WEBVTT - Favorite 10 BobbyCast Moments of 2022 (Part 2) 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.800 Welcome back to the Top ten Bobby Cast of two. 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.840 My name is Mike d and on part two I 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.840 will be taking you through the top five Bobby cast 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.480 of the year. If you miss part one, just go 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:15.480 back in the feed and listen to what made it 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.600 into numbers ten through six. But this is the best 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.160 of the best of the year. These were are most downloaded, 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.280 are most interacted with, and the episodes that we encourage 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.360 you if you missed them in their entirety, to go 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.120 back in the feed and listen to these entire hour 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.080 long interviews. So let's kick it off with number five 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.559 from episode three sixty eight. It is Rita Wilson. A 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.120 little behind the scenes. This one probably took a year 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.559 to book because Rita Wilson is rarely in Nashville. But 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.680 I knew if we could make it happen, it would 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.440 make for a great episode, and that proved to be true. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.200 I think Rita ended up crying twice in this entire interview, 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.279 and this is just a small portion of that. So 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.200 I highly encourage you to go back and listen to 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.520 episode three six eight. Here is Rita Wilson talking about 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.080 being a first generation of American and her parents heroic 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.039 journey to the United States. I do want to go back, though, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.160 because I'm curious about your roots and even what it 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.000 was like growing up, Like how people turn out the 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:12.880 way they are. What was your house, like, it's seven 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.240 years old, who's there? Where do you live? That is 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.920 such a great question. Well, I'm a first generation American. 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.520 My mom was Greek and my dad was Bulgarian, and 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:27.440 they both had to escape their various countries because during 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.280 World War Two, my mom's village was on the border 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.400 of Greece and Albania, and as things got tough, they 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.080 knew they had to leave. So my mom had to 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.039 cross over these mountains by herself in the middle of 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.520 the night to get into Greece, to get to Athens 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.720 to eventually restore her American passport because she was born 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:48.920 in America. How old was she when when she had 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:50.880 to do that. She was a nineteen when she left 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:55.000 by herself, just with this backpack. I call it a backpack, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.680 but it was something on her back that carried this 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.400 sterling silver flatwear that they had brought from New York. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:02.800 Did you ever talk to her about that, Like what 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.160 was going through her mind when she made that decision where, 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.040 because that's a hard decision, even if you know you 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:09.920 have to do it, it's a hard decision to go. Okay, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.760 now I have to go. Well, the harder decision was 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.720 that her parents, sorry, her mother was there because her 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.520 dad had died when they went there on a vacation 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.400 at four years old, just a village visit the village 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.880 and um, so her mother was a widow with four 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.920 kids at a very young age, and they were supposed 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.240 to leave altogether, but they got word that there was 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.680 going to be a letter coming. And they knew in 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.079 this small village that if somebody came to deliver a 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.359 letter and no one was there to receive it, that's 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.880 unusual where they go, you know, where everybody is. So 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.760 my mom offered to stay back to get the letter 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.400 so that she could the family could go ahead of her, 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.960 and then there would be no suspicion arouse, like cover exactly. 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.440 And then my dad, he um was born in Grease 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.880 and raised in Bulgaria, and oh my god, his story 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.360 is so I don't know how much time we have. Okay, Okay, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.760 it's it's who I am. It's exactly who I am, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.519 and we'll lead back to Christian Bush in a second um. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:21.800 But he wanted it's so sad. But he met a woman, 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.440 he had a baby and um they were married, had 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:30.840 a baby, and on December the baby died. And on December, sorry, 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:35.720 on a December the baby was born. On December the 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:40.040 mother died, his wife, and four months later the baby died. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.600 His name was Emil. I didn't know this at all. 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:44.240 I did that show Who Do You Think You Are? 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.400 And all of this came out. My dad never told 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.360 me that. So he tried to escape Bulgaria. I think 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:54.640 just out of sheer unhappiness and my dad really loved 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:59.160 the idea of America. So tries to escape, gets caught, 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.560 goes They say him, if you try to escape again, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.520 we're going to make you an enemy of the state 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.160 and we're gonna put you in jail. He does it again, 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.960 He gets caught and they put him in a labor camp. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.680 And this labor camp was one of the most severe 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.760 labor camps that that at the time. Commun this labor camp, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.679 he gets a job. It's a coal sort of mining 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.440 labor camp, and he notices that at the night shift 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:28.560 there are these trains that come in and they pick 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:33.880 up amounts of coal and they take them away. It's 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:35.880 the spec and I'm nervous watching the movie and I 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:37.520 know it's not real, but this is what you're telling 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.640 a story about your dad. Yes, and he um. He 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.359 bribes one of the guards with a carton of cigarettes 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.279 that I guess somebody gave him as a gift on 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.040 visiting day. And uh. He wanted to work the night 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.000 shift because he knew if he worked the night shift 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.240 he had a plan. So he sees the trains come 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.479 in he's working the night shift. He says, hey, can 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.800 we go down and get some more firewood for the 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.520 um fire. They were on a break, It's like two 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.520 in the morning, and the guard says, yeah sure. He says, 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.040 can I take Richard with me, because you know, easier 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.400 to bring more wood back, and goes yeah sure. So 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.760 they go down there and they slotted themselves between the 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.240 trains where they couldn't be seen, and they started running. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.920 Twenty minutes later they figured it out. He could hear 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.520 the dogs barking, and they just ran and ran and 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:31.599 ran and ran. Eventually got away, made their way to 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.960 Turkey and trying to make it very slow quick. You 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.799 don't have to make it quick, got on a boat 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.560 that was my dad got a job on a freighter 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:43.680 boat shoveling coal, and made his way to Philadelphia and 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.560 jumped the ship. But what he did was he took 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.359 Richard with him as a stowaway because there was no 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.920 work for Richard, and so he was stowed away in 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:58.320 the basically the engine room. And Richard and my dad 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.040 made it to America, and Richard went on to New 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:06.480 Zealand became a very very successful um businessman. Yeah, and 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.520 so here's the thing about that is that I felt 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.640 like when you said, what's it like it's seven years old. 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:19.440 I was keenly aware of how lucky my parents felt 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.240 that they were. And they always said things like my 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.880 dad was always God bless America every single day. And 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.479 I felt like, I'm really lucky I live in America, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.600 you know, like I was really proud, and uh, he 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.520 never took that for granted. And Christian and I wrote 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.200 a song because I thought to myself, I wonder if 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.839 courage is handed down? Does courage get handed down? Do 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.400 we learn that from somewhere? Do people do people? Can 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.159 they do it? And I thought we wrote a song 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.320 called Heart He handed down Christian Bush and I because 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.400 I really thought it was for my children, for my 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.640 my kids like to say this, this guy lives in you. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:00.760 You know, he's I'd like to ask a couple of 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.760 questions about your dad, if that's okay, because holy holy moly, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:09.000 the fact that he first tried to escape right just 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.320 to just to try to leave for a better life, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.840 a lot of bravery there. He got caught, I'd probably like, 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.160 you know what, I'm good, I'm good almost. I don't 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:18.480 want to I don't want to go to jail. I 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.280 don't want to be labeled a terrorists, basically, is what 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.000 they said to him. He does it again, gets caught again. Okay. 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:25.920 So now though, if they would have caught him a 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.760 third time trying to leave labor camp, oh, he would 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.120 have been shot and killed. I would have killed him, absolutely. 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.320 And when I went back to do that program, they 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.080 took me to the you know, Hall of records, let's say, 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.600 from the Bulgarian government, and he was listed as an 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.760 enemy of the state. He had a number. If they 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.559 ever caught him, he would have been put in jail 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.280 for life. Who knows what else. The other thing I 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.520 wanted to go back to is so his first son, Emil, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:57.480 was born in December. Well, my sister, her daughter, firstborn daughter, 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.880 was born in December, and my youngest son, Truman, is 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:06.360 born in December. And I thought all those birthdays that 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:13.000 my dad on December he was celebrating his grandchildren and 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.760 also his son. He was there to see them. Yes. Yes, 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:19.920 he died when he was eighty nine. My mom died 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.800 when she was ninety three. That also is they lived 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:30.960 to be a wonderfully old age. Yes, all of that. 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.160 And when I asked what you were like at seven, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.839 and I can move to thirteen now because I see 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.360 the picture of your parents and it's it's it's a 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.920 vague picture, but it's a strong picture, right, Like I 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.200 would assume that the values they taught you, even maybe 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.560 not always purposeful, but just because what was instilled in 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.199 them was like we don't stop like we if it's 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:58.200 something we're passionate about, that's what we value. That's what 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.000 we asked him. Value were just so big in your 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.679 you know, it was huge. Like my dad was a bartender, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.199 my mom didn't work, and my parents were not educated, 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.880 but they were very intelligent and they had enormous character, 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.640 and uh, it was. It was really fun because my 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.199 mom also, you know, she did everything she could so cook. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.520 She made our curtains, our bedspreads, are clothes. Like if 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.320 I went shopping for a pair of jeans, I'd be like, oh, 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.520 these are cute, and she's like, I can make those. 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.160 I'm like, no, Mom, I want a pair of jeans. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:33.360 Jeans I can buy in a store. Okay, um, but 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.240 uh I. I really learned that value of hard work 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.440 because I saw how hard my dad worked, and because 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.400 he would get tips, he'd bring the tips home and 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.880 he would bring them home and you know those purple 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:50.280 felt bags from Crown Royal bottles exactly. He would bring 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.200 his tips home in that the coins we on Saturday mornings, 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.520 we'd take them all out, Separate out the nickels, the dimes, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.320 the quarters of the pennies. Put him in the little 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.280 paper u holes that you know you take to the 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.960 bank right the account number on and take him that way. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.640 And I thought to myself, my God, like he raised 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:12.360 a family of three in Hollywood, never had debt, and 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.079 I didn't even get a credit card until I was 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.280 seventeen because I was like, Dad, I can't get a 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.920 credit card unless you get a credit card, so can 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.560 you please get one so that I can have one 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:26.080 on your account? And and I think that's amazing because 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.600 you probably can't do that nowadays. You know, that's why 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.040 you're never late. I mean, I mean that's why. And 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.760 we laugh, we honestly we laugh. But that's probably like, 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.400 deep down in your guts, that's like, I'm not late 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:39.880 because I need to respect the other people that are 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.240 showing up on time because my parents taught me. Like, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.480 that's a really amazing comeback to that part of the 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.760 conversation here where you're like, yeah, I'm not late. You 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:51.360 know why you're not late even though you're a big star, 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.560 because your parents have been still this in you and 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.520 it's still sitting with you today. That is so cool. 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.319 That's that's very very nice to think that way. Yeah, 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.720 they were just really good people. And I think having 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:09.520 parents that um were immigrants and had accents and things 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:14.400 like that, I remember absolutely feeling like people sort of 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.320 treated them differently. And I don't mean that in a 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:22.280 positive way, because they just assumed that they weren't smart 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.520 or or not American in that sense, born in America, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.760 and um, there was something about that I think that 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.600 allowed it. In a way, it teaches you empathy because 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.760 I knew, like, these people are awesome. My parents are 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.920 fantastic people, even though somebody may not be treating them 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.120 that way. So you kind of connect to that in 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.920 a way. So seven years old, I was a really 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.200 happy kid and um and very you know, like it 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.080 was just a very typical child. Even though it was Hollywood, California, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.120 it was still very typical. Could have been any town, USA. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.800 At number four is Billy Ray Cyrus from episode three 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.840 hundred and forty. Billy Ray is a very polarizing guy 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.920 when he walks into the room, and he was so 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.400 open and honest throughout this entire interview and even brought 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.400 his guitar with him and was just randomly going into songs. 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.120 So this is definitely one you gotta listen to the 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.840 full episode. But this is Billy Ray Cyrus talking about 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.679 getting his big break right before he thought about giving 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.680 up on music, and the moment he decided to get clean. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.640 Nineteen eighty nine, nine UM nine and one week. I 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.440 wrote three of the songs off the album Some Gay Ball, 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.679 including Some Gay Ball. I admit a Vietnam veteran in Huntington, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.720 West Virginia at the Little Bar I played that night, 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.679 and um, that song happened to be the song that 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.600 I played for Harold Ship when after ten years of 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.880 being told no for the first time, somebody said yes. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.200 And that was the song that made someone go, hey, 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.600 I see like a flicker of something in you right 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.640 him in And uh it was actually I was. I 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.120 was down. That was gonna be my last try. I said, 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.920 if this doesn't work, I better get a job at 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.559 the railroad. I had this song, I've written some gay balls, 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.319 the song I should play. And then he said, I'm 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.720 gonna structure you a little deal, and Mercury Records started 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.200 a process of offering me a record deal. And it 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.400 took a year or two to make that and the record. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.360 It actually took two weeks to make the record. In 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.840 the summer of two weeks, I was living in my 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.920 car parked in the parking lot of the music Meal 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:36.080 and we recorded all ten nine tracks during the first 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.559 week of June, and I stuck around and saying all 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.360 my vocals and did all my harmonies and all my overdubs. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.280 On the second week of June, and then I went 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.440 back to my gig in West Virginia and got fired. 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.600 A big fistbot broke out and and some guns were involved, 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.920 and me and the band stopped playing, and the owner said, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.559 if you don't keep playing, you're fired. So I out 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.840 of the highest moment of my life came the lowest, 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.920 and I found myself in Richmond, Virginia, at a disco 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.720 where they just hated us. I mean they hated everything 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.240 we did, except for when we would play this new 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.400 song i'd cut called at the time, it was called 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.920 Don't Tell My Heart. And I noticed, no matter how 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.200 bad they hated us, when I played Don't Tell My Heart, 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.080 they packed the dance floor. And and after that I 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.720 told Mercury Record said, man, that one song, don't Tell 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.480 My Heart. Um, it's a dance song. The even the 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.200 boot scooters they'd get out there and scoot them boots 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.360 across the floor. And I said, I think that song 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.840 might be called achy Breaky Heart because they ought the 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.840 drunks or whoever always say play at achy breaky song. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:36.960 That's how you suggested it. Because the people at the 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.800 bar were like, playkey break but it was called Don't 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.680 Tell My Heart, and um, don band trist the Vietnam 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.080 veteran who ironically wrote the song. When he came to 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.560 meet me at the music meal, um, I said, hey, uh, sir, 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.400 did you ever think about changing the name of that 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.200 song to Achy breaking Heart? And he said, I don't 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.640 care what you call it, Let's just get it. Get 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.880 him to put it out, and and uh they did, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.880 and did you think? And I have some questions about 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:05.920 if you break her in a minute? But some gave all, 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.520 that's that's what you run on my guitar like, and 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:10.640 also have affinity for that song and for the message 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.800 when you cut that record, which is some gave all, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.720 that's the title track. Did you feel like that was 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.640 going to be like the song for you that represented 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.120 who you were? First everything was on the line with 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.960 some gay ball because that was big test for me 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.880 and my band. One of the things I had insisted 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.400 on was I wanted to use my band on the session. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.880 We played every night together and we'd work the songs 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.640 up very similar to the Springsteen E Street sound. We 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.320 just had a band sound. I said, I really want 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.120 to use my band, and Harold Ship said, you know what, 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.680 we will try for one song. On January the third, 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.040 they gave us a test at the meal, and we 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:50.960 got to cut one song, and we cut some, gave 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.440 all and they said, okay, we love it. Let's do 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.960 nine more. And they scheduled the nine for the June. 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.360 So that's like, oh, man, I gotta live five six 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.120 more months. And that's when Don't Tell My Heart came 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.200 into my life, and I threw off one of my 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.960 songs i'd written and added that one just because it 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.600 felt special. Whenever a break your heart, they come to 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:13.920 you and go, hey, want this to be the first single. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.400 Are you like I agree? Or are you like I 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.040 don't know. I have these other songs that I feel 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.000 very passionate about. I felt like there was the one, 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.760 like there was something about it that especially um just 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.120 because when we would play it, you could just feel 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.560 the energy and the dance floors would pack and again. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.640 By then they I started getting these little jobs at 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.880 country clubs where they a lot of bootscoot dancing and 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.680 that kind of thing, and and that really wasn't my expertise. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.360 It was more like either I was playing southern rock 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.600 or songs I'd written, or George Jones and Johnny Cash 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.240 and like the standards of country and uh, but when 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.240 I play Aky breaky, they just pack it out and 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.400 it just so that was kind of it felt like 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.960 a hit, obviously breaking out with a massive song. But 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.120 my song was where am I Gonna Live When I get? 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.000 I mean, I loved and that video on CMT that 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.560 song to me is you thank you? And I don't 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.879 know how you feel about that, because I feel you 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.080 have me. I do feel like me again. And that 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.800 was during the month of May of n nine and 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.120 what had happened was the gig got playing West Virginia. 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.400 We'd start on Tuesday night. We played Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.880 and Sunday, so five nights a week, four sets a night. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.600 And on a Tuesday night, I stayed out all night 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.320 up to the next morning. And I was married to 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.960 a very kind lady in Ohio at the time, and 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.399 I didn't come home. It was sunrise Wednesday morning, and 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:50.280 I probably wreaked of liquor and um, maybe some lipstick 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.560 on my collar. I don't know, but it was ugly 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.080 and I like, the sun's up and my normal neighbors 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.120 that have real jobs are going to work and I'm 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.159 out in front of the house in that red uck, 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.080 that's in the video, and I'm going where am I 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:03.879 going to live? Where am I gonna live? Where am 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.080 I gonna live? When I get homeless? I wrote it 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.920 right then, Well then I go in, everything goes the crap, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.880 and but I had the song. And then that night 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.280 I went back to the gig and I was pretty 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.479 down and depressed and sad, and I wrote She's not 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.119 crying Anymore on Wednesday, and then I didn't write anything 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.560 on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. And on Sunday I met 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.840 Sandy Kane and wrote some gay ball. So during that 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.719 one week of May, I wrote three of those songs 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.320 in UH nine eighty nine during that week, all in 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.040 a week. In a week. It's almost Dolly esque when 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:39.800 she goes, you know, I sat down for this day 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.200 and I wrote these two songs, And you know, you're like, well, 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:43.480 I know both of those songs you wrote on the 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.880 same day. The fact that you kind of nailed those 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.240 three in that time period, and I feel like, creatively, 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.399 it almost takes things to happen to us to kind 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:56.000 of um create emotion and share emotion. What was happening 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:01.280 in your life that had you feeling these feelings? To 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.600 create this dynamic music. You think, I think it was 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:09.679 an excess of alcohol. Um, but it was probably some 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.639 I hate to even say there was. It was a 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.359 pretty rough time. It was a very excessive alcohol. Just 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.240 leave it to that. When you say excessive. Did you 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.480 know it was a problem? Are we just partying too hard? 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.480 I was actually working. It was like part of my job. 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.280 I always had a rule. I said, Okay, I go 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:33.120 play the first set completely straight straight up. Could Yeah. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:34.920 I felt really good. I always felt like the first 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.400 set was like probably my most correct and then um, 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.880 the second set, Like in between the break, I might 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.479 uh take a little puff and then um, go up 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.600 to the second set and I feel lucid. That's probably 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.000 the best set of the night. But by the third set, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:54.679 I'd have a puff uh possibly unfortunately, maybe a snort 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:59.320 um unfortunately. Like then came like it was part of 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.920 people partying. Would send me drinks and some of those 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.560 drinks would be on fire. Someone would be like double 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.480 shots of who knows what, I don't know what it 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:09.280 takes the light of drink up and then blow it 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:10.960 out and drink. But I would do that. It was 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.600 so about third set with rocket pretty hard for set. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:22.680 I was probably legally drunk and unfortunately, Um, Keith Whitley 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.120 was from my neck of the woods up there in Kentucky, 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.360 and I was a huge Keith Whitley fan, and um, 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.840 when he died, that had a big impact on me, like, 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.679 I can't finally get to this point where my dreams 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.840 about to come true, but yet I have some issues. 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.919 So him him having his issues and dying, do you 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.399 feel like it was kind of a mirror. He saved 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.960 my life. I mean, there's no other way to say it. 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.960 He saved my life because my manager, Jack McFadden, was 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.520 Keith Whitley's manager, and he was he was like a 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.760 son to Jack and Jack at that point, I was 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.600 on his roster, but he had never seen me play, 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:05.040 never heard my music, didn't know exactly what it was 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.359 that I did, but he knew it wasn't exactly straight 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:12.200 up country. And Jack had managed Merle Haggard and Buck 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:17.280 Owens and Keith Whitley and tragically on May to nine 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:22.480 and again this is nine, um May to night. Um, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:24.600 Jack was gonna take me to Sony Records for the 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.560