WEBVTT - #474 - Drew Parker on Opening for Luke Combs Before He Was Famous 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.520 I got a call, like on a Friday afternoon from 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.280 the promoter. It's like, hey, my opener backed out. I'll 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.800 pay you a hundred bucks to come up here. It's like, yeah, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.000 who am I opening for a new guy that just 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.360 like moved to Nashville. His name's Luke COLEMs And I 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.400 was like, okay, cool. I didn't know who Luke was 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:27.320 at the time. Episode four seventy four. It's Drew Parker. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:28.400 I like this guy. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:30.920 Not that I don't like everybody, but some people you 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:32.680 just kind of click with and you can just have 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.159 a conversation and it just feels like kind of normal, 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:37.559 like you could just like two I didn't know him, 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.519 but like two buddies just talking for a while. I 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.440 kind of got this with Drew, and I felt like 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:44.199 I felt like we could have done like two hours. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.760 Yeah, like you hang out with them after. Yeah we didn't, 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.120 by the way, No, but I think I could have. Yeah, 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.720 I think I could have. His instagram is Drew Parker. Plays. 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.840 His full length album, Camouflage Cowboy, came out this summer. 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.640 His single is Love the Leaving, which is climbing. I 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:02.160 don't know where it is on a chart right now. 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:03.520 I know that we play it a little bit, and 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.200 I end up telling him in this like, hey, we're 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:06.400 gonna help you out a little bit because it's a 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:06.760 good song. 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.399 He's from Georgia. He started singing in church like a 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.520 lot of folks do. He's written big, big, big songs. 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.560 But I'll let you hear the story about that and 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.400 how one of these songs, like major artists wanted to 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:21.560 cut it and he had to go, no, I'm gonna 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:23.760 keep this one, which is crazy because if any of 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:25.559 these major artists cut it, he makes a lot of money. 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.839 He basically gave up money for the chance to possibly 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:31.120 make some money for himself. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:31.920 Yeah, it's a tough call. 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.039 It's a tough call, I know, especially as writers too, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.400 like his writers he wrote it with, They're. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.200 Like, no, give it to them. So yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.920 So I like Drew Parker. Check it out here. He 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.520 is episode four seventy four. Drew. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:49.000 I just got a text about fourteen minutes ago. Be 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.280 nice to Drew. He's a bud that's from Gator. Harrison. 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:58.040 How do you know Gator like typical radio stuff or 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.000 do you guys like have any history of doing anything 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:02.760 social golf? 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.040 Golf? Yeah, really. Hell, we live both on the same 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:05.840 side of town, so. 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.959 Oh man, it's forever going. I'll go play golf a 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.440 gator and it's like a fifty minute drive. It's out 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.160 there with any traffic, and. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.680 I'm farther like I live farther out than that. Do 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.000 you have like do you look like a property guy? 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.800 You have a property? I mean I don't, but I 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.440 there's plenty around me that I hope so big. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.560 I thought it had to be on a property, Like 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:29.880 I saw you drive up and I was like, is 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.560 that a truck on top of another truck? 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.079 And it was not. It was just your truck. 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.320 Now, when you buy that truck, do you buy it 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.640 lifted that much already or did you lift it yourself? 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:40.839 Or is it not lifted at all? 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.480 It's it has like like a one and a half 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:43.880 inch list. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.040 You gotta be kidding me, I swear, Okay, how big 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:50.480 of the tires? Thirty seven minutes tars, Mike, It's a monster, right, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.600 It's huge. Okay, So what am I not getting? Because 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.240 I don't know anything about cars? 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.480 What I don't know? I'm like big on the it 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.000 looks like a glorified truck. Honestly, it's yeah, but it's huge. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.720 It is big. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, you know, might 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:06.480 have to you know, pull a buddy out of the 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.320 pitch or something. I don't know, a little wench for that. 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.240 But I mean, this is like my dream truck. This 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.360 is like what I like. Well, it's just I mean, 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.800 I wouldn't say that this is exactly my dream truck 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.040 because they didn't. This truck didn't exist when I when 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.160 you were eleven, right exactly. But it's like now it's 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.440 what I envisioned I would have loved when I was eleven. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.320 This is that meaning like, you're doing good enough now 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:30.679 you can just go get whatever truck you want. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:32.480 Uh no, this will be. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.320 This I mean is if I'm asking the question, you 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.600 have to be it's not humble to answer it. 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.440 It is like if that's like I just. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.520 Bought my freaking dream car. Yeah, the first time, and 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:44.320 it's awesome and I love it. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.000 Yeah, but I couldn't do it again. I couldn't go 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.240 do it again. I couldn't go get another You need to, No, 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.800 I don't. Oh yeah, so yeah this is yeah, this 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:52.480 is it. That's cool. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.200 Yeah, I'll have it to the world's fall off. Oh 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:56.400 I'll trade mine in about a year. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.680 But no, this is yeah yeah, yeah, uh so what 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.920 is Covington, Georgia like very small town suburb of Atlanta. 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.840 It's definitely, you know, it's kind of expanded. Atlanta's kind 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:10.920 of expanded there. Now it's not the same talent it 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:11.760 was when I was growing up. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:13.600 How suburban? How long does it take to get out 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:18.120 of Atlanta to a forty five minutes? But yeah, I 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:19.760 mean it's not the exact same talent it was when 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.280 I was growing up. When I was growing up there 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:22.640 there was only one high school. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.159 When I was a kid, An there's like three west 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:29.479 size was your high school? Six hundred? I have any okay, 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:30.560 so not big? Mine was. 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.560 We were single A, then went to double A. I 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:37.120 don't know what the class we would be. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.600 We were like we were actually four A. In my 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.320 senior year. She played ball, but I was. I played baseball. 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.000 I was the first full graduated class. So my freshman 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.200 year it was a brand new school. Oh dang, yeah, 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.440 I was the first class with her. We had a 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.440 school wasn't ours. We had a school that was brand new. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:53.240 It was called Center Point. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:54.919 There were a brand new school, but they struggle in 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.640 athletics for a while because they were a brand new 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.119 school and I don't know, just a bunch of random 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.360 kids that went there. They didn't have any history, right 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:04.760 and any tradition. 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.680 Did you guys have any experience that, Yeah, very much so. 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:10.920 But my senior year we went to a final four 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:16.240 in state in baseball and then got molly wopped, just 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.520 destroyed by a team of Atlanta. Did you play any 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:27.120 like pro ball players that later turned pro? Not that well. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.839 I played like Jason Hayward's younger brother, but I don't 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.760 think he was like, well, that's funny. I mean, Jason Hayward. 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.320 I'm a big Cups fan, So yeah, Hayward's yeah, big 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.440 part of the reason that we did anything back in 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:39.320 the day in sixteen. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.240 So I remember playing his brother. There was some other guy. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.440 There was a guy that hit an absolute mammoth of 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.160 a home run off of me that went and played somewhere, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:49.839 and I think he owes a lot of that to 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:51.800 me because there were tons of scouts there watching him, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:52.280 and I just. 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.640 That's so funny that he said Jason Hayward, And I'm like, wow, 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.880 younger brother, that's funny. 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.599 When did you move to Nashale. Oh what year twenty fifteen, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.880 September twenty fifteen. I guess he's been here a little 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:04.760 bit nine years. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.280 Let's talk music, because I got a lot of stuff 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.400 to talk about. What do you wanna do first? You 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.400 want to do the greatest hits? What do you want 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:12.560 to do? 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.280 You? This is the greatest hits? Okay, got a. 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.440 Grammy nominee nomination for doing this with Luke Combs. You 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.440 guys met back like Rome. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:24.840 Yeah, we met in a bar in Rome, Georgia, Georgia. 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.080 Was he playing the bar? He was? I was opening. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.040 I got a call, like on a Friday afternoon from 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.840 the promoter. It's like, hey, my opener backed out. I'll 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.839 pay you a hundred bucks to come up here. I 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.360 was like, yeah, who am I opening for? He was like, well, 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.880 it's this new guy that just like moved to Nashville. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.279 His name's Luke Combs. And I was like, okay, cool. 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.880 I didn't know who Luke was at the time, but 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.000 we opened that show that night and we just hit 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.360 it off. And he was like, man, I just moved 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.240 to Nashville. You should come up there and let's write songs. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.040 And I had never written a song before and I was, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.400 but I was like, well, this seems like my ticket 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.919 to Nashville, because I'd always wanted to go. I was like, 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.400 this seems like my ticket. So I was like absolutely. 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.320 So for the next nine months, I drove back and 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.920 forth from Georgia to Nashville and wrote songs. What was 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.960 that drive? Three hundred miles? Did you have a normal job? 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.360 I did? I have a degree in radiology. Wow. So 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.520 that nine months, I like was sending like resumes to 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:27.280 try to get a job at a hospital up here, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.240 and it took nine months, but I finally did. And 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:30.280 then that's when I moved. 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.160 I think, if I'm doing my research here, you have, 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.080 as far as radiologists go, the biggest truck ever, any 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.360 radiologist ever, largest radiologist truck. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:45.600 Yeah. Why did you go into radiology? It was so 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.760 I did like joint enrollment, like my junior senior ye 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.120 of high school, which was like half college half high 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.160 school credits or whatever was it? Because you were so ahead. 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.520 I mean, it's okay, well I really don't remember. I 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.560 think so, but it allowed for me to have this 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.560 opportunity to be able to go, you know, take two 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.280 classes at the college. The local Community College in Covington. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.360 So when I got out, I had this plan that 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.360 I was going to go play music. Moved to Nashville 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:14.720 one day, so I like kind of looked into what 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.120 are the credits that I've earned at this point that 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.400 I can get through something quickly? Right when like radiology 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.200 was like one of the ones that popped up. Were 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:29.760 you interested in that? Did you know really what it was? 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:31.920 I liked the medical field. I thought it was like 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.360 an easy place to get a job. I mean, my 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.160 whole plan was to wind up here in the music business. 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.440 What was going to get me their quick, quickest and 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:40.480 to help me pay my rent. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:42.360 Only person that's ever come in to said the medical 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:43.880 industry is what was going to get me to Nashville 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.600 to write song. You're the only person that's ever happened 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:47.920 probably so so. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.240 And you did that. You did radiology for a little bit. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.480 I did so. I got here in twenty fifteen and 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.200 worked at a hospital in Nashville, and I worked there 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:01.880 until the week I had first number one in twenty twenty. 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.760 That's a wild story that's extremely versatile of you can 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.520 you look at my ankle, you well, you don't have 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.199 the equipment oh kind of makes for your ankle. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.319 Yeah, uh no, I don't have the equipment. 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.000 But if you did, oh I did, if christ did 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:17.320 you put the thing on? Where you have to like 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.839 where the did you? You have to run out of 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.680 the room right Like they're like, yeah, you're supposed to. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:27.160 But really, I mean, here's the thing. Man, It's like 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.440 takes too much. Like really you're supposed to go get help, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.400 like where the thing? But man, when you're like patients 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.360 are like coming in and out like a lots of fast, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.040 you're gonna get backed up. You're just kind of like, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:40.640 all right, well this will be quicker if I just 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.840 don't go ask for helping take the risk of ready. Yeah, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.280 but my kids all you know, the two kids I 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.880 have have all their fingers and toes. So I think 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.040 we've made it out alive. Talk to me. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.280 So you're in Rome, Georgia with Luke Combs. How many 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:55.760 people do you think are at the show that night? 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.120 I've always said that there was sixty people at the 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.240 show that night. I've been told that that is false, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.880 but I'm that's close. Were you the only support? Was 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.120 it you? Then, Luke? No? There was another guy, h 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:14.640 Jacob Bryant and do you meet Luke pre or post 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.640 pre pre show? And then we hung out post show 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:19.680 and we just hit it off. I mean we just 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.800 had the same interest. It was like kind of like sports, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:25.840 like we just found you know, we just liked all 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:26.480 the same things. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.040 And so he says, hey, here's my information, and like 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:31.760 it's not like he was killing it right he was. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.320 He was far from finger quotes Luke Comb's oh not 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:34.920 even close. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.640 But what was he able to lend you as far 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.280 as like advice or he already lived here, so you 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.520 had like a buddy or someone you could like rely 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:44.400 on to be here? 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.559 Like what was that? Well? I just knew that there 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:50.520 was some confidence there that I couldn't. I mean, it's 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.400 also like you hear somebody that you're like a massive 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.360 fan of and you're like, okay, that guy's good, and 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.560 the person that you think is good is telling you 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.000 you're good. So you're like, okay, well there's a little 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.640 validation there. He respected your music as well. 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.520 Yeah, that's pretty cool because even before he blew up, 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:07.559 you would hear him sing and you would go, oh, yeah, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:08.040 he's really good. 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:08.400 I remember. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:09.959 But it was like the first time that I heard 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.719 him sing. It was like, again, this is before he 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.960 even had an hit song. He was in studio and 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.000 he sings so violently, but he's a pure singer. At 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.160 the same time, he's incredible. It's one of those rare 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.160 where someone can go extremely hard. It's like oh, but 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.640 also like what do you want him to sing? 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:27.760 Like? It doesn't matter. 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:29.760 Yeah, he doesn't get the credit for being like a 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.760 pure vocalist because of how aggressive he sings, and also 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:35.600 just because he looks like a normal dude. But I 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.400 remember thinking that and if he thought I was good, 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:38.760 which he did not think I was a good singer, 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:40.280 so I don't know I have the same then I 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:41.440 think that would give me confidence. 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.319 And you felt that way about yourself, Yeah, I mean 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.120 it did. And I knew that he, you know, had 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.360 offered the invite to come to Nashville to write songs. 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.959 I knew that that's kind of not an inn and 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:54.480 tell him, but like, that's kind of where you start, 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.520 like when you get to hear right songs. So here's 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.880 a guy that lives in Nashville doing what I want 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.839 to do, who is inviting me to write songs, and 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.720 so I take that opportunity. What was home like for 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.800 you growing up? Your parents? Were they together? They? Yep, 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.320 very supportive, very involved. I mean so music for me 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.320 started when I was like ten, singing in church and 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.720 like traveling all over the Southeast. My dad would get 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:25.760 off work on Friday and we'd pack my mom's expedition 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.960 with like sound equipment and we'd go sing at a 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.360 church or I would go sing at a church a 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:32.480 family and it was just me. 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.640 Oh so they were just being supportive. Yeah, so how 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.800 at ten? Why at ten did you want to start 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.440 singing in church? Did you have like friends that sang, 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.400 a youth director that sang? Like how did you get 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:43.800 involved there? 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:45.440 There was this guy in my church that sang and 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.240 he would literally go sit up set up sound equipment 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.439 in the Arby's parking lot and sing on like Friday nights. 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:52.960 And my parents would go up there and we'd like 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.480 spend Friday nights in the Arby's parking lot watching this 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.840 guy sing. And so he like introduced me to the 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.079 stage there. And so it's just like thing that developed 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.880 and just one thing led to another, and my parents, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.560 you know, always I wouldn't say they pushed me to 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.040 do it. But they saw that, you know, it was 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.280 something I wanted to do, and they whatever it took 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.320 for me to be able to do that super encouraging. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.120 Oh very are they so proud of you now? I'd 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.160 like to think so. Yeah, I think so because I. 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.680 Think that would be pretty cool to have somebody that 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.719 you know and love kind of risk it. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:27.040 All. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.560 This is a wild industry where almost nobody makes it, 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.199 and if you do make it, you know, making it 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.160 is if you actually make its just paying your bills 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:35.800 like that. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.679 That's been my goal, that's all. That's the only thing 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.640 that's ever been My goal is to provide for my 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.440 family doing what I love. So whatever that meant. 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.480 Anybody that can do an art they love and support 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.520 themselves like to me, that's making it. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:49.880 That's it. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:52.280 And the fact that you've been able to because you 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.360 said you hadn't written you hadn't really written in these songs, right, 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.520 not really? And again we're doing the greatest hits before 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.000 we get to specific stuff about you. 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:00.360 But it's like. 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.600 All the songs that you now have written, you know, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.240 with and for Luke, were you sitting in rooms with 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:13.320 people that had written the way Nashville writes or were. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.720 Just you and Luke writing and he was learning. How 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.520 it was like it was me and Luke and other 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.040 folks that he had met the same way he had 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.480 met me in a sense. I mean we were just 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.120 learning together really, and we were just writing songs that 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.000 we would want to listen to. You know. It wasn't 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.040 We never never felt like we were chasing anything, which 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:33.640 is interesting. 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.600 But do you remember like learning the formula meaning Okay, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.080 we're gonna we're gonna sit down, and this is very concept. 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.960 It's a very concept first town more so than a 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.840 melody town, right, and we're gonna go uh verse chorus, 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:53.000 uh bridge or verse bridge core, whatever the case, and going, oh, 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:54.800 this kind of makes sense. Now there's a formula. I 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.000 never really looked at song. Its like a formula, like 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:58.600 did you learn that when you hear or were you 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.480 just listening to enough song to sing enough songs that 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.040 you kind of understood that anyway, even before you you 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:03.680 wrote anything. 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.480 Yeah, I think just by listening to other songs and 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:11.360 kind of just learning that way. But there's so many 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.240 different it was. I was always like a stickler on 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.160 like rhymes and like you know, finding them the right 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.560 place to land and like the phrasing of the thing. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:21.960 But I think that was, you know, from the music 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:22.600 that I grew. 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.840 Up on, Like prechorses were always trippy to me, because 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.160 I never even thought of such a thing, right, the 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:28.840 new choruses and I knew that. 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.080 I was like, oh, pre chorus. Pre chorus is just 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:32.720 the thing that helps you like the end of your 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.240 verse doesn't quite carry you into the chorus. So you're 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.080 just like, well, we need to make something up that 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.680 gets us to the chorus. Yeah, but we can repeat that. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.680 People will also sing, did you let's take Luke out 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.640 of this rite with anybody where you're like, holy crap. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.360 I think I just took a lesson in writing early on. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.000 Like Ben Hayslip, Yeah, he was one of the guys 0:15:55.000 --> 0:16:01.400 that wrote with me early on. There was a few, 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:02.760 but I mean for the most part, it was just 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:03.880 people that I was meeting. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.080 You go into the song rounds and you know, I 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.480 feel like I've been fortunate in my time here. Like 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:14.360 so we launched, we semi launched like a secret project. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.280 And what do I know about songwriting? Nothing except for 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:22.640 I wrote comedy songs right, very different. I can write verse, chorus, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.000 bridge chorus, chorus, chorus, chorus, as long as it's funny, 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.840 it doesn't matter, and as long as it grows. But me, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.320 Ross Kapperman, Nicole Gallian we got together and we're like, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:37.560 we're going to create this cartoon kind of like the 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:42.240 Mike who is a feel good the Gorillas, the Gorillas, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.760 kind of like kind of the Gorilla. Actually, what it 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.360 happened was I'd seen a thing in like sixty minutes. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:47.760 We're in Japan. They have a hologram. 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.200 It does like ten to at once, and I'm like, oh, 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:51.280 this is how we make money. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:52.200 Holy cas. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:53.360 So I went to Ross and I was like, well, 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.040 let's let's write a bunch of songs. Not really knowing 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.440 anything other than writing comedy songs. I was like, let's 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.640 we're gonna build this hologram and it's going to open 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:02.520 for everybody at once, and we're gonna sit home account 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:03.040 our money. 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.080 That's brilliant, and so he was like, let's go. 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:09.040 And so we got in a call and we went 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.560 and wrote every week everywhere, and I remember just going, oh, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.480 I had no idea, Like I thought I. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.080 Had an idea, and I knew music. I knew how 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:15.399 to write that. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:20.240 But just like the precision of like really talented songaters 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.919 and you're one of those now. But when I was 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.520 newly kind of adopted into let's write this stuff, I 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:27.760 was just like, oh, I had no idea you could 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.080 do so many things with songs and concepts and turning 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.800 meanings around and flipping things like I got a big lesson, And. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.439 I don't know where that came from for me, Like 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.760 that's kind of always been like what fires me up 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:41.840