Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:02 Smokes All the good old days. Don't. It's just where, Yeah. Inside of you. You met out on a Friday night and some people might on the wrong around here. You things just right. It's called Raised Rowdy.
Speaker 1 00:00:32 We just start the, uh, the episode. Welcome back to Raised Rowdy. Today I have Nick and Kurt. Hey
Speaker 2 00:00:38 Man. Thanks for having a
Speaker 3 00:00:40 Song. Thanks for having a song for, uh, it's been a while since we saw you. Yeah. Um, welcome to the New Digs. As you can see, it's very luxurious behind you. Yes,
Speaker 1 00:00:50 It is. I feel like, am I, am I at the beach?
Speaker 3 00:00:51 Uh, yeah, actually you're at the beach right now and now you're in the mountains. Yeah. And now there's an eagle behind you.
Speaker 2 00:01:00 Ooh.
Speaker 3 00:01:01 Yeah. It's pretty
Speaker 2 00:01:02 Great here. You just gave a bunch of work to Charlie. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:01:04 <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:01:05 Love you Charlie. We miss you. Uh, we have a, uh, audio engineer Tyler helping us out tonight cuz Charlie is doing grown up job stuff cuz we're still poor
Speaker 2 00:01:15 Vacation also. Isn't he on vacation? Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:01:18 He brought Jamie with him.
Speaker 2 00:01:19 Hell yeah. Well, Corey, welcome buddy. Thanks
Speaker 1 00:01:22 For hanging on. Hey, I'm, I'm glad to be here hanging with you guys.
Speaker 3 00:01:25 Yeah. Welcome back to the podcast. Um, you were one of my last podcasts I did before I brought Kurt on.
Speaker 2 00:01:32 That's true.
Speaker 3 00:01:32 Yeah. Okay, so welcome back for a second thing. Your're, uh, your world's a little bit different now.
Speaker 1 00:01:39 Yeah, yeah. <laugh>. Yeah. I mean, when did we do that last
Speaker 3 00:01:42 Podcast, dude? It was like, it was during quarantine. Okay. And we did it at Combustion. Yep. Um, gosh, it was right before I moved down.
Speaker 1 00:01:51 Yeah. You weren't living here
Speaker 3 00:01:52 Probably like
Speaker 2 00:01:53 Summer of 2019.
Speaker 3 00:01:55 Yeah, maybe something like that was
Speaker 1 00:01:57 Gold out yet.
Speaker 3 00:01:58 It was like right when gold was coming out.
Speaker 1 00:02:01 Okay. So it would've been like Yeah, late summer, early fall. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 3 00:02:05 So it was right when you were dropping like the new music.
Speaker 1 00:02:08 So much has changed.
Speaker 3 00:02:09 I know, man, your world is a very different place. Yeah. So, uh, musically of course. And then, uh, family life too. So you're still down in Texas, correct? Yep.
Speaker 1 00:02:20 Living in the Dallas area. Yeah. And, uh, moved there kind of like right before Covid hit and Yeah. Yeah. Kind of just doing the family thing and raising babies and staying married and trying to do all that. Well just
Speaker 3 00:02:34 Girls growing up, dude. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:02:36 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:02:37 Are you, uh, are you still working construction or cement pouring or?
Speaker 1 00:02:41 Thankfully not
Speaker 2 00:02:43 Ditch digging.
Speaker 1 00:02:44 Yeah. When, when, uh, you know, the, when music wasn't an option anymore, it was like unemployment or learn how to do something else and I didn't feel right about doing this when I was able to do this. So I went and learned a new skill set and, uh, I'm much better at music than I am at Concrete. Yeah, for sure. But, you know, it was a growing experience and it made me, it like pushed the reset button on my joy for music because I had to go like, just to get my, my fill of music. I was playing at a little Mexican restaurant for like 150 bucks every other Thursday.
Speaker 2 00:03:22 Why is that such a like, thin Mexican restaurants. I play a bunch of Mexican restaurants. Trey said he played a bunch of re Mexican ones. That's where
Speaker 3 00:03:29 They book 'em.
Speaker 2 00:03:30 Luke did? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 Yeah. I don't know man. They, but, you know, four hour sets of, they were like, Man, try not to play your music. Yeah. <laugh>. Ok, great. Long people know
Speaker 3 00:03:41 They don't know your music. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:03:43 <laugh>, one of the best feelings I've ever had is like, when I realized that I was paying my bills without anything besides music. Like I was playing in a wedding band and teaching lessons and that's like all I was doing. I was able to pay my bills. Not, you know, I wasn't making a lot of money, but like when I was able to do that, it was just like this weight was just off my shoulders. It feels like.
Speaker 1 00:04:06 Yeah, no, I had that, that kind of similar moment whenever I was went to college at Oklahoma State and I, you know how you get to write on your, uh, graduation cap, you get to like decorat it or whatever and then you throw it up in the air, you never see it again. I wrote on mine, never made a resume cuz my whole point was like, you know, I wanna go to college and I want to, I want to get an education, but I never want to have to use my degree to get a job.
Speaker 2 00:04:33 Yeah. No plan B kind of a thing. Right.
Speaker 1 00:04:35 And, and so long story short, graduate and look at all the potential things I could do and compared it to what I was doing in music. And I was like, it actually makes more sense to play music. Like given my two options. Like this was a, a massive moment for me to go like, Hey, this is a viable thing that I can do to make money. Yeah. Okay. Cool
Speaker 3 00:04:58 Dude, it's great. And, uh, I mean, if the fans of the podcast will have listened to your first podcast, so we don't need to go through like all the, the growing up story. We got that. But man, let's talk about how your life has been since we talked. So we checked in with you as you were starting to release your new music stuff like gold and, uh, and since then your uh, musical world has definitely changed. Like, like I said, I got to catch you at the basement east opening up mm-hmm. <affirmative> and now you are back at the basement east this week. Yep. And your headline in Brother
Speaker 1 00:05:33 Headline in Friday. And just like right before we started, I got a text that said it was sold out, so Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:05:38 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:05:39 That's pretty, Yeah. That's congrat that's pretty good growth,
Speaker 3 00:05:42 You
Speaker 1 00:05:42 Know. Yeah, man. I'm pretty, pretty, uh, happy and proud of that. So
Speaker 3 00:05:45 Super
Speaker 2 00:05:45 Great. And Nashville's not an easy place to sell tickets us so long,
Speaker 1 00:05:48 Man. Well, this was, I think like, it feels like a long time coming, right? Like, I lived here for seven years and I intentionally didn't play here in Nashville because my, and maybe this was naive and dumb, but my whole point of not doing that, like, I played the occasional like rider's round thing, but never played like a show in Nashville because my whole goal or a showcase or anything like that, my whole goal was like, hopefully I build this thing to where when people in Nashville finally get to like the introduction to Corey Kent, they'll be like, Who the heck is this guy? And where did he come from? Yeah. And um, like the, the Basementy Show last fall, so amazing. I feel like we, we kind of did that where people were like, who is that dude? And, uh, now to come back and like first ever headline for it to sell out, especially ahead of time is just like, I don't know, it's, it's just one of those like goals that doesn't mean anything to anybody else, but means a lot to you because, you know, like I know how hard it is to sell tickets in Nashville.
Speaker 1 00:06:54 I mean, everybody is inundated with music all the time and there's a million other things to do other than go to the basement east on Friday mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So Yeah. To get, get enough people's attention to show us like it's a, I'm very humbled by that and thankful shake out, shook out this way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:12 So that's your Friday night. Yep. What's your Saturday looking like?
Speaker 1 00:07:16 Saturday we're, we're, uh, caravan and down to Atlanta with you guys. We're gonna be playing, uh, outside the Mercedes-Benz,
Speaker 2 00:07:25 Headlining the outside headlining
Speaker 1 00:07:27 The pre-party for the real party. That's
Speaker 2 00:07:30 Like you, you know, playing in an opening slot at basement Isa then selling it out. Yeah. Just put that
Speaker 1 00:07:37 Yeah. The, the next one's inside the arena. Yeah. <laugh> and then so on and so forth. But yeah, no, we're excited. Uh, we've, uh, obviously never played a show with you guys and I've all, I've honestly never gotten see you guys play live, so I'm, I'm stoked. And, uh, we like Atlanta. I think we're going back to headline there soon. So hopefully we pick out, pick up some Luke Combs fans and, and they come see us at the next, uh, headline.
Speaker 2 00:07:59 Oh yeah. I'm sure you will, man. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:08:01 Dude. Absolutely. Well, you played a show at the same time as Kurt when he was out with Flatland, right?
Speaker 2 00:08:06 Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's how I met you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:08:09 Yeah. That was cool. Like a perfect, I don't know, um, perfect storm of things going on for us to meet, cuz you don't, you didn't play very many shows with them, right?
Speaker 2 00:08:19 No. So I just played with them. I played three shows of flatland and it was in College Station. It was the same bar every night. It's a huge bar. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:08:27 Harry's,
Speaker 2 00:08:27 Uh, and yeah, Harry's absolutely. And um, it was a big show for them, so they wanted to spring and spend some extra money and get a silver player. So I knew them through Cap cuz Capi manages Luke and Flatland. So that's how I got that gig. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I came out and then you opened one of the shows and that's how I met you and I photographed your show. Yeah. And then that's also how I met Matt. Yep. Um, who now plays Bass for Luke Combs So crazy. We stole him from you actually
Speaker 1 00:08:55 <laugh>, uh, we're the Springboard man. Uh, that was such a cool moment for us. Um, just to, I mean, that's, that's one of my best friends. Like Yeah. To see your best friend win Yeah. Is like, no, I don't, I don't see it that way at all. I was like, dude, he gets to go play with
Speaker 2 00:09:10 With He was so proud of you the other night in, um, in Ohio. Love Matt. Such a good guy. You know what's so funny is, uh, Tyler, our band leader with Luke was like, Hey, like this is the bass player. He's been playing with me since I was 16, which is kind of, he's Matt's been playing with you since you were 16, right? Yeah. Yeah. And uh, he's like, This is the guy. We're not gonna do auditions. We're just gonna hire this guy. And I, I, I didn't even know him, but it turns out I had met him and I had photographed him actually. Yeah. And so when he, when we were hanging out and doing our first rehearsal, he goes, Yeah, man, remember you photographed me and Call Station. I was like, Oh, I totally forgot. I didn't even put two and two together, you know what I mean? So I went back through the Dropbox folder of all the images and I'm like, Oh, there he is. Cause I recognized his base left Tattoo or
Speaker 1 00:09:55 Whatever. <laugh>. Yeah. That's awesome. No, I love, I love, uh, you know, watching, watching him do his thing mm-hmm. <affirmative> just the, the opportunities that he's gotten from hanging out with y'all and playing with y'all is, uh, you know, that's, that's the pinnacle. Like he gets to do a lot of the things that we all as kids we're like, Man, I hope I get to play Madison Square Garden or, you know, do the, the bucket list items. So yeah, I'm, I'm happy for him and, and uh, it's pretty cool to, you know, meet back up and my career was a long way, uh, away from where it needed to be. Um, you know, just to, to be able to play like with you guys on, uh, on Saturday this weekend. And there's been a lot of growth, like we talked about even since we sat down and did the last podcast. And, um, it's just, it's just cool to like kind of slowly feel like we're earning our way back to the table, you know? Yeah. Uh, and, and climbing the ladder and, and doing it the right way, you know? Just, What
Speaker 2 00:10:51 Do you mean? Like, what do you mean back to the table?
Speaker 1 00:10:54 Well, um, I say back to the table, I mean, earning our seat at the table, period. Yeah. But I think that you, at least me, when I moved here, I feel like I, I probably thought that I deserved things that I really didn't deserve. Right. And I, I'm like, man, I've been, so, I grew up playing Western swing music right from age 11 to 16 and opened for the Oak Ridge Boys and Roy Clark and traveled the country, played the Kennedy Center, did all these things. And then you get here and you're like, Man, I've put in all this work. Well, you put in that work, but you didn't put on, you didn't put in that work here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so that's probably what I meant by like back to the table of, I feel like I moved here and hit reset on my career and then started building this songwriting side of things.
Speaker 1 00:11:41 And then, um, you know, I think another reset was like moving to Texas and feeling like I was doing the right thing for my family. Um, my wife and my, my little girl. And we were having another baby at the time. And, uh, just prioritizing Okay, the health of my family first over everything else and feeling like I was shooting my music career in the foot by doing that, by leaving the place that everybody says you need to live to have success in this industry. And just stressed in that God was gonna work this out and, um, I was gonna have to work twice as hard. And so that's the other, the other side of the coin is like also making up the lost ground from Texas, like from 750 miles away from where I was and where I thought I needed to be. So that's kind of like the earning our way back, just doing it a backwards way that, that, you know, some people would've said was probably suicide, but here we are. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:12:42 <laugh>, that's inspiring man. I feel like I could run through a wall right now just thinking about it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 00:12:46 Well I remember when Kurt did play that show with you, he was like, Man, there was this guy there that was opening for Flatland, Cory Cannon. I'm like, Yeah. I was just, I just had him on the podcast a couple months ago, you know, So we chatted about you back then, and Kurt and I, we still see each other a good bit now, but we were getting to hang out a lot then, cuz it was Covid and Right. Just no one was doing anything, you know, <laugh>. Yeah. But, but
Speaker 1 00:13:07 That was a magical night for us, um, because it was the first show that we got to play in 2021, I believe. Is it 2021?
Speaker 2 00:13:16 I think so, yeah. March,
Speaker 1 00:13:18 I think it was January, March,
Speaker 2 00:13:19 March or March of 2021. It
Speaker 1 00:13:21 Was like, I think it was January or February. It was like early, early 21. Yeah. And that wa I was still working at the Pavement company for the next eight months of that, uh, that year. But in January at that show, we finished the set, you know, hung out with some people and then we walked back in cuz there's no green room or anything there really. Like, you kind of walk outside, put your stuff back in the trailer, and then we walked back inside and we just stayed on the side stage, but still in front where we could watch the show. And I remember, uh, had a buddy from Outta town and he brought back some shiners and we sat there and drank a beer and watched country music concert and was just like, the
Speaker 3 00:14:04 World's right
Speaker 1 00:14:05 Man. I didn't realize how big of a void this left until it was not there. And then really when it, when it happened again of like, Oh man, this brings me so much joy just as like a fan of music in general. We missed that for like two years. Yeah. And so that, that night was just iconic for me of just sitting there and going, Oh my gosh, I can't believe that I thought there was a world or a reality in which this didn't happen anymore. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I was honestly concerned that, you know, live events might not come back for a long time.
Speaker 2 00:14:41 So man, I wish I was at a flight line. Corey can't show right now, drinking a Shiner ba in college stations. Right?
Speaker 3 00:14:46 Yes. Agreed. Uh, I'll have to make one of those, one of these days.
Speaker 1 00:14:50 Shiner Bot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:14:51 Luckily I will be at a core you can't show on Saturday, so, but uh, so when you played the last time at the basement East and you were opening Yeah. Remember you opened up with, uh, the Eagles, right? Is that, is that what you opened the set with?
Speaker 1 00:15:07 No. So we, well we, here's what we did. Yeah. I think this is what you're thinking of. Yeah. We have a song that we play. One of my songs called Feels a lot Like This. Yeah. But we walked out and it was, we, we only have four deeds in the band, but all four of us sing. Yeah. And so we opened the, the show with an, with an acapella course. Yeah. Just us for singing it. It
Speaker 3 00:15:25 Was so good, man.
Speaker 1 00:15:26 So yeah, that's, that was like a little, you know, owed to the Eagles a little page out of their book. But we were like, Man, we're in Nashville. Nobody probably knows who we are. How are we just gonna get them to shut up when we get on stage? We're like, let's just walk out there and sing it. Just
Speaker 3 00:15:40 Hanging out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:15:41 <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:15:42 Dude. And it worked, man. Like, I remember like looking at my buddy who you know is works for a booking company and he was like, Damn, no,
Speaker 1 00:15:49 That's awesome man. We didn't have booking or anything at the time either, man. Yeah. Um, yeah. That's, that's cool that you remember that. But yeah. Uh, not the Eagles
Speaker 3 00:15:58 But Eagles
Speaker 1 00:15:59 Ishish
Speaker 3 00:16:00 Ish. Yeah. It was great man. And I was like, damn, this band's super tight. Your band was just so good. And I know you said they were all from the area, you know, back in like Oklahoma area,
Speaker 1 00:16:09 All Oklahoma boys, literally everybody in our crew and not really by design other than just people that we know. But every, every single piece of the team right now is born and raised in Oklahoma and everybody lives there except me. I live in Texas now. Texas. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I just became a natural hub and um, you know, kind of a natural place for us to base out of as we are touring kind of the whole us now. Yeah. Just smack dive in the middle. Yeah. Easy. Yep.
Speaker 3 00:16:36 I love that man. Well, I remember seeing that show and just being like, that happened and I, you know, got to chat with you for a few minutes after the show and just so proud of what you did there then to see the world explode since then. So.
Speaker 1 00:16:48 Well thanks
Speaker 3 00:16:49 Dude. Man. It's powerful to watch. Right. And I've been a fan since I saw you first open up for Steve Moler up in Pittsburgh. Yes. You know, so it's been years I've been, I
Speaker 1 00:16:59 Forget that's where we met, man. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:00 Yeah. That was what, like way before I was in Nashville.
Speaker 1 00:17:03 That was 2018.
Speaker 3 00:17:04 Yeah. Yep. That was before or right around raise, Rowdy starting, We were like maybe a year old. I
Speaker 1 00:17:11 Remember getting the hat, I remember getting a gray hat Yep. That had the yellow
Speaker 3 00:17:15 Microphone on it. Yeah. Yeah. That was the first batch of hats I made. I literally paid for 'em outta my pocket just so I had like merch. Right. <laugh>. Like, I was like, uh, we don't have any money in the work account, but I'm just gonna buy these, You know? That's awesome. Yeah. And uh, remember seeing your set and just being like, Wow, buy it then, man. Like I'm a big fan of like, Tumbleweed one of my favorite songs. Like I remember the first time I heard that I was just like, my chest, like built up with joy, you know, I
Speaker 1 00:17:41 Still love that song. I hope that's a great song. You know, I think our, my career is in such a like infant state when I released that record. Yeah. And I mean, everybody's gotta start somewhere, so. Yeah. But I, there's a few songs on the very first record that I'm like, man, I really hope that in some, some facet they, these songs really get their full shot Yeah. At being heard. And that's one of 'em for sure. I love that song. I love playing that. We still play it every night in our set. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:18:09 It's so good. And I
Speaker 2 00:18:11 Remember like, uh, Luke Recut Best of Me and it was a single, so you never know. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:18:16 That's a good point.
Speaker 3 00:18:17 And I remember, uh, chatting with William Clark Green and talking about you and you as a songwriter. You,
Speaker 1 00:18:23 Where were you talking with him?
Speaker 3 00:18:23 I had him on the podcast. Oh yeah. One of the early pods and, uh, chatting with him about you as a songwriter. I remember him being like, Yeah. I was like, he was like a younger kid and I didn't know like what it was gonna be. And he knew more about Black Clark than I knew, you know, he's like, he knew more about country music history than I knew, you know, Dude,
Speaker 1 00:18:40 That was a mess. I remember, uh, getting the phone call from my publisher at the time and she, she's like, Hey, uh, William Clark Green's in town and, you know, I'm from Oklahoma and yeah. Grew up kind of listening to that whole scene. And so of course I I already know I'm familiar with his stuff. Um, and in college we listened to his stuff a lot and I was in this middle, in the middle of this Right. That, um, was one of the most painful rights I've ever had because I wasn't really doing the artist thing. Like when they, when I got signed as a writer, they were like, Hey, we really want you to focus on writing songs for other people. Yeah. And when you get a big cut, then you can kind of focus on your artistry and there's a story there and that, So I'm focused on writing for other people and because of that, I, I ended up writing all these songs that I didn't care about, like watered down.
Speaker 1 00:19:29 Cause I didn't know who I was as a writer. I knew who I was as an artist. Yeah. So I knew what I wanted to say writing for me, but not necessarily like how to fit into other people's stuff. And um, long story short, I'm gonna write with two guys that are just like on the same page dialed in writing some pop thing that to me that's just not my thing. Like Yeah. Grew up on the rock and roll side of things and like the, you know, more Eric churchy country stuff and I'm just sitting here going, I am adding nothing to this. These guys are like freaking out over every line they're throwing out and I'm hating being in this room. And I got the call, she's like, uh, hey, um, William Clark Green, can you write with him today? And I was like, Yeah, but you have to tell me to leave cuz you put me on this. Right. And she was like, You need to leave. I was like, All right guys, I'm so sorry. My publisher told me I gotta <laugh>, I gotta go. So we go back to my house and I meet Will and um, yeah, we ended up writing a song for him that went number one down to Texas. So, Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:20:30 That's so cool, man. Yeah. I love that story.
Speaker 3 00:20:32 Well, and you went from writing something you didn't like to, uh, hope something you did like, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:20:38 Well, okay. So we, it's funny, like our encounters of each other are so drastically different. Like, I don't even know if I can tell this story to be be honest with you.
Speaker 2 00:20:47 We could bleep certain words out here. Yeah. I'm not gonna ask you
Speaker 1 00:20:51 About writer's word. So No, we don't, we're not gonna go there. Uh, he knocks on my, my door. I live in this like little like 600 square foot apartment and my wife and our newlyweds and um, she's out doing something. So it's just me. And uh, he comes in the door, he is like, Hey, I'm will you got a spitter? And I was like, Yeah, let me get you to cut real quick and walk over. He's like, I'll get back when I'm done. I was like, Just keep it man. I don't, don't care. Yeah, we're good. So he is like, Oh, thanks man. Walks over and it's like Valentine's Day time, like some sometime in February, and we have like these, my wife had these like m and m's and this little heart shaped thing. He walks over and just like, like eats a big bite of him, sits down and he goes, That's your wife.
Speaker 1 00:21:35 And I was like, Yeah. And he goes, She's effing hot. I was like, I was like, Nice to meet you too, man. Like, let's ride a song. And then he goes, You know what, I've been, I've been thinking about this, this title called Hit You Where It Hurts. And uh, it's about a girl. And I was like, Hold up. You wanna write a song about a girl with the title hit, Like word hit in the title. And he's like, Yeah, I'm sitting here going like, Well if nothing else, it'll be like a creative exercise to make it not sound like domestic abuse. So let's try. Like, that's where my mind went. And then he had a real vision for it and I added some melody stuff and it was actually really fun writing the song because it was, I think I was in this like, rut of writing stuff that I was bored with.
Speaker 1 00:22:17 Yeah. And then he comes in with this like off the wall idea that I would never have even touched if it wasn't him. Yeah. And he just knew his fan base so well. He's like, This gonna work. He's like, Great, let me help you do it as best best I can. And that was the probably the first time that as a co-writer I just helped somebody. Like I've found that thing that, okay, now I can help you, I can help aid you in, in your artistry. Um, so that was like the first real successful, I mean, I say that like the first thing that really felt natural as a co-writer to like, let somebody else do their thing and just help school.
Speaker 2 00:22:53 Yeah. Was it just the two-way the two of y'all? Yep. That's awesome. That's cool man.
Speaker 1 00:22:57 Yeah. Then we wrote again and uh, got another cut. And then after that just, I think life just took us two different directions. We started touring a lot and so
Speaker 2 00:23:07 I just saw that basement east actually. Did
Speaker 1 00:23:09 You? Yeah, I was gonna say Will, if you're watching we gotta ride again. Dude, you
Speaker 2 00:23:13 <laugh>. Hey Will also. Me too, please.
Speaker 1 00:23:15 <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:23:16 I just wanna hang out while you guys write. Yeah, I'm running some
Speaker 1 00:23:18 Balls. He's one of the funniest team I've ever
Speaker 3 00:23:20 Met. Yeah, dude. He's greats
Speaker 2 00:23:22 Hilarious. Yeah. And he rocks live, man. They're so good. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1 00:23:25 Super good. They're band I'll stand by. They have one of the best bands in Texas, man. Like, they just, they're just another level. They're great.
Speaker 3 00:23:32 So it went from that to Okay. How you have a song that has been very big on the internet and very big for you in career changing ways. Yeah. How did you come about that song?
Speaker 1 00:23:46 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:23:47 Um, cause you're a great songwriter, right? You write these songs that other people are cutting, but you also aren't afraid to cut outside songs. So I remember you did that earlier too Yeah. While you were releasing that last batch.
Speaker 1 00:23:57 Yep. Um, it's, that's a mentality thing. And, and I've been very like, um, intentional about letting people know that, you know, while I love writing and while I, I cut probably 98% songs that I wrote mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's still 2% of songs out there that are gonna fit my artistry and are gonna be great and best song wins. And, and it should, I feel like it should be that way. And it used to be that way. Um, you know, some of my favorite artists, uh, and some of the greatest artists of all time Yep. George Straight and Elvis and Kenny and all these guys have these massive hits that are soundtracks to my life. And then I go back and I realize, oh, these guys didn't even write these songs mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the whole industry at the time was built on like two separate careers.
Speaker 1 00:24:46 You have a career as an artist or a career as a songwriter, and the best songwriters in the world wrote songs and the best artists in the world sang the songs. And, and I loved that thought of like, man, there are, I'm still learning to be hopefully one of the greatest songwriters in the world mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but there are current great songwriters, like some of the greatest of all time that have hundreds and hundreds of songs that haven't been cut yet. And who am I to try to sit here and, you know, write in the same song that's already been written, but theres are just better and it doesn't get the time of day. So I just wanted to be open minded in my career when I got the shot to just got the best song that I heard, whether I wrote it or not.
Speaker 1 00:25:29 And so that was kind of how this happened and how it unfolded. Um, Brett Tyler is at Combustion Yep. Which is where I write now and Yep. Um, yeah, I heard the, heard the song, um, through my publishers and they were like, Hey, I think think this could be a fit for you. And it's been a cool journey, like figure out, you know, the difference in a hit and a hit for you. Yeah. Those two things are very different and I feel like it really over the last couple years have dialed in and been able to say like, I can tell that that's a hit and somebody's gonna make a lot of money off of that, but that's not for me and my fan base. Yep. This one just rang the bell. Everybody around me, my whole team, in fact, more so even than I, like at one point everybody was like, You gotta cut this song.
Speaker 1 00:26:14 And I was like, Oh, really? Like I don't, I don't know. Okay, yeah. Here, like, here's what I would do with it, but are we sure? And then everybody was like, Yeah. And so that was one of the first times in my career where I really trusted my team Yeah. Was like, I assembled these people for a reason because I respect them and I think that they're great at what they do. And if I'm the only guy in the room that has any hesitation, maybe I'm just the guy in the room that's wrong. And so they, you know, put it on my radar again. I went, went and cut it. And then I got super pumped when we got the cutback and was like, this was the greatest thing that we've ever recorded. Yeah. And Oh yeah. Yeah. And it, and it was just like affirmation that the right team was around Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:26:56 The right songs were being presented and, and uh, you know, and, and it fit perfectly with the other stuff that we were cutting. And so it was just a very natural thing. And I will say we didn't have any idea that it would do what it's done. Right. I mean, I'd be lying if I told you that we were like, Yeah, this will go viral and be one of the top 50 country songs of the year or whatever it is. I don't know. Yeah. But had no idea. In fact, we had like a bunch of songs that we felt like were a-list songs that are, we hadn't grown our fan base big enough to release those songs yet. Yeah. So we were like, okay, let's, let's put out some, some songs that, uh, that will help us grow so that we can put out the stuff that's a little heavier and, and weightier. And we put this song on an explore and we were like, Oh my gosh. Like this is, we found our, it really helped us identify our thing. Yeah. Because up until that point, like we know what music we love Yeah. And we're putting that out, but there's also like a special lane of like what you love that overlaps with what your fans were wanting from you mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it kind of helped us pinpoint exactly like this kind of rock and roll country thing, which is awesome. Yeah. Like, I'm so happy that it's a
Speaker 3 00:28:09 Rocks Roll Live has had that, you know what I mean? That's had that forever.
Speaker 1 00:28:13 And you know, I think that might have been some of the magic of that song is I think it helped us for the first time really. Um, well that and like Ain't My Day is kind of in this thing too, but I think it helped us start to translate what we were doing live and connect it to the music that we were putting out. Yeah. And it, it is hard to, it was hard to do for, for a little bit to try to figure out how to marry those two things and make sure that when you go see the show and then you go listen to the record, those two things are super cohesive. Yeah. And it was a journey to find the balance there and, and I think the song really helped us with that.
Speaker 3 00:28:45 So how did it first start popping on online? Like what, what process did that look like? Like was it like some people started picking up and doing videos with it mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:28:55 <affirmative>. Yeah. I mean we had like, you know, a, a small team at the time of me and pretty much my manager doing all of the social stuff mm-hmm. <affirmative> and uh, and that's still pretty much how it, how it rolls. Like between he and I, we do everything. Um, but he had tried a couple things with a few different releases and we were really consistent with how many songs we were releasing and the, the distance between the songs. And, you know, from the time that we did that first podcast, like every six to eight weeks, a new song came out over the course of the year. And, um, so we were just trying everything and when something would work, we would take note and when something didn't work, we would never do that again and tweak it a little bit and move on. And then eventually we had had like 10 or 12 things that we were like, this worked, this worked, this worked this work, so now let's just turn up the intensity on all the things that we know work.
Speaker 1 00:29:50 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so that's kind of how the initial groundswell happened. It was like these gorilla warfare marketing efforts. Um, in large part, due to my manager Chris Fox, he, he did a great job of identifying what worked and being able to look at, you know, the response whenever we put a song out. And so basically put the song out, ramped up the intensity and started to see some real movement. We were like, Oh man, might be honest something here. It wasn't the fastest release that we had ever had mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but it was like, Oh, this is doing well. And just got a phone call from him one day going, Hey, congrats, you're having a moment right now. Like, what does that mean? He's like, Well, we were at like 50 videos yesterday and now we're at like 10,000 videos and wait,
Speaker 2 00:30:42 What is a, what is about video?
Speaker 1 00:30:44 So here's what happened. We using, So here's what happened. We,
Speaker 2 00:30:48 I'm 35, so I, I'm
Speaker 1 00:30:49 Explained to me. So part of a, a big part of, um, the marketing effort was on TikTok, but I'm not the your traditional TikTok No shit. <laugh>. Yeah. I, I didn't enjoy like doing the things that seemed to work on TikTok and, and I wasn't willing to like Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I thought you were like Yeah, I, I, that felt off brand for me. I didn't feel authentic and I was like, Look, I, I wanna keep my integrity. I don't think I'm too cool for that. Right. I just don't think that that's my personality. Right. And so we started to try to find ways that were authentic to us to use the platform. And that's what I meant by like, dialing in things. And so we, we basically had the sound that went viral. It wasn't like a video of me doing a dance, it wasn't a video of me doing anything. It was other people's videos, but it was my music.
Speaker 2 00:31:46 So 10,000 people made a video using your music way
Speaker 1 00:31:50 More now. And, and then it's, Yeah. I mean it's probably a 50, 60,000 videos. That's crazy. A original sound now. And uh, Damn.
Speaker 2 00:31:57 That's awesome.
Speaker 1 00:31:58 Yeah. That's, so that's why, and that's the whole point of, for me being on social media in general is to drive people back to the music mm-hmm. <affirmative> and to get 'em to go to a live show Yep. And to sing the words and to buy the t-shirt. And like, that is what I love to do. I love to perform the songs that are like, I love to perform live. Yeah. And so how do we use the platform to do that instead of use the platform to be famous on the platform? Right. It's, those are two different things. So from day one, like we have a much slower growth on the app. I think we just passed like a hundred thousand something followers, but they're a hundred thousand music jumps. They're not, they buy tickets, they download the song. Exactly. So last weekend when we hung out with you in Ohio and you got to come to the show, I've never been to Ohio before.
Speaker 1 00:32:44 There was like a thousand tickets sold. And that does not happen to us. Like, I'm telling you, six months ago we were like stoked if we pre-sold like 50 tickets and for us to go to a state, you know, a thousand miles away from where I live. And so a thousand tickets and they're screaming the words to our songs like that. That is how we were like, Man, I think we're onto something here. Like, we're, we're intentionally doing something and it's doing what we wanted it to do. It's not just giving us attention. It's like driving people to listen to the actual music, which is what we really care about. Yeah. So it's, it's been really rewarding and fulfilling and it's made me want to embrace this like, new wave of social media because there's a real viability to it. Like, it's not, I, I don't know. I see, I see the point in it and I see that people can do it. People like me who are not like look at me personalities. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> can have success and be authentic on the platform and see it translate. So that gets me pumped up because it's like I just get to be me. Right. Instead of trying to be something that I'm not.
Speaker 3 00:33:56 And I think that's the cool thing about how the platform is changing, right? Like, cuz at first it was like all, oh, I'm pointing at this, or I'm doing covers of random songs, you know? Yeah. But now there's so much more that's happening. Like, look at Muske Eye and the same thing like with me on you, you know, it's just a clip of the song, dude. That's what
Speaker 1 00:34:13 Popped through that song, you know? Yeah. And I saw a video of them, uh, just the other day, um, that was that like them on stage. Yeah. And Gary had walked back and was looking at the camera and then he turns around and that like, I don't know this song been out for a week maybe. Yeah. And thousands of people screaming every word to the, not the chorus, like the first few lines of the song. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:34:36 Well the first few lines are fire. So Yeah. It's totally,
Speaker 1 00:34:39 Yeah. But that's just, that's the power of being able to use a platform to connect with your fans. And I think it's really, it's really cool. And I'm, I don't know, you know, there's a lot of ways that I, or a lot of things that I wish would've happened earlier in my career mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but also I'm just kind of grateful that they're unfolding the way that they are now, you know? Yeah. And, um, it just feels, it feels authentic and, and like we're just being us and it just happens to work, which is cool cuz it feels sustainable now. Yeah. It doesn't feel like we chase something Yeah. Outta the moment and like how do we recreate that? Just like, let's just be us and put out the music we like to put out and
Speaker 3 00:35:14 Yep. This lane makes sense. Let's do some more stuff like that. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:35:18 Totally. Totally.
Speaker 3 00:35:20 I think that's a great place to be.
Speaker 1 00:35:21 Yeah. It's
Speaker 3 00:35:22 Exciting. Um,
Speaker 2 00:35:23 And the song goes to radio in 20 days as of today or something.
Speaker 1 00:35:27 Yeah, I think like August 16th. I love that. Whatever day they do radio ads stuff. Yeah. I'm still new to that world, but, um, yeah, I'm pretty, pretty excited about that, uh, to see, you know,
Speaker 3 00:35:39 It's just more audience man. Just like, just like TikTok gives you an audience, Right? Like that's it. This is just now you're gonna have not just the crazy music junkies, you're gonna have people that are just casual music fans that put it on in the car Yeah. That are gonna know who you are and at least know your song. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:35:55 You know, and, and part of why I'm so excited about that is I feel like it could help us continue. Like, uh, a good example is like in 2019, I think we had like 30,000 monthly listeners mm-hmm. <affirmative> and now we have this is on Spotify. Yeah. Now we're like two point something million so crazy. And so year over year we were like 10 x, 10 x, 10 x and we got to a point where it's like, independently, how can we keep 10 Xing? And part of my goal is not just for the sake of like 10 Xing, it's, I have goals in my personal life that I want to achieve. And like one of 'em, good example is I want to be able to, uh, be in a place in my career where I can hit pause for eight weeks and go coach my little girl in soccer Yeah. And be present and be there mm-hmm. <affirmative> and
Speaker 2 00:36:49 Be the pay for a college for all them kids. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:36:51 Yeah. Well that, that too, all these babies we have, you know, we got a lot of responsibility, but I also like, I wanna wanna live out my dream and play music and, and do the thing. And we are, but I also wanna get, I wanna get being a father. Right. You know, I don't wanna do it at the expense of my family. And so one of the most exciting parts about going to radio is like, I really think that it can help us continue our growth and accelerate things and, and build a business to the point where I can take eight weeks to go spend with my family and then come right back and picked up right where we left off versus like, feels like we're driving a, a golf cart and you take your foot off the gas and you go, eh, Yeah. You know?
Speaker 2 00:37:32 Yeah. We're on speed. If you let go the gas, then it just blows up or something. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:37:36 Yeah. So we wanna keep the cruise control on I know. And then be able to step back on the gas and go faster when we come back. So Yeah. It's exciting.
Speaker 3 00:37:44 It's, uh, it's great to again, like see you in your career. Right. So I, I met you when you were opening up acoustic for Steve Moler and then got to see you at that basement east show, you know, and watch you guys kill for some people that didn't know you, but now they do <laugh>, you know, and that night they knew you, you know, if they didn't before.
Speaker 1 00:38:02 Some do. Yeah. We're still, I really, I love the like the chip on your shoulder kind of thing that we did to have, I really enjoy that and I feel like I feed off of that and, and I still feel like we have it. Like there's a lot of people that have no idea they're gonna watch the podcast and be like, Who is this dude? And I love that. Like, I love the challenge of trying to make people know because there's so many amazingly talented people out there. Yeah. It's like, how do you get people to notice what you're doing and your brand of country music and your, you know, artistic expression of who you are and everything. So I, I appreciate that. And I, apparently 700 people in Nashville know who we are cause they, they bought some tickets, but I'm, I'm still, you know, hungry as ever and I think that like, you know, signing a deal and go to radio, I really view it as like we just gotta seat at the table with some of the big boys
Speaker 3 00:38:53 Now it's really towards time and
Speaker 1 00:38:55 This is the starting line. Yep. You know, it's not the finish line, it's like this is where the, the real stuff starts. Yeah. So I'm pumped.
Speaker 3 00:39:00 Yeah. You were talking about reset buttons. This is another one, you know Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:39:04 Level playing fields and Yeah. Now you're, you're small fish in a massive, massive ocean. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:39:11 You're fighting for air time with Luke Combs.
Speaker 1 00:39:12 Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 3 00:39:15 <laugh>. I think there's room for both though. For sure. No doubt. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:39:18 No doubt. It's, it's, it's a fun challenge, you know, I mean, Kobe wanted to guard mj, right? Yeah. Like, you wanna see how you stack up. So
Speaker 3 00:39:26 Yeah. That's how it works, man.
Speaker 1 00:39:27 Here we go. We're gonna see how we stack up.
Speaker 3 00:39:29 Uh, do you have any more music plans coming down the line? So are you guys still dropping new music and cadence kind of like that? Or what's the plans?
Speaker 1 00:39:36 Yeah, that was one of my, um, my like non-negotiables was being able to, we've built this whole little organic thing off of consistently releasing music and you know, I wrote and wrote and wrote for years and years and didn't release any music. So I have this tank of, of songs and I'm excited to release. And so yeah, we're next month, uh, about three or four days after Wildest Earth goes to radio, we have another song dropping and then, uh, we have a, another song about four weeks after that and we're kind of taking it one or two at a time and that allows us too to like, you know, put some stuff out on, on socials and see what people are really hungry for. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:40:21 Maybe we can pivot a little bit to if we need to. And that's, that's what we did with Wild Her. It wasn't scheduled to be or slated to be the next song, but it, it was the one that we had ready and it was like we thought it would be a good follow up. You know, we put out a song that might have been a little slower and we felt like this was a good time to hit him with something rocking. And, and so we're just keeping our flexibility and ability to move, you know, nimbly and uh, so I don't know what the next like six months looks like. Yeah. But I know that there will be a consistent release of music, which is I love that. Which is so exciting. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:40:57 Yeah. That's what you want. Yeah. And, uh, touring schedule, so you have the whiskey jam thing, we talked about the basement East. Uh, what other dates do you guys have on the books right now,
Speaker 1 00:41:06 Man? Um, we've got a lot between now and the end of the year. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:41:10 Last year a good bit.
Speaker 1 00:41:11 Yeah. Last year we played a a, I think like 110 or 115 shows and this year we had, uh, my wife and I had a little boy Yep. And at the beginning of the year, so we took the first two months off of touring and we were like, Oh, that, that means, you know, we're gonna tour less this year and I think we might out kick last year's number, which is a lot for us. Yeah. Like, we did that with no booking agent. Now we have a booking agent, so it makes the routing makes it a little easier. Um, but it, it was like maybe more shows but only in 10 months instead of 12 months. And Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:41:49 Wait, routing makes it easier too.
Speaker 1 00:41:52 Yeah. Yeah. It does. Not all great routing, just cuz sometimes you but better but at the mercy of the offers, right? Yeah. Uh, so we do a lot of like, drive through the nights and we ripped out the back seat of the van and put the, we have a bed, like full size mattress in there so that we can take turns like sleeping in the van and keep, keep going. But, um, I did, Yeah. I mean we've got a handful of stuff that just like, we're going to Maryland, which never been to Maryland, so that like some cool experiences that are coming for us and we just got an offer to go play in London and Awesome. Actually, I don't know if I can say the actual festivals and stuff, but really cool opportunities that I've been looking forward to and had my sights on for a long time. And it's really rewarding to see it start, start happening and, you know, the whole career of the band and everybody, we're all just pretty excited.
Speaker 3 00:42:44 Has there been any specific show that like, you were like, Wow, this happened, you know, or like, like that where you like, saw it kind of switch or any even run of shows or anything?
Speaker 1 00:42:54 Yeah. I mean, not, not too long ago actually, like mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the song is the While Is Her No Doubt is the song that like, has unlocked another level mm-hmm. <affirmative> to what we're doing. We were already having some good ticket sales and whatnot, but now we're starting to like, sell out in advance Yeah. And move up rooms. And like, one thing that happened just a few weeks ago is like, we went to Oklahoma City, uh, which is where the band is from, Right. And it was packed like wall to wall. And the thing that happened was we did, like we were, we were playing the songs and we could just back off the mic and they sing the songs. Oh. And that is a moment I think for every artist that you like, you long for that you hope that you can write something that connects or you can play something that connects in a way that like hundreds and, and if not thousands of people will sing it back to you. Like that's the, the, that's the mountain top. Yeah. And so that has started to happen for us. And it, you know, just even a few weeks ago, and it happened in Ohio the other night where we just like let 'em sing. It was really cool. And so that is like the, like next gear that I feel like we just grabbed. I love that. It's, it's pretty exciting, man. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:44:10 Probably. That's so cool. Just fills the heart.
Speaker 2 00:44:12 Yeah, I know. What are, what are like happy, wholesome moment, you know? Yeah. <laugh>. I love it.
Speaker 1 00:44:19 Uh,
Speaker 3 00:44:20 Also, have you bought any tickets to a turnpike show?
Speaker 2 00:44:25 <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:44:26 All
Speaker 1 00:44:26 Of my Saturdays and Fridays were gone. I don't, I think maybe the last show I actually got to enjoy was the one that I was telling you about in, you know, at Hurricane Harry's that time. No, I haven't, not yet. And they sell out so quick.
Speaker 3 00:44:41 You're gonna have to have, you're gonna have to open one dude. Just see if you can call 'em up so you can get on that. I,
Speaker 1 00:44:46 I've hit, I have hit Folker up a couple times and, and I'm like, who's the guy? All right. He text me, he's like, This is the guy that you gotta send stuff to. And, uh, I think it'll happen. I think it'll happen. I think it will for sure. Evan and I met duck hunting once and Oh really? Like how long ago Song swap? Um, probably, probably 2020. Like, well maybe like late 2019. Yeah. Um, yeah, met at a duck hunting thing and was like, this guy's awesome. So Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:45:17 That's awesome.
Speaker 1 00:45:17 Yeah, and I mean, we were in Che Oklahoma, which it's not hard to run into people there, so <laugh> there's not a, there's not a
Speaker 3 00:45:25 Whole lot not that many folks.
Speaker 1 00:45:26 Yeah. So if Evan Fers in town, you probably, you probably heard about it, you <laugh>, but it was great. We got to like song swap and so I, I hope someday we get to do it again.
Speaker 3 00:45:35 Bet you will.
Speaker 1 00:45:36 It'd be awesome.
Speaker 3 00:45:37 Yeah. Anything else in your world? I know you had the, the second child, which is amazing.
Speaker 2 00:45:43 Three. Three. Dude. Third.
Speaker 1 00:45:45 Third. I think we're done. Fertile
Speaker 2 00:45:47 Guy. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:45:50 Big fertility. You think that's it? Huh? I think so. I think that like three is like the number that we can do well with what I do for a living. Yeah. You know what I mean? And
Speaker 2 00:46:02 Once you get to four people are like, so what religion are you <laugh>? You know what I mean? Yeah. Becomes like a religious thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:46:09 Yeah. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. But yeah, I mean, outside of that, just really trying to find a new balance of, and by that I mean shoes, <laugh> the new balance of uh, you know, the, our our world has just kind of gotten flipped upside down with new responsibilities, both like in the music world, but also in in family world by having third kid, you know, the whole going to zone defense thing's a real, real thing. And, uh, trying to so funny figure that out, you know, uh, how are we gonna do this sustainably and add in like radio tour mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, yeah, it's, the hard work really starts when you get home for, for me, like this is work that I love and I enjoy and is hard work, but like that is the most important work. So making sure that I get that right and I have a good relationship with, with my wife and my kids, and, uh, doing this at the same time, it's like rocket science trying to figure it out. Yeah. And, uh, but we're trying, you know, we're, we're working hard at it and setting new things in place and that's kind of what the last couple months of my life has looked like is dialing those things in.
Speaker 3 00:47:18 I love it, man. I, I love watching the Good Guys win and I think you're a great guy, man.
Speaker 1 00:47:23 Oh, thanks dude. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:47:24 We're stoked to have you back on the pod and I'm gonna make you and Kurt play song.
Speaker 2 00:47:28 Let's do it. You ready? Come on, let's do it. All right. Well
Speaker 4 00:47:31 Guys, what are we gonna play, Kurt?
Speaker 2 00:47:33 Uh, I don't know. Let's, maybe let's play the hits, man. <laugh>. Okay. Let's play the hits. Uh, I'm Nick t I'm Kurt Ozone and we'll see you in the front row. All right.
Speaker 4 00:47:50 She never wanted to be you. I picket fenced in hearts like a feather in a tors in see a breeze, a bringer to laugh. And all them other boys say she's a good goodbye girl. She'll wreck your world. Leave before the mo on the sun. But here she is, free line next to me. I trying to change her. I keep the down, keep her hard, hanging about it wild as her. Wow. So that how I am wild in a deep brown house. So long stretch of third world dreaming and my she ain't living fun time and Ranger just live like the rock and roll song. She sings all out and burning it down, blazing up a trail to wherever we that she, I keep the, keep her every turn
Speaker 5 00:50:02 Trying
Speaker 4 00:50:03 To fix her. I just kiss her her forever of our, We ain't ever letting go. Cause she knows I keep the.
