WEBVTT - A Message from Bobby + #177 - Jay DeMarcus from Rascal Flatts on how the Flatts REALLY formed, his new book, and his faith. 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.080 Mike and I were talking about really good episodes that 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.600 people may have missed if they've just subscribed to the 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:06.640 Bobby Cast. I'm gonna go back. I mean it's been 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.120 a while. I mean the episode was one seventies seven, 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.680 so it's been over a hundred episodes. Ago, we talked 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.400 to Jada Marcus from Rascal Flats on how the Flats 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.000 was really formed. They're all these urban legends and his 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.720 faith so it's a really great way. And you know, 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.759 Jay now has his own record label, and I think 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.120 those guys will eventually go, well, we should just play 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.880 we just get back together, do it again. Yes, I 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.640 know they're not that they've broken up. They're not together. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.360 I don't know what their official status is right now. Um. 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.720 And I know Gary pretty well. Um, And I just 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.280 think eventually, even if it's two or three years from now, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.360 they go, let's just do it again. You know. And 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.360 Gary and Jay they were in a video together recently, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.199 their cousins, So I want this is a great His 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.720 book Shotgun Angels had just come out, so he stopped 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:57.240 by the house when we talked about that too. But 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.880 this is Jada Marcus from Rascal Flats in case you 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.600 missed it. It's a really great episode. Check it out. 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.959 Trying to get a nut, trying to I'm the ultimate squirrel, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.520 always trying to get a nut. Me too, buddy. And 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.440 it's a book you name it. Episode one seventy seven 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:17.440 with Jada Marcus Rascal Flats. Um. So we're talking, we're 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.800 about to start saving us off the air because, uh, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.440 it's tough to sell books, especially when it's not what 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.840 you're known for. Because that that's been my thing, is 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:31.520 that write a book? Like what what? What was Bobby? 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.640 What does Jay know about books? And so yeah, you 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.720 have to kind of go out and rehustle. You do, Wait, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.720 musicians can write. I read exactly, Yeah you do. I mean, 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.200 I'm always up for a new challenge, though I'm I 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.760 think you and I are wired more alike, probably than 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.360 we know. I love to work like idle time does 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.160 not serve me. Well. I can't sit around and you know, spin, 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.920 I'll start spinning out about the silliest things if I do. 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.280 You know, is it I'm sort of deeper? Um maybe 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.560 psychological thing that we like to work, Like are you 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.120 trying to prove? Who are you trying to prove? Something? 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.400 To yourself. I think if you read part of that book, 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.280 it would be my dad. You know, there's a lot 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.480 of me that feels like I never quite lived up 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.680 to what he expected me to be. I guess that 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.440 put a lot of pressure on me, which I used 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.640 as fuel early on in life, but it still fuels me. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.720 And for me, it's been like I grew up in 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.360 pretty close to poverty, and so it's like trying to 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.840 prove to yeah, to everybody that so I wish my 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.360 Idol time. My my itchiness with Idol time was just 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.040 because I do love working. But I think I've convinced 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.120 myself I love working because I'm trying to prove it 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.720 to everyone that I can make it. Yeah. I think 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:45.440 that I have a little bit of that in me too. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.400 It's like when you whenever you have some success and 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.360 you celebrate it, you don't celebrate it and live in 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.280 the moment long enough because I go I gotta do 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.560 I gotta do more, because I haven't done it, I 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.120 haven't done enough yet. I gotta get back after it 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:58.880 and go back out there and do something good again. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:00.959 And a lot of I like to try to prove 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.080 to myself too that I can take on new challenges 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.800 and have some degree of success with it, you know. 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.160 And I guess I'm just wired that way. I am 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.600 truly a workaholic, There's no doubt about it. I think 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:15.480 it drives my partners crazy sometimes, partners in all capacities 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:16.760 or you're talking about in the band, and I'm talking 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.440 about in the band, meaning you're always wanting to do 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.160 what well. I always want to go. I mean, if 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.680 there's money on the table, dates, let's go get it. 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:28.800 If there's work to be done, let's go do it. 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.799 And Gary, I wish I had a little more him 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:33.800 in me, because he loves to go out to the 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.880 farm decompressed. I mean, he could stay out there for 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.280 big chunks of times and there's nothing wrong with that. 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:43.240 We're just wired differently. So to exist in the same band. 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.200 Sometimes I'm like, I don't I don't think I can 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.360 sit around for five months. I gotta do something any 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.600 but write a book. How long out of the book? 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.480 Um start to be a seed in you, I think 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.080 years ago because I kept I keep journals, you know, 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.160 I like keep notes of things so I can remember them. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.760 And I started keeping notes when Rascal Flats did our 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.400 first radio tour literally that long ago, because I wanted 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.720 to remember certain things in certain aspects of what we 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.720 were doing. And I always thought, someday we may have 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.800 a chance to write a book out into the future, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.000 sometime when this all comes to whatever close it's gonna 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.040 it's gonna look like. And so I started keeping notes, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.320 and the more that I did, the more I started 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.279 to reflect on my life, just myself and and really 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.839 reflect on all of the things that transpired to get 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.120 me here to eventually meet Joe do on one day 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:36.360 and then Gary come to town and us do what 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.680 we have done. And it started to I started look 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.840 at and go, maybe there are some people that can 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.080 like be inspired by some of the crap that I 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.839 went through, and maybe they can find their own hope 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.640 to forge ahead and to get up, dust themselves off, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.640 keep moving forward. Because you know, a lot of times 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:58.080 we see our favorite entertainers, actors, musicians, whatever they are, 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.800 you see the culmination of a lot of uf and 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.479 a lot of hard work that got them to that point. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.080 You didn't just end up on American Idol one day 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.120 by accident. You went through a lot of things to 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.560 get you there. I didn't end up in Rascal Flats. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.000 I went through a lot of crap and a lot 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.279 of hard stuff to get me there. And I think 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.600 people deal with the same things you and I have 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.919 done with, and they deal with the same adversity, the 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.440 same tough times, and sometimes you want to quit. I mean, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.560 there were many times that I wanted to throw the 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.039 towel in and move back home and just forget the 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:33.479 silly dream of music career. And I didn't. I found 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.800 some ounce of hope here and there, some friend or 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.680 some text or some something that would happen just in 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.920 time before I would give up, to help keep me going. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:45.920 The name of the book. Let me shout the book 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.000 out here. Everybody knows you, but uh Jada Marcus of 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.800 Rascal Flats. It's called Shotgun Angels, My Story of Broken 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.680 Roads and unshakable hope. And it's funny you mentioned all 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.680 the crap that you go through, because and the first 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.240 book I wrote, I had to kind of relive some 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.160 of that stuff which I just kept compressed for so long, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.919 just pushed it down inside, and it was tough to 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.640 not just acknowledge it, but to kind of kind of 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.240 dredge it all back up and relive it. To be 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.760 in my form of accurate about it, and did you 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:20.559 go through that at all? I went down. I joked 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.320 the other day that I had a bottle of Vodkas 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.200 sitting right by the laptop because I'd have to shut 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.040 it and take a break sometimes. And when the stuff 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.400 comes spoiling back up to the surface and you do 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.279 relive it, if you're an emotional person at all, you 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.880 feel those emotions all over again and how you felt 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.200 when you were living through that. And that was one 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.040 of the things that I didn't expect. That kind of 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.200 caught me off guard a little bit that I would 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.920 actually go back into it so deeply, but I definitely did, 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.320 And there were times and I just id take a 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.640 break from it. I stepped away and I was like, 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.240 oh my gosh, I can't believe that still affects me 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:57.560 as strongly today as it did, you know, thirty years ago. 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.279 It's wild to me. As I was reading, I didn't 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:01.720 get a chance to finish it, and I might be 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.120 read the whole thing, and he pulled out some parts 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:07.680 for me to read. Um, the the how you guys 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.520 got together. It's very interesting to me. I think we'll 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:10.680 start there, and then I want to go back to 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.880 the Christian Band in the scholarship. There's a lot again 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.040 stuff that and I felt like we've known each other, 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.280 at least semi socially for a while. I had no 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.520 idea a lot of the stuff which is interesting, just 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.040 on the music side of things. And so we'll go 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.320 to back to the beginning of the flats or Rascal Flats, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.000 not the Rascal Flats. So I, for everybody's listening right now, 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:35.720 calling the Rascal Flats, dear God. So um, we're gonna 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.520 we're gonna move past college. We're gonna back to that 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.760 in a minute. You're in town and you have a 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.240 cousin that you guys weren't super close we were growing 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:49.280 up but lost touch, right, and which is Gary? And 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.880 Gary had been winning some karaoke competitions. Yeah, So I 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.080 kept hearing grumblings back home when I would go back 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.000 for the holidays that hey, you know your cousin Gary, 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.400 he's been singing a little bit. And I'd be like, really, 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.880 that's neat um and and and it wasn't that I 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.000 was being mean about it, but I was following my 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.720 own path, and I had the Christian band, and then 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.560 somebody told me that he was talking to a producer 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.080 in l A about doing an R and B thing 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.320 and that he and Jamie Fox had spent some time together. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.760 My uncle had actually told me that, and I was like, 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.040 he knows Jamie Fox. That's kind of cool. And it 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.800 was lost on me that again, he was talking about 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.880 singing and doing a pop thing. And then my mom 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.760 called me one day and she goes, now, your cousin 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.440 Gary's gonna call you and you need to listen to 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.360 him singing. He's been winning some contests up here. He's 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:47.360 been singing in Yeah, and you need to listen to 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.760 him sing. I was like, Mom, are you kidding me? 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.440 The last thing I want to do is tell some 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.920 family member who I'm not really that close to anymore, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.000 you shouldn't try this. And she, while I've talked to 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.840 she called Judy Gary's mother, Jude Babe. They were closer 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.839 than sisters. They still are. She said, well, listen, I've 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.839 already told Jude Babe that you're gonna listen to him, 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.400 so you just need to let him come over there 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.800 when he's down there and sing for you. When he 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.280 was on his way to vacation in Florida, and he 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.160 stopped by my apartment in Brentwood and I sat down, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.120 and I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, the first song 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.040 he sang was One Last Cry by Brian McKnight, and 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.000 I knew it well enough on the piano to kind 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.880 of hack through it, and he just stopped me in 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.120 my tracks. I mean, when he opens his voice and 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.600 you hear that come out of him, it's otherworldly. I mean, 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.000 I describe it in the book, is all of these 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.600 ingredients of gospel and R and B and country rolled 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.840 up into one. I had never heard anything quite like 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:53.400 it before, and it had an immediate, identifiable personality to 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:58.120 it that was just shocking to me. And we kept 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.959 talking over the next several weeks, several months, and I said, 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.839 you know, you gotta move to town. It's never gonna 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.800 find you in Columbus. And he was. He was struggling 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.160 because he had a great job, he had debt, he 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.840 had bills, he'd already forged a life for himself. And 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.000 he called me one day and he said, that's it, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.520 I'm coming to town. I can't do this anymore. And 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.480 if I don't do it, I'm afraid I'll regret it. 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.440 For the rest of my life. And he lived on 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.600 my couch. I had a one bedroom apartment and he 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.000 lived on my couch and we played everywhere we could, 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.880 and when people would hear him, the reaction was just undeniable. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.840 You could see it in their faces. They were like, 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.000 Oh my god, this guy is up there singing Merle Haggard, 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.080 but singing like r and b licks in it. And 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.640 now if you turn on country radio, you hear a 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.720 whole host of singers that were touched by him and 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.320 influenced by him. And that's a testament to what his 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.440 gift was and what he was able to bring to 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.040 this town and build upon. So you guys are playing 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.600 shows at Printer's Alley a couple of nights a week, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.920 a few nights a week and doesn't even exist anymore. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.440 The place we played it was a fiddle and steel 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.960 guitar bar, and I I think it's a boutique hotel now. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:06.720 So you're going and say, hey, GARYL we're gonna get 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.760 a gig, just the two of us. And how do 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.240 you get that gig? You go up and say, hey, guy, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.120 here's the tape. What's that? I'll tell you. So the 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.560 guy playing up on stage. We'd go in and hear 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.360 him sing, and he would let us sit in and 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.760 do a song. The owner was in there one night, 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.600 Allison was her name, and Greg Perkins. They owned it together, 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:28.760 and she walked over and she said, would you guys 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:30.640 want to do a night here? And Gary said, I 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.840 don't even live here full time. I'm just visiting on 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.200 the weekends. She said, if you guys will do a 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.840 couple of nights here a week, I'll fire him and 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.080 give you his gig. The guy that you were singing, 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:41.679 and the guy that was letting us, the guy that 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:47.040 that helped you. That's how cutthroat Nashville is. And and 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.840 we so we left and we talked about it, and 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.240 I said, do you do you want to do this? 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.079 And then that that's I think that's around the time 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.360 he called me and said I'm moving to town. Let's 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.199 take that gig and see see what happens. And he 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.520 was the two of us sitting beside a cigare a machine. 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.280 I had my keyboard and he had a mike, when 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.120 I had two mix and we sometimes there were two 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:09.480 people in there, sometimes there were twenty, sometimes there were forty. 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.880 But slowly, but surely, we we started to build a 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.320 following that would come in and see us, and then 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.200 the owners came to us and said, we're thinking about 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.440 buying the other side of this building, knocking down the 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.720 wall that separates the two putting a stage together. Would 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.920 you put a band together? And I knew a bunch 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.560 of guys from various bands, and I was sitting in 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.160 with and Gary and I were friends with a circle 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.240 of buddies that were great musicians and had been playing 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.760 in different places with them. So we put a band together. 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.920 And so you're playing with Shelley right at this time 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.640 to write like as your main you can play with 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.079 Shelly right. You're playing keys? Yeah, I was. I was 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.320 your band leader. Okay, so you're running the band, you're 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.920 playing keys, and you had hired a guitarist, which was Jodan. 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.440 And so when you're putting the band together, is that 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.000 when you bring jod on in. No, he didn't start 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.280 playing with us right away. Guy named Shane Sutton played 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.280 with us. Fantastic player, fantastic singer. And we were playing 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.520 down there for probably several months, and then I get 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.680 a call one night and Shane says, man, I can't 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.040 get out of bed I've got the flu. I've got 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.200 a fever, and I'm sorry to do this to you, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.319 but I can't make it tonight. It was on a 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.240 Monday night, and I thought, oh, no, what are we 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.080 gonna do? I know who can play this. I know 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.959 who can do it. I'm gonna call Jodan. I called 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.520 him up and said, hey, what are you doing tonight? 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.320 And he's like nothing, I'm just sitting around. I said, 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.960 let's let's uh, let's play tonight. You want to? You 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.560 want to sit in with us? I said, I've been 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.120 telling you about my cousin anyway I want you to. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:39.960 I want you to hear him and meet him in 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.520 real life. And I've been telling you know, Gary about 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.840 Jodan how talented he was. And so we pull up 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:47.880 at the club and Jodan sitting in his guitar amp 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.040 up and he's up there tuning up. Gary looks at me, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.079 he goes, who is that? I said, no, out man, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:55.880 I didn't want to tell you this, but Shane's sick, 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.600 and he goes, are you kidding me? This guy isn't 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:00.960 gonna know a thing that we do. We gotta play 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.360 a little three am and if this sucks, I'm out. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.240 Of here, you can have this by yourself. And I 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.440 was like, Gary, please, like, just give him the shot. 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.040 He would barely even speak to Joe Don. It was 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.000 so funny. He was so frustrated. And I understand. See 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.760 Gary was getting up at four thirty am to throw papers. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.800 So we finished in the club at two. He slept 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.520 right to work and he go right right to work 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.200 throwing papers. So I understood his frustration. But then we 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:26.960 got up there together and the first song, I think 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:28.760 we played it on one of your shows. The first 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.480 song we ever played together was Church on the Cumberland 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.680 Road by Shannondah, and we hit that first course man, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:36.520 and I don't know what happened, but it was just 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.080 we all knew immediately. We looked at each other like 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.320 that is good, and we've got to have more of that. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:44.920 So Shane, that Rigel guitar players the name right, He 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.480 basically Wally pipped and Wally played first days for the 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.840 Yankees forever. And while he got hurt, nothing, he didn't 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.760 do anything wrong. And he got hurt, and here it 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.680 comes Loue Gary, who's gonna fill in. And then here 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.240 it's now the Lue Gary world. I know what does 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.320 Shane say about that? Shane Shane still a buddy of Arrish. 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:05.240 We still see him out playing with different artists and 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.720 playing guitar. But he you know, he obviously gives us 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.920 massive amounts of crap for us firing and basically you 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.040 never I had to call him and tell him he 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.520 couldn't come back, and that was really awkward. I was like, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.440 I think we're gonna go ahead and stick with Joe 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.760 don But I think anybody that heard us sing together, 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.240 and he would definitely tell you this to God, that 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.840 there was a special uh chemistry in a blend that 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:37.000 we had that was not common what was happening in 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.080 Nashville at that time? Though you got you three or 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.320 now you go, okay, this might be something, but what 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.760 was like the environment like because you guys cut through 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:48.360 so hard because you were so different. Now you kind 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.760 of created where everyone else has gone, so it doesn't 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:53.520 seem like you're that different. You guys have opened these 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:55.560 roads up for a lot of artists nowadays. At the 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.360 time who was popping around town where you're where, They're like, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:00.640 you know what, You're not like them. We don't know 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.320 if this canna be a thing quite yet. Yeah, you know, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.600 Nashville was was pretty safe back then. I mean there 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.520 were glimpses of pop in music. I mean you had 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:14.440 your South sixty fives and your uh forget Marshall Dillon 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.880 was around, but they were definitely trying to be five 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.200 guys that danced and we're bringing trying to bring the 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.560 boy band vibe over the country music and it really 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.160 wasn't resonating because they didn't play instruments. It was it 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.320 felt no offense to those guys that were trying to 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.440 make a living and do something, but it felt contrived, honestly. 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.120 And we were fans of bands that were really great 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.880 harmony bands like Diamond Rio and Shannondoah at the time, 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.040 and the Eagles were a huge influence on us. So 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.080 that's that's really what we were trying to do, was 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.840 bring elements of what we loved about pop music, but 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.040 still great authentic harmonies and the songs, the meat on 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.120 the bone of the songs with something to say in 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.800 a different way. It's really what we tried to hone 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.400 in on and and may the foundation of of what 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.040 we were. We weren't even really trying to be a band. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.440 We didn't set out to do that. I wanted to 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.320 produce and write and help Gary get a record deal 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.520 so that I could try to be a record producer 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.240 and be successful in in that way. I had already 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.640 done the artist thing and we know how that turned out. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.480 But the book, but it sort of had no aspirations 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.119 to do another artist thing. I wanted to kind of 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.560 forge a different career. But the more we had a 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.040 following and the more we sang together, it just felt 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.800 like it was evolving into that, let's rewind. Um. I 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.200 grew up Pentecostal for a while. My grandmother was Pentecostal. 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:39.440 You did, Yeah, scary and you know it's for me 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.119 that when they would speak in tongues, that scared the 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.840 crap out of me too. And so I remember going 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.880 and my grandmother who adopted me for a long time, UM, 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.080 and she would speak in tongues and church and it 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.679 never became something that I was just like, oh this 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:57.320 is I was always scared by it. Um. This that 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.280 that there was so much passion and love in a 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.000 Pentecostal no doubt the most by the way of all 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.160 of you know, my time of of you know, being 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.639 really in the fabric of church, that was that was 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:11.840 the closest I'd ever seen church. So as much as 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:13.920 I'm like that scared me, it was also I've never 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:16.480 seen a close knit group like the Pedocostal church. Um, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.520 what was your experience, because I know that's that was 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:20.920 a big part of your life, much the same I 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:22.920 was scared to death. They always told you to bring 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.920 your friends to church, and I'd say to my mom, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.800 why would I ever scre want my friends to see 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.520 what lunatics you guys act like when you run around 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.920 and speaking tongues and jump all over the pews and everything, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.639 and and I was never and you know this is 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.280 the truth, though I have to say it, I was 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.399 never very very comfortable in that environment because it wasn't 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.280 the way that I believed that I needed to express 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.639 myself and my beliefs. And it would and it always 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.879 troubled me a little bit. But I admired the fact 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.080 that people were so dedicated to it. And You're absolutely right, 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.679 there was so much love, so much Um. I've always 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.119 felt like I was surrounded by a family of people 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.080 that would do anything in the world for me, even 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.120 though I may not have agreed with exactly how they 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.680 went about it, you know. So for me, I'm glad 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:13.639 that I went through that because it laid a really 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:18.760 deep foundation to for the groundwork for my faith later 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.280