Colt Ford: Comebacks, Country Rap & Keeping the Fire Burning

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Come on. [00:00:15] Speaker A: This is Outside the Round with Matt Burrill for Rage Rowdy Podcast. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to Outside the Round today. A very special guest, a guy who I've been a big fan of for over a decade now, A guy that I got to interview back in my college radio days and someone that I just got to watch up at a festival in Ohio. Shout out to our friends at country concert. We have got the legend, the one, the only, Colt freaking Ford. My brother. Thanks for coming on here. [00:00:45] Speaker B: I'm just excited to still be able to come on somewhere. It almost wasn't the case. And yeah, it's nice to catch up after kind of our history together, which goes back a little bit. Not everybody knows. Yeah, man, you owe your entire career to me. I've never said that out loud, honestly, man. [00:01:01] Speaker A: So I'm. I. Growing up, I wanted to be in sports media. I wanted to be a guy on espn, talk about the Yankees and all the New York sports teams. And then I fell in love with country music when I was in high school and all that. And then I had a college radio show and our interactions with you early on the team at Average Joe's, I was like, man, these country artists are so nice. They're so cool. I'm on a 25 watt college radio station. You guys don't owe me anything. And we got to have you on my show. And I was like, man, if I could do this and work in country radio or be just around country music. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Now look at you. [00:01:35] Speaker A: And now fast forward 12 years later, here we are sitting down. So cool on a podcast. It's so cool. So how have you been, my brother? [00:01:41] Speaker B: Things, man, I'm, I'm, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm doing a lot better. Obviously. It's been a. Been a long year with all the medical stuff and been through a lot of things. Changed me a lot of ways. I meant maybe some for the better, maybe some for the worse. I don't know. But I'm doing pretty good and it's nice to be back out there playing you. I saw you the other day at country concert is. It was nice because that one made me a little nervous, I'll be honest with you. Because that obviously I've played there multiple times. I love country concert and I've been on the big stage. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:15] Speaker B: And all of a sudden I was, I was like, oh, man, you know, you're. I'm like, man, I'm on. I'm on a 2 o'. Clock. [00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:22] Speaker B: Man, I ain't played 2 o' clock slot in a long time, you know, and you just. You start and I'm like, I don't know who's going to be here that early. And you saw. I was. I was so blown away. It was so cool to see. I mean, it was packed. I mean, me and then Chase. I mean, I love Chase. He's been one of the young ones that I. And Gavin grew up. Gavin Adcock grew up with my. So I met. We. We. I've known Gavin since he was a little kid. I mean, like, literally. And just watch it. It was a really special time. And then, of course, Brantley's there, and then we go do our thing on the main stage. It was. That was a special. That was special. [00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And that was something I wanted to talk to you about, too, because I saw you watching our boy Gavin side stage. And I had Gavin on this show about three years ago, and he was just getting started. He was just getting ready to leave Statesboro and work his way up here. And you've gotten to be one of the godfathers of the Georgia boys, of the guys that have come up, whether it's the guys out of South Georgia and it's like the Statesboro world, or it's Athens and North Georgia. Like, guys like you, Brantley, Corey, Smith, I mean, Jason, Luke, the list goes on and on and on and on, man. So to be there and get to watch Gavin do what he was doing and then get up there to one of your day one best buddies, bg, and sing a couple songs, it was. [00:03:38] Speaker B: Just really a special day. The whole day was. And yeah, it's. It's made me to go back out. I wasn't sure, honestly, if I was going to go back to playing or not, honestly. Because when you're dealing with. I'd never been through anything like this. I mean, I've. I've had 15, 16 years in a row of playing 125 shows a year at least. Road Warrior. And like, I just. That was. I had to build it like that because even my friends in the industry don't know. I'm like, I'll say something. They're like, well, you know, what about? I'm like, I've never had a song in the top 40 at country radio. I've never had a hit myself. I've written some hits and had some, but I've never had one. And so I just had to work. I had to work harder. I just did. I didn't have no choice. And and so. But I've been. It's the fans that make all of this possible. I mean, it's how you got to this point. It's how I'm still sitting here. And so I wasn't sure if I was going to go back out there, but then the fans, they just kept sending me messages and prayers and sending to my family. It was just unbelievable. And I was like, okay, I got to go back out there and see. And they have just showed up everywhere. I mean, everywhere I've been. It's like they're there and they're cheering and they're singing every word. And it's a pretty special feeling. Music has amazing ability. Yeah, man. [00:05:02] Speaker A: And you came up in such a fun time in country music. Yeah, it was when country music was a damn party. [00:05:08] Speaker B: It was still. Yeah, it was a little rowdier. I mean, it was a little rowdy. I'll admit. There's some of the stories that me and some of those previously mentioned names, probably nobody can tell, because if one person tells us, everybody, it's like everybody's in, like. [00:05:23] Speaker A: I mean, like the culture of going to a country show. It was a whole. It still is a whole event. But I feel like that's when it became like the tailgating, because it was. [00:05:31] Speaker B: It's a little more commercialized now, and I'm in a. A little more of a minute. It's so mainstream. And there was a point, you know, early on for. For me, I meant, you know, in 2009, 10 around there, it's like it was almost like it was our secret, you know, like they didn't know about rock, the country. They didn't know about having 50,000 people in a field. And now it's like, it's. It's everybody's, which is good, you know, I mean, it's got to change. Music has to evolve. It has to grow. I mean, that's. That's how I got here. That's how the artists after me are here. And that's how. That's, you know, that's how Jelly's here. That's how Shaboozie. That's how those people are here because of some of the stuff that I was out there doing. And, you know, it's always that, you know, progression of stuff. And I think it's still cool, though, the music. It's the music. Just music transcends politics, religion and all that kind of things. And that's what. That's what I love about it. Just the fact that it's that I Meant like, I, I can, I can do it takes me to so many different places. And, and, and it's, it's a pretty neat thing to be a part of. [00:06:38] Speaker A: Yeah. You talk about it being like that, that early days of like the underground because you've been independent and you start, you said, to hell with it. I'm starting my own label. And you became one of the first player coaches of being like, I think. [00:06:50] Speaker B: I've always been underground. [00:06:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know. I mean, when I started doing it, we came to town, you know, and we were playing, I was playing. We were playing some stuff with people and people were like, oh my God, this is incredible. We don't know what to do with this. I mean, like, they didn't. Every single person's like, I love this shit. I don't know what to do with it. They just, they couldn't, you know. And I mean, at the time, I'm a. Here I am a middle 30 guy, 300 pounds in a cowboy hat. I mean, very good looking, obviously, but. I mean, and charming, but I don't know that that was what they were looking. And so it was like, well, what are we going to do? And my best friend Shannon and I were like, he's like, well, we can. He's ran labels before. I'm like, well, we can start a label. I call our other buddies, Zach McElroy, my good friend, the founder of Zaxby's. And I was like, hey, man. Played him all the stuff. He's like, this is awesome. What do we do? I was like, here's what we need to do. And he was like, all right. He didn't even know Shannon. He'd never even met Shannon Time. And I laid it all out and I was like, this is what we need. And he's like, all right, I'll give it a shot, you guys. Don't screw it up. And so Shannon and I set out and it was just me and him. Like, we didn't. There wasn't no label, there wasn't nobody hired. There was none of that. It was just me and him. We piecemeal ride through the country together and, and, and the rest is kind of history, really. [00:08:23] Speaker A: Yeah, man. And it's like those shows back in the day were just special. Like the mud Digger era of stuff. Yeah, the early days of Rome River Jam and like. [00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I was playing places and like, artists would come, I'd come back here and they'd like, like early days, social media, and they're saying. And people they're like, did. Hey, man, did that really. I'm like, no, that was really happening. I mean, like, they're like, that's crazy. I'm like, yeah. I mean, I get it. They didn't understand that I. I was going out and selling 10,000 tickets in the middle of a field. [00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:58] Speaker B: And they. They, Nashville or anybody else couldn't. They're like, I don't understand that. [00:09:03] Speaker A: Like, without any reason. [00:09:04] Speaker B: Right. With nobody who's. Who told these people, like, how's this happening? [00:09:09] Speaker A: MySpace. [00:09:09] Speaker B: Yeah, MySpace. Exactly. Brantley and I were. And they were like, where are they coming from? And I don't know what. I'm sure glad they came. I mean, it was. It was. It's cool, man, to think now I wasn't doing anything to try to set some kind of new job, you know, people like, you did. I'm like, I wasn't trying to do anything but make the best songs that Cole Ford could make. Yeah. The best way I could make them. And it's evolved over the years, honestly. I mean, it's really evolved over the years. I mean, when the new stuff I got now, I mean, I think people are going to be like, I can assure you, I've already played it for people. Yeah. And they're like, wait, that's. What are you doing singing like that? And I'm like, I had a year off, so I didn't use my voice for a year. Yeah. Did some vocal coaching and stuff. And it's like, oh, I. Yeah. So I meant. And not to mention, I'm 55 years old. I mean, I can still get rowdy every now and then, and I was definitely raised that way. But I mean, it's. You know, it's. I can't. I can't. I'm evolved. You know, you're supposed to evolve as an artist, too. I mean, I still got it in there, and there's still some. There's still going. This new record's coming. There's going to be a lot of things. I think people. There's a lot of more rock influence kind of sounding heavier. Me singing a lot. Like, I'm excited about it. Like, it really has excited me. And then there's. There's a couple of, you know, there's a couple of really raised rowdy songs on there. There's a couple of. Stick your finger up. Kinda saw the song called Fake Redneck. That is just gonna be. Yeah, it's just gonna. It's kind of a. There's kind of a line in the sand. Kind of thing. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, it's fun. I'm excited about it. Yeah, man. [00:10:51] Speaker A: Because I go back to listening to, like, chicken and Biscuits and, like, the early day stuff. And I remember finding it when I was living up in New Jersey and being like, this is wild, man. Like, just sonically, you were. You were ahead of your time, but it's because you grew up on so much shit. [00:11:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I didn't. You know, like I said, people like, are you pioneer stuff? And I'm like, I never set out to think that I was going to do that. I mean. But obviously it did move the needle. I mean, it did. It moved the needle. Dirt Road Anthem moved. It made a. It may not have been like a seismic 8.5 on a richer scale thing, but, I mean, it did move the needle. And it was. When Brantley and I did. We didn't know what he was doing. We wrote Dirt road anthem in 30 minutes. We did not know what we were doing. I meant. Except. Right. What's been great about working with B and being is we're like brothers and it's. We think alike. Like, everything about us is alike as far as the. What we think believe. I mean, like, so we. We could be in situations. We've been so close for so long. I meant the whole, like, I can look at his eyes and go, oh, I know shit's about to get out of control here in a second. Like, I'm about to take my hat off. I meant, like, I know him. And so when we. When we write, I mean, it was just. It's so natural. So we would just write. We weren't trying to impress anybody because we didn't. We didn't know nobody. Like, we were just trying to write something that we liked. And we wrote it. I mean, and we wrote it. We just. We didn't know that it would be what it is. I mean, and be one of the, you know, one of the biggest songs in the history of country music. And not. Or any music. I mean, diamond kind of singles. Those. That's pretty big. Yeah. Yeah. And we were kind of. And certainly the first half of it was more in the record. Real record sales and not just streaming or down. You know, it was. It was a lot of. A lot of hard CDs. And my whole career, I still see people at shows. They'll come up and be like, I had a burnt CD of you in 2009. And I'm like, and I got it from my Uncle Bobby. And it's like, holy that makes me feel old, and I understand that. But it is cool, though. You know what I mean? Like, that's, that's real organic stuff. And mine was unbelievably organic. It was all organic. It was all just. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it was organic. And you did such a big job of, like, finding these guys on the way up and made them a part of your family. You were like, hey, boys, hop in the van and let's. Let's go do some. Let's go do some music. Or let's create her. I got a rhyme to go with this tracker. Why don't you sing the chorus on this song? [00:13:28] Speaker B: I've probably been given too much credit in a lot of. A lot of. In a lot of cases with these, With a lot of artists, because I know these art. I haven't done any song. I haven't done anything with anybody I'm not friends with, so. Or that I couldn't pick up the phone and call. Yeah. So it was never made up. It was never manufactured. It was never two record labels, none of that shit. It was all like, yeah, do you dig it? Do you want to do it? And so I've been, I've heard people. Are you responsible for that? No. Brantley Gilbert would have been just fine if he never met Cole Ford, believe me. Yeah. Jason Aldean would be just fine if he never met Cole. It'd be fine. The world would be fine. But I meant. But I'm just lucky to have been a part of it, really. And, And I've always looked at it that way. Yeah. Like I meant. And so at the same time, in a lot of ways, I hadn't been given near enough credit in a lot of ways. Just. And me now having this interview with you four or five years ago, I probably wouldn't have said that because I just. I love everybody, man. I mean, one of the things I'm most proud of is I think if you've been doing it now for a while, you've been around, you don't ever hear nobody say, man, Colt forward. He was an. He was a. [00:14:49] Speaker A: No, that's one of the testaments, like, character, bro. [00:14:52] Speaker B: Like, I, I, that is what I'm more proud of than writing these songs. Like, because I've always. I've always. That's just who I am. I mean, it's inherently who I am. It's who my dad was. He just passed away. It's white way. Raised me. Be good to people. You never know. You never know who, who that man is or what he's going through. My dad would always, always say that. My dad, he. You know, he was 89. I just lost. He. But he would say things like when he. When he prayed, one of the things he'd always say at the end of his prayer said, and God help us to be mindful of the many needs of others. And, like, that's kind of. It stuck with me. I watched him do it. He lived it. And so that's how I've been in the industry. I ain't had no. I don't have no beef with nobody. I just. It's done. I'm happy to see other people ask me now, like, are you mad that so. And so. And that this is happening now, but you did it. Nobody. And I'm like, you could go back and look at that in any of the history of music. Yeah. And you'll be like, no, no, look here. This is. Look deeper. And that's. If you were doing it for being. Trying to be famous or, you know, all that shit, then, you know, whatever. If it were. If that's what you had, if whatever deal you had to make to do that, I didn't do it for that. I don't do it for that. And so I said all that just a little bit to say, yeah, in a lot of ways, I haven't been given the flowers that I deserve. And this human side of you goes, well, that sucks. I meant at times. I mean, when they go, you know, look, I'll see something on some interview. And so. And so, look, they did that. I'm like, actually, I did that five years ago. Okay. But I'm not unhappy that they're doing it. [00:16:32] Speaker A: No, you want every. [00:16:33] Speaker B: But I'm not unhappy about it. I mean, I mean that. And so some of that, when it comes out, can sound really, you know, it sounds like sour grapes or whatever. And. And that's. That's not the case. I mean, it really isn't. But the facts are the facts. You know what I mean? I meant, like, it doesn't change the fact that. That this is where it evolved from. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [00:16:55] Speaker B: But, you know. But where did I evolve from? You know what I mean? Like, it's been around. I mean, it's been around. I meant recitation, talking records. [00:17:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Go back to songs like Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette or Hot Rod Lincoln. I meant, what do you think Charlie was doing? Yeah. I meant. And he was so good to me, Mr. Daniels. Mr. Charlie was. [00:17:15] Speaker A: So what's. What's a good Charlie Daniels memory or story? Because I Got to meet him a couple times. [00:17:20] Speaker B: He was the greatest. [00:17:21] Speaker A: One of the nicest humans you could ever meet. [00:17:23] Speaker B: Absolutely fan. I tell people all the times, like, I hope I'd rather be remembered as like him, somebody that was stood up, stood on business. If he said it, he meant it. He didn't back up from it. Like, he was great to me. And early on, he put his arm around me and he said, I know they've probably given you a lot of grief about. He said, I've seen some of it. He goes, but you write songs, you're honest. Yes, sir. He goes, I think you're just picking up where I left off. Things evolved. He said, don't apologize for being that honest and real. And he was always good to me. He was always good to me and encouraging. I had a lot of guys that. That were, you know, and. But, you know, this is a generational thing, a lot of that, you know, and some of it is just where we're at now. And I've let some of my frustration with some of that go, you know, it's like, man, because I'm fun. I'm fun to see live. I'm like, oh, I've never. [00:18:22] Speaker A: That two o' clock saloon stage show. [00:18:25] Speaker B: You rocking show at two o' clock on a Thursday of a festival. If you. If you do, I want to see that on video because I don't believe it. [00:18:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:34] Speaker B: And. And it' like. But I've never got to play on an award show. I've never got to, like, I can host that shit. Put me up there. I'm funny. Yeah, I can do that. I'm off the cuff. I'm like, I just wanted to be more of a part of it. I guess that's my only thing that frustrates me is like, I. For when I look at where some of the people that are out now and things are happening because there was so much of me when I'm sitting there talking to guys that are like. When I'm sitting there talking to Jason, who's one of my great friends at. Backstage at the award show, and then he's gonna go out and sit right there. And I can go out and sit in the crowd somewhere or I can just stay back. It's really been like that for me. Yeah, that's really what it was. I meant, like, so I'm not bitching about it. I'm just saying that's just the facts. [00:19:25] Speaker A: But what you could do that other people couldn't. You could sell tickets if people can't Sell. If people can't sell tickets, they ain't got a whole lot going on. You've always sold tickets. [00:19:34] Speaker B: That's what's allowed me to be here for so long. I mean, 20 years, you know, pretty much. And it's the fans and a lot of people forgot about it. There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of famous people on, you know, on the Internet that are famous music stars that I ain't never seen even play a show. It is the damnedest thing I've ever seen. I meant like, I'm not sure how that works. And they get. I don't know how you give a record deal to somebody because their numbers on a video are big. I don't know. Can you play anything else? Can you write anything else? [00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:08] Speaker B: Can you perform when there's a lot of people standing out like, I don't know. [00:20:12] Speaker A: Can you mentally handle getting with a group of dudes and riding around in a van for three days across six different states? [00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:18] Speaker A: I mean, you handle touring because that's a whole thing within and of itself. [00:20:21] Speaker B: It's a, it's a whole different animal. And I'll be honest with you, man, there was a time after this accident and the heart attack, and I wasn't sure. I've never been unsure. I meant like, even when I was a 330, 40 pound country singer, middle aged country singer, I thought I was cool as shit. I mean, and I had that swag. I mean, I had that. You couldn't tell me nothing. And people embrace me for that because I used to say all the time, it's like, you might not love Colt Ford, but you can't stop Colt Ford from loving you. It's just who I am. I, I would tell people, they like, how's it going to work when you and Jamie Johnson play a show together? It's going to be awesome because I'm going to take, I'm going to light their hair on fire and take them way up here and Jamie, Jamie will let him take them back down and sweeten it out and it'll be great. And you know, Jamie's one of my best friends. [00:21:15] Speaker A: First person ever saw me a cold beer. [00:21:17] Speaker B: One of the first people I ever wrote. The only first song ever wrote in Nashville is with Jamie Johnson and Jeremy Popoff from lit. So he's. We've been close since day one. And I mean, and it's like I. People would think, how does that work? We're talking about the exact same things and I've heard Jamie say this, Colton. I talk about the exact same things, just in a different way, just different delivery. Yeah, it's a different delivery. The message is 100% the same. Yeah. I assure you. I mean, so it's, you know, it's, it's interesting to see how it's evolved and what it's evolved to. But I've been so blessed. The fans are. And I've never forgot that. I've never. I mean, you were there now that it took me a while. So my memory is not. I have some issues from. From the heart attack and being down and being out for. In a coma. I mean, you know, it may be hard for some people to tell. That's what my wife said because he was already a little screwed up. But it is, it's. It's been. I forget some things and I'll be mid sentence and forget some things. So it's been a lot to process. But just know that the fans have just kept loving me and kept wanting me to be here and I just couldn't go without them. I just couldn't stop doing that to them. But so you saw the other day when you were there, like. And I get honest with you, I'm tired now. I mean, I don't have what I used to have, obviously. I mean, what I went through is a lot. And then in the heat, it's. It's a lot. It's a lot. [00:22:50] Speaker A: Luckily you were under that saloon. [00:22:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I. But I'll be honest with you, I honestly, I think the under the saloon stage is hotter. [00:22:56] Speaker A: Really? [00:22:57] Speaker B: Because of the. Because the. There's just nowhere for it to escape. Yeah. I mean, and so it was like I was tired, but those people were standing there. I wouldn't stood there for 45 minutes. [00:23:10] Speaker A: You were kicking off their weekend. You were the, you were the flame that lit off that party for the whole weekend. [00:23:14] Speaker B: I stood there for 45 minutes, an hour. I signed everything that wanted a picture. I signed everything. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what we cannot forget. That's what this younger generation. Don't ever, don't forget that. Don't take that shit for granted, man. That's a big deal. And because you don't know what that person's going through or what they're feeling and, and I look at it and go, I'm sure you meeting Colt forward hot and sweaty at 55 ain't no big deal. You didn't win no lottery ticket or nothing. I meant like but these people act like they did. And that makes me feel like that too. You know what I mean? Like, I embrace it. I appreciate it. I want to meet and greet. I want to do it. You want to do 50, you want to do 100, I don't give a shit. I love it. Those people allow my life to happen. How do you not take a minute to say what's up? Or say hello or shake a hand, whatever? You don't know what it means to people. And so after 20 years, I've had a lot of those stories. I've gotten stories of what it does mean to people. And I've seen it in real life. Like, look what is. Look what's happening. I mean, look what it's done. I meant people saying that to you. Like, your song made a difference. Working on. [00:24:29] Speaker A: I was just gonna say working on. When I got sober in 2016. That song come out a little bit before that, but that was one that I listened to you and a lot of bg. Because that was what, like a lot of the justice as I Am record. [00:24:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:40] Speaker A: That Working on made a huge difference in my life personally. [00:24:43] Speaker B: Going. I mean, I've gotten a lot of messages. I meant from that kind of deal, from whether it be addiction or abuse or I meant so many soldiers and military. Those are the kind of like, I meant. Would it be cool to win a Grammy? I'm sure it would be. I don't know. Cmt, A cma. I don't know. I bet it'd be cool to win any award. I never won any of them in music, but those kind of stories, man, that's. That's pretty. That's what's pretty cool. [00:25:15] Speaker A: And that was a song that was written, correct me if I'm wrong, with Walker Hayes back in the day. And it's funny, you were my. You were one of my first interviews. And Walker Hayes in 2014 came and played at my college. This is. Is when he had just gotten dropped from that deal, had his long shaggy hair, was working at Costco look like. [00:25:33] Speaker B: Look. I meant when I. Walker looked like. I meant, honestly, at the time, when you saw him in that era, he's already 30 years old. And I'm like, he looks like a 20 year old SAE at your college. I mean, like, he looks like a frat boy. Same thing. That dude is one. I don't care what y', all, what they say. One of the most talented dudes. [00:25:53] Speaker A: Agreed. [00:25:54] Speaker B: One of the most talented dudes. Like, and now he's in his little lane And I know there's people that hate, but I'm telling you, I like it. Walker. Walker Hayes is dope and he's important for music. And it's just, again, I've gotten all kinds of. Because of what I've done, the way I did it now, you know, And I get all the stuff for Jelly. I'm like, I. I am tickled to death for Jelly. I love Jelly. [00:26:15] Speaker A: That dude's worked hard, like, ever. [00:26:17] Speaker B: And people like, oh, man. Just can't. And the same thing people used to do to me, like, man, it happened so fast. I'm like, yeah, 30 years is. I put my first record out. I was 36 years old. Just. Just an overnight sensation, like. But that's what music is about. I persevered. I was doing it. And they're like, you can't do this. And I was like, ah, well, I'm going to do it anyway. I meant, like, you know, have you seen that Top Gun do? They're like, there's nobody scheduled today. Yeah, well, I'm going anyway. And that's what I did. And so it allowed me to let some other people come in the door and do different things. And you go see Jolly now. I'm like. I remember seeing him for the first time in an arena, and I was just. I was like, I'm. This is the first time I see him in arena. Last year was the first time I'd ever seen Jason in a arena. Yep. Last time I'd seen him before that, he was opening for me. Wow. So. And I don't mean like 15 years ago. I meant like four or five years ago. [00:27:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:19] Speaker B: So. And I was just blown away. It was like a religious experience. [00:27:26] Speaker A: He delivers a sermon. [00:27:27] Speaker B: It was there, man. I said, and whether you like the songs, you know, whatever, Anytime something's good, there's gonna be the hate. It just is what it is. And I. I kind of like Cat Williams. If you ain't got nobody to hate on, feel free to hate on me. Because I. I'm not gonna hate on you. I love you. I wish success on everybody. I see him doing that, and I saw that show and I'm like, whether you like it. And I've told Mo, I don't care if you like it, don't like it, don't get it, whatever. If you go to see that and don't realize something is hap. Something special is happening here, then you got. You need to go lay on a couch and talk to somebody like, there's some shit wrong with you. Because it's. There's life. He's changing lives. Yeah. There's a lot of people play music. Not a lot of people do that. He's moving. I mean, like, I moved the needle. He's. He built a damn, you know, Grand Canyon in that. Yeah, it's. And. And I. I'm. I'm so impressed. I mean, I know what it takes, the energy level, it takes. And, man, he's. And now he's doing the weight loss thing because we would text earlier when I started losing weight, it's like, hey, dude, I'm telling you, don't mess around. Like, a lot of guys. A lot of my boys now that have all in the industry have all gone. Like, I went and had it checked. I'm like. Because I was doing way better. I had lost a lot of weight at the time of this. Yeah. So sometimes it just. You just got to take care of yourself. I didn't. I didn't realize how much, you know, how much I. You know, but you don't know. And then you think, I'm alpha male. I can do whatever, you know? And that's what I thought. I mean, I can do whatever. I ain't scared of nothing but God and my mama. I ain't scared of nothing. And I woke up out of that coma, and I could not pick up a styrofoam cup and feed myself ice. Wow. So, I mean, I'd learned to walk again. Like, it was a lot. And it's still the physical pain. Like, growing up, being, again, raised alpha male, country boy, hunting, fighting, doing whatever it is you want to do sports and played professional golf for a living for 10 years. I mean, on a pretty high level. Yeah. It's. I can deal with physical pain. Like, I look. I know how to do. I look at my hand, look at my leg. I go, okay, that hurts. I can compartmentalize that. I've always had that ability. I didn't have that ability to compartmentalize my head. I didn't know. I knew nothing about anxiety and fear. I never knew anything about it. I've learned a whole lot, and I'm learning about it every day now. And that's made a. That's made a big difference in my life, and that's made me even want to be more proactive about mental health and things like that, because it is easy. I meant, like, obviously, I went through a traumatic event, but it was literally like, I went. I didn't go to sleep. I went to sleep. I woke up, and it was just There immediately. No, like, okay, you're getting sicker. You get. No, just immediately. [00:30:31] Speaker A: It's like a switch flips. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Like somebody cut the light on. Oh, there's fear and anxiety in here. Yep. I never saw it before. I guess it was dark to me before. And so that's been a lot. Been a lot to deal with. But again, the fans, man, you know, I got a lot of friends in the industry. Been good to me. A lot of people over the years that I've met through music that helped me and reached out. I meant my wife. I mean, I wouldn't be here without her. Absolutely. Standing there for eight days of a coma. She's standing there 10, 12 hours a day, standing, holding my hand, talking to me every day. Every day. And it was a lot to deal with. But I'm still here. And I'm so thankful for it, too. I meant. I see things a little differently now, you know? [00:31:26] Speaker A: What are some of the biggest things that you see differently? [00:31:28] Speaker B: I mean, I guess I just. The. The whole thing is different, really. The things that. Again, the things that we chase and the things that are available to. I ain't even. I ain't no superstar. Famous dude. In some places, I'm a little famous, but I meant, like, I think about some of my other friends and I go, I know what's available to me. I can't imagine what's available to Morgan, you know, and Luke. And I mean, it's like, I can't imagine that. And so I. I just. I'm just look at all a lot of that stuff and go, I don't want to imagine. I don't. Whatever I used to imagine, I don't even really want that anymore. It's not important. I just found importance and a lot of love and substance and what I have and what I already had. And it don't need to be fancy planes and light. It has nothing to do with any of that, really. [00:32:29] Speaker A: You gotta. You got a good support system, a great family, kids. [00:32:32] Speaker B: I don't even have a car right now, bro. I. I ain't not had a car since I was 12 years old. I had a car and I was 12 years old. Yeah, I grew up doing country. Like, I ain't even got a car right now. I had. I had. I had to get rid of some things because the bills, the medical bills kept coming. Yeah. And I. You know, I said, so I tell a lot of people. They're like, man, I'm like, why are you back working so hard already? I'm like, I. Hell, I got to. I mean, like, I. I didn't have it like that. I didn't have it like some of the other guys do. And that ain't no jealousy thing. It's just fact. I was like, you know, my mom, I watched like, shit. I'm like, hey, you know, house notes still coming. A lot of people, you know, a lot of people. When I went down, there is a lot of people that depend on me. Yeah. My band and crew about, man, I, I. Yeah, man, it was hard for me. And I had an immediately. It wasn't like Covid. During COVID I didn't. A lot of guys cut their guys off. I damn near went broke. But I did not get. [00:33:33] Speaker A: As a former touring guy, I did. [00:33:35] Speaker B: Not cut my guys off. Yeah, it upset me to see some of that. I was like, I. I told my business manager, he was raising hell of me. I said, you can say whatever, you work for me. But I. These guys, this ain't a garage band. They don't do this for, you know, shits and giggles. This is how they pay their bills. What am I supposed. What am I tell this guy? Well, I tell dude who's got wife and two daughters at home that this is what he does full time. Hey, man, well, you can't go play somewhere else because ain't nowhere else to play. I mean, like, so. And all of a sudden, though, during this scenario, first of all, I had no control because I was not even. I was not aware. [00:34:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:12] Speaker B: So now lots of decisions are being made that hasn't. May not be what I would do. Yeah. But all of a sudden, like, everything has to stop. The faucet. Shannon has to immediately cut. The faucet has to cut off. Yeah. Not. And that is not to hurt anyone, but just to save me. Yeah. Because if we don't save me, they don't never cut back on, you know, as far as this is. I mean, you can always. You'll always go somewhere else and do that. And I don't like when people. Artists think you can't do without them. Or. Yeah. Or the. Or sometimes you get people in the band or crew that think you can't do it without. It's like, nah. I mean, the only person that. It says Cold Ford up there. That's really it. Yeah. I don't treat my dudes like that. And most of my artist friends don't treat their guys like that. Like, these guys, I go to war with them. You know what I mean? [00:35:01] Speaker A: Like, what it is, man? [00:35:02] Speaker B: Family is show day. [00:35:05] Speaker A: Is game day, and you're hitting the field, you're going. [00:35:07] Speaker B: And I love it. And I love that part of it. I love the fan base. I just love. I still love hearing the stories and shaking the hands and that. They're still there. I meant. Because that's a real fear. You go, man. I was like, I. I don't know you. I meant. And people, like, they would ask me questions like, well, I've never seen you be like. I'm like, I ain't never been like this. I don't know why. And they're like, why? I'm like, I don't. I don't know why. I. That's the problem. When you get into that or the mental health issues you do, it's like, I don't want to be like that. I don't want to feel that. I don't know why I feel that. Yeah. You know, I don't. When I got ready to get back on my bus for the first time, I start. I was just. I got off the plane, I flew in the buses, and they were like, what's the matter? I'm like, oh, shit. Last time I was on here. You care. They. I was carried off of here dead. Like, I. [00:36:05] Speaker A: It happened. It happened on the. [00:36:06] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm like, I don't want to get back on the bus for. I mean, like, that was. Started going through my head like, I. [00:36:12] Speaker A: I didn't know what happened while you were on the. While you were on the road, while you were out on the bus. [00:36:16] Speaker B: So we can cover it a little bit if you want to. [00:36:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I got time. I don't know for you, Colt. I got all the time in the. [00:36:23] Speaker B: Damn world, I'll tell you. So I'm playing Phoenix, Arizona, April 4, 2004, and 2024. 2024. Oh, 2004. Yeah. Sorry. Oh, you're good. See, there's that. So 2024. Yeah, I sold out show, kind of after party over Dirk Bentley's place. And there's big. There's a big country concert going on in Phoenix, too. That thing's going on Country Thunder, maybe, something like that. Brantley's out there at that walk off stage. Sold out, packed show. Go to the bus. My guy, my crew guy, Brooys, he takes my ears off and he said. I looked at him and said, man, I'm getting too old for this shit. Because it was hot and, you know, and I was 270 or whatever pounds. And he said, ah, you know what? And I. Normally, My normal routine would be. I Go to the back to my bedroom. I have a shower, call my wife, take shower, whatever. Watch Chicago PD or Dateline or something. And because I'm not out there, I ain't partying. I ain't doing. I'm not saying I hadn't. I'm just saying I don't anymore. Yeah, I'm just like. I'm just chilling my normal routine. And normally the guys would not even check on me. So if I go back to my room, 100% dead. For some reason, I sat down in the front lounge and I sat there for. And that's where I fell out. And my bass player, Nick, bless his heart, Nick Velourity, it shook him up. He's one of. He found me for some reason, he thought. He said, told the guys, that's hot in there. I'm gonna grab Colt the cold Gatorade from the cruise side stage and bring it to me on the bus. And when he walked in the bus, I'd already fallen out on the floor or whatever. And so then all hell broke loose. And I don't remember anything. I don't remember a thing. And, you know, again, flatline. Twice they brought me back twice they got me to one hospital, operated on me for about 10 hours there. Immediately, you know, word starts, things start. I meant calls start being made. Obviously somebody from the label talked to somebody that called Brantley, and Brantley was there. He immediately calls his tm. He's like, something's going on with Colt. Find out where the hell he is. Take me there. Take the bus there. Now he gets a frigging police escort over there. He comes to where they got me at first Hospital. You know, obviously, Brantley and I are like, brother. He's known my son since he was little. My son's 26 now. He calls my son for me, and my son's working in Jacksonville. He gets my son back home on a plane, gets him a ticket, his wife's ticket, flies them out there. Immediately. They get my wife, who's in Tulsa at the time. She gets the call from my bus driver. Sam is like, here's what's going on. He's gone down. So I. I didn't realize. Obviously, I don't remember anything, but the effect that it had on everybody else. I mean, it was so. And it still bothers me because I've always been. I've been the protector. I've been the provider. I've been the. You know, you might see my wife, that female line, but I promise you, there's a line behind her that will tear your ass up when it comes to family. And all of a sudden, I couldn't be that. I'm not that guy now. I can't do it. And so she's trying to get a flight. I mean, you know, they're trying to get her plane. And 6. She gets a flight. She lands at 6:30 in the morning in Phoenix, hasn't been asleep in 24 hours and doesn't know if I'm alive when she, when she gets there. Doesn't. Doesn't know. There's just no Shelley. So, I mean, they operated on me basically all they could do at this first hospital. And the guy, young guy, younger, doctor came out. I mean, this is the stories I've been told. Obviously, I don't know. And Brantley is obviously my whole band crew, but Brantley and I are family, truly. Like, I could say this 100% on show, live TV, anyway. You could get killed by me over Brantley, and Brantley could kill you over me. I mean, like, it's just we're that close. That's that much family. And they weren't wanting to take. Because now we're out here. Nobody with me is related to me. Nobody. The band or crew is related to me. I mean, and we're in Arizona. I'm from Georgia, your world away. Yeah, I mean, like, I meant, like, it's so. They don't want to tell anybody anything because so now Brantley's getting agitated and to the point where he had done his wife Amber. She. She goes, yeah, he called me. He said, hey, if they don't tell me something, I'm going to go to jail. I just want you to know. Is that okay? He told Jack, his security guy. Jack's like, papa. They call me Papa because they call him dad now. And I'm like, fair enough. And he's like, papa. He's about to go. He took his Rolex off, gave it to me, had bail money, done, got the cash money out. Said if they don't tell me what's going on and get him some, some help, I'm going, it's going to be a problem. And the doctor's telling him, he's like, well, we got to have. He goes, if you don't get him over there to Mayo Clinic where the ECMO is, you're going back in that hospital. Except you're going back in as a patient, basically, not a doctor. He. Bradley's prepared. He's like, I'll tear this whole shit up. I'll tear it all up. Yeah. And so they called, they got Mayo Clinic. They came in, they put me on a. It's a procedure and a machine called ecmo, which never heard of in my life. Didn't know a thing about it. If you. But the top heart doctors in the world said, you ever meet any man that's been on ECMO and you're standing there talking to him, you should shake his hand. He said it's, it's rare and it's. It's rare. It'd be about 30% chance for you to survive for three days at your age and your condition, let alone. Oh, boy. There was an area that was 54 and not in the best of shape and hadn't been the best of. Very kind to my heart. I meant everything shut down. Everything. Everything went bad. They got me on the ecmo, they got me over to the Mayo Clinic there in Scottsdale and man, that place. Yeah. I go play free a show for them. I mean, that place was. They treated me. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It was so. I mean, again, they, they said it was the guys. There was like a SWAT team coming in there because they, they. It's a whole crew. So the ECMO is a machine that basically runs your whole body. [00:43:43] Speaker A: Wow. [00:43:43] Speaker B: It runs your heart, it runs your liver, it's running everything. It's. It's a. Only very few places have it. [00:43:51] Speaker A: Like, thank God you were in Arizona. [00:43:53] Speaker B: So it requires a two or three people to run it at all times. Like, there's multiple people that have to do it. And so, yeah, that's the other thing. If I go back to my bedroom, dead. The next day, we were supposed to be in Arizona, I mean, in Vegas. So they woke up and came back there looking for me. And I'd have been dead. Vegas did not have an ECMO machine. So if it happened there, the next day I was supposed to be Chris Jansen at Lake Havasu. Two and a half hour life flight from ecmo. So if anything deviates from what happened, I wouldn't have made it. Wouldn't have made it. So they got me over on the ECMO and got me to Mayo Clinic. And now another eight hours of surgery over there. I think it was 10 liters of blood. I meant, like it was. And at the time, you know, again, they still don't know. When Megan, she was kind of numb. She said, you know, when she. When she got there, because she'd been awake 24 hours. She doesn't. Sorry. My. My tour manager, Eli, he picked her, he picked her up and and she goes, they were like 20 minute ride back to where. And. And she said the first 10 minutes, she's like, I haven't even said anything. Like, I had. I was just. I hadn't said anything. And she said, I just said, is he alive? And he was like, oh. Eli was like, oh, yeah, yeah, he's alive. They. He's live. And. But she had. She's. She has, She's a nurse. She has. No. So they're like, they got him on ECMO and now they have no idea what ECMO is. Yeah, they're like, in their mind, ECMO is the thing that can save me. True. Except there's like that much chance they, they. Whether they didn't know it or didn't want it. Like my, My drummer Tim said, he's like, when. When we left, they said it's probably 50, 50. And he said I was just choosing that it was going to be 60, 40 in your favor. So again, they don't know how long I've been out. So she. He says he's live in this ecmo. And she's no, now she knows the nurses call it circling the drain. That's what they call ecmo. I mean, like, it's not. It's just not a thing. I mean, like, you just don't. You just don't, you know, I meant like, it's just a bad thing. And so he goes, no, he's on. And she's like, okay. She's like, well, how long was he out for? And he. And he. No more than 10 minutes. And she's like, 10 minutes? Like 10 minutes. It's just this hairy redneck from Georgia. There ain't nothing left. I mean, there's nothing if he was out for 10 minutes. So they don't know any of that either. So that was scary. Yeah. Until I wake up. I meant they don't know. And even then, my wife and my mom, I was like, y' all might not can tell. He's a little bit. He's a little bit messed up my head anyway. So, you know, it was just. It was so much on so many people, you know, And I met my band and crew was just. They were all just. They're devastated. You know, people had gone through that. I mean, been through something like that. [00:47:05] Speaker A: I mean, how hard was it getting back on the bus? Like getting back out doing that first show? [00:47:13] Speaker B: Hard. [00:47:13] Speaker A: When was that first show? [00:47:17] Speaker B: April somewhere. So here. Well, my first full band show, what I did was. I wasn't sure if I was. I wasn't sure if I was going to come back. I mean, I. I didn't have any idea how hard it was going to be. You know, I'm delusional like that. I've always been a dreamer. I mean, I was supposed to be. I was going to the. I was going to the Kentucky Derby and sitting in the governor's box with my buddy Dusty Lee, and my wife and I, we were going to the Kentucky Derby. We already had all the outfits, everything. And, you know, that's in May. Well, this happens when I wake up out of the coma. I tell my wife, oh, no, no, we still going to the Derby. She's like, no. I'm like, oh, yeah. I mean, that's. I'm like, yeah, we'll be good. She goes, you won't even be out of this room by the Kentucky Derby. And she was right. I watched it right there in the icu, but it was. I didn't know. I didn't know again, to be able to do anything and all of a sudden, can't do anything. Yeah. And so it was. And I'm still dealing with it. Probably always be dealing with it. Luckily, my heart is in. I have some other issues that it caused because the first place in all the transition and having to move me and all that kind of thing had a hard time in my right leg, and I got compartment syndrome, so they had to do emergency fasciotomy, which caused me a ton of damage in my leg, a ton of nerve damage. And there was so much. It was so bad. We couldn't tell everybody what was going on. I mean, it was just too much for everybody. I meant tmz, sneaking, literally. I mean, it was all over tmz, cnn, fox. I meant one of my people probably saw it if it was on cnn. But I meant people like, who is Colt Ford? But no, I mean, it was. It was just. It was something. And I don't remember any of it, not one single part of it. And, you know, I just woke up and I, like. So I'll tell you, not a lot of people have heard my mom my whole life would. I just. Was telling my pup, this is Cameron. This just a little while ago. So my mom would always. If she. If you held her hand when you were young, or if you were saying a prayer at a table or whatever, she squeezed your hand three times. Man, I love you. And so that's transitioned over with me and my life, my kids and everything. And I asked my wife, I was like, what are you doing? She was like, yeah, I'll squeeze your hand. And I said, I could remember that. And then my son was there. And, you know, he's a huge Marcus Luttrell fan and the whole thing, and they're whole. He never, put your gun down. You're not out of the fight. I asked Reynolds, I said, were you saying that to me? He said, yeah, I was saying, dad, don't put your gun down. You're not out of the fight. You know, basically, a month before, I buried one of my best friends, Toby Keith. And Toby used to call me little dog daddy. You know, he's big dog daddy. And. And bright light Toby stepped out and said, they ain't ready for your little dog going back down there. Wow. And I. I woke up. That's. That's. I woke up. Wow. And it was. Yeah. And I looked. I saw my wife. I'm, like, looking at her. I see my son. And I know my son. Wherever I'm at, I know he's not supposed to be where I'm at. And because I didn't know, I didn't feel anything. Yeah. I'm like, what is going on? And then that's when they proceeded to tell me what had happened. What had happened was you died. So. Yeah, man. And it was. It was. It was something. [00:51:05] Speaker A: Thank God you were in Arizona. Thank God he was there. [00:51:08] Speaker B: Everything, everything, Everything, man. I meant, like, everything. It couldn't have. And my doctor, Dr. Quan Lee out there is one of the top heart doctors in the world. I love this dude, man. I love this guy. We've become friends, truly. Like, we text about other stuff besides heart stuff, but he told me, he said, you're 1% of 1%. He said, I have no idea. He said, I have a machine. Measure everything in your body except your desire to live. He's like, I don't have a machine that can do that. And he said, clearly, you have more to do. There's something in you. Some things you have yet to. Whatever that is, I don't know. But the other thing he told me was what he called the chain of life. And I was like. I was intrigued. And I'm kind of a talkative, inquisitive dude anyway, I like to make people laugh and have fun. The ICU nurses. Oh, my gosh, we had so much fun. I mean, I. We did some. We did silly things. I mean, I could tell you some. A story that'd be maybe too much information, so I better not. But we. We had a lot of fun. At 3:00 clock in the morning. In the ICU? [00:52:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:21] Speaker B: It just the. Because that's. They were like, how can you be. So I was like, well, I just. Like, I just. I want to see. I want to make somebody smile more than I care about smiling, if that makes sense. Any kind of sense in a weird way. So we. I was just. I didn't know what I was. I didn't know what I was up against or what I was dealing with. I just thought, oh, man. Yeah. Should we back to work? You know, no time. And there's just so much more than that. But having those people there and having B be there and, you know, my wife get there, and he was. You know, they're kind of got my son out there. I mean, I couldn't get my whole. It was tough. My mom and dad were really struggling because they are older and couldn't travel for. And we're super close, and for them to not be able to get to me. So I'm in Phoenix for two months. [00:53:08] Speaker A: Wow. [00:53:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, like, out there. I mean, it was. Yeah. It was a lot, man. It was a lot. And then again, you just go from doing anything to. Yeah. Need to learn how to walk. Wait, what? Yeah. You mean. Okay. Yeah. This is. Yeah. I just had no concept of it. Yeah. [00:53:31] Speaker A: The fact that you're back playing shows is unbelievable. [00:53:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:35] Speaker A: Having heard all of that, to be able to go out on the stage with your boys. [00:53:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And everybody said, again, I have zero baseline to know what's good. I mean, like, when I moved to my. From my. From my ICU room to my regular room at the Mayo Clinic. I tell you how bad TMZ is. They, they, they. And I'm not even that famous, though. I meant, like, they are reporting that I moved out of my ICU room into my regular room on TMZ when I'm still sitting in my ICU room waiting to get moved to the other room. Like, I don't know, they got to deal with the devil or something. I don't know. They. The funniest thing you got, they had to say, basically, Colt Ford is, there's no Colt Ford here. There's no CO Ford at Mayo Clinic. There's also no Jason Brown. My real name. [00:54:25] Speaker A: Yes. [00:54:25] Speaker B: Neither one of those people are here. That was strict rules across the board. Now, my mama is from Anderson, South Carolina, and she's 80 years old and wants to talk to her baby. Yeah. And she is not happy. And she is calling that place. And I tell you one damn thing, my son is in there. Now, I know he is. I mean, she is not happy. And I mean it. I laugh at. You know, we laugh at that stuff now, but it's crazy. I mean, it was just craziness that I was like, wow. I mean, and trying to just process all of it. And it was just. It was a lot. Some people, you know, it's cool. Some people came to see me and DMC from Run dmc, who I've been close with forever, came like, the nurses are coming in. Like, is that. I'm like, yeah. Yep. That is the King of Rock. Yep. That is a Rock and Roll hall of Famer. Yeah. I meant Justin Moore and his TMJR moved a flight and came in and spent a whole day with me at the hospital and kind enough to sneak me some edibles in there. I appreciate that. Shout out to J.R. and Justin Moore. And Justin brought me a cool robe that I still really like a lot. [00:55:37] Speaker A: Nice. [00:55:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it was cool. I meant to have some of that come in there. I met a few guys. I met Brett Saber. Hagen. Pitcher came by and saw me and. And Tyler Hubbard. You know Tyler from Monroe, Georgia, which is 25 minutes. 25 minutes from my house. I mean, he grew up underneath me. I mean, you know, I meant. I know I was a big influence on fgl. I meant. But Tyler was out playing the show and he got like an hour away, had the runner bring him all the way there, and he came, came, spent a couple hours with me while I was laid up. And so that. All that kind of stuff meant a lot. Got lots of messages. [00:56:09] Speaker A: And, man, it's. It's all the goodwill that you've built from just being you and just being that friendly guy. Being brother. [00:56:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:17] Speaker A: Or being a little brother, like, whatever it is. [00:56:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:19] Speaker A: That Toby story. [00:56:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:21] Speaker A: It's crazy. And it's wild, too. I talk about. I've. I've probably seen you live at least six or seven times a month. Every time has been awesome. Country concert being the most recent. First time I saw you was on that FGL tour in Philly at that theater. [00:56:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:56:35] Speaker A: The Tower Theater. [00:56:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Because that. I remember we were talking about that because that's. That was also. I mean, that's hall of Notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:56:42] Speaker A: It's where they. [00:56:42] Speaker B: That's. Yeah. And didn't Bowie shoot a video out? [00:56:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a legendary room. That was you, Dallas Smith and the. And BK and T Hub. And then I saw you the next Sprint, the next summer, opening for Toby, right. At the PNC Bank Arts center in New Jersey. [00:56:58] Speaker B: Right. [00:56:59] Speaker A: So it's like, to hear those names, like, the relationships he had with them. [00:57:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:04] Speaker A: Is awesome. How important was a guy like Toby Keith to you, man? [00:57:10] Speaker B: I couldn't. I meant, I say things for a living. I mean, I tell stories for a living. Like, I couldn't tell you how important he was. Not just to me, to so many people into this industry, to music. I meant truly, I. Not even. I'll stand on it and we can do whatever. Toby Keith is an icon. [00:57:34] Speaker A: Agreed. [00:57:35] Speaker B: Yeah. I meant, as far as I'm concerned, you can put him on the Mount Rushmore. I don't know, maybe they need to expand Mount Rushmore. But I meant, like, he was. He was the greatest man. And I mean, I just say, you know, I'm close with the family. I mean, I've been. I've done a lot of trips with Toby and Trisha and, you know, bless her heart. Trisha flew out and saw me while I was in the hospital in Phoenix. I mean, that's what kind of people Toby and Trisha Keith are. She flew out, saw me. You didn't have to come out. She didn't fly out to see me. Flew out, saw me, brought lunch to Megan and I got to see us. Spent the day and flew back. Now, again, that's also. That's not. Not everybody can do that. I understand that. But just. That's just who they are. They were. He was so good to me and told me, you know, just took me and did things and put me in places that I probably couldn't have got in for sure if I wasn't with him. And. And I was. I'm one of, I think, maybe four people he did. He ever did duets with on a record, so that was cool. We did a manta. We did a song called Time Flies. Yep. [00:58:44] Speaker A: I remember. [00:58:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And shot a video with it and everything. He was just. There was times I'd look at him and just like, I know that I'm a little famous, but I. But he's Toby Keith. [00:58:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:58:54] Speaker B: And I meant, again, what Toby's. You know, we're only five, six years apart. So I meant, like, it wasn't like, there's some, you know, crazy where you go, oh, my God. I'm like. But I'd still look at him like that. Like, freaking. I mean, like, he never made me feel. I mean, it's just who he was, man. Dude was like John Wayne. Yeah. He was just. Yeah, man. He was cool. He was. He was cool. And he didn't. He, you know, I got a message from Trish on 4th of July. You know, one of his favorite quotes that he told his daughter and Crystal, who I love Crystal Knight. [00:59:29] Speaker A: She also opened that show. She was on that tour. [00:59:32] Speaker B: She was on that tour. Mantoba. Yeah, she was. Have you ever heard the duet that Crystal and I did? [00:59:36] Speaker A: I don't know if I. I don't know if I know that one. [00:59:38] Speaker B: You should. You should check that. You should check that out. We redid the Seeger song that. Why don't you stay, man? With the Kenny Rogers version. It's one of the coolest things I've ever done. She's an incredible singer. Yeah. But, yeah, he said to her, never apologize for being patriot for. You know, Never apologized for being proud to be the patriot. Be an American. Never apologize for that. Yeah. And I just learned a lot of cool things. Had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs with him, man. He was a good one. Good. Good to me. But. Yeah. And I got lots of messages and things from people and friends. I woke up to 2500 text messages, and rightly so. Megan, she wouldn't give me the phone for a little bit because she's like, first of all, you have to. Ain't no telling what you'll text with the drugs that you're on. I mean, because I text messed up stuff when I'm not on drugs, so there's no telling. Yeah. I mean, my publicist thinks it's great that the high. The. The high techs that I send out or I send some pretty good ones out, so that was good. But people just. They didn't know the extent of it, you know, like with how bad it was. Because you can't just. I can't just say all that. 20 hours of surgery. Almost lost his leg, his kidney shut down, his liver shut down. Everything's a little bigger than a press. I mean, he's in a coma. I meant like, you can't just say all that, you know, I meant like, that's because it would. It really would have been crazy if they'd have said all that. You know, I'm waking up people like, ah, bad. You're okay. [01:01:11] Speaker A: You had a heart attack. [01:01:12] Speaker B: I'm like, yeah, I'm okay. I haven't. So. But yeah, I mean, it's. It's just a lot. And some people don't know how to deal with it. I didn't know how to deal with it. Yeah. You know, I mean, some people I hadn't heard a word from. Shocking to me. But I. But Then I look at it and go, man, there's some of it that makes you feel a little bit of your own immortality. I get some of that too. Of like, what, what that could happen to me, you know, I meant, I don't know. You find out a little bit of that Tracy Lawrence deal. Find out who. Who's who. There's been all full disclosure. I ain't no name caller. Although, I mean, I'm in a little. I feel a little differently than I did. You might get more truth out of me now than you ever could. But yeah, I've been surprised by some that I hadn't heard from and not just surprised, like bothered me. [01:02:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:05] Speaker B: Made me feel some kind of way, like hurt me a little bit. And I've been shocked by some that I did. Like, oh, wow, I didn't think. I meant, like, I didn't even think you gave shit. So there's some of that. Just full disclosure. I mean, and it's okay. I'm learning to let go of that too. Because you realize people have their own lives and they, they're caught up in their own stuff and I get it. And, and. But when you're sitting there and you can't do shit and you're just stuck and you're just laying there and I meant, like, I get out of the hospital, I mean, I don't get home till two months after this happened. Our whole world is upside down. Like, she's having. She's out there with me. I mean, her at the time, 15 year old Ella is at home. I mean, she's staying with her dad and everything, but still, it's like our whole world. Like, yeah, everything has changed. She's moved to Arizona for two months. We got an Airbnb. I mean, like, it's, it's. It was crazy. Yeah, man, I meant. And when I get out, you know, I'm still messed up. Like, I mean, I'm still not. Not good. I. I still got two open wounds that luckily my wife's a nurse that is having to pack every day for a month and a half after I got home. And when you get. It's like, how do you get. I'm in Arizona now, people. You don't think about stuff like, that's one thing to get sick or whatever. Your house, a whole nother thing to happen 3,000 miles away from where you live. And it's like, oh, shh, what are we gonna do? I met Steve Smith, owns Tootsies. Freaking God, I love that guy. He's been so Good to me. Just said, hey, tell me when they say you can go. I told him, he said, I'll have, I'll have my plane there to pick you up. I'll have a car. I'll have a service pick you up at the, at the Airbnb. Because we get. Now we got a. I can't get on a damn Delta flight with this Southwest like. No, yeah. Now standing there with, I mean I need, I feel like you know, Eddie Murphy and coming to America all we got all kind of luggage and stuff and medical stuff and so man, I mean, and you know, I know what private, I know what private jets cost and I know it ain't cheap to go from Nashville to Phoenix and back home to Tulsa and back and back to Nashville. I know what that costs. Yeah. And Steve didn't ask me for a dime. He sent, I mean he just, he didn't ask me. He sent Tom. He said, oh, Tom. And they. [01:04:39] Speaker A: What you get for being such a good person. [01:04:41] Speaker B: Just things like mean so much to you, you know. And, and if, and if Steve couldn't have done it, Trisha was like, I'll send my, I'll send our plane. I meant like that's. Having those kind of things is. Yeah, that's pretty special. But you know, I got home and again I'm, I'm two months of still just can move to the bed and maybe get moved to the couch. And I mean it was just. I ain't never sat still like that in my life. Never. Yeah. [01:05:07] Speaker A: No, especially when you're used to doing triple digit tour dates. [01:05:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Like I've never. Decade plus never been home that long. I meant like I never sat down and been like never in my life. It was, was, it was something. So that's wild. But it's, it's, it's been interesting. So again, obviously I get through everything and to get some of the love that was happening, you know, I mean I was, I was on the Rock the South the first year of that and you know, Bob Facetime, me. [01:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah, those rock. Those Rock the South. Rock the countries are a rock the country. Hey, there's so many of them. It's the same. [01:05:43] Speaker B: It's Rock the South too. I love that one too. [01:05:45] Speaker A: Coleman, Shout out. [01:05:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Alabama. Hell yeah. Love that place. My last appearance at Rocket Sal. How about this lineup? Me, Hardy, Co Wetzel, Morgan back. [01:06:02] Speaker A: That was Rock the Rock. [01:06:03] Speaker B: Somebody would have died. [01:06:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:05] Speaker B: Back to back to back to back. We get stuck in Denver, Colorado. Cannot get a flight. Cannot get flight. Everything canceled. Can't get a private jet. I have to miss the show. That was my. When I was supposed to. And then, then, then last year I died, so. Or whatever. So I mean like it's. Yeah. So I screwed that all up. Freaking death. But so, you know, with the thing that Jason and Bob had put together with Rock. Rock the country, I was on those, I was on all the shows and you know, it's like not, not now, obviously. And you know Bob, Kid Rock, such, you know, people like to give. They give. A lot of people give Bob a hard time and give him a lot of shit and some, a lot of it self inflicted and he don't give a shit, which I like that even more. But he reached out, man, he FaceTime. He's like, man, you know it's pulling for you, praying for you. He goes, they called me and asked me, we had a little meeting. They said, well, okay, who we going to get to. Who we going to get to replace Colt Ford? And he said, I looked at him and said, well, y' all give me, give me your options. And he said, I ran them down. He goes, I don't know what you're going to do. You don't have anybody that can replace Colt Ford on that list. He said, I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you. He said, I'll tell you what we're going to do. He said, I told him we're going to, we're going to. I'm going to come out and DJ during when Colt's supposed to be playing and I'll come out and DJ and play Colt 4 songs. And that's what he did. And he had me, I made a video from the hospital, from the friggin ICU bed saying, I'll come back, thank y'. All. And he played it. And people don't hear the cool stories like that. And the other cool thing they don't hear of, especially in this industry, is I, I'm not on Kid Rock's level. I'm not on some of these guys level. Kind of money we make every night. So I don't need to miss no show. You know what I mean? Like, I don't need to miss no shows. And here I am, I can't play. I can't play these eight shows. Bob paid me anyway. Wow. So that's, that's the kind of stuff that sometimes needs to get out there. He's like, I got you. Yeah. Because he knew that that was important, that that was big deal for me. And it was so you know, to hear stuff like that and then, you know, again, Brantley, you've seen my mic stand. The shotgun on the American flag. I started on it. I started all that tonic, man. When they left the hospital that night, this is how much of a brother this. This dude is. Besides the fact that he's prepared to go to jail or kill somebody. For me, I meant when my band and crew got over there to the hospital, Brantley was at. Already at the hospital, Mayo Clinic, my band and crew, that meant they were all shook. But they had to get them to the hotel, get them cleaned up, because now they got everything's changed. They got to go back to Nashville. Clearly, I ain't going back to Nashville with them. We don't know how I'm going back at the time. But when my band and crew gets over there, Brantley's already had Corey, his TM and his security Jack have got them a full breakfast, biscuits and stuff already ordered in there for him. When they got there to check to be with me, he's already brought him breakfast and everything. Like, he got my mic stand and took it with him. And every show he played till I got back on the stage, he brought my mic stand on stage and put it out there. Wow. Every show and said something about me and said every night till he comes back, that kind of shit means something. Yeah, yeah. [01:09:44] Speaker A: It's family, brother. [01:09:45] Speaker B: Yeah, man, that's family. [01:09:46] Speaker A: They don't make them like that, man. [01:09:48] Speaker B: And they would send me, man Corey, and he'd FaceTime me during the show. I mean, I'm laying in the ICU and he's FaceTime watching FaceTime. I got shit get stuck all in me. And I'm watching Brantley up there with that flag, saying stuff about me and the crowd. Just awesome, man. Friggin awesome. And so I. The first time I got back on stage was at Brantley's album release party in September, last September, for tattoos here. Here at Tootsie Downtown. Yeah. Yeah. [01:10:19] Speaker A: And how ironic that it's a Tootsie like it's a downtown. [01:10:23] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Where else? If it ain't Tootsies, what else is it? I mean. Yeah, so that was my first. I surprised him at the album. At his album. [01:10:33] Speaker A: He didn't even know you. [01:10:34] Speaker B: He. And he's up there telling a story. You know, there's. There was like 50, 60,000 people. [01:10:38] Speaker A: There's a lot of people. [01:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe 80,000. I don't know. They were like. They said he's like this boy, this guy's My brother, when I left him. I'm not taking this mic off this stand off stage. And they do dirt road anthem, obviously, and. And then I walked out. It was pretty cool. [01:10:56] Speaker A: Oh, he must have did. [01:10:57] Speaker B: It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. And I was. I was. It was a lot. And it took a lot to stand up on that stage. And I was so tickled. My wife was there with me. My son and his. His pregnant wife were with us at the time, and they were able to bring my little girl. My youngest daughter, Skylar Ann was there. So it was. It was a pretty special time. And I did one song, and I was. I mean, I was exhausted. [01:11:22] Speaker A: Gassed. [01:11:22] Speaker B: Yeah, one song. Completely gassed. Like, went home, went back to Airbnb and sleep till like, three the next day. Like, completely gassed. Can't do anything. So then that was the first minute I went, oh, shit. This might be. I don't. I don't know. If you start questioning yourself. I don't know if I got it in me to put in the work that it's going to require to get back to where you want to be. Yeah, that's the question. Because, like, oh, you can sit down and play. No, I cannot sit down and play. [01:11:56] Speaker A: Oh, you're showing. [01:11:57] Speaker B: I could. I could sit down with a broke ankle till I could put a boot on and move around, but if you think I'm going to sit down and play a hole full cold Ford show on a stool. [01:12:07] Speaker A: Colt Ford shell requires a lot of movement. [01:12:09] Speaker B: I just can't do it. I don't. I can't physically do that. Yeah. So then I start going, oh, well, I don't know, do I? If I want to put that kind of work in. But then you're going, I don't know if I got enough. Ain't enough in reserves. When you start, look again. Like, the bills and everything. I mean, shout out to anybody buying merch out there. I love y'. All. Please buy it. I need. I need some merch. Sales and hospital bills ain't no joke, but, yeah, man, just to be up there with him. I was like, okay. But that was cool. So April rolls around, and the problem is Brantley wanted. I was supposed to be on the entire tattoos tour. Yeah. But as we're getting closer, I'm like, I truly. Like, I'm sick. Saying I can, but nobody knows. Yeah. I truly don't know. I know cardiac rehab says I'm. My heart is good. I'm excused from that, but I don't know. I meant Like, I. You. And, you know, it's not like you can go, okay, I'm good. I go in. Music has got to be planned out. That's got to be planned out. So then B had to. I mean. I mean, he probably would have still rolled the dice, and I probably could have done it. But the way we did it was better because he had to drop back and punt and put some different pieces of puzzle into place, and it's great. I mean, he's. I mean, he had Austin Snail out there. He's had some. I mean, love. [01:13:43] Speaker A: Austin's like a brother to me. [01:13:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Like his dope. I like him. So it was just. I. We couldn't. We couldn't guarantee me because I couldn't guarantee any. I couldn't guarantee anybody. I couldn't guarantee them. And so B made us again. When you got friends, like. I mean, like, you don't need. I don't need many. You don't need many. You get one or two. You can do a lot of things with one or two really committed dudes. And he took me out on the road with him for two weeks, three shows each. Put me out in the middle of his show with his band, playing my songs for 15 minutes, and he stepped back and let me be the star. Wow. I wouldn't be back playing music if he wouldn't let me done that because I was still really nervous. [01:14:43] Speaker A: And those 15. Those 15. [01:14:45] Speaker B: I was nervous. Really nervous. And I was like, I don't know. No, I don't. I'm. I don't know if I want to do this. When I was trying to talk myself out of going. Doing. To do this. [01:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:14:57] Speaker B: With him. Because I just was scared. I was terrified. And I didn't. And. And I didn't. I just went out with just me. No. No band. So no band, nothing. I meant, like, no. None of my. None of my people and not in my bus and be. So he did. It didn't cost me anything. He knows I'm in a position where I ain't got, you know, a lot of. A lot of extra resources to be thrown around when you ain't working. So I ride on his bus. His tm, Corey, super close with me is his security Jack. I meant, like, it's one of the best band and crew camps that you'll ever come across. [01:15:38] Speaker A: I loved was at the end of his. I've seen BG probably two, three dozen times. I was a paid member of the BG Nation going back 2013, 2012. [01:15:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:46] Speaker A: But at country concert What I noticed at the end of the set, the movie credits. Thanking every member of that crew. [01:15:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:15:53] Speaker A: Like, that is class. I texted Aaron about that. I was like, that is class. [01:15:56] Speaker B: If you watch before. I mean, if you're backstage before every day. I meant the entire crew. Everybody Rick likes gets text. Everybody's there. It's. It's prayer and. And a couple little chants and Ric Flair and a macho man. There's a few things, and it is. And that's how they rolled. And, man, they took me in there and just. They made me feel so safe because I was freaking nervous, man. I was scared. Like, I don't even know how to explain it, because I ain't never felt that before. I was scared. And, man, they were just. They treated me. They made it like that. Like, they made me feel like they was riding on my bus and. And they just took care of me, man. It was. And so after the first night we did it, I was visibly shaking before Brantley was like, are you okay? And they're like. And then they're. And they're trying to be proactive. Of course. Like, I got EMTs. I'm like, holy. Don't say that. I wouldn't even think about a damn emt. So you said that. I meant, you know. But then I started noticing Jack, his security. You know, his security. Jack, like, everywhere I moved on stage, Jack's moving around in front of the cat. I'm like, yeah, are you worried I'm gonna fall off of here? And I'm like, you know, we got done the first night it got done. I was like, okay, I didn't die. That's good. And then. And then every night, it got easier, and every night, the crowd got bigger. And, you know, we. Brentley and I had what we were going to do, and then I would. But then I started. I would start to walk off stage, and then. Then it turned into him calling me back, and then it was just. It was unbelievable. And luckily, we did Athens at the new arena in Athens, Georgia, which is where I'm from, basically. Basically where he's from. And, yeah, I. My mom and dad got to be there. They got to see me play Athens one more time side stage. And I buried my dad about a month after that, so that was pretty. His last show was me playing Athens in front of them, so it's pretty special. Yeah. [01:18:11] Speaker A: So, hey, I want to ask you about this new music that's coming out. [01:18:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:18:14] Speaker A: Real quick. Hey. Hey. Thank you for being so. This is incredible, by the way. [01:18:21] Speaker B: Thanks. For it's good to talk about something. I haven't talked this much about it with anybody since this happened. [01:18:26] Speaker A: I'm honored that it's. That it's here on. On this podcast, brother. But tell me about what we got now in this next chapter. You tell me. This music is exciting and it's something you've been working hard on, and it is. I speak for everybody. We're ready for some more Colt Ford music, baby. [01:18:42] Speaker B: It's. It's fun, man. It's got some. A lot more. Me singing a lot. You know, it's. I've never. When I first started working here in Nashville, Noah Gordon, who produced a lot of my records, great hit songwriter. And Noah and tw, who is Jamie Johnson's front house guy, they had a studio together and that's where I met Noah, and Noah ended up working for us and producing records and doing. And TW is who mixed my first record because I wrote with Jamie and that's where I recorded first when I first came to town. But. Oh, see, this one was moments. What the hell are we talking about? [01:19:20] Speaker A: We're talking about the new record with that. Hey, ready? One, two, three. So, yeah, you know, you've known TW and the studio. [01:19:27] Speaker B: So we worked on his big studio. Clearly he's big. I'm at 6, 8, which is. People don't know that old TW's wife then knocked him off the stool. I mean, in Honky Tonk with Donkadonk. That's who they're talking about. [01:19:39] Speaker A: Oh, no. [01:19:40] Speaker B: That's who Jamie and Dallas were talking about. Just a fun fact for trivia, if you need to know that. But anyway, it was just working with these guys and songwriting and. Here we go again, man, I'm sorry. [01:19:54] Speaker A: I lost my new music. [01:19:56] Speaker B: You're so writing. So this new stuff. This new music, man, is crazy. This will be the most songs that I've ever not been a writer on. [01:20:07] Speaker A: Wow. What is it about the outside cuts? [01:20:09] Speaker B: I don't know. I just. I was just in a different place and I wanted to do. And there's so many great songs and I'm a really good songwriter. I don't know if I'm a great songwriter. There's some people that might say that ain't for me to say, but there's some great. I know there's some great ones in here because I've written with a bunch of them. A lot of them are my friends. So I just. I just wanted to hear some different songs. And then I realized what I Could do with my voice, too, after the time off and. And doing a little work. And it's like, oh, I can. I can cut some things that I maybe would have been scared to or wouldn't have cut before. And I think people are going to be surprised. But there's a whole bunch of. There's some cool collabs. There's going to be some cool collabs. [01:20:54] Speaker A: There's always cool collab. That is always got the collabs, you know. [01:20:59] Speaker B: You know what's amazing? I have never. I've only been nominated once for collaboration at any award show. You've been doing who's Done More Than Me in the last 20 years. Who's done More Than Me? And then they nominated on it for Cold Beer with Jamie. Like, three years after that album was. I was on my third album. I'm like, how have I never won a collab thing? Not ever? That's. To every one of y', all, whoever the collab, I say that with full disrespect. That's. Yeah. [01:21:30] Speaker A: Yeah, man. Because it's like. And it's funny they talk about, like, how there's like, collab albums that are out now. Like. Like, you look at like, the Hicks tapes of the world and that. [01:21:38] Speaker B: But Michael got that from Mud Digger came first. [01:21:42] Speaker A: I was jamming. I had the damn Average Joe's comic. [01:21:47] Speaker B: Book back in the day, bro. Yeah, but. And that's the part sometimes for you, like, you get a little frustrated with it, you know, it's like, dang, man, I've been. But this new record is. I just wanted to do some different songs. I got a lot. I got like five or six songs that Hardy wrote on Cold Taylor on some cool stuff. Got a couple of. [01:22:06] Speaker A: You got any of my boy, Taylor Phillips. I know he's a good friend. [01:22:08] Speaker B: You know, honestly, this might. This might be the first record I've cut in the last three, four that don't have a Taylor Phillips song. [01:22:15] Speaker A: Taylor was the first one of the first guys I met in this town. And I remember. [01:22:20] Speaker B: I Love Taylor 2018. One of the most talented guys you'll ever see. [01:22:23] Speaker A: Hurricane just went to. To radio. That was when I first met him when I was working on Broadway and he was frequenting Broadway back in. [01:22:29] Speaker B: If he was still here, he'd still be frequent in Broadway. I'm glad he moved to North Carolina. Greatest thing he ever did. [01:22:34] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [01:22:34] Speaker B: Brilliant guy. [01:22:35] Speaker A: That's something too that I wanted. I wanted to touch on. You're somebody. Like, I feel like you're you're class of. Of guys. You guys come up here when you need to, but being not far down the road, you go down I 24 and you get on 75 and you go down to Georgia. A lot of your guys, you're like, I can come up to Nashville and work when I'm here, but I can still live and raise my kids and be a Georgia boy through. And you were. You guys, were you. [01:22:58] Speaker B: I did that forever. [01:23:00] Speaker A: You guys were like the pioneers. [01:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I did that forever. But, you know, I get, you know, needing to be here sometimes I really want to be here a lot and sometimes I don't want to be here at all. And everybody probably feels that way. But, you know, Nashville as a whole has been. It's not the. It's. I was just probably 10 years ahead. Too far ahead, I think probably. I meant based on. If you look at the landscape now. Yeah, I meant, you know, I mean, I. I sound like Merle Haggard compared to some of them that's out now. You know, when you think about it, I meant like. So I. I don't know. I just. I've always considered myself as a country artist. And so this album more than anything is going to be. Yeah, I mean, like, there's some really country stuff on here. I meant country. I got, I got some. I did a song about my buddy Jay Webb, who's kind of blowing up on it. [01:23:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I know Jay. Yeah, I know Jay. [01:23:55] Speaker B: We did a song called country af. That sounds like freaking Jerry Reed song. I mean, it's like Jerry on a. [01:24:01] Speaker A: Jerry Reed sounding song. That excites me. It sounds like he's more in that rock lane. That's cool. [01:24:06] Speaker B: It sounds like a Jerry Reed kind of song. So, I mean, we got some fun stuff. I did a song with Frank Ray. [01:24:12] Speaker A: Oh, love Frankie. [01:24:14] Speaker B: That's one of the best singers in this town. Don't kid yourself. [01:24:17] Speaker A: He's at a festival I'm going to in a few weeks. [01:24:19] Speaker B: We did. We did a fun, like, drinking song. It's kind of goofy and. But it may be one of those ones that you're like, oh, this could go viral as. I mean, it's. It's fun. But it's so fun though. It's just. I'm making a lot of fun stuff again. But I mean, I got some heavier stuff on here too. I got a. A song called Country Boy thinks that is. That's pretty badass. That's singing wise. I'll play some up for you off the air and then you can tell them about it. I just talked to Paisley the other day at the country concert. I think he's gonna put a guitar solo on this. So, Yeah, I got. There's some fun stuff. There's some fun stuff coming. [01:24:56] Speaker A: That's exciting, man. You talk about being 10 years, 10 years late. You feel like. Sometimes I feel like all those, like, could you imagine how viral, like, trash in my trailer would have been? Or like, those old, like. Because you had so many, like, bits with, like, your average Joe's crew back in the day. All your guys were like. You guys were like, a crew. [01:25:16] Speaker B: There's nothing. There's not a better country music video ever made than Chicken and biscuits. [01:25:20] Speaker A: Yes. [01:25:21] Speaker B: With the Twilight theme. Are you shitting me? You had me in full makeup, running full swap. That was. I remember that video. Unbelievable. The casting in that video. Yeah, but. Yeah, I meant, like, no trash. My trailer. What's funny about that video is everything on that video set was there when we got to those people's place. [01:25:41] Speaker A: Where in Georgia was it? [01:25:42] Speaker B: That was here. [01:25:43] Speaker A: I was up here. [01:25:43] Speaker B: We did not bring one single thing to that video shoot except our cameras and ourselves. Everything else was there because you had. [01:25:51] Speaker A: You had Uncle Mike on there. You had Brantley on. [01:25:53] Speaker B: Brantley's on there. Big Vinny's on there. Oh, my God, there's so many people. And Rhett Akins is in there. Steve Azars in there. John Michael Montgomery's in there. I mean, it's crazy. The people that pulled up for that. For that video. Not a trailer. But it was just a piece of property. It was just a trailer. Oh, it was down in a holler. Yeah, there was just a couple. There was two or three trailers around there. There's all Ken and it was fine, but it was, man. I mean, you had two famous bull riders in there riding on the. Riding the sliding boards down there. I mean, that was fun. And I get done with that video. And Dan phone take the cmt. And they tell me that, well, this is two Country. I said, I know I'm new here, but I swear to God, I did. What'd you say? [01:26:42] Speaker A: Now the country Music Television. [01:26:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Two Country. I was like, you gotta be shitting me. [01:26:48] Speaker A: That one video of the year. [01:26:50] Speaker B: I swear to God, that's what they told me. Two country. I was like, I 10. But, you know, here's the thing now. I think a lot of time for a lot of radio and everything now. People like, but this stuff should be on the radio now. And I'm like, I think they'd be a Little afraid. They're afraid to play me now because now that, then they gotta admit they was wrong because they said I wouldn't last. [01:27:10] Speaker A: Takes a lot. [01:27:11] Speaker B: I wouldn't last two years. And that was about 20 ago for those people that said that. So. Yeah. So I don't know what to tell you, but, you know, I don't know. I'm just still trying to, I'm just still trying to make the best music that I can make that I love. And I know there's people that like what I like, and I try to do that. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna be God, family, friends, America, till, till the day I'm done. [01:27:35] Speaker A: Amen, brother. Amen, dude. And as one of those people that's been jamming you for, since my, since my senior year of high school school. [01:27:42] Speaker B: Brother, I appreciate it. [01:27:43] Speaker A: I've been like, you were the soundtrack to the tailgates, listening to Answer to no one when you put that out years ago. [01:27:49] Speaker B: If I don't watch your fire, your. [01:27:50] Speaker A: Woods whip, then your part, you're partying in the pit, you're dancing around playing Crank it Up. Like, dude, I could just, I can name the whole damn discography. [01:27:58] Speaker B: I appreciate it. [01:27:59] Speaker A: Like, it's, it's, it's so, I'm so excited for this new, for this new record and I'm so excited for a new gen because country's bigger than it's ever been. It's got the eyes and ears on it. And now people are going to be getting a whole introduction and they're going to click on that Spotify. [01:28:13] Speaker B: They go back and get and go back. There's a lot here. [01:28:18] Speaker A: Yeah, there's so much there. Being like, we could listen to this party song or there's, you know, there's kids out in the field right now still party in the 2014 Colt Ford. Yeah, it's, it's a mud bog staple. [01:28:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I, that's so cool to me too, to see. I love seeing. I've been early on, I mean, Luke Bryant, I think Luke said this. He goes, you know, the interesting thing about Colt is that I, I've been to his show and seen 80 year olds singing every word and 8 year olds singing every word and then their parents are in the middle. He's like, that's crazy. And so that's been cool to me to see the generational thing or, you know, people, they're coming now going, man, my dad turned me on to you. And I was 12 years old. I'm like, God bless Him. Yeah. Thank you. So it's cool. It's cool to be back out there and feel the love again and get this new music coming. Wherever it takes me is where it takes me. But, I mean, I. I just keep rocking as long as I. As long as I can. [01:29:09] Speaker A: Amen, brother. Well, I think you got a lot in the tank. I'm very excited for what's to come, and thank you so much for coming on. [01:29:17] Speaker B: Oh, man, my pleasure. [01:29:18] Speaker A: As soon as I got the measures, by the way, Shout Out Cam, one of the absolute best in the game. [01:29:22] Speaker B: You got a great. No, I'm excited. I hadn't had a publicist in a while. She's. [01:29:27] Speaker A: She's fantastic. When she texted me about this, I was like, are you serious? Like, I could have Colt on my show. Like, you have no idea how full circle. [01:29:34] Speaker B: It ain't that big a deal. [01:29:35] Speaker A: Oh, dude, it is for me. [01:29:37] Speaker B: I appreciate you saying that. [01:29:38] Speaker A: And I gotta tell you, everybody in the. In the community, we're so thankful that you're here with us. We're so thankful that we get to your new music. I appreciate it. I speak for the thousands of people that watch your country concert. Thank you for doing what you do and playing that show and can't wait to get out and see you rocking on stage with the boys again soon. [01:29:55] Speaker B: Come on, man. Anytime. Send your. Send your listeners and the podcast, your viewers. I love you guys. I appreciate. Appreciate you and I'm glad to still be here. I'm gonna stick around a little bit longer. I'm proud to watch what you got going. [01:30:06] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:30:07] Speaker B: I followed, you know, I ain't Couldn't do nothing for a year, so I'm watching everything. [01:30:11] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, I've still got the old videos in my phone of interviewing you in. Where the was it? It was somewhere in Connecticut. It was at one of those arenas in Connecticut. It was. The brand was. When you were on tour with BG and Justin. [01:30:23] Speaker B: Justin Moore. Yeah. Yeah. [01:30:25] Speaker A: And we came on your bus and hung out, me and a couple of my buddies I was doing my college radio show with. So it's. It's awesome to have you. [01:30:32] Speaker B: There's one that might be on the. He might. He might sneak an appearance on this new record, Justin Moore. [01:30:36] Speaker A: Okay. [01:30:37] Speaker B: There's a new artist I discovered online, Don Oliver. Oh, yeah, Don Oliver. Don Lewis. Sorry, bro. Don Lewis is so real quick, let's. [01:30:44] Speaker A: Talk about Don Lewis. So Don Lewis played at country concert on Saturday. [01:30:47] Speaker B: Oh, did he? [01:30:48] Speaker A: Bro, we joke around. Me and Nikki T, My business partner, raised Rowdy we call him LL dll Cool DL the ladies love Dom Lewis. [01:30:58] Speaker B: I discovered him online and hit him up online. So Abrah, I like it. We should do it. [01:31:02] Speaker A: I've had him on this podcast, and he did. He played his set the longest fan meet and greet, and it was all women, and they were. They were there with their husband, everything. They were like, hey, man. They were. They were telling him, hey, our camper is here. He was getting precise locations with their boyfriends and husbands. Bro, he. [01:31:22] Speaker B: Don, we need to hang out. Don, we gotta hang out, bro. [01:31:25] Speaker A: The ladies love Don Lewis. And, like, you're like, same thing. [01:31:29] Speaker B: Well, they are gonna love this song because we did. We did. It is the coolest mix. It's called A Little Out There, and it's kind of. It's like Best of Colt Ford with his voice sound a little rappy, a little singy, and a very sexy song. It's a Tyler Hubbard song. [01:31:49] Speaker A: Oh, no. [01:31:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's badass. I'll play it for you in a minute, please. [01:31:54] Speaker A: Yeah, man. But yeah, his shout out to Don. Oh, we love. [01:31:57] Speaker B: Don Campbell's gonna be on the record. [01:31:59] Speaker A: Oh, love Craig, man. He's another good friend of the family. [01:32:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Craig's on the record. I meant, you know, I mean, it's excited. I'm excited about this new record. Josh Kelly's on the record. [01:32:08] Speaker A: Oh, hell, yeah. [01:32:09] Speaker B: He's such a phenomenal. What a incredibly talented guy that is. Yeah, there's a. There's a couple things that are kind of lurking out there that may or may not happen. We'll see. Okay. [01:32:18] Speaker A: We can talk about it. But thank you so much for being on here. Thank you for being such a. An inspiration for me. So many guys. So many guys and girls that love country music and paving a lane for a whole genre, and there's classes of kids now that have come up listening to your stuff and being able to send the message you can do music however the hell you want to do it and have a good time. And it wouldn't. It wouldn't be here without guys like you and your class that came into Nashville 15, 20 years ago. Seriously, you're. [01:32:51] Speaker B: I appreciate you. [01:32:51] Speaker A: You're one of. You're one of the forefathers, one of the greats, and we wouldn't be raised rowdy without you, brother. [01:32:55] Speaker B: I appreciate it. I'm still raised a little rowdy, too. [01:32:58] Speaker A: Amen, brother. Well, y' all be sure to be on the lookout for our man Colt Ford. New music coming. Do we know know exact before the end of the year before the end of the year before the end of the year. Be on the lookout if you're not following them on Instagram. Tick tock all that. You're missing out. And then as soon as it's announced, hit that damn pre save link and get out there and stream it, please. And go to it. Get out to a show online merch store is open. Get out there get you. I still have my Colt Ford cut. [01:33:25] Speaker B: Off barn cavenders a lot of your local stores. I got my coat for a cologne and and this year we just came out my wife, we designed her so we have heard her perfume is called Amelia Rose. Oh, so that's out there. And it is good. I ain't gonna lie. It don't smell like Waffle house or nothing. [01:33:42] Speaker A: That's awesome. [01:33:43] Speaker B: Hell yeah. [01:33:43] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much, Colt4 for joining us. Shout out to her friends from Surfside. Vodka lemonade, vodka iced tea. Cam was over there enjoying one of the peach teas. We're going to send you guys home. [01:33:54] Speaker B: Be careful. [01:33:54] Speaker A: Oh, they're fine. She'll be. [01:33:56] Speaker B: She'll be okay. [01:33:57] Speaker A: But we had Don Lewis on Dom Lewis had a ball on on those damn surf sides, you know. Yeah. You know he likes time went on. But y' all be sure to look up RAD.com for more on us. My man Colt Ford on Mattis has been outside the round. [01:34:12] Speaker B: I ain't never been the kind for still one place for too long I never been the best it says I love you to a girl I love Only got a couple tricks on my sleeve they usually just make them leave so if you know me if you really know me you know I'm just a two trick pony but maybe the drinking and the lack of money for show I'm just a two trick pony yeah.