WEBVTT - A #1 Song In It's Infancy 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.400 That's why I love Journey, So the staring on myself 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:22.479 that floud let got of Style Cloud, everyone rid me home. 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:31.880 That's why ChIL a gun belt. What's Up Mountains Granger 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:37.600 Smith Podcast, Episode eighteen. I've taken a long hiatus. The 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.600 last podcast I did was in April of this year, 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:45.560 twenty nineteen, and I've had a lot of life happen 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.360 in between the time, and that's that's why I took 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:55.680 a little hiatus from the podcast. That's also why I 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.400 actually got off track listening back to episode seventeen and 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.840 kind of recapping where I was. I got off track 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:07.320 from the one song, one music video every month that 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.160 I promised you guys I was going to put out, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.880 and there was nothing that would have broken that promise 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:18.240 besides a major life change for me, and that's what happened. 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:22.280 One of these days, I'll probably get into that and 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:27.640 get into my process through that and how me and 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:32.400 my family have been since the summer twenty nineteen and 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:37.200 here we are rolling up on Christmas. But I think 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.759 that's another podcast and I'll probably need to put together 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.320 more thoughts before I get into that. Amber my wife 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.360 as much a much better speaker when it comes to 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.400 that right now, and I don't have as many words. 0:01:53.120 --> 0:02:00.360 Does that make sense for what we've been through? And 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.040 so if you if you came to this podcast to 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.000 hear something about that, I'll get I'll get into that 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:11.760 one of these days and talk about this journey specifically 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.120 for us and what it means to me and what 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:21.600 I what I hope, how I hope will find the 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.000 meaning through all this. And I've said this a couple 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.280 of times before that I'm not personally searching for reasons 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:33.000 for why life happens. I'm searching for meaning. And I 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.280 think there's a substantial difference in those two things. And 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:38.960 just like I think there's a big difference between joy 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.480 and happiness. I feel like happiness can just happen upon you. 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.640 The sunshines a certain way, and you know, you get 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.160 rest one night and you wake up and you're happy. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.079 Joy is something much deeper. It's cultivated, it's it's a 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:58.280 light inside of you, and that's a it's a completely 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:03.400 different animal way and happiness, just like reason and meaning, 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.160 these are just you know, a lot of thoughts. I've 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.000 had a lot of thoughts over the last several months. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:11.600 But I'm back to the podcast, and I want to 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.160 talk about music, because that's how this podcast started. That's 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.320 how seventeen episodes before this one went down. And there's 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.400 still story to tell. There's still you know, extension of 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.960 what we're gonna do. And first of all, I want 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.720 to apologize for not having this podcast up and running 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:33.160 the last several months. I've heard from a lot of 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.120 you and meet and greets, and the reason I'm actually 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.000 sitting here now and spoke inne Washington in the back 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.760 of my bus firing up the old microphone again is 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.240 because almost every single day in a meet and greet, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.680 and we're we're on a West Coast tour right now, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.760 I hear somebody tell me when are you bringing back 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:59.280 the podcast? In fact, somebody there's these dudes yelling several 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.720 shows ago. Could hear them yelling in the crowd. They 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.360 were like coordinating it one, two, three, bring back the podcast, 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:11.840 you know, yelling. And so I don't know if I 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:13.720 hadn't have had that motivation from you guys, I don't 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.800 know if I'd sit here and talk again on a podcast. 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.000 Because now I have all these YouTube channels like the Smith. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.440 I don't know if you've seen the Smiths, but it's 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.320 our family vlog channel on YouTube. We put out episodes 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:30.440 every Tuesday and Thursday, and that's really been my only 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:36.719 voice these last several months. I've made moderate social media posts, 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:41.159 and usually they're pretty deep and not not to surface 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.760 level come see our show type stuff. But the smith 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:46.919 is what I've really been able to dig into. I 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.719 haven't done any radio interviews yet, i haven't done any 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.000 TV nothing. In fact, this podcast will be the first 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.760 thing since The Smiths that I've actually spoken out. So 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.520 if you followed The Smiths, thank you for subscribing to channel. 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.080 Thank you for watching our our little, our little series 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.960 we have going. It's been very therapeutic for me. I've 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.440 really enjoyed talking to the camera that way. I've also 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.360 really enjoyed the videography involved in that, and I've kind 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.880 of nerded out with cameras and if you've if you've 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.920 watched that channel, you've seen it kind of evolve from 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.960 literally cell phone type stuff at the beginning to really 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.960 nice cameras and fun angles of the bus and drone 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.040 stuff that you know, I've gotten into droning and I've 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.719 really really kind of jumped into that whole aspect of 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.280 the Smiths and Ye Life and the Granger channel, which 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.760 I'm kind of using all three. It's not something new 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:52.120 for me, though. I have been doing camera work since 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.960 I was a little kid. I would borrow my dad's 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.640 camcorder and create some kind of show or some kind 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.880 of documentary type thing ever since I was seven eight 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:04.960 years old, and I have all that footage. I actually 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.560 have it right here on my hard drive, and one 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.039 of these days I think it'd be really funny to 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.880 kind of release a little bit of it. My old 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.280 camera adventures. I got to the point where, like when 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.320 I was in high school, everyone just knew I had 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.000 a camera around. So it's really not that big of 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:21.960 a deal for me to do the Smiths like I 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.440 do now, and I actually just love it. If you 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.839 want to ask me a question something podcast related, something 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.239 for me to talk about, go to social media. Twitter 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.360 is what I'm on right now looking at it because 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:38.400 it's just easy hashtag Granger Smith Podcast. Ask me a question. 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.719 I could easily sit here and search it out like 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:46.320 I'm looking at right now. Way cool. Underscore Junior back 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.280 in September says, do you have any plans on doing 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:55.120 the podcast? Again. Well, buddy, yes, here we go looking 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.800 at another one. Livia one of my favorite fans in 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.680 the world. She says, Oh okay. So it's been a 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.200 year since Granger Smith showed a snippet of still Find 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:07.760 You on the hashtag Grangersmith podcast and Haley and I 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.760 still jam out to the short snippet of it. We 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:14.520 would love that song, need the rest of it. Thank you, Livia, 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.239 You're amazing. Matt balloons. Right after that, he says, hashtag 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.760 Grangersmith podcast. I think it would be a great idea 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.800 to interview those guys you used to tour with. I'm 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.600 super interested in hearing how life was with the old 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:31.040 band mates or people you opened for at Granger Smith. 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.400 Please keep the podcast. I really love them. See you 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.760 soon about. There's a lot of them on here, and 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.560 if you guys want me to dig into that, just 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.800 go to socials hashtag it and I'm interested in all 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.160 of this stuff. So to kind of catch you guys 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.400 up musically on what I got going on since the 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.200 last time you heard a podcast in April, I was 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:59.200 talking about one song, one music video per month. Now 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.240 instantly decided that that wasn't going to still be the 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.080 plan and kind of pivoted towards That's why I love 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:13.760 Dirt Roads, which is a song that I had completely finished, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.360 and then I went in there towards the end of 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.040 the summer and started messing with that song. I kind 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:25.000 of heard everything in a different light with our new situation, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.400 and I went and listened to that song again, and 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:30.560 that was one of the songs we were planning on releasing, 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.600 and I just thought, man, this song is special. It's 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.400 really special, and I changed. I went in there and 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.600 changed up the second verse, kind of altered it a 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.360 little bit to where I was in my life, which 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.479 has always been important when I released songs for them 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.360 to kind of parallel to my life, and so I 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.960 changed some words around. Got back in the studio, which 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.000 is for me, my studio. As you guys know, it's 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.320 always been just a closet, and that's what it is 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.320 today right now. It's the back of the bus. But 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.000 all the records that you've heard me sing have never 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.679 been in a major studio. That's always me singing in 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.840 a closet. So that actually makes it really nice for 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.120 me to be able to go in and change lyrics 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.079 even when songs are finished. That can go in and 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.920 re sing some things, and it's typically not hard to 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.800 get my voice to sound the exact same as it 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.360 did if I recorded it a month or two ago. 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.600 I could quickly find that same voice again, and so 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.400 it sounds like I sang it all in one day. 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.280 And reality of that's why the Dirt Roads is. That's 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.680 like a verse in chorus and bridge or no, excuse me, 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.120 verse chorus and second chorus, sang it one time. A 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.240 couple months later, I go in and sing the second 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.600 verse in the bridge. Totally rewrote both of those for 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.600 where I was in my life, and I can't even 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:50.160 tell the difference if I listen to it all the 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.080 way down. So now the question is, well, what happened 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.199 to the songs that we were planning on releasing. Well, 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.400 we still have them. In fact, some of them are 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.679 completely finished, completely mixed, everything's ready to go or just 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:07.559 kind of excuse me, I am just kind of waiting 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.559 for the right time, and I kind of want That's 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.319 why I love Dirt Roads to simmer a little bit. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.439 I have a music video completely finished for that song, 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.960 and I love the music video. I shot it behind 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.360 the scenes for it, which I will put on the Smiths. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.160 Whenever we get closer to releasing, when is that going 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.640 to be? I usually leave that stuff up to my 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:34.600 brother Tyler, and last time I asked him, he said, well, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:36.800 I don't want to just throw it out there. There's 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.960 no reason to just throw a music video out there 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.800 just because we haven't finished. We might as well at 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.120 least be a little bit strategic about it and let 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.560 the holidays come and go, because it's you know, everything's 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.600 holiday themed right now, and it's it's not really the 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.840 greatest time to put out a music video, so we'll 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:55.679 wait for that to die down. We have a lyric 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.439 video finished that I just shot. I'd shot that over 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.160 at mom and da house and sent that footage over 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.160 to Paul, my video editor who does most of my editing, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.920 and so we have that finished. So we have two 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.600 things we need to put out for that song, and 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.560 then I could start thinking about when's the album gonna 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:16.880 come out? And there's got to be an album that 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.160 has all these songs on it. There's a couple of 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.920 these songs, guys, I'm really really excited about. There's one 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.000 of them. I'm probably more excited than any song I've 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.480 put out that I could remember in ten years or so, 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:37.959 and why am I excited about it? It feels a 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:45.040 little different for me. It feels it's a little sad, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.440 like a sad country song, but with a cool groove, 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.280 and I need that for my show. I typically look 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:58.240 at songs as pieces of the show, you know, pieces 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.040 of the ninety minute show, a little little moments, and 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:05.160 if I could build up the moments, then the more 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.400 the better. It makes the show better. And we need 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.720 this specific song. It's gonna be great for the live show. 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.600 And so then looking back on the previous episodes of 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.800 this podcast, I went back and kind of heard a 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:24.800 little bit scanned through episode seventeen, and I was talking 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:29.880 about kind of the period of my career where we 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.520 were just kind of things were just starting to pop. 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.960 I had the country Boy song out and things were 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.280 really working. I had an album called Dirt Road Driveway 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.720 that changed my life and to this day, that's the 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.320 reason we got nationwide and we got into a lot 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.280 of different venues across the country because of Dirt Road Driveway. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.080 That included we do it in a field and if 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.920 money didn't matter, and stick around and bear me and 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.640 blue Jeans and Silverada bench seat and mud Tires and 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.400 the country boy song Comfortable Love. So that was a 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.960 really big deal for me, and that's kind of the 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:12.960 birth of Ye Nation. Was Dirt Road Driveway and after that, 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.079 after that album came out, I lost my dad in 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:22.679 twenty fourteen, and that was just shortly after Dirt Road 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.800 Driveway was in twenty thirteen, kind of the end of it. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:30.800 So so I kind of had to. I had to 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:35.920 endure grief for the first time. And everyone deals with 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.400 grief in different ways. In fact, the different griefs I've 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.280 gone through in my life have all been different, even 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.880 though it's all me experiencing it different people, and I've 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:52.440 experienced grief different ways from different losses. And with my dad, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.600 I just wanted to smile again, you know, I wanted 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.800 to feel good. I wanted to feel good again. And 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:03.080 he was such a huge fan of my music and 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:08.040 encourager of me and motivator of me and at sometimes 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.120 critic of me in a good way that I needed 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.440 and all he wanted through my struggle. You know, he 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:20.680 saw me struggle for decades in the music business and 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.840 he just he wanted to see me get the credit. 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.480 He thought I deserved, and I think as a father, 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.880 that's an admirable thing. You see your son out there 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:39.640 fighting and working and being creative and putting blood, sweat 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.120 and tears into this work. And he just wanted to 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:46.440 see me enjoy the fruits of that. And so with 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:52.400 Earl Dibbles and dirt Road Driveway, he finally started seeing that. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.480 We got in a bus for the first time. We weren't, 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:56.680 you know, we were actually sleeping in bunks instead of 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.200 taking turns driving a van every night, and that it 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:02.880 so much to him to see it. It's kind of like, 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:04.960 you know, this proud dad moment. He can kick back 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.360 and smile and say I knew it all along, and 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.720 I could truly say he did. He knew it all along. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.400 He knew I would get a record deal, he knew 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.280 we would eventually get fans, and he saw so many 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:22.120 shows with no one there. And then he died in 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.920 twenty fourteen, so he only saw, you know, six months 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.960 of that, and there was a part of that that 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.720 was tough on me, knowing that he never really saw 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:39.040 us have success, and success itself, that's a whole different story, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.560 that's a whole different podcast, a whole different discussion on 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.440 how to judge success and how to define individual success, 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:48.360 because in a lot of ways, you could say I 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.120 had it all along because I was happy and I 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:56.520 enjoyed the process, even when we weren't technically successful in 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.240 any kind of numbers and no one was watching the music. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.720 I thought we were having fun. So that's a whole 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:07.680 different story. But when Dad died, it was hard to 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.600 go back out and play. It was hard to play 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.840 a show. I had the have you ever have you 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.080 ever lost somebody and had the feeling in the cell 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.920 phone age of a ghost text? Or have you ever 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.960 pulled your phone out and wanted to call somebody and 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.320 then realize they're gone and you literally are holding the 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.440 phone wanting to push their number. In fact, I think 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:34.080 I did hit his number on Favorites on my home 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.960 screen several times, and then I would go, oh, what 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.040 am I doing? I would hang up, and then actually, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.400 when we cut off his number, that person would call 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:47.360 me back and I would decline it. It's weird, weird stuff. 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.280 And I struggled with that on the road, and any 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:56.080 of y'all that saw me the summer twenty fourteen, maybe 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.920 you didn't know, but I was really struggling, and I 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:03.960 was struggling mentally without my hero and the person I 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.600 relied on for so long, my whole life, and the 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.480 biggest supporter besides my mom, the biggest supporter of my music. 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.560 I guess I should throw Amber in there too, But Amber, 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:17.600 you know, she loved my dad too, so she kind 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.520 of went through her own grief in that. So I 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:25.159 was on an airplane heading to Portland, Oregon, yesterday, and 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.080 I was kind of looking back on a decade of 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:35.240 my music, specifically my songwriting, and I've always done what 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:40.480 I call work tapes, and that means it's kind of 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.680 like a demo, I guess you could say. But back 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.159 before I wanted to pay money to actually have people 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.640 play on a demo of the song, which I still 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.800 don't do that, I was making work tapes, meaning I 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.159 would lay down a click track, I'd play guitar, I 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.719 would sing, and then I would sing over myself with 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.119 harmony that I'd play another good part, and I'd played 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.280 some little lead parts, and they started becoming more and 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.800 more elaborate, and I could play some of them. But 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.320 I have a collection of fifteen years of work tapes, 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.640 and yesterday on the plane, I was listening back through 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.280 these work tapes, and I was like, what was the 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.160 song I wrote after Dad? Like, what was the next 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.800 song I wrote after I lost Dad? And I lost 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.000 him in March of twenty fourteen, and then the first 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:32.920 song that I wrote was in June of twenty fourteen, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:39.760 and it was Backroad Song. Ironically, my first number one 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:45.520 song at mainstream country radio. Backgroad Song, my first platinum song, 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.719 and all this was after Dad. Like Dad never knew 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.960 me standing on the stage holding a plaque with a 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.800 platinum record or a number one song. He never even 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.240 knew me on to have any because that was my 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.760 first mainstream single, So he never even knew me to 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:08.000 have any mainstream song on the radio. Isn't that ironic? 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.800 Like just a few months after was when I wrote 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:16.560 that song. And maybe that was by design, you know, 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.920 like maybe that was the destiny of Backgroad song. Was 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.359 it took It took Dad, and it took me wanting 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.240 to be happy and wanting to smile and wanting to 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.200 have that nostalgic feeling of driving down the road and 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.960 no troubles, not a single worry in the world. Windows down, 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.160 radio up, what's the rhythm of that song, what does 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.040 that song feel like? And to me, it would be 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.200 a song let's cut to the chase and just called 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:48.560 Backroad song. And I want to play you the work 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.600 tape of Backroad Song. This has never been heard before. 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:57.840 This has never been played anywhere outside my closest family circle. 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.200 I don't my band hasn't even heard this old work tape. 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.920 But it's an example of not only of the work 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:05.959 tapes that I was making for every song I was writing. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.520 But I also want you to hear this because I 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.080 was just listening to it on the plane, because it's 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.439 really interesting. One more little story before I play it. 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:22.080 I got connected that year twenty fourteen with an old 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.159 producer friend of mine named Frank Rogers. And I think 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.520 I've talked about Frank on this podcast, But Frank produced 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:34.040 the Rimington album. And he's a long time Brad Paisley producer, 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:39.320 Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, there's a kind of a long list, 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.880 Scotty McCreery. There's a long list of not only Frank 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.480 is produced, but he's also written a lot of big hits. 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.879 And when Frank and I kind of agreed to do 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.600 a project together which was going to become the four 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.440 x four EP, which then evolved into the Rimington album. 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.119 He said, hey, send me some songs you have, And 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.960 Frank's really good at taking kind of the components of 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:07.240 a song, the fundamentals of a song, and digging in 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:12.080 and making it become a radio song or a mainstream song. 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.920 He's really good at kind of taking what the song 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.440 is and then like rearranging these words here and flip 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.280 flopping this this here and putting She's kind of like 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.399 he has the puzzle pieces and it makes it. It 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:26.119 makes a cool picture, but he could make it a 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.120 beautiful painting if he kind of really dives into those pieces. 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.800 And so what you're gonna hear is the original backroad 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.600 song that I wrote. And then this is what I 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:39.119 sent to Frank. And then Frank called me and goes, dude, 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:43.120 backroad song that sounds like a hit. He goes, come 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.480 to my house. Let's let's work on a few things, 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.320 and then you'll be able to hear the changes that 0:21:49.359 --> 0:22:03.320 we made together. There's nothing like that rhythm of a 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.600 back road. They're putting melodies in my head and barbed 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:13.399 wire fence carvering out of hillside, red sunset slinging dust 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.400 on a nom gray blacktop. I hear the thirty five 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.600 whistling by steer the wheel one handed on a two lane, 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:26.280 hugging that line. I got the wind those down. No 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:33.960 one else around singing. You't know, mister myvi bling on 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:41.040 out here cooking two back rows song, A few wheels 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:44.520 of a malady. It's so sweet that I want to 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:48.080 sing a long full of cup to the radio. Uh, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:57.600 this is my back road song. I'm pulling up to 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.359 a no green tractor. I hammerd down and a passing moon. 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.080 A breeze smells like a summertime hayfield has just been cut. 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:11.760 I got to wind those downs way out of town, 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:21.560 singing reader, mister mob, I'm known and known. How you 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:26.639 including to a back room song? A few music a melody? 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:30.000 It's so sweet that I want to sing along. You 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:35.200 look up to the radio. This is my back road song. 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:50.320 It's not the kind of song about h there's no heart, 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:53.360 eggs are breaking up. It's not the kind of day 0:23:53.440 --> 0:24:01.960 for that stuff. Free you the mister moth. I'm really on. 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:08.720 Who I hear recruding to a back roll song? Pull 0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:12.320 the wheels like a malady. It's so sweet that I 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:15.720 want to sing along. Bill a cup to the radio, 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:20.240 and this is my back roll song, bill a cup 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:24.760 to the radio. H this is my back roll song. 0:24:33.800 --> 0:24:37.800 This is my back roll song. The rhythm Huel, the 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:42.240 rhythm mother feeling my back room song. That's the end 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:46.800 of money. That's the Ranthom money pulling my back movie song. 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:52.320 That's the real mother pull of my back huts on 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:56.199 feud in the living, the in the mother live in 0:24:56.240 --> 0:25:08.960 my back roll song. So those of you that have 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:11.000 heard that song for a long time, you probably heard 0:25:11.040 --> 0:25:14.119 that version, and it's like, oh makes your ears tweak 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:16.399 when you hear those different words that are in the 0:25:16.400 --> 0:25:20.560 spots they're not supposed to be, but that's just because 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:24.159 you're used to the radio version. So Frank gets his 0:25:24.240 --> 0:25:27.199 song and he's like, man, this is awesome, but I 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:28.879 could tell you could you could tell right off the 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:31.440 bat like what he said. He said, Man, I love 0:25:31.680 --> 0:25:35.840 barbire fence carving out of hillside. Let's just make that 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:38.639 the first line. I was like, Okay, that's cool. And 0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:42.639 then there's the part in the chorus about what was it? 0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:44.800 What was it say? Get a cup turn the radio 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:47.320 fill a cup, turn the radio up. This is my 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:50.320