WEBVTT - #456 - Zac Brown on Getting His Start Playing a Decade in Bars 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:10.360 When I'm diving down, there's no chatter, doesn't exist, so 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.200 you're only in that moment and it's so primal and 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.400 you're so just connected to the ocean and nothing else, 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.680 and you feel small in the greatest possible way. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:22.520 Episode four fifty six. I sat for an hour with 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.240 Zach Brown of Zach Brown Band. Obviously, I'd never sat 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.400 with him for this long. We've done like twelve thirteen 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.560 fourteen minute interviews. I'd spend some time with him away 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.200 from the show, but never and it's a very intimate process, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:38.120 just sitting with someone for an hour. But never liked this. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.600 He shared some interesting things. One thing I don't think 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.960 that he knew possibly hadn't been released yet of information 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.400 I don't know. The concert thing. Yeah, so I guess 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:51.320 this maybe the first time you hear that coming up 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.520 I seeing him say anything about it. I haven't either, 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.840 I've been looking so that happens. He talks about a 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.240 pian and a bottle, which we'll get to as well. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.160 I mean, this guy, I feel like I can't get 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.400 my brain to stop. I feel like he suffers from 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:09.800 this too. I don't know when he has time to 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:14.200 be creative. I know Zach Brown band has two new singles, 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.000 tie Up and Pirates and Parrots. Uh, they're torn with 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.600 Kenny Chesney. You know. I make the comment to him 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:24.479 if I were Kenny, I would never have Zach Brown 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.600 play before me. They're so good, and so we talked 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.760 about that. I don't know. Camp Southern Ground is a 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.240 whole thing too with Ah and he talks about how, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.440 you know, how they started and how he tries to 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:37.920 give back in a lot of different ways, and Camp 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.319 Southern Ground is about that, you know. I think we'll 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.120 just go with it. I think you'll like this. I 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:44.880 did first time I'd ever spend an hour with him, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:49.520 Zach Brown. He would you say? He's reclusive? Yeah, comes 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.160 out for just concerts. Really Yeah. It's kind of weird 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.200 to see him in the backyard because usually I only 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:56.960 see him a like work stuff, and he's like a 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.920 hunk of muscle with right. He's he's a guy that 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.280 could I feel like you could punch as hard as 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.600 you want it anywhere in his body except as nose possibly, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.280 and he would not be vulnerable to attack. He's a monster, 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:10.919 all right, Harry is Zach Brown? Good to see you, man, 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.480 You too, appreciate you coming over. Hey, So what is what? 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.600 What is the deal? What do you live here? Now? 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.160 I have a place here, not in my house? Do 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.480 you live But because I always thought he was one 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.239 of the guys who was never here, then you would 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:23.640 like show up, are you here more? 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.040 My home base is in Georgia still still that's home base. 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:29.959 But I do have a place here in my studios 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:30.880 here as well. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:32.959 Studio as in your recording studio. 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.440 Yes, sir, it's Southern ground Nashville. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.760 It's over in that move too, right, because you sold 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.000 the old one, really one, you should you get a 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:42.679 pretty penny. Trust me, I know a little bit about 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:43.480 real estate. Yeap. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.480 I need the Tenter during COVID because it was kind 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:48.760 of wild. You listed everything I did. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:49.680 I listed it. 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:50.840 I had it in a contract for a year and 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.480 a half and the guys were they were just holding it, 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:55.760 and then interest rates and everything went up, and then 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.160 they kind of started getting fishy, and I was like, 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.360 I'm not holding this another day without some heart earners money. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.839 So it was under contract for over a year. 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.440 Yeah, and then and then they put on hard earners 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:06.920 money and then they ended up backing out again. 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.080 So I just keep the money. Oh hell yeah, we had. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.760 We were still in the process of selling our other house. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.440 It was right down the road from here, and we 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.240 put it up and we bought it right when COVID started. 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.560 We bought it when everything went way down, so we 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.799 got very fortunate. Yeah, and since then things have gone 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.040 way up and we're going to do pretty good on it. 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.160 Whenever we finally sell it. And some guy was like, 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.040 I want it, and he said, I'll take it and 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.120 put it in a contract and like two weeks went buy 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.440 and he's like hey man, Like hey man. He didn't 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:37.880 like reach out like a buddy, but he was like, hey, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:40.920 I just got divorced and I bought this house because 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.840 it just got divorced. And my ex wife did not 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.200 want me to get this house the last time it 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.000 was up for sale, so I bought it to spite her. 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.040 And I like to get out of the contract because 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.000 I shouldn't have made that decision, so I let him. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.040 We haven't sold it since, which was gonna sell it. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:56.200 But I could have held an account, and you know, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.960 I could have been like, nah, you but yeah, real estate, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.200 real estate. It's the I don't know much about money. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:03.800 I didn't grow up with money. But it's like the 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.120 only thing I've ever done where it's like almost you 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:07.160 went almost every. 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:08.680 Time, especially around here. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.000 Is it like that everywhere though? I mean I know, 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.760 because everyone's always like around here, but only know around here. 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.400 Yeah, it depends on what it is, man, you know, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.880 in a growing area like this. It is in my experience, 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.440 you know it. I mean I bought I bought my 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.520 studio and the building next door to it in like 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.200 twenty ten, and there were no high rise buildings except 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.120 the Orbison building was the biggest building around anywhere close 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:31.480 to us. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.600 So it was like little houses still. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.360 And I wish I had bought everything anywhere around there 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.040 at that time, knowing hindsight. 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.120 But so we did good on that. We put a 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:41.680 lot into it. 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.719 We turned the whole thing into guitar woods, floors, walls, 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.480 you know, everything, ceiling. But it's such a cool historic place, 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.560 you know. It was monument records back in the sixties. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.240 It was like Fred Foster's place, and then Al Jolson 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.120 owned it after that, and so when we got the studio, 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.919 it was completely stacked full. The tap vault was completely 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:01.919 full of old tapes that people recorded there. There was 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.640 like a let the tape. There was Christofferson tapes there. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.640 There was all the financial records of everyone that ever 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.200 recorded there from the sixties until now what do you 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.440 do with those? I've got a little area set up 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.280 that's just like all the history. So we set it 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.080 up and organized it all. And there's like unreleased Shel 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.359 Silverstein records there's but there's a file for everyone that 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:25.440 recorded there, and everyone recorded there. The B three that's 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.520 in there, the Allman brothers came. And the story is 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.880 the brothers came and recorded there and then couldn't pay 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.520 their full studio bills, so Greg left his his hammon there, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:41.000 So the B three was Greg's. There's the piano was 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.000 one of Liberachi's pianos. It was from nineteen twenty Baldwin, 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:49.120 huge grand piano sound nothing sounds like that thing. And 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.080 Al Jolson owned that and it was came along with 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:53.839 the sale of studio. So I got all this old 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:55.799 treasure that was in the place and all the history 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:56.400 behind it all. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.599 So you knew that a lot of that older historic 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.120 stuff was in there when you bought it. It wasn't like 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.320 you stumbled on a small door and you crawled through 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:05.960 the door and you're like, oh no, the whole studio 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:06.799 was completely full. 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:08.960 It was full of old Mike stands, like my MIC's 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.360 stand has Jjkle's name sprayed on the bottom of it. 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.760 It's like and supposedly there's an Elvis necklace somewhere that 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.000 someone left in the wall, like one of his in 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.119 the people on his thing, like he gave out gold 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.920 TCB you know, yeah, take care of the necklaces. And 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:23.840 supposedly one of the guys that was working on it 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.359 back in the sixties or whatever left his necklace up 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.600 and it got closed in a wall somewhere in the building. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.279 There's all kinds of crazy stories, but steeped in history. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:33.880 It was a church had built in nineteen oh one, 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.599 and before that the ground it was on was like 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.839 a Civil War battlefield, like resting ground, like they had 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.279 the overflow from hospitals. So it's pretty haunted as well 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:44.800 as a lot of my staff will tell you that 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.640 stayed in there late at night often and found really 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.000 weird things in there. So it's a it's a cool place, man, 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.800 It's like dripping with weird cool stuff. And I'm not 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:54.919 one of those super ghost people. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:55.240 Like that. 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.280 I just try not to be open to that kind 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.160 of stuff. I'd rather just if it's around, I'd rather 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.680 just not pay attention to it. Yeah, but people friends 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.520 of mine that are have coming there and like gotten 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.359 sick of their stomach. They're like, oh God, there's so 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.280 many spirits in here and whatever, and it's like cool, sweet. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:09.840 I got two places I want to go. One, I 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:11.720 bring up the property in the real estate things. I 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.200 feel like you're a guy who's gotten into a lot 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.480 of different things and is actually and I don't know 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:17.560 if you have if you're like me and you just 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.520 want to do a little bit of everything and learn 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.040 about everything, or if because you're with the food, with 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.480 the music with I mean, if I feel like there's 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.560 five or six places that you've the leather, you know, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:33.480 with all that you've done, what part of you is 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.080 the person that chases that? Like mine is like I 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.240 get obsessed with things like addict They come from an 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.800 addiction family big time. Right now. My thing is like 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.200 sports Mambillian cards. Can't get about to saus helmets and gear. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.480 I'm just I get it. Yeah, have you ever seen these? 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:51.920 I just actually brought this down and I never bought 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.800 these before they're called Apparently they are pop centery. They're 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.440 like not athletes, but like celebrity, like famous people who 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:00.000 sign cards. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:00.960 I haven't seen those yet. 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.040 I will break this in a minute. What part of 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.600 you though, interest you in all these different things? 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:08.640 I'm the same way, Like I'll chase a rabbit hole 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.120 something that's interesting to me, I will latch onto it 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.320 and research and learn as much as I can about it. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:16.920 And I think the part about being an artist is 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:18.720 not just you know, music is one of the mediums 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.080 that you can use, but you know, I've been making 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:27.440 knives since I was eighteen years old, So creating something 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.680 and whether it's space or whatever, like I love to 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:31.640 come into a space if it's somewhere where I'm going 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.320 to be, and transform that space into a vibe that 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.920 I'm really going to, like, like getting the lighting correct, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:38.720 the right way of getting the right things. And then 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.719 all my traveling I come upon things. I seek things too, 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.560 Like if I go to do a tour in the UK, 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.040 I'm going to head up all the old weird antique 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.400 stores that have like five six hundred year old stuff 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.680 in them and kind of pick through those things and 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.320 find things to bring back. So I'm I'm kind of 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.680 a people collector as far as on the business side 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:58.800 of things, and I'm kind of a collector of art 0:08:58.880 --> 0:08:59.800 and weird things. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.480 Well, So where does that come from? What was what 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.840 was home like growing up? Did anybody do that? Did 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:07.520 anybody collect or draw or? 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:08.559 My uncle. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:11.880 On my mom's side, so my grandma, my great uncle, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.120 my grandmother's brother, he was the same way. Like when 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.200 I went to his house and saw his whole setup 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.280 and everything too, I'm like, that's got to be somewhere 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.080 from that side of the family. But I think for me, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.959 I'm a hyper curious person. So I'm always curious about things, 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.000 and I want to learn about things, and I'm interested. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.480 So you know, when I was learning about leather goods 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.120 and things like that, I would find people that made 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.559 leather goods, give them the space. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.040 And the tools, help them buy the tools. 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:38.480 And you know, I had one hundred and sixty five 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.800 thousand square feet of manufacturing space in Georgia before COVID hit, 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.600 and that was compartmentalized into nineteen different businesses and spaces 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.880 and stuff, and I had craftsmen in there and engineers 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:53.240 and things, and you know, S and C equipment, CENC, metal, 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.079 S and C leather, CE and C wood shop all 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:55.720 in this place. 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.160 So what's C and C. 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.679 It's basically no computer, computer controlled machines, got it? 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.200 Yeah? I don't want to act like a smart and 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:05.800 new so yeah. 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:11.440 So you know mills, lathes, things that run themselves. You 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:13.440 put it in a program like I could do a 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.320 full body scan of you and then carve it out 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.320 of wood. Put a block of wood on this machine 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:20.840 and it had two five axis routers heads that would 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.559 carve you like full on like nostrils and everything out 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:25.400 of out of wood. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.440 Can you imagine if I like made out with that, 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.880 that'd be weird. Yeah, you get a splinter my own Yeah, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.160 I'm like in my tongue, I'd be weird. Uh what 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.240 about the what the craftsman part? Who did that? 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:38.000 People that I would find? 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.840 I would find people that were already making amazing things 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:42.120 and reach out to them and like, would you. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:43.560 Be interested in that as a kid? Were you interested 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:45.920 in that? Like cutting and building? And I was? I 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.480 was very creative as a kid. Were you artsy and 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.280 weird or were you because right now you're not you're artsy, 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.599 but you're not weird, and you've take it taken the 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.440 weird way because you have tattoos in your jacked. 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:02.080 Well, I think I think you know. I think being 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.240 a nerd of anything's kind of cool actually, but it 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:05.360 doesn't actually get to be cool. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:06.840 Until you're a little bit older, I agree. 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.880 And then then you find out when you put energy 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.320 and effort into something and you really like search it out, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.400 and you really Because of my music, I was able 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.520 to reach people. I was able to call people on 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:20.280 the phone and maybe people would know who I was 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:21.840 and I could speak to them and like show them 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.120 what we're doing later on, Yeah, what is the kid? 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:25.440 Were you a weird kid? Though? I was a weird 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.959 kid or what was considered weird for Mountain Pine, Arkansas? 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.920 I was weird because I wanted to like perform and 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.400 be funny. That didn't happen where I came from. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:35.520 Yeah, I was a choir kid, so I could inquire 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.080 when I was in first grade, so I always loved 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.360 to sing. My dad and my brother played guitar, so 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.880 I wanted to play guitar, and so I was From 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.120 the time I was seven, I started taking guitar lessons 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.200 and a guitar was always like home for me wherever 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.160 I was, so I carried my guitar everywhere I went. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.800 Music was definitely like my first love that I ever had, 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.760 singing along with shows. My brothers tell me to shut 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.760 up and stop singing, you know, just be quiet and 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:01.880 thin like that. But my love for music was definitely 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.480 my absolute first first love. And I think as a 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.800 kid just being super creative, like I would make stuff 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.079 in class out of you know, construction paper and pipe 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:14.520 cleaners and stuff I'd make like little weird grappling hooks 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:16.120 and tear up the corner of the carpet and make 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:17.640 a rope for it, and like, I don't know, I 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.800 was always making things, So it's natural as my progression. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.800 And I always love to see anyone that's really amazing 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.600 at doing something, somebody that's like the leather worker that 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.320 I have Ramone, he's unbelievable. So for Louis Vuittan for 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.320 twenty years, he's when he crafts something out of leather, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.840 it's like it's perfect, you know. And finding people like 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.600 that that are so good at what they do and 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.439 they have this level of passion that drives them to 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.640 be that kind of excellent. I wanted to like provide 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.480 a space for them to do what they do, just like, 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.160 what do you need? What tools do you need to 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:50.839 do this on a bigger level, so we can make 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.440 things and sell them pay for your salary, but also 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.800 be able to make things very bespoke things for people 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.640 or make things, you know, like my plane, the whole 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.720 interior my plane Ramon and made every piece of the plane, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.240 all the chairs, the panels, ceiling, the bathroom, every everything 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:11.600 in it. So I've always been really attracted to people 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.640 that are really amazing at something. And then what I'm 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.200 at is being a pragmatic person and going, Okay, if 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.640 I just give this person every tool that they need 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:22.719 in the space and freedom to do it, what can 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:23.240 they create? 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.520 Do you expect the same thing whenever it comes to 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.000 you and your music. You want them to give you 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.080 every resource to let you do your perfection? Yeah? 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.520 Absolutely, And my band is extraordinary. 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.320 I'm like a record label or whomever, because you you know, 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.600 they have to fund things. It's not you know, there's 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:41.760 reasons flid with a label. Do you expect them to 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.280 give you the same liberty that you give your creatives? 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:46.480 For sure? 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.200 And you know, I think if you're going to work 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:50.960 with a label, they have to trust you as the artist. 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:51.200 You know. 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:52.640 I don't have a and R coming in to tell 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:54.240 me what kind of songs to write and what it 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:55.839 needs to sound like and be like and. 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.240 Stuff like that. Like I create what I create. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:00.360 And if they like it, then they're gonna, you know, 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.360 support it, and they'll listen through everything that we made 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:03.840 and say this might be the best one for this. 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:05.840 And being able to kind of trust your team with that. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:13.000 But it's very important to me. I've been fanatically rebellious 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:17.360 since I was a child, to where I someone tries 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.360 to tell me what I should be, how I should act, 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.280 what I should I didn't get a record deal for 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:22.800 ten years because people came in and we're like, Okay, 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:24.240 we're going to get you a cowboy hat and some 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:25.600 boots and we're going to put you up. And that 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.040 was the end of the conversation for me because I 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.360 knew who I was, and I was brave enough to 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.920 say that's not who I am. And I remember one 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.480 time we were selling out like five six thousand seats 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.320 at places before we had a record deal. I mean, 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:43.360 we played every night. I had to create a business model. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.400 So I would go to bars, sports bars that didn't 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.360 have live music, and I'd say, I'm going to play 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.160 here every Friday night. I'm going to come set up 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.960 and all I want is the door, give me a tab, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:54.960 give me some food or whatever, you know, give me 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:56.520 a couple hundred bucks in a tab for me in 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.920 mist in Georgia, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. So my first 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.520 ten years of touring, I did that, and I played 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.280 house gigs at the same place every the same night 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.360 of the week for ten years. But after a little 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.120 bit of time, on a Wednesday night at as Sidelines 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.200 in Kinnesau, we'd have three hundred people come in pay 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.400 a door charge, and I'd make, you know, twelve hundred 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.360 bucks at the door, and then they're stoked. Because if 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:23.440 I've owned restaurants too, so you lose your ass in 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.760 a restaurant Monday through Thursday, Friday Saturday as you make 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.280 up for the rest of the whole week. But making 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.600 a business, making a night of business for somebody on 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.800 a Wednesday, that's like a Friday Saturday, is like a 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.160 gold mine. That's that's but I would show up and play. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.280 We'd play four hours a night and we'd set up. 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:40.800 I mean, at first it was six hours a night 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.080 we'd play. But we created a business model. And if 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.320 I had been in Nashville here trying to go hunt 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.600 a gig for sixty bucks a night, you know, hustling 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.400 like that, there's a lot of people. There's so many 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.000 incredible players and things around here, but it's so saturated, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.240 there's not it, there's not a business. Well, we created 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.960 a business model. So we would play those places every 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:01.800 every single week, and we'd bring in tons of people. 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.560 And that's how I could test my songs that I 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.560 was writing. I would know I'd play it out like 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.040 I was playing Chicken Fried in bars for years before 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.880 we put it on an album. But I knew after 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:13.600 playing that in front of three hundred people a night 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.160 on a Wednesday in a sports bar that it would work. 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.320 I could tell by the reaction of what the people 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.080 were doing. So they were the litmus test of like 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.560 what's working and what's not. So six nights a week 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.560 for ten years, bro, just grinding my ass off, sleeping 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.000 against the window of a truck, you know, hired a 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.600 dude to drive me and pull my you know, covered 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:34.880 trailer around with our shits on sticks in it and 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:35.640 our PA. 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:37.920 System and doing that. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.640 So I didn't know how other people did it. I 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:42.640 didn't know there were rules or how it works or 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:44.240 anything like that. So it was always interesting to me 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.240 when I come to Nashville and the way people write songs. 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.840 And I was writing just you know, late at night, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.480 up after shows at somebody's random living room, you know. 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.440 So I didn't know that people sit and write like 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.320 they'll take four sessions a day and come in to 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.280 write and do things. So I never knew the way 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.080 business should work or how it should work. All I 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.880 knew was I'm just playing and I was cutting my teeth, 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.439 and it gave me the best like resilience, and it 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.159 also gave me this incredible appreciation for every single person 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.240 because sometimes the dude cleaning up the bar was the 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.679 only person that was listening to me. And so my 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.800