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Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.

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Speaker 2: I'm Len Hoffman. Welcome to the Music Save Me podcast.

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Speaker 2: So glad to have you here.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: If you like this podcast, thank you so much. And

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Speaker 2: also you might want to check out our new companion

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Speaker 2: podcast called Comedy Save Me, which I also host, where

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Speaker 2: we explored the amazing power of laughter.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: When the weight of the world grows heavy, some turn

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Speaker 2: to friends, others to faith. But for Romeo Vaughn, it's

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Speaker 2: always been music that casts a lifeline. Rising from the

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Speaker 2: borderlands of Texas to the stages of Nashville. Romeo doesn't

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Speaker 2: just write songs, he crafts survival stories in melody. In

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Speaker 2: this episode of Music Saved Me, we talk with Romeo

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Speaker 2: about the pivotal moments where lyrics became life, Buoy's music

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Speaker 2: became medicine, and stories found their song. So get ready

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Speaker 2: to discover how for Romeo Vaughn every note was a

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Speaker 2: step towards hope, and how those songs might just save

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Speaker 2: you too. Romeo, Welcome to me Music Saved Me.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Hi, welcome, Thank you for having me. I

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Speaker 4: appreciate it so much.

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Speaker 1: I am so glad you're here. Are you comfortable, yep?

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Speaker 4: Super comfortable?

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Speaker 1: All right?

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Speaker 2: Well, strap in because we're going to take a quick

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Speaker 2: break so we can pay some bills, and as soon as.

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Speaker 1: We come back, we're going to get into it.

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Speaker 4: Sound good, Let's do it, Yes, let's do it right, Romeo,

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Speaker 4: Sit tight, We'll be right back.

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Speaker 1: Music saved me, Romeo.

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Speaker 2: I've read that through your music that you want to

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Speaker 2: give hope and inspiration to all children who come from

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Speaker 2: humble beginnings. And you know, think that the whole world

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Speaker 2: is in the deck is stacked against him, which I

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Speaker 2: think is just such a beautiful sentiment. Can you share

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Speaker 2: a moment when music truly saved you or helped you

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Speaker 2: through a tough time in your life?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I mean there's a music has saved

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Speaker 4: me through it all. But I remember, you know, being

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Speaker 4: from a small town where I'm from in Santa Rosa, Texas,

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Speaker 4: I always had this dream, right, And remember a family

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Speaker 4: member of mine specifically told me, like Romeo, that doesn't

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Speaker 4: happen to people like us. You know, look at where

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Speaker 4: we come from, look at what you are, look at

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Speaker 4: how you look. It doesn't happen. It's just not It

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Speaker 4: just doesn't happen. And so when that day I went

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Speaker 4: to school and there was my cousin was performing. My

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Speaker 4: cousin it has a Spanish Tuhano band and he was

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Speaker 4: performing for Remember I don't know if you remember Missus

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Speaker 4: Bush drug Free Week or whatever.

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Speaker 1: Oh back in the day, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

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Speaker 4: So if you were doing the drug Free Week and

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Speaker 4: my cousin was performing and sat and I had There

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Speaker 4: was a barber and her name was Lady Diane, and

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Speaker 4: she said, Romeo, if you because he was trying to

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Speaker 4: get the kids involved, and he said, She said, if

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Speaker 4: you go, I'll give you free haircuts for a year,

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Speaker 4: and I said, no, I can't do it because I

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Speaker 4: so before I'm a singer, I'm a dancer. So I

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Speaker 4: went up there and I danced to Michael Jackson and well,

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Speaker 4: I had just tried out for the football team and

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Speaker 4: I did make it. But when I went up to dance,

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Speaker 4: so my cousin had no idea that I danced like

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Speaker 4: the way I dance because I wouldn't really tell anyone.

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Speaker 4: But when I went to perform with on stage for

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Speaker 4: the free haircuts, it actually got me into this music

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Speaker 4: business because my cousin, he's a Grammy Award winning artist.

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Speaker 4: He took me on tour with him, and it kind

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Speaker 4: of saved me from like the streets and stuff like

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Speaker 4: you know what teenagers get involved in. Sometimes the music

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Speaker 4: allowed me to not be in the streets, not getting

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Speaker 4: the gangs and not And I went on tour with him,

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Speaker 4: and that was a part of my life where it

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Speaker 4: saved me from like you know, juvenile hall and stuff

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Speaker 4: that all my friends kind of were doing at the

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Speaker 4: time when it was a cool thing to be a

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Speaker 4: bad kid. And so music really got me on that

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Speaker 4: road away from that. So that was the first time

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Speaker 4: music saved me for sure.

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Speaker 2: How have songs served as a form of therapy or

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Speaker 2: self reflection for you personally?

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Speaker 4: Well? For me, songs like they we all have our

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Speaker 4: moments where we cry or we're sad and we feel

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Speaker 4: helpless and hopeless, and so you know, instead of going

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Speaker 4: out and driving fast and where I could possibly hurt

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Speaker 4: someone or myself or just going for a bad ride

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Speaker 4: or going or just you know, sometimes we take it

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Speaker 4: out on people. We're not supposed to take it out on,

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Speaker 4: you know, because hurt people hurt people. And so I

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Speaker 4: write and I write, and I write it down and

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Speaker 4: I let it out and my binder where I write

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Speaker 4: my songs, they're like you know when you wet paper

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Speaker 4: and they're like all mushy. Well every page is all

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Speaker 4: musty because I'm just crying as I write soside, you know.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, it helps me. It just really and I

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Speaker 4: leave the room. I don't really write with like I

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Speaker 4: don't go into like writes and co write with people.

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Speaker 4: I don't do that. I do write a lot with

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Speaker 4: a friend of mine, but he doesn't live in Tennessee.

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Speaker 4: So I write and I send it to him and

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Speaker 4: he sends it back. But usually when I write by myself,

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Speaker 4: it's just it helps me because I don't want to

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Speaker 4: hurt anyone. And we've all been in a position where

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Speaker 4: we say something or do something and then you're like

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Speaker 4: there you go with that long test message like hey man,

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Speaker 4: I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that react on you

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Speaker 4: like that. I just you know, I'm going through like

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Speaker 4: a hard time and I hope you can forgive me.

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Speaker 4: So to avoid that, I write, and it really it's

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Speaker 4: a therapy. And I don't really like go to like

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Speaker 4: like the therapy stuff like because I don't know, I'm

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Speaker 4: just not going to tell a complete stranger like where

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Speaker 4: I'm going. So I just like, because I can't give

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Speaker 4: the therapist hope, but I can give I know that

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Speaker 4: there's somebody out there somewhere in the middle of Burlington,

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Speaker 4: Colorado that's probably going through the same thing that I'm

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Speaker 4: going through, and if they hear it, you know, I'll

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Speaker 4: just give them hope.

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Speaker 2: Wow, where do I just have to know where you

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Speaker 2: where this came from? Where you realize that that would

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Speaker 2: that would be the end result of giving someone else

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Speaker 2: hope by writing down your own issues to get through.

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Speaker 2: I mean that's pretty forward thinking.

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Speaker 4: I heard Michael Jackson when he would play songs I'm

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Speaker 4: gonna start cry. But when you would play songs like

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Speaker 4: when he would write songs down like the Earth Song,

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Speaker 4: when he wrote down they Don't Care about Us, when

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Speaker 4: he wrote when he wrote down Stranger and Moscow, when

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Speaker 4: he would when I would hear those because we all

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Speaker 4: love the thrillers and the Billy Jeans and the smooth Criminals,

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Speaker 4: but you go into those deep cuts where where Michael

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Speaker 4: really poured it hard out and like that, it just

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Speaker 4: gave me hope. It let me know, like, hey, you're

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Speaker 4: not alone. There's Michael Jackson, the absolute biggest superstar in

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Speaker 4: the world and he's lonely and she's and she's getting

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Speaker 4: through it. I can get through it. And I think

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Speaker 4: that's kind of what made me want to like be

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Speaker 4: some kind of hope. Obviously on a smaller scale, well come.

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Speaker 1: On, but it's a beautiful sentiment, it really is. And

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Speaker 1: you know, off the wall, she's out of my life

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Speaker 1: like some of those earlier things too.

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Speaker 4: Really yeah, you know that she's out of my life,

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Speaker 4: you know, just like those like and if you even

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Speaker 4: his upbeat sons, like like I want to be starting something,

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Speaker 4: you know, like you know the way he like just

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Speaker 4: does it. I don't know man in the mirror, I mean,

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Speaker 4: you know, like just it's just when I heard because

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Speaker 4: I've always been intrigued in like who wrote this? You know? Yeah,

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Speaker 4: yeah and so and like Michael Jackson's biggest song, Thriller,

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Speaker 4: he didn't write it, you know, it was robbed tim fraud.

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Speaker 4: But but you hear his his deep cuts and where

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Speaker 4: he's he's feeling alone, but he's also giving you hope.

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Speaker 4: And it's just like I just want to be that hope,

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Speaker 4: you know. And I that's where that's where my foundation

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Speaker 4: of like wanting to give hope and stuff is. I

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Speaker 4: credited all of it to Michael for sure. Wow.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that's so incredible that you know you even knew

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Speaker 2: that at such a early time in your life.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, because when I was younger, I'm from a small

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Speaker 4: town and Mexican an American, and so boys don't cry.

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Speaker 4: Are you a man or a mouse? You know? Yeah? Whatever,

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Speaker 4: you don't. You're not depressed. Go out there, cut the grass.

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Speaker 4: You know, what do you? What are you depressed about?

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Speaker 4: You're seven eight years old. You don't have no build,

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Speaker 4: you don't have nothing. But they don't know. Hey, man, Like,

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Speaker 4: I mean, look at me. I've been like this my

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Speaker 4: whole life. Like maybe not like the hat, but I've

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Speaker 4: always dressed different. I've always like I had long hair,

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Speaker 4: you know, I I you know, so I've always just

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Speaker 4: been different. So I was never like everyone else. So

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Speaker 4: I always felt alone until I music just allowed me

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Speaker 4: to just express myself and just you know.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you know.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of that, growing up with your Mexican American background

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Speaker 2: and now thriving in Nashville, the home right Country, were

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Speaker 2: there musical experiences that you had or maybe hardships that

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Speaker 2: sort of changed your path at all on that.

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Speaker 4: Journey like outside of music.

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Speaker 1: Well just maybe something.

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Speaker 2: Musical experiences are hardships, like breaking through that genre for sure.

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Speaker 4: So when I first through the town in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 4: I was homeless for sixteen weeks. It'd in my car.

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Speaker 4: I lived under a bridge, the Jefferson Bridge, which you

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Speaker 4: can't live there no more, and they scooted everybody out.

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Speaker 4: But I lived under Jefferson Bridge, and I us see

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Speaker 4: I have a garbage can. I remember at at the

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Speaker 4: TA and it's not there no more because they tore

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Speaker 4: it down for a parking lot for the new Nissan Stadium.

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Speaker 4: But I was there and I remember watching. So it's

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Speaker 4: a truck stock and I there was a chili a

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Speaker 4: Philly cheese steak restaurant in the shop and the store

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Speaker 4: or whatever, and I would remember that watching the truck drivers.

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Speaker 4: They'd come out, they would come out with their with

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Speaker 4: their leftover plates, and some would take it with them

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Speaker 4: and some would throw it away. Well, I would wait

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Speaker 4: till they threw it away, and I would just wait

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Speaker 4: till they walked away, and I'd run over there and

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Speaker 4: I grab it from the trash and I'd go back

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Speaker 4: and I'd be like and I would just eat it

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Speaker 4: now and all because I believe in this. I believe

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Speaker 4: that I was supposed to be here. And you know,

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Speaker 4: the Bible says, though I walk through the valley of

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Speaker 4: the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, and

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Speaker 4: the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want

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Speaker 4: And I believed it and I still believe it, and

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Speaker 4: that's what made me just keep going, because you know,

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Speaker 4: somebody told me one time, who's your favorite country singer

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Speaker 4: of all time? And I said, Keith Whitley is my

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Speaker 4: favorite country singer. And they said, do you want to

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Speaker 4: be the next Keith Whitley? And I said, no, I

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Speaker 4: want to be the first Romeo var.

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Speaker 1: And great answer and wow, And but.

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Speaker 4: I understand and I understood that, and understand now that

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Speaker 4: I had to go through it. I had to, you know,

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Speaker 4: I always I my dad always, you know, you know,

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Speaker 4: stand your truth, and fight for what you believe in.

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Speaker 4: Stand there for what you believe in, whether you're right

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Speaker 4: or wrong, and if you're wrong, be prepare to pay

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Speaker 4: the consequences. And so I believed in this, and I

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Speaker 4: believe in it so much, and I always just told me,

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Speaker 4: you know, because in that time, I was alone. But

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Speaker 4: I believe in the music. I believe in the hope

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Speaker 4: that I could give somebody, somebody out there if I

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Speaker 4: just got through this, Just get through this, and your

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Speaker 4: story will be full. And you know, the hardest walks,

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Speaker 4: you know, the hardest walk you can make is the

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Speaker 4: walk that you make alone. But that's the walk that

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Speaker 4: builds character. And I always and you know, the hardest

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Speaker 4: clients lead to the greatest views. And so I just

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Speaker 4: stayed firm, I stayed strong, And it was always about

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Speaker 4: the music. I didn't care what I was going through.

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Speaker 4: Music was going to get me out of there. Music

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Speaker 4: was gonna get me. And so I went to this

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Speaker 4: place after that. And I because I always had this

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Speaker 4: mindset and it has like I was like, the lion

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Speaker 4: is the king of the jungle. It's not the fastest,

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Speaker 4: that's the cheetah. It's not the biggest, that's the elephant.

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Speaker 4: But the reason why the lion is the king of

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Speaker 4: the jungle because the mindset, there's nobody hungrier than the lion.

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Speaker 4: So I always said that to myself, do you stay hungry,

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Speaker 4: stay hungry? You want to kill an alligator? Feed them? It

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Speaker 4: does nothing. So be like I always told my dad,

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Speaker 4: he was like, why are you still there? You're struggling,

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Speaker 4: And I'm like, Dad, listen, you don't understand. He's like,

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Speaker 4: my dad's a realist. He's not a dreamer. He's like,

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Speaker 4: I understand this music, Romeo, but come on, sound like

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Speaker 4: you're you know, you're you're Nicola diving me the dead here.

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Speaker 4: I said, Dad, you got to understand.

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Speaker 3: That.

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Speaker 4: I that the wolf on top of the hill is

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Speaker 4: never as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill. I

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Speaker 4: always got to remain the wolf climbing the hills. And

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Speaker 4: after I was homeless, I went to this place called

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Speaker 4: uh they found me on I went to the VA

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Speaker 4: because I'm a veteran, and the VA put me in

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Speaker 4: this place called Matthew twenty five and it's a homeless

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Speaker 4: program for vets and stuff like that, and they they

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Speaker 4: help you overcome homelessness. And so I went there and

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Speaker 4: they got me out of the bridge and they put

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Speaker 4: me in made twenty five and I started writing songs,

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Speaker 4: and I started, uh, just seeing the bigger picture. I

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Speaker 4: was no longer eating food with ants on it and

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Speaker 4: you know, like a hot meal, you know, and which

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Speaker 4: is why now I don't like lettuce, tomatoes or anything

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Speaker 4: like that. It's like also when I order a cheeseburger

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Speaker 4: is meat and cheese, Romeo, You're just.

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Speaker 1: Wow, You're such a special person. It's like you were

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Speaker 1: instilled in your DNA something that even your father had

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Speaker 1: to learn from you. But he gave you those tools

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Speaker 1: to be.

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Speaker 2: Strong to begin with as a realist, which is is

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Speaker 2: pretty incredible. And your journey has just been I mean,

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Speaker 2: forget about just getting into a different musical genre than

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Speaker 2: your heritage, which seems so outlandish but not these days, right,

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Speaker 2: But to be a vet and to be homeless and

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Speaker 2: part of a population out there that needs so much,

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Speaker 2: to have the strength that you had and you and

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Speaker 2: you really did. You pulled yourself out of it, and

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Speaker 2: it's it's pretty incredible.

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, I didn't pull myself out of it.

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Speaker 4: The Lord never left me. But you know, it's very hard.

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Speaker 4: It was hard, you know, it was hard looking back

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Speaker 4: and thinking about it. It was hard. But my dad always

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Speaker 4: said this, and it's a good good thing that you

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Speaker 4: brought that up. My dad always said, when you leave

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Speaker 4: my house, you will have every key that you need

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Speaker 4: to open the doors in life. Now it's up to

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Speaker 4: you to take the time to find the key, You're

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Speaker 4: gonna you're gonna get frustrated, and you're gonna want to

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Speaker 4: knock the knock the door down. And but if you

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Speaker 4: just take the time to find the right key, you

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Speaker 4: open whatever door you want. And So when I was

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Speaker 4: homeless and I was in out of the garbage can,

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Speaker 4: sleeping outside and getting rained don and you know, getting

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Speaker 4: mugged and watching cryings the normal people shouldn't be watching,

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Speaker 4: I remember that if I just take the time and

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Speaker 4: find the key, I'll get out of it. And I did, Yes,

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Speaker 4: you did.

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Speaker 2: And uh, writing a song called big Dreams from a

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Speaker 2: small town that reflects sort of your own journey and

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Speaker 2: the challenges that you've just described and faced.

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Speaker 1: Is that Is that correct in saying that?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so, I'm from a small town of Santa Rosa,

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Speaker 4: Texas in the Rio Grand Valley, deep deep deep South Texas,

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Speaker 4: like the very tip of Texas, Mexico is twelve minutes

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Speaker 4: from my parents' house. There was twenty seven seniors in

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Speaker 4: my graduating class. I was top, saying, I don't want

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Speaker 4: to brag or anything, but you brag, you deserve it

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Speaker 4: all you want. But yeah, so I got big genes

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Speaker 4: from that small town you know. And so I wrote

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Speaker 4: a song with my friend, with my friend Brandon, and

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Speaker 4: he had the idea of like that. He came up

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Speaker 4: with like the melody and stuff like that, and you know, I,

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Speaker 4: you know, I added, you know, we started writing back

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Speaker 4: and forth. Then it's where it came from, Santa Rosa, Texas.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's my hometown. And I wanted to

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Speaker 4: be like Mike but not Jordan's giving. And so that's

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Speaker 4: where I you know, big dream from a small town.

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Speaker 4: I got big dreams. I got big, big dreams. But

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Speaker 4: here's the thing. The dream is not. I mean, who

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Speaker 4: doesn't want to play a sold out stadium? Of course

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Speaker 4: that's all good, but the dream is. I was in Jonesboro, Arkansas,

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Speaker 4: not long ago. I got a random DM in my

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Speaker 4: Instagram and I opened it and I had I had this.

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Speaker 4: I had wrote released this song a long time ago

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Speaker 4: called Gone. Nobody ever heard it, Goddy, but this one

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Speaker 4: person did and he said, I know you don't know

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Speaker 4: me from Adam, but I just wanted to tell you

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Speaker 4: that two weeks ago I was constant lay on suicide

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Speaker 4: and I came across your song Gone, and it let

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Speaker 4: me know when the song you're going through was what

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Speaker 4: I'm going through right now, and hearing your song, I

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Speaker 4: told myself, if Romeo can survive, I can too. So

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Speaker 4: I just want to thank you for saving my life.

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Speaker 4: That's the dream. That's all I want to do. That's

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Speaker 4: all you want to do, and I want to bring

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Speaker 4: and I just you know. We shot the video for

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Speaker 4: Big Dreams from a small town. So the place that

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Speaker 4: took me in was called Matthew twenty five. Last year

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Speaker 4: for my birthday, I had shout out to the restaurant

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Speaker 4: Chew East. They donated all the food so I could

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Speaker 4: go and feed Matthew twenty five. And I, with God's help,

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Speaker 4: I was able to get like fifteen seventy five gallon

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Speaker 4: bags full of clothes and we went to donate to

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Speaker 4: Matthew twenty five. And this year we went back and

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Speaker 4: shot the music video for Big Dreams at Matthew twenty five.

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Speaker 4: One of my greatest friends, his name is Ryan Mason.

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Speaker 4: He works at a place called Scoreboards here in Nashville.

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Speaker 4: He's a GM and they they donated food so I

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Speaker 4: could feed Matthew twenty five in the video. And so

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Speaker 4: it's the dream to just give hope and we were,

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Speaker 4: and I was able there, and you know, I told them, look,

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Speaker 4: I know, looking at me, you don't. You probably would

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Speaker 4: never believe me. But I was where you are. It

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Speaker 4: wasn't long ago. And I prayed over them and we

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Speaker 4: fed them, and we talked and we laughed and we cried,

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Speaker 4: and two of the men came up to me and

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Speaker 4: helped me live out my dream. They said, Romeo, you're

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Speaker 4: just you gave us so much hope. That's my dream.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing better than that. Being your profession, I can

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Speaker 1: see it. I mean, you're wearing your heart on your sleeve.

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Speaker 1: You know it brings tears to your eyes just describing it.

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back with more of the Music Save

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Speaker 3: Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Music Saved Me Podcast.

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Speaker 2: I have to say thank you so much for your service,

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Speaker 2: not only to our country, but to the people that

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Speaker 2: you're helping with your music. And it seems like this

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Speaker 2: is what you were really put on this earth to do.

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Speaker 2: And I can hear it and feel it from you

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Speaker 2: even through the zoom call.

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Speaker 1: I can really feel it.

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Speaker 2: Do you think music is one of the reasons that

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Speaker 2: you have been able to cope with the pressures of

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Speaker 2: the industry itself, which I'm sure is a whole new

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Speaker 2: world for you to be in, or maybe even just

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Speaker 2: self doubt or personal setbacks in your life. And I

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Speaker 2: know we touched a bit on this already.

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Speaker 4: You know, music has been everything. Music saved me so

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Speaker 4: many times. For instance, a lot of times I feel

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Speaker 4: sad and I'm down and oh my god, maybe I

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Speaker 4: can't do this, maybe I can't make it or whatever.

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Speaker 4: I pop in a sugar Land song here, mom and dad,

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Speaker 4: I'll send money. I'm sorry, I'm like, I love it. So,

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Speaker 4: you know, music just it's all around, just you know,

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Speaker 4: all around, just really really helped. Like it just saved

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Speaker 4: my soul. I mean, I can't imagine my life without music,

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Speaker 4: even like even if I'm not telling my story or

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Speaker 4: I'm not out there, you know, putting songs or writing songs.

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Speaker 4: Just the fact that I can. I'll pop in like

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Speaker 4: uh and where I'm from in Texas, where I'm from,

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Speaker 4: but the nine five six cut where I'm from in

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Speaker 4: the Valley of Texas. You know, we go from Keith Whitley,

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Speaker 4: George straight to Usher, Ludacris and oh, you know, so

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Speaker 4: like I'll be home sad and I'll pop in a

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Speaker 4: you know, a George Strait song or Into song, or

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Speaker 4: or a La Mothe song, Keith Whitley song, and and

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Speaker 4: I just it's like I feel like a tesla for energy.

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Speaker 4: Just check. You know.

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Speaker 2: It's an amazing we we are run on on electricity,

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Speaker 2: but we don't plug in. So I'm guessing maybe one

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Speaker 2: of those plugin sources, just as you said that is

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Speaker 2: it's got to be the music and the arts that

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Speaker 2: we plug into that that juices us up.

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Speaker 4: It's always yes, you know, or I hear. I do

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Speaker 4: listen to a lot of like worship music a lot, uh,

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Speaker 4: you know, shout out to Brandon Lake and and uh,

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Speaker 4: but uh, you know, I love all the I love

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Speaker 4: the music that that brings me closer to God. And

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Speaker 4: and and I read my Bible a lot, and you know,

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Speaker 4: the Bible the one thing that I always when I

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Speaker 4: think like maybe I can't do this or maybe it's

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Speaker 4: too hard. I'm a Mexican American, and and I don't

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Speaker 4: look like everybody, even the Mexican artists that are out

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Speaker 4: there now. They're wearing the cowboy hats and they're wearing

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Speaker 4: the boots and the wranglers. You know, I'm not that

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Speaker 4: you know. And don't get me wrong, it's wrong from

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Speaker 4: my dad was My dad was a rodeo cowboy. And

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Speaker 4: the reason why I don't wear a lot of that

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Speaker 4: stuff is because growing up my dad put he put

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Speaker 4: this in a flat top for a snapwranger and some

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Speaker 4: justin boots, and my whole life, my whole life was

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Speaker 4: like that.

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Speaker 1: No, but your music is really incredible.

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Speaker 2: I mean your your voice, Oh my god, like like butta,

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Speaker 2: I mean you so much and then you're unexpected. Uh

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Speaker 2: this is you know, country music with a twist and

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Speaker 2: faith and rock. I mean you do the guitar solos

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Speaker 2: that are completely not normal, like I shouldn't se normal,

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Speaker 2: but they're not expected.

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Speaker 4: I'm glad that you noticed that because I tell my

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Speaker 4: producer all the time, like we have to do this,

433
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 4: like the guitar has to be And a lot of

434
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 4: people don't understand how much I love Michael Jackson. And

435
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,120
Speaker 4: when Michael Jackson put it and did it, when Van

436
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 4: Halen came in and yes, that's right.

437
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,200
Speaker 2: Go wa gosh, you're thinking like run dmc met zero

438
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 2: Smith days you know that's pretty good.

439
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I try to do that. I try to

440
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 4: just stink outside the box. You know, no pun intended, but.

441
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,160
Speaker 1: It's great. It's a great way to think.

442
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 4: I just have to be because here's the thing. There's

443
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 4: seven billion people on earth. There's only one you, one me,

444
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 4: ever was, ever, is ever will be like the Heavenly

445
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 4: Father designed us perfectly. God don't make mistakes now here.

446
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,640
Speaker 4: And the reason why I try so hard in this

447
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 4: and to do this music and to do it right,

448
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,439
Speaker 4: and because I believe in my heart of hearts, and

449
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:12,480
Speaker 4: I'll take my glasses off and tell you, I believe

450
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:19,960
Speaker 4: that our gift, our talent, your talent, my talent, everybody's

451
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 4: talent is God's gift to us. But what we do

452
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,239
Speaker 4: with it is our gift that to God. And the

453
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 4: one thing that keeps me going is in Matthew six

454
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 4: thirty three, the Red Letters, Jesus says, first the Kingdom

455
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 4: of Heaven, and all things will be added on to you.

456
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 4: I believe that, I really do.

457
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: I feel like I want to just end on that

458
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 2: note because it's so powerful. But I have one more

459
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 2: question that might I believe, be even more powerful. Yeah,

460
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 2: and thank you for that. I know everybody needs to

461
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 2: hear faith. Everyone has to have faith, and everyone has

462
00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 2: to have a belief.

463
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,440
Speaker 4: I believe that because if you don't stand for something,

464
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 4: you'll fall for anything.

465
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: I'm making a T shirt right now, Romeo. That is

466
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 1: so amazing.

467
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,880
Speaker 2: But my last question to wrap things up with you,

468
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 2: if you could share one message besides the beautiful one

469
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 2: you just shared. And all of them throughout this conversation

470
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 2: have been so enlightening. But if anyone's out there struggling

471
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 2: right now, what would it be that you could share

472
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,920
Speaker 2: for that one message? And what song of yours would

473
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 2: you want them to hear to help them through it.

474
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,719
Speaker 4: I want them to hear not only big dreams from

475
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 4: a Samon town, but I have a song out there

476
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 4: and it's called Over. The song talks about a breakup,

477
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 4: but if you hear, if you see the video, hear

478
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 4: the song. It's about a guy who's struggling with his

479
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,400
Speaker 4: own cell. So I played two parts. I played good

480
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 4: met and bad Me. And because I overcame, I overcame.

481
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,199
Speaker 4: This road wasn't easy, this industry, this town is not easy.

482
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 4: And I you know, I'm actually one year sober on

483
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 4: the twenty sixth of July.

484
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 1: Congratulations, that's huge.

485
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,239
Speaker 4: And so you know, overcoming that addiction and stuff. And

486
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 4: if you hear this song over it says, this is

487
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 4: where we start or where we end. But I'm not

488
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 4: getting over you again. And so the biggest hope that

489
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 4: I can give anyone out there is you don't have

490
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 4: to believe in God. But even if you don't, he

491
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:54,520
Speaker 4: loves you. There's hope. But you have to love. Learn

492
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 4: to love yourself, learn to forgive yourself. You are not

493
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 4: your mistake, you are not your failures. Every day that

494
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 4: you wake up is another opportunity to be better than

495
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 4: you were yesterday. And I'm gonna say this, and I

496
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 4: don't know if I have enough time, but I'm gonna

497
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 4: say this. If somebody gave you twenty five thousand, seven

498
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 4: hundred dollars every day for the rest of your life,

499
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 4: you only have twenty four hours to spend them. You

500
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 4: can't roll them over. You have to spend them. Wouldn't

501
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,320
Speaker 4: you do the best to spend that twenty five thousand,

502
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 4: seven hundred dollars in those twenty four hour You would

503
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,720
Speaker 4: do your best to spend that money. Well, in life,

504
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 4: we get twenty five thousand, seven hundred seconds. We can't

505
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 4: roll them over, we can't take them to the next day.

506
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 4: All we get in twenty four hours, so do your

507
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 4: best to spend them. And it's not always going to

508
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 4: be easy. It's not always gonna be but you know what,

509
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 4: when it rains life, it rains and it storms, but

510
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 4: instead of hiding, learn to dance in the rain. Makes

511
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 4: better effects, you know. And just there's hope. He just

512
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 4: loves you. And if I could tell you anything the Bible,

513
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 4: it says in first Crenthess, it says, then firm in

514
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 4: your faith, be on guard, be courageous, be strong, and

515
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 4: do everything with love.

516
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 1: Romiovon, You're amazing.

517
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 2: I can't wrap you up into one word to describe

518
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 2: who you are and what you are, but you mean

519
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 2: a lot to a lot of people, and now you

520
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 2: mean a lot to me. So thank you for coming

521
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 2: on music save Me and sharing your entire self with us.

522
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 2: I could talk to you for hours, but I really

523
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 2: appreciate you stopping buy and good luck with everything, and again,

524
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 2: thank you for your service, not only, like I said,

525
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 2: not just to this country, but to everyone that you

526
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 2: continue to help.

527
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 1: With your music and your words, they mean a lot

528
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 1: and I know they're helping.

529
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me and letting me

530
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 4: tell my story and getting it out there and helping me.

531
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 4: You're a part of the journey, and thank y'all so

532
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 4: much and I hope to talk to you soon