WEBVTT - Classic Music Saved Me with Walker Hayes

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<v Speaker 1>Music Saved Me.

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<v Speaker 2>As a child, my earliest memories of music was the

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<v Speaker 2>waffle house jukebox. I remember being small enough to reach

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<v Speaker 2>up to my dad's pockets and reach in and try

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<v Speaker 2>to find some change. Now a particular type of music, Nah,

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<v Speaker 2>as a kid, I wasn't just it wasn't one genre.

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<v Speaker 3>It was just basically all music.

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Music Saved Me Podcast. I'm your host,

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<v Speaker 1>Lynn Hoffman, and on this episode we have a member

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<v Speaker 1>of the country music community who has met life's challenges

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<v Speaker 1>head on, most certainly with the help of the healing

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<v Speaker 1>force of music. Walker Hayes is an American country pop

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<v Speaker 1>singer and songwriter, and he shares his story on Music

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<v Speaker 1>Saved Me. Welcome to the show. Who are you all right?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I'm Walker Hayes and happy to be here, and

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<v Speaker 2>I'm here to talk about how important the gift of

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<v Speaker 2>music is to me as just an outside source of therapy,

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<v Speaker 2>but also just a therapeutic, creative way to express myself.

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<v Speaker 1>Were you a fan of specific musicians that you connected

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<v Speaker 1>with early on?

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<v Speaker 2>You know, as a child, my earliest memories of music

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<v Speaker 2>were was the waffle house jukebox, and you know, I

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<v Speaker 2>would I remember being you know, small enough to reach

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<v Speaker 2>up to my dad's pockets and reach in and try

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<v Speaker 2>to find some change in the pocket where he kept

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<v Speaker 2>his keys and his quarters, you know in and you

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<v Speaker 2>know i'd beg him for a quarter.

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<v Speaker 3>Now.

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<v Speaker 2>As particular type of music, No, as a kid, I

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't just it wasn't one genre. It was just basically

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<v Speaker 2>all music. I do remember I used a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>those quarters to play Willie Nelson's on the Road again

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<v Speaker 2>for some reason, that was a that was a favorite

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<v Speaker 2>for me. But early on, uh, I picked up the

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<v Speaker 2>love of music from my father. He was a he

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<v Speaker 2>was a music minister. But it wasn't just it wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>just church music, you know, at our house, it was

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<v Speaker 2>all types of uh you know, music being played and

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<v Speaker 2>you know him singing and in the car you know,

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<v Speaker 2>and things like that.

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<v Speaker 3>So I just I got a I had a well rounded, you.

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<v Speaker 2>Know, musical education at an early age thanks to him.

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<v Speaker 2>But you know, before there was ever a thought of

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<v Speaker 2>I'd love to do this as a as an occupation,

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<v Speaker 2>as a career. First it just was a healthy, healthy

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<v Speaker 2>love of music.

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<v Speaker 3>It was an escape for me as far as I

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<v Speaker 3>can remember.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I self realized. It was a self realization

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<v Speaker 2>that I loved music. No one had to no one

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<v Speaker 2>had to say, hey, you need to give music to try.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, it just was in me. My father was

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<v Speaker 2>a retired music minister. He's sold real estate, but that

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<v Speaker 2>was his first job for his first twenty five or

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<v Speaker 2>so years out of college. And so he would we

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<v Speaker 2>would be in line at Cracker Barel paying our bill,

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<v Speaker 2>and he would just bust out in song. And I

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<v Speaker 2>honestly I was like, I don't know this guy.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know who that is. You know. I was

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<v Speaker 3>so embarrassed, and I was more more of a shy.

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<v Speaker 2>Took me a while, you know, I had stage fright,

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<v Speaker 2>but I would say without a doubt, my my dad

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<v Speaker 2>was the first person to ever hear me and and

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<v Speaker 2>encouraged me to do it, you know outside my bedroom,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, to to sing in front of people. I

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<v Speaker 2>had a music teacher named mister Powell who put me

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<v Speaker 2>in a play that I didn't really want to be in.

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<v Speaker 2>So between him and my dad, they kind of nudged me,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, on the stage. And and and once I

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<v Speaker 2>did the things that they encouraged me to do, I

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<v Speaker 2>just fell in love with it.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, my dad, I'll never.

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<v Speaker 2>Forget the first gig I ever played a guitar in

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<v Speaker 2>a bar, he called me on his cell phone. It

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<v Speaker 2>was from a place called the Yacht Club and Mobile

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<v Speaker 2>off DP and it's just this little bar on Mobile

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<v Speaker 2>Bay and he called me and said, hey, I asked

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<v Speaker 2>the bar manager, Trudy, if you could play on Friday.

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<v Speaker 3>And I was furious.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean because I honestly, I was twenty something, I

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<v Speaker 2>was about to get married, and.

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<v Speaker 3>I honestly said, I said, Dad, I'll do this.

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<v Speaker 2>Get He had heard me in the living room and

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<v Speaker 2>he was like, you know, it's hard to believe your dad.

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<v Speaker 2>You're like your dad. If your dad says you're good,

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<v Speaker 2>whatever he's supposed to say, I'm good. So yeah, I'm

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<v Speaker 2>not sure I trusted him, but I said, I will

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<v Speaker 2>do this gig if you'll quit doing that, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>quit pushing me out of my comfort zone. And I

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<v Speaker 2>played that gig and that was the that was the thing.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, that's that's when I called Laney and I said,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, let's get out of Mobile, Let's let's move

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<v Speaker 2>to Nashville. I want to I want to try this,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, for real. So it's all his fault.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Dad. Speaking of you have a song called

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<v Speaker 1>a Briefcase, which is a narrative about life and work

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<v Speaker 1>and regrets. Can you talk a little bit about what

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<v Speaker 1>that song means to you?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, what a great Holy cow.

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<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't have known, honestly, how to talk about all

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<v Speaker 2>these great things you're talking about. And unless you mentioned

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<v Speaker 2>that song, that's a great example of what music means

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<v Speaker 2>to me. I wrote that song when my about two

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<v Speaker 2>months before my dad died, we were losing him. He

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<v Speaker 2>had Parkinson's. This was two years ago and two years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>March twenty second, and I was, you know, as a

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<v Speaker 2>son would do as you're you know, kind of seeing

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<v Speaker 2>your hero whither away.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, you begin to start thinking of regrets.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you think you start thinking, you know, have

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<v Speaker 2>I told my father how I really feel about him?

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<v Speaker 2>You know now and also at my age, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>my dad and I, his relationship is going through a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of phases, as Briefcase describes. You know, as a kid,

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<v Speaker 2>I was not a fan of my father. I felt

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<v Speaker 2>like I competed with his job for him, and you know,

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<v Speaker 2>there were nights where I'd be playing ball games and

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<v Speaker 2>all I could think about at the game was.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, why am my dad here?

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<v Speaker 2>And that frustrated me and so that briefcase, I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>like it, But expressing that emotion it was like a

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<v Speaker 2>priceless therapy session, you know, to sit down and write, Hey, Dad,

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't really get it as a child. As I

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<v Speaker 2>grew older and began to have kids, I began to

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<v Speaker 2>understand what you were juggling all that you were up

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<v Speaker 2>again as a father, and now.

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<v Speaker 3>I appreciate the job you did.

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<v Speaker 2>And and I basically admitted to my father that as

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<v Speaker 2>a child, I didn't want to be like him. But

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<v Speaker 2>now if anyone says that I remind them of my father,

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<v Speaker 2>it is is a proud, proud moment for me. And

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<v Speaker 2>I am honored that they would look at me and

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<v Speaker 2>say that that I resemble him in any way, whether

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<v Speaker 2>it's the way I look, walk, talk, father anything, And

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<v Speaker 2>so yeah, I mean that again that the writing the

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<v Speaker 2>creation of that song walked me through one of the

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<v Speaker 2>most difficult things I ever endured, you know, as a human,

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<v Speaker 2>which is watching my hero basically disintegrate, you know, go

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<v Speaker 2>from the strongest man I knew, to being reminded that

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<v Speaker 2>we were all. We are all human and eventually our

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<v Speaker 2>bodies fail us. And I watched him leave this earth.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean I was sitting by his side, singing a

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<v Speaker 2>hymn on a guitar when he breathed his last breath.

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<v Speaker 2>And I guarantee you my sister was there with me,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'm sure I played briefcase that day, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>just just sitting in his room.

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<v Speaker 3>So when you talk about I don't know how else

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<v Speaker 3>to say.

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<v Speaker 2>Music means a lot to me, you know, or that

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<v Speaker 2>music has been more so the arm of God around

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<v Speaker 2>me and in some of my deepest, darkest times of

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<v Speaker 2>need for peace and hope and comfort in this world.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, that is so powerful. Thank you for sharing that.

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<v Speaker 1>You know your music deals with love and loss and anger.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you visualize members of your fan base that may

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<v Speaker 1>be going through something in their life?

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<v Speaker 2>I guess I kind of have this out of body

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<v Speaker 2>visualization of somebody listening to the song alone in their car,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, And I really want them to hear the

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<v Speaker 2>song in the beginning, but kind of leave where they're

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<v Speaker 2>not listening to me anymore, They're not imagining me as

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<v Speaker 2>an artist singing it. I would like them to go

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<v Speaker 2>to a place in their own life and almost forget

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<v Speaker 2>they're listening to me and them think of their own

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<v Speaker 2>experiences and they're like, yeah, I try to visualize, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>my fans being moved, you know, to a moment that

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<v Speaker 2>might be kind of a moment where they were injured,

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<v Speaker 2>or you know, make them think of somebody they love,

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<v Speaker 2>or cut through the pleasantries and get to the heart

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<v Speaker 2>of where someone is, you know, when they're just sitting

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<v Speaker 2>on the highway, you know, alone.

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<v Speaker 1>Walker, thank you so much for being an artist that

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<v Speaker 1>is so transparent in your trials and tribulations, and thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for being here on Music Saved Be.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you. I appreciate it.

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<v Speaker 2>I wish I could say I'm just a nice guy

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<v Speaker 2>and I love to help people, but selfishly it is

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<v Speaker 2>in creating these things.

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<v Speaker 3>It's just very helpful to me, you know.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, that's that's how I that's how I open up,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, my heart and get get some stuff out

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<v Speaker 2>and and and share.

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<v Speaker 3>So it's very helpful for me. But I appreciate it.