Speaker 1: On the Bobby Bones Show. Now heard I think I
Speaker 1: saw in your Instagram you're opening for Sam Hunt this
Speaker 1: past weekend. Yeah, what's the difference for you as far
Speaker 1: as your your mindset before you go on stage, if
Speaker 1: you're like the main support act or if it's your show. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so much easier to open these days. There's it's
Speaker 1: just a different feel, even if it's two thousand people
Speaker 1: at your own show, like or the thousand people or
Speaker 1: whatever were less than that sometimes for me, but it's
Speaker 1: there there for you. So it's just a different a
Speaker 1: little bit of a different mindset. But there's also like
Speaker 1: no pressure. I don't get nervous. It's the shorter set.
Speaker 1: It's usually forty five minutes, so that's like by the
Speaker 1: time I'm kind of bored, it's like all right, it's
Speaker 1: over and you go hang out. And Sam has always
Speaker 1: been cool at US I toured with We toured with
Speaker 1: him on the fifteen and a thirty tour and Marin
Speaker 1: was on it, and uh so we know the camp.
Speaker 1: And the next night I went and we did Summer
Speaker 1: Fest in Milwaukee for the first time and tr was
Speaker 1: the headliner that night, so I got to see Sam
Speaker 1: and Thomas this last week Kins, so that was really cool. Um,
Speaker 1: But it's just a little bit of a different mindset.
Speaker 1: But there's also less pressure and I don't get very
Speaker 1: nervous at all or anything. So you're in a cool
Speaker 1: place where you can absolutely go headline your own shows
Speaker 1: and you have a ton of songs and people are
Speaker 1: very passionate about you. But you're also you can make
Speaker 1: pretty decent chunk of change being main support for another
Speaker 1: artist and like you said, play. I was talking to
Speaker 1: Dan and shakes it open for Kenny right now, and
Speaker 1: they're like, it's awesome. Yeah, like we we could go out.
Speaker 1: We have to, you know, take all our equipment, go
Speaker 1: out and just have fun. Yeah, it's it's a different
Speaker 1: It's nice to switch it up, like switch your days
Speaker 1: up too, because at some point you want to headline
Speaker 1: all the time and you want to play late in
Speaker 1: the day at festivals. But it's also nice to be
Speaker 1: done at like eight thirty and you don't have anything
Speaker 1: else to do, like all right, I'll just like watch
Speaker 1: the show or drink a beer or go to bed.
Speaker 1: So uh, I think everybody enjoys the change of pace.
Speaker 1: When do you get tired? Meaning in a year, is
Speaker 1: there a season and you start to go because for me,
Speaker 1: you know, we start in January doing the radio show,
Speaker 1: and if I take out all the other stuff to TV,
Speaker 1: the traveling, but just the radio show alone, about June,
Speaker 1: I start to get fatigued for the first time. Is
Speaker 1: there a touring fatigue? And when does it usually hit?
Speaker 1: So I'll preface the answer by saying, we basically took
Speaker 1: two years off like we did. We did shows during
Speaker 1: COVID times, but not like a tour um so those
Speaker 1: were pretty easy to just kind of come in and
Speaker 1: out of. But so we started second week of January
Speaker 1: this year, and I think that once you start, you're
Speaker 1: just going to be tired the whole year. I mean,
Speaker 1: you you do shows and you ride busses and you
Speaker 1: get it like it's it's it's really fun, but there's
Speaker 1: not a whole lot of rest in it. So the
Speaker 1: way that I kind of manage my time is if
Speaker 1: I touch an airplane or a bus, that's a work day.
Speaker 1: Even if it's like I'm leaving at nine o'clock at
Speaker 1: night or getting home at like seven am on the
Speaker 1: bus drops off drops me off at my house, that's
Speaker 1: a workday. So Sunday to me is not a day off.
Speaker 1: I usually have to take another day off in the
Speaker 1: week just so I can have like some time to
Speaker 1: my to just be a human, hang out with my
Speaker 1: kid or whatever. So but usually Sundays we're just worthless
Speaker 1: people Like we both get home, get dropped off, and
Speaker 1: then you just kind of like look at look, I
Speaker 1: look at Mary and she listen to me, like let's
Speaker 1: take a nap, because you just no matter how you
Speaker 1: do it, it's exhausting. The travel just wears you out.
Speaker 1: Josh Thompson used to say this thing, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: he didn't come up with it, but he said, you
Speaker 1: don't pay me for the show. The show is free.
Speaker 1: You pay me for getting there and getting back, Like
Speaker 1: that's the part that's work. So um, we really are
Speaker 1: blessed to both get to do it. Um we have
Speaker 1: like this weird uh like I don't know, we just
Speaker 1: have an understanding about where we both need to be
Speaker 1: and uh, we're really blessed to be making a living
Speaker 1: on the road. But it is exhausting no matter how
Speaker 1: you do it, it's it's it'll wear you out all year.
Speaker 1: I think there's a romantic thought of being on a
Speaker 1: bus and listen, I try. I've you know, done a
Speaker 1: little tours and cars and vans and that really stinks
Speaker 1: and a bus is much better than that. But even
Speaker 1: when you're sleeping on a bus, you're driving overnight, and
Speaker 1: I never because I'm I and we have a big
Speaker 1: what they called the star bunk in the back, like
Speaker 1: you know, I have my own little room, but you're
Speaker 1: never really comfortable because the bus is always moving or
Speaker 1: hitting the thing on the side of the road, or
Speaker 1: you're just never you're never just totally safe feeling. You're
Speaker 1: always like knock on wood, let's let's make it yeah
Speaker 1: at night. So I sleep better in a bunk, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, we have every kind of bus
Speaker 1: you can imagine out between the two of us, and
Speaker 1: I still I sleep in a bunk because I like
Speaker 1: to be confined like that. Is that more comfortable? Whatever reason?
Speaker 1: I just those those crew busses ride smoother to me,
Speaker 1: and I for I just that's what I like. So
Speaker 1: the we have on you know, Marin's bus has a
Speaker 1: star coach in the back, and we have our own
Speaker 1: apartment back there. But I it just feels like we
Speaker 1: bounced more on it, So I like, I like the
Speaker 1: bunk from when I'm just out with myself. So um,
Speaker 1: but hey, that bus. I'll never ever speak poorly of
Speaker 1: of touring on a bus because it saves you. It
Speaker 1: really does. Like getting home at seven am, getting to
Speaker 1: have a whole day with your kid, have like half
Speaker 1: a weekend almost on Sunday for us is usually what
Speaker 1: it is is pretty special and important, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I do remember the one time where I was like,
Speaker 1: I can make a lot more money if I just
Speaker 1: like suck it up and drive the van and there's
Speaker 1: like no more van, Like we you need to be home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your quality alife is terrible. So that was like five
Speaker 1: years ago, and I just remember her being the one
Speaker 1: that made that decision, and it was a good decision.
Speaker 1: It was like a family decision, like whatever, even if
Speaker 1: you like don't make as much money we we, it's
Speaker 1: good to get home. So the thing about the bus
Speaker 1: and we'll get off this. But I think that that
Speaker 1: I learned early on was first of all we had
Speaker 1: run on was like five grand a weekend, and I
Speaker 1: was like I was like what, Yeah, you cannot get
Speaker 1: in that deal anymore either, because are so hard to
Speaker 1: get now, so before pandemic, I pay like five grand
Speaker 1: a weekend and you know that comes out of the
Speaker 1: money that you're making, and you're like wow, And then
Speaker 1: you gotta pay. If you drive over eight hours, you
Speaker 1: gotta take an extra bus driver. And most of the
Speaker 1: trips will eight hours, so we have to put two drivers,
Speaker 1: and that takes an extra bunk and you're trying to
Speaker 1: fit everybody in. And what also is you don't really
Speaker 1: drive in the daytime because you don't want to be
Speaker 1: awake while you're moving. You know, for the most part,
Speaker 1: you know, if the bus would leave, we leave at
Speaker 1: eleven midnight, one o'clock. Your goal is to get on
Speaker 1: the bus and sleep. That's the when the bus is moving,
Speaker 1: you want to be asleep exactly. And so when you
Speaker 1: see people on tour, be like, man, it must be
Speaker 1: so cool. The goal is to be asleep on the
Speaker 1: tour bus. It's good to have when you're awake, but
Speaker 1: it's to be asleep on the bus. It's definitely a tool,
Speaker 1: and it's part of it, and it's really important, and
Speaker 1: it is fun. Don't don'tlet anybody tell you that being
Speaker 1: on the bus isn't fun. It's blast, but it's what
Speaker 1: you dream about when you're fourteen years old. Is like
Speaker 1: living on a tour bus. I'm serious. I every day
Speaker 1: I get up on that thing, I'm like, gosh, I
Speaker 1: really wish I was home, but this is pretty sweet. Yes,
Speaker 1: but you're right. It's like there's little things about it
Speaker 1: that I think and it's really fun showing people like
Speaker 1: whenever you go, I go. Everywhere I go. My day
Speaker 1: starts at three o'clock when I go to eleven in
Speaker 1: my own like sound checks at three, and then I'm
Speaker 1: on we have radio, and then we have friends and
Speaker 1: we have meet and greet and we have but every
Speaker 1: day someone's like, hey, can you meet my friend? And
Speaker 1: I love doing that stuff, so you and then like
Speaker 1: whoever you got there too, Like I'll always have guests
Speaker 1: out too, and I love having them up on the
Speaker 1: bus because they're just like looking around and everybody wants
Speaker 1: to know, like what's on the inside of it, and
Speaker 1: most it's bananas and protein bars for us, and we
Speaker 1: got like you know, if everyone wants a beer, you
Speaker 1: can have a beer, but but don't get out of hand, yes,
Speaker 1: because we're all working, so keep it between the navigational beacons,
Speaker 1: as Alan Jackson would stay. I have a question, because
Speaker 1: you know, you come to Nashville and you have always
Speaker 1: been an artist, but you're at started as far as
Speaker 1: your commercial success as a songwriter. So it's a very
Speaker 1: interesting journey from a songwriter to a performer. What's it
Speaker 1: like looking back at that career journey now? I still
Speaker 1: think of myself as a writer, and I know Randy
Speaker 1: Goodman hates it when I say that. At my record
Speaker 1: label president, he hates when I say I think of
Speaker 1: myself as a writer. But that's where everything starts for me.
Speaker 1: So I love getting to do both things. I talk
Speaker 1: about my career as a pair of shoes, like I
Speaker 1: have a right foot writing songs for myself and other people,
Speaker 1: and then the left foot is being an artist and
Speaker 1: singing them and traveling and touring. And I can't really
Speaker 1: imagine doing this without both. And someday I'll probably have
Speaker 1: to back one of them down. But while they're both working,
Speaker 1: it's really fun to get an opportunity to just still
Speaker 1: write for people like Jordan Davis and Marin and Lady A,
Speaker 1: like those people are my friends and and it's so
Speaker 1: natural to write songs with them still and I still
Speaker 1: have that opportunity to get on their records. I feel
Speaker 1: like I still have a lot to offer as a
Speaker 1: songwriter for other people. And then at the other we
Speaker 1: just talked about it, like and then I get to
Speaker 1: get on a tour bus on Wednesday night and go
Speaker 1: play my songs for a bunch of people who know them,
Speaker 1: and that's a dream come true. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: I I do both things and I still get to
Speaker 1: and I don't really I don't have to make a
Speaker 1: choice yet and maybe someday I will. But for me,
Speaker 1: it's like that journey is it is sort of like
Speaker 1: I've gotten to do everything and I still get to
Speaker 1: do everything, and I'm really enjoying that. And the great
Speaker 1: thing about a bus is you can actually ride on
Speaker 1: a bus if you want to. Yeah, I was out
Speaker 1: with Thomas this weekend. We played Summer Fest on the
Speaker 1: same night and so we wrote a song. It was great,
Speaker 1: so we It's always fun to see your buddies on
Speaker 1: the road and it's always you know, I've also as
Speaker 1: an artist, like my music has been the best marketing
Speaker 1: tool for me. So I put out an album and
Speaker 1: like you know, Cole Swindell. I became buddies because he
Speaker 1: liked to a T and I liked break up in
Speaker 1: the end, and we talked about it on Twitter, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden we were writing songs together.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I've ever had a cold cut.
Speaker 1: Maybe someday, but that's about a few cold cuts. Pet.
Speaker 1: That's a that's a good example of like cold cut,
Speaker 1: cold cut, cold cuts. I'm gonna have some cold cut, uh.
Speaker 1: But that's a good example of, like my artist thing,
Speaker 1: opening doors. As a writer, do you ever think about
Speaker 1: what would be like if you went down a different
Speaker 1: road in your life, as in maybe not an artist
Speaker 1: or a musician or were you ever close to that?
Speaker 1: I as soon as like halfway through college, I was.
Speaker 1: So I went to Belmont, and everyone who goes to
Speaker 1: Belmont A lot of most people who moved to Nashville
Speaker 1: to go to Belmont and do music some one way
Speaker 1: or another music business or but I went and saw
Speaker 1: everybody doing these music programs, either the business side or
Speaker 1: the performance side or something that had to do with music,
Speaker 1: and I was like, they're all gonna zig. I'm gonna zag.
Speaker 1: So I went and did sociology and e con and
Speaker 1: got a degree and was going to go to grad school,
Speaker 1: and then about halfway through as kind of I kind
Speaker 1: of like made it, like found out what a songwriter
Speaker 1: in Nashville was, so I kind of put all of
Speaker 1: my eggs in that basket and started writing country songs.
Speaker 1: And so I guess like I would have gone to
Speaker 1: graduate school and maybe done something else, but I've never
Speaker 1: really had to. I think the cool part about music
Speaker 1: is like most of us don't have a plan B,
Speaker 1: and so I don't. I don't know. I always say,
Speaker 1: like what you say, like I would be the left
Speaker 1: fielder for the Cubs. No, I wouldn't, But like I
Speaker 1: like sports growing up and I liked music growing up,
Speaker 1: and but this is the only job I've ever wanted
Speaker 1: since I was eleven years old. So I don't know. Man.
Speaker 1: Maybe when I was a kid, my dad used to
Speaker 1: work in advertising, and I always thought, like, if nothing else,
Speaker 1: I can go do something with my dad, either at
Speaker 1: the company's working for and at one time he had
Speaker 1: he had an advertising agency, and like, maybe I'll go
Speaker 1: do something like that, But it never really came to that.
Speaker 1: So it's mostly like thinking about what I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: after all this is over because your window doesn't last forever.
Speaker 1: I mean for some people it does. But like being
Speaker 1: realistic about my own life, like unless like I I
Speaker 1: hope that we have a whole lot more success, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like you're only given
Speaker 1: what you're given, and so I'm trying to really enjoy
Speaker 1: this part of my life. And then you also in
Speaker 1: the back of your mind, are like, Okay, what happens
Speaker 1: when I'm old and nobody cares about my songs anymore?
Speaker 1: Happens to everybody? It doesn't. It happens to everybody. So
Speaker 1: what I think about, we're all gonna die. Oh man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you can be you can do this till you're done.
Speaker 1: Like for me, it's like what happens when I'm forty,
Speaker 1: And like only if I get higher ratings me too.
Speaker 1: Your road to Vegas and the I Heartready and Music
Speaker 1: Festival has been a unique one. How does it feel
Speaker 1: playing this awesome festival? I'm just thrilled to be invited.
Speaker 1: I looked at the bill the other day and I
Speaker 1: just couldn't believe that my name was next to everybody else's. Uh.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's been a dream come true to
Speaker 1: have my songs on the radio. That's every single time
Speaker 1: somebody plays your song, whether I wrote it or whether
Speaker 1: I sing it, that's a every time. It's a dream
Speaker 1: come true because I grew up listening into country radio.
Speaker 1: So to get an opportunity to like go to a
Speaker 1: festival like this for the people that have supported you
Speaker 1: and made your dreams come true as a massive a
Speaker 1: massive deal for me. And uh, to get to play
Speaker 1: it on the same day as Marin is really fun.
Speaker 1: We always love doing that and uh, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a busy day, but it's gonna be a lot of fun. There.
Speaker 1: He is Ryan Hard. Ryan could have talked to you, buddy,