Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1: I could not be more excited for my guest today
Speaker 1: on the show. He is a friend but also one
Speaker 1: of the most talented human beings I know. He was
Speaker 1: part of maybe my favorite country band ever, Rascal Flats,
Speaker 1: And I think that's fair to say. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: a George straight guy, so George stra would be my
Speaker 1: favorite artist ever, but for Rascal Flats easily one of
Speaker 1: my favorite bands ever. And Jada Marcus was a huge
Speaker 1: part of that, along with Jodahn and Gary. And when
Speaker 1: I started getting ready for this podcast, and I started
Speaker 1: going back over the numbers, and obviously I know these guys,
Speaker 1: and I knew Rascal Flats was successful. But when I
Speaker 1: look back and they had seventeen number one hits, thirty
Speaker 1: three million albums, sold, more than forty trophies from Grammys
Speaker 1: to cmas Amas, you name it, People's Choice Awards. They
Speaker 1: accomplished it all over a two decade run, and then
Speaker 1: right around the pandemic, right around the time that they
Speaker 1: had just announced that they were going to do kind
Speaker 1: of a farewell tour and take a break for some
Speaker 1: personal reasons that I also want to ask Jay about.
Speaker 1: It was over and they were gone. Obviously, everything was
Speaker 1: swept up by the pandemic and touring and life on
Speaker 1: the road. All that came to an end for all musicians.
Speaker 1: But for Rascal Flats it happened at such an inopportune
Speaker 1: time because they were already in turmoil, They were having
Speaker 1: trouble and as they of course, they were kind of
Speaker 1: doing a farewell tour, so that means things were coming
Speaker 1: to an end in their mind. What has happened since
Speaker 1: then and what happened in that moment been shrouded in mystery,
Speaker 1: and no one has really ever talked about it. I
Speaker 1: haven't heard Jodns speak about it. I haven't heard Jada
Speaker 1: Marcus speak about it, or Gary. So I am very
Speaker 1: curious what happened to one of the most famous bands
Speaker 1: in the history of not just country music but music
Speaker 1: in general, that they just disappeared and haven't been seen
Speaker 1: from again. So I am so grateful for my friend
Speaker 1: Jada Marcus to come on the show today. Jada Marcus
Speaker 1: joins me from what appears to be his sound studio
Speaker 1: office in Nashville, and where are you.
Speaker 2: This is my office at Red Street Records.
Speaker 1: Red Street Records. Well, I guess that's where we have
Speaker 1: to jump off right there. What is Red Street Records?
Speaker 1: You started a label of your own?
Speaker 3: I did so, you know, when Rascal Flats was stored.
Speaker 3: Winding down our touring career, I always knew that I
Speaker 3: wanted to be on the business side of the music
Speaker 3: business at some point, so I started out with a
Speaker 3: little Christian label in twenty eighteen called Reread Street Records.
Speaker 2: Signed a couple of buddies of mine.
Speaker 3: That I knew were already in the industry, and I
Speaker 3: first of all wanted to see if it was something
Speaker 3: that I enjoyed doing and whether I had a knack
Speaker 3: for it or not. And found out very quickly that
Speaker 3: it was very rewarding to kind of pass on whatever
Speaker 3: I'd learned in the music business to younger artists and
Speaker 3: kind of passed the baton that way. And then as
Speaker 3: we started to grow and we had more and more success,
Speaker 3: the Pandemic hit sort of canceled our Rascal Flats farewell
Speaker 3: to that we had on the books, and I found
Speaker 3: a business partner that has been amazing.
Speaker 2: He came alongside me and.
Speaker 3: Sort of bankrolled the whole thing, and we started a
Speaker 3: country label. Now we have four country artists for Christian artists.
Speaker 3: So it's been a really fun thing to watch grow
Speaker 3: and to build it. It's been really, really, very rewarding.
Speaker 1: My favorite business partners are those that'll come in at
Speaker 1: bank roll the whole thing. Yeah, those are the good ones.
Speaker 2: Always better to use someone else's money.
Speaker 1: I've heard you mentioned kind of pre Pandemic and Rascal
Speaker 1: Flats and you guys were about to go out on
Speaker 1: tour and I was going to come see you guys,
Speaker 1: and we had plans to meet up. Last time I
Speaker 1: saw you it was twenty nineteen, again in person the
Speaker 1: last time. We've texted several times, but last time I
Speaker 1: think we were at the on that trip with Rob Wriggle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: up in what month? Were we in Montana? What we
Speaker 1: were on like a dude ranch?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wasn't or Wyoming, Wyoming.
Speaker 1: I think I think you're right. I think we're in Wyom.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Rob Wriggle had some deal with some ranch. We stayed
Speaker 1: at some hotel. We went fly fishing and horseback riding
Speaker 1: and played golf and we had a hell of a time.
Speaker 1: It was a great crew and you, me and Rob,
Speaker 1: you know, stayed up and had a few cocktails and
Speaker 1: shared stories.
Speaker 2: For a while, we've been known to do that at
Speaker 2: the time with you. Sure, No, that was great.
Speaker 3: That was such a great time. I think he's going
Speaker 3: to bring that back this year, so I hope to
Speaker 3: see you there too. The wild West Shootout, you know, Uh,
Speaker 3: that was it was an absolute blast.
Speaker 1: We had a good crew. And uh, I'll be playing
Speaker 1: in Tahoe this year too, so I'll see him at Oh.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: It's American Century Classic, you guys. You know, it's funny,
Speaker 1: full circle moment. The first time I saw you guys
Speaker 1: in concert is Rascal Flats would always play the week
Speaker 1: of the American Century Classic there in Tahoe. It usually is,
Speaker 1: I think in July, early July is and that's where
Speaker 1: I first saw you guys. I think it was before
Speaker 1: I even met you.
Speaker 2: It probably was, I remember that. And that's before I
Speaker 2: even played in the tournament.
Speaker 3: Because we used to do Friday and Saturday night out there,
Speaker 3: and it was I would watch jod On and he
Speaker 3: would just be exhausted, drag him through the weekend so
Speaker 3: I didn't actually start playing in the tournament until after
Speaker 3: week had didn't play there anymore.
Speaker 2: So it's fun now to just kind of go.
Speaker 3: And we do something really fun on Thursday Night now too,
Speaker 3: as we host Celebrity Karaoke Night, which is really fun.
Speaker 2: You got to get up and sing a song with us.
Speaker 1: So this is obviously a huge NBC event, and I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I'm very honored that I got invited this year, and
Speaker 1: I one hundred percent will be there because I have
Speaker 1: heard it is the best event, best celebrity golf event.
Speaker 1: And I played in the AT and T Peble Beach
Speaker 1: program ironically with Jodn Rooney. Joe Don and I were
Speaker 1: in the same group with Wyndam Clark and Jason Day
Speaker 1: and so Joe Don and I would always play together.
Speaker 1: But coming to Tahoe, come to the America's Century, and
Speaker 1: I've heard about Thursday Night Celebrity Karaoke. I will not
Speaker 1: be a part of this, but I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see it.
Speaker 2: But maybe we can make you a celebrity judge, your
Speaker 2: guest celebrity judge.
Speaker 1: How about that. Here's the thing. You got a guy
Speaker 1: like Alfonso Roberto, right, and I think it's bullsh that
Speaker 1: he's a part of it because he's good. He's I know,
Speaker 1: he's not technically a singer, but the dude can sing.
Speaker 1: So he's gonna put everybody to shame.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we've we've made a rule to where
Speaker 3: he can't win it anymore because yeah, so he's kind
Speaker 3: of just up there for fun.
Speaker 1: Now there should be a category of too talented. That's Alfonso.
Speaker 1: He can dance, he can sing, so you can't compete
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 3: No, no, obviously a professional and yeah, and be in
Speaker 3: the contest.
Speaker 2: He knows that though. That's why we do a couple
Speaker 2: of songs with him.
Speaker 1: So here my relation ship with with Rascal Flats is
Speaker 1: very interesting. First and foremost the biggest fan of the
Speaker 1: world as most people are, and it is I'll say
Speaker 1: Rascal Flats is one of those bands when you know
Speaker 1: those bands where you're like, I think I know some
Speaker 1: of their songs, Like I think I know a few
Speaker 1: for sure, and then you go to a concert and
Speaker 1: you realize there's thirty Rascal Flat songs you know by heart.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you guys, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: this is fair. I'm gonna also throw out the Goo
Speaker 1: Goo Dolls. That's another one of those bands where I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I probably know some Goo Goo Doll songs. I'm like,
Speaker 1: holy crap, I just sang every song at your concert,
Speaker 1: are you know? Word by word from my heart? And
Speaker 1: so that fandom really misses you guys. And we missed
Speaker 1: the the final tour, the farewell tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate that. Man, first of all, such kind words,
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. You know, nobody
Speaker 3: misses it more than we do. We feel like we
Speaker 3: were robbed. I was telling somebody the other day. One
Speaker 3: of the things that's been the hardest to get over
Speaker 3: was in twenty twenty, we had this farewell tour lined
Speaker 3: out to do. We were all kind of burned out
Speaker 3: because we've been together twenty two years and we'd never
Speaker 3: had a real break. So we were at that point
Speaker 3: to where we loved each other, but we looked at
Speaker 3: each other we were like, at some point we got
Speaker 3: to take a little time for ourselves and do some
Speaker 3: things that we hadn't had a chance to do individually
Speaker 3: up to that point. So when we were I never
Speaker 3: will forget this, we were playing a casino in New
Speaker 3: Jersey and the pandemic had just started to really get
Speaker 3: legs and it was spreading across America, and we were
Speaker 3: rushing to get back home, so we canceled our meet
Speaker 3: and greet because we were afraid of infection spreading and
Speaker 3: one of us getting COVID. So we did the show.
Speaker 3: We packed up as quickly as we could, we got
Speaker 3: on the buses and headed back home. That was the
Speaker 3: last time we were all together on the stage and
Speaker 3: it makes me emotional when I think about it, because
Speaker 3: we didn't know the last time was the last time,
Speaker 3: and not to be able to say goodbye to it
Speaker 3: and give it its proper do has been one of
Speaker 3: the most painful things in the world.
Speaker 2: So, first of all, for the fans.
Speaker 3: They've been the most amazing support system ever and they've
Speaker 3: allowed us to have these incredible lives and careers. Without them,
Speaker 3: obviously we wouldn't have anything. So, you know, a lot
Speaker 3: of love and respect and honor should be given to them,
Speaker 3: and we didn't give we didn't give any of them
Speaker 3: a chance to come say goodbye to us. That is
Speaker 3: always something that's really sucked, and I've always hated and regretted, you.
Speaker 1: Know, It's funny. I just realized in listening to you talk,
Speaker 1: I went through something very similar, And I say, you
Speaker 1: and I am in Rascal Flats and me with the
Speaker 1: Bachelor of Lauren and I my beautiful wife, and I
Speaker 1: just did a podcast about this, of not knowing when
Speaker 1: it's over, of not knowing the last time you're walking
Speaker 1: off the field, not being cognizant of the fact of
Speaker 1: this is it, and that that show in New Jersey
Speaker 1: you didn't have the wherewithal to go, this is the
Speaker 1: last time we're all going to be together on the stage.
Speaker 1: And you and I, you know, obviously when I walked
Speaker 1: off the Bachelor Show for the last time, I didn't
Speaker 1: know that. And I didn't have the pageantry and the
Speaker 1: ceremony of getting to say goodbye on your own terms.
Speaker 1: And you guys, unfortunately, after two decks over two decades,
Speaker 1: didn't have that chance to say goodbye.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It is something that I live with
Speaker 2: every day. I mean, I really do. Rascal Flats.
Speaker 3: When you when you're part of something and you build
Speaker 3: it from the ground up and watch it grow and
Speaker 3: watch people respond to it and people love it, and
Speaker 3: people identify with your music and your songs, and you've
Speaker 3: helped them through certain seasons of our lives, and it
Speaker 3: becomes something more than just a song to other people.
Speaker 3: That has value to me, That means something, and I
Speaker 3: don't take that lightly. So to not be able to
Speaker 3: give it its proper goodbye or say thank you to
Speaker 3: those fans that we would have met in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: and be able to hug them one last time and
Speaker 3: tell them thank you for an incredible career, it truly is.
Speaker 3: You know, it's been heartbreaking and it's not something easy
Speaker 3: to live with every day because I poured so much
Speaker 3: into it myself that I've not been able to resolve
Speaker 3: it internally myself either.
Speaker 2: So I deal with that every day.
Speaker 3: I'm one of those people that hopes we have a
Speaker 3: chance to stand on stage again together someday so that
Speaker 3: we're able to at least put some kind of resolution
Speaker 3: to it.
Speaker 2: And I hold out hope every day that we'll get
Speaker 2: to that point eventually. You know, yeah, I know that.
Speaker 1: You know, Joe Don Rudy God bless them, is working
Speaker 1: on himself and trying to get healthy, and I wish
Speaker 1: him the very best, and I hope he does kind
Speaker 1: of conquer those demons that he's been fighting you, And
Speaker 1: so it's you and Gary right now right that are
Speaker 1: kind of along with jodon And I guess that you
Speaker 1: kind of answered a little bit of surely there's room
Speaker 1: that someday this could happen, you know, even if it's
Speaker 1: just one of those crazy Grammy moments or whatever where
Speaker 1: you just all of a sudden, maybe even for one
Speaker 1: night only, Rascal Flats is back together. I just maybe
Speaker 1: it's just being a huge fan. I just I hope,
Speaker 1: I hope that's a possibility.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's a you know, we we needed
Speaker 3: to give Jodahn the space and the time to go
Speaker 3: through some of the things that he needed to go through.
Speaker 3: You know, he was going through a very painful divorce.
Speaker 3: There were things here he was dealing with towards the
Speaker 3: last few years that Gary and I really didn't know
Speaker 3: the depth of. You know, it's it's easy to go
Speaker 3: out and sing for a bunch of fans and and
Speaker 3: have a few cocktails afterward and sort of go to bed.
Speaker 3: But it's harder when you're dealing with personal issues, and
Speaker 3: you're dealing with some personal demons and a rough home life,
Speaker 3: and that starts to compound and you start to self
Speaker 3: medicate more than you realize.
Speaker 2: And I think that was sneaking up on him. I
Speaker 2: know it was.
Speaker 3: Because we've remained We've remained very, very close through his
Speaker 3: whole process. I stayed in touch with him, you know,
Speaker 3: as often as I could while he was in rehab.
Speaker 3: And I can't tell you how proud I am of
Speaker 3: this guy and how he is bounced back. And I
Speaker 3: haven't seen jodin this healthy and this happy in a
Speaker 3: long long time, and I'm so proud of him, and
Speaker 3: he is his sobriety means so much to him right now,
Speaker 3: and he's working his way through that, and I think
Speaker 3: he's finally at a place to where he's able to
Speaker 3: start coming back into the world and be creative again
Speaker 3: and feeling good about the future and where that may
Speaker 3: lead to. So it's been it's been an amazing thing
Speaker 3: to stand back on the side lines and sort of
Speaker 3: watch him come through so much and conquer so much,
Speaker 3: and I just I could not be more proud of.
Speaker 2: The man he is and what he's been able to do. Well.
Speaker 1: I know, you guys, things got contentious, We'll just say
Speaker 1: that towards the end, But now that we all have understanding,
Speaker 1: and like you said, it's it's such a good lesson
Speaker 1: no matter how successful, and you guys couldn't have been
Speaker 1: more successful in the industry. You don't know what somebody
Speaker 1: is going through on the data, and you know, we
Speaker 1: all judge each other on social media, you know, judge
Speaker 1: our neighbors, and you see people all the time and
Speaker 1: you just think, you know, you don't. You don't know
Speaker 1: what someone's going through. You don't know their pain, you
Speaker 1: don't know the depth of it. And so you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Don I think is a shining example of that.
Speaker 1: And thank god, I think he's coming through this on
Speaker 1: the other side. So you know, maybe I think what
Speaker 1: you just said though, was hopeful. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if everybody gets healthy and happy and we come back
Speaker 1: and maybe we do have the resurrection tour that you know,
Speaker 1: you guys be the Stones, maybe just go on forever.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: My hope is that it won't be a farewell to her.
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll be able to come back story we'll appreciate
Speaker 2: it more than we ever have.
Speaker 3: Or you know, I think that's one of the things
Speaker 3: we took for granted, is that it was just going
Speaker 3: to go on and on forever, and then you know,
Speaker 3: COVID taught us otherwise, you know, just when you think
Speaker 3: you're in control, you're not. And something you said is
Speaker 3: so true. You never know the shit that people deal
Speaker 3: with on the inside. And one thing I've learned is
Speaker 3: to try to be, especially if you care about somebody,
Speaker 3: to try to be more in tune and more and
Speaker 3: not so apprehensive about asking people if they're okay. Sometimes
Speaker 3: just asking someone if they're okay means the world to
Speaker 3: someone more than you might ever imagine, just to let
Speaker 3: somebody know that somebody cares enough to even ask about them.
Speaker 3: And that's that's something I think that I've walked away
Speaker 3: with from this is going you know, it's okay to
Speaker 3: have even if you're bros and your dudes and you
Speaker 3: hang out and you play golf, it's okay to have
Speaker 3: a heart to heart with somebody and go, are you
Speaker 3: doing okay? Man?
Speaker 2: Tell me about what's going on.
Speaker 1: And guys notoriously are bad at that. Yeah, we're mad.
Speaker 1: It's like, man, take two seconds and actually ask, especially
Speaker 1: if someone kind of opens the door. Oftentimes we all
Speaker 1: just gloss over. It's like, oh, I'm you know, having
Speaker 1: a tough time at home and like, oh man, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's tough. Instead like if someone actually takes the second
Speaker 1: to open that door, walk through it and you know,
Speaker 1: ask a follow up a question and see how they're
Speaker 1: really doing. It's funny when you're you're telling that story.
Speaker 1: It kind of reminded me of the movie almost Famous
Speaker 1: of you know, the trials and tribulations of a band
Speaker 1: and then when they kind of you know, got back
Speaker 1: together in the end, it was a thousand times better.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that could be y'all's story. It
Speaker 1: truly could be where you just go back out for
Speaker 1: the love of the game and actually enjoy every minute
Speaker 1: of it. Maybe who knows, this is the pipe dream
Speaker 1: you guys are all on one bus instead of three
Speaker 1: separate buses.
Speaker 2: You never know. It could be the case.
Speaker 3: Although one of us snores really loudly, and I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna divult through that is, but I hope that's the case.
Speaker 2: I really do, because I miss it.
Speaker 3: I know that being in a band is like, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a marriage on steroids. You know, in the longer
Speaker 3: year together, the more buttons you know, to push to
Speaker 3: irritate each other.
Speaker 2: So I think the time away has done us some good.
Speaker 3: I don't think we'll ever stop loving each other, but
Speaker 3: we definitely got to the point to where, you know,
Speaker 3: everybody needs a little time away.
Speaker 1: A little Chicago. You know, it's well years. What's funny,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about you guys in Chicago one of
Speaker 1: my favorite bands as well ever, and they, you know,
Speaker 1: they've made it work through different band members or whatever,
Speaker 1: they've always kept that name and that that sound alive.
Speaker 1: And so hopefully you guys will too. You've worked with
Speaker 1: you worked with Chicago.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm in a band with Jason Chef called Generation Radio.
Speaker 1: Is he still in southern California? He lived out by me?
Speaker 1: I think Thousand Oaks. Yeah, yeah, he's still out there.
Speaker 1: And so we got this band called Generation Radio that's
Speaker 1: kind of a supergroup. We started out with Dean Castronovo,
Speaker 1: who's Journey Jason of course Chicago, and now we have
Speaker 1: Steve Feroni, who spent twenty five years as the drummer
Speaker 1: for Tom Petty and the Heartbreacords. It's a fun little
Speaker 1: band and we released a we released a record a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. So we're out doing some corporates
Speaker 1: and things. I'll just say Where can we find you, guys,
Speaker 1: because talk about a great night to go out and
Speaker 1: see those guys jam You know, are you all on
Speaker 1: social media? Where can we find you?
Speaker 2: Generation Radio dot com And you can stream the music.
Speaker 3: On all platforms Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon.
Speaker 1: I know that this is a tough thing to claim,
Speaker 1: since you know, we say we're the live music capital
Speaker 1: of the world here in Austin. You're sitting in Nashville,
Speaker 1: which probably could really make the claim. But you guys
Speaker 1: ever come over to Austin. Man, you got to let
Speaker 1: us know because we do live music pretty well here too.
Speaker 2: Oh, you do it great. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: our guitar player lives down there.
Speaker 1: Oh does it really?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tommy Yankton, you.
Speaker 1: Know something else that you and I have in common.
Speaker 1: And when we were together in twenty nineteen, I had
Speaker 1: just started dating my then girlfriend Laurence Eaman, now my wife.
Speaker 1: But I realized later, Oh, we had kind of similar
Speaker 1: ways of meeting our wives because you met on shooting
Speaker 1: your music video for Rascal Flats. That's where you met
Speaker 1: your wife. So basically at the office is where you met,
Speaker 1: and so did Lauren and I.
Speaker 2: That's so great.
Speaker 1: And I always tell people don't shy away from, you know,
Speaker 1: meeting somebody at work. You know.
Speaker 3: The thing about Allison was she was engaged when she
Speaker 3: did the video, but they made her take her ring
Speaker 3: off so that she appeared to be single in the video.
Speaker 3: And I just kept hitting on her all day long,
Speaker 3: and she kept blowing me off, and I was like, man,
Speaker 3: I've got my egg game on here.
Speaker 2: What's going right?
Speaker 1: What's going on? I got the power of the band,
Speaker 1: this is my music video.
Speaker 2: And she wasn't having any of it.
Speaker 3: And finally, I think we were on launch break or something,
Speaker 3: she was like, I'm engaged. I've been dating the same
Speaker 3: guy for five years, so you know, five down there.
Speaker 3: And then I kept running into her around town and
Speaker 3: I finally wore down.
Speaker 2: She went on a day with.
Speaker 1: Me, and the rest of the history. Y'all still have
Speaker 1: a one daughter.
Speaker 3: I've got a daughter and a son. Okay, yeah, I've
Speaker 3: got My son is eleven. My daughter's thirteen years.
Speaker 1: Old, Okay, as I say, yeah, it was about ten
Speaker 1: thirteen years ago. Wow, that's so you're in the middle
Speaker 1: of it. How as someone who is kind of coming
Speaker 1: out on the other side. My daughter's twenty and a
Speaker 1: sophomore in college. I feel like, and I don't mean
Speaker 1: to scare you, I feel like you're just now getting
Speaker 1: into that dangerous territory of full teenage girl.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I'm starting to hear horror stories from
Speaker 3: friends of mine. And we waited a little longer to
Speaker 3: have kids. So I was thirty nine when we had Madeline.
Speaker 3: So I as I get older, my patients is thenner.
Speaker 3: So I'm really praying for patients and a little long
Speaker 3: suffering because i know the teenage years can be really rough.
Speaker 1: I definitely saw with my daughter, and I'm sure you're
Speaker 1: seeing it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: People talk about high school, it's really middle school. That
Speaker 1: was a tough time to get through.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful because I've seen Maddie make some really good
Speaker 3: decisions even early on, and choose the right kinds of
Speaker 3: people and choose to be kind in some difficult situations
Speaker 3: where you know, other girls may have not been so
Speaker 3: kind to some other girls that are on the outside
Speaker 3: of the cliquish circles or whatever.
Speaker 2: And a mother shared.
Speaker 3: A story with me last summer that Madeline went over
Speaker 3: to some girl that was being mildly bullied and the
Speaker 3: girls were excluding her, and Madeline said, hey, why don't
Speaker 3: you come over and hang out with my friends and
Speaker 3: you don't have to worry about them. And you know,
Speaker 3: as a father, you can't wish for anything more than
Speaker 3: that that your kids are compassionate and they make good decisions.
Speaker 3: And you know, so far, I couldn't be more proud
Speaker 3: of the young ladies she's turning into.
Speaker 1: But I see glimpses of it. You we talked about
Speaker 1: at the top of this interview. You know, you've started
Speaker 1: on your own label, and you got a little country,
Speaker 1: you got Christian artists. What I find interesting and people
Speaker 1: have asked me about this. I want to give your perspective.
Speaker 1: When I left The Bachelor after nineteen very successful years
Speaker 1: and you had that incredible run with Rascal Flats. It's
Speaker 1: easy when it's all kind of taken away between Covid
Speaker 1: and Jodahn and everything happening. You lost something big. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it'll come back, but at the time you lost something big,
Speaker 1: and it's easy for Jada Marcus to be like, woe
Speaker 1: is me? Do you remember who I was? And nothing
Speaker 1: will be the same anymore, and just kind of fold
Speaker 1: up and die, you know, But instead You're like, great,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity to go start a label, to
Speaker 1: go get back, and to go do some incredible things
Speaker 1: in music. What is that tipping point that instead of
Speaker 1: going and lamenting and being sad and whatever happened to
Speaker 1: that guy, to this guy I'm seeing now that is
Speaker 1: incredibly successful and still blazing a tray.
Speaker 3: Well, I tell you, that's a wonderful question and one
Speaker 3: I've thought about a lot, because the truth is is,
Speaker 3: no one really knows about the.
Speaker 2: Dark moments I had after the Flats were short stripped away.
Speaker 3: I had so much of my identity wrapped up in
Speaker 3: the success of that.
Speaker 2: Band, and being a part of that band was very natural.
Speaker 3: To me, and when the rug was sort of yanked
Speaker 3: out from under our feet, I went through many long
Speaker 3: nights of doubting everything, like what obviously I've never been
Speaker 3: you know, for the better part of two decades, a
Speaker 3: little over two decades, I hadn't wanted for anything. I
Speaker 3: knew my career path was laid out before me. I
Speaker 3: had no idea all of a sudden who I was,
Speaker 3: or what I was going to do, or what the
Speaker 3: future would look like. The financial stability of Rascal Flats
Speaker 3: was really consistent. So all of a sudden, I'm going, well,
Speaker 3: now I don't have a gig. Now I'm not making money,
Speaker 3: so I've got to reassess everything. And I went through
Speaker 3: some really, really hard, sleepless nights of trying to figure
Speaker 3: out the next season of my life. But I'll tell
Speaker 3: you what it allowed me to do. And I don't
Speaker 3: preach a lot, but my faith is important to me,
Speaker 3: and I happened. I would be remiss if I didn't
Speaker 3: say that gave me an opportunity to trust more in
Speaker 3: God's plan than I ever had before, to trust more
Speaker 3: that I wasn't into control to begin with, and everything
Speaker 3: I had had been given to.
Speaker 2: Me because of his sovereignty and his love for me.
Speaker 3: So it really gave me a time and a chance
Speaker 3: to refocus and rechannel my faith and sort of rediscover
Speaker 3: it because I had to become completely reliant on him
Speaker 3: and trust that he had my future in his hands.
Speaker 3: And I have to say this, He's never let me down.
Speaker 3: I never wanted for anything. I never went through a
Speaker 3: time to where I woke up and I was scared
Speaker 3: that my needs weren't going to be met. The next month,
Speaker 3: the next year, the next six months. So it really
Speaker 3: was a time of spiritual growth for me. And you know,
Speaker 3: that may not be the answer a lot of people
Speaker 3: want to hear, but that's that's the truth. My faith
Speaker 3: carried me through a lot of those dark times and
Speaker 3: it gave me the strengths to go. You know what,
Speaker 3: this is the time to challenge myself and to try
Speaker 3: something new and to jump into something, you know, with
Speaker 3: both feet that I really don't know anything about. I've
Speaker 3: been in the music business, but I've been an artist,
Speaker 3: So the administrative sign and the business sign was something
Speaker 3: very very new for me, and I loved the challenge
Speaker 3: of learning this side of the business so that I
Speaker 3: could help give other young artists an opportunity in a
Speaker 3: platform to realize their dreams too. Well.
Speaker 1: That message may not be welcome elsewhere, it's welcome here,
Speaker 1: thank you. I take that for sure. You know I
Speaker 1: felt the same way. And the funny thing is I
Speaker 1: also believe in that in God's plan, and my wife
Speaker 1: Lauren off and says, you know, we make plans God laughs.
Speaker 1: It's like it's not always always one and the same, right,
Speaker 1: Like you're playing your idea, you're cruising, and then God's like,
Speaker 1: oh no, no, no, no, this is what's happening here,
Speaker 1: so you never know, and it's it is an amazing journey.
Speaker 1: And you guys that have definitely had one, and I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for your friendship and I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: And now I'm excited me and I'm I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: you in Tahoe here in just a few months.
Speaker 2: Man, We're gonna have a blast.
Speaker 3: Wriggle and I and we get out there and you know,
Speaker 3: it's gosh, it's my favorite week.
Speaker 2: Of the entire summer. I have to tell you.
Speaker 3: There's so many old friends that you don't get to
Speaker 3: see throughout the rest of the year. And it's just
Speaker 3: like a big homecoming, man. So I cannot wait to
Speaker 3: see It's been far too long. And thank you also
Speaker 3: for connecting me with Rogers Heely. What a great guy
Speaker 3: he is.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh what people what he's referring to. We
Speaker 1: could just tell everybody you and I are involved in
Speaker 1: this amazing company. I'm wearing one of the shirts right now,
Speaker 1: you know what.
Speaker 2: I left the house this morning and I was like,
Speaker 2: what am I doing? Why am I not wearing the shirt? Agreed?
Speaker 1: J and I are involved in this company. Snaps a great,
Speaker 1: great young company. These guys are trying to make it
Speaker 1: and they make these amazing shirts and people see me
Speaker 1: in them all the time in social media and I
Speaker 1: swear by them. And I called you, I said, hey,
Speaker 1: you got to get involved in this. These guys are phenomenal.
Speaker 2: You're fantastic, great product. Recommend it.
Speaker 1: Well, brother, is damn good to see you again. It's
Speaker 1: been really good to see you. I will talk to
Speaker 1: you soon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Jay, good to see you man.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
Speaker 1: dramatic pod ever and make sure to write us a
Speaker 1: review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time.