Episode 136 - William Beckmann

Speaker 1 00:00:25 William Beckman, welcome to the Raise Rowdy podcast. Man, this is an honor, dude. Thank Speaker 2 00:00:29 Y'all for having me. Speaker 3 00:00:30 Thank you, man. We appreciate you coming out here, and I know you're in town a decent bit, but thanks for taking some of the time to have with us. Speaker 2 00:00:36 Absolute man. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Pleasure's all mine. Speaker 1 00:00:38 Dude, I'm such a fan. I'm such a huge fan. Your, your voice is like the best. Speaker 2 00:00:43 I appreciate you saying that. Speaker 1 00:00:44 Um, I think I was it, you probably sent me his music, right? Yeah, of course it was me. Yeah, Nick, Nick sends me all the good stuff. <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:00:51 You're the one that goes on the deep dives and fi finds all the, Speaker 3 00:00:55 I'm like, this is cool before, it's cool. Speaker 2 00:00:56 Yeah. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:00:57 That's cool. Yeah. And you're cool, man. For sure. Thank you. Um, it was just an honor. Uh, we just played together. We just, you know, did a cover in one of your original tunes, and Speaker 3 00:01:07 Which you guys will get to hear at the end of the podcast. Speaker 1 00:01:09 Yes. And we record it first time, man. Just, it's such an honor, dude. Thank you. It's the perks of my job. Like I said earlier, we got to do the fun stuff first, and now we just gotta talk about stuff, which is also fun, but not as fun, Speaker 3 00:01:21 Man. I think that's like, one of the things that I love most about it too, is like it's, I get to have these crazy, intimate experiences that I get to like, see you guys play and for the first time together and just hear your voice live and, uh, that, that cover Man, Chris Isaac's song. What a great song. Speaker 2 00:01:39 Yeah. You, you know, what's the funny story about that is, uh, one of my dear friends, um, in Texas, Randy Rogers. Yeah. When I first started touring, uh, in Texas, I was opening up a lot for the Randy Rogers Band. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the now him and I are really good buddies. Yeah. But at the time, we, we were just kind of getting to know each other and, um, we were drinking together on his bus, and he's like, you know who you remind me of? And I was like, who? He's like, Chris Isaac. I was like, oh, yeah. He's like, you know that song, wicked Game? I was like, yeah, everybody knows that song. That's like his biggest song. He's like, dude, have you ever seen the music video for that song? I said, no. He's like, it's the sexiest music video of all time. I was like, there's no way. Speaker 2 00:02:15 There's gotta be some kind of like Miley Cyrus or some kind of music video that's <laugh>, you know, sexier than a Chris Isaac song from the early nineties even. He put it on the TV and it was, he wasn't kidding, dude. It's one of the coolest music videos. It's all in black and white on the beach, just him and like some supermodel and anyways, like, dude, learn that song for me. And ever since then I've been playing it and we do it a lot live and it's, it's a cool tune. Nobody does it, dude. And it's such a, like a forgotten song. I feel like that It's, but Speaker 1 00:02:42 Everyone knows it though. Exactly. Speaker 2 00:02:43 It's, it's a perfect cover for, it's very nostalgic. You hear like, oh my God, I love this song. I haven't heard it in a while. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:02:49 It's, it's super cool man. And it's like, that's part of what I think is amazing about the scene right now. And it's in Texas and it's in the West and it's in Nashville is like, you get some of that like, reminiscent of like, other music, but it's now it's the new version of it, you know? Yeah. So it's like, it sounds traditional, you know, like there's, there's traditional elements in things, but it's like, here's what the 2023 version of that is. You know? I think, Speaker 2 00:03:16 Uh, absolutely, man, and honestly, there's so much because of the internet, there's so much access and so much information out there that you'd be surprised how the younger generations don't really know pop culture even just 20, 30 years ago. Yeah. You know, and that's a perfect example. Or, uh, um, like, Speaker 1 00:03:40 Like when people didn't know who the Beatles were when Paul McCartney did a song with Kanye West. Exactly. They're like, who's Paul McCartney? Exactly. Speaker 2 00:03:48 You're like, oh my God. Or bang Speaker 1 00:03:50 My head against something. But, Speaker 2 00:03:52 Or like when you see little teenage girls walking around with a Guns N Roses t-shirt, I'm like, name me one Guns and Roses song <laugh>. And they're like, I don't know, I just, my friends think this is a cool shirt. I'm like, yeah, it's, Speaker 3 00:04:03 You're like, guns are cool and roses Speaker 2 00:04:04 Are Speaker 1 00:04:05 Cool <laugh>. Yeah. I mean, it is a cool shirt though, to be fair. Speaker 3 00:04:07 Yeah. I mean, the appetite for destruction. Yeah. I Speaker 2 00:04:09 Mean, it's, it's Speaker 3 00:04:10 Glassy We should rip that logo off actually. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:04:13 Put yeah. Put in the ideas. Yeah. <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:04:16 But man, it's, uh, I, I think the first time I heard a video of you was when you were like, singing in English and then switched to Spanish. Okay. I think that was like the first, I Speaker 2 00:04:27 Wonder where that was. Cuz I do that all the time. I, I have a song of mine off of my last record. Yeah. That's kind of like, Speaker 3 00:04:33 Goes Speaker 2 00:04:33 Back Yeah. In between. Yeah. In between and tells like, it's like a waltz. It tells a, it's called Danced All Night Long, but it Yes. Speaker 1 00:04:39 I love that song. Yeah. The production is incredible on it. Thank Speaker 2 00:04:42 You, brother. It's Speaker 1 00:04:43 That sound of yours. I love that sound. Thank you. That's Speaker 2 00:04:46 Great. Yeah. That's a song that I had for a long time and then we ended up cutting that song at, um, at the Sound Emporium. Oh yeah. And everything kind of came together really nicely, but something was missing cuz I, I, it just wasn't really, it wasn't the way I heard it in my head and I was like, oh, it's missing mariachi arrangement. Yes. Like, it needs violins and it needs trumpets and it needs the whole thing to make it sound like a Mexican, like, cuz the whole song is, talks about going down to Mexico and falling in love with a girl, and it, it, uh, tips the hat off to a famous George Strait song, blame It On Mexico, which is ba that story. And that song is based in the same town, uh, which is my hometown. What I grew up on the border. Speaker 2 00:05:32 Sorry, I'm kind of scatterbrained right now. No, you're good. I grew up in Del Rio, Texas, and the town that borders my hometown is Una. I mean, my, my, if you left my parents' house, you could be in Mexico in three, four minutes. And down there there's a bunch of, there's a famous strip and a bunch of famous bars. George Strait had a song about it. And then I wanted to have my own song about it, and my song references that song. But when I had a, when I, when we were working on it, I knew that I had to get, uh, some mariachis on there. So this was still kind of right in, in the thick of the pandemic, and we didn't really have access to a lot of, um, you know, we weren't able to get a lot of people into the studio. So I called a couple different Maria Mariachi schools in Texas. I called one in San Antonio and couldn't really get ahold of anybody. And I, I got ahold of this one guy who's an instructor at a, at a, like a mariachi academy in Houston, Texas. Speaker 1 00:06:23 I didn't even know that was the thing. Speaker 2 00:06:25 Yeah. I mean, you can go and, and, and learn how to play mariachi music. It's, it's really cool. It's something I wish I would've done when I, when I was younger and had more time. But anyway, I get ahold of this guy and he's like, yeah, yeah, you know, we can do it. We can do it. And I was like, man, I want your best students. Like, get your best kids in here. And I want the whole, I want the trumpets, I want everything. I said, I don't care how much it costs, just let me know and, and we'll do it. He says, okay, yeah. Don't worry. We'll trumpets all, everything. Um, so he shows up with his son, his son's like 15 years old. And, um, and I was like, all right, where's the band? He's like, dude, it's just us. We have everything. Speaker 2 00:06:59 We're gonna just overdub everything and do it. And they played everything. Dude. His son played the trumpet and probably layered like five or six different takes and they just, it sounded like there were six trumpets in the room. His son did all the violins. Uh, the guy did the baur, which is the, the mm-hmm. <affirmative> Mexican bass. Yeah. You know, that they kind of hit two strings at the same time. It was the craziest thing. And then I saw the, I heard that song come to life before my eyes. It was the craziest experience to see these two guys, this father and this son sit there for like hours and just layer in layer. And by the time it was done, it sounded like there was a whole orchestral mariachi arrangement to it. It was, it was Speaker 3 00:07:39 So cool. Speaker 2 00:07:39 It's really cool. But I appreciate you liking that song. I think that's the song that you were referring to. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:07:44 Yes. It's such a fresh sound. It's just so different than like, everything that I'm listening to in Nashville. And it was just, it feels so good to listen to. I love Speaker 3 00:07:55 It. Thank Yeah. And it's like, your voice, like takes you back in time, but it doesn't sound exactly like that. You know what I mean? Thank, if that makes sense. Like, and that's the stuff that, that like really speaks to me because I listen to a lot of music, so it's like when something hits my ear and I'm like, this is different, you know, but also like, really good. Like, your voice is insane. Your falsettos are amazing. Thank you. Thank you. There's not a ton of falsettos like that in country music, you know? Not really. Speaker 2 00:08:21 I can't really think of too many, but, but, uh, I've just been influenced by a bunch of different things and, and I feel like I, my music is kind of a big melting pot of, of all that. Yeah. Having grown, grown up on the border. Yeah. A lot of Mexican music was, was around my house and, and all my friends listened to that. And then also being a Texan, the whole, yeah. Red Dirt craze was Yeah. Was a really big thing when I was growing up. And then of course, all the, all the great music that was coming outta Nashville too. I mean, it was, I was getting hit from all different kinds of angles. And so when it came time for me to, I started writing songs and started getting into it. There was all kinds of different things that I was pulling from. Speaker 2 00:09:02 I was like, well, I like the way George Strait sings, but I like the way, uh, you know, who, whoever Neil Young writes songs or whatever. Yeah. Or Radney Foster, who's one of my big songwriting mentors. I was, I was pulling from different people for different reasons. I liked my, I had my little category of songwriters that I really tried to emulate and like look up to and, and pull inspiration from. And then my group of vocalists and singers that I really liked and then get even guitar and all kinds of stuff. So I was just trying to, like, I put a little bit of this, put a little bit of that. Yeah. Stir it up and see what happens. Speaker 3 00:09:35 When did you start like, gigging in Texas? Speaker 2 00:09:37 I started gigging in Texas when I was probably, I would say 15 or 16 years old. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I was in a, I was in a cover band with a couple of my friends and we didn't, we didn't really get outside of my hometown very much mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It wasn't until after we got outta high school that we all kind of split up and went to different colleges and stuff. I spent two years in Austin, Texas going to school and Yeah. Gigging where I could, I was too young to go into any of the bars and play or anything. Yeah. So I couldn't really get away with too much. But really honing in my, my, my craft and trying to figure out how to write a good song, man, that was the hardest thing for a long time. <laugh> <laugh>, like how to write a good song. Speaker 2 00:10:20 And I did it for a couple years. And then I moved to, uh, moved here when I was, I guess 19. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, 19 or 20. And I switched schools. I transferred over to Belmont, hung around there. And that was, I I didn't know that. Yeah. That was sort of a big culture shock too, cuz all of a sudden I was hanging out with all these songwriters and music kids and, and not only that, they were playing all kind. They were, they were writing way different songs than I was, which isn't a bad thing. That was actually a good thing. I was like, oh, wow, that's a different way to, to do it. I mean, I was hanging out with like, a lot of my friends were hip hop artists and like r and b artists and stuff. I was like, dang, that's a great song. You know, like I, I was able to appreciate so much more. I, I feel like when I'm, when I started gonna school there and then, and yeah, it kind of just stemmed from there. But I didn't really start touring until I got outta college and went back to Texas and started playing a bunch of the clubs around around Texas and opening up for people. Speaker 3 00:11:23 Yeah. And I know you, uh, you said talked about Parker, you, uh, out on the road with Parker. Yeah. Um, and uh, also I, I know that he's the one that, uh, invited you to be at the Opry as well. Speaker 2 00:11:35 Yeah. And Parker's a class act man. I mean, that guy. Talk about like dedication and work ethic, man. I don't think I've ever met anybody that's got his eye on the prize more than more than that guy. Yeah. And, uh, every time I see him in his band play, the show just gets better and better. Man. It's, and I'm always taking mental notes. I'm like, gosh, that's just, that's how you, that's how you make it, man. Like, that's just constant improvement, great attitude. He seems like a really good boss. Everybody that that's in the band and crew just respects the hell out of him. And so, uh, he's definitely a role model in a lot of ways. But, but yeah, when, when he called me about the Opry, man, that was really a cool, cool moment. And, um, I actually found out that we're doing the Opry again on, on the 11th of, uh, July. So that'll be hopefully a great time. Man's. Yeah. Yeah. That was a quick turnaround too. I, I got that call. I was like, wow. How Speaker 3 00:12:31 Awesome. They're like, we want more of this Speaker 2 00:12:33 <laugh>. I feel very, very blessed. So thank you to the Opry. Speaker 3 00:12:35 Yeah. It's a, it's a super cool experience. And that's such a, like an iconic event and venue, you know, to like, get to, to play, you know? Um, how nervous are you the first time? Speaker 2 00:12:46 Do you, you know what? I'm glad you asked me that because I've got this really funny story. Perfect. I, um, I actually happened to play the Ryman the day before I did the Opry. Wow. And I was with the Randy Rogers band and Pat Green. I was the first of three. That's great. And it was, it was just me acoustic. I had my guitar player and his brother with me. And it was a quick 20 minute set. And I remember right before we step out on the Ryman, I was like, dude, I feel, I'm like, this isn't normal, but I'm so chill. Like, I'm so relaxed. I'm at ease. I feel like I'm supposed to be here. And man, like, no trembling no heartbeat, cuz Someti, I like, I, I'll play smaller shows and even like, I'm just, you, you get those nerves, you know, you just wanna like, I wanna go out there already and play, and you get kind of jittery. Speaker 2 00:13:36 And I was like, so chill. I remember I was like, man, that's kind of bizarre. And then the following night at, um, at the Opry, I had friends and family. Dude, my grandparents were there. I had so many family members there. I think that might have been it. I was like, man, like my, my people are out there, you know, like, this is, this is good. You know, if nobody else likes it, they're gonna, th their applause and energy will be enough to feed off of. And so I, same thing, dude. I was not nervous at all. It was really, um, it was cool. Fast forward a week. I'm back in Texas and I'm playing with a couple friends. We're doing like a, an acoustic thing. And we're in Waco, Texas at this venue called The Backyard. And, uh, there's a middle school coach who loves Texas music and goes to these concerts all the time. Speaker 2 00:14:28 And he'll reach out to the artist's management and be like, Hey, I know so-and-so's gonna be playing at, uh, on this date. I, you know, do you think after they soundcheck they can run over to the middle school and play for the, for the kids, you know, play for this classroom of kids. My manager's asking me, I was like, dude, that's, that's job security. I'll go play for a bunch of middle school kids. Yeah. I can't dude, do they? Honestly, it might have been elementary, man. I mean, these kids were little, so I think they were younger than middle school. It might have been an elementary school coach, I can't remember. But they're kids, man. And, uh, so, and we walked in and, and it's all these little kids like crisscross applesauce sitting there, like waiting for us to play duty. And I've never, I don't think I've ever been more nervous than that. Really? I swear to you it was the, I mean like, I like a visible tremor, you know, like it was my, like, I had a shaky voice and it's just so weird in a bright classroom with these kids that don't, they don't really know who I am, you know? And, and then they asked us questions and you know, these kids don't have filters. It was, dude, it was the most nerve-wracking. I, I experience I think I've ever, because Speaker 1 00:15:33 You know, they're not drinking. Yeah. <laugh>. Exactly. At least you hope they're not <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:15:38 And I sure wasn't. So I was even even more nervous. Yeah. Anyway, I just thought I, it was so funny to me that I was like, man, I just played on the Opry stage a week ago and it was groovy. And then fast forward a week and I was scared to death. Speaker 1 00:15:52 That's so funny. Speaker 3 00:15:53 It is, man. It's, and I, I of course don't play music in front of people, but like, you know, emceeing events and like, honestly, the more people there are, the easier it is for me, you know? Speaker 2 00:16:04 Okay. Yeah. Because Speaker 3 00:16:05 It's like, if, if it's super intimate, I get a little weird about it. But if it's something where it's like I'm in front of like a couple hundred people, or when I was in front of like a few thousand, I was like, okay, that wasn't that bad, you know, <laugh>. It's just, it's almost like the more intimate the experience is, the more it like feels, I don't know, it just feels more real or something, you know, like, and I just get nervous a little. Cause I'm like, this person's direct experience in front of me, you know, <laugh> and, I mean, for the kids specifically, like, you know, those kids, Speaker 2 00:16:36 Kids are hard man. Yeah. Kids Speaker 3 00:16:38 Are hard. Remember it. And, you know, someone comes up and wants to be you one day, you know, Speaker 2 00:16:43 Because like, you know, if a kid tells you that sucks, you're Speaker 3 00:16:47 Like, dang Speaker 2 00:16:48 <laugh>. You know what I mean? Like, they've got him be right. Dude. Kids, kids are, the kids are, I mean, he's gotta be Right. You know, Speaker 3 00:16:55 <laugh>, I remember, uh, my nephew when he was young, he was like, uncle Nick. I was like, yeah. He's like, why do you have a nose like a witch? And I was like, Speaker 1 00:17:06 What? Speaker 3 00:17:07 I was like, he's like, it's like crooked, like a witch. It Speaker 2 00:17:09 Is still, it still messes with you to this day. Oh yeah. Speaker 3 00:17:13 Like, I still think about it. Hey, shut up, Speaker 1 00:17:14 Dude. You know, I Speaker 3 00:17:15 Give him heck for it every time. He's like an adult now, you know? Yeah. And I was like, I still have that crooked nose buddy. It still is. Speaker 2 00:17:20 Yeah. That is hilarious, man. Speaker 3 00:17:22 It's just how kids are though, you know? Speaker 2 00:17:24 Yeah. They're bad. They're critics, man. Yeah. You take it to heart. Speaker 3 00:17:27 Yeah, I know. Anyways, it's so wild. Speaker 2 00:17:29 So that's, that's how nervous I was all the, on the Aubrey stage. Not nearly as nervous as I was playing for these kids. That was Speaker 1 00:17:34 Petrified the first time I played it. Like I was playing steel guitar and like, I was like, Speaker 2 00:17:40 See that? I feel like that man is a really difficult instrument to play when you do gut the nerves. Yes. Because it's like, the finesse of it is really, really, Speaker 1 00:17:49 Yeah. It's, it is. And also fiddle is also, it's like Speaker 2 00:17:53 Exactly. Speaker 1 00:17:54 You're, you could hear your hand, especially the bow. The bow. You could hear the bow shake. Really? It shakes anyway. Cause I suck. But like, even if I'm at playing on my best, I'm like, in the grand room, I'm like, I'm gonna crush this. And you walk on stage and there's 55,000 people in, you're like, uh, and then it's like, you can just hear it in my hand, you know, <laugh> and like the fiddle knows, man. It knows when you're gonna fuck up. It's Speaker 3 00:18:19 Super Speaker 2 00:18:19 Fun. That's funny, man. Speaker 1 00:18:21 I hate that instrument. God, so much. So, so fun, but so hard. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:18:25 Kurt's been good at everything I've ever known that he's touched, like photography, steel guitar, like electric guitar, everything. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it's been fun watching him like actually struggle with something, learning fiddle. Speaker 1 00:18:36 I'm just learning. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:18:38 Oh really? Yeah. So it's, it's kind of fun. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:18:40 Luke has a couple songs on his new record that I like fiddle leads in it. So like, Speaker 2 00:18:44 Oh wow. Speaker 1 00:18:45 So I've got a teacher and everything. Speaker 2 00:18:47 Oh, that's, that's awesome though, man. I mean, to push yourself to learn, to learn a new instrument is, uh, Speaker 1 00:18:52 I know. I'm like, I need to learn some mariachi stuff. Speaker 2 00:18:54 I know. That'd be cool. It's like, do you play any horns, like trumpet or anything? Speaker 1 00:18:58 That's, I played tuba in high school. Does that count? <laugh>? Speaker 2 00:19:01 That's, Speaker 3 00:19:01 That's, that's cool. Uh, geo and the guns have a tube in their band. So Geo Speaker 2 00:19:06 Does. Yeah. I just saw, I just saw them not too long ago. And, and, uh, Giovanni, man, he's a sweetheart, but yeah, they do have a tube in the band. Speaker 3 00:19:13 It's crazy. I love when they busted out. Speaker 2 00:19:15 I'm like, this one, this one time we were on the road and we were passing through a little town and um, uh, we passed by this high school, um, football field. And the marching band was there kind of practicing or something. I was like, oh, we were in the van. I told my van, I was like, look, look, the band's practicing. And then we drove down the, uh, the block a little bit and the tuba player was like running. He was like, late. I was like, dude, that's gotta Speaker 4 00:19:42 Be the worst boring guy. That's the worst instrument to have. Be running late, dude. Yes. Could you imagine having the fluke? You could have just sprinted to, you know, this guy. I mean, the whole thing was, she's a fun damn it. Dude should have learned to play something else. Speaker 3 00:19:58 Man. That's amazing. Speaker 1 00:20:00 In high school, I didn't, I wasn't like in marching band or whatever in middle school. And so freshman year I decided I wanted to play tenor saxophone like John Coltrane. Oh, cool. And so I joined the band and I didn't go to band camp and I showed up the first day of class. I'm like, I don't know how to play anything. I wanna play tenor tax. And the band director looked at me, she goes like, you look like you can hold the tuba, so you're gonna play tuba from now on <laugh>. I was like, okay. And then I switched the drum line afterwards. But carrying a sousaphone in August in south Florida sucks. <laugh>. It's Speaker 2 00:20:32 Horrible. I've never really understood what the tuba itself rests on. I mean, does it have a shoulder thing? Like what, Speaker 1 00:20:38 What's like, it rests right here, like on your left shoulder blade or whatever. This, what is this like a trap, Speaker 2 00:20:42 Right? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:20:43 Yeah. And so it just digs in that spot. So you just jam t-shirts in there to Speaker 2 00:20:48 Keep it. Oh my god. That must Speaker 1 00:20:49 Suck. Oh, it's brutal. And then you go and you're trying to like, hit your marks, like marching around. Yeah. I like playing in Luke's band better than Sues the phone in the marching band. I'll tell you that much. Speaker 2 00:21:05 I think I, I I would probably like that a little bit better too. Speaker 3 00:21:08 Yeah. I've never like really played music good, but if I did, I'd imagine being a Luke Combs fan would probably be topnotch, Speaker 1 00:21:13 You know? Yeah. It's pretty fun. <laugh>. Yeah. I like it. I like it. I like it. Good. Um, so you just got off the road with Parker, right? Yeah, Speaker 2 00:21:20 We did two shows with him. We did one show in, uh, they were both Texas shows. They were, uh, it was Corpus Christi and, um, Midland, Midland, Texas. Speaker 1 00:21:31 I played Corpus like way back in the day. That is like the southernmost point in Texas, basically. Right? Well, Speaker 2 00:21:38 Y yeah. Corpus. It, it's, it's on the ocean front, right. Um, but you can, you can still go a little bit further south. Yeah. But, uh, but yeah, it's always a, it's, it's a good time there. Speaker 1 00:21:50 I want to go to that strip of bars that you were talking about where we dance all night long Speaker 2 00:21:55 In Mexico. Yeah, dude, Speaker 1 00:21:56 I film right now and drink some beers. Well, dude, I'll Speaker 2 00:21:58 Tell you, I'll tell you a little backstory of, of, uh, of the place where we've filmed the music video for that song. It's called The Corona Club, and it's there in Aune, which is, uh, the town that, that the song references. But did you ever see the movie Desperado with Antonio Banderas? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. That whole, Speaker 1 00:22:17 You say that cool <laugh> Speaker 2 00:22:18 Antonio Banderas. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:22:22 That, that whole film was shot there. Okay. And like that bar, that little cantina where all those shootouts, kind of that big shootout mm-hmm. Scene takes place. That's the Corona Club. That's the same bar that we shot the video and did the whole thing for that song was, and it was cool. I mean, we, we had a, a great time, but there's all kinds of memorabilia on the wall from the, from the film. And, um, I think they did once Upon a time. So Robert Rodriguez is the film director that did that One of the goats. Yeah. And then I think they did Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. They, they shot a couple things there too. And, uh, but yeah, that play, and of course there was a lot of, a lot of, uh, really big concerts and like street parties that they would do, they'd block the whole street off and like cross Canadian ragweed and Pat Green, a bunch of these Texas staples would come and play there. Speaker 1 00:23:14 Sounds so fun. It Speaker 2 00:23:15 Was cool. And that, that was like the late nineties, early two thousands. But yeah, I mean it's, it's got a lot of history that place. And, and we did that, that video there, which was, which was cool. Um, we did it like, as a one take, I tell this story on stage sometimes. We did that whole music video as a one take, which I didn't initially wanna do, but the directors in insisted. And I was like, okay. Finally I agreed to it. And, um, and it was so hard to do because if you mess up once, then you have to start all over. And I had this awesome actress from Laredo, Texas that was like the love interest in, in the thing. And of course the song's about dancing with this beautiful Mexican woman. And so we had to wa it's a waltz and it was just, oh my gosh. I was just stepping on her toes and we had to keep like reshooting that, that whole sequence. We did it about 10 or 11 times before we finally got it. Right. But, but yeah, it was one of those things, it's like, okay, I did a music video. That was one take. Never doing that again. <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:24:14 Well, you know what you like now and it's not that. Yeah. Are Speaker 1 00:24:16 You, are you a good dancer or Speaker 2 00:24:17 Dude, I mean, I'm from Texas so I can two step Right. Pretty, pretty easily. I'm not, I'm, I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm great, but, uh, Speaker 1 00:24:26 I couldn't figure out how to two step cuz I assumed it was two beats long, but it's three beats long and they, it's like a three beat dance that they do on songs. Speaker 2 00:24:35 Two than one. Two than one. Yeah. It's like Speaker 1 00:24:37 1, 2, 1, 2, 1. And then, so I'm like, I was trying to do it with this, I was actually at a radio show in Texas and Lauren Elena was trying to teach me how to two step and I couldn't figure it out. I'm like, what the hell? I'm like 1, 2, 1 2. And then my buddy, the artist I was playing for my Ray at the time, he pushed her out of the way and he's like, it's three counts. One, two rest, one, two rest. And they just da do that. Is that right? Yeah. Speaker 2 00:25:03 Yeah. I mean, yeah. I'd ha I'd have to, I'd have to hear a song there cuz there's some songs I like, man, I can't Two step to this. Right. You know, there's some that it just for me, I know people that are great dancers and dance to just about anything, but usually I, you know how it is growing up I was always on stage watching people dance. Yeah. So then when you're on the dance floor, like, oh God, I don't know how to do this. Speaker 1 00:25:23 Yeah. I have to be like pretty drunk. And then I'm like, let's go. Oh, play that journey song. <laugh>. I love it. You know, <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:25:31 Yeah. I try to save my dancing exclusively for weddings, you know? Yes. That's what Speaker 2 00:25:35 I was what is are great though. Speaker 3 00:25:36 Yeah. So fun. That's when you really give it to those people. Yeah. Let let 'em really know. You appreciate being there. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:25:41 Um, Speaker 3 00:25:41 I did some salsa lessons a couple times. I dated this girl and, uh, through college that like, that loves salsa dancing. Oh wow. And so I went and did some like, salsa lessons and I just, no idea how to do that was not good. And she would get frustrated cuz I was not good. And I was like, I'm trying, you know, <laugh>. But it did, it didn't work great. And then after that I'm like, all right, I'm done doing this stuff. Speaker 1 00:26:02 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:26:03 Well, waltzing is even harder than I, in my opinion, is harder than, than that. Uh, so I did my best. Speaker 3 00:26:10 Hey, that's what it's all about. Right. Well Speaker 1 00:26:12 We're gonna check the music video out later. Speaker 2 00:26:14 Yeah. Watch it. Speaker 3 00:26:15 We'll make Ike put it in the clip, you know. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:26:18 <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:26:19 But man, let's talk about the new single. So the one that you, you, uh, sure. Got to play with Kurt. So Tennessee drinking is a, I think in the same vein as a lot of the stuff that you did, but definitely sonically slightly different. Yes. So yeah, tell us about that man. Well, Speaker 2 00:26:33 Man, uh, compared to the last record that I put out, you know, the, these groups of songs, um, are definitely kind of a departure from that. The, the biggest difference for me is like the, these songs are for the most part, co-writes, you know, they're, I had a bunch of great collaborators on the, in the, in the last batch of songs. Most of them were all just a hundred percenters. Like I wrote them all. And yeah, I really didn't have any anybody to, to lean on. But yeah, Tennessee Drinking, I wrote with Jeremy Spillman and Randy Montana. Great. And, uh, yeah, Speaker 1 00:27:08 Of Speaker 2 00:27:08 Course, you know, Randy's great and yeah. Good. Um, one Speaker 1 00:27:12 Of the best melody dudes in town Speaker 2 00:27:13 For sure. And he's super easy to write with and, and Spillman is too. And um, and that's the cool part about my job as a songwriter coming up here and getting to collaborate with such great people, man. And people that I wouldn't normally get to get into a room with mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, and so I'm always looking at my calendar and things get put in there. I'm like, what? Like, I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm writing with Vince Gill. Speaker 1 00:27:36 What? Speaker 2 00:27:36 Dude, that's exactly what my reaction was. Holy shit. Dude. Dude, that, that's, I call like my manager and I was like, dude, this is fake. Don't, he's like, no dude, he's for, that's totally Speaker 1 00:27:46 For, I cannot wait to hear what y'all get. Yes. Speaker 2 00:27:48 And so, you know, like, you guys Speaker 1 00:27:50 Need a third Yeah. Speaker 2 00:27:51 <laugh> dude speaking to him though, not to go left field, but, um, one of the, one of the prettiest songs is, uh, trying to Get Over You. Yeah. I've been trying to get Over You to me is like the perfect ballad. And to sing that song so effortlessly, like he does <affirmative> is really hard man. Cuz his voice, he's like a tenor, like he's way up there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the melody, and then listen to that guitar solo. It's, it's like perfect on that Strat, it's gotta be a Strat that it is Speaker 1 00:28:23 Super Speaker 2 00:28:24 Clean. Yeah. And, uh, that guitar solo man is, it's out of this world. Speaker 1 00:28:28 His guitar playing is as lyrical as his singing. Speaker 2 00:28:31 That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like that. Anytime that song comes on the radio, I'd like, I'm like, everybody stop, just listen to this for a minute and appreciate its, its perfection. So I love that, man. I'm gonna talk to him about that. I was like, dude, tell me about that one song. Like, like off of that record. But Speaker 1 00:28:47 Anyway, he just came in, uh, sat in with us at CMA Fest, which was bonkers. Really? Yeah. We played, um, one more Last Chance. Oh Speaker 2 00:28:58 My God. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:28:59 And so we, we learned it and just like the record and we watched him playing it live and see if there's any tempo changes or key changes that he does or, and it's like pretty simple, like to, he plays it like pretty straight like the record. Yeah. So we learned it that way. Excuse me. And so we get the sound check and Vince goes, well what, what are we doing with the solos? And I, I'm playing Steel on it. And, and Luke's like, well, we thought we'd just let you play the solo on the record. Then he goes, well, let's pass it around a little bit. And then Luke's like, he points the, our guitar player Dustin, who like Vinces is Idol. He's like, all right, dust, you gotta follow Vince on the solo <laugh>. And he was like, Speaker 2 00:29:39 No pressure Speaker 1 00:29:40 <laugh>. And he was like, fucking terrified. But he crushed it. He sounded great, you know what I mean? But you know, Vince plays his soul is on the record and it's melodic and it's perfect. And, and then Dustin comes in there and does his chicken pick and stuff. And it was, yeah, it hearing his, you're hearing him sing Bgv B'S for Luke in my ears was like, angelic, I'll show you the boar tape after this Speaker 2 00:30:04 Podcast. Oh yeah, dude, I would've love to hear Speaker 1 00:30:05 That. It's, um, he's a, just a phenomenal talent. Just a staggering talent. It's incredible. He's so nice. He's like, Hey, I'm Vince, go. I'm like, <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:30:17 You're like, I know, I know. Speaker 1 00:30:18 I know. One of our guitar tech's daughter's name is Liza Jane. And I'm like, oh, wow. And I'm like, did you talk to Vince? He's like, I couldn't, dude. I freaked out. Speaker 3 00:30:26 Oh, that's Speaker 1 00:30:27 Cool though. He's the National Treasure man. Oh, for sure. Dude. I cannot wait to hear what y'all write. That is so cool. Speaker 2 00:30:31 Yeah, man. But, um, going back, going back to to the song, it's just, it's, it's really nice to, uh, to get the opportunities to write with such incredible people, man. Because, uh, I'm very, you know, you're kind of your worst, your own worst critic. And I'm very I'll, I'll say that. I'm proud of everything that I've been able to accomplish thus far, but there's still a little part of you that feels like not worried. Like y'all mean what? No, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say not worthy, but I'm like, man, people like Randy Montana. Like, man, surely you got something better to be doing than writing. You know what I mean? Like, you imposter syndrome as me over before. Exactly. I was like, dude, you know, you know, big, big hit song. Right? Like, you, you, you chose to spend your Tuesday morning writing a song for me. Speaker 2 00:31:15 Yeah. That's gonna be on my record. And he's like, yeah, dude. Absolutely. I was like, really? I was like, why? He's like, dude, because you, I was like, wow, man. That's just, that's a, it's a really cool feeling to be able to, to have these people come in and like, want to be a part of something that you're working on. Yes. And um, and so that's kind of the biggest thing that I'm, that I've taken away from these, from these songs that, that I wrote in the past 18 months, two years, you know? Yeah. So, uh, so yeah, that's, that's, uh, where Tennessee Drinking came from, and Jeremy s Spillman and Randy Montana. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:31:48 I'm sure that they'd say the same to you. Yes. They were here. Speaker 3 00:31:51 Absolutely. And I know you said you're, uh, you're still independent and you told us about your new upgrade on the travel arrangements. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Let's talk about that. Big steps. Speaker 2 00:32:01 Dude, man, we were, there was 10 of us in a, in a Mercedes Sprinter van. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, you know, it didn't, those Speaker 3 00:32:10 Don't fit 10 very Speaker 2 00:32:11 Well. No, not at all. Yeah. <laugh> well ours was converted, so ours had the bunks and there's the couches and everything, and there'd have to be like three people laying down, somebody driving. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and then somebody shot shotgun and then like five people crammed on the couches. It was miserable, man. It was really getting tough to to, to get around and couple guy there, there were a couple shows where we'd take a separate vehicle and stuff. So finally, man, I I, uh, you know, we've been, we've been doing pretty good in, in Texas and stuff, and, and it, it all worked out. We got a, a bus, which is, which is so great. Just, you know, your first bus, you'll never forget it. And this is my first one, so I'm really trying to soak it all in, trying to make sure my band doesn't get too spoiled. Cause I'm like, Hey, you never know. You might have to go right back to the van. Yeah. But no, it's, it's, it's fine man. Everything's, everything's working out well. But yeah, very, very grateful to God for that one man. We needed it. Speaker 1 00:33:08 Yeah. What are you, uh, rolling with band Wise? I know you, you, you have a whole trumpet section, I'm sure. Speaker 2 00:33:15 <laugh> no. Mariachi band. That would be cool. That would be cool. Um, maybe if I had that dad and his son. Maybe that's all I need. I could, I could just, um, but uh, no, we did. Um, so what we, we travel with a five piece. I've got a piano player. I play a acoustic guitar. I play rhythm guitar. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I've got a killer guitar player, bass and drums, but I don't, but, uh, what I would love man is a utility guy, a jack of all trades. Speaker 1 00:33:44 <laugh>. I know one. Um, cause there you have like a lot of steel and stuff like that on your, on your stuff too. I, I Speaker 2 00:33:50 Do, man. We just don't, we don't get to play that. We don't get to really play that, uh, live so much and we're still, we're still kind of trying to figure that out. Maybe get another member mm-hmm. <affirmative> and try to fill out the same now, you know, now with the bus you, we could probably do, it was just there for a long time. I, it was out of the question us expanding any, any, any bit. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:34:10 Cause you didn't have room in the Speaker 2 00:34:11 Band. Yeah. So, but now, now we're in a better position to do that. So I'd like to look into that and see if, if I can find somebody that would, uh, that would like to be a part of the band. And that's the cool thing, man is like, you, you playing music, is it, it's such a beautiful experience to, to share with other people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, even if it's for like that to, to play one song with Vince Gill. You share that moment forever. And, and you get to, you get to see how people really are musically and how they speak the language and everybody's different. And I think that's the really interesting part about it, getting to, to work with so many incredibly talented people. I mean, my band, I'm very grateful to have them. But, uh, there's a couple things that we do that are, that are pretty big shows where we'll call somebody in or we'll fly somebody in from, from Nashville and we'll fly 'em in and they'll, they'll know the, uh, the songs when they get there and, and just getting to jam with somebody jam. You know what I mean? It's just like some, sometimes we get so caught up in busy and playing shows and stuff. I was like, man, when's the last time we just jammed with somebody new? You know, like that. I miss doing that. So, Speaker 3 00:35:17 And that's like, one of the things that I love about this pod is like getting to watch Kurt like jam out. And some people like Jameson Rogers, he was on tour with J Mo, so like, he knew his stuff really well and you guys are buds, but like watching him get to play with you for the first time mm-hmm. <affirmative> and like, you guys like working up how you're gonna play the song and Yeah. You know what I mean? It's super neat. You know, just really authentic musical experience stuff. Speaker 2 00:35:40 Yeah. Man. I, you know, who was the king of jamming was, uh, Keith Gaddes. And Keith wrote, uh, the song that I put out, um, right before this last one, it's called, it's still January mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that's the only outside cut that, that I have on this record. And I'd gotten to know Keith Gaddes, um, he passed away about two or three days after I put that song out mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, which was very sad and, and a tragic thing. And he was, he was loved by so many people. And, uh, y'all, are you familiar with this, uh, you know the song El Cerrito Place? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's his song. Yeah. Talk about a song that like captures a moment and like, takes you to a a this certain place in my mind at least. Like those are the songs that I'm like, man, that is, that is a piece of art, you know? Speaker 2 00:36:32 Yeah. A perfect piece of art. And, um, anyway, man, I'd gotten to, no, and, and, and we would do this thing in Bernie, Texas at this golf course, top Patillo Springs that George Strait is a part owner in. And they do this charity event every year. And, uh, Jamie Johnson's there and Randy Houser and all these, they get a bunch of musicians to come in and play golf. And then it's like a three day concert series and they raise a bunch of, they auction a bunch, a bunch of stuff off, of course on the third day straight gets up there with his BA band and plays a real intimate set. He plays for like 500 people. It's probably the smallest George Strait show you'll ever see. Yeah. <laugh>. And uh, and Keith was always there, man. He would be a part of the band. And he was just like the, he, he would fit right in and he could jam for hours. Speaker 2 00:37:26 And he was one of the coolest guys to get to just on the fly. You know, you just get up there and you're like, you know what key this, you know, this one's an A and you're like, got you. And he ju it was just, it was insane to be on stage with him. And I was like, man, I can't believe he just knocked that out of the park. And, uh, but yeah, and they raise a bunch of, they, they do it every year. They, I'm going back in October and they raised a bunch of money for veterans with ptsd. So it's a great cause and it's a great thing. And that's how I got to know Jamie Johnson and, and, and Hauser through doing that. But, but Keith man, he was one of the, he was like the coolest dude ever. So I gotta give, I gotta give him a shout out man, cuz he wrote, it's still January off this last record. And that is also a beautiful song. Amazing. That tells like a crazy story. And I think it's, uh, it's cool man. I'm glad I got to record it and put it out. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:38:15 And I know you've been, you said you're independent, but I know you've been dropping songs to Texas Radio. Yes. Um, which is a super interesting thing. I used to have a radio show, Kurt and I had one, um, just for a little while. And it's interesting to hear like about the Texas market and about how it's like, it's very much more like regionally driven and like the songs that are that red dirt scene mm-hmm. <affirmative> you, you really like get to hear. And that whole market embraces it. You know, it's, it's so interesting cuz most other, most of the rest of the United States is not regionally driven like that. Right. You know, so it's a, it's a super special thing and it kind of gives you a, you know, a channel into those, those spans ears, you know, and they know that they're gonna get a specific thing and a specific sound out of the radio station. Sure. So how does that go? Like how does, do you get like a, like a regional radio promoter for that? Or like how does it kind of work? Yeah, Speaker 2 00:39:12 You can, yeah. Uh, that's, that's what a lot of people do. And there are certain stations in the state of Texas that, uh, obviously they report to, you know Yeah. All terrestrial radio. Yeah. But they also report to, there's some stations that do in some that don't mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, depending on whether they're a part of the Texas radio charts or not, uh, whether they're affiliated with it. But some of them will, will send their reports to, um, the Texas Regional Radio report and then, and that's what sort of dictates who's got a number one in Texas. Yeah. And, um, and yeah, I mean it's a, it's a, it's a cool, it's a great sense of community and it's a, it's a great way to get your stuff out there. Uh, I personally don't really listen to all that much am fm radio all that much anymore, but mm-hmm. Speaker 2 00:40:02 <affirmative>, but there are surprisingly a lot of people that do. But more than anything, man, the Texas, the Texas scene is, uh, it's just that it's a very supportive group of fans and colleagues, like everybody. For instance, I mentioned Parker, the very first time I opened up for Parker was at, uh, it, it was, it was probably the beginning of 2019, maybe it was before the pandemic. And he, he sold out Stubs barbecue in downtown Austin, which if I had to guess, probably holds about 2000 people. That's awesome. Wow. And which was a big deal Yeah. For me to open that up to be in front of 2000 people. Yeah. And it was a big deal for him to be the headliner and to sell, sell it out. And to think, to look back on it that, you know, him, him and his, his music and his brand is, it's grown so much that it kind of seems sort of small, but, but I, I knew him, I knew him when he was selling out stubs and being like, that's awesome. Speaker 2 00:41:11 Yeah. And now he's doing 20 times that. Yeah. And he's still letting me open it up for open up for him. So it's stuff like that that really makes you sit back and, you know, there's politics involved and stuff and label things that that, that, uh, that kind of get in the way and stuff. But at the end of the day, man, they throw me on these shows and stuff, and the same with anybody else. And, and honestly the shows that I headline where there's, you know, 750 people or a thousand people that show up mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there's somebody else opening up for me and Exactly. And if I see somebody that I like, I'm like, Hey, you know, I'll, I'll tell my tour managers like, Hey man, like let's make sure we have them back on. That's, I like that. You know, and so you, it's, it's about passing the torch forward. Speaker 2 00:41:54 I don't know if I've ever really been anywhere or toured anywhere else where there's a really welcoming sense of community like that. Yeah. And, and some people, some people are very content just doing, doing the Texas thing, cuz you can make a really good living doing that. Yeah. And there's other people that, that want to kind of break on a, on a more of a national level, which is, is fine too. But either way, man, it's a great place to, it's a great place to be. It's a definitely a great place to start and it's a, it's a great place to, uh, to make a name for yourself. Yeah. So Speaker 3 00:42:33 It's, the fans there are just like, they're diehard, they know the words they love original music. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, and like, and from what everybody says, like the merch sales there compared to other markets are just great cuz they want to support the music that's there. You know, they, they get that. That's how, Speaker 2 00:42:49 And even the venues, man, the venues themselves, a lot of the fans follow the venues too cuz they just wanna see who they got their favorite place that they go and Yep. And we all play a lot of the same joints, you know, and, and, um, whether it's corp, you know, whether you're up in Lubbock, Texas playing at the Blue Light or you're down in Corpus Christi playing at Brewster Street or you're in, you know, Austin, Texas playing Anton's or Moody Theater. I mean, I know 'em all like I can tell you, I can tell you what town you're in. I'm like, oh, you're playing at this place. <laugh> <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:43:20 It's cool though. I mean that's like, it's a student of the scene, you know what I mean? Speaker 2 00:43:24 Flores Country Store in San Antonio. Yep. I mean, we just played there and it was a lot of fun. But, but uh, but yeah, as long as the fans keep coming out, I'll, I'll, I'll keep going out on stage. You playing Speaker 1 00:43:36 In Nashville anytime soon? Speaker 2 00:43:38 Um, yeah, we're supposed to. Um, aside from the Opry appearance, like, I, I think we're gonna bring my band up here and I think they were looking at trying to do something soon at, um, I guess the exit in. I think we were, they were trying to, but yeah. Right on. We, we definitely want to come. And, and like I said, I'd love to hear you Speaker 1 00:43:58 Sing at Nick's writer's round. That'd be fucking sick. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:44:01 One of these days. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Odin's pretty cool. They have better sound than us maybe. I don't know. Nick makes us sound good. Yeah, no, it's uh, it's funny too cuz like we ran into each other at Red Door the one night. Yes. And yes. And like when we did, I was like, I didn't realize you were in Nashville, you know? Yeah. Because like, I was like thought and then you were like, I've been here for a while actually. You know, off and Speaker 2 00:44:21 On, man. Uh, it, it's crazy cuz I lived here, I lived here for like, full-time for maybe five or six years mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then after that, when I started playing a lot more in Texas, it made more sense for me to spend half my time in Texas and half my time up in Nashville. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I, I, dude, I'll never forget when I first moved to town, everybody how, how bushy tailed you are, you know, everybody's got stars in their eyes and everybody's just so green and happy to be here. And, um, I hope I know, you know, it's, I think it's good to, to keep a little piece of that, you know, it happens cause now you get older right. And you get more involved and things start going well and you, you know, now I, they fly, I fly into town cuz I'm writing with people and it's all business. It's all important stuff. Serious things. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But before when you were just a dreamer, you know, there, there's something really cool about that too. You're like, man, one day, one day I'm gonna get a publishing deal. Then you get a publishing deal and you're like, holy shit, now it's time to get to work. Yeah. Now you're like, okay, now it's, that's the start. Now it's in my hand. Now it's real. Now you gotta like Speaker 3 00:45:30 Write good songs. Speaker 2 00:45:31 Don't flub it, you know? Yeah. Speaker 3 00:45:33 Well that's it too cuz a publishing deal is a different thing. Like, you need to write x amount of songs and like keep the publisher happy and like you as an artist side of it is a little different. They're putting you in the room with people they want to get you to cook songs with. Right. You know what I mean? Like that they songs, they gotta Great. Keep Vince skill happy. Yeah, absolutely. Put 'em in with you. Yeah. <laugh>. But it's like, that's part of it. And then it's like, all right, who are your dream rights? You know, a publisher can make that happen for you. Speaker 2 00:45:57 Yeah, exactly. You know? Exactly. Like, Speaker 3 00:46:00 That's the cool part is like, when you're like, all right, who are like the five people that are alive right now that you would like kill to write with? Like, we could probably make some of those happen. Why you go hang out with Dean Dillon or whoever. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 2 00:46:12 Yeah. Dean. Well, I, I, I wrote, I got to write a song with Jamie Johnson, which really cool. That's, and he's a, he's a really, he's a really cool, cool dude man. And we wrote a really badass, like, traditional country song that he loved cuz I sort of came in this idea that was really old school country cuz I knew that's what he liked to write. And he fell in love with it. And, uh, we kind of took it from there. But the, I tell this story to people, the funniest thing is I was nervous and we were writing at his house and he, uh, and he goes, um, you won't, you want to sing the demo? Where am I going sing the demo? I said, no, dude, you're gonna sing the demo because nobody's gonna believe that I wrote a song with you unless I show them this, the demo with you on it. So I have this demo, I'll have a couple beers if I get drunk. I'm like, listen to this. This is Jamie Johnson's song that I wrote Speaker 3 00:47:05 With him. All right. Bring some beers in here. Let's go with her. <laugh> Oh man. It's, it's moments like that that make like Nashville such a cool town, you know what I mean? Like in, I'm sure that stuff happens in Texas too. It's just the scene's a little more spread out. Like here, it's like within 25 blocks, there's amazing stuff happening all the time. It's insane. Yeah. You know, it's freaking crazy. And it's, it's just hearing stories like that. It's funny cuz like we just did another podcast with Ella Langley and she has all these Jamie Johnson stories too. Really? Yeah. We've talked about Jamie a lot today. Yeah. Jamie. Jamie, uh, introduced her at the Opry, Speaker 2 00:47:42 So, well he did that for me too. Yeah. Which is awesome. I didn't realize he did that to Speaker 3 00:47:46 Her. Yep. And they're from the same hometown. Speaker 2 00:47:49 Oh, okay. I didn. I didn't know that. Speaker 3 00:47:51 Yeah. So like, they're buddies and she just played her writers around with Jamie and like, it's like she's had these wow moments and it's like, it's crazy cuz it's like these artists are having these wow moments with these new artists and then fast forward and you guys are gonna be having those moments with other artists. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's, it's given back for what you got, you know. Speaker 2 00:48:13 Well it's funny cuz there's so many people that are intimidated by Jamie mm-hmm. <affirmative> because he's kind of gotten an intimidating appearance, but he's the sweetest dude. Yeah. Ever man. Very supportive, very encouraging, uh, great with words, great at giving you advice and yeah man, I, I don't get to see him or talk to him all that often, but when I do, man, it's always a treat, man. Speaker 3 00:48:37 Yeah. And you said the, the record, do you guys have it all done or are you still working? Speaker 2 00:48:42 It's all done, man. It's all wrapped up. Yeah. Yeah. It's called Here's To You, here's to Me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, I named it that because a lot of, there's quite a few drinking songs on there, which I, I always like a good drinking song, but it's a, it's like a breakup record. It's, it's, but it doesn't sound like one, A lot of the songs are up tempo and really sort of fast, but it's, I've got this song that's not out yet that I wrote with a, a dear friend of mine, his name's Nick Walsh. I love Nick. You know Nick? Yeah. Yeah. So Nick Nick's got three cut cuts on this record. I, I wrote a lot with him the past couple years. But we wrote this song, this song's actually, uh, quite a bit older than, than the rest of the songs. But we wrote a song called Leaving Kansas cuz he's from Kansas. Speaker 2 00:49:23 Yep. And the, the hook of that song is Here's to you, here's to me, here's to Everything that wasn't quite meant to be Here's To Leave in Kansas for Tennessee. And it's really his story. I, I, I've just always loved that song that I knew that I wanted to cut it and put it on a record. Yeah. Um, but it's really his story. It's about him packing up and, uh, leaving Kansas and moving to Nashville to kind of pursue a career in songwriting. And now we're signed at the same publishing company and he, we get together all the time, but back then, neither one of us had a deal. We were just, we were just, uh, two kids writing songs. Yeah. Yeah. I had this one song called, um, leaving Town. It was about my hometown. And he's like, man, I want a song like that. And I said, well, it's, you're from Kansas, let's just kind of rip my song off and call it leaving Kansas. He's like, all right. So we, I was like, I, I wrote it by myself, you can do whatever you want with it, <laugh>. But, um, uh, yeah, Nick's one of the, one of the greatest songwriters that I know, Speaker 3 00:50:23 Man. He's great. Uh, I met him through Eric Dillon. Speaker 2 00:50:26 He's from Eric's great Francis Speaker 3 00:50:27 Also. And, uh, oh yeah. When Eric vouches for someone, you know, they're good, you know, because he's pretty picky. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:50:33 Yeah. Speaker 3 00:50:33 <laugh>. So I'm like, okay. Yeah. And then I heard him and I'm like, oh yeah, this is, he's great man. This is flat land Speaker 2 00:50:38 Country. I love. Always, always has ideas. Always just, Hey man, what do you think? This, this, this, this? I'm like, oh, Speaker 1 00:50:44 Love being in the room with people like that. Yeah. Makes it a little easier. Speaker 3 00:50:47 Yeah. So you got the whole album done and then, um, who produced it? Speaker 2 00:50:51 Orin Thornton, who's a, a friend of, uh, that I got to know. He is from Springfield, Missouri, but lived here a long time and produced a lot of records here. Uh, he did Caitlin Butts last record too. Speaker 3 00:51:05 Cool. We love Caitlin. Speaker 1 00:51:06 We're huge fans. Speaker 2 00:51:07 Oh, she's amazing. Yeah. She's absent. And talk about somebody who's got just an incredible voice. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yes. And her husband, CTO Cordero is a, a dear friend of mine as well. Um, and both of them together, when they get on stage and sing together, it's, it's really, you can, you know, you're witnessing something really special. It's, it's almost got like a, the, the chemistry between them two, uh, on stage is like Johnny and June kind of thing. Yeah. It's just like, wow, y'all are really, truly meant to be together because of the way y'all sound together and the way you love each other and stay. It's really, it's really cool. I'm happy to know those, those two, they're, they're incredibly talented. Speaker 1 00:51:50 They are. They're my neighbors. Speaker 2 00:51:51 Really? Yeah. I didn't know that. Speaker 1 00:51:53 Yeah, they're, they're on tour with us right now. Well, Caitlin's not. That's right. Speaker 2 00:51:57 Yes. Yeah. Flat. Speaker 1 00:51:59 Yeah. We're huge Flatland fans. I was actually gonna mention Colleto earlier when you were talking about rights. I'm like, I wonder if they've ever written together or not. Speaker 2 00:52:05 You know, Colleto and I have never written, but we've definitely talked about it. Please do. You know, we just need to find some, carve out some time and do it because him, I feel like him and I would definitely be, would mesh well together, you know? Yes. Please. Speaker 1 00:52:17 For the Our Sake. Write a song with Colletto <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:52:20 We'll book that for you. We'll call, uh, Speaker 2 00:52:22 Come on. Yeah. <laugh> Speaker 1 00:52:23 Raised Rowdy Publishing. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:52:24 <laugh> fixed it publishing as Charlie would say. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's funny because like, so when we had the radio show, it was in Pittsburgh, but we could listen to it like, you know, on the app and stuff mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but I was me, it was one of the, maybe the first episode that you were on with me mm-hmm. <affirmative>, or it was, Speaker 1 00:52:40 Yeah, Speaker 3 00:52:41 It was, I think it was the first. And uh, Kurt was like, Hey, my buddy CTO's coming over to listen and hang out. And I was like, cto, cto. And he's like, yeah, CTO Cordero. I was like, Speaker 2 00:52:52 Cto, flat leg cavalry, Speaker 3 00:52:53 Like cto. He lives here now. Like, what's going on? Speaker 2 00:52:56 What a great name though. CTO's like Elvis. Yeah. Like, you don't need a, you don't need the last name so you know exactly who you're talking about. Speaker 3 00:53:02 Yeah. <laugh>. And so we are like listening to our bootleg radio show that's only on in one market and we're playing Flatland Cavalry on the radio, you know, which is great. But like Kleo came over and I was like, this is like the germiest thing I've ever done at this. Speaker 1 00:53:18 Had a little campfire and smoked a joint, had some beers, smoked Speaker 3 00:53:20 A dude Speaker 2 00:53:21 Where okays, where did the term GM come from? Because I have no clue. I've told everybody in the business knows what that means. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I've told the average, I was like, I was like, you know, like, like G Grammy people, like, they're always back. There's always that one person that's that's backstage that probably shouldn't be back there. Yeah. And, and then I tried to look, I tried to prove it to somebody like, no, it's gotta be a thing. Like it's gotta be an urban dictionary something, and I could not for the life of me find out. So somebody came up with that term and it spread like a wildfire, but everybody knows what it means. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:53:52 When you hear it, you're like, okay, I know what that means, <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:53:54 Yeah. But it's hard to explain sometimes. Speaker 3 00:53:56 Yeah. I remember Kurt uses the term code too. Speaker 1 00:53:59 Yeah. Almost interchangeably. Yeah. It's like, like those words when everyone same, everyone's hanging out like after the show and drinking beers and then that person like asks for a photo when they shouldn't or something. Yeah. You know, or it's like just filming a famous person standing there, you know, doing, Speaker 2 00:54:14 Or if you've ever been, I'm speaking directly to the camera, if you've ever been on any anybody's tour bus on several occasions, the tour manager has to say, okay, you know, it's time to go. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:54:24 You're probably a girl. Yeah. Yeah. You may be a GM with, you know, whatever. Probably ager if Speaker 2 00:54:30 Well, it's a, but if you bring beer or something, then everybody will tolerate it. It's not that big Speaker 1 00:54:33 Of a deal. No doubt. Well Speaker 3 00:54:34 That's what I'm like, I just want to be a fly on the wall and be a good hang. Like that's my like number one goal if I'm in any of those rooms. Speaker 1 00:54:41 You're not a groom, dude. I'll asked for you, dude. Appreciate Speaker 3 00:54:43 That. Uh, I remember like we, uh, Kurt had me in, it was a Pittsburgh show and I was like, Kurt's guest and he was like, Hey, I can get you back here, but I can't get any of your friends. And I'm like, I already didn't drink a lot and I already told my friends I can't hang out with them the rest of the night. So. Yeah. Yeah. <laugh>, Speaker 1 00:55:00 I was like, get it. Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah, I trust you. Speaker 3 00:55:02 And then we smoked cigars in the locker room and it was magical. Speaker 1 00:55:06 That's cool. Yeah. Good shit, man. Um, well it's been great having you on here, dude. Thank you for having me. Is there anything we missed? Uh, any shows coming up or anything you wanna plug or, Speaker 2 00:55:15 Man, there's a whole, we got a whole bunch of shows. Not nothing in particular I need to plug, but just the record coming out. Thank y'all for having me. What's the Speaker 1 00:55:24 Release date on the record? Speaker 2 00:55:25 It's coming out at the beginning of August. Uh, the, the actual date is slipping my mind. Cool. But it's the very, very soon at the beginning of August and we're super stoked to finally get it out there and then, um, can't wait to hear it. Yeah, man. And then after that rinse and repeat Speaker 1 00:55:39 <laugh>, I can't wait to you have you text us the work tape that you get with Vince Gill <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:55:44 Yes, I, I will definitely do it. We Speaker 3 00:55:46 Promise not to share it. We'll sign an nda Speaker 1 00:55:48 <laugh>. Yeah, right. Speaker 3 00:55:49 God bless a good nda. Oh, right. But man, thanks. It's, uh, it's been great getting to meet you. Thank you. In town. And then it's been great having you on, man. Speaker 2 00:55:57 Dude, thank y'all so much for taking Speaker 1 00:55:58 The time. Absolutely. Anytime dude. Speaker 2 00:55:59 Thank you. Appreciate Speaker 3 00:56:00 You brother. I'm Nikki t Speaker 1 00:56:01 I'm Za Speaker 3 00:56:02 And we'll see you in the front row Speaker 1 00:56:05 Right on Speaker 7 00:56:12 South Texas Dream. I wish I could be Speaker 6 00:56:18 In Speaker 7 00:56:20 Two places Speaker 6 00:56:21 Tonight. Speaker 7 00:56:47 Christ Summer, I'm running. We were hotel sleeping. I margaritas on the balcony. Yeah, I'm in drinking. I didn't love her. But that Corpus Christi Summer stays on your skin. South Texas dream. I wish I could be.