Speaker 1: Carola. She's the Queen of talking. He was sown man.
Speaker 1: She's only is actually got the scoop on on the
Speaker 1: on side. No one can do with clid Carala Carola.
Speaker 1: No one can do with Cui Carola Carola. Hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: welcome to Hyper Caroline Hobby. I am your host, Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I know music, I know people, and I know the
Speaker 1: questions do you want to ask? So let's get hyper
Speaker 1: heads up. These are adults having adult conversations, so there
Speaker 1: could be adult content. I am super pumped about this
Speaker 1: week's episode. I have Eric Pasley joining me. He is
Speaker 1: one of the most talented artists and song writers I
Speaker 1: have ever met in my life. He's written so many
Speaker 1: number one hits. He wrote Jake Owen's Barefoot Blue g Night,
Speaker 1: he wrote Eli Young Bands, Even If It Breaks Your Heart,
Speaker 1: Lovin Theft's Angels Eyes. He also wrote Rascal Flats hit
Speaker 1: song Rewind, and he wrote Friday Night, which was recorded
Speaker 1: for Lady Antebellum. Then he came back and released it
Speaker 1: as an artist all the way to the top. He
Speaker 1: also was nominated for Song of the Year with his
Speaker 1: song she Don't Love You. Absolutely incredible. He's one of
Speaker 1: the most inspired songwriters out there. This interview is so
Speaker 1: good it will motivate you to follow your heart and
Speaker 1: your higher force. I promise you. Y'all welcome Eric Paslay. Hey,
Speaker 1: Eric Paslay. What's she doing hanging out in Nashville in
Speaker 1: your back house? Yeah, we're in the little studio house
Speaker 1: back here, so it's like a writing room slash studio, kitchen,
Speaker 1: studio hang It looks old, but it's new. I know
Speaker 1: y'all did some new, some renovating, and you're a renovator yourself.
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, that's a secret little side that
Speaker 1: I learned about Eric Paslay is you're like handyman galore.
Speaker 1: I like building stuff. Um, I don't mind it. I
Speaker 1: built a gift for Paisley right underneath us in the garage.
Speaker 1: Brad Paisley, Brad Paisley and I my distant cousin. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: Pasley pass It's all good, Paisley Passley. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like what you build, Paisley. Um, I built on the
Speaker 1: front end of a fifty nine corvette out of wood.
Speaker 1: It sounds ridiculous just for being him, like Owen Wilson, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I made it a pure piece of wood like Jesus,
Speaker 1: you know, but um uh, he loves those corvettes. And
Speaker 1: I always build a gift for people when I go
Speaker 1: on to it. I'm just built one for Toby Keith
Speaker 1: had like a Ford tail gate, did like red. I
Speaker 1: used the red paint that I used on Paisley's corvette
Speaker 1: on Toby's gift red on a tailgate and it was
Speaker 1: a Ford. I went to a junkyard, got old Ford
Speaker 1: tailgate red white and blue colors on it. How special
Speaker 1: is that? I always put lights in it? Right now?
Speaker 1: They're all I do. Always use battery top power, just
Speaker 1: because there's so many cool options. And you know, you
Speaker 1: can hang it wherever, said it wherever you don't have
Speaker 1: to plug it in. Where did you When did you
Speaker 1: discover and how did you discover this talent? What do
Speaker 1: you call it? Woodworking? Building? Just tinker and I don't
Speaker 1: know being creative, there are no rules. Don't stick creativity
Speaker 1: in a box. When it comes to that, you gotta
Speaker 1: get it out. Natalie says. You go on the road,
Speaker 1: You'll find like the like the stores and all the stuff.
Speaker 1: And I'm like antiques. Use the antique stores. They have
Speaker 1: junk people don't know what to do with and I'll
Speaker 1: figure out something to do with it. So some of
Speaker 1: the stuff in your house, like that you've found antiquing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's probably a few things in here, like what about
Speaker 1: that cabinet's made of logs around all the old barnwood.
Speaker 1: That's definitely did you make that antique store? I helped
Speaker 1: make it. Okay, nice, Okay, So I'm gonna start off
Speaker 1: with a little rap. I didn't actually level that. It's
Speaker 1: sort of curved. Hey, but it needs it has character.
Speaker 1: It looks awesome. It does look awesome. Okay, letna start
Speaker 1: off with a little first off, I complete the sentence.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say a word, and you say, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna make a sentence. All right, Okay, you start Spider
Speaker 1: Monkey happy Gilmore, Davis County, crows Nest. Hi there, I
Speaker 1: always messed up on this entertaining. Let's do it again.
Speaker 1: I haven't done this before. Okay, I'll do one. Okay,
Speaker 1: Spider Monkey, I don't. I just always that's so kind
Speaker 1: of the random thing. I'm coming with you, like a
Speaker 1: spider monkey. It was Tallodaga nights Okay, cheese kurds hase
Speaker 1: ease that sounds like a really bad disease. Sorryse hasese. Okay,
Speaker 1: gave me a ride home. Okay, I mess up. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do kindergarten teachers hot mama's. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1: That's perfect. Kindergarten teacher, hot mama's. I knew singles called
Speaker 1: kindergarten teacher, hot mama. It's very serious. Okay, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: That was good. You're way better than me. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Try That's what I do all the time, just like practice,
Speaker 1: like to say yeah bo jackal and Hyde. Okay, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna get started. You were from Texas, Temple, Texas.
Speaker 1: Grew up in Temple, Texas. I did, right right down
Speaker 1: the road from Waco, Texas. But we didn't know each other.
Speaker 1: Crazy because that's like almost the same city it is,
Speaker 1: And I lived in Waco. Why from when I was
Speaker 1: like two to seven? What were you doing to wake up?
Speaker 1: My dad was the manager's Southwestern Bell And then we thought, hey,
Speaker 1: let's go up the road to Temple. Why do you think,
Speaker 1: hey let's go up the road to Temple. My mom's
Speaker 1: family from Temple. So, so what was it growing up
Speaker 1: by a girl? What was it like growing up in Temple,
Speaker 1: and is your family musical, because when did you discover
Speaker 1: your musical term? Music was always kind of around. My
Speaker 1: mom played Oregon. My grandfather was a musician. I didn't
Speaker 1: know my grandfather. He passed away when I was really young,
Speaker 1: but he just he was the musician in the family.
Speaker 1: So I heard stories and I just always had music
Speaker 1: kind of around and just always was drawn to it.
Speaker 1: I love playing it. I didn't love learning it a lot,
Speaker 1: but I love playing it. You picked up guitar mainly
Speaker 1: at fifteen and started writing at the same time. Okay,
Speaker 1: so did writing just happen? Like, were you like, I
Speaker 1: want to be a songwriter? No, I just thought I
Speaker 1: want to play music. I didn't even know there was
Speaker 1: a difference between songwriter and singer. You know, I just
Speaker 1: thought you wrote your songs. You know, it's probably the
Speaker 1: people that most people think. I think most people think
Speaker 1: that the day still that everybody writes her own songs,
Speaker 1: which a lot of them do. Did you always know
Speaker 1: you wanted to be an artist? Yeah, okay, that was
Speaker 1: what was confusing. I've so I had. I was writing
Speaker 1: songs for a publishing company for like four years. I
Speaker 1: moved up here when I was twenty, went to finished
Speaker 1: up school here at middletowness up here because you were
Speaker 1: ready to get into the industry. Yeah, I knew that.
Speaker 1: I knew that I wasn't rich enough to go to Belmont,
Speaker 1: which is a really good school if you can afford
Speaker 1: it go. Um, but found out about Middle Tennessee which
Speaker 1: has a great recording industry program. You just have to
Speaker 1: drive thirty minutes more, which is which is research because
Speaker 1: you're listening to music all the time. But did that
Speaker 1: in between parking cars and working at Starbucks and going
Speaker 1: to school and interning for free and all this and night,
Speaker 1: which is just I do it all again. Um. Maybe
Speaker 1: a couple of cars I wouldn't park against. They just
Speaker 1: smelled terrible. I bet you learn a lot about people
Speaker 1: from parking cars. It's interesting that you saw in people's
Speaker 1: cards that you wish you wouldn't have seen. The scariest
Speaker 1: thing is like people show up completely wasted and you're like,
Speaker 1: you should not even be able to live here? Do
Speaker 1: they drive the car off? I usually would pass the
Speaker 1: keys off to the club and be like you served them,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not giving it to him? Yeah, is on you?
Speaker 1: But um, that would be a whole other thing. But um,
Speaker 1: but start, you know, wrote songs because the blue I
Speaker 1: was just taught the blueprint is if you are a
Speaker 1: singer and you can write, then someone will probably invest
Speaker 1: in your writing first ish before you get the record deal.
Speaker 1: Just friends that advantage that out. Do you know about
Speaker 1: publishing deals? I had an or. I had a just
Speaker 1: a mentor named Brian Gowen who had a record deal
Speaker 1: on Curb, had writing deals, went to school. His wife
Speaker 1: at the time, Shannon, she was like Scott Pushett's assistant
Speaker 1: dream work, so she'd like seeing a lot of Nashville work.
Speaker 1: And Brian had too, and they were like, go to Nashville.
Speaker 1: You at least have two and a half years if
Speaker 1: you finish up your degree. They're a music business. You
Speaker 1: get internships and just meet everybody and they know you exist,
Speaker 1: and you have a reason for being there because you're, yeah,
Speaker 1: a specific reason for being there and learning somewhat about it,
Speaker 1: knowing that a publishing company doesn't sell books a music
Speaker 1: publishing company, you write songs. So I wrote songs for
Speaker 1: four years at a company recording records, recording music because
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to get a publishing deal. So
Speaker 1: that is it sounds like I'm like, it was so easy.
Speaker 1: But the fact that you moved to town I got
Speaker 1: a publishing deal. Well, I moved to town and then
Speaker 1: three and a half four years later, I got a
Speaker 1: publishing Okay, so you just started networking and all that. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you graduated wents worked at Starbucks. Um, which is great
Speaker 1: because favorite drink at Starbucks. I don't know, they're all
Speaker 1: pretty good. Did you drink one every day? I was? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I learned that a soy milk Lotte with two
Speaker 1: pumps vanilla isn't as much sugar since some a juvenile diabetic,
Speaker 1: I usually like one pump sugar. And I didn't want
Speaker 1: to fake stuff because I'm not really sure what's made
Speaker 1: up of I know, I agree, but um yeah, but um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was good to work. Their best saying
Speaker 1: health insurance for my juvenile diabetes and uh, and it
Speaker 1: gave me time to write I had. I had signed
Speaker 1: a publishing about a year and a year after I
Speaker 1: graduated college. Wrote and wrote and wrote and just wrote
Speaker 1: and wrote and wrote and played shows and wrote and
Speaker 1: wrote and mainly played writers shows, so played my songs.
Speaker 1: I was writing with other artists. I'm sure we played
Speaker 1: shows way back then together. We played some shows. When
Speaker 1: you're signed though, yes and uh, and then wrote all
Speaker 1: these songs and I wrote Barefoot and wrote even and
Speaker 1: wrote well yeah, and then in that time period yeah
Speaker 1: and then uh, I got a record deal, so that
Speaker 1: I got a record deal, and then Barefoot came out
Speaker 1: two months later. So when I went on radio tour
Speaker 1: to meet everybody as a as an artist, not as
Speaker 1: a songwriter, as a songwriter and an artist, it was
Speaker 1: like every interview was, so, your singer or your songwrite?
Speaker 1: Why do you want to be a singer. I've always
Speaker 1: been a singer. I just happened to write a song
Speaker 1: that got it. And I actually had a record deal
Speaker 1: before I had any songs recorded. But the timing was
Speaker 1: just the timing was two months off. It was flip that. Actually,
Speaker 1: it was frustrating at the beginning. And now I realized,
Speaker 1: I have like five hits to play every or at
Speaker 1: least five number ones to play every night. Okay, so
Speaker 1: I want to go through your number one because you
Speaker 1: have Okay Friday. It's this guy gets kind of wild.
Speaker 1: It's just you have your own number one Friday night Light,
Speaker 1: Friday Night too, and Lady Antebellum cut that song. They did,
Speaker 1: it was on the Oh the Night album, never put
Speaker 1: it on as a single. So then you said, that's
Speaker 1: a hit. Hey, you know what, I'll put it out
Speaker 1: And it was a number one for you? How did
Speaker 1: that feel? Because I had you already had Barefoot Blue
Speaker 1: Night as a as a songwriter, not an artist. How
Speaker 1: many songs have you had as I had three number
Speaker 1: ones as a songwriter. I had three number ones hit
Speaker 1: in one year. Tell me what they were? Barefoot Bluesy Night,
Speaker 1: even if It Breaks your Heart and Angelize with Love
Speaker 1: and Theft and with Eli Young Fan Yes, and what
Speaker 1: was so wild? All these It's not like it all
Speaker 1: happened in that one year. It had happened in at
Speaker 1: least so many years before. They just somehow had just
Speaker 1: piled up and and just perfect timing. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if one Barefoot being a hit decided the other
Speaker 1: ones to be released of like well you know where, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean it could have been that. And
Speaker 1: grateful that there are songs that I enjoy, you know,
Speaker 1: so that all happen when you release Friday Night? Right? No, no, No,
Speaker 1: I had a single out called Never Really Wanted My
Speaker 1: First Yeah, I really wanted that. I love that song.
Speaker 1: That was a great song. I loved it. So that
Speaker 1: was your first single? Yea sacrificial single? Sacrificial? Yeah, most
Speaker 1: everyone's first single is a sacrificial single because they don't
Speaker 1: know you yet, so it's just kind of like breaking
Speaker 1: you in, all right, Yeah, it's all right. You gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta get rid of one of your best songs first,
Speaker 1: and someone might hear it, right, but did that open
Speaker 1: the door? That part of it? Um, the doors already open.
Speaker 1: I just you know, usually it takes a while for
Speaker 1: somebody to pass you the guitar at the party. Okay,
Speaker 1: you gotta show up a few times. So do you
Speaker 1: feel like your sacrificial singer single and your hits for
Speaker 1: other people mixed with you? It was Barrett was Friday Night? Second?
Speaker 1: Was that your second single, fish Don't Buy It? Was
Speaker 1: second if the Fish Don't Buy It? And it was
Speaker 1: between labels merging, and it just all kind of got
Speaker 1: lost in the shuffle. Which is an interesting which has
Speaker 1: never been released like it was that actual single, and
Speaker 1: I have fans always ask for it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I have no clue how you can buy it, and
Speaker 1: it was never released. It was released, but nobody can
Speaker 1: buy it. It's kind of weird. Huh. That's an interesting
Speaker 1: way to release the song. Yeah, isn't it interesting? The
Speaker 1: whole label process we've talked about a little bit because
Speaker 1: it's an amazing thing to be a part of a label, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but it's also a giant ship. And you wrote that
Speaker 1: song even if it breaks your heart, which I think
Speaker 1: is interesting because the music industry can break your heart.
Speaker 1: Was that based on a true story or how did
Speaker 1: that come about? Well, you grew up in Texas, so
Speaker 1: Austin down on Sixth Street there's a bunch of clubs
Speaker 1: and all that. And wrote the song with Will Hoge
Speaker 1: and he had just he was in like a really
Speaker 1: bad accident, like he was on a moped driving in
Speaker 1: a van like ran over him, like he should have died.
Speaker 1: And remember he showed up on We wrote one song
Speaker 1: called Highway Wings, Oh my Highway Wings, and uh that
Speaker 1: he recorded, but he was like on walkers. And then
Speaker 1: the next time we wrote even a freak your Heart
Speaker 1: and he was like on a just on a cane,
Speaker 1: and like now I see him and I totally forget that.
Speaker 1: He was like, shouldn't be walking ever. Um, so props
Speaker 1: to you, Mr will Hooge from freaking being tough, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be But he put that. He put that song
Speaker 1: out on like Triple A radio, which is very much
Speaker 1: country now, and uh Eli young band loved it. And
Speaker 1: I always told Mikey like they had the song for
Speaker 1: two years on hold, like they hadn't they They were
Speaker 1: getting moved around on record deals of where did we
Speaker 1: put these guys? And they had crazy Girl hit, which
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for that because then they were allowed
Speaker 1: to sing a song about dreaming like nobody was singing
Speaker 1: songs about dreaming rarely, or anybody singing songs about dream
Speaker 1: me and actually getting hurt. And the last to him
Speaker 1: was like, if ya don't cut this thing, it's going
Speaker 1: on my album and hopefully it's a single. And but
Speaker 1: I just you know, we kept our word and let
Speaker 1: him do it, and they did a great job and
Speaker 1: got it heard. You know, So what does that song
Speaker 1: mean to you? Even if it breaks your heart? Keep
Speaker 1: on dreaming even if it breaks your heart. So I
Speaker 1: told you the story, and not that I like the story,
Speaker 1: but I actually heard the story, and I'm I'm probably
Speaker 1: pretty sure he's okay with me telling the story. But
Speaker 1: Marla Cannon Goodman, great writer, she's amazing. But her dad's
Speaker 1: Buddy Cannon, great producer in town. He can ches. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, he produces Kenny Chess. You know all conds
Speaker 1: of great music. Donnie, Marie, I gotta cut on that
Speaker 1: album single right now? Do you really? Yeah, Bama, she's nice,
Speaker 1: she's awesome interviewing. Do it. She's gonna be holding this Mike. Yes, Marie,
Speaker 1: he gave you a little kiss. Three That wasn't crazy.
Speaker 1: You're awesome. Um uh. But I remember remember Marla telling
Speaker 1: me the story that the day that she told her
Speaker 1: dad because she was a nurse and she was like, Dad,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a professional songwriter. I'm gonna do it,
Speaker 1: and and he said okay. He was like, but I'll
Speaker 1: just tell you that this business can break your heart
Speaker 1: every day, and that that's stuck with And that was
Speaker 1: probably around the time that we wrote even if it
Speaker 1: breaks your heart, keep on dreaming, even if it breaks
Speaker 1: your heart, And that was the point I think of
Speaker 1: what he was saying was, Hey, this this business can
Speaker 1: break your heart every day because you have so little
Speaker 1: control over what people decide will be heard. And that's
Speaker 1: the thing. There's a crew of people that make those
Speaker 1: decisions that maybe people don't realize, like the public doesn't realize.
Speaker 1: I don't even know who that crew is. But um,
Speaker 1: some somehow, somewhere, you can only like what you're given.
Speaker 1: And but um, that was very deep. But I'm sure
Speaker 1: that's where it came from. And and you know, we
Speaker 1: were just writing and it is interesting like on you know,
Speaker 1: certain times when you get to little speed bumps in
Speaker 1: the road, I go like my owns, maybe I wrote
Speaker 1: that song for me too. Sometimes you know, you go
Speaker 1: like that's not really breaking my heart, but you can
Speaker 1: get this point and going like, yeah, it's a bummer.
Speaker 1: I wish politics would have wind up on that. Um,
Speaker 1: which is okay, And it's it's such a cool thing though.
Speaker 1: It's like, uh, to be able to write and the
Speaker 1: fact that any time a song has heard I call
Speaker 1: it a million miracles a good point because it really
Speaker 1: is wild, Like it's famous because it was played a lot.
Speaker 1: It was a weird thing. Like when a song gets
Speaker 1: played a lot on radio, it's because it got played
Speaker 1: a lot on radio. You're not really sure why it
Speaker 1: did or didn't, because you hear great songs and for
Speaker 1: some reason they didn't get heard, and and then you
Speaker 1: hear other songs and you're like, well, that's a cool song,
Speaker 1: and even and even the artists would be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not my favorite, but but who cares. It worked,
Speaker 1: But it worked, And it's it's that weird thing of
Speaker 1: like a million miracles that any of them get heard,
Speaker 1: even though something has to be heard, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of a catch twenty two. But the fact that so
Speaker 1: many people have to forget to say no is is
Speaker 1: it's a million miracles that anything ever gets heard. It
Speaker 1: really is, you know, so you which is that's why
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful that I get songs, that songs have
Speaker 1: been heard that I've been well. The fact you've had
Speaker 1: five number ones, that's crazy. The fact that you have
Speaker 1: written five songs that miracles, You've had five million miracles
Speaker 1: and you are a song writer. And I told you
Speaker 1: this last night because we were a Beyonce which, by
Speaker 1: the way, you met Beyonce and jay Z. I didn't
Speaker 1: even selfie with them because I'm trying to be cool.
Speaker 1: I cannot even the way the next time they see me,
Speaker 1: I'll gi them then and be in our sweatpants. Yeah,
Speaker 1: looking like a million she's rocking, like totally cool. Uh.
Speaker 1: Blues their daughter, right, is that their daughters? Blue? You
Speaker 1: met Blue too? So funny. She looked at she looked
Speaker 1: at me and Nally, my wife, and she she was like,
Speaker 1: she was like with her eyes like I see like
Speaker 1: I'm watching you. It was awesome the whole family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: did did you feel normal? Was it like a weird
Speaker 1: feeling or you know, well, I think the more you're
Speaker 1: around entertainment, entertainers, music, like celebrities are like we're people
Speaker 1: like everyone, anybody in an audience could be I'm not
Speaker 1: saying anybody could be that because they haven't put themselves
Speaker 1: out there for some reason, it just didn't line up
Speaker 1: or whatever that is. We all have our role in
Speaker 1: this world, and it's not to be famous for some reason.
Speaker 1: Some people are it's a side effect of hard work
Speaker 1: and whatever that is. Yeah, and uh, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you're the most important person in the world like
Speaker 1: we all are. I agree with that kids are taught
Speaker 1: to be famous through all of TV right now to
Speaker 1: everything I know, So that means like everyone fell at life?
Speaker 1: Was there a complete lie? But um, but uh you
Speaker 1: what I was saying before Tangents, It's okay because we
Speaker 1: bring it back. You have a gift for writing songs
Speaker 1: that impact people, like you wrote even If It Breaks
Speaker 1: Your Heart, which is such an impactful song. And then
Speaker 1: you wrote she Don't Love You, which is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite songs. Not on Song of the Year. You're
Speaker 1: at the gin Way in my former bandmate, and that
Speaker 1: song was such an impactful song, so gorgeous. You also
Speaker 1: wrote the song deep as It Is Wide. I freaking
Speaker 1: love that song. And We're a Whole? Was that song whole?
Speaker 1: Less than whole? Oh, I'm gonna put that song out someday,
Speaker 1: less than whole? And I was instilling in my band
Speaker 1: you played that song. You should at a writer's round.
Speaker 1: Can you just sing a little bit of it. There's
Speaker 1: nothing like forgiveness to resurrect a soul. Better give and
Speaker 1: get it. I've been forgiven, so I'm letting you know.
Speaker 1: Nobody should be less than whole. It's higher than that. Oh,
Speaker 1: and it's like I love the verse of the great
Speaker 1: cloud sound deeparted the stars light up to nine. I've
Speaker 1: waited through the water. It's just a beautiful song. Wrote
Speaker 1: it with Big Kenny from Big and Rich. It was
Speaker 1: the first song we ever wrote, and you get really high.
Speaker 1: We figured it's like the Forgiveness song, but we figured
Speaker 1: Don Henley already got that title. And then I realized,
Speaker 1: like every title has been rewritten like eight times this year,
Speaker 1: so we should just call it forgiveness. But but less
Speaker 1: than less than whole. That nobody should be less than whole.
Speaker 1: That is the message that people need to hear. You
Speaker 1: have a way of writing songs that speak messages that
Speaker 1: people need to hear. Well, thank you, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: help him hear him. How do you do that? Like?
Speaker 1: Where do you do that? It is? Is it you
Speaker 1: considered a God given gift? Absolutely? Um? You know it's well,
Speaker 1: I've I've I've been talking to a lot of people
Speaker 1: about having juvenile diabetes, and UM, I think how it's
Speaker 1: affected me is I'm not afraid to be an out
Speaker 1: cider kind of Um, it's kind of giving me guts
Speaker 1: to not worry about what people think about what I think.
Speaker 1: How have you been have you felt like an outsider
Speaker 1: because of juvenile diabetes? Uh? You know, as a kid
Speaker 1: you're you're like the one kid that has to stand
Speaker 1: up and go I gotta go to the nurse. You know,
Speaker 1: they go get juice box and and uh crackers because
Speaker 1: if you have a blow blesser level. So I'm like
Speaker 1: realizing through life it's probably allowed me to like have
Speaker 1: the guts to do this for a living, like being
Speaker 1: a professional SONGWRI a professional singer is not normal, you know.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't afraid of it, and I've never had
Speaker 1: a doubt that it wouldn't work. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: that the odds aren't good, but I never doubted in
Speaker 1: myself that it wouldn't work, Like I was like, and
Speaker 1: I'll trust in God that that wherever I'm at is
Speaker 1: where I'm supposed to be as long as you look
Speaker 1: at it with the right heart, you know. But um uh,
Speaker 1: but I think you know, when it comes to the
Speaker 1: songs that I decided to put out, um, and the
Speaker 1: songs that I decided to record, they're not always the
Speaker 1: easiest to from, not always the easier, They're not always
Speaker 1: exactly what everybody expects. Well, radio, let's give a little
Speaker 1: preference preference preface radio likes, especially when you're a newer artist.
Speaker 1: You're not like a superstar level. Yet radio likes it
Speaker 1: to be an easy pitch because I mean, we're also
Speaker 1: an escape, So I mean it's not not every song
Speaker 1: is meant to change the world. I'm glad. I'm grateful
Speaker 1: that every song is less than the whole are deep
Speaker 1: as it is wider she don't love you, it would
Speaker 1: be a very like deep bummer world. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it helped people look up to heaven once in
Speaker 1: a while. But um, other than just looking a glass
Speaker 1: right there there you No, seriously, there you go write
Speaker 1: it look up to heaven not looking at you should
Speaker 1: go right that. We could write that and we'll go,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll go talk to Michael. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's where I always and being a juvenil diabetes,
Speaker 1: I can't really like tell people who go drink liquor.
Speaker 1: I can I I enjoy a good beverage. Like I
Speaker 1: don't said don't drink, but I don't. I can't promote
Speaker 1: it because well and I don't promote it. I don't want.
Speaker 1: I'd rather a juvenile diabetic live past thirty and like
Speaker 1: actually have a long life and and still enjoy a
Speaker 1: beer and enjoy a whiskey, but not like forget the night.
Speaker 1: Every time someone that's twenty one comes to this show
Speaker 1: and it's like, have a blast, but remember it. I
Speaker 1: think so many people like you get caught up, and
Speaker 1: you get caught up in what you're supposed to, what
Speaker 1: you think you're supposed to do, and then you realize
Speaker 1: that you didn't even remember it. It was like have
Speaker 1: fun on your twenty one birthday, but like get a
Speaker 1: good buzz and remember it? Right? So have you always
Speaker 1: been all of down things? Have you always been pretty
Speaker 1: responsible with your diabetes? I think I was ten years
Speaker 1: old when I was diagnosed, so I think I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of looking back, just you know, going it has
Speaker 1: affected me as a human. Um. But to get back
Speaker 1: to your question, you had to grow up faster too
Speaker 1: because you had a bit you couldn't just you had
Speaker 1: to think about what you're Yeah, eat food, take take shots, um,
Speaker 1: take shots shot shot um. But they get back to
Speaker 1: your question, Yes, I think being able to write these
Speaker 1: songs definitely a god given talent, and uh I try
Speaker 1: to use it for good. Um. But the fact that
Speaker 1: you and you know, you go into a room and
Speaker 1: like what I just said, we were just talking right now,
Speaker 1: and I just said what I say, look up to heaven.
Speaker 1: I was supposed to just looking in the glass, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's how those get written. You say it and
Speaker 1: then you go, you what is that? Well, it's probably
Speaker 1: because I'm not afraid to say weird stuff, yeah, because
Speaker 1: that's where the good stuff is. Yeah. But um, but
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's just a cool, cool journey. It's
Speaker 1: cool being in Nashville long enough, Like meeting Beyonce and
Speaker 1: jay Z it was like, it was cool meeting them
Speaker 1: as people. Yeah, and it was cool also going out
Speaker 1: in the crowd and watching Beyonce be freaking amazing, like
Speaker 1: like owning it and being powerful for women and wearing
Speaker 1: what she wears and two guys, it's probably sexually like maybe,
Speaker 1: but like she does it in such like I'm a
Speaker 1: woman power away. It's powerful. It's not like slutty. But regardless,
Speaker 1: it's done in such a cool, tasteful way that you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: sexuality like that, it was cool powering because also, sorry,
Speaker 1: now we're going on another road. I feel like there
Speaker 1: is such a stigma with like sexuality being sexual, but
Speaker 1: that's a part of human nature. And she does it
Speaker 1: in such a way, like you said, this is just
Speaker 1: embracing it. And it's cool to see that there's a
Speaker 1: certain balance. There is a certain balance. There is a balance.
Speaker 1: Beyonce has found that balance. Okay, speaking of juvenile diabetes,
Speaker 1: how has that affected your life? You said, dude's made
Speaker 1: you okay to be like a little bit outside or whatever,
Speaker 1: not to be yourself, Like how what does that mean
Speaker 1: for your life? Like how do you have to think
Speaker 1: about life with that? I can't be on survivor um
Speaker 1: well because that you can't eat on that ship. Apparently
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. No, I don't know. I mean I think
Speaker 1: you know, one second kind effect the life I've just
Speaker 1: I mean, anything can affect the life. I'm grateful I
Speaker 1: was born at a time that they have treatment for
Speaker 1: juvenile diabetes. And I mean this thing here on my
Speaker 1: arm like tells me howld you wear that all the time?
Speaker 1: Tells me a reading of my blucher levels like usually
Speaker 1: prick your finger. This thing tells me one of those
Speaker 1: every five minutes on my phone. So it's just amazing,
Speaker 1: So like it's it's it's moving along so cool, Like
Speaker 1: just technology and research for juvenile diabetes is growing leaps
Speaker 1: and bounds right now. And uh so I always if
Speaker 1: I ever and I've never really been like angry that
Speaker 1: I had diabetes, I just kind of go, I have diabetes.
Speaker 1: It's fine, you know, great fall was born in a
Speaker 1: time that I didn't need. Just like basically back in
Speaker 1: the day, if if you were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes,
Speaker 1: it was like and the doctor came around every once
Speaker 1: a year or something. So I've basically been like, eat
Speaker 1: lettuce and tomatoes and you might live two years. Maybe,
Speaker 1: So was the life expense to see really young back
Speaker 1: in the day. I mean, whenever you got juvenile diabetes,
Speaker 1: it wasn't good. It's not like it happens like it
Speaker 1: just happens. It's right, I take care of it. You
Speaker 1: have insulin pump, have a meter. I'm having my whole
Speaker 1: life until they cured or whatever. But how amazing it is.
Speaker 1: And there you go again with your attitude. You always
Speaker 1: take the positive attitude like and I think that's how
Speaker 1: you have a happy life. You take circumstances you've been
Speaker 1: dealt and then you just figure out how to make
Speaker 1: them great. And then that the circumstances you have, you're
Speaker 1: at least aware that there are circumstances that means you've
Speaker 1: seen good and bad exactly. So tell me about your
Speaker 1: journey in the music industry. Tell me if you were
Speaker 1: going to write a song about your journey in the
Speaker 1: music industry thus far, because you have experienced more than
Speaker 1: most people ever could imagine. Five number one's major record deal.
Speaker 1: You've had your own number one as an artist. You've
Speaker 1: also had some songs that didn't do as well as
Speaker 1: you want them to do, but then you actually don't
Speaker 1: love you nominated for Song of the Year. You've had
Speaker 1: a really incredible career. It's just getting started, it is,
Speaker 1: But how would you describe your experience so far if
Speaker 1: you're going to write a song about it? Like, what
Speaker 1: would it what would what would it be like? Still
Speaker 1: catching up, still catching up to the story. I'm reading
Speaker 1: that out like I feel like the books just starting
Speaker 1: and realizing that, Like I was on a plane someone
Speaker 1: someone told me that they heard that Blake Shelton, the
Speaker 1: guy that's on the Voice, was like, had put out
Speaker 1: an album finally, And I'm like, you know he's on
Speaker 1: the show because he's like an amazing country artist. He is.
Speaker 1: So I realized how long it can take people to
Speaker 1: figure out what you do. And uh, and it's hard
Speaker 1: to realize that because we all are in my own
Speaker 1: little world and it's okay, you know, it's like that's
Speaker 1: what discoveries for, you know, the television, but um uh,
Speaker 1: I don't. It's just I feel like I'm just realizing
Speaker 1: what all these chapters are mounting up to be and
Speaker 1: go like, that's the character that I am. Okay, I
Speaker 1: want to I want to have a little color. Tell me.
Speaker 1: The first chapter is, you know, find a poem he
Speaker 1: wrote for a girl and you didn't get of it
Speaker 1: to her. And then someone said, you know, songs are
Speaker 1: like poems, so you write you for a song. And
Speaker 1: then it's okay, so these are cool new chords. I've
Speaker 1: never learned this while you're sitting in at a you know,
Speaker 1: Wednesday nights at a youth group, figuring out how to
Speaker 1: play the guitar and faking the B minors because they're
Speaker 1: hard to play. The bar chords are hard to play,
Speaker 1: and then going, you know what, I thought it was
Speaker 1: gonna be a doctor, but I think I'll be a
Speaker 1: musician because I just feel like that's what I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to do. And you know, come to Nashville, realize you're
Speaker 1: not supposed to go there yet because it's really expensive
Speaker 1: to go to certain schools. And I was born in
Speaker 1: a family and h and and I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 1: I love my family. Um that's kind of my wild
Speaker 1: We just like deals, you know. But um, education is
Speaker 1: expensive these days. Um interesting thing. But um that's a
Speaker 1: whole other hidden chapter. Don't tell any that I said that.
Speaker 1: But um, this silent fault, you know, go to the
Speaker 1: college thing. Write songs like crazy, write songs like crazy,
Speaker 1: learn about everything. Ah, somehow get a publishing deal, making coffee, um,
Speaker 1: parking cars, writing songs on the back of little valet
Speaker 1: tickets which probably never even became songs, but at least
Speaker 1: gets ideas in a way that you figure out how
Speaker 1: these work. And that it doesn't always have to be
Speaker 1: four lines as long as it sounds cool. Yeah and uh,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't always even have to rhyme. It's good
Speaker 1: if it rhymes. Helps them children and drunk people and
Speaker 1: which is which is me too? That's that's not me
Speaker 1: slamming on it. It's like I love woos. You know,
Speaker 1: children and drunk people can sing whoa and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think. Then then there's a chapter where you
Speaker 1: go where you your walk them through the field of
Speaker 1: poppies and you see Oz. You're like, I'm here, I
Speaker 1: have a record deal. OZ is right there, there's the
Speaker 1: radio tower. And how does that feel when you realize
Speaker 1: that you're in Oz? Do you even know you got
Speaker 1: to Oz until you just all of a sudden are
Speaker 1: in it. Yeah, You're just like, holy crap. And then
Speaker 1: you see behind the walls of OZ and you go, wow,
Speaker 1: I never thought that was there. And you go, dang,
Speaker 1: I didn't think it worked like this. And then you go, well,
Speaker 1: how do I maneuver around these walls, you know, to
Speaker 1: where people can see what I want them to see
Speaker 1: in a good way? Because at that point when you
Speaker 1: get to OZ, a lot of other people get involved
Speaker 1: in your creativity absolutely, and they say you should be
Speaker 1: made of this stuffing and you should be shine this way,
Speaker 1: and you go, I just want to go home and
Speaker 1: tell you the stories about where that was from. And
Speaker 1: you're like that doesn't feel right. But then you're like,
Speaker 1: well they might know better. Is there ever that point
Speaker 1: in your career people are right now are like, what
Speaker 1: the heck are they talking about. But it makes sense
Speaker 1: to me. It would be a little bit of you know,
Speaker 1: and it's the chapter I'm in right now is going,
Speaker 1: I know what I am. Who are you storyteller? That
Speaker 1: you're trying to tell people good stuff? Storyteller? But I'm
Speaker 1: an entertainer too, so I might not always just tell
Speaker 1: you deep stories. Not all stories have to be deep.
Speaker 1: I think it was a bummer. I think I upset
Speaker 1: a lot of my fans through through doing High Class
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm just here to entertain you.
Speaker 1: I just gave you like the deepest ballad I could
Speaker 1: have ever sung for you, Like I'm just giving you
Speaker 1: a break from the heartbreak, you know. And it's like
Speaker 1: I'm just here to shake it. Don't you want to
Speaker 1: go dancing? Darling? Break and I'll break their heart again.
Speaker 1: But it is, it is interesting and and just to understanding,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't move too fast when you're dating somebody,
Speaker 1: and that's that's the relationship between what we do as
Speaker 1: entertainers and our fans. And make sure you don't tweaker,
Speaker 1: tweker a little too much, you know. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: uh so, what did you say in your discovery phase?
Speaker 1: Right now we're putting it all together. I'm realizing who
Speaker 1: I look up to, um, not realizing how I look
Speaker 1: up to. I'm realizing the people I look up to
Speaker 1: always stand up for what they believe in. Okay, give
Speaker 1: me some examples you too. Honestly, Beyonce totally look up
Speaker 1: to her. Good job, good job, um, Tom Petty. He
Speaker 1: just doesn't put up with a bs. I mean, he
Speaker 1: got out of so many. It just he did so
Speaker 1: many things to make sure the music he wanted wanted
Speaker 1: people to hear got hurt. At least the music he
Speaker 1: wanted to make he made. You don't know if it's
Speaker 1: gonna get hurt. Hopefully it does. Bruce Springsteen storyteller, good dude,
Speaker 1: like not lazy. Paul McCartney like to go through all
Speaker 1: that to be one of the coolest guys in the
Speaker 1: face of the planet and not be like, don't you
Speaker 1: know who I think I am? M hm, you know,
Speaker 1: rock and roll royalty. Steven Tyler just such a cool
Speaker 1: place so where he is in life, and and it's
Speaker 1: I respect people like Johnny Cash. I never got to
Speaker 1: meet him, but I love his later albums because I
Speaker 1: realized that he'd gone through so much darkness, and he
Speaker 1: only showed the light at the end, you know. And
Speaker 1: and the fact that even survived, you know, thank god.
Speaker 1: You know, he sent June to him, and that Johnny
Speaker 1: even listened to her, made her pretty enough for him
Speaker 1: to listen. Right now, That's what I do. I just
Speaker 1: don't ever write him made her pretty enough to listen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it could be, you never know, maybe it'll show up again.
Speaker 1: I'll write it. But um, so you like authent authentic? Um,
Speaker 1: I like authentic people. I only trust authentic. I'll dance
Speaker 1: to unauthentic and that's okay. But that doesn't mean I
Speaker 1: want to like hang out at your house all the time.
Speaker 1: I get you. I don't want to live in that
Speaker 1: universe of come you know. I still love entertainment and
Speaker 1: I still love going to the magic show. I still
Speaker 1: like being the magician, you know, not a high class
Speaker 1: even when people don't expect it. Why do you not
Speaker 1: want to live in that world of aunt of an
Speaker 1: authentic nous? Because we weren't sent down here to be
Speaker 1: fake our whole lives. We weren't supposed to wear masks,
Speaker 1: we weren't supposed to be only about me and myself
Speaker 1: an iPhone. You know, Um, so many people are caught
Speaker 1: up in themselves. I read a book and uh, the
Speaker 1: author interviewed this famous poet and she was like in
Speaker 1: her eighties or nineties at the time. She said, if
Speaker 1: you could give us any advice, what would you give
Speaker 1: the world? Like? What would you tell us? And it
Speaker 1: wasn't a poem, It wasn't you think it'd be like
Speaker 1: the most beautiful poems she ever heard. She said, this
Speaker 1: is the advice idea of in your twenties and thirty
Speaker 1: you're so concerned with what people think about you. Then
Speaker 1: in your thirties and forties, you just don't care what
Speaker 1: people think about you. And then and your fifties and
Speaker 1: sixties and seventies, you realize that everyone was just concerned
Speaker 1: about themselves. They were so concerned about what people thought
Speaker 1: about them that they weren't even concerned about you. So
Speaker 1: if you can learn that your thirties you haven't head start,
Speaker 1: that means you have the freedom to be you. But
Speaker 1: you have to know that. But you have to know that.
Speaker 1: And if you have friends that judge you, they're not
Speaker 1: your friends exactly. Don't hang out with that. Don't hang
Speaker 1: out with that. You have to meet another town. If
Speaker 1: your friends are all like that, I agree. I totally agree,
Speaker 1: you know, and I think you know just you know,
Speaker 1: people are so caught up in what they look like.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, when did this click for you?
Speaker 1: When did you get this understanding of the world after
Speaker 1: a few songs didn't work. It's kind of I feel
Speaker 1: like I think God does that to us sometimes. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: A book found books found me. I don't read, and
Speaker 1: I somehow read like two books in a month, but
Speaker 1: they were One was called David and Goliath Malcolm Gladwell,
Speaker 1: very cool. And another song was called Big, Big Magic,
Speaker 1: Big Magic, Change My Life pretty cool. Right? Did you
Speaker 1: love that book? That's where the story was from the poet? Oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I love that book Big Magic. The way she described
Speaker 1: creativity and all of that incredible. You're very wise. How
Speaker 1: old are you really? Barely three? We're twins. Hey, I
Speaker 1: should have gone to public school. I did. I didn't
Speaker 1: learn anything. I don't really retain any knowledge, but I
Speaker 1: am street smart. Yeah. Yeah, that's why we're here. I
Speaker 1: just feel like you have a message to tell the world,
Speaker 1: like I really do. I don't you feel that. I
Speaker 1: know you've what do you what is the message you're
Speaker 1: trying to tell people? God loves you. It's not just
Speaker 1: about you, and some days it is help the world.
Speaker 1: It's so much about everyone. Everyone is as important as everybody,
Speaker 1: which it's hard to see that, but it's not well
Speaker 1: if if you see people lost in life, you could
Speaker 1: go like, well, they don't matter as much, or if
Speaker 1: you see which is wild. You look at some celebrities
Speaker 1: and you go like, dear Lord, please, if I have children,
Speaker 1: don't grow up to be that, except you stick them
Speaker 1: on pedestals because it's entertaining, you know, But I mean
Speaker 1: the biggest thing, you know, we're all loved, beyond belief
Speaker 1: that we're all important. Yes, we're all here important. And
Speaker 1: it's hard when uh, it's hard when like you know,
Speaker 1: I have like songs on the radio and you've done
Speaker 1: really well, and it's like it's hard for people to
Speaker 1: go like, yeah, sure, you don't do this job every day.
Speaker 1: It's every job, as it said, comes with a crab sandwich.
Speaker 1: It's called it something else, and you have to love
Speaker 1: what you do enough to understand that I kind of
Speaker 1: want to eat that crap sandwich even though you know,
Speaker 1: not everything is like you know, the rain causes stuff
Speaker 1: to grow. You don't have to be upset at the rain.
Speaker 1: It's okay, you're a profit whatever, but U But also
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just talking what I was influenced through
Speaker 1: records that I love, you know. But also I do say.
Speaker 1: People can say it's easy because you don't understand because
Speaker 1: you don't have the job I have, but you also
Speaker 1: no one handed you this on a silver platter. You
Speaker 1: worked your a bunch of random jobs, but you worked
Speaker 1: your butt off to get here, and so I do
Speaker 1: believe that if you want this, like you said, anyone
Speaker 1: could go through and be Beyonce within circumstances. Obviously, no
Speaker 1: one could go through be Beyonce. Right, That's not what
Speaker 1: I meant I said, But you know what I'm saying, like,
Speaker 1: we're not all supposed to be Beyonce, supposed to Beyonce,
Speaker 1: but we're supposed to be what we feel in our heart.
Speaker 1: And if you commit to it enough to follow that,
Speaker 1: you can end up being Beyonce in your own way.
Speaker 1: If everyone was Beyonce, we some of us would be
Speaker 1: thirsty actually if we were anyway, because there'd be no
Speaker 1: guy's serving drinks like I did you know it's all
Speaker 1: phases of life, you know, And and it's uh, it
Speaker 1: just really is a cool thing getting to go just
Speaker 1: I mean, just the fact that we live in a
Speaker 1: country where last night there was a stadium full of
Speaker 1: people watching a show, um, and getting to enjoy that,
Speaker 1: just getting to enjoy songs that could say anything anything. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean it might upset you or it might not,
Speaker 1: which I don't think anything would have upset you last night,
Speaker 1: but um ah, it's uh, it's really cool just to
Speaker 1: be on a journey that somehow I've been blessed to
Speaker 1: actually live the dream that I dreamt, you know, and
Speaker 1: and also know that you know, it's it's it takes
Speaker 1: a while to push her heavy rock uphill, but it
Speaker 1: means it'll roll for a while, and it might roll
Speaker 1: back and roll over your telling. If I wanted to
Speaker 1: make my career out of plastic, could be a lot
Speaker 1: easier to push that boulder up the hill, but it
Speaker 1: won't go that long. And uh, and that's uh, that's
Speaker 1: kind of where I'm at as an artist and a
Speaker 1: writer and just as a man going you know what,
Speaker 1: this is what I love, This is what I believe in,
Speaker 1: and this is the music I'm gonna bring you, and
Speaker 1: sometimes I might just entertain you, but it's still music
Speaker 1: that you want to bring you. It's still you, still
Speaker 1: from your heart. Absolutely are from my dancing shoes. Which
Speaker 1: you do have some moves, you really do. You really
Speaker 1: do have some moves. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Okay,
Speaker 1: So tell me about this new album, Dressed in Black.
Speaker 1: There's references to dressed in black all over the album
Speaker 1: and uh, and you know, the deep thoughts is, I mean,
Speaker 1: just the surface value is there's so many cool, big,
Speaker 1: uh moments in life that you're dressed in black, from
Speaker 1: a graduation to getting married to a black hurse, you know,
Speaker 1: and so many influential people from you know Luke Garrick today,
Speaker 1: I consider myself lucky. He sment on the face of
Speaker 1: the earth. You know, um was wearing black pins drive
Speaker 1: but did say that he said, I felt consider myself
Speaker 1: on the luckiest man on the face of the earth,
Speaker 1: even though he had Luke he has a l S
Speaker 1: and lu Garrig's disease. Absolutely it was the day that
Speaker 1: so he was able to say positive through everything, and
Speaker 1: that's how we start the song off and from that
Speaker 1: to a bottle of Jack the black label to a
Speaker 1: Ramans T shirt, so much attitude too, Dell Earn Heart
Speaker 1: driving a black number three car to Johnny Cash, the
Speaker 1: man in Black Dan and uh to you know, Wedding
Speaker 1: Mills And it's just, uh, it's just kind of a
Speaker 1: big spectrum, I think, kind of looking down on the
Speaker 1: on the on the whole movie happening as opposed to
Speaker 1: just right at the jukebox. And um, I just thought
Speaker 1: it was a cool title for the for the song,
Speaker 1: for the cool breakdown of that, and also the deeper
Speaker 1: underlying thought as if you know you're surrounded in light,
Speaker 1: you're dressed in black because you're just a shadow in it,
Speaker 1: you know, And uh, that's another deep thought. You are
Speaker 1: just you're really deep? Are you very connected to your
Speaker 1: spiritual side all the time? You aware that you're here
Speaker 1: for calling? Grateful that God allowed me to know him?
Speaker 1: How did you learn to How did you? How were you?
Speaker 1: How did you meet God? Um? Just two people in
Speaker 1: my life that I saw that they were they had
Speaker 1: something I didn't and I said, what is that That's
Speaker 1: worth living for? And just grateful that God let me
Speaker 1: know who he was. Did you have a specific moment
Speaker 1: where it clicked and you're like, oh, I get it,
Speaker 1: I feel it her. You never just uh no, you
Speaker 1: you have that moment where you go, you know, I
Speaker 1: know Jesus died for me and here here, here I am,
Speaker 1: and he was always here to begin with. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: just have to go. I see you. I just I'm
Speaker 1: reaching for you. It's not like I've ever felt a
Speaker 1: hand on my shoulder or angels, you know, on the
Speaker 1: hood of my car, anything like that. It's Billy Graham said, Uh,
Speaker 1: I can't see the wind, but I can see the
Speaker 1: effects of the wind, and it's just pieces of proof. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you've experienced real life stuff. Absolutely. I love that. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we give angels. Lets talk about angels. We were
Speaker 1: talking on a rider to retreat Mr Corey Crowder and
Speaker 1: Eric Dilan. We were just telling those stories where make
Speaker 1: your hair stand on end of the miraculous stuff speaking
Speaker 1: of sometimes people do see miraculous things happen that I
Speaker 1: think our God God sends and you know, people can
Speaker 1: get upsets like, well, why didn't God send a miracle
Speaker 1: this time, you know, like when someone was sick. And
Speaker 1: I don't have that answer, but I know that the
Speaker 1: fact that he sends any is one miracle, is one
Speaker 1: more than he should have ever seen, you know, um
Speaker 1: in a way, which is that's a deeper thought. But um,
Speaker 1: but just telling those stories and Corey had great music
Speaker 1: and that's what fell out, you know. So what's tell
Speaker 1: me about what that song is Angels in This Town
Speaker 1: because that's your single right now. Yeah, it's just about
Speaker 1: the fact that there's the unseen that we don't see,
Speaker 1: Like there's so much there's so much amazing things going
Speaker 1: on around us that we don't see, and it's probably
Speaker 1: good we can't. But also you never know that. The
Speaker 1: the story that I think started the whole song. I
Speaker 1: had heard a story once where a girl went went
Speaker 1: down the street a few blocks to friends party, birthday
Speaker 1: party type thing, high school kid. I think, Um, we
Speaker 1: went to walk home like the parents were like old
Speaker 1: driver or whatever. Walked home, nice neighborhood where it's like
Speaker 1: the alley with the garages on both sides. A guy
Speaker 1: was standing back there and she just was like, Lord,
Speaker 1: please protect me, like she just knew something wasn't right,
Speaker 1: like father, please protect me, Please protect me, and just
Speaker 1: walked right by him, got home, went to bed. Next morning,
Speaker 1: woke up to police everywhere. A girl had been murdered
Speaker 1: that in that in that same alley that night, they
Speaker 1: caught the guy and it was the same guy that
Speaker 1: she saw past, and just to get into the guy's head,
Speaker 1: the murderer's head, like they're like, well, why didn't why
Speaker 1: didn't you pick this girl? And he said, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pick a girl with two giant guys walking
Speaker 1: with her so many times? What can we not see
Speaker 1: that God actually is protecting us, Um, if you ask.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean it's always in the plan, but um,
Speaker 1: but that's kind of where it started. And just those miractors. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the cool thing is just a cool thing for
Speaker 1: me to do. It's like I'm sitting on a bus
Speaker 1: or in a hotel or wherever it is that we're
Speaker 1: waiting to play a show. It's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: we never see towns we go to, so I always
Speaker 1: try to do that to begin with. But I was like,
Speaker 1: there's so many great people in this town, and it's
Speaker 1: God sends the miracles. I believe in miracles, but I'll
Speaker 1: see believe that He has us to to do miracles
Speaker 1: in each other's lives. Like one little thing down the
Speaker 1: road we do for someone might have been something they've
Speaker 1: been praying for for years and we don't know that.
Speaker 1: It was like nothing to us to go help them
Speaker 1: change their tires, but that was a miracle for them,
Speaker 1: you know, like here's two in our bucks to give
Speaker 1: you new tires or whatever is and and it's not
Speaker 1: even buying stuff, it's just helping people. But um, but
Speaker 1: we get to go like I mean, from police departments
Speaker 1: and fire departments, Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity builds. Um.
Speaker 1: I always feel guilty when we go to Habitat for
Speaker 1: Humanity and they're like donating the house. I'm like, I need,
Speaker 1: I want to build. I want to help you, you know.
Speaker 1: But it's such a cool moment to see a family
Speaker 1: get a house that they've worked so hard for and
Speaker 1: a community come together to see you're kind of starting
Speaker 1: a thing. Angels. Yeah, we call them angel visits. And
Speaker 1: it's just well, because I believe there angels in this
Speaker 1: town and in every town that helped the community there,
Speaker 1: and and they they create miracles. And that's what you're
Speaker 1: doing when you go to towns that you provide angel visits.
Speaker 1: Almost every at least one or two times a weekend,
Speaker 1: as long as people are cooled with showing up. How
Speaker 1: has that enriched your life? It's been awesome getting to
Speaker 1: meet all kinds of kids and and just cool people
Speaker 1: in communities that aren't afraid to step out and just
Speaker 1: do good. You know, not really, I mean most of
Speaker 1: them are just in the background, you know, even though
Speaker 1: they're probably the guy that framed the whole house or
Speaker 1: I have worked at the Boys and Girls Club for
Speaker 1: thirty five years and you know, so it's just kind
Speaker 1: of it's cool to be a part of the commune.
Speaker 1: Just encourage people, thank them for doing good, not thank
Speaker 1: them for like being ridiculous. On the positive, Yeah, focus
Speaker 1: on the positive, even though that's not what the news
Speaker 1: is about. But I know, but you're going to change
Speaker 1: that story. At least tell the story. So tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the rest of the album,
Speaker 1: Like what's the vibe of it? Um, it's just good stories.
Speaker 1: You are a true storyteller. But it's but it's good
Speaker 1: music too, Like you can listen to the to the
Speaker 1: lines or just listen to the music, and I love
Speaker 1: both of it. Um, there's just fun, happy songs and
Speaker 1: and some deep thoughtful songs that I think are more
Speaker 1: are almost all of them are more hopeful and sad
Speaker 1: and uh, because if you get to hear a sad
Speaker 1: story and maybe you won't go there. You know that's true.
Speaker 1: If it's not your own autobiography, maybe that's enough just
Speaker 1: to make it a different direction. But just cool moments
Speaker 1: and things that we captured in the studio that we're
Speaker 1: just like, wow, that was cool, Like thanks for letting
Speaker 1: that fall out of this guy. But I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: really just looking forward to people getting to hear the
Speaker 1: album and figuring out when that will come out and
Speaker 1: what way it'll come out. Do you have a song
Speaker 1: that you like the most on the album? Um, it's
Speaker 1: I mean I've written something songs and I've only had
Speaker 1: one album out. So they're all your kids, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean they're all they're not my kids because they're not
Speaker 1: my kids, but um, you got to learn how to
Speaker 1: love them right without it disappointing you And don't have
Speaker 1: expectations like with songs because I don't have control over that.
Speaker 1: And even if I have kids someday, I don't have
Speaker 1: control over how they decide. I can encourage them to
Speaker 1: hopefully do good. But I think parents take it on
Speaker 1: themselves too much about what their kids do. And it's
Speaker 1: like your kids to a had to make it the decision.
Speaker 1: It wasn't your decision to make. That's a whole other
Speaker 1: You have to learn how to love them the right way.
Speaker 1: So how do you love a song the right way?
Speaker 1: When you write a song and you love it, but
Speaker 1: then maybe no one the label hears it, or it
Speaker 1: never really gets the life it was made to have.
Speaker 1: Even if you raise and feet a bird, you can't
Speaker 1: tell it where to fly, you know. Um, you hopefully
Speaker 1: believe that it's supposed to go where it's supposed to go,
Speaker 1: and people get to see it and enjoy it. Um,
Speaker 1: but there's a certain point where you just have to
Speaker 1: open the cage and do with this what you will?
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, like love it or shoot it, you know, um,
Speaker 1: unless it's really good to eat. But um. Writing all
Speaker 1: kinds of songs, but but it's uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: love them all. It's that thing. It's like there's life,
Speaker 1: it's not the same heartbeat. So it's like there's there's
Speaker 1: fun songs, and there's sassy songs, and there's dance and songs,
Speaker 1: and there's storytelling songs, and you know, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of sides to you, well, there's a lot of sides everybody.
Speaker 1: We might all wear, you know, the same face every day,
Speaker 1: but we're not always happy, we're not always sad, we're
Speaker 1: not always yeah. And that's that's the albums I like making,
Speaker 1: even though it confuses people because it's like what artists
Speaker 1: are you? I'm like, I'm a human being. I write stories,
Speaker 1: I write melodies. I'm gonna I'm not gonna bring you
Speaker 1: the exact same song because I'd rather show you more
Speaker 1: than just a white rab out of a hat every time.
Speaker 1: I might put brown hairs on him this time and
Speaker 1: freak you out if you put on a rat he
Speaker 1: could that really make him dance? And then let him
Speaker 1: go in the audience now? But it's uh, and that's
Speaker 1: you know, and I've I've made that decision just because
Speaker 1: that's how I like being entertained. Um and and I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if listeners have necessarily well they have um
Speaker 1: deep thoughts, but but you know, it's it's we so
Speaker 1: like going, well, we know, do go to Walmart? Or
Speaker 1: we need to go to McDonald's and we need to
Speaker 1: go to Taco Bell, which I love all those places.
Speaker 1: It's very simple. Um, But I'd rather not make albums
Speaker 1: of just one thing. Um which country music is not
Speaker 1: one thing. If you listen to the history of country music,
Speaker 1: it's about the human soul and just about being alive,
Speaker 1: and that it's not always easy, always easy, and that
Speaker 1: that it's a cool journey, and that and that you
Speaker 1: admire the people that came before you, even if they
Speaker 1: might not have believed in what you believe, but but
Speaker 1: they at least had the right heart for what they did.
Speaker 1: And and it's just grateful to be a part of
Speaker 1: country music. And just the fact that we can tell
Speaker 1: stories about our lives. And if it wasn't our lives,
Speaker 1: at least it could be somebody else's affect the world.
Speaker 1: You might you have, Hannah, Well, thank you. Okay, So
Speaker 1: we have to wrap up, which I don't want to have.
Speaker 1: I covered everything I think I have, Dear Lord, I
Speaker 1: mean we have, we could just talk forever. But one
Speaker 1: more thing, I'm kidding, give it to me. I don't
Speaker 1: have anything I think I I think I still said
Speaker 1: as many songwriter lines as I could possibly confuse everybody with.
Speaker 1: If you Okay, I have two more questions and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna wrap up. Where if it was up to you,
Speaker 1: and I know you live on faith and I know
Speaker 1: you trust your journey, but if you could play your
Speaker 1: life out, what would the next ten years look like
Speaker 1: for you doing the same thing I'm doing and maybe
Speaker 1: not play and you know, doing what I'm doing, but
Speaker 1: also scheduling time because it's you can't make more time
Speaker 1: and uh to where I'm a part of Nashville more
Speaker 1: because I was a part of Nashville for so long.
Speaker 1: And then you go out on the road and you
Speaker 1: know that's probably just see husband and you being on
Speaker 1: the road and ah um, you know, making sure that
Speaker 1: you're wise with your time, and that's for everybody to go. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do that. I don't see a
Speaker 1: benefit in that for me in the long term. It
Speaker 1: might solve a problem right now in your small world
Speaker 1: of but if we do this, we can do this,
Speaker 1: and I go, you know what, I'm okay, they'll understand
Speaker 1: why I said no, because I'm gonna be home on Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: you know, and just the next ten years making great songs, songs.
Speaker 1: I believe in impacting the world for good. Uh, telling
Speaker 1: kids it's cool to do good, not to be a
Speaker 1: ridiculous celebrity. Like, if you want to be a celebrity,
Speaker 1: go do great stuff. I'll make you a celebrity all
Speaker 1: day long. If you want to be a celebrity and
Speaker 1: go do things that are not good for the soul,
Speaker 1: don't sign me up. I won't be at that party. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'll still show up the parties with people that
Speaker 1: have done that, and maybe I'll help them influence them
Speaker 1: for better. You know, we're all I you know, it's
Speaker 1: not like I'm judging p I haven't said names, but people,
Speaker 1: we're all searching for what we're supposed to be living for,
Speaker 1: you know, and we're on a different path, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you just don't have the awareness that there is a
Speaker 1: sole purpose. It's hard living in the house of mirrors. Know, Um,
Speaker 1: I need to take all these mirrors down. There's no
Speaker 1: mirrors in this house. I don't think there are. Probably
Speaker 1: should get one once in a while. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: like to wrap up with leave your light, So leave
Speaker 1: me inspiration. Just I mean, this whole thing has been
Speaker 1: an inspiring podcast, but just leave your inspiration from it all.
Speaker 1: What you want to lead to people. Be who you are,
Speaker 1: not jaded, not lonely, not thinking you're un love um,
Speaker 1: but knowing that there's a bigger, bigger love out there
Speaker 1: for everybody. And the more you sit still and unafraid
Speaker 1: to reach out, unafraid of what people think about you,
Speaker 1: I think, the more fulfilled you'll be in life, and
Speaker 1: the more you'll understand what road you're actually supposed to
Speaker 1: be walking down, as opposed to the line that that
Speaker 1: we're all taught to be standing in waiting for that
Speaker 1: thing to happen. It's like, thank everybody's taught you know,
Speaker 1: go to school, get a job you hate for thirty years,
Speaker 1: and then you'll get to retire with something you love.
Speaker 1: I figure, why not just do what you love every day?
Speaker 1: Amen to that and thank you to all those people
Speaker 1: who are freaking working hard for their families too. Oh
Speaker 1: that dropped the mic. Eric pass Lay in the house.
Speaker 1: Thanks Eric Deep Caral, She's a queen. I hope you
Speaker 1: love caring from Eric Haas like he's absolutely incredible. Next
Speaker 1: week is super exciting because I have Kale Dods joining me.
Speaker 1: He is the newest artist to be signed a Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers record label. He has so much to talk about.
Speaker 1: He is so high energy, he's so talented. He also
Speaker 1: co wrote Drunk Dial for my husband, a thousand Horses
Speaker 1: band that was a single last year. He is up
Speaker 1: and coming and so much fun. So y'all get excited
Speaker 1: for next week. We have kale dots and make sure
Speaker 1: you subscribe on iTunes