Speaker 1: Yeah, fire away, dude. I want to. I want to
Speaker 1: get a deeper as we can. I mean, a lot
Speaker 1: of life has happened since we crossed past the last Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I feel like we're very aligned in our goals. Yeah,
Speaker 1: our go forward goals are very much aligned. So yeah's everything,
Speaker 1: It's all. I was free open season.
Speaker 2: I was talking to Amber last night and I said,
Speaker 2: I said, when's the first time I met Canaan and
Speaker 2: and I think I think it was you and Christy
Speaker 2: were at an award show and we were like sitting
Speaker 2: either next to each other or close to each other.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, totally right. I'm trying to remember which one
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: It would be.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the CMTS. It might have been like the
Speaker 1: the CMA's here in town. And then I remember, you're right,
Speaker 1: we did.
Speaker 2: Another time early on this is this is kind of embarrassing,
Speaker 2: but we were and it's kind of a vague memory.
Speaker 2: We were somewhere, I think West Coast. We were on
Speaker 2: tour and it was one of those days were just
Speaker 2: bands are in and out, in and out, in and out,
Speaker 2: and for some reason, I was just in a bad mood.
Speaker 2: It was like a poorly run festival, really hot, and
Speaker 2: I remember seeing you and you were like coming off
Speaker 2: the stage and you're really mad.
Speaker 1: And then I.
Speaker 2: Like, you like threw a drumk you like threw a
Speaker 2: tomb or something a drum And I remember feeling so good.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh good, somebody else has got the
Speaker 2: same movie, dude.
Speaker 3: How many of those shows have we played where it
Speaker 3: was just a total, you know, train wreck?
Speaker 1: You know those thrown goes situations can be so so
Speaker 1: frustrating man, And no, that doesn't surprise me. I will say,
Speaker 1: I look back at there are definite moments in my
Speaker 1: career where I look back and I'm like, I was
Speaker 1: as much as as much fun as I had in
Speaker 1: some of those peak moments, like when I had a
Speaker 1: hit on the radio and I was out there in
Speaker 1: front of big, big crowds. All the rush of that
Speaker 1: was exciting and fun. But when I look back on it, like,
Speaker 1: the character that I'm looking at, the person that I'm
Speaker 1: looking at from this side, is so different than who
Speaker 1: I am now like, And I think that what you
Speaker 1: just said that story is a perfect example of I
Speaker 1: was missing it. I was I was just kind of
Speaker 1: missing it, missing the point of it all, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I just wanted everything to be perfect
Speaker 1: and for what for me to make a bigger name
Speaker 1: for myself so that everyone thought I had my stuff together,
Speaker 1: you know, Like, I don't know, man, that's just as
Speaker 1: a reminder to me. It's funny because I'm thankful now
Speaker 1: I can laugh at that and I'm not mad at
Speaker 1: myself anymore. But I went through a season of life
Speaker 1: where I was like, really just discouraged at how I
Speaker 1: was kind of handling my business and handling myself.
Speaker 2: You know, yes, I do. I know, man, I lived it,
Speaker 2: and I saw it in you and you probably saw
Speaker 2: it in me. But that's the rat race that we
Speaker 2: were living, you know, that was the hamster wheel we
Speaker 2: were on. And if you think about like what the
Speaker 2: things we saw and how the beautiful people in the
Speaker 2: incredible country, and it's like we weren't really even enjoying
Speaker 2: any of that at some level truly.
Speaker 1: I know, dude, as much as I saw, I feel
Speaker 1: like it's all a blur.
Speaker 2: It's all a blur, you know. Yeah, So what was
Speaker 2: the shift for you? How are you? How are you
Speaker 2: sitting here now with a new perspective?
Speaker 1: Kids? Oh? Yeah, you know, we had kids, and that
Speaker 1: literally changed the game for me. Plus I walked away
Speaker 1: well as let me rewind a little bit. I got
Speaker 1: to the point where I was so lost as an artist.
Speaker 1: After we had Lovey like that it was a hit,
Speaker 1: and then we followed it up with a song called
Speaker 1: Hole in a Bottle and it was like twenty three
Speaker 1: and it was just chugging along, you know, running out
Speaker 1: of gas. It felt like it wasn't going to make
Speaker 1: it all the way and I was frustrated that, you know,
Speaker 1: we couldn't do two in a row. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: wanted that momentum. And I was looking left and right
Speaker 1: at everyone else and what they had going, and I
Speaker 1: was like, why is my you know, why is this
Speaker 1: not happening? Meanwhile, you got you know, a bunch of
Speaker 1: people in your ear, you know about you know help.
Speaker 1: You know, decision making wasn't just from my gut or
Speaker 1: my prayer, you know, time with God. It was a
Speaker 1: bunch of advice from more than just me. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of people, a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: And I felt lost in that process and I got lost.
Speaker 1: So I actually walked away from it as far as
Speaker 1: like the record deal situation. I had a talk with
Speaker 1: the CEO of the record label, Mike Dungan, who was
Speaker 1: an awesome dude, and we hit it off really good.
Speaker 1: But I just went into him and I told him
Speaker 1: how I felt, and I just laid it all out there.
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't even know what I want
Speaker 1: to do anymore. To be honest with you, man, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I have to say as an artist.
Speaker 1: I'm completely I need to go find myself. Can you
Speaker 1: let me out of this deal? He was he understood,
Speaker 1: he's a he's an artist first, kind of label execut
Speaker 1: in the first place. So like that was to my
Speaker 1: advantage that he understood where I was coming from and
Speaker 1: he and he supported that, you know, me going to
Speaker 1: find myself again. So I walked away from it and
Speaker 1: I shelved a really good situation because I was being
Speaker 1: impatient and ungrateful. I lost sight. You know, that was
Speaker 1: a recipe for like, okay, well now what you know,
Speaker 1: Like now I'm totally yeah, rude here, I've got no team,
Speaker 1: I got no go forward songs. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I want to have to say or who's going to
Speaker 1: help me say it. So that was a time of
Speaker 1: just shit like kind of reflecting, and.
Speaker 2: So what years this happening. This is twenty eighteen, twenty eighteen, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's probably the same year I saw you at that festival.
Speaker 1: Probably was, dude, Probably was. And I took a minute
Speaker 1: and I was hanging out with Tyler Hubbard. He was
Speaker 1: a good friend of mine, and we were working out
Speaker 1: and he started telling me that he was about to
Speaker 1: start a new venture, a publishing venture and maybe a
Speaker 1: record label at the same time. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's interesting, that could be cool. And so honestly, that
Speaker 1: just kind of like came about through it just sort
Speaker 1: of just coming to the table naturally, through us hanging
Speaker 1: out in conversations about what he wanted to do next
Speaker 1: in his career, the kind of the team and structure
Speaker 1: he wanted to build. And I ended up fitting into
Speaker 1: that equation. And so I signed a record deal with
Speaker 1: him and b K under the name Your Records, and
Speaker 1: a publishing deal as well. And so this was twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: and at this time, Granger, I was like not even sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like I told you, I was lost
Speaker 1: as an artist, So I didn't know what I was
Speaker 1: going to do next in that regard, But I still
Speaker 1: loved writing songs, and so I focused a little bit
Speaker 1: more on that than I had been in the past.
Speaker 1: I wanted to kind of double down as a songwriter
Speaker 1: and go hard in the pain on that front, and
Speaker 1: so I did that whole right, you know, four times, yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes five times a week. And I did that for
Speaker 1: about two years and not really even thinking about what's
Speaker 1: next for me as an artist. And that was a
Speaker 1: transitional phase where it was a little bit tough at first,
Speaker 1: because you know, you go at one speed and you're
Speaker 1: you know, you're kind of just coasting for a minute,
Speaker 1: and then everything it felt like the rug was pulled
Speaker 1: out a little bit and I had to had to
Speaker 1: down shift and go back to square one and kind
Speaker 1: of find my bearings again. And what was beautiful about
Speaker 1: the partnership there with Tyler and BK was it I'd
Speaker 1: known those guys for enough time that they knew I
Speaker 1: was lost, you know, and they were able to kind
Speaker 1: of like speak in to me and help me get
Speaker 1: back on track a little bit. So it was a
Speaker 1: transitional season. And then meanwhile, my wife gets pregnant, and
Speaker 1: this is you know, going on in the background too.
Speaker 1: All the same time, and our daughter, Virginia was born
Speaker 1: on Halloween of twenty nineteen, so shortly after I started
Speaker 1: working with those guys, we had our first child. And
Speaker 1: I was starting at that point to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like I've got some new direction
Speaker 1: as far as where I want to go next musically,
Speaker 1: and I started to put a little tour together for
Speaker 1: the January JA. I think we're going to do some
Speaker 1: late Jamesnuary dates in twenty twenty. So two weekends into
Speaker 1: this club tour thing, COVID hit and then that couldn't
Speaker 1: be on the road anymore. And so it was another
Speaker 1: bit of a rug pulled out from under me. And
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see a theme here actually, as we're
Speaker 1: talking that God has intervened multiple times on my path
Speaker 1: in the form of pulling the rug out, and not
Speaker 1: as I don't say that as a victim. I say
Speaker 1: that with gratitude, honestly, because I've never been happier than
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: Now, well, let me say right there that there's an
Speaker 2: interview that you did, and there's a quote that you
Speaker 2: have that says, around the same time you're talking about
Speaker 2: you said, I feel like I had come home and
Speaker 2: God knew it. My perspective needed shifting.
Speaker 1: Yeah it did, dude, it really did. I didn't know it,
Speaker 1: but he did. And sometimes he you know, in the
Speaker 1: Bible he talks through a donkey at one point, is
Speaker 1: it Byalem as a donkey?
Speaker 2: He does a bush too, and a bush and a witch. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: wow crazy.
Speaker 1: So I felt like you know, I have, I have
Speaker 1: felt redirected. And then to speed up the story a
Speaker 1: little bit, COVID hit came off the road for a
Speaker 1: good long season. Got to spend real quality time at home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for the first time, you know, really, because Christy and
Speaker 1: I got married and I went on radio tour literally
Speaker 1: a week after we got married in twenty fourteen, so
Speaker 1: you know with that site.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anyhow, then being home and having a new being, a
Speaker 1: new dad, all of that at the same time was
Speaker 1: exactly what my heart needed and exactly where what my
Speaker 1: faith needed because all the tearing that happens, you know,
Speaker 1: even as a I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you, bro,
Speaker 1: I have moments every single day where I fall apart.
Speaker 1: So and yeah, I know you know what I'm talking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I yell at the kids, and I hate myself
Speaker 1: for it, but I'll get so short with them because
Speaker 1: I've got other things I need to get done. The
Speaker 1: chaos is keeping me from getting done. But all of
Speaker 1: that's so good for me, for a guy like me,
Speaker 1: It's like and God's just like being so gracious to
Speaker 1: me along this path of you know, me having to
Speaker 1: this this great awakening that's happened and is happening still
Speaker 1: for me. And I don't know what what the point
Speaker 1: is other than on a on a you know, on
Speaker 1: the level of being dad and being Christie's husband, like
Speaker 1: on that level the things that matter most. I'm being
Speaker 1: tweaked in all the right ways. I think God's tightening
Speaker 1: what needs tightened and tearing off what needs tear tearing
Speaker 1: and and and as a result of that, I'm also
Speaker 1: feeling more fulfilled creatively. I'm getting to open myself up
Speaker 1: and what I bring to the table now comes comes
Speaker 1: from you know, a different side perspective that is on
Speaker 1: the other side of not maturity, but sort of. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess, right, So that was the shift, really, man,
Speaker 1: that was a many It took a few steps, right,
Speaker 1: and even the record deal I ended up signing with
Speaker 1: with the with the boys that got canned when they
Speaker 1: called it quits as a duo, they closed up shop
Speaker 1: on the record deal. And that was another like rug
Speaker 1: pulled moment that I needed to get me to hear
Speaker 1: for this album that I was put out even to
Speaker 1: have happened, you know, it wouldn't have happened had I,
Speaker 1: you know. And I was actually halfway down the road
Speaker 1: cutting the second album with them for in some the
Speaker 1: same songs that are on this album, we're already underway,
Speaker 1: but we re recorded them obviously.
Speaker 2: And this is independent. This record's independent, totally independent. Yeah,
Speaker 2: how did you? How'd you fund it? I mean it
Speaker 2: sounds it sounds expensive.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of It is expensive to record music,
Speaker 1: as you know, but it was a partnership with I got.
Speaker 1: I got fifteen thousand dollars. Actually I got a twenty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars check from a camper company. I use we
Speaker 1: have a camper trailer.
Speaker 2: I saw that on your Instagram. It looks awesome. I
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about that thing because that, Yeah,
Speaker 2: for sure, that looks like goody.
Speaker 1: It's called Modern Buggy. That's the brand, and they have
Speaker 1: all kinds of different models. And sizes and things, but
Speaker 1: the one we had fits in my garage. It's super
Speaker 1: easy to just hook up and go. But I had
Speaker 1: bought one from from the guy who owns the company.
Speaker 1: We crossed paths somehow. He was host in like a
Speaker 1: songwriter night in Michigan, and I got asked to do
Speaker 1: it and we hit it off, and he ended up
Speaker 1: telling me, you know, he had these cool buggies, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, sweet, I might want to get one.
Speaker 1: I ended up getting one. He gave me a great
Speaker 1: deal on it, and then you know, I made some
Speaker 1: posts about it because I really love it, and we
Speaker 1: used a lot, and he just decided, you know, let's
Speaker 1: let's try to collaborate on that front, and you know,
Speaker 1: let's help each other out. You advertise the buggy, and
Speaker 1: I'll give you some money to do that. So he
Speaker 1: gave me twenty thousand dollars last year. Yeah, in April
Speaker 1: of last year, and three two weeks later, we were
Speaker 1: in the studio recording the album. With that money. It's
Speaker 1: I spent fifteen thousand dollars for the entire project at
Speaker 1: the recording of the project, and I spent the other
Speaker 1: five thousand on a videographer to help with some assets
Speaker 1: for socials. So all in it was twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to get it to where it is now.
Speaker 2: And that's for people listening. That's still very difficult to
Speaker 2: be within twenty.
Speaker 1: That's dirt cheap.
Speaker 2: That is dirty crazy. I mean a normal record where
Speaker 2: you say one hundred thousand, like a normal normal record
Speaker 2: with the record label just to record it.
Speaker 1: And paying a producer fee and all that other stuff
Speaker 1: that Anthony Olympia, who produced my record, decided he didn't
Speaker 1: need a producer fee. We just did a split the
Speaker 1: master situation, and I'm so grateful for that. So you
Speaker 1: can get creative these days, you know, and get a
Speaker 1: piecemeal a record together the way that you have, you know,
Speaker 1: the way that you can afford. And that's what we did.
Speaker 2: There are people that will charge twenty five hundred dollars
Speaker 2: just to mix a song, and you you have eleven
Speaker 2: songs on this record. That's to put it in that
Speaker 2: in perspective.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, So I've got I mean, this is the
Speaker 4: this is the result of very kind, very talented humans
Speaker 4: who gave their incredible gifts to this project for a very.
Speaker 1: Insanely low price. You know. I don't know that I
Speaker 1: could replicate it again necessarily because they're worth a lot
Speaker 1: more than that. But yeah, I'm really proud of of
Speaker 1: where we came in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you should be, man, I mean, sonically, the thing
Speaker 2: is solid. I've gotten to listen to it several times now, probably,
Speaker 2: like if I was going to decide a favorite, probably
Speaker 2: every day, Joe, I think, I think I'm going there,
Speaker 2: or pay It Forward or in Time with You. Probably
Speaker 2: I love so eleven songs, did you know? Let me
Speaker 2: ask you this could there's no way you could know
Speaker 2: this answer, but let me just me ask you anyway,
Speaker 2: eleven songs. How many of the eleven do you think
Speaker 2: have some kind of faith element in the song itself,
Speaker 2: in the lyrics? I know the answer. I'm just asking
Speaker 2: probably half of them.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'd say a majority of them.
Speaker 2: Ten ten songs have and I wow, yeah, I didn't
Speaker 2: know that. The only one is in Time with You
Speaker 2: is the only one that does it, and that's you know,
Speaker 2: it's a love song. But every other one, and I'm counting,
Speaker 2: I'm counting if it the word angel, the word prayer,
Speaker 2: the word preacher. You know, I'm adding I'm make so
Speaker 2: your record is you're definitely thinking through things and there's
Speaker 2: something inside of you that that speaks in your songwriting,
Speaker 2: in your performing, whether you even know it or not.
Speaker 2: I think it's just that's the foundation you're on. You
Speaker 2: you come from this foundation. So it's I guess I
Speaker 2: should say it's like impossible for you to write an
Speaker 2: album and not your faith not be prevalent in it.
Speaker 1: Praise God for that, dude. Honestly, there's you know, we're
Speaker 1: set apart as believers, That's what That's what the word
Speaker 1: teaches us, that we're set apart, right, and then we're
Speaker 1: called out out of the world, We're called out of
Speaker 1: darkness and delight.
Speaker 2: That's the what the word holy means. Holy means set apart,
Speaker 2: which is which is God's overarching attribute is his holiness.
Speaker 2: It's often forgotten because people go, well, God, his greatest
Speaker 2: attribute is love, No, not necessarily love is a is
Speaker 2: an outpouring of his holiness. He's loving because he's holy.
Speaker 2: Set apart, He's we are not like him. He is.
Speaker 2: He is set apart from the universe, and so we're
Speaker 2: made in his image, but almost like a shadow is
Speaker 2: in the image of me or you, the shadow is
Speaker 2: made in our image, but it is not like us.
Speaker 2: It mimics, it mimics our appearance, or like a like
Speaker 2: the George Washington or nutsbetic like the uh, the Abraham
Speaker 2: Lincoln Memorial in Washington in DC mimics his appearance of Lincoln,
Speaker 2: but it's not like him. He is holy, and so
Speaker 2: the Bible says we should be holly too. And now
Speaker 2: word is like, uh, it's almost looked down upon, like
Speaker 2: we can't achieve it, or like the word saint for instance,
Speaker 2: that that word is holy one. That's what the word
Speaker 2: saint means.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: You know, in country music we think a lot of
Speaker 2: times was like you're like, I'm not a saint like
Speaker 2: my wife. Well, we're called to be saints. In fact,
Speaker 2: we're referred to as Christians as saints, meaning to your
Speaker 2: point set.
Speaker 1: Apart, that's wild, dude.
Speaker 2: You know, at some point in our lives, things got
Speaker 2: a lot easier at gee dot com and grangerspent dot
Speaker 2: com when me and my two brothers switched over to
Speaker 2: Shopify and let them handle the checkout portion of our website.
Speaker 2: I know that kind of sounds complicated, but if you're
Speaker 2: wanting to start a business or start some kind of
Speaker 2: e commerce marketing company, you need to think about Shopify
Speaker 2: to handle all your checkout needs like so many thous
Speaker 2: thousands of other companies have done across the world. They
Speaker 2: handle credit card sales and all other online digital sales
Speaker 2: and help you concentrate on your creativity so you could
Speaker 2: concentrate on your product and how the website itself looks.
Speaker 2: And they deal with the nitty gritty details of the
Speaker 2: checkout process. So upgrade your business and get the same
Speaker 2: checkout as we use with Shopify. Sign up for your
Speaker 2: one dollar per month trial period at shopify dot com
Speaker 2: slash granger all lowercase. Go to shopify dot com slash
Speaker 2: granger to upgrade your selling today. Shopify dot com slash granger.
Speaker 2: As a reminder, you could always get a hold of
Speaker 2: me on cameo dot com slash granger Smith. It's a
Speaker 2: great way to get a message a video message from
Speaker 2: me from anywhere in the world to whoever you want
Speaker 2: to send it to. You go to cameo dot com
Speaker 2: slash granger Smith and you fill out whatever you want
Speaker 2: me to say, Happy anniversary, happy birthday. May be a
Speaker 2: ward of encouragement to someone that needs to hear it,
Speaker 2: and that person may be you, and then I'll send
Speaker 2: you a video message. It's super easy and it's a
Speaker 2: good gift. I've been doing this for many years now.
Speaker 2: It's a good gift to someone that is impossible to
Speaker 2: buy for and you don't know what to get them.
Speaker 2: Once again, go to cameo dot com slash granger Smith.
Speaker 2: I got to tell you all about this and have
Speaker 2: you heard about Yegefest. It's happening this year May ninth
Speaker 2: and tenth in Georgetown, Texas at the EEE Farm, So
Speaker 2: you can come hang out with us. Me, my brothers,
Speaker 2: my family will all be there. We've got a truck
Speaker 2: show happening. We've got a mud bog competition, kind of
Speaker 2: like we did last year, but the new edition this
Speaker 2: year is a concert by me and my band and
Speaker 2: my old crew. This is not a tour, This is
Speaker 2: not me getting back into music. This is one time
Speaker 2: every year we hope to do a concert for my
Speaker 2: friends and family, especially Maverick who's never seen me play
Speaker 2: live before. So come out have a meal with me
Speaker 2: and my family. On Friday night. I'm gonna give a
Speaker 2: little devotional from the Bible, maybe play an acoustic song
Speaker 2: or two. This is really a once in a lifetime experience,
Speaker 2: and if you want to find out more, go to
Speaker 2: eeye dot com.
Speaker 1: There's a part of me that can't run, and there's
Speaker 1: I think once you're and I can talk about my brothers,
Speaker 1: my older brothers, because they've they've had a journey with
Speaker 1: their faith. They've had they've had ups and downs, They've
Speaker 1: lived a hard life. We all dealt with loss, you
Speaker 1: know when we were kids, and they took it really hard.
Speaker 2: And did you not?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 2: Uh? You were younger? Is that what you're trying to say?
Speaker 1: I was. I was eleven and they were fifteen, you know,
Speaker 1: so there was a difference there. But also there's like
Speaker 1: a there's like a foundation, and back to that foundation
Speaker 1: right there, I can look back at our the way
Speaker 1: I was raised, uh speak, you know, uh spiritually speaking,
Speaker 1: and point out a bunch of things that nowadays I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I was misguided, or gosh that was
Speaker 1: controlling or this, you know, and point to a lot
Speaker 1: of things that were not great and and damaging honestly
Speaker 1: in some of the upbringing, the faith practices and the
Speaker 1: church as a whole, at different times, but I was.
Speaker 1: I was the foundation. You can't replace the value that
Speaker 1: that that that now has in my adult life. And
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for it. Even though it wasn't perfect,
Speaker 1: Like the people who are trying to lead me and
Speaker 1: my parents who you know brought me up this way
Speaker 1: were doing their best through all the imperfections that foundation
Speaker 1: for it to stand still, they did something right. And
Speaker 1: the faith is the faith has been tested and proven
Speaker 1: to be authentic over time. And what you're saying by
Speaker 1: the fact that there's I don't even know it and
Speaker 1: it's coming out, that's just proof that that foundation was
Speaker 1: real and that what what I believe and what I've
Speaker 1: proclaimed to believe from a from the age of a
Speaker 1: child till now like has been proven authentic because I
Speaker 1: wouldn't talk about it otherwise it wouldn't come out in
Speaker 1: my It wouldn't come from my heart if it wasn't
Speaker 1: in there, you know. So my brothers, I want them
Speaker 1: to get to that point where they can celebrate the
Speaker 1: imperfections from the past and there in that spiritual upbringing,
Speaker 1: because they're more damaged by it than it's almost they
Speaker 1: haven't gotten to that point where they were able to
Speaker 1: to to accept the imperfections for what they were and
Speaker 1: and and still be left with at the end what
Speaker 1: they're holding their hands, a true, honest faith that comes
Speaker 1: from the heart. So that's kind of like, I don't
Speaker 1: even know what got me talking about them.
Speaker 2: Do you know? Do you know the can you trace
Speaker 2: back the root of your brothers? You lost your brother
Speaker 2: when he was sixteen, you were eleven, right, car accident? Right,
Speaker 2: tell me walk me through the community in the church.
Speaker 2: And also you know what went wrong? What did the
Speaker 2: church do wrong that now your brothers are where they
Speaker 2: are now?
Speaker 1: Great questions. The community was very much supportive through all
Speaker 1: of it. We had a lot of close friends. We
Speaker 1: had people who who cared deeply for us. That was
Speaker 1: never a question. We never felt alone in that regard, right,
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I was going through through loss alone,
Speaker 1: which it was a huge blessing.
Speaker 2: Yes, the I think I.
Speaker 1: Think honestly, man, like you know, probably you've had is
Speaker 1: that you can relate to, or or that you've been
Speaker 1: through on your own. In regards to sometimes there's misguided
Speaker 1: or there's there's a misuse of power sometimes and in
Speaker 1: any organization and a church isn't you know, in Layman's terms,
Speaker 1: is an organization to a degree, right.
Speaker 2: So exacted by humans. Yeah yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1: I think that there were just some say one thing,
Speaker 1: but behind closed doors do another kind of like examples
Speaker 1: that made them think that it was kind of a joke,
Speaker 1: you know, or that this person's not you know, they're
Speaker 1: not living the walk that they're talking. You know.
Speaker 2: So what kind of church was it?
Speaker 1: You know, it was a non denominational you know, spirit
Speaker 1: filled you know, we spoke in tongues and we were
Speaker 1: rolling on the ground, banners up and down the aisles.
Speaker 2: Man, you know that's not non denominational.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's a Pentecostal.
Speaker 2: Yeah. See what happens is churches that non denominational churches
Speaker 2: are either Baptist or Assembly of God. But they and
Speaker 2: you'll know by well how are they, how are they baptizing,
Speaker 2: and how are they receiving the Holy Spirit? You know,
Speaker 2: you could tell quickly, oh, I see this is actually
Speaker 2: an Assembly of God church, or I see this is
Speaker 2: actually they just took the name off the sign.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. It definitely had Assembly of God roots because
Speaker 1: we would I mean, look, I'm not throwing you don't
Speaker 1: throw the baby out with the bathwater. They'll say, No,
Speaker 1: I won't. I won't do that either with my upbringing. No,
Speaker 1: I believe in I believe in the feeling of the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit the moment you profess your faith, at the
Speaker 1: indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And I believe in the
Speaker 1: gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: But I think that the the.
Speaker 1: Intentional or not. Once you mix humanity with the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: there can be there can be some ugly misguided stuff,
Speaker 1: and you can start chasing after the gifts of the
Speaker 1: Spirit more than you're chasing after pleasing God in your
Speaker 1: real life. And so that's where the damage was the most,
Speaker 1: Like this holy roller kind of like speak but really
Speaker 1: that couldn't you know, being far from that and their
Speaker 1: actual how they're treating people, their outlook of you know,
Speaker 1: the world, and and and and so it was just,
Speaker 1: you know, it just didn't add up.
Speaker 2: So are you saying, are you saying that you know this,
Speaker 2: this huge tragedy happens in your family and that the
Speaker 2: church as loving and supportive as they were. There's also
Speaker 2: this element of well, seek him harder, you know, seek
Speaker 2: God harder. You guys, you know you're missing the Holy
Speaker 2: Spirit needs to pour himself out on you, so work
Speaker 2: harder to seek him. That's kind of what you're saying,
Speaker 2: go bingo. And so your brother your brothers end up
Speaker 2: just saying I don't want to work hard anymore. Nothing's happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent, dude. Yeah, that's I've never
Speaker 1: seen it that that uh, that profoundly simple. But I
Speaker 1: think that you're right. I think that there was a
Speaker 1: sense of like, you can if you pray hard enough
Speaker 1: or consistently enough, you can get you can feel a deeper,
Speaker 1: you can get closer, you can have a more uh
Speaker 1: you know, a bigger Holy Spirit encounter, you know, and
Speaker 1: or or you can this person will be healed from cancer,
Speaker 1: damn it if you pray hard.
Speaker 2: Enough, you know. Yeah, And sometimes sometimes you just need
Speaker 2: them to say.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. Man.
Speaker 2: Let me just sit with you. Yeah, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2: We don't have to say anything. It's not always about
Speaker 2: let's work harder and you're going to be healed, you know.
Speaker 2: Jesus Jesus didn't do that. Sometimes Jesus would just sit
Speaker 2: and listen or ask questions, and really good questions. True,
Speaker 2: how are your brothers today.
Speaker 1: They're you know, they're amazing people like they have. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of gifts as far as what they
Speaker 1: could what they offer in a room. They can light
Speaker 1: up a room. They can really connect with people and
Speaker 1: make people feel like they're listening. You know that they care,
Speaker 1: you know, And those are qualities that I think are
Speaker 1: super admirable about them both. But there's a there's a
Speaker 1: fuse that's very short, and there's and I think it's
Speaker 1: a lot of because I think it's a I think
Speaker 1: it's the fuse is made out of bitterness and some
Speaker 1: anger and some hatred, and that when it gets lit,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not fun to watch, like just uh,
Speaker 1: it's just I feel like they're they're not happy, you know.
Speaker 1: I think I think they're not. I don't think they
Speaker 1: love themselves. I think they have a hard time believe
Speaker 1: in Jesus still loves them.
Speaker 2: Does two those two things work backwards. That what you
Speaker 2: just said, When you realize Jesus loves you, then you
Speaker 2: could truly know yourself. Then you could truly you could
Speaker 2: truly rest in who you are because he has your identity,
Speaker 2: not you.
Speaker 1: And how how like, how how how simple and and
Speaker 1: how powerful is that Jesus loves you, like like it
Speaker 1: looks like a bumper sticker or it feels like a
Speaker 1: preschool uh song. But it's not any more difficult. It's
Speaker 1: not supposed to be any more difficult than that statement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jesus was God.
Speaker 1: So loved the world, you know, And that's really the
Speaker 1: pullball of wax. You're right, it's all right, like our contentment,
Speaker 1: our purpose, our identity, everything down here hinges on. Do
Speaker 1: we know that and do we accept that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Man, when I was in the darkest place in
Speaker 2: my life and rock bottom, and when the Lord brought
Speaker 2: me out of that, it was in a realization that
Speaker 2: He loves me when I least deserved to be loved,
Speaker 2: or when I was the most unlovable, you know, Romans
Speaker 2: five eight, while we were still sinners, God shows his
Speaker 2: love for us. How while we were still sinners, Christ
Speaker 2: died for us when we were unlovable. And when that
Speaker 2: reality grabs you, and I've heard so many people it
Speaker 2: sounds like it's similar to your testimony too. When that
Speaker 2: reality finally wraps you up, you say, why would he
Speaker 2: forgive me? Why would he pursue me? Why would he
Speaker 2: give Why would he give me an an inheritance to
Speaker 2: the kingdom. Oh, because he loves me beyond what I
Speaker 2: could possibly understand. And it's usually that's the thing, like,
Speaker 2: that's what that's what wakes people up and they go, oh,
Speaker 2: my God. Then from there then they want to be obedient.
Speaker 2: Then they want to read their Bibles. Then they want
Speaker 2: to join a local body of believers and celebrate and tell.
Speaker 2: Then they want to evangelize and tell other people about it.
Speaker 2: It comes from being loved. That's the beginning of it.
Speaker 2: And so so many times people try to do it
Speaker 2: backwards and they go, man, I need a first, I
Speaker 2: need to learn how to love myself. And once I
Speaker 2: learn how to love myself, then I'll then I'll really
Speaker 2: get into the church thing. And and the way the
Speaker 2: Bible speaks, it's like, you can't love yourself, bro, and
Speaker 2: until you know who he is. You can't even know
Speaker 2: yourself until you know who he is, and then everything changes.
Speaker 2: That sounds like the story of your brothers. I think
Speaker 2: it is, man, And it sounds like what the conversion
Speaker 2: you made from the old days to you're a different
Speaker 2: person man than what.
Speaker 1: You used to be.
Speaker 2: So I yes, but I'm talking about you you're a
Speaker 2: different person. Something happened with you. Man. You say it's kids,
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus kids.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's I think he still got a
Speaker 1: long way to go. But I'm very grateful to have
Speaker 1: more purpose, or at least be aware that there's more
Speaker 1: purpose than just how big is my music career gonna be?
Speaker 2: You know, well, let's let's get to that. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you these let me tell you these lyrics here.
Speaker 2: You wrote these in the grip of changing winds and
Speaker 2: the hands of open waters, the shadow of the moon
Speaker 2: and the rising tide. It conjures heaven. Hear my prayer,
Speaker 2: lest the will of God desert me. You didn't bring
Speaker 2: me all this way for Baron Shules to show me
Speaker 2: no mercy. You believe that.
Speaker 1: I still every day believe it. I am on the
Speaker 1: journey still. And that's why that song, every time I
Speaker 1: hear it, it helps me. It helps me remember I'm
Speaker 1: gonna feel tossed, I'm gonna feel lost, I'm gonna feel
Speaker 1: like I'm never gonna I'm always gonna feel like will
Speaker 1: I ever get there?
Speaker 2: You know what you said three times? You realize what
Speaker 2: you said three times in a row. Feel the problem
Speaker 2: is feel. I'm gonna feel lost, I'm gonna feel like
Speaker 2: he's abandoned me. I'm gonna feel like the tides are changing.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna feel feel, feel, And so we take what
Speaker 2: we feel and we put that under the accountability of
Speaker 2: what we know, what we know he is doing. Paul
Speaker 2: says in Philippians One that he who began a good
Speaker 2: work in you will bring it to completion. Let's go
Speaker 2: in the midst of all that. You're gonna feel tired,
Speaker 2: You're gonna feel lost, You're gonna feel like your faith
Speaker 2: is failing. You're gonna feel like you're a bad father
Speaker 2: and a bad husband and a failed musician in your
Speaker 2: career is tanking. You're gonna feel feel feel. We see
Speaker 2: this in the Psalms all the time. It's great to
Speaker 2: go see King David and what he writes in the
Speaker 2: songs of it, he feels, feels, feels, and then he knows.
Speaker 2: There's the accountability. But I know I know what you're doing, Lord,
Speaker 2: and you wrote it in your song. You didn't bring
Speaker 2: me all this way for Baron Scholes to show me
Speaker 2: no mercy. The Lord didn't bring you all this way.
Speaker 2: Canaan through all this through tragedy in your life. Your
Speaker 2: parents didn't make it that, they didn't make it through this.
Speaker 1: It was no, they're not together. What you mean No? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: the they get divorced.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The Lord didn't bring you through all of this so
Speaker 2: that at the very end he can go, oh o Cane,
Speaker 2: you didn't make it. I'm so sorry, buddy. Now he's
Speaker 2: working all of this, All of this pain has a
Speaker 2: has a purpose. Paul says that this light, momentary affliction
Speaker 2: is producing an eternal weight of glory. So all this
Speaker 2: is working for us. And he didn't bring you all
Speaker 2: this way for Baron Schulz to show you no mercy.
Speaker 2: That's that is an amazing thought, because what you've been through, brother,
Speaker 2: is is let me see it this way. It's impossible.
Speaker 2: You can't do it. You won't make it on your own.
Speaker 2: So you rest in him. You rest in him who
Speaker 2: has a plan that that turn, that will be working
Speaker 2: all things for good, it for those who love him.
Speaker 2: That's an incredible promise, man.
Speaker 1: I believe it. Thank you for that reminder, man, It's huge.
Speaker 1: I love you, buddy, Thank.
Speaker 2: You, man. I need to hear it. I'm sorry to
Speaker 2: take us to this take us to this level of
Speaker 2: we're just inviting everybody into a conversation between us right now.
Speaker 2: I do think there's more to say about about your career.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. This is another another thinker here.
Speaker 2: Do you think the Lord wants you to have a
Speaker 2: successful music career? It's not a trick question, that's not
Speaker 2: like a gotcha question. Do you think the Lord wants
Speaker 2: you to have a successful music career?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I I know the Lord wants me
Speaker 1: to know him.
Speaker 2: Boom, I know that. Boom. So when you know that,
Speaker 2: the purpose of you knowing him, really, the Bible says,
Speaker 2: is so that he is glorified. But it's not like
Speaker 2: some cosmic narcissism, you know, like's not He's not up been,
Speaker 2: heaven going. I want you to know me so that
Speaker 2: I'm I get the glory. Caanan like like he like
Speaker 2: he need, He doesn't need anything. In fact, he is
Speaker 2: He's perfectly complete the way he is, the Triune God
Speaker 2: is perfectly complete. He doesn't need you or me. He
Speaker 2: doesn't need my evangelism or your music or anything. But
Speaker 2: because he created you and here it is because he
Speaker 2: loves you. He wants you to glorify him. And here's
Speaker 2: the illustration to that. It's like, imagine a museum, incredible museum,
Speaker 2: and in that museum, through all the displays, there's this
Speaker 2: one painting that's mind totally dynamic, it's incredible painting, and
Speaker 2: it's sitting there on this display. And here you come
Speaker 2: and I come. We come walking in there, and we're
Speaker 2: on our phones looking down walking through this museum, going
Speaker 2: by this display, and we're looking down on our phones
Speaker 2: just like mindlessly scrolling something. And if the painting in
Speaker 2: that moment, if the painting could talk, it would say, Canaan,
Speaker 2: look to me, look up, look to me. Not because
Speaker 2: I need you to look at me, not because it
Speaker 2: makes me feel better if you look at me, but
Speaker 2: because if you look at me, this will change your
Speaker 2: life because you will get so much joy, giving me glory. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and that's that's why God says, canaan, know me, know me.
Speaker 2: And then if you have a successful music career, awesome.
Speaker 2: If you don't and he's leading you somewhere else, awesome, right,
Speaker 2: But at some level, as long as the bills are paid,
Speaker 2: as long as you're taking care of your wife and kids,
Speaker 2: then then and giving him the praise, then you will
Speaker 2: feel joy, you will feel contentment in that. It's crazy, right.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I can testify to that because I'm only
Speaker 1: I'm only there now for the first time where I'm
Speaker 1: I have a career. My career is music, right, but
Speaker 1: I'm not defined by it for the first time. And
Speaker 1: that's okay, It's it's beautiful that I'm not. I'm I've
Speaker 1: accepted that. And you know, if I am open to
Speaker 1: whatever he has because I want to know him and
Speaker 1: I want my family to know him. I want us
Speaker 1: to have I want us to experience God to the fullest.
Speaker 1: That's my goal in life. So ammers whatever he's got
Speaker 1: planned on, sign me up.
Speaker 2: And by the way, on top of all that, you're
Speaker 2: also incredibly talented that the Lord has gifted you with
Speaker 2: incredible that this album is amazing. Uh And so you know,
Speaker 2: we can't say any of that without also saying the
Speaker 2: Lord has definitely gifted you as an entertainer, as a writer,
Speaker 2: as a singer, performer, guitar player, all the above. But
Speaker 2: that also doesn't necessarily mean because of that you will
Speaker 2: equally have success in it, just like all your peers. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so who knows. I mean, I love. I love that.
Speaker 2: That's your answer. So we you mentioned earlier that we
Speaker 2: had this mutual friend nugget. I call him Chris Clifton.
Speaker 2: That's right. And I said, dude, I said, I'm going
Speaker 2: to have a conversation with Canaan today. I thought you'd
Speaker 2: want to know. And he was like, oh, it's amazing.
Speaker 2: And then he sends me this text and he says,
Speaker 2: here's some things that you might not know about him.
Speaker 2: He cooks spaghetti three nights a week. What's true? What's
Speaker 2: up that?
Speaker 1: That's hilarious, dude, that is true.
Speaker 3: It is true.
Speaker 1: We made it last night.
Speaker 2: Actually, that's good. All right? What about this one? He
Speaker 2: said he once pushed a terrified girl down a slide
Speaker 2: on National Time. Oh god, what does that mean? What
Speaker 2: does that mean?
Speaker 3: I was on the Amazing Race that TV show, all right,
Speaker 3: and the girl who was my partner I was dating
Speaker 3: at the time, and we uh got to this.
Speaker 1: The challenge was to just literally go down a water slide.
Speaker 1: It was a big water slide, but it was still
Speaker 1: just a water slide. All you had to do was
Speaker 1: go down it.
Speaker 2: And she was so.
Speaker 1: Terrified that she sat up there for forty five minutes.
Speaker 1: At the top and I was trying to peel her
Speaker 1: hands from the bar so I could push her down
Speaker 1: the slide and go get our million dollars. That's what
Speaker 1: he's talking That's what he's talking about.
Speaker 2: I remember when he first said that, I didn't know
Speaker 2: what he was talking about. Now I remember that moment.
Speaker 2: You know what else he said though he said this,
Speaker 2: Chris said, I will say he is one of the
Speaker 2: kindest and most thoughtful dudes that I know. He's always
Speaker 2: reaching out to his friends to check on them to
Speaker 2: see how things are going. I know that's random, but
Speaker 2: he's really good at that. And I agree, man, Kana,
Speaker 2: that's you, and that's the Lord working in you. That's
Speaker 2: not the same guy that that what that was throwing
Speaker 2: the drums at the music festival on the West Coast
Speaker 2: that day. The Lord has softened you, man, and uh god,
Speaker 2: it's it's beautiful, man, It's beautiful to see what the
Speaker 2: Lord is doing with you.
Speaker 1: Appreciate that very much. Yeah, like you said first, I
Speaker 1: can't take the credit for that. That's that is Jesus
Speaker 1: doing his thing, man. But it's really cool when people
Speaker 1: feel the effects of what he's doing, you know, because
Speaker 1: the biggest our biggest responsibility is to try to love others. Right,
Speaker 1: that was the great commission.
Speaker 2: That's right. So that's right. I love hearing.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 2: I love the record. I love all the songs. I
Speaker 2: love that it's independent. I love that you made it
Speaker 2: for an amazing fifteen thousand dollars. I still don't really
Speaker 2: know how.
Speaker 4: You did that.
Speaker 2: But most importantly, I love that the Lord is drawing
Speaker 2: you and changing you and redirecting your thoughts and your passions.
Speaker 2: I mean, I could definitely speak to that, that the
Speaker 2: Lord starts rearranging desires and changing passions. And at one time,
Speaker 2: at one time, you and I both were you know,
Speaker 2: our whole world revolved around let's make the single work.
Speaker 2: You know. Yeah? And then when the single works, I mean,
Speaker 2: the very next thought you have is time for time
Speaker 2: to do it again on the next single. And that
Speaker 2: never ends.
Speaker 1: No, And how can you be happy doing it like that?
Speaker 2: I possible?
Speaker 1: I couldn't.
Speaker 2: I mean, like, what would what would make us happy?
Speaker 2: Five number ones?
Speaker 1: It?
Speaker 2: How about nine? Ten?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Because then you want fifteen with fifteen number one singles
Speaker 2: make us happy? No, you got to hit it even twenty.
Speaker 2: That ends? So anyway, man, I appreciate the conversation. I
Speaker 2: hope you enjoyed it. You got to do it again.
Speaker 2: I got a bud. I want to. I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to do this again because I want to
Speaker 1: hear like and we can just do it over over
Speaker 1: beers and on the phone one time too if you want.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's a lot to catch up to on
Speaker 1: your side of the story and I want to keep
Speaker 1: diving in on too. Okay, thank you for the time today, man,
Speaker 1: it was awesome.
Speaker 2: No, man, that's the same same to you. It's an
Speaker 2: honor to have you canan and let's keep talking. Love it, dude,
Speaker 2: I love you, love you hell all right, see you bro.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate
Speaker 2: all of you.
Speaker 4: Guys.
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