Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:02 Smoke all the good old days. You Friday night, just right. It's called.
Speaker 1 00:00:31 We sound blessed. I
Speaker 2 00:00:32 Think I, I'm, I'm feeling, I'm feeling good.
Speaker 1 00:00:35 Well, um, Kurt's not here, which isn't great, but I have a special guest who is actually a podcast host himself, so that's way better because I'm okay at talking. But Matt is probably one of the guys that's even better at talking than I am <laugh>. Mr. Matt Burrell.
Speaker 2 00:00:50 Hey dude. Thanks for having me. This is like, this is super cool. Cause I remember before I was telling you, you and Charlie this before, uh, coming on. I remember being up in New York listening to the Raise Rowdy podcast, like back in the, the old, your old recording device stage age four. Recording at jus Yeah. Recording at like up in Pittsburgh. So it's cool to Yeah. Be hopping on with you for an episode. I really appreciate it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:01:13 Before Charles made it sound great. Yeah. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:01:15 <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:01:16 And when I used to just do it with, uh, two microphones and 30 minutes worth of an artist,
Speaker 2 00:01:20 <laugh>, Hey man, what, whatever works. But Sir Charles killing it over there.
Speaker 1 00:01:22 Yeah. We appreciate Charlie Lee for, uh, making us sound better than the H four used to <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:01:28 And Matt. So we've been friends, we were kind of internet friends before and then since I've moved down here, we've been good buddies and uh, your path to music is kind of similar to mine in that like, but neither of us are actually good at making music. Yeah. <laugh>. But just love it. So, um, you know, we met through like, when I had Ray's rowdy and I think it was Sarah you were like talking to before me and then, um, when I'm, before I moved down we got to meet you and then when I moved down we became quick friends man. So
Speaker 2 00:01:58 Yeah. Dude, I call you, I call you Uncle Nick, man. Yeah. Like we we're, we're boys. We, we live near each like super close. Relatively. Yeah. There was a street through our backyard to be like a minute to get to each other. Yeah. It's like three minutes with all the little turns, but, but no dude. Um, yeah, I remember the first time I think, cuz I remember following Ray Rowdy cause I was going to a lot of concerts and very involved in the Jersey, New York country scene. Yeah. Like you were in the Pittsburgh, Ohio scene, right? Yep. And um, I remember the, I think it was CMA Fest 2019. It had to be. Yeah. You guys had to takeover at Live Oak.
Speaker 1 00:02:29 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:02:30 Yep. And we came and kicked it afterwards and Payson was pulling the guitar off the wall. Yeah. And like just random people like Ryan Nelson, I think Taylor Phillips was there, a number of different people and it was, it was a good time.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 Yeah, dude, it was a mess. That was one of the, uh, so we did takeovers of, um, Grady Saxon's Round, who is now a sponsor on your podcast. Yeah. And your writer's round. Um, good friend of the family at Rays Rowdy and great producer. And um, yeah, before we got to town we did those like takeovers. And then when we got to town, you had had your round established. So tell everybody about your podcast. If they don't know, I assume a lot of our, uh, bass is crossed over, but tell 'em about it
Speaker 2 00:03:09 Not. Yeah, so I do a thing called In the Round, um, and it's originally was supposed to be talking to just songwriters, but we've moved on to doing artists as well and different music industry folks. And, uh, it's basically just kinda, kinda shooting the shit with songwriters and artists. I can cuss on here, right? Yeah. I'm good. All right, cool. Um, so it's basically just like shooting the shit with people in music here in Nashville and, um, it's grown a lot because of the writers round. Yeah. Which you've always, you always tell me about community. Yes. And having, being involved in the community and that's something that I've really been striving to do since I got down here in 2018. So doing the writers round at Live Oak, that's been huge. And then obviously the podcast as a give back and yeah. We just kind of hang out with songwriters and have a good time.
Speaker 1 00:03:52 Yeah. So it's an interview podcast, um, lot of up and coming artists, a lot of the same kind of artist base that we use. And then, you know, he has some stuff that he loves that he brings on. And then I have different stuff here that you guys hear on the Raise Rowdy podcast. So if you don't have a subscription to that online, make sure you do. So. Appreciate it. It's a great follow. Yeah. And now you're in the, uh, the podcast studio. So you got video podcast going on now that we're currently working on. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:04:19 Dude, I've been very lucky. And again, a lot of that has to do with, um, Mr. Mr. Trey Lewis. Yes. And just kinda shelling out and balling out and, uh, cause I started out, we started out in the round in a basement with three cats living in the basement. We called them the Pod Cats, and then it was Cake and Felix and I forgot the third one's name, but like, we would have like guests on like, I remember we had, I think it was, I think we had Jacob Lutz on it and like the cat was like climbing up his back in the middle of the interview and like one, and the same thing with like Carly Rogers. Like the cats would like be sitting on your lap during it. So we've like upped our, it's been cool to kind of see it grow. Yeah. And like I, we probably record in like five or six different spaces Yeah. Over the last three years, which is kind of crazy. But yes, it's cool to be in the, be in the studio in town. We're definitely taking advantage of what, what Trey and our good folks over there have, uh, let us, letting us use, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:05:08 Absolutely. Well, let's, like, let's go back to the beginning man. So let's talk about like, I know even before the music world, you were kind of like in the sports world. So why don't we like start there and kind of talk about your, like your growth into the, the industry.
Speaker 2 00:05:22 Yeah. So I grew up a big, big sports fan. Um, although my first concert, I will say was Tim McGraw. Yeah. 2002, 2003. I
Speaker 1 00:05:31 Was 20.
Speaker 2 00:05:32 Yeah. Somewhere in there. I was in like the second or third grade. Yeah. <laugh>. But, and I remember I was in the second or third grade because I remember going to the concert, it was back, I think it was the dance hall doctor's tour. Okay. Like it was back when he was doing what church does now, where it's No, no openers. Yeah. And just going, that was when he was a haca Tim McGraw. Like he was, he was going and papers and all. Yeah. 100%. So that was my first concert. So like, I fell in love with country music early on, but sports was where I kind of got the, the personality media thing. I was a, I was a blogger Yeah. At like sixth, seventh grade and I was writing about Yankees, baseball, Virginia Tech, football and whatever else. Like, I remember doing the thing on LeBron James when he was doing his decision and like Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:11 Listing all the things and I'd spend hours and it was just cool to be talking about something that you're passionate about. Yeah. Which is what we do, what you and I both get to do with music now. Right. So that's kinda where I got my, got my start. I worked for my school newspaper and covered all the, all the uh, New York athletics, lots of lacrosse, lots of wrestling, and then basketball, football, baseball, all that stuff. And then got to college and stepped foot in my college radio station. And I had just, I had started going to country concerts by myself, like, and drinking beer. It was before I, before I put the bottle down. And I had experienced the fun of tailgating. Yeah. I had experienced the fun of lawn shows at Sheds. Yeah. I had experienced a Toby, I think that one summer I went and saw Toby Keith, I saw Brantley, I saw like a ton of different shows and I saw somebody with a ti with, I saw this title called Redneck Radio.
Speaker 2 00:07:00 And I was like, I don't know what it is, but I wanna be a part of it. Country music. It's, it's fun, it's cool and all that. And I transitioned from being a, wanting to be on ESPN though, wanting to be a country radio dj Yeah. In like a matter of probably a couple months. So that's kind of where I led or it went. And then I've worked in, uh, in radio in Jersey for a few years, um, and what I would call soccer mom radio, which is funny. Um, <laugh>, lots of Bon Jovi, lots of Springsteen being in Jersey, uh, mixed in some, some like, uh, some like Stevie Nicks and Bruno Mars and all that kind of stuff. And, but was still going to all the country shows. Yeah. Like my mom used to say, why are you going to so many shows?
Speaker 2 00:07:39 Like, you're wasting all this money, you're wasting all this cast. And I'm like, mom, I'm, I'm trying to meet. Cause I would go, I'd meet the merch guy. Yeah. I'd meet the record rep. I'd meet all these different people while I'm not even working in the format. I found a way to like get in the country scene in Jersey and I was going to 50, 60, 70 shows a year just trying to grind. Like Yeah. Like we were Same thing as what you were doing. Yep. And I had my concert crew where we would tailgate and we would party and we would really support the openers and things like that. And one day I was kinda like, fuck it. Like, I gotta get down here. So then we moved to Nashville.
Speaker 1 00:08:12 Yeah. Yeah. So you moved to Nashville. And I mean, for a lot of people that listen to the podcast, I think we have a good mix of like artists, songwriters, also people that are just music fans. Yeah. So tell us about like, when you got down here, how that went.
Speaker 2 00:08:25 Um, so my shout out to Dave Hangley, um, a fellow, fellow Northeastern guy. Um, love all of our damn Yankees down here too. There's, there's a lot of us, there's more coming. Uh, but um, but from like the crew that was down here in like 2018, so Dave was a guy that, um, I had in my college radio show and we had a lot of national acts that have since gone on and blown up. But, cause I was doing the college radio show from fall of 2013 to spring of 2017. So at that time you've got combs blowing up, right? You've got wall and blowing up, you've got John Pardy, you got all these people that were just looking for airplay from anywhere. Yeah. So they weren't even taking on a 25 watt college radio station that had no reach whatsoever. But I got to talk to all these people.
Speaker 2 00:09:05 But we did a lot in the local scene. So we had Dave Hangley come on. We had a number of different artists and I built a good friendship with him. He moved down here January, 2018 and I remember doing a going away party for him at the Starland Ballroom. He opened up for Granger Smith. And then we froze our asses off at the VFW across the street. We had flags, we had beer, we had pong, we had all the good shit going on. And then he came down and um, was, he would call me like once a week and say, dude, you gotta get your asses down here. You gotta get your ass down here. Like bro, there's just, you belong down here. So then I moved down here and I was thi I was talking with some radio stations about continuing on that radio path, but around that time, radio was beginning to really start downsizing a lot. Yeah. So for me it was like, I just need something to pay the bills. So I ended up bouncing on Broadway. Yeah. And it was, it was a lot. I never bounced the day in my life. My first shift was on Halloween, weekend on Broadway, downtown at Whiskey Row. And, uh, saw some things and learned very quickly what to do. And luckily I was an ID checker. I was mostly on the day shifts, but what was really cool about that job was I got to meet guys and girls Yeah. That were on Broadway.
Speaker 1 00:10:12 Yep. Yeah. You get to make connections. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:14 And Broadway gets an interesting rep because there's people that say, I don't wanna play on Broadway. Cuz then you get stuck down there. But at the same time, you've got tourists coming in. Like you can grow a following. You can for sure. And you perfect your craft. It's no different than what Trey's done, what, what Gary and Charlie maus and I have done where they've, where they spent time playing four hour cover shifts Yep. Throughout the southeast. It's just, instead of having to drive three, four hours to different city, you're doing it on Broadway. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:10:39 It's part of the grind, man. That's like, there's no right way to do it. Right. And there's people that get discovered from Broadway the same way there's, people get discovered from playing the southeast, you
Speaker 2 00:10:47 Know? Yeah. So that, so I got to know like Steven Paul. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> was a good buddy. Um, Henry Martin, Skyler Anderson, Jacob Lutz. Funny enough, we used to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays together. We would work the, we would work the night shifts on the weekdays and he would run sound and I would be at the front door. And now it's like, I saw him the other night at, um, at Live Oak at Rowdy on the Row. And it's like, bro, remember a couple years ago when we were just sitting at Whiskey Row and you had just moved here and we're talking to this guy named Jonathan and you were telling me about all this cool shit. And now it's like, he's doing his thing. I'm doing my thing. So it was cool. And then, um, Tyler Lasar Boudreaux, who, um, is a good, was a good buddy of mine.
Speaker 2 00:11:22 And we, uh, he was working down on Whiskey Rail. He was originally doing security, transitioned into doing sound. And um, he's been in town for a very long time. And, uh, he got, uh, he got offered the, uh, the gig with Gary and Charlie with Musco on. Yeah. And that kind of transitioned me into, into, he asked me one day, I remembered I almost didn't take the opportunity because I was like, I can't lose this $15 an hour a job <laugh> like 15, 15 bucks an hour checking IDs, making money on the door. Like, I, I need this money to stay here. Like what if I get fired from Whiskey Row? But it was the best decision I ever made to go and sling t-shirts for the Muhan on boys. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:12:00 Yeah. And it's crazy too. Like, I mean, I've been a Muscadine fan forever and, uh, they're, uh, a very tight-knit group and good dudes, like everyone in their crew is a good person, you
Speaker 2 00:12:10 Know? Yeah. Dude. They surround themselves and they, they do it, they do it the musk canine way. Yeah. They do what Gary and Charlie want to do. And they've, they've got, I mean, everybody in that band, Zolty West and Justin, Adam, um, Adam doing, doing the manager stuff, um, what Tyler does, Brad Curry, which has been, I I call him a protege, but he has exceeded what I ever did with merchandise. He is like the merch king, the merch God, uh, crushing it. So yeah, I love, love what those guys do and grateful I was with them. And honestly, if, if it weren't for Covid, I think I'd still be with them. Like Yeah. I, I loved being with those guys and had a great time. And their fans are some of the best that you will ever Yes. Encounter, man. The vibes die hard, dude.
Speaker 2 00:12:48 They are die hard. Like I would see certain fans and when you're selling merch, you know, like you want to try to hit your quota, you want to get your, get your commission and all that. I remember being, you'd go to Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, you'd see certain people and like I knew I got to know the fans from just selling the dang t-shirts. Yeah. And I'd be like, I would, I know if I see this person I'm gonna, I'm gonna sell to, they're probably gonna buy like 200 bucks in merch, buy t-shirts, bring them to church on Sunday, give 'em to all their friends. Cuz that's what they said they're gonna do with them. Yeah. <laugh>. And like, like you become a, it's, it's really cool. And I got to do the podcast with them too. And yeah, they were, they were huge and supportive of what I've always done. So.
Speaker 1 00:13:26 Yeah. One of the cool things that I saw, like when you were there, and it was like one of the first in my head, like times where I saw something like that was like you were interacting interacting with the fan club page. Yeah. So you were like, Hey guys, come say hi to me at the merch table, you know what I mean? Like in like the Facebook group and stuff. And you like kind of took your personality and put that into the mix of their group and then they could come say hi to you, which I think is a great idea, right? Like you're saying, Hey, I'm the point of contact for like coming over and you're gonna meet someone from the crew. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I,
Speaker 2 00:13:59 And I credit, um, doing what I did in radio with that. Yeah. Because I was a street teamer. I was sleeping on my boss's couch making 10 bucks an hour in New Jersey where they take like 40% of it anyway. So it's really like six bucks an hour. Yeah. <laugh>, um, god bless New Jersey. And um, and like I used to do the street team stuff. Yeah. So I was the guy at the tent outside of the, the, the, the, um, American Heart Association 5K or the Yeah. The PetSmart or whatever, whatever place was paying. And I'd have to hop on the microphone and say, Hey, this is Matt Real with Magic 98.3, come hang out. Like whatever. And it's just the interacting. And I've, I've, and I also got my parents. My dad's a salesman. My mom's a real people person. They're Yeah. They're good talking good at, very good at talking.
Speaker 1 00:14:41 So yeah. I'm, I got to meet both of them in different times and, uh, yeah, dude, they're good people. And you're right, your, your dad is, he's really good at talking
Speaker 2 00:14:48 <laugh>. Yeah, dude, we sat, we had a three cigar night. Yeah. Like, you don't have a three cigar night with just anybody, but you get me and my father, you get, you get Big Jim with, with me and you. Yeah. And we'll, we'll sit out there and we'll, we'll smoke some sticks and talk about a lot.
Speaker 1 00:15:03 Yeah. Dude, that was fun man. It was, uh, it was cool. And then when your mom came down and you got to have rounds for both of them, which is super cool. Yeah. Yeah. Like picking lineups that you think your family is gonna love or that people they already know they love.
Speaker 2 00:15:15 Yeah. And what was cool too, what's really cool too, I mean they talk about like, obviously we're not musicians, right? We're not, we're not songwriters. We're not saying, Hey mom and dad, we're gonna move to Nashville and write songs or pursue being an artist or go go play, go play music around, go play music around for not a lot of money and just do this cuz we love it. But we are, we took a chance. Yeah. Like, and moving down here was a chance. I mean, the rest of my family still lives in the northeast. They, they work, they do finance and physical therapy and they're, they're more those, those traditional kind of jobs. And my family's been super supportive in me being 23 moving down here now. And it's been been awesome.
Speaker 1 00:15:52 Yeah, dude, it's a, it's one of those things where it's like there's no right path for anyone and it's all about being happy. And dude, that's one of the things too that I love about you is like, you are happy grinding and doing what you're doing. Like, and that's when you know you're in the right spot. You know?
Speaker 2 00:16:05 Dude, the grind, the grind is a big part of it. If you don't, if you don't like grinding the music life, especially the touring life Yeah. And the podcast world, man. Yeah. You don't get a ton of subs overnight. You don't get a ton of, of some episodes don't get the amount of downloads that the episode before is like you're gonna run in. You have to really, really, really want it to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 00:16:24 Yeah. Well and people have to see that too, dude. So it's like the same thing for me like, like a podcast sponsor wants to be a sponsor cuz they believe in what you're doing. Yeah. You know, a round sponsor wants to be a sponsor cuz they believe in what you're doing. You know, there's plenty of ways that they can spend their money, but if they believe in the mission and they believe in the community you're building, then that's a cool way to do it,
Speaker 2 00:16:43 You know? Yeah, dude. Absolutely. And that, that to me, that's part of the reason I wanna do the in the round thing. Cuz I remember like being on the radio side, you'd really see what the, what the reps are pushing in Northeast. Yeah. Which is definitely more the poppy mainstream kind of thing, you know? Yep. It's, it's very different than the country culture. And that's what's been cool about touring is I've seen what Texas looks like. Yeah. In country music. I've, I've been to Alarick and Bama more than I ever thought I would step foot in in my life. You know, I've seen, seen the Southeast and stuff. But when I came down here, I remember going rounds and uh, and going to Whiskey Jam. My first whiskey jam was the night the show up drunk came out, Ryan Nelson. Oh wow. I remember, I remember watching Ryan Nelson and being like, I feel like I'm watching Walk the Line Joaquin Phoenix on stage <laugh> because Ryan's in his blazer.
Speaker 2 00:17:26 He had just cut his hair. And um, I remember being like, this guy's freaking awesome. And just seeing, being like, how do I not know about this guy? Like, cuz I would be scouring Facebook, I'd be looking, I I I knew of the name again from, from you guys. Yeah. And, and, but the fact that I had to like search for, for talented creative people like this from being up, like I just couldn't get that in New York. And then coming down I was was like, how is nobody talking? Like you guys were talking about 'em, but as a whole, like there's so many up and comers that people weren't talking about. I'm like, I want to do a show that's gonna showcase some of that. Yeah. And what, and the songwriting community, I had no idea what the songwriting community was and then I stepped foot down here. I was like, holy shit. Yeah. Somebody's gotta talk about this stuff.
Speaker 1 00:18:07 Well, yeah, it's a whole different world, man. It's like, and it's, and that's part of it is like it's, until you're in it, you don't know. You don't know what a publishing deal is as a fan. You know what I mean? Most fans don't. Yeah. You know, which, if you don't know a publishing deal is when you have a company that's basically paying you to write songs or they're giving you money to write songs with the idea that they're gonna get your songs cut or help get your songs cut by other artists or even by you and make that money back. You're
Speaker 2 00:18:32 Getting paid to write songs. Yes. Basically. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:18:35 Yeah, yeah. Which is like a crazy thing to think about in the world. But in Nashville there are a decent number of pub deals. There's not that many, you know, it's not like there's 10,000 people in town writing songs, but, you know, there's a lot of companies that are willing to give great songwriters, that kind of thing. And artists that are writing their own songs too. Yeah. So it's like, it's like parts of the world that unless you're deep into the music world, like you don't know, you know, and that's one of the things, dude, I didn't know. I was just trying to figure it out. You know? I'm sure you were the same way. Yeah. And like when you get to town, you learn that stuff. Or even maybe a little bit before, you know, same thing with radio, dude. Like when I had radio, rowdy radio I learned so much so quick, you know, because I, I knew radio, but I didn't know how it worked, you know, and it's like, oh, I gotta make my own radio show.
Speaker 1 00:19:19 Oh, here's how that works. Oh, here's what that looks like. Oh, here's how you actually would make money off of it. Not that I did, but <laugh> like, here's how that would work. You know? Yeah. And it's the same, it's, it's kind of the same grind for a podcast. It's just different. Like, so like for example, like our podcast sponsor Action 24 7 Tennessee's only Tennessee owned sports book. Right. So they're our podcast sponsor and round sponsoring. Oh guys, if you're in Tennessee and you like sports betting, this is a good time to tell ya. You can download action 24 7 Gamble with us, and uh, use code Rowdy to get up to a $400 match on your deposit.
Speaker 2 00:19:53 And this is one of the best times to be sports gambling because March freaking Madness
Speaker 1 00:19:57 Sports is good.
Speaker 2 00:19:58 March badness is here. Yeah. And you've got baseballs officially back. Yeah, we're back. So we've, you've, there's plenty to go out there and take a chance on. That's what's, that's a great thing about living in Tennessee too.
Speaker 1 00:20:09 Yes. Yeah. So, um, but it's like the radio game is the same, it's just you're trying to find a truck dealership. Whereas like we found a company like Action 24 7 that believes in what we're doing and like is down to help. Yeah. And same thing with you and your podcast sponsors and around
Speaker 2 00:20:23 Sponsors Yeah. And knowing and knowing what your demographic is. Exactly. That's huge too. Which for, for a lot of, for for both of us, a big, big chunk of it is folks living here in town. Yeah. Which is nice. So we can kind localize it. Cuz that for me was one of the weirdest things cuz I used to do sales at like my college radio station, which again, little, I was grateful for it and that they, they gave me a lot of opportunities. It was, didn't have like, the biggest reach. And I learned a lot of radio stuff from, from the folks that I was very lucky. Like the school I went Tory University, not a big school at all. Um, still they might make the tournament for the first time since 94, which is really cool for, for Go Bronx. But I, um, it wasn't like a huge school, but I got to be very involved in that radio station. One of my thing, one of my things there was I was selling, so I was going around the local businesses and asking them and the way we got around that, we said underwriting announcements cuz we were technically a non-for-profit. Yeah. But we found ways to do scholarships and different things like that. But you, it was all local. So when I got into the podcasting, I'm like, how am I gonna localize this? Yeah. And then you realize the Nashville community, you, there's plenty of stuff down here to do.
Speaker 1 00:21:25 Yeah. Dude. And that's like, so our first round sponsor is Crown Heads and through Wes I went to a cigar place that he had and that's how I came to meet action 24 7 through a connection we made with one of the bartenders there who is the wife of a musician. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's just like, it's all, that's all how it happens. It's all, it's all networking. It's all being good to the right people and like people believing in what you're doing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:21:49 And the and the Nashville networking Oh yeah. Is cuz I, I went and saw, um, I went and saw Ben Chapman last night. We had our buddy, um, a buddy Ross from Birmingham came up. Yeah. He was like, bro, how is Nashville like this? On a Wednesday we took, I took him the red door. Yeah. And he was like, how is, how is it like this on a Wednesday? I'm like, bro This's every night of the week. Yeah. He's like, what? And I'm like, this is how we network. Like this is how you get to know people and meet people. Go to a bar sometimes drinking Yeah. Sometimes smoking, doing whatever you gotta do. Or, or just be in there sober and just hanging with your friends. And it's just the, the way how laid back it is is really, really cool. Yeah. You don't have anything like that anywhere else.
Speaker 1 00:22:24 Yeah. Man, the bar scene here is so much different than like back in Pittsburgh, right. Like in Pittsburgh you're literally going to the bar just to get messed up, you know, in Nashville that's like a side effect of going to the bar, you know, <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:22:36 Yeah. You have your nights where you cut loose to get the motor running mm-hmm. <affirmative> and have have some good fun. But, um, but yeah, I mean, and that's something that's been cool too is like seeing the different, um, seeing the different bar scenes in Nashville. Like coming from Broadway, like Midtown for me, I didn't really go to Midtown a lot cause I worked on Mondays and I, I I was off on Thursday so I was going to a lot of Thursday Whiskey jams. Yeah. Like that was my night where I was going into midtown. Cuz I was working Friday, Saturday, Sunday day shift. And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night shift. Makes sense. So like, I couldn't go to like the whiskey jams and all that's all I knew was Broadway. But Midtown, if you're in town and you're not hanging out midtown right now, like go check out some rounds, go meet some people. Like that's where you want to be.
Speaker 1 00:23:18 Yeah. If you're looking for the music world, um, that is where it lives during the week for sure. Um, the weekends it gets a little bit more fratty. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 00:23:26 Yeah. Oh dude, it, there's, I didn't think Nashville was a damn college town, but we got, we got some colleges here and we got spring break going on right now. There's a lot of, a lot of northern folks in town for spring break right now. Yes,
Speaker 1 00:23:37 For sure. Which, what a blessing. I mean luckily here, it's crazy like coming from the north and there's like state tax and local tax. It's like here, it's like sales tax is high, but we also make all these idiots that come down here and drink all the beer pay too, you know?
Speaker 2 00:23:51 Yeah. The tourism is so high down
Speaker 1 00:23:52 Here. Yeah. Which is great. So why don't we talk about like how you got in with that Tray Louis crew. So like, kind of Oh boy. Yeah. Kind of the, the Covid story. Well
Speaker 2 00:24:02 We did, we did finally play kickball again the other day and
Speaker 1 00:24:05 Yeah, I tore my arm up and I was the MVP for the opposite team to game.
Speaker 2 00:24:09 Hey, I will say, I will say as far as on the effort scale went, I would say you were up there with Trey Bonner. Yeah. Which is right where you want to be. Yeah. If you are hustling and you're falling and you're, you're getting after it, like Trey Bonner is on the kickball field, you're doing something right. Yeah. So it, it, it ain't always pretty, but it was a hell of a time. So. Oh yeah. So Covid hits, um, I go up to Delaware and I spend a lot of time, I spend time, I don't know what the hell's going on all of our gigs with Musk on get, get Knicked and all that stuff. And um, so I go up there the week the, the world shuts down and I'm up there in Delaware till May. Then I come back, then I go to my aunt and uncle's farm in East Tennessee.
Speaker 2 00:24:46 I spend a month and a half living on a farm doing, doing a cowboy thing, which is kind of weird. Like doing like the helping out. So turning out the horses, doing all that fun stuff. And then I started doing the back and forth to Nashville and I was actually, I was in between places and I was staying on the couch of our good friend Carly Rogers. Yep. So I was hanging out at Carly's place and then me and Boudreau were doing what he was still doing in the round with me. At that time we were recording in the round at, at his house. And we had, um, a day where we did two episodes in one day. We had Dawson Edwards and we had Steve and Paul and I knew Steven. I didn't really know Dawson too well. I had talked to him a lot during, during quarantine those initial times and had him, I think to do like one of those live videos with me or something.
Speaker 2 00:25:27 We had had him on the round before, but we really got to talk with him, like got became buddies with him after that podcast and he was like, Hey man, if you, I, I don't know if you like NASCAR or not, but we watched NASCAR at my house on Sundays, me and Maxwell and, and McKinney and some other folks come over. And I was like, cool. So I, I picked up a case of Bush, slight non-alcoholic or Bush? Bush Na yeah, Bush non-alcoholic. And um, I never actually drank it at Satin Dawson's cooler for forever <laugh>. There might still be some in his, in his red cooler that he had sex app. But um, I was hanging out over there and I had known Maxwell and Dawson and, and I had known of them but I didn't really like know them. Yeah. And that, um, that week, um, that first one I went over to Maxwell was like, Hey man, we're we do kickball on, um, we tried to do like kickball on like Mondays or Tuesdays and it's just the way for us all to hang out. Like you should come out and play. And then I got invited to go and play some kickball and I saw that like Ryan Nelson was there and like some, some folks that I had, I had gotten to know and whatever. But I ended up, uh, that's where I met Trey. That's where I met Ella. That's where I met. I got to know Joy Beth a lot better than I met Clay Barker there. I met Cody Parks, I met, um, Caleb Conrady, Brian Frazier, like that whole
Speaker 1 00:26:36 Crew. Crew.
Speaker 2 00:26:37 Yeah. I met playing kickball and I really got to know them. I got to know like, not kickball obviously, cause that was fun. Um, but then afterwards it was like, go to the Live Oak or go to the local, wherever the round was that night. Because those were the two places that were Okay cause this is, this is, yeah, this is like July, August, 2020. And we'd go to a round bar would close by like 10 o'clock and then we'd go to either Nick Haynes's house, we'd go to Camberra Court. The Bama House as I called it. Even though most of 'em were Auburn fans, even though they're, or everybody but Trey was an Auburn fan. Um, and we'd sit around a fire and we'd, they'd pass around the guitars and play the songs that they wrote that week. And me and Trey Lewis became very close because he doesn't drink.
Speaker 2 00:27:19 I don't drink. We both struggled with, with our, our addiction and, and all that stuff. We have that in common. And Trey had recognized me again from he big Muscatine fan. Yeah. Alabama guy. So he was, um, him and I really, really hit it off. And I remember the first, the first song I heard from him that I was like, fuck I I fuck with this guy. Was a little tired. Yeah. Because I was like, there, I almost got a tattoo at, at fricking summer camp. I almost got the, um, I ain't drinking No, no more bourbon, but there's demons on the shelf. I almost got that underneath my date here. Which it's funny that I ended up working with him. I ended up not getting that lyric on there. But um, but yeah, so they, um, so we were hanging out around the fire and Maxwell, I think Trey was on the road cuz at that point Trey was going down to Florida or Georgia or Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:28:04 Wherever the gigs were he was going and playing with, with the guys that I work with now with Terry McIlwain and Mitch. And, um, he, uh, since he was gone, we would kick it on the weekends cuz none of us were going out on the road. And I remember one night, um, Maxwell says, Hey McKinney, you uh, or he was like, Hey Burle, you ever heard this? You ever heard Dick down in Dallas? And I was like, no. And McKinney was there, he's like, McKinney, he's like, skinny, go ahead play that. Or something like that. And McKinney played it and I was like, holy shit, this is, this is hilarious. Like this is, this is funny. And he was like, yeah, Trey might, Trey's talking about, about cutting it. Like we don't know what's gonna happen with it. Like all that. And it just became like a request at every fire from that point on <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:28:44 And if it was during the week and Trey was in town, Trey would be the one that played on guitar. But if not McKinney was playing it or Matt, somebody was playing it. And I remember, um, we did around, it was September and you had just moved to town at this point. Yeah. And um, and again, I, I would, this came after a lot of times of really getting to know Trey and like becoming boys with boys with him and all that. And um, and I, I said, Hey, I would love to have you Ella, joy Beth and um, and Maxwell, I want you to play your songs cuz your your shit's your shit's dope. Like I want to hear Believer, I want to hear little, like I want to hear your songs, but why don't you play at the end? Like why don't you just play Dick down Dow, see what happens.
Speaker 2 00:29:24 Like why, why don't you just do it? And then he says, I've I don't give a shit about shit. And said the famous video and you, you happen to be there that night. Yeah. And capturing that moment and then the rest kind of turned into history, you know, dude, it's nuts. And it's, and it's funny cuz we've, that um, that whole like that whole period just went by kind of fast. It's weird to look back on because it, it did change a lot of things for a lot of us. Yeah. A lot of people. Yeah. A lot of people, a
Speaker 1 00:29:52 Bunch of publishing deals came out of that camp from that kind of Yeah. Well yeah. For just like being around it and you star getting notice that the, the high tide raises all ships, you
Speaker 2 00:30:02 Know? Yeah. Oh it absolutely raised a ton of ships. Yeah. And um, and cuz I remember we um, cuz Tyler was still doing in the round with me at that point and I remember me and Tyler being like, we gotta get Trey on a podcast. And to this day I think Ella actually just passed him as the most listened to in the round podcast. Yeah. Cuz it's, it's Ella then, um, that initial dick down, um, episode and then, and then Muscatine. So our top three are all from Alabama, which is cool. Yeah. Um, but we had Reon for an episode like that week after and it was just like talking about like, we were still getting to know each other at that point. Now he's like my my best friend. Yeah. My brother, um, talked to him. I mean I'm on, I'm on his damn payroll for Christ's sake. Yeah. <laugh> and, and um, but doing that round and then the song coming out, being at Trey's house when the song came out and just seeing the emotion on his face, seeing the emotion on everybody that was, there's face. Um, and then that week we had planned it a few weeks prior. We didn't know Dick down in Dallas was gonna be like a big thing. Right. That legendary Trey and Alex birthday, birthday
Speaker 1 00:31:02 Party. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:31:03 Was that, that was one of the coolest things that I've been a part of. Um,
Speaker 1 00:31:08 It was like the buzz in town, you know, it
Speaker 2 00:31:10 Was the moment like it, it felt like we had the, we, we did have the big event, um, in town and that was December. Cuz the song comes out December 1st. I think that was December 3rd, I wanna say December 3rd. Cuz then the next night we went to Statesboro. And um, I remember McKinney coming up to me and like giving me a hug and saying, man, I just, I think I just, I just talked with the folks at Sony like, this is, yeah, this is gonna be game changing. And every, a lot of the folks that played that night had their deals come from, that was the one of their first interactions with Sony. That's so wild. And a lot of them ended up signing with Rusty or signing with verse two and like different wait, different things within that, within that cluster. Yeah. Um, that was really cool.
Speaker 2 00:31:49 And at the time too, it was, it was really, Hey, I'll go out with you Trey and sell some merch because they started pumping out the dick down merch and Yeah. And credit to credit to Alex and um, Trey's, Trey's manager Alex, who's been with him forever. Yeah. He's been, been with him since, since booking Mexican restaurants seven years ago. Parties like the, the real in the trenches shit. And um, they, uh, happened to get into, get into merchandise printing a few months prior to that and started putting out all the D d I d merch, the sticker. Like everything came outta that shop. And so they needed somebody to sell the t-shirts. And I, it, it originally just started as, Hey, I'll sell your, I'll sell some merch for you Trey. Like I know how to sell merch. And I sold a lot of merch.
Speaker 2 00:32:34 Yeah. And they were like, oh, I see why you're, why you're considered to be good at this merch selling thing. <laugh>. And then the uh, the tm the tm the tour manager position came into play and, and thankfully Gary and Charlie were really cool about it cuz at the time I was still them. I remember we did the, uh, the grapevine episode with Trey and as after the episode Charlie was like, so you gonna steal, you gonna steal Matt from us, Trey, you gonna keep put him on the spot? Like jokingly. Yeah. And me and Trey just kind of kept our mouth shut cuz we were like, oh, I don't know. Yeah. And they, they ended up being, being really cool and, and, um, and understood the opportunity that I had. And thankfully I was able to find Brad Curry, which was as good of a replace like as good of a, of a guy to come after me as possible.
Speaker 2 00:33:15 Yeah. And, um, yeah, dude, the, the months of December, from December, 2020 to to now, it's been been a whirlwind of just learning how to tour, manage learning how to manage personalities, um, learning, learning what the, the wild life of the road is like, you know? Yes. Cause I wasn't with Gary and Charlie when they were, when they were out, like in that, that when they were in that, in that mode of like their first taste of like headlining shows, you know? Yeah. Because everybody gets, gets a little rowdy that those first, that that first like stretch of, of shows and, but it's, I'm incredibly grateful for it and can't really see myself doing anything else. So it's, it's been awesome man. Dude,
Speaker 1 00:33:55 It's been great. And like I know you were, uh, we were talking and dude, you were doing more than just a tm like you're doing radio work for Trey, you're calling stations, getting, you know, indie stations to play Trey Lewis's music. You're doing TM stuff, but like, you know, you're driving the van like, you know, which happens a lot. So like, talk about the bandwagon and like, I know you guys have started of course in the van, right? And then you upgraded to like a bandwagon. Tell people what that
Speaker 2 00:34:23 Is. Yeah, we're, I mean it's, it depends on, it depends on where where we're at. Yeah. Cause the bandwagon's based out of, based outta Indiana, so like to go up to get it's a whole process. Yeah. Like you gotta get up at like five in the morning, get your flight outta Nashville, go to Atlanta, then go to Atlanta to to Indianapolis, then bandwagon's an hour from there. So they have to send somebody in a truck to come and pick you up and take you out there. Then you drive it back down, then you get like six, seven hours down the road once you're back in Nashville. So that's a haul. Um, but just seeing, seeing it all grow like that has been really cool. And there's, it, it, it is, it is kind of like being on being on a tour bus and it does it there.
Speaker 2 00:34:59 I definitely have some stories of some rowdy, some rowdy things that have happened on that bandwagon. Uh, we've, we've definitely had our, had our fun in it, but it's been, it's been really cool to see a guy like Trey and I haven't been with him obviously the whole time. Like, he's been doing music for a minute. Right. He's been doing music since I was in fucking college. Yep. So it's even before that, like I think I was getting at a, I was getting outta high school when, um, when he was just getting, getting really getting his start and like the local Alabama scene. So to see him live in his dream and like Yeah. To be at the level that he's at now Yeah. Is fucking sick,
Speaker 1 00:35:31 Dude. So, you know, of course Dick down in Dallas, but then the second number one on iTunes.
Speaker 2 00:35:36 Oh dude. Single again. Yep. And the first time, first time I heard that song I was like, I was like, kinda like, I, I don't know, like for me it didn't, it didn't click like immediately, but then you get to, you get to that, that bridge Yeah. Where it's just repeating with the middle fingers and that's so on. So entree's brand of just being authentically who he is and people gravitate to that. Like authenticity and country music is huge right now. Yeah. Like we see it with, we see it with Morgan, we see it with co we see it with Hordy, Aaron Lewis. Yep. I mean there's so many, like it's very, and it's cool because it's like the Texas guys are really owning it right now. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 00:36:10 And they have for a long time
Speaker 2 00:36:11 They, the authenticity thing, like, like what, what Co Colby Peka Dylan, um, all those guys do out there is they're, they're very authentically them. Like they're gonna be, there's more of that rock inside. It's really crossed over to Nashville. And it's cool to see Trey be a part of that.
Speaker 1 00:36:27 Yeah. And then man, talk about that big freaking tour announcement for the summer.
Speaker 2 00:36:31 Oh, Jesus. Um, <laugh>. Yeah. So it actually starts in a couple weeks and um, it's, uh, so we, we were, we were in a weird spot because it was like, we have, we have broken with, with wme. Yeah. Um, and that's been really cool too because it's, it's, I'd I had known like, like being with Musks and I, they were, they've always, they've had, they had a booking deal when I was with them, but when I was just selling Merx, you're not really involved in the business. You're, you're told when to get to the van or when to get to the bus and you go out and you're gonna sell as many t-shirts as t-shirts, coozies hats as you can. Then you're gonna come back with Trey. I'm, I'm really getting to see how this business thing works. Yeah. I'm really getting to see And, and the fact that it's, it's a smaller group of us, but we were looking like, we have like our, our calendar with our, with our booking agent and we were looking like, where, where are the shows?
Speaker 2 00:37:19 Everybody else is announcing their tours. Like where like we've, we've got nothing on the calendar. And um, Trey was kind of thinking like, Hey, if we gotta go back and play covers, like I want to, I wanna be playing music. Like I don't do well sitting at home on the weekends. Right. Like, I, I, I need to be playing music with the boys. Like if we gotta, if we gotta take you burl and we gotta go play fucking tin roofs, like you sell the merch. Like, we'll, we'll make it work. And then Alex called me and was like, Hey, do you want, do you want to go on tour with Kid Rock? And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah, I just got a call like Henry's Henry's working on something and I just got the phone with, with Henry and Trey and like Kid Rock apparently asked.
Speaker 2 00:37:56 And so Trey will be going out as a special guest on the Kid Rock Bad Reputation Tour starting so sick with, uh, with Foreigner and uh, grand Funk Railroad <laugh>. So it's gonna be, it's gonna be gonna be, um, quite the, quite the mix of music and it's gonna be at, um, at uh, sheds or amphitheaters, um, arenas and like big festivals. So it's be really cool to get to see the country. Um, and uh, what's cool too is like on the first week, like cuz we've talked about the idea of doing, cuz a lot of the markets we've, we hit, we did like over 120 shows last year. Yeah. Which was unheard of. Like it's
Speaker 1 00:38:31 Especially during that year.
Speaker 2 00:38:32 Yeah. Like we, we were, we were probably the mo the most toward act of 2021. You know, it's, we're we're independent so you're not gonna get a big like press release or anything like that about it. But we were out there. Yeah. Like we were, we were fucking, we were, we were uh, we were fucking going and getting after it. So, um, we have a lot of markets that we've been to and that we're playing the bigger, the big stage in that market with, with Kid Rock. So these after party things are starting to come into play and it's so the first week, um, cuz originally it was just gonna be a combination of like, of Trey Bonner, um, Alex and, and myself. Like the smaller crew. Like, cuz it's just, it's the special guest thing. Yeah. So we got these call for these after parties and um, so the band's coming out for week one.
Speaker 2 00:39:18 Love that we're taking, uh, we're taking a, an actual bus out. I love it. Um, we went and saw and it's, it's a cool, it's like an old school prevo, like Yeah. Just this old red, like you can tell it's got some fucking stories to tell <laugh> and we're gonna make some more stories in there. Yeah. Um, <laugh>. But, um, it's gonna be, it's gonna be really cool to have, have the band out there too and uh, and all that. So it's, it's gonna be epic man. Like and what's really cool too, I've never done a show, the closest show I've done the Home, like to Northeast, we did a, I think it was like the northeast, the New England Food Truck Festival at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut in Uncasville, Connecticut. And I did that with Musk and I, but that was like an outdoor, like in the parking lot kind of thing.
Speaker 2 00:40:02 There was a bunch of other shit going on in the actual casino itself. But to actually go like, we're going to Homedale New Jersey. Yeah. That was the first, that was when I was talking about those shows. Like when I, when I first, um, like that summer before college, I saw that was where I saw Toby Keith. That was where I saw Bra. Yeah. That was where I saw Al Dean. Like that was, that was my concert spot. So be doing to be working with an artist. It's doing a show there. So. Cool. Really cool man. It's a cool circle. Circle, cool circle. Absolutely. For sure.
Speaker 1 00:40:28 That's awesome dude. I, I would love to have you like, give some advice for some folks that are maybe looking to get into the country music world. Um, cuz we've done this before with people that are like industry folks and I think it's valuable and I think a decent segment of our people are that.
Speaker 2 00:40:45 Yeah, absolutely. Um, I would say one, uh, get down here if you're not here. Yeah. Find a way to get here. Um, I know compared to some areas, it's, it's a little, it's a little pricey here right now. The house, like the world is a little, it's a weird spot, but if you can find a way to get down here or at least come visit, come here for a week. Um, preferably during the week, which I know sounds really weird, but come here to wear, come on a Sunday, go to Rowdy on the Row, come here on a Monday and then you'll be here for a Monday. Whiskey Jam, a Tuesday come by, come by, see what we do at In the Round. Go check out what's going on Tin Roof. Go check out when Revival gets their shit going. Um, just check out all the different music events, meet some people.
Speaker 2 00:41:24 Um, that to me is the big thing. And then once you're down here, it's just really grinding and getting after it and finding your crew. Cuz I've gone through about three or four different crews since I've been here. Yeah. Which is weird to say out loud. And I feel kind of, kind of dickish. Like there's people I don't talk to as much that I was were originally my boys, but it's like, it, you, you move, you go in so many different directions and all that, but finding a crew of people. Like what, like the, the class of kids that just moved here Yeah. For example. Yeah. I am proud of those boys. Like Yeah, like Chandler Paxton. Paxton. Yeah. Amen. Yep. Connor. Brendan. Brendan who's like, like us cuz he doesn't do anything in music. Like, I remember having lunch with Brandon at Party File here in Donaldson and um, he, uh, he was like, Hey man, like I really like, he had hit me up on Instagram and was, I had met him a year before that or two years before that with Muskatine when Noah Hicks opened up for Muon.
Speaker 2 00:42:17 At, at the Carroll there was Noah Hicks, drew Parker, Muskatine at the Little Town Square, tiny little thing in, uh, Carrollton, Georgia. And he hit me up and was like, yo man, like I'm, I'm gonna be in town with love to grab lunch. And we sat there and talked and told me like, he's just wanting to be in the industry. He doesn't know exactly where he fits, but he wants to be here. He's been working on doing photos. He's about to get outta college. Like he wants to be up here now he's up here and he's and the kid, the kid's getting off to a fast start. He's crushing it, he's doing photos for people. He's going out with everybody in that crew on different weekends, driving their vans, helping out with their hotel rooms. Yep. Learning how to, how to tm and he's gonna be growing with, with the guys in that crew, that crew crew. And that, that's, that's what you gotta do. Like you gotta get down here and you gotta find your folks that like you and like you and me, we've been in this same thing for a while, but we gravitate towards each other. Yeah. Cause we're like-minded dudes. We hustle and we're, we're very passionate about this thing. And if you're passionate about music, you're passionate about entertainment, there's no other place you're gonna find an abundance of people like that. Yes. Besides Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 1 00:43:13 Yeah. Totally agree. Um, and yeah, you see every year it's like every time you're at Red Door, three months later, six months later, there's new people. Right. Yeah. But those could be the next freaking Luke Bryan, the next swindell. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's, that's what they're working towards, you know? And if you grind hard enough and you're talented enough, that's how it works. You know, you gotta find your crew people. And it's, it's funny cuz like we had Jordan Fletcher on the pod and he was like, I feel like to me he was like, I feel like you're part of our graduating class, you know, to me. And he's like, because like you were the first guy that was like talking about us. Yeah. You know, he's like, when I did the podcast with you, I was doing merch for Muscadine still, you know? And like that was what we were on. We were just like, this stuff's good. Let's grind and talk about the stuff That's good. You know? But the one thing I want with Ray's rowdy is I don't want to ever lose sight of that next thing, you know? Cuz there's always kids that are coming to town and are talented as heck that need that shine, you know? Yeah. It's,
Speaker 2 00:44:08 And it's, it's exhausting to keep up with it. It is. It's, it's a lot. Especially when you're doing stuff during the day. Yeah. Like if you've got the, the nine to five thing built in. Yeah. Which I never thought I'd, I mean, technically security was like whatever the shift was, but now I'm doing, like you talk about, I'm doing more for Trey. Oh yeah. Trey, Trey Lewis needs something. I'm, I'm going and I'm going and getting it done. It's not just out in the road. It's here in here in town too. So it's like, I get done with that day and it's like, do I want to go out and see people or do I wanna be out in public? Yeah. But then you're like, you never know who you're gonna bump into. And I've had so many nights where I'm like, I didn't want to go out, but I did because I got a call from, like, you, I got a call from like Wyn or I got a call from, from somebody or I was just like, fuck it, let me, let me go out. And then you end up meeting somebody. Yeah. And you end up being like, that was a good connection. I'm, I'm glad I, I nutted up, I grabbed that cold brew coffee on my way out and I I went and did it.
Speaker 1 00:45:03 Yeah. And that's like, one of the things I talk about is like, like if I'm talking to someone, I'm like, I try to go out once a week during the week, you know what I mean? And sometimes I don't feel like it, and sometimes I don't like necessarily even love going out, you know, but it's like when you get out there, it, it feels great. And then you are out there being around people, man. Cuz that's part of it too, like specifically having like a writer's round. Like the people wanna see you out there supporting other music, you know? Yeah. And I remember, I remember, uh, I was seeing Austin Ally Jones or whatever version of that was out at the Scoreboard <laugh>, you know, and uh, and I saw Kelsey Hart and he was out there and he's like, man, you just love country music, don't you? And I was like, I do man. That's why I'm
Speaker 2 00:45:44 Here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:45:44 And it's like, it's cool to see that it's like an artist like him that now has a record deal that was like, you know, we had play in a basement during CMA Fest that we helped with a, you know, Christie d event, you know, and now he has like a deal. He is working towards stuff and just seeing all this people grind, but they watch us grind too, man. You know? And that's like a cool part of it is being in the scene, but not being on the music side. I mean, look at me, dude. Like led to a day job of freaking big, loud, you know? Yeah. If you'd have told me five years ago I was gonna have a day job of Big Loud, I'd have told you you were a moron. Well, big Loud didn't exist there. Maybe it did, but <laugh>, but like at, at the coolest record label in town. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 00:46:21 Yeah. Dude. No nuts. And you've worked, you've worked very hard for years of building your connections with Music Man. And, and it's so cool. And it's crazy how that happens, isn't it? Like it is, man. The story of how that happens is crazy. The way that I, I mean, imagine I said, Hey Tyler, I I don't want to go to, I don't want to go to Huntsville and Macon. I want to, I don't wanna lose my job here, man. Like Right. I I don't wanna leave Whiskey Row. Like this is, this is what's keeping me here. I'd I'd still be on Broadway. Yeah. But I, I don't know if I would be, because I don't know what I, what would happen to me with Covid. Yeah. Like it's, it's everything, everything kind of happens for a reason. And same thing with, with the, with the Writers Round.
Speaker 2 00:46:56 You know, like that was a combination of has Sin my buddy Ethan Willis, like a few different people that were like, dude, you should, you should do this. Yeah. And I almost, I almost stopped doing the podcast. Like I, I came very close and there's, you'll notice if you go back and listen to episodes or like you, you see, you'll see like a big time gap. Yeah. Like where there's like five months in between an episode, four months, which looking back I'm like, fuck, why did I do that? Yeah. But I was so busy with other stuff and it's, but now being back on that podcast grind, like it's just finding the way to keep going, you
Speaker 1 00:47:25 Know? Yeah. Well dude, that's like, for us, like, we were doing all in person stuff. So when Covid hit, like we had like a year where we didn't have any podcasts, you know,
Speaker 2 00:47:33 We're like, what do we do?
Speaker 1 00:47:34 Yeah. Because I did 'em all in person. It was like, do I wanna do these on Zoom? I don't even really know how to do that. And that was right around like, the same time when I got like the radio show, it was like going to be a thing. So I kind of took that podcasting world and I put that towards like the radio show and like the start of that. Like, even before I had the radio show, we were like talking about it. And then when I got back down to town, I was like, I, I'd made a trip down and got a couple more episodes. And then when I got back down to town, I'm like, all right, this is it. Like, let's go back to it. One of the other neat things about this podcast and like we talked about before, and people ask me all the time things like this, they're like, Hey, how do you get cool people to play around?
Speaker 1 00:48:12 I'm like, the give back. And you know, you mentioned that briefly, but I wanna kind of talk through that, like the give back to the community. So like Ray Rowdy as a company and as a, as like an entity has been talking about artists that need more shine for four and a half years now. You know, we've been talking about artists that should hopefully have more than what they had at the time going on, you know, and we'd done articles, we did the podcast with like up and coming acts. So of course when you ask them to play something they wanna play cuz they want, they feel like they're a part of what you're doing already, you know?
Speaker 2 00:48:45 Yeah. I remember my dad saying that, uh, cuz my dad and uh, and his girlfriend Monica had come to come to around at Live Oak. And I remember, um, Ella said it on the stage, uh, cuz she, she wa I, we had her, we had Ella Joy Beth, uh, joy Beth Taylor and Ashley Dalton. Yeah. Badass, badass Trio. Really cool.
Speaker 1 00:49:03 They're actually playing our round in April. Yeah, dude,
Speaker 2 00:49:05 They're, they're sick. But Ella was saying like, she was, she was in like a hoodie with her hair in a bun and was saying, there's not many people I'd get outta bed for on a Tuesday night after being on the road for the weekend. Like Bell, you're welcome. And I was like, that, that, that's cool because that is, because again, it's just, it's just showing people that you believe in them and building a community around that. And I've, I've started going with the approach too of like, Hey, you want to, you wanna play around, come, come show love to the people that we're showing love to. Yes. You know, build that community and that's kind of become something that we've adopted as well Yes. On Tuesday nights, like you guys do on Sundays. Yeah. And it's just growing the community and by like, you never know who's gonna, who's gonna be out there watching around and hear a song and Yep. Hit them up. Be like, yo, can I cut that? Or Yo, we should write sometime. Or yo, I'm doing a, I got a gig, I got an acoustic gig in Huntsville, Alabama that's gonna pay 300 bucks. You want to come with me and play it? Yep. And that could turn into that. That's, that's how those friendships and, and music go, you know? Yeah. It's, it's inter just being that glue that kinda sticks people together.
Speaker 1 00:50:06 Yeah. It's like speed dating for music. You know what I,
Speaker 2 00:50:09 I mean honestly that's, that's a very good, that's basically how it is. Yeah. You
Speaker 1 00:50:12 Know?
Speaker 2 00:50:12 Yeah. 100%.
Speaker 1 00:50:14 But it's dope to have someone else, dude. And I know we talk a lot just like someone else that's kind of in that same world, but different, you know, and we talk about personal stuff of course, but like, oh yeah. We also talk about like, yo, what do you think of this idea? Or like, oh man, this, this is working. Oh, here's how this looks like, you know what I mean? Like, oh, I didn't even think about that. You know, so it's, it's dope to have found someone in town that's like, on a totally different grind, but kind of on the same grind, you know what I mean? Yeah. And just, I get to learn more about stuff from what you do and you get to learn more about stuff from what I do. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:50:46 100%.
Speaker 1 00:50:47 And like, dude, like I had, when I did takeovers and stuff, I was booking every act and throwing those people together and you're like, dude, I book someone and have them bring their friends and I was like, number one, that's easier. Number two, then they're comfortable. Number three, dude, that's how I got some of the coolest artists to play, you
Speaker 2 00:51:02 Know, that's, that's the dude give, you've giving them a chance to flex. Yeah. Which, that's what Ward said. Cuz I did, I had Ward who's like the godfather of events in Nashville, you know, God bless Ward. Yeah. Ward Ward Gunther ran for mayor. I think he'd win. Like I agree. I think he, he is, he is the, the Godfather. I mean we love Mayor Nelson, but we love also love, um, love Ward. Yes. Um, we had, I had Ward play. I was like, Hey Ward, do you wanna, you wanna play in the ride? I was like, dude, that'd be awesome. Like, who are you gonna put me with? I was like, you pick who you want to have come with you. He's like, oh, that's awesome. You give people a chance to flex. Yeah. <laugh>. I'm like, I never thought about it like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:51:34 I just thought having peop people are gonna be, wanna be on stage with their friends. Yeah. And I'll do some where like I will put people together. Same. Yeah. Which one that I, I, I am very proud of. I remember putting Paxton p Presley, Aaron, Connor Sweeney, and I think John O. Clayton was on that one too. And they were all, there were four four guys that are all from the, the southeast that all moved here within the last year and a half. Yeah. And now they, they write together weekly. That's awesome. Like those are, they're, they're boys. So getting the introduced folks Yeah. Is really cool too.
Speaker 1 00:52:04 Yeah, dude, I love that part of it too. Like, that's like, um, I remember having like, our buddy Mike Burke play on a round with Jordan Fletcher and Jordan didn't know him and, uh, he was with Jacob Lutz and Jacob did, and then Jordan heard Mike sing for the first time and he was like, damn, you know,
Speaker 2 00:52:19 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:52:20 Yeah. It's like one of those things where it's like, it's cool to get to introduce people to each other and like show other people, other talented folks, you know. Yeah. But there is some value in like, dude, when you have Alex playing with Joy Beth and Ella, like he's playing guitar with him. Like, when you have Ben and Meg play together Yes. It's like a cheat code, you know? Yeah, it
Speaker 2 00:52:37 Is, it is, it is like having that, that technician, you know? Yeah. Like that, that cheat code technician. And that's what's cool too, is like as whenever I have like the, one of my favorite rounds is Trey Ella, joy Beth and Maxwell, because that's who was on stage that night. Yep. And they're, they're such good friends and they, they send, they all know each other's songs. Yeah. Even if we're not sitting around the fire together anymore, they're sending each other work tapes daily. I mean, Maxwell produces Trey for Christ's sake. Right. And they're, they're all just so close. So Yeah. Doing, doing it that way, I I definitely recommend it. I'm glad. Love it. Glad we both do it that way. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:53:12 Yeah. It's uh, it's, it's kind of cool. It's, it's like one of those things where it's like cool to do both ways, but, um, there's definitely value in that. And I, and that's something I learned from you dude. You know what I mean? Like, that's something I learned from, from your side, side of things.
Speaker 2 00:53:25 Well I'm happy to, happy to help you. I
Speaker 1 00:53:27 Too Yeah, man, <laugh> well, uh, tell everybody where they can follow in the round, um, what days you are and, and then your social media stuff as well.
Speaker 2 00:53:35 So, um, in the round, uh, you can find us in the round podcasts on Instagram, just in the round on Facebook. I probably gotta go back and change that. I used to be so big with Facebook before I moved down here. Yeah. I used to do like those Facebook lives all the time when I was working in radio. Yeah. Now I cringe when I think about doing all those, because there are the, like doing those Facebook lives and just sitting there talking to people, which now it's evolved in the TikTok lives and this and that. Right. But in the round on there, we technically have a Twitter. I don't get on there as much as I should. Um, and then we don't, I think we're in the process of making that TikTok. And then you can also watch the episodes on YouTube. Yeah. And the round podcast. And then mine is at Matt Bar with three Ls. Um, and then you wanna, you ever need anything, anybody ever wants to slide into the dms <laugh>? Uh, they, they, they can. And uh, yeah.
Speaker 1 00:54:19 Yeah. Uh, I appreciate you coming over, man. I know we've been friends for a while and it's dope to uh, have one of my good friends and another industry folk, uh, here talking through it.
Speaker 2 00:54:28 Yeah, man. It's, uh, when, when, uh, when you and Charlie asked me, I was like, this is, I was like, really? Yeah. Like, you sure you want me on there? That's awesome. Like, cuz again, I, I came up like, I found a lot of artists from listening to your podcast, like listening to the files of back, back in the Pittsburgh days and seeing what you've done here and you've, we've had, you've had so many like mutual friends on and we've had mutual guests and it's, it's cool to be in your circle man. And it's, it's cool to cool for us to be buddies, you know? Same dude fam our Nashville family baby. Let's go
Speaker 1 00:54:57 Gang. Go gang. Let's go. Gang,
Speaker 2 00:54:58 Gang.
Speaker 1 00:54:59 Well guys, thank you so much for listening to the Raise Rowdy podcast. Um, now you can, uh, rate us on Spotify also you to, you can always do it on iTunes, but if you like us, make sure you rate us on there. It actually helps more people see us. And, uh, we appreciate you listening. I'm Nikki t and we'll see you in the front row.
Speaker 3 00:55:15 Oh, the good old days.
Speaker 0 00:55:18 You don't have, it's just you're.
