, and I got beat up a lot for 540 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 2: being different, and I credit that for being strong today 541 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 2: because and just not giving up on your dream and 542 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 2: letting people who tell you no Instead of that stopping you, 543 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 2: it should make you want to prove them wrong, like 544 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,400 Speaker 2: lighting a fire under your asse to go. I'm gonna 545 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 2: keep telling me no because that's the fuel that I 546 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 2: need to move forward. And I feel like so many 547 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 2: kids today don't have even a mentor to tell them that. 548 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 2: And I feel like it was kind of in my DNA. 549 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 2: I don't know where I got it from, and I'm 550 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 2: so grateful. Maybe my dad, who was a Green Beret 551 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 2: and Vietnam might have instilled a little bit. 552 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: I might have something to do with it. 553 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, but yeah, So I'm just, you know what, a 554 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,239 Speaker 2: blessing just to even be able to talk to you 555 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,959 Speaker 2: today about all that, and thank you for sharing all 556 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 2: of this. Would one last question, just before I let 557 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 2: you go, what would you say to somebody who may 558 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 2: not have a mentor and who is looking to get 559 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 2: into the industry. It's I understand now, being on the 560 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:43,080 Speaker 2: other side entertainment as a whole, it can be scary 561 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 2: for parents to want to have their kids go off 562 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 2: into that business. So what would you tell them today? 563 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: I think if I were asked that question by a 564 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: young person, I would say, don't paint yourself into a corner, 565 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: give yourself and lots of options. Like if I said 566 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: a long time ago, I wanted to be Eddie van Halen, 567 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,600 Speaker 1: like I just and I grew up in a place 568 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: where in the little high school that I went to 569 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: in Oland, North Carolina, there was just me and another 570 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: guy who were kind of like serious guitar players. So 571 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,719 Speaker 1: I was one of the two better guitar players. And 572 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: in my barracks at Fort Bragg, I was the best 573 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: guitar player in my barracks. I'm not bragging. 574 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 2: I just was. 575 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: But there wasn't really that many other guitar players. So 576 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: when I moved to California, I had this false sense 577 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: of I'll get there, and back then I was pretty. 578 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: Now I'm just old, but back then I was kind 579 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: of pretty, and I thought, I'm going to get there 580 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 1: and I'm going to be Eddie van Halen, and that's 581 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: where the universe comes and puts you in perspective. So 582 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: I had this little thing called a pig nose amplifier 583 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: which ran on batteries, and I had an AMP and 584 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,640 Speaker 1: my apartment that I had rented thanks to the GI 585 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: Bill to the United States Army helping me get there. 586 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 1: I was going to the school called g t Out 587 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: in California. My apartment was one block back off of 588 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: Hollywood Boulevard. So when the day I got there, I 589 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,400 Speaker 1: went down to the garden, the little place where they 590 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: will placed around the apartment buildings here and there's a 591 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: middle area, and I had my little amp and I 592 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: was playing thinking that I literally thought someone was going 593 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 1: to come by and discover me. That's not going to happen. 594 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: But there was a man that was doing gardening for 595 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: the apartment complex, and he looked like he had he 596 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 1: had struggled in his life. He was thin, and he 597 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: was older, and you could tell he had he had 598 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: had some challenges that he was going through. And he 599 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: kept watching me play. And I'm naive enough and arrogant 600 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,319 Speaker 1: enough to think, oh, well, he likes my plan. I'm 601 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: going to play faster and louder or whatever. And he 602 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: worked his way over closer than me, and finally when 603 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,240 Speaker 1: he got close enough that we could speak, he said, 604 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: you know, there's a much easier way to do that, 605 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: And I said, oh, And I handed him my guitar 606 00:34:58,360 --> 00:34:59,799 Speaker 1: and this is the guitar that I had all through 607 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,360 Speaker 1: there army that I'd taken with me when I was deployed, 608 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: so I could practice every minute of every day. And 609 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 1: that was the first time I ever heard my guitar 610 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,800 Speaker 1: actually make music. He picked it up and he played 611 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: a few chords, and it was beautiful, and it was 612 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,880 Speaker 1: from his heart. It wasn't from his brain his knowledge 613 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: of scales and modes. He just played music. Then he 614 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: handed it back to me and thanked me for letting 615 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 1: him play, and I told him how beautiful it was, 616 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: and he went back to gardening. And I picked up 617 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: my amp and guitar and went back to my little 618 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: one room apartment over Hollywood Boulevard, and the guy who 619 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: had been a paratrooper in the eighty second Airborne and 620 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: all that I cried. I thought, oh my god, I'm 621 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: like throw a rock and hit a thousand people better 622 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: than me. And so there was me not painting myself 623 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: in a corner. If I had just went there to 624 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:54,040 Speaker 1: be Eddie van Halen, the dream was over. But what 625 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 1: if I turned and I just want to learn how 626 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: to do this so I could go home and be 627 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 1: the best guitar player in Statesville, North Carolina. Or I 628 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: could learn this and I could stick my head in 629 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: and try to dig in and learn it. And that's 630 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,280 Speaker 1: what I did, and the same one I moved to Nashville. 631 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: If I was just going to try to be Tim McGraw, 632 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,480 Speaker 1: so to young people, I would say, open yourself up 633 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: to any doors that open to you, because there are 634 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,799 Speaker 1: many many ways to make a living doing what you 635 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:27,439 Speaker 1: love without being Tim McGraw, without being Nelly, without being 636 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,879 Speaker 1: Dave Matthews. Because I sit here as someone who has 637 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 1: done something that I love my entire life, and most 638 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: people don't know who I am. But the people that 639 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,200 Speaker 1: do know who I am know how much it means 640 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 1: to me, and they love it just as much as 641 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: I do. So find your tribe, find your way, and 642 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: don't say it has to be this way or no way, 643 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: because there are many different options. That's because we live 644 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: in a country, in a world where you where you 645 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,319 Speaker 1: can pivot and do whatever the next right thing is. 646 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: And that's been my business model since I well since 647 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: I had a business model is I don't really look 648 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 1: to the end. I look to the next right thing. 649 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: I do what because that's easy, Like it's easy to 650 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,359 Speaker 1: know what The next right thing for me was to 651 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,879 Speaker 1: call Lynn Hoffman be as honest as I possibly can 652 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,960 Speaker 1: and tell her how grateful I am. And maybe someone 653 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,080 Speaker 1: watching this will see that and listen to my music 654 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,720 Speaker 1: and like it, and that's one more person in my phone, 655 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,239 Speaker 1: and that's what they should do, as opposed to saying 656 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: I'm going to be the next Jelly role, because there's 657 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:31,959 Speaker 1: already a Jelly role. 658 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 2: There sure is. 659 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: And he's a great guy too. He's a wonderful human man. 660 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: Talk about overcoming obstacles and things in your life right. 661 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 2: Well, certainly you are where you belong, which is also 662 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 2: the title of your new and wonderful. I want to 663 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,399 Speaker 2: call it a documentary, but it's more a film. It's 664 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 2: just it's a beautiful film and it's an incredible story 665 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 2: and I can't thank you enough for for sharing some 666 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 2: of it with us today, and hopefully everyone listening right 667 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,719 Speaker 2: now is going to check it out. It's on PBS 668 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,400 Speaker 2: and Amazon Prime. And your new album, which I believe 669 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 2: was inspired by doing this documentary, is called Love and 670 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 2: he is Rocky Lynn, and hopefully and now my new 671 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 2: best friend. 672 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: Thank you, Lynn, Thank you for your time. 673 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,120 Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on music save Me, and 674 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 2: nothing but the best for you moving forward, and hope 675 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:26,720 Speaker 2: our paths cross again. 676 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: I sincerely Hope, so thank you very much.