WEBVTT - Jamey Johnson 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.520 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:18.279 My guest today is the one and only Jamie Johnston. Jamie, 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.080 you just put out a new album, Midnight Gasoline, your 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.360 first in fourteen years. But what's the break. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:29.640 About a lot of different things? I guess, Uh. One, 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:35.920 I'd just been on the road, uh, seemingly NonStop and 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.280 just didn't have time to write, didn't have time to record. 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:46.559 But there's also writer's block, and writer's block came in, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.559 I guess from a head injury. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:51.800 So tell me about this head injury. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:57.280 Yeah, I was walking out of the studio one night. 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:04.560 Tw and I were leaving, uh, my studio and stepped 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:10.440 out onto the asphalt and it had frozen over while 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.160 we were inside working, And as soon as I took 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.680 a step on the asphalt, both of my feet came 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.039 up and broke the fall with the corner of my 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:24.280 head and I hit so hard that blood shot out 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.360 both nostrils, and of course we got cleaned up and 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:29.240 went on to the bar. 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.920 Okay, you went to went to the bar. Did you 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.759 ultimately go to the emergency room or see a doctor. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.280 Yeah, it was a couple of days later, and i'd 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.600 had a concussion. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:51.960 Okay, so the blood you were bleeding, but you didn't 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.160 have like a brain bleed, which could kill you. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:57.480 What it didn't? 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.080 So you know, I know, and I haven't had a 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:06.000 concussion myself, but I know people who have. So you're 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:09.720 after effects went on for a long time. How long 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.239 did the after effects the concussion last? 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.919 Years? I think the first time I really addressed it, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.320 I did this program out in Scottsdale, Arizona. Back then 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:29.200 it was called brain State Technology. A man named Lee 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:34.640 Gertis came up with a technique of basically playing back 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:41.560 your brain activity in your ears real time, and it's 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:46.040 like your brain can detect itself and fix itself in 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.800 certain ways. I remember Lee telling me, he said, I 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.640 don't have to know exactly how the brain works. The 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.760 brain knows how it works, and it knows how it 0:02:54.800 --> 0:03:02.000 doesn't work. And that seemed to really helped me for 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.120 a while. The company has since changed names. I think 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.799 they go by Sarah set Now start with a C. 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.840 Okay, so when did this fall happen? 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:15.840 It's two thy ten? 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.240 And do you think you're fully recovered? Now? 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.840 I don't know what to think now, but it's a 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:31.880 lot better than it used to be, but it's still 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.120 not like it was before, if that makes any sense. 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.080 Yeah, sure there's improvement. When it was bad, what was 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:41.480 it like? 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:49.400 Everything seemed to put me in fight or flight. It 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.920 was like I was walking around nine point nine out 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:57.200 of ten almost all the time, and you and I 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.760 could be having a conversation and you'd say one thing 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.440 that triggered me, and it would absolutely infuriate me to 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:10.000 the point I need to separate myself from you. Different 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.160 things like that. It was like parts of it were 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:21.680 uncharacteristically angry about things, and the other parts were there. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.120 You know. Songwriting used to be something that was an 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.280 ongoing process with me. I was always writing, even if 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.080 I was having a conversation with somebody, I was still 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.520 in the back of my mind etching out some sort 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.320 of a song detail or working on something that I'd 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:47.040 started earlier. But it was always running behind the scenes. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.120 And all of that seemed to come to a screeching 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:55.760 halt around that time, and songwriting turned into a more 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.520 of a chore. It was something I they had to 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.120 dig into and focus on in order to even complete 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.800 the exercise. There's so many songs that I would that 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:12.080 I started and just never never finished. You know that 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.560 I would start and just leave little parts of songs 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:21.280 or just little lines or lyrics or you know, certain things. 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.719 It was almost like a junk yard of song parts 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.680 on legal pads laying around the house. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:34.000 Okay, in this period of years when you were having 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.440 the after effects of the concussions, were you on your 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.520 own or was there continuing medical treatment or did you 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.359 have a significant other orho was helping you? What was 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.240 going on now? 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:51.359 I never really had any help with it. If I 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.520 ever did anything to treat it, it was, you know, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.320 suggestions I would get from a friend here or there, 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.599 and things that I would try out well that didn't work, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.960 and then just go back on the road. It's not 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.320 easy to get any kind of medical care when you're 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:08.480 constantly touring. 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:14.760 So if this lead date, do you believe your ability 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:19.920 to write songs is fully re establish itself. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.200 I feel like I'm able to do it now, and 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.640 that's something that I haven't felt in a long time. 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:31.000 And I never really did quit. You know, I tried 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:37.120 and I but my productivity level suffered as a result, 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:41.560 and it was more important to me over the past. Ever, 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:46.000 how many years that I tour, you know, that's what 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.039 was paying the bills. 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:53.080 So despite all these after effects, you could play and 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:58.520 you could go on the road. Yeah, how difficult was 0:06:58.560 --> 0:06:59.039 that for you? 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:04.960 I wouldn't say it was difficult. It was you know, 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:09.320 touring is the road trades everybody the same, you know, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.560 it's it's the same level of stress and struggle that 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.960 everybody else has to go through. Those of us who 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.960 travel understand it doesn't It doesn't trade anybody any differently. 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.160 So I can't say it wasn't some kind of work, 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.200 but I don't think the road was any more work 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.160 as a result of a concussion. 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:34.800 Okay, Willie Nelson legendarily got home and still slept on 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.040 the bus. And there are different ways to travel. At 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.320 the other extreme, there are acts the play stadiums where 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.400 they are in one location and they take a jet 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:53.200 to each gig. So you know, although all roadwork is stressful, 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.800 depending on the income, it can be more stressful. Would 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:57.280 you say that. 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.280 There's all kinds of ways to do it, and I've 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:06.880 done it most of those ways. But yeah, there were 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.600 a lot of years there where I just lived on 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.360 the bus. I remember one year I went six or 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.120 eight months something like that and never even saw my house. 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.520 And you know, some people that are on the road 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.760 because they have to make a living. Other people, I 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.200 know they're on the road because they just have to play. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:32.280 What's it for you, I'd say sort of both. I 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.000 could never come off of the road altogether and just 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.360 give it up. That's not in me. I'm more like 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.720 Willy in that regard. But I am getting to a 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.600 point where I don't have to be on the road 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.440 three hundred days a year anymore. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:46.840 You know. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.760 I've got a you know, Fyonce, and had to get married, 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.959 and so I'm looking for more of a lifestyle. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.160 Well where'd you meet her? 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.640 We met at the governor's inauguration in Mississippi in twenty twenty. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.959 Wait wait wait, wait, hey, what were you doing at 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.560 the inauguration? B how'd you meet her? 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:21.320 Well? All good questions. I got an invitation in the 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.720 mail to go to the inauguration from the governor's brother, 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:31.920 who is a friend of mine. He supports our annual 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:36.080 NICKI Mitchell golf tournament every year. And I remember when 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.520 when Todd and I first became friends, his brother was 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:41.880 the lieutenant governor. Well, I didn't even know he was 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.560 running for governor. We just don't talk about that sort 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.000 of thing. And I didn't get the invitation myself. My 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.719 assistant got the invitation in the mail and she said, oh, 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.680 I'm sure he'll want to go to this. So she 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:59.520 just put it on my calendar and it was about 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.280 a week and I remember looking at the calendar and 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.480 I said, Hannah, what is this inauguration thing? What am 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.160 I doing? And she said, You're going to the governor's 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:13.760 inauguration governor of what she said, governor of Mississippi. And 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.800 I went, I'll be damp. I guess he ran for 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:24.040 governor and won. So I had this idea that I 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.680 would go down there and be hanging out in the 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.559 back of a bunch of Mississippians and watching the inauguration 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.000 from the back of a crowd out in the open. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.520 When I got down there, it was raining, like Noah 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.280 was going to be flooding by any moment, you know. 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:47.400 Animals were lining up too. By two and the Pearl 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.559 River had come up out of the banks. It was 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:56.640 an epic flood that year. So they moved the inauguration indoors. Well, 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.600 I'm wearing jeans and a denim shirt. I looked like 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:06.760 I came to change the light bulbs. So I'm standing there, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.400 and they put me in a prominent seat at the 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.000 front of the room, sitting next to the treasurer and 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.040 his wife. Everybody in there is dressed to the nines, 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:21.480 and I look like the long guy that got ushered in. 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:26.360 But so the governor and his security staff start walking by, 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:32.000 and I backed. I stood up out of my chairs 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.800 and backed myself up against the wall so they could 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:37.959 make the turn and get around the corner to get 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.800 to the stage. And I looked over next to me, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.000 and she was backed up on the same wall, right 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.520 there next to me, And I remember I asked her, 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:55.960 I said, what are you hiding from? 0:11:56.160 --> 0:12:00.439 So? Was it an instant romance? Oh? 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.800 I can't say instant, but on my behalf it sure was. 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:06.200 So who pursued who? 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:09.920 Oh? You kid? And I chased her all over the 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.480 place after that. If I wasn't on the road, I 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.560 was making my way back to Jackson, Mississippi. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.080 And how hard was she to catch? 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:26.400 She's nearly impossible. Took some doing. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.320 So what sealed the deal? 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.439 Well, you know it ain't over yet. This is that wedding, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:38.920 ain't till May, so there's probably still some room. I 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.840 don't know. I think I must be that kind of 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.520 guy that she never thought she would meet. And she's 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.920 certainly the kind of woman I never thought I would meet. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.360 And what's her life about? 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.800 Well, she's an attorney. When I met her, she was 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:05.960 working with the State Supreme Court. She left that job 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.920 and got a gig working for the Attorney General. And 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.040 when she left them, she went to work with Morgan 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:24.000 and Morgan oh so, but she is incredibly smart, incredibly beautiful, 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.560 and she comes from the coast and I believe the 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:35.120 term is coon ass, but she's just a gorgeous coon 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:36.520 ass Mississippi lawyer. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.120 Okay, you're a musician who lives his life on the road, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.880 So what's it gonna look like when you're married? 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:52.640 Well, I guess that's what we're trying to carve out 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.560 right now. I can't stay on the road as much 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.280 as I used to, and I don't want to, you know, 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:04.880 I want to come home and have a have a 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.480 better version of a life with her. 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.240 And does she plan to continue to work? And where 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:13.440 do you plan to live? 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.160 She is definitely going to continue to work. We're probably 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:25.240 going to have house, a house in Nashville for my 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.280 music business, and probably a place down in Mississippi. And 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.600 her whole family's from m Kill. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.840 And so you're going to have children? 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:40.400 Oh, I don't know. We'll find out. 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.120 Okay, you're forty nine. How old is she today? 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:46.240 She's thirty three. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.720 Okay, Well, the reason I asked is, you know, in 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.920 terms of having children, age can make a difference. Let 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.840 me go back a step. You talked about the governor's 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:02.280 brother going to your fundraiser golf tournament. Are you a golfer? 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:08.600 I wasn't until Willie, and golf ain't even the worst 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:14.480 thing he got me hooked on when I had quit 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.720 drinking in twenty eleven and I kind of needed something 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:23.520 to pour all my time into, and Willie invited me 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.080 to go to his He called it his first annual 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.960 Fourth of July golf tournament, what turned out to be 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:38.040 his only annual fourth at golf tournament. And I learned 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.440 how to swing a club and hit a golf ball 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:46.920 at Willy's course. It was a burden Aalics country club, 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.920 but it's now Willie's cutting put. It's a nine hole 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:56.160 executive out there in burden Alice, Texas Spicewood. 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.720 Okay, so you got sober, Willy invited you, you went 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.960 to the event. How much have you played thereafter? 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:18.360 I guess for the first few years after that. I 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.960 took it on as an assignment. And I mean I 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.600 was out there on the course every time it rain 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.920 or shine. It didn't matter, man. I would turn around, 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.440 get out there and go spend hours out there, hitting 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.640 about a thousand balls a day, that sort of thing, 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:42.960 especially after Alice Cooper told me that that was really 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.920 what kept him off the bottle for a while. He 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.440 said he leaned on golf too. 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.440 So how much do you play now? And how good 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:54.720 are you? 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.680 I'm not good at all. I do enjoy it, but 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.240 it's not one of those things that ever registered with me. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.760 I still can't go out there and you know, put 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.280 one right up the middle every time. I have to 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:10.920 go out there and figure out what am I doing 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.600 wrong today? But I enjoy it. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.320 But how much do you play now? 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:23.600 I probably four or five times a year. I just 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.640 don't have a whole lot of time for it anymore. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:30.880 Okay, how does Jamie Johnson from Alabama country musician meet 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:31.720 Alice Cooper? 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.240 It would have been at one of his shows, and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.600 he was opening for Rob Zombie. And I remember that 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.320 night pretty well because we went back and forth. We 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:51.000 went and saw Alice's show first, and then we drove 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:57.160 from that venue to the Rhyme and caught Don Williams set, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.520 and left Don Williams and got back over to Alice 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.520 This show right about the time Rob Zombie was on 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.720 his second or third song, so we got to see 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:08.000 all three of them in one night. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:14.040 Okay, you happened to look a little bit in terms 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.640 of you know your hero or whatever like Rob Zombie. 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:18.720 But what were you doing there to begin with? You 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:20.160 were Rob Zombie fan? 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.600 Well, I had definitely heard of him because back then, 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.840 before my hair turned blonde and gray and everything else 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.879 when it had some color in it, I was constantly 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.640 getting confused for Rob Zombie. And when I met him, 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.439 I told him my name, he said, oh, you're Jamie Johnson. 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.080 I now looked at him and I said, yeah, well, 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:50.600 I see it now too. But I wasn't very familiar 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.760 with his music until that night. But man, he is 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.240 absolutely wonderful. And I wanted to go meet Alice because 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.920 I knew he and Willie were good friends. 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:04.760 Okay, how did you meet Willie. 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:09.560 H through Pooty? 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:12.719 Okay, tell me that story. 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:20.720 Well, Pooty Locke was one of Willie's old friends. They went, 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.719 they went back a long time. Pooty's business card with 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:30.720 Willie said he was the vibe coordinator. That's his role 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.480 on the Willie Nelson to her back then, Well, I 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:40.280 met Pooty at the exit in in Nashville, and all 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.680 I knew about him that night was everybody kept saying, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:51.160 that's Pooty, he's with Willie. Well, I went and introduced myself. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.959 We shook hands, told a few jokes. I bought him 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:00.439 a beer, he turned around, We traded numbers and just 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:06.679 became instant friends, you know. And the next thing that 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.120 happened after that, Willie invited me to go play farm Maid, 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.479 and I believe every bit of that came through Foody 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:16.320 and some of the other guys in the band that 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.080 i'd met. So the first time I played farm Maid 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:21.560 was in two thousand and eight. 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.520 Okay, you played farm Maid. How did you go one 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:28.960 on one with Willy? And were you instant friends? What 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:29.720 was going on? 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.879 Yeah, that was pretty well immediate. I had met Willy, 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.280 but it was in nineteen ninety seven at a show 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.919 he did in Auburn, Alabama, and it was brief. I 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.000 just got in a line of folks that were hanging 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:50.000 out outside his bus, and of course I had my 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.280 guitar and just like everybody else, hey would you sign 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.520 my guitar? Well, over the years, that signature that he 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.280 put on the side of my guitar rubbed off off 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.800 and so when I saw him again at Farm Maide, 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.240 I grabbed my guitar and had him sign the front 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:08.600 and this time I had to wear it with all 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:10.760 the spray, a little lacquer over it when I got 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.240 done and keep it from rubbing off. It's it's still 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:14.960 on there today. 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.879 Are you know? You talked about introducing yourself to whody. 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.640 Is that your personality that you go up and introduce 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:26.720 and me connections? 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:34.639 I did back then, but I was also kind of 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.560 the new guy and the music business and was still 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.560 kind of in a mode of network and I guess 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.080 at the time. Now I don't hardly ever go out 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.520 the bars, but uh, but back then, it was it 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:49.919 was my It was normal. 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.399 Okay, But you've been in the business for decades. Are 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.119 you the type of guy who knows everybody or just 0:21:58.160 --> 0:21:59.399 the people. No. 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.160 I know who I know, And every now and then 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.320 I might meet somebody that walks up and introduces themselves. 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.800 And I meet people all the time that you know 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:13.960 I probably should. 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:18.479 Know, so generally speak you know, some people I know, 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.560 they're on the road or they're home. They're on their computers, 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:26.600 they're sending messages to all these people they know. They 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.840 may not even see them for a while because they're 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.240 on the road. Are you the type of person who 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:32.840 keeps contact with your friends. 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:40.199 I try to. I try to keep up with people 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.720 I love, and sometimes it's possible and sometimes it's just not. 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.200 But I feel like I surround myself with the kind 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:49.840 of friends that it's all right if you go go 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:54.919 awhile and you're not able to catch up. But I 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:58.240 mean I have to these days. It seems like I 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.399 have to schedule time to think about something. 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.560 So are there one or two people that you can 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:06.440 really rely on? 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.240 I've got way more than one or two. I'm a 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:17.119 very fortunate man in that regard. I'm surrounded by people 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:17.720 who love me. 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:21.320 And are those people from people you grew up with, 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:23.760 people you met in the music business, People you just 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:24.680 met in passing. 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:31.120 Some are everything, you know. I've got friends that I've 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:38.439 had since Man, there's a family of them down in 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:41.320 Montgomery I've known since I was three or four years old. 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:47.480 You know, the Walley family. But I've got some other 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:51.879 friends from elementary school, go back to first grade. And 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:56.800 I've got brand new friends that that I love just 0:23:56.840 --> 0:23:59.000 as dearly as if we have known each other for 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:00.240 twenty years. 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.000 And I mean, I realize you're on the road so much, 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:06.720 and after you're on the road, if you're home, you 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.960 don't want to leave. But generally speaking, are you the 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:13.960 kind of guy who if I say, hey, Jamie, you 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:16.199 know we're gonna go to this guy's house, there'd be 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:18.920 some good people there, you're gonna say no, or you're 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:20.560 gonna say yeah, that sounds good. 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:26.040 I'm gonna say no, and I'm gonna be overruled by Britney. 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:28.720 Who's gonna remind me you're supposed to be getting out 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:30.879 and mingling with people and getting to know people. 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.560 Let's go, Okay, that's good. 0:24:34.720 --> 0:24:37.280 I'm an introvert. I like to stay home and reach 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:38.800 charge the battery when I can. 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:43.639 So you're still sober, right, Yes, sir, So, how do 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:45.840 you fill your time when you're home or when you're 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:47.240 on the road not performing? 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:55.120 I would say I feel most of it writing songs 0:24:55.200 --> 0:25:03.000 and recording in the studio, and I read a good bit. 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:06.120 What do you read? 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:08.840 That depends? 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:15.520 I mean, I'm a big reader. There's magazines, there's newspapers, 0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:18.200 there's fiction, there's nonfiction. 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:26.360 Yeah, I've read all of it. Uh. I like the classics, 0:25:27.080 --> 0:25:33.720 like a good Stein back Okay, I like JD. Sallenger. 0:25:35.560 --> 0:25:38.000 He didn't uh, he didn't write much, but man when 0:25:38.040 --> 0:25:40.600 he did, it was easy to get locked into his 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:42.240 writer's voice. 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:43.640 Absolutely. 0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:46.480 It just kind of puts you puts me in a 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:50.040 in a mode. I don't usually pick up a Sallenger 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:52.520 without reading every single one of them back to back. 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:54.119 Uh. 0:25:54.800 --> 0:25:59.640 Here. Lately, my my book of choice, oddly enough, has 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:04.479 been the the Bible. I started from Genesis and I 0:26:04.480 --> 0:26:08.880 guess it's been about almost two months ago and right 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:13.160 now I'm finishing up Jeremiah. 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:15.600 Did you study that stuff as a kid or is 0:26:15.640 --> 0:26:17.679 this the first or second time around or what? 0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:23.960 I can't say I studied it, but I did hear 0:26:24.160 --> 0:26:29.640 all the stories. And you know, I like to say 0:26:29.880 --> 0:26:31.560 I read it, but I read it with a young 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:35.720 mind and I haven't read it since. And the things 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:38.320 that I have read I probably read twenty five years 0:26:38.320 --> 0:26:42.920 ago or so, and this is my first time reading 0:26:42.960 --> 0:26:47.080 them at this age with a little bit more life seasoning, 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:51.439