WEBVTT - A new beginning 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:07.360 What's up, y'all. It's The Granger Smith Podcast, Episode twenty. 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:10.959 Thanks for listening, Thanks for being with me on the 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.960 back of the bus. This is gonna be a good episode, 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.720 and I want to kind of connect you guys with 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:20.160 some of the older episodes here. Maybe this is your 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.680 first time. Maybe you came to this podcast through YouTube, 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:29.000 which we're doing now, or some other platform. The previous 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.159 nineteen episodes I can catch you up on. I went 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:37.720 through one by one and told the stories about my life. 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.919 Where I came from, how I started playing music, how 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.360 I started getting little breaks along the way, Where Earl 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.720 Dibbles Junior came from, where Yee came from, How my 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.400 brothers and I started ye apparel, How I got the 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.520 record deal, how I got my first number one song, 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:59.200 and that just kind of chronologically went through my life. 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:04.080 And I feel like now I need to start kind 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.479 of opening up to you guys a little bit more 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.520 on this podcast. And what I want to do is 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.800 I want to answer some questions because of everything I 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.040 do in my career, like including the Smiths, I can 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:21.880 never answer questions fast enough or enough times because I 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.319 get a lot of questions and Amber gets a lot 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.800 of questions, and I don't have enough platforms to answer 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.240 them in the way that I should in a long 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.080 form answer, not like I'm on a radio interview and 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.800 I get to answer, you know, in fifteen seconds. I'm 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.240 talking about go in depth and actually answer some of 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.280 your questions. And oh my gosh. I asked on social 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:48.480 media today this afternoon if you had any questions, and 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.320 I got some good ones. Some of them are fun, 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.920 some of them are super deep. And I want to 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:59.200 try to answer some of these lighthearted ones, and I 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:00.560 want to try to dive in to some of the 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.320 deeper ones. And I'm really nervous, and I was actually 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.160 going through some of these questions and my heart started 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.400 being faster, my my pull started rising because I just thought, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.440 oh God, I don't want to I don't want to 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.400 mess this up because some of these some of these 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.440 questions are actually from the heart, and I feel like 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.840 I have some answers in my own opinion, and so 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.040 I took some notes on my phone, I took some 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.080 notes here on the computer, but I don't want to 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.040 mess them up. So that's that's what's making me a 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.600 little bit anxious. I want to do this right and 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.920 I also want to encourage you. If you asked a question, 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.120 please know that I got a lot of them, and 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.160 I scrolled through so many good ones and I kind 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.240 of had to pick, you know, like six, seven, eight 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.480 of them. And so if you asked a question that 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.000 you're really interested in getting an answer from me, please 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.919 ask it again. And here's the goal with this new 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.959 form of the of this podcast episode twenty. Starting with 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.760 episode twenty, my goal is to put one out every week, 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.919 once a week. I'm not sure exactly the pattern. I 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:05.840 don't know if it's going to be like maybe Wednesday, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.000 because I put out the Smiths on my family vlog 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.360 on Tuesdays and Thursdays on YouTube. And by the way, 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.520 if you if you haven't seen that channel, please go 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.320 and check that out and subscribe and you'll get those 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.679 videos Tuesdays and Thursdays. And maybe I'll put up the 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.320 podcast on Wednesdays. So it's either going to be Mondays 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.880 or Wednesdays. I'm assuming not a weekend because I'll be busy. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:35.240 I'm currently in Davenport, Iowa on the bus, and every 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.160 time I do a podcast, I talk about where I am, 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:38.760 but this is the first time I'm filming it so 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.640 you could see this is my setup. It is snowing outside. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.560 It's really cold, twenty nine degrees, which is typical Iowa 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.960 this time of year. And we were in Saint Louis yesterday. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.040 And if you want to catch up on me and 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.680 my tour, you go to grangersmith dot com Forward slash 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.800 Tour and you could see where we're going to be 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:04.280 and most likely we are coming close to you. That's 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:08.320 probably including Europe and Canada and Australia. We will be 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.480 close to you at some point and all fifty states 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:16.880 will be there within eighteen to twenty four months. I 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:21.440 can guarantee that you could also at the same link 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.120 gratersmith dot com Forward slash Tour, you could also see 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.800 that every tour dight has right underneath it you could 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.599 it has tickets, and then right next to that says 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.719 meet Granger. I think that's what it says, Meet Granger 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.040 or VIP experience. At some point it says that, So 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.400 click on that and that'll get you to backstage and 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:48.719 you come meet me and love that. Love love being 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:54.120 able to meet all of you guys hang out. You 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.239 kind of get that personal connection which is so important 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.280 to me as an artist, and yeah, speaking of I 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.480 want to do a giveaway right now. I want to 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.520 start this thing with a giveaway, and maybe I should 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.200 do that every time too. And you can't see, but 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.000 up here I have my hats that hang up on 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:14.679 the bus and these are the ones that I grab 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.720 before showtime. I'll kind of go through and grab a hat. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.760 This one I'm wearing now is the original from the 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.599 That's Why I Love Dirt Roads music video that I'm 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.400 promising someone on another giveaway that I did on social 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.960 media to go to that music video and comment Dirt 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.200 Roads hat. So I haven't done that yet, but that's 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.360 the one I'm wearing now. I'm gonna sign it. I'll 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.320 pick somebody, and then right now i'll pick somebody for 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:44.640 this podcast. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.520 get this is an exact replica of what I'm wearing. 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.240 And I've been wearing this one too, and we sell 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:56.600 these now. But I'm gonna sign this right now under 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:02.279 the under the brim and then I'll give this away 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.279 for this podcast, and I'll do this once a week. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.839 Pick something different that's hanging in my little room here 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:13.200 on the bus. And so let's see, go to go 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.560 to social media whatever your favorite is, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:23.680 and just comment and say I want the hat hashtag 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.080 granger Smith podcast, and I'll send you with this one 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:32.600 that I just signed. Also speaking of this is how 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.440 I found these questions today is I went to social media. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.000 I went to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and all three 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:45.080 different platforms. I said, hey, I'm putting together information for 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.640 a podcast today. Ask me a question hashtag Grangersmith podcast. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.600 So the reason that hashtag is important is because when 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.560 I find the questions, I go on those different platforms 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:59.000 and I just search for hashtag Grangersmith podcast and it 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.440 pops up your question. So you don't have to wait 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.520 for me to ask for questions. You can go ahead 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.359 at any point and go to social media hashtag ask that, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.000 and then I'll search. And this is probably how we'll 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.160 build a podcast. I will have guests and I will 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.040 talk about different things, but this is going to be 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.880 the way that I can consistently give you guys a podcast. 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.440 Is you know, that's I don't have to think about 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.920 what am I going to talk about today, or what's 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.000 the latest story that I need to discuss, or what 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.560 story from the past. I could still do that, but 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.640 it takes no thinking to just get questions and then 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.760 go through them. Well I say that, and then I've 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.680 been sitting here for an hour going over these questions 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:49.080 and getting nervous about it. And eventually we will have 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.440 some sponsors for this podcast, because I do have to 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.280 send this off and get it, get it put together 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:58.440 since there's video. Today's sponsor is ee ee Apparel, and 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.360 it's funny because that's that's our company. But that's also 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.560 a lot of questions kind of came around that, and 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.400 I hope you guys understand that this is a very 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.320 much so a passion project, family run business. My brother 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.560 Tyler manages me, and then our youngest brother, Parker, manages 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.160 the brand ee Apparel, so he works there full time. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:24.080 And then his brand development manager is Hayden, who is 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.400 Parker's best bud from back home in Clifton, Texas. So 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.920 we run all this out of Georgetown. Actually, one of 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.360 the questions was, and this was on Twitter, do you 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.640 ever come up with apparel ideas for ee Apparel or 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.040 do you just leave it to your team? Well, that'd 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.400 being said, See, my team is my boys, it's my brothers, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.000 and yes, we have meetings just about once a week 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.679 and go over new shirt and hat and jacket and 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.400 pants and you know, design new designs, and we're we're 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.400 always working towards the next big release, so like spring, summer, fall, 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.600 Black Friday, stuff like that. Those are those are the 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.440 big ones. So we're usually about six weeks in advance. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.280 And right now as I'm speaking, as I'm recording, it's February, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.240 so we have kind of our spring launch ready and 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.840 we're working on summer. So absolutely love it. Love ye, 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:24.120 love Ye apparel. You know, I never got into music 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.040 thinking that I was gonna be a part of an 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.760 apparel company. It was usually just like artists merch like 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.040 that was my thing. And as it evolved into Ee Apparel, 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.520 I found out I had so much passion for it 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:44.120 and loved creating the brand that people could show up 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.720 you know, at our at our shows wearing it, or 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.400 or get together with each other and sharing that lifestyle. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.920 And I always say that we strive for it to 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.120 be a lifestyle brand. And you know, like one of 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:02.840 our competitors, Grunt Style is It's interesting because well I 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:06.160 was talking about it with Hayden today, like I think 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.760 the biggest difference between that and those guys are awesome 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.400 and their apparels great, but you see our our people 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:17.160 have yee tattoos, Like that's the dedication of the lifestyle brand. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.200 Like you don't see grunt style tattoos, but you see 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:26.200 yee tattoos. Another thing you need to know, you know, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.480 just kind of getting through some house cleaning here, I'm 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.640 on the bus. The generator's running. So if you hear 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.080 that low rumble, sorry, that just comes with recording a 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.360 podcast on tour. I'm gonna do soundcheck here in a 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.160 couple hours, so I figured this is the perfect time 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.280 to knock this out. And I'm also gonna try my 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.600 best to not cut this tape, so I'm not gonna 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.080 cut this audio or this video. So if I mess up, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:56.080 if I fumble, if I sneeze, that's all gonna be 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.199 part of it. And I hope you guys are okay 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:04.080 with that. So let's start. Let's get into some questions. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.000 I'm gonna start with Twitter, and I wrote some down 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:15.280 here and then I screenshot some on my phone. First 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:20.400 first question from Twitter is about the Throwback Show and 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.360 EEE Fest, and I mentioned this on many podcasts to 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.240 go that I was trying to put together a throwback 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.120 show for twenty nineteen, and we were going to start 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.960 ee Fest, which is a festive music festival that we 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.280 could put together and kind of brand it towards everything EEE, 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:43.400 including the bands, including the food and everything. And twenty 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.079 nineteen took a huge turn for me in June and 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.920 that all those things ee Fest throwback show really just 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:57.840 got it just got put on the shelf. And so yes, 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.079 I'm still thinking about it. Yes, I would love to 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:01.720 do a throwback show where we play a bunch of 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:06.280 old songs, but it's it's not the top of the 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:11.439 priority list right now, but we will. We will. Another 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.839 question from Twitter says, what is one vacation that you 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.480 would take with the family that you've never done before? 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.040 And I like that question because I've actually been thinking 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.400 about that lately. And so I have this crazy idea 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.320 that a buddy from high school told me that you 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:34.120 could actually go to the Bahamas and you could fly in, 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.720 so basically, your your only expense is to flight and 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.080 you can go to this town up on the north 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.640 side of one of these little islands. Don't even remember. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.720 I'd have to look it back up. But and then 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.680 you could rent camping gear and some kayaks. And so 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:52.839 I've been telling Amber that we should go do this, 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.920 rent some camping gear, rent rent some kayaks and just 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:02.520 take off and you just basically go off into the 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:06.200 next island. And there's these tiny islands everywhere. There's hundreds 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.520 of them, and you could you can go to these 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:14.560 completely uninhabited islands and some of them are probably no 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.120 bigger than this bus, and you could set up a 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:23.200 tent and you could fish, you could spearfish, make campfires, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.000 cook your food right there, stay in the tent, and 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.480 it just sounds like a crazy adventure. It sounds like 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.480 a really fun episode for the Smiths that we could 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.480 film too. So that's been on my mind lately, and 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.320 that's why I think that's a good question. Okay, so Facebook, 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.760 let's go to Facebook. Here's one that says, what do 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.720 you do to not get bogged down in your songwriting process? 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.960 And that is that is a question I think about 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:58.719 all the time, and it's it's something that I I'm 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.200 constantly tweaking in my life. And I think it doesn't 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.560 only have to be the songwriting process. This this could 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.559 apply to anyone that's just trying to focus, it's trying 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.360 to get some deep work done. And I think we 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.120 all know on the surface, the first answer is this 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:22.480 the phone, getting that thing to shut up and pulling 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.040 away from that form of addiction that the phone brings. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.240 Because if you're trying to really focus and dig into 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.000 whatever works, so it's minus songwriting, it's really hard to 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.360 focus and kind of come up with on this creative level. 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.400 And then all of a sudden, you know, you get 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.160 a text, or you get a call, or you get 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.120 or you you kind of have a second downtime and 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.680 you're like, I wonder how this new episode of The 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.480 Smith is doing. You know, let me check out some 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.240 comments on the new episode, or let me let me 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.440 see what the music video is up to. I can't. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.640 I can't handle it. My willpower not strong enough to 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.160 sit there for an hour and all these distractions are 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.440 around me and I don't touch them. That's that's that's 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.520 too much for my willpower. And and that's the same 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.280 thing with like if you're on a diet, you can't 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.560 You can't go on a diet and say I'm gonna 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.160 cut out sugar during the day or cut out sweets, 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:23.320 and then right there in the kitchen on the counter, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.120 you got a big old bowl of chocolate chip cookies. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.800 You can't walk past that bowl every day, and you're 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:36.200 craving sweets and not grab one. So the answer is 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.200 get rid of the bowl of cookies. So same thing 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:40.960 with the phone. I can't just throw this phone out 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.880 the window. But lately what I've been doing, and for instance, 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:48.200 I have I have an iPhone I go to and 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.040 I can pull it up right now. I go to settings, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.680 and I go to screen time, and then you set 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.880 your downtime right here. So I have downtime set for 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:06.080 nine pm to nine am, and then I have apps 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:11.160 always allowed, So then I'll allow like our our touring 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.440 app that tells us our schedule for touring. I will 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.920 allow text so that I could still talk to Amber 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.400 and FaceTime so I could talk to the kids. And 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.800 there's a few others like relaxing apps and like weather 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.880 things like that that don't soak up my time. I 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.480 could leave those on. But other than that, everything shuts 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.760 down at nine thirty pm and starts back up at 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.200 nine am. Because it's also important for me to get 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.400 to kind of wind down at night and not just 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:44.200 mindly sit there on mindlessly sit there on Instagram or whatever, 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.960 or YouTube or whatever it might be. And so that's 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.960 that's important. And I could also so back to this question, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:59.400 I can say I'm gonna write songs from noon to one. 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.520 I can go ahead and hit that downtime instantly and 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.320 it shuts down my phone for an hour so that 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.040 I could really concentrate and kind of dig in to 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.399 that deep work. And so there's a lot more to 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.720 that question, But that's a pretty good start, and I 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.480 could on future episodes, I can dive into even more 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:24.400 of the unplugging process for me. All right. Another one 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.919 from Facebook says how about some backstories on your bandmates? 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.080 And that question stood out to me today because just 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.359 yesterday there was a girl from our record label. She 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.040 was at our show in Saint Louis, and she said, 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.240 you know what I love about this band and crew? 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:43.960 She said, every time I come to see you guys, 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.439 it's the same people. And that might not sound like 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.560 that big a deal, but what she means is typically 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.640 in the music business there's just a lot of turnover. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.600 And you guys probably know this when you see bands, 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.280 is that like Oh, there's a new bass player, or 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.000 there's a new drummer, or there's new tour manager. That 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.960 lighting guy's new. There's a lot of turnover, a lot 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.760 of hiring and firing, and you know, people get mad 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.840 and cuss each other out and quit or get fired. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:17.920 And I'm I'm I'm a firm believer in loyalty within 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.960 the company. As long as you have as long as 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:24.240 you believe that they're the right people. I believe that 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:26.760 you got to you gotta keep them through thick and thin. 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.600 We all go through, you know, bad weather. We all 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:34.959 go through storms in our life. And there's no reason 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.159 to constantly be firing people and hiring people or or 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.120 watching people quit. You know, someone quits, that's that's your 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.480 fault as the leader. And so the backstory of my 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.119 bandmates and my crew is, it's all the same guys. 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.399 We all are from Texas. We've all been together a 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.240 very long time. We're all in the the van and 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.840 trailer days, you know, pulling into venue where nobody was 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.240 there to see us. And as we all grew, we 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.439 grew together, and so much of my success in the 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:13.680 music business has come from them and their professionalism and 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:17.480 their hunger and their passion and just watching them grow 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.680 has been so inspiring. And we lift each other up 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.840 on good days and bad days, you know. And at 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:26.520 the end of the day, when I'm out there on 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.040 the stage, or you say it's a big arena and 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:33.480 it's packed and the pressure's on, or say it's a 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.320 and this has happened a festival, when a technical problem happens, 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.240 you know, something really bad and it's embarrassing. At the 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.960 end of the day, I'm very comfortable with my crew. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.680 You know. It's like if the ship's going to sink, 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.359 we're all going down with it. And I trust them 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.320 and I love that about my guys, and so we 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.000 all go way back. We go way back. All right, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:05.399 I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go to Instagram. Actually, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:07.480 you know what I also, I think I screenshotted to 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.760 see Okay, this is another Twitter I screenshotted. It was 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:15.960 too long to type, so it says, Hey, Granger. The 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:21.959 question I would ask is about your success from authenticity 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.040 and what you would tell someone who is inspiring aspiring 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.359 to be more. I think I'm on the right path, 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:35.560 but I'm finding it's hard reaching for success. So first 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:40.400 of all Lee, I would tell you, buddy that it's 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.080 really gonna depend on how you define success, and that 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:48.160 is that's such a huge, huge secret because people define 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:55.280 success in many different ways, and it's really scary because 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:04.600 if you're defining success on business alone, you're totally setting 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:09.000 yourself up for failure. Like there's probably when it comes 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.399 to music, there's probably an equal number that look at 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.200 me and say, man, that guy has succeeded big time, 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:20.680 and there's another equal half to go, oh man, that guy, 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.920 poor Granger, he just hasn't quite succeeded yet. I'm serious. 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:29.160 There's probably equal that think that either way. And that's 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.520 a perfect example of how if you haven't defined your success, 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:38.720 then it's impossible to attain that. Let me show you 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:45.680 something real quick. Let me go to this is. This 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.880 is such a great Of course, of course it's gonna 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:56.240 be slow for me, but this is such a great deal. 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:08.040 I lost my dad in twenty fourteen, and when we 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:14.080 were kind of going through as things, we found like 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.400 in his drawers some things that he had written down 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.680 that he didn't tell us about, and one of them 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:25.840 was this poem. And this is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:30.720 And it's called success. And I read this and just 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.600 cried be thinking about my dad right after he died, 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.600 because he was a man, and he was a simple 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:41.080 man of such integrity who really knew how to define 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:45.199 success and knew exactly who he was and what he 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:49.120 wanted to achieve. And to me, if I'm defining my success, 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:51.640 I want to read you this poem and I could 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.000 just tell you this is it. It says to laugh 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:59.159 often and love much, to win the respect of intelligent people, 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:05.320 affirmation of children, to earn the approbation of honest critics, 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.440 and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty, 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:13.280 To find the best in others. To give of oneself, 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.040 to leave the world a little bit better, whether by 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:20.280 a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition. 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:25.600 To know that even one life has breathed easier because 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:32.360 you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Man, Isn't 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:40.720 that awesome? I love that. It's There's nothing in here 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:46.280 that says to have attained ten number one songs. You know, 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:50.640 you know I mean to have sold your company for millions. 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:56.680 You know that's not that's not success. I want to 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:02.800 tell you, buddy that if you're trying to say you're 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:04.760 just talking about yourself, say you're talking about your your 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:09.240 own success and not society or your family, or say 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:13.120 it's just yourself, which I also believe that everything has 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:17.040 to start with yourself. And it's kind of like I 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:20.920 always think about on the airplane when they tell you, 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.240 if the oxygen mask comes out, put it on yourself first, 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:28.120 and then the child next to you, because if you're 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:31.200 too busy worried about putting the oxygen mask on your child, 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:34.680 then you're not going to make it in that situation, right, 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.240 And that's life. Take it. Make sure you're okay first. 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:42.359 But I wrote this down for you too when I 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.440 was thinking about that question. Be better than you were yesterday, 0:24:47.600 --> 0:24:51.679 not better than someone else's today. And how often have 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:57.800 we gone to social media or seen someone else and thought, man, 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:00.760 it must be nice, or man's he or she's really 0:25:00.960 --> 0:25:06.640 really killing it right now? And man, guys, that's how 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:10.399 I feel too. I hope y'all know that's how I feel. 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:13.200 Like I could look at something and go, oh, man, 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:16.280 they really have it, they really got it going on. 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:20.400