Speaker 1: Have you been having a most marvelous may? Sure hope
Speaker 1: the answer is yes. It seemed pretty fleeting to me,
Speaker 1: blossoming one day and poof, like petals falling from a
Speaker 1: stem gone. The next spring will soon be in our
Speaker 1: rear view mirror. Kids are going to be out of school.
Speaker 1: I've got five minor children living at home now, three
Speaker 1: of my grandkids and two of my kids. And boy
Speaker 1: does the fun times begin when the school bell closes.
Speaker 1: Here's something else to look forward to besides some moares
Speaker 1: and campfires. More new music, fun music, feel good music,
Speaker 1: eighties tide music. And you know what they say about
Speaker 1: the eighties music, It sure gets the house clean faster
Speaker 1: when you're listening to that. Charles Kelly is most known
Speaker 1: for his vocals, his musicianship, and his genuine charisma as
Speaker 1: one third of the seven time Grammy Award winning group
Speaker 1: Lady A. Built around rich vocal harmonies, vivid emotional writing,
Speaker 1: and a smooth fusion of country rock and pop, Lady
Speaker 1: A has long been a model of mainstream success. As
Speaker 1: a country radio staple, the trio has amassed eleven number
Speaker 1: one hits and over nine billion digital streams. Charles has
Speaker 1: been a chart topping songwriter on his own, He's copen
Speaker 1: favorites for Luke, Brian, Miranda, Lambert, Brett Young and Moore.
Speaker 1: His twenty sixteen solo debut, The Driver, led to another
Speaker 1: Grammy nomination for the title track The Driver. Now, Charles
Speaker 1: finds himself stepping boldly into his second solo album, Songs
Speaker 1: for a New Moon, as he begins an age of fearless,
Speaker 1: fresh perspective both musically and in his life, embracing the lush,
Speaker 1: hyper saturated luxury of his beloved eighties pop Songs for
Speaker 1: a New Moon, out June twenty fifth, has a full
Speaker 1: on eighties sound without, as Charles calls it, any country insurance.
Speaker 1: It's feel good music for a time when we need
Speaker 1: feel good music. We need feel good everything. Dropping into
Speaker 1: chat with us today about his forthcoming solo album is
Speaker 1: Charles Kelly. We'll get right into it as soon as
Speaker 1: I've told you about one of my amazing podcast sponsors.
Speaker 1: Have you been looking for a milk replacement because you
Speaker 1: have dairy allergies or sensitivities, Well, I found one that's
Speaker 1: absolutely amazing. It's Sherry's hazel Cream made from Oregon hazelnuts.
Speaker 1: This plant based milk stands out from the competitors because
Speaker 1: it's designed and for cooking and baking. It all started
Speaker 1: because Sherry, who could no longer tolerate dairy products, wanted
Speaker 1: to make gravy, but not gravy that tasted like coconut
Speaker 1: or oatmeal. So by enlisting the help of her engineer
Speaker 1: husband and a friend that's a food scientist, and through
Speaker 1: much trial and error, Sherry's Hazel Cream was born. Because
Speaker 1: of a special roasting process. It's very neutral and taste
Speaker 1: and works with a large variety of recipes. It comes
Speaker 1: sealed in shelf stable, easy to use, pre measured portion
Speaker 1: pods that you place into your blender, add varying amounts
Speaker 1: of water to make milk cream or even condensed milk
Speaker 1: for pies and other mouth watering desserts. It's delicious and
Speaker 1: mashed potatoes and cakes, in creamy soups and even casserole dishes.
Speaker 1: Visit Sherryshazelcream dot com to learn more about this product,
Speaker 1: to read Sherry's story, and to place your order. It's
Speaker 1: at Sherry'shazelcream dot com. C h E ri s Hazelcream
Speaker 1: dot com. Use code love twenty four for ten percent
Speaker 1: off your order that Sherry's Hazel Cream and Love twenty four.
Speaker 1: All right, let's jump into this. I'm gonna say hello
Speaker 1: to Charles Kelly, who is known as a third of
Speaker 1: Lady A. But now for the second time, you've got
Speaker 1: a solo project. We're going to talk about, and I
Speaker 1: want to talk about the music because it's I hear
Speaker 1: got this great eighties vibe which is almost as good
Speaker 1: almost as the seventies. But eighties are my second that's
Speaker 1: my second favorite era of music. Not the shoulder pads.
Speaker 1: It was the shoulder pads when I was, you know,
Speaker 1: young in the eighties and really really skinny. The shoulder
Speaker 1: pads were rocking. Now Charles, I just look like a linebacker.
Speaker 2: It's all coming back though, if you noticed, especially like
Speaker 2: you know, I'm watching all the men's cloth clothing now
Speaker 2: it's like the tight the tight fit is out and
Speaker 2: it's all about kind of a you know, baggy or
Speaker 2: kind of flowy.
Speaker 1: When they bring back the parachute pants, they're coming, they're coming,
Speaker 1: and the and the multi colored jogger suits out of that, yeah,
Speaker 1: look like tent material, Like you could go camping in
Speaker 1: your jogging trousers. So tell us, uh, tell us about
Speaker 1: the music, and then I want to talk about you,
Speaker 1: Charles Kelly and the new outlook you have on life,
Speaker 1: because I was stalking you interviews and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is going to be awesome.
Speaker 2: Well it's funn you know. I mean, my first solo
Speaker 2: record was about eight or nine years ago, and it
Speaker 2: was definitely much more of a seventies flair, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean I grew up playing in cover bands ever
Speaker 2: since I was twelve years old. I played drums and sang,
Speaker 2: and we used to do a couple of Joe Cocker songs.
Speaker 2: We would, you know, you'd sing Garth Brooks, you turn around,
Speaker 2: sang line of Richie, you turn around, sang La Zeppelin.
Speaker 2: So I have, you know, a pretty wide range of influences,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: I used to play a song that Lionel Richie did
Speaker 1: with Kenny Rogers.
Speaker 2: Oh that's the well it hadn been. What was the
Speaker 2: one that he did that that they both did a
Speaker 2: version of.
Speaker 1: Well they did a version together and.
Speaker 2: Back together as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and everybody's like Lionel Richie dancing on the ceiling,
Speaker 1: mister disco king, you know, teaming up with Kenny Rogers.
Speaker 1: But it worked.
Speaker 2: What was that? I'm going really blank on that line
Speaker 2: of Richie wrote for Kenny and then they both did
Speaker 2: a version of it. I'll think of it at some point.
Speaker 1: It'll pop into my metapausal head, you know, while I'm
Speaker 1: bathing the kids or something.
Speaker 2: I know, I know, but you know, so it's funny though,
Speaker 2: you know, when you talk about seventies and eighties, those
Speaker 2: are probably my two favorite you know, kind of decades
Speaker 2: of music as well. And so, you know, with this
Speaker 2: second record, it's been you know, about eight or nine
Speaker 2: years after the first time I did a solo record.
Speaker 2: And I don't think I initially had set out to
Speaker 2: make an eighties record. It just kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: an eighties inspired record. It kind of just came about.
Speaker 2: I started writing, you know, for this project within about
Speaker 2: six months a year of kind of you know, getting
Speaker 2: sober and and you know, coming out of a little
Speaker 2: month and you know, this this rehabilitation place I went to,
Speaker 2: you know, for my alcoholism, and this was about getting
Speaker 2: close to three years ago now, and I don't know,
Speaker 2: I just came. I came at this an approached It
Speaker 2: was such a different I think lyrical perspective, you know,
Speaker 2: of kind of hope, you know, forgiving myself and just
Speaker 2: moving forward and kind of holding on to, you know,
Speaker 2: what matters the most in my life, and so all
Speaker 2: that's kind of in this music. I think it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's meant to be a very feel good, inspiring record.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a couple more I think deeper songs
Speaker 2: on it, but for the most part, it's just just
Speaker 2: a really feel good record from top to bottom. And
Speaker 2: you know, I kind of just naturally started writing to
Speaker 2: these kind of eighties inspired musical beds, and that's just
Speaker 2: kind of I started getting really excited about the sound
Speaker 2: of it. I said, I have no idea if this
Speaker 2: is going to be a new direction for Lady A
Speaker 2: or what, but I just love it. And and you know,
Speaker 2: the more I just kept writing for it, I was like,
Speaker 2: all right, you know, it's been close to a decade
Speaker 2: since I've done another solo record. I want to do this,
Speaker 2: and you know that I think the time we have
Speaker 2: it two worked out great. You know, Hillary's she's having
Speaker 2: her fourth and her fourth little girl here coming in July,
Speaker 2: and so you know, I was like, all right, I
Speaker 2: want to do this. I'm going to kind of you know,
Speaker 2: we're taking a time off with the band. I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm going to kind of focus on this for a
Speaker 2: little bit. And the irony is, through this process, we
Speaker 2: found out my wife and I, you know, we're in
Speaker 2: our forties, that we were having our second kids. So
Speaker 2: so it's kind of crazy, a lot of a lot
Speaker 2: of a lot of change happening over here in the
Speaker 2: Kelly household.
Speaker 1: Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 2: You know. Honestly, it wasn't that we didn't think we could,
Speaker 2: you know, handle it. We always kind of prayed for
Speaker 2: another child, but it was we just didn't think it
Speaker 2: was going to happen.
Speaker 1: You know, God said, surprise, I.
Speaker 2: Know, because it was like we had our little boy,
Speaker 2: Ward and he's nine, and so you know, for the
Speaker 2: past like four or five years, we were just like,
Speaker 2: I guess, you know, it took. It was so hard
Speaker 2: having him that we were like, it's there's it just
Speaker 2: must not be in the cards. And then I think
Speaker 2: there's something about to you know, even just with my
Speaker 2: journey and my wife and I throughout this, I think
Speaker 2: have just settled into life and didn't try to force
Speaker 2: things anymore. And it's amazing how kind of God popped
Speaker 2: sin and it's like, all right, now you're now you're ready.
Speaker 2: Now you're in a healthy spot and prepared and uh
Speaker 2: and you know, it's just such a such a cool
Speaker 2: little blessing and new new adventure for us. My son
Speaker 2: is through the roof. I've never seen a kid so
Speaker 2: excited in his life. I mean, he cannot wait for this,
Speaker 2: this baby to arrive. And we found out it's going
Speaker 2: to be another little boy, so he's gonna have a
Speaker 2: little brother.
Speaker 1: All right. So if I am, I'm gonna just throw
Speaker 1: some scenarios at you, and you're gonna tell me which
Speaker 1: cut off this new album. I'm gonna have to crank up? Okay,
Speaker 1: oh okay. So I got a creak on my property.
Speaker 1: It's got crowdads, it's got rocks, it's got everything heavenly
Speaker 1: and I got five kids at home, so you know
Speaker 1: where we're going to be this summer. What what cut
Speaker 1: off the new album? Charles and Mike cranking while the
Speaker 1: kids are splashing each other in the creek.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say it just because it's my single,
Speaker 2: but my favorite song off the record, and what really
Speaker 2: kickstarted this is a song called Can't Lose You and
Speaker 2: it's just, uh, you know, it's it's about kind of
Speaker 2: putting in perspective all the things in your life that
Speaker 2: you you know that you could do without the and
Speaker 2: the one thing that you know you can't lose, and
Speaker 2: that's I think our connection and our love for our
Speaker 2: family and you know, spirituality whatever whatever that is for you.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what that song is about. The other
Speaker 2: one I was going to say was Run. That's a
Speaker 2: really good, feel good you know, it's about kind of
Speaker 2: wanting to kind of get out there and and travel
Speaker 2: the world and and and you know, chase down live.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I was to stop right there because my
Speaker 1: next scenario is my twenty one year old daughter is
Speaker 1: in a travel phase, which I'm just so proud of.
Speaker 1: She's working, working, working, working, working, and then she takes
Speaker 1: the money she makes because you know, she lives at
Speaker 1: home and she goes and she travels.
Speaker 2: So that's Run. There's a line in there saying I
Speaker 2: want to fill your cup of wonder luss till the
Speaker 2: end of days. You know, we can we can dance
Speaker 2: on the streets or on the cobblestones in the streets.
Speaker 2: Sancho pe. I mean, it's a very go out see
Speaker 2: the World travel song. So I'm putting run for that scenario.
Speaker 2: Can't lose you for the hanging out, you know, Memorial
Speaker 2: Day weekend scenario, that's the creak.
Speaker 1: Okay, last scenario my oldest daughter who's still at home.
Speaker 1: She has the most phenomenal group of friends I have
Speaker 1: ever met in my life, outside of my circle of
Speaker 1: friends in high school. Because I'm still friends with them,
Speaker 1: phenomenal young people like like I could, I could write
Speaker 1: a book about each one and the trials they've been through.
Speaker 1: But their character for fifteen sixteen seventeen year olds blows
Speaker 1: my mind.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: So scenario for her sitting around the campfire in our
Speaker 1: backyard with her four or five besties.
Speaker 2: Hmmm, all right, I'm gonna throw a monkey wrench. I
Speaker 2: did two covers on this record. One of them is
Speaker 2: a killer, but the other one I did Cindy Lauper's
Speaker 2: Time after Time. Ah Okay, this song. When I listen
Speaker 2: to this song, I did it for my boy. I
Speaker 2: hear this like you know, if you're lost, you will
Speaker 2: find me time after time. It's got this kind of
Speaker 2: like I'm always going to be there when you need
Speaker 2: me type of feel you know. I know she kind
Speaker 2: of wrote this from like more of a heartbroke broken,
Speaker 2: you know, relationship standpoint. But when I hear this song,
Speaker 2: I think that's what the beauty of music, you know,
Speaker 2: like we can we can write our own story into
Speaker 2: into lyrics. I mean, I can't tell you how many
Speaker 2: people would like with Lady A's need you now have said,
Speaker 2: Like we've even had someone say they walk they like
Speaker 2: played that for their wedding song. I said, you realize
Speaker 2: this is like a you know, a kind of love
Speaker 2: lost booty call song in a way. But but everyone
Speaker 2: puts their story. But for me, time after time when
Speaker 2: I listen to that song, it fits this like friendship.
Speaker 2: I will be with you, you know, throughout whatever you like.
Speaker 2: I'm always there. I'm only a phone call a type
Speaker 2: of scenario.
Speaker 1: Wow. So basically you've given us the soundtrack for our
Speaker 1: whole summer for everybody.
Speaker 2: Hey, we want to make you kind of feel feel
Speaker 2: whether it's feel good, feel nostalgic, I mean, the whole.
Speaker 2: The whole record, in my opinion is it is unapologetically
Speaker 2: pulling from so many different sounds and influences and songs
Speaker 2: that I grew up loving you know, from this specific
Speaker 2: decade of music, and uh that you know, Cindy Lauper
Speaker 2: like to me that song just it is probably one
Speaker 2: of the most perfectly written songs of all time. And
Speaker 2: you know, we were talking about what cover song to do.
Speaker 2: You know, I said, I want to do a female
Speaker 2: song because I don't know to have that, you know,
Speaker 2: a male perspective and male voice on a song that
Speaker 2: you know, you kind of have become familiar with from
Speaker 2: a female and.
Speaker 1: Just not just become familiar with. That's kind of an anthem.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's unbelievable. It's one of the It really is
Speaker 2: one of the greatest songs ever written. And you it's
Speaker 2: so cool too that an artist like Cindy Lapper, who
Speaker 2: has given us such fun music. You know, girls just
Speaker 2: want to have fun, then all of a sudden throws
Speaker 2: out at you one of the biggest heart wrenching, perfectly
Speaker 2: written ballads of all time. So it shows, you know,
Speaker 2: pretty big testament to her talent.
Speaker 1: She's a hot ticket too. She came and saw me.
Speaker 1: I do this appearance every year in New York. I
Speaker 1: do skating in the park in December and then I
Speaker 1: do Broadway and Bryant Park in the summer, and she
Speaker 1: came to she came to just she heard that I
Speaker 1: was in town, and she lived near the park, and
Speaker 1: she's put her coat on and grabbed her man and
Speaker 1: came down to hang out skating in Central Park with me.
Speaker 1: And you see her, you know, on TV or on
Speaker 1: the shows, and she's got the makeup and the colorful hair,
Speaker 1: but in real life she is darling. Yeah, and her love,
Speaker 1: her energy, her kindness pours out of her. It was,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a blessing to my heart.
Speaker 2: It's so cool.
Speaker 1: So now I want to talk about your sober journey
Speaker 1: because this is something that I got into alan on
Speaker 1: the support group for or those of us who loved
Speaker 1: those of you that love alcohol over thirty years ago,
Speaker 1: four whiles ago, quite by accident. Actually it was on
Speaker 1: purpose by God. But I was so resistant to it.
Speaker 1: I went to a few meetings and I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear this. I just want somebody
Speaker 1: to tell me how to make him stop drinking. Is
Speaker 1: not helping. This is not like you're supposed to give
Speaker 1: me twelve steps how to make him stop.
Speaker 2: Or you're probably like, it's not my like, I'm not
Speaker 2: the one with a problem too. I know That's how
Speaker 2: my wife felt in the initial you know, journey of
Speaker 2: it as well.
Speaker 1: Well, of course I did. And then somebody pointed out, yeah,
Speaker 1: but this is not the first Yeah, and not the second,
Speaker 1: not even the third time You've decided to give your
Speaker 1: heart to somebody who is addicted to chemicals, Delilah, So
Speaker 1: who is the problem here? When I heard you and
Speaker 1: some of the interviews that I stopped talking about, like
Speaker 1: this new awareness you've got and how you didn't have
Speaker 1: to lose everything to get to recovery, I was like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: share this a lot, please, Charles, and let people know
Speaker 1: that you don't need to pickle your brain to have fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, speaking of the Alan,
Speaker 2: my wife is really involved with that as well. You know,
Speaker 2: I mean I think she realized because in the beginning,
Speaker 2: you know, she was I remember when she came out
Speaker 2: for the family week, you know the place in Utah,
Speaker 2: you know, this recovery place, and she came out you know,
Speaker 2: that last week, and I remember she had told me
Speaker 2: later that, you know, at first, when they said, hey,
Speaker 2: you know you're going to have to do work too,
Speaker 2: it was like a little bit like resentful, like wait,
Speaker 2: I'm not the one that you know has put us
Speaker 2: in this position, but you know, as you know, it's
Speaker 2: just it's a family disease. It affects everybody, and me wife,
Speaker 2: my wife was the one that probably was affected hands
Speaker 2: down the most. Secondly, I would say, you know, my bandmates,
Speaker 2: you know, And for me, it just was a progressive thing.
Speaker 2: I think, being on the road and then you get
Speaker 2: off the road and you're kind of trying to chase
Speaker 2: that same kind of feeling and high when you're you know,
Speaker 2: you're off and your board, and I think it was
Speaker 2: just it became this thing that kind of gets a
Speaker 2: hold of you, you know, and it got a hold
Speaker 2: of me, and you know, I was really fortunate enough,
Speaker 2: you know, have so many people around me to encourage me.
Speaker 2: And after you know, after a few unsuccessful nudges, I
Speaker 2: finally kind of hit a point where I knew it
Speaker 2: was time. And it's amazing the weight that was lifted
Speaker 2: off my shoulder when I finally just gave into that realization.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I've discovered so much about myself. I
Speaker 2: don't think I ever knew I mean even kind of
Speaker 2: like you say, I mean, like I realized maybe I'm
Speaker 2: not as much of this, you know, extroverted, you know,
Speaker 2: I want to be around people all the time, kind
Speaker 2: of person. In reality, I think I needed alcohol to
Speaker 2: make me want to do those things. And I don't know,
Speaker 2: I just I've found so many such a strong relationship
Speaker 2: too with my wife and my son who's nine, you know,
Speaker 2: and I feel like I have more energy to kind
Speaker 2: of spend with him as well, and you know, if
Speaker 2: I want to get really spiritual with it, and you know,
Speaker 2: this baby, hands down would not have come in this
Speaker 2: world if I had not gotten sober, because I would
Speaker 2: highly doubt that my wife would have stayed with me.
Speaker 2: And so there's just so many blessings that have kind
Speaker 2: of come of it. And I mean, that's really so.
Speaker 1: How many years have you been married.
Speaker 2: I've been married, how sixteen years?
Speaker 1: How many years have you been together? Like before.
Speaker 2: Gosh, right when the band started, So two thousand and seven,
Speaker 2: we've been together maybe the end of two thousand and six.
Speaker 1: And up until three years ago, you were you were drinking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in that while, and it's a.
Speaker 1: Progressive disease, so I'm sure in two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. It wasn't out of control. But yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: with any disease process, if you don't turn the ship around,
Speaker 1: it doesn't get better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It just you know, it's one of
Speaker 2: those things that, like, you know, and we both kind
Speaker 2: of fed off each other, my wife as well. I mean,
Speaker 2: she drank a lot with me, and I think I
Speaker 2: just ended up kind of moved into my little boys
Speaker 2: room here to people outside, but I think I just
Speaker 2: kind of ended up obviously taking it to that next level.
Speaker 2: And I mean when you've got pretty much everybody around you,
Speaker 2: you know, feeling like they need to be looking after
Speaker 2: you and watching out for you, I think that's when
Speaker 2: you know you have an issue. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: people that are able to do it and control it
Speaker 2: and you know, do it socially and appropriately, there's absolutely
Speaker 2: nothing wrong with it. But there's a lot of us
Speaker 2: out there that you know, as they say, you know,
Speaker 2: one drink's one drink's never enough, you know, and it's
Speaker 2: just a thousand.
Speaker 1: One drinks too many, and a thousand's never is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one drinks too many, one more or whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like you said, I mean, it really is. I mean
Speaker 2: I never had a cutoff valve. I could have drink
Speaker 2: until finally, you know, I pass out or someone told
Speaker 2: me that was enough.
Speaker 1: There was no time after time, because if I had
Speaker 1: more than one drink, I was. I was finding a
Speaker 1: corner and going to sleep. But nineteen eighty six is
Speaker 1: when I found my way to God, and I found
Speaker 1: my way to alan On, and then I found my
Speaker 1: way to a completely different life. Now I'm addicted to chickens.
Speaker 2: There you go. That's a healthy thing.
Speaker 1: Gardening and chickens. So if you need to add baby
Speaker 1: chicks Charles to your homestead, you just let me know.
Speaker 2: My little boy wants an ant farm, and I was like,
Speaker 2: how where do we keep this ant farm? And Who's like,
Speaker 2: how does it? I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's two pieces of glass sandwich together. Didn't you ever
Speaker 1: do this? Have you never had an ant farm?
Speaker 2: He wants like an intense ant farm, and start.
Speaker 1: With the two pieces of glass. He'll lose interest after
Speaker 1: a week.
Speaker 2: We're gonna start with ant farm first, before we go chickens.
Speaker 2: We travel too much. I mean someone's got to be
Speaker 2: here to like, you.
Speaker 1: Know, does your family go on the road when you
Speaker 1: guys are perfect?
Speaker 2: You know, I wouldn't say a ton now that you know,
Speaker 2: with school and stuff.
Speaker 1: They used to school and a baby on the way.
Speaker 2: Was first born. I mean I think it was maybe
Speaker 2: a month after he was born that he came out
Speaker 2: on the tour bus. You know, my wife and I
Speaker 2: were all back there in that back, you know bed,
Speaker 2: and he's got this little little fascinat at the foot
Speaker 2: of the bed there on the bus. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it's wild. He's he's been all over the world. It's
Speaker 2: pretty cool.
Speaker 1: How when's a baby do?
Speaker 2: Baby is due October, so October fourth, somewhere around there,
Speaker 2: so we're excited. Well, you just I don't know. It's
Speaker 2: it's going to be a fun, busy time and you know,
Speaker 2: a lot going on.
Speaker 1: We are so fortunate to have Charles Kelly with us
Speaker 1: today and I am so fortunate to have fantastic podcast sponsors.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad to get to share all that Mercy
Speaker 1: Ships is doing in the world with you. They travel
Speaker 1: to medical deserts, providing free, life changing surgeries to people
Speaker 1: in need, led by an all volunteer crew. They've been
Speaker 1: putting their faith into action for almost fifty years. Mercyships
Speaker 1: is all about impact. They performed nearly one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty thousand free surgeries to date and touched more than
Speaker 1: two million lives. But more than the numbers, it's about
Speaker 1: dreams restored and lives renewed. It's about loving someone. You
Speaker 1: can be a part of this amazing organization. When you
Speaker 1: support Mercyships, you experience the joy and transformation a mother
Speaker 1: seeing her child for the first time, a child finally
Speaker 1: able to run and play and dream and just be
Speaker 1: a kid. Visit mercyships dot org to give or learn
Speaker 1: about the other ways you can get involved. That's mercyships
Speaker 1: dot org. So tell me about the new album.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a it's an album called Songs for a
Speaker 2: New Moon. And the reason I named it that was
Speaker 2: songs for a New Phase. This is kind of a
Speaker 2: new moon is kind of the beginning of a new phase,
Speaker 2: a new cycle, you know, the moon phases. And so
Speaker 2: for me, that was I just felt like a creative
Speaker 2: way of saying this new beginning. You know, I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm kind of the beginning of my second half
Speaker 2: of life so to speak, you know, and getting to
Speaker 2: kind of experience things from a healthy, fresh perspective. And
Speaker 2: so you know this, this whole record is pretty much
Speaker 2: inspired for the most part by my wife, and so
Speaker 2: this is for her. And record comes out June twenty fifth,
Speaker 2: and so you know, it'll be out on all the
Speaker 2: Treatman services. But we also were going to have vinyl.
Speaker 2: We've got CDs, believe it or not for those people.
Speaker 2: I mean, I told everybody, I said, my mom still
Speaker 2: asked me for CDs, So I said, we have to
Speaker 2: at least print some CDs so my mom can pop
Speaker 2: it in her car. And so we got CDs, and
Speaker 2: I've got my website, Charles Kelly dot com. You can
Speaker 2: go check out stuff there. But it's obviously going to
Speaker 2: be on all stream and services. And uh, I think
Speaker 2: even Barnes and Nobles are going to carry a bunch
Speaker 2: of records. And so yeah, I hope everybody enjoys it.
Speaker 2: It's sixteen songs, so it's a lot of uh, it's
Speaker 2: a lot of music to get through.
Speaker 1: But to get through, no, no, no, no, no, to
Speaker 1: get to enjoy too.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not like we're sitting here listening to
Speaker 1: a lecture on the benefits of broccoli.
Speaker 2: But there's some good benefits to broccoli.
Speaker 1: I've got lots of it in my garden. But I
Speaker 1: don't want to listen to a record about it. I
Speaker 1: want to listen to a record about life and love
Speaker 1: and kids and passion and all that goodness.
Speaker 2: It's it's all in there. It's it's uh, it really
Speaker 2: is a really positive record, you know that. It's it's
Speaker 2: definitely a bit of a peek into this last three
Speaker 2: years and the growth that that I felt in the
Speaker 2: gratitude I think that I felt, really and so a
Speaker 2: celebration of life for me, a celebration of my wife.
Speaker 1: Okay, I've seen pictures, dude, of your wife. If any
Speaker 1: man was going to get sober and turn his life around,
Speaker 1: that that that would motivate you. She is she looks
Speaker 1: if she is half as nice as she is, lovely
Speaker 1: and gorgeous. You you hit the jackpot. You married a unicorn.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. She's she's an amazing woman. She's
Speaker 2: incredibly intelligent too. So I really do feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: she's uh, she's just seen it all with me, and
Speaker 2: I think she's you know, you know, unfortunately, with that disease,
Speaker 2: it's like the ones you love the most are the
Speaker 2: ones you hurt the most. And so you know, I
Speaker 2: think the last three years for me has been trying
Speaker 2: to really, you know, show her how much you know,
Speaker 2: how much she means to me, and and and you know,
Speaker 2: the man I want to be moving forward.
Speaker 1: So biggest thing you've discovered about yourself in your sobriety
Speaker 1: that you never would have known if you kept drinking.
Speaker 2: I love reading. I used to never read. I always
Speaker 2: equated reading to like schoolwork. I love reading. It's like
Speaker 2: all I do. Now I've been through. I've gone through
Speaker 2: you know, one hundred books in the which you know
Speaker 2: that was more than my entire lifetime before. And I just,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I love that quiet time. I think
Speaker 2: before my life always felt like I needed to stuff
Speaker 2: as much adrenaline rush or just excitement and heightened experiences
Speaker 2: into each day. And now I just feel like, to me,
Speaker 2: the beauties in the in the calm, the beauties and
Speaker 2: all those little in between moments of your life, you know,
Speaker 2: sitting down and reading, having a couple of coffee in
Speaker 2: the morning, you know, waking up with my kid, you know,
Speaker 2: first thing in the morning, take them to school and
Speaker 2: ask them questions like I don't know, I just think
Speaker 2: that's where the beauty really is. And it took some
Speaker 2: time to realize that. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you realized it. I'm so glad you did well.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1: You have a blessed, blessed pregnancy with your wife. Don't
Speaker 1: do don't do the twenty five to thirty pound weight
Speaker 1: gain that a lot of guys do.
Speaker 2: But like and what do you call it? Just in supportive,
Speaker 2: you know, go ahead taking against the wait along with her.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It happened with both of my husbands
Speaker 1: who I had children with. Yeah, yeah, solidarity, Yeah, solidarity.
Speaker 1: Thank you you have a wonderful time. Thank you for
Speaker 1: your music.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It's great speaking to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Charles for your time. I can't
Speaker 1: wait for Songs for a New Moon to drop. It's
Speaker 1: going to make summertime fun, taking the kids to the lake,
Speaker 1: listening to you. As if he's not busy enough writing
Speaker 1: and performing with the group Lady, A seasoned and celebrat
Speaker 1: singer songwriter Charles Kelly is about to launch his second
Speaker 1: solo album, Songs for a New Moon, on June twenty fifth.
Speaker 1: The sixteen tracks are seeping with unbridled optimism and irresistible
Speaker 1: eighties pop flare, celebrating an age of renewed possibility and
Speaker 1: fresh perspectives. Kelly says it reminds him of hearing Lady
Speaker 1: A's first recordings. He's now in a self described really
Speaker 1: positive life is good ad space and ready to soak
Speaker 1: it up and take this second chance of self discovery
Speaker 1: and sobriety and stop being afraid. You can pre save
Speaker 1: the album and keep up with all things Charles Kelly
Speaker 1: on Charles Kelly dot com, Charles k E L l
Speaker 1: e y dot com. He's also on all the social platforms.
Speaker 1: He's on Facebook, he's on Insta, He's on TikTok. Check
Speaker 1: him out. He's got some great interviews out there. I
Speaker 1: hope you're prepared or prepare for summertime, because ready or not,
Speaker 1: here it comes. There's nothing like a warm summer night,
Speaker 1: windows rolled down, music blaring, and Charles Kelly is helping
Speaker 1: us out with that part. I'll be here too. You
Speaker 1: can find me on your radio dial or on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app. I will keep you company on those summer
Speaker 1: road trips when everyone else is asleep and you need
Speaker 1: someone to keep you company. When you're working the evening shift,
Speaker 1: you need some good tunes, some great stories to keep
Speaker 1: you motivated when you can make it through the work
Speaker 1: night and then relaxing at home. I am there if
Speaker 1: you just need a friend. Thank you for sharing your heart,
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing your time with me.