'God is Good' w/ JD Groover

Speaker 1 00:00:13 What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of the In the Round podcast at Chip Boy Matt Baril here at the luxurious DM Monday Studios Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. And, uh, we have got a very special episode for you guys today, episode 99, with my good buddy Mr. JD Groover. Now jd, he is a, he's a second, basically a Swiss Army knife here in Nashville, uh, tour manager, very involved at Seagall Music Publishing House here in Nashville, Tennessee. He's been here for a while and, uh, has a lot to say. A lot of great stories, a lot of great advice for folks like me that are here in the music game in Nashville, Tennessee. So we've got a great episode with him. Gotta give a shout out to our sponsors. We got our friends at Whale Tail Media Wales, Beezy Gracie, they get all your videos, all your photos done, they're awesome. Speaker 1 00:01:02 And they even do your weddings if you're get out there getting hitched. Uh, you can find them every other Tuesday at our writers' rounds at Live Oak Music Row. So check them out. Whale Tail Media. We also got our friends at Saxon Studios, Grady and the boys out there in Mount Juliet, Tennessee always getting good work done for a very good price. Be sure to check them out. Look up to Saxon Studios. Last, but certainly not least, our boy Mitch Wallace with the Digital Marketing Agency. You need TikTok help. You need Instagram help. Mitch and his team, they've got you covered. Mitch is working with all kinds of big acts, big names here in Nashville, and he'd be happy to work with you to look him up at Wallace underscore Mitch on Instagram. Look up Mitch Wallace and the Digital marketing agency. We're gonna get into it guys. Episode 99 with my good buddy, Mr. JD Gruber. Y'all are watching The In The Round podcast is jd. How the hell you doing my man? Speaker 2 00:01:56 I'm good, I'm good. Appreciate you having me. I know I said I would do this for like the longest time and just scheduling, and I was like, Hey, I'm home. Like, let's knock it out. I watch Dylan's and Screeches and I was like, I'm better than them. So like, let's get this out of the way and let's have your highest rated podcast so far, Speaker 1 00:02:11 Dude. Hell yeah. And um, you're, you're on this, on that similar kind of schedule to what I'm on, uh, where you're out on the road Oh yeah. A lot. Speaker 2 00:02:18 Oh, oh Speaker 1 00:02:19 Yeah. Doing the, doing the tour manager thing. The, the ba is it, is it babysitting anymore or do you guys, or they you guys been doing it for so long? It's not even at that point. Speaker 2 00:02:27 No, I mean, like, it's, you know, it, you know, I've been with John full time since I guess 2016, and so that's about six years of it. And you know, there's such a, there's, you know, such a routine. Everybody's got, you know, you know, I'm engaged and everybody's got wives and all that kind of stuff. So the road has like settled down a lot, but it was never really, it's hard to call it babysitting when it's your best friends. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's kind of like somebody's gotta be anointed and charge a little bit. Yeah. And it's kind of like, oh, I like to play too. So, yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:00 You know, that's, that's how, that's how I am with our guys. Yeah. I to get out there and play too. Now, you guys are on a bus now, right? Speaker 2 00:03:05 Yeah, it's a, it's a hybrid kind of bus thing. It's not a, it's not a prevo, but it's, you know, Tommy Cecil, he's got this like conversion thing. Oh Speaker 1 00:03:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 00:03:13 It's got 12. I mean, you step on it and you think you're on a real bus and it's, uh, I mean it's been nice not chasing hotel rooms and I feel that, you know, like trying to, you know, you get into a city and sleep for four hours and wake back up and keep the drive going. It's, it's nice to be able to pull into a loves or, Speaker 1 00:03:29 Yeah, dude. Loves are great. What, um, what bunk are you in? Speaker 2 00:03:33 So, uh, I'm, so we have the ability to have 12. We have 11 cuz we make condos cuz John wanted a condo. Okay. So somebody had to take the top condo and I was like, you know what, I'll, I'll, you know, I think I've earned that one. So yeah, so I'm uh, front right condo bunk. Nice. It's nice. I've got two air conditioner vent cuz of where the bunks would normally be. Dude, Speaker 1 00:03:57 You made out. That's great. Speaker 2 00:03:58 Yeah. Yeah. So I've got one that blows down and then one that blows in my face. It's fantastic. Speaker 1 00:04:02 Yeah, dude, I mean, cuz you, you guys did the van thing for a year for a long time, right? Speaker 2 00:04:06 Yeah, I'm a big proponent of that, especially with the band starting out. Uh, mean I, you know, even WME asked me to speak. I spoke, I spoke on a panel for tour managers and it was Tom who was Dirks Bentley's tour manager and Dylan Scott's guy. And you know, I had no business sitting up there with Tom cuz he's like a legend and yeah, like he left Dirks and he is now with Weezer, you know what I mean? Oh shit. So he's like, he knows everything. And then the one nugget of knowledge I brought was like, stay in the van as long as you can, you know, it's easy to go hop in that bus, but I mean, like Dylan, Scott, Dylan, Scott had a number one and then had like a top 10 before he even got into a bus cuz he wanted to be able to make some money and, and be smart about it. It, you know, it's nice and it, it's a cool lifestyle. But, you know, there's something about Vans, dude. Like, Speaker 1 00:04:51 Dude, there's times like when you're in there rolling, like with our crew sometimes we're rolling anywhere from eight guys to, to 10 guys. And we were doing that in the 15 passenger, the Trey's white van for, for a long time. And even when I was with the Muskatine guys, they were in the Sprinter. But there's something about that, that team camaraderie. Oh, everybody being in it together on a long drive, going to New York or going to Texas or going on Speaker 2 00:05:14 Bangor, Maine. Speaker 1 00:05:16 Dude, you guys did Bangor in the van. Speaker 2 00:05:18 We did Bangor, New Hampshire. Well we did New Hampshire, Laconia, New Hampshire, great little town. Yeah. We haven't been, uh, and then went to Bangalor, Maine and then it was 27 hours of driving. So it was like, it was brutal. So we decided, we left right after the show. It was an early show for college. We got done like, it was like seven to eight 30. We had the van packed at nine and we just rolled, I drove to like six in the morning. Drummer got up, he did from like six to 11 bass player, 11 to whatever it was. And we were in Knoxville. And I was, I I was conked out, I slept and yeah, woke up and got dinner and then went back to sleep and somewhere in Virginia and Steven was our bass player, Steven DEU was like, all right, we're in Knoxville, I'm done. I'm like, two and a half hours, let's go. Yeah, I can do this. Got us home. It was like we left like Saturday at 9:00 PM and got home at like Sunday 11:00 PM That Speaker 1 00:06:16 Is impressive. We are, without stopping like that, Speaker 2 00:06:19 What's cool about our camp and what, you know, I take pride in it. It is, you know, we've had a lot of people, you know, come and open for us and, uh, I love teaching people how to tour. I love, you know, we took Dale Marlow out first and you know, Mitchell Tenpenny, he's a guy we took out first and he's, you know, he shot Mitchell's like the man he's never forgotten, like coming out with us and like me helping him and John helping him. And he always shouts us out for that. And uh, that's something I love doing. That's why I love the stuff at Seagall. Kind of, you know, watching, helping Jordan Fletcher and Jeb and all 'em get going. Like, okay, well boys, this is a day sheet. Speaker 1 00:06:56 Dude, dude Jordan's out on damn radio tour right now. I was texting with him the other day. He is doing the damn thing. He's Speaker 2 00:07:03 Here today. He was in New York City yesterday or like the last three days. And then, you know, he hasn't gotten a ride a lot lately cuz he's always ra If some of y'all know about radio tour, it's grueling and and you shouldn't tour while you do it, which is, you know, it'll, it'll save your mental health on that and just your tiredness. But yeah, Jordan, uh, he poked his head in the office today and I hadn't seen him in person and months I feel like. And uh, he was like, you know, he's the first guy I gotta sign up Sea Gill. And a lot of that has to do with Charlie and Gary because yeah, they were, we were doing Rome River Jam, it was Old Dominion, Langston Riley Muscadine, it was supposed to be, uh, job, uh, and Job's car broke down and couldn't come or whatever. Speaker 2 00:07:48 So Jordan gets up there, he was selling merch, not using a hand cart, carrying these boxes across this field. And, uh, gets up there, sound checks, goes back to merch. I'm like, who the hell is this kid? And, uh, sounded great. Uh, it was my first year at Seagull and, you know, crystal Ball who owns the company, he was like, all right, it's time for you to go sign somebody. And I was like, if that guy's doing that working hard, there's no matter, you know, there's no limit to his talent or what he's capable of. And so gotta sign him Summer of 2018. And he's been at Seagull ever since. Got a record deal. Yeah. And, uh, managed by George Corey and, I mean, he's doing Sonder radio, he's got like 40 ads and yeah, dude, it's a slow climb, but Dave Cobb's producing, which is kind of Yeah. Speaker 1 00:08:34 Which is, that's a big fucking deal. Speaker 2 00:08:37 So I'd got Covid in like the end of 2020, uh, real bad. And I kind of missed some stuff with Jordan, you know, as far as like George reaching out, wanting to manage and the record deal and all this stuff. And he goes, yeah, Dave Coproduced. I said, when the hell did that happen? And, uh, it's been a cool experience for him. And, you know, it's, it's, it's so Jordan, if you know Jordan, if my mom was to ever get a divorce and be like, Hey, I wanna marry Jordan Fletcher, I'd be like, I've got no, I've got no problem with that. Jordan. Jordan is the greatest human in the world, man. He's such a, such a, like, he's given Ray Folger competition for that nice guy's spot. Speaker 1 00:09:14 Yeah. You know what I mean? Very, very much so. And that's, and it's like that, that whole crew. I mean, so you moved to town at what, when did you move to Nashville? Oh, Speaker 2 00:09:21 Into 2016. But I was coming back and forth a lot, you know, there's, you know, just from the bar and just pre bar. I had a bunch of buddies up here and, uh, just always been enamored by the city. And there was a bunch of, there was a bunch of people on my butt about moving up here and just taking the risk. And who, Speaker 1 00:09:38 Who was the one that finally got you to do it? What was, who was the, the voice of the voice that was like, and you were like, all right, I'll finally do it. Speaker 2 00:09:44 It was a combination. Uh, John was a big proponent of that. Um, you know, guys like Cole Taylor, uh, Ray was one of 'em, Swindell, um, Carrie Edwards and Dustin iGen over at KP Management. Yeah. They were just like, you gotta trust yourself. Like you have a great year. Uh, you work hard. And, and finally I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do it. Like, let's go. And John was like, cool, you're going on the road with me. And, uh, I mean, he knew and carried, everybody knew like publishing is what I wanted to be at. When, whenever Cole, uh, Swindell told me about what a plugger was, I was like, oh, I'm in. You mean you, you sit in an office and you listen to music all day and then you text so and so and get 'em songs and get 'em on. I was like, that is like, there's no bigger dream for me. You, Speaker 1 00:10:31 You had the one speaking of plugging and stuff, um, that song Riley put out, Randy Owen, you were involved in that, right? Speaker 2 00:10:36 Yeah, yeah. Uh, Fletcher wrote that with the Muscatine Boys and Ray. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:10:39 And the, and the, that was like, one of that was, I think Muscatine's first Zoom, right? Yeah. That was like the very beginning of Covid. Speaker 2 00:10:45 Yeah. And uh, Jordan did the work tape and it's a beautiful work tape. He did it on his back porch. There's Bird, it's a beautiful song. Uh, birds are chirping. And I'm like, dang it. I fired that off to a couple people. Riley being one, Riley was the first person to hit me back. And actually he called me, you know, Riley's not a phone guy. He, he'll, he'll text back or whatever and he called me, he goes, Hey, this is the idea. And he was talking about the stage coach playing and uh, it was gonna be called Stage Couch because they couldn't do it. And he just fell in love with the song. And then, uh, you know, Riley knows I love country music and you know, we, you know, we talk about that kind of stuff. And I got a late night text from him one night. Speaker 2 00:11:25 He's like, remember exactly what he said, but it was in the terms of like, you ready to like shit yourself. And I was like, what? And he sent it and had radio and some vocal on it and I was like, what is going on right now? Yeah. And uh, I mean, if you just grew up like I did on, you know, the Alabama's and the Randy Travis and Keith Whitley and, and stuff like that, it, that was just kind of like one of those things. It's like, this is sick. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so that was Jordan's first major label cut. It was, I think the boys' first major label cut. Yeah. So it was, it was cool to do it with some guys that played down in Tifton. Yeah. It was all kind of like a Yeah. Speaker 1 00:12:01 And that's what I, that's why I was asking like when you come up in, in 2016, that's right around that, that point of like, Nashville's very much where there's like classes where like everybody kind of like, I moved here 2018, I've got some, some good friends that moved here around that same time. And we all still kind of, kind of keep in touch and, and work alongside each other. And it's like that class that came in that 20 15, 20 16, 20 17, a lot of those folks, like the Petri Entertainment stuff, the 16 five South stuff, it all kind of came up and it came through Tifton as well with your time down there. Speaker 2 00:12:32 Yeah. I mean I, uh, I got to Tifton. I was working, I went to Valdosta State. Uh, wasn't Speaker 1 00:12:38 There a venue? Valdosta Speaker 2 00:12:39 Too? Yeah. Uh, blue Water, but Speaker 1 00:12:41 I've heard stories about that place. Back in the day I Speaker 2 00:12:43 Was kind of like the sister bar to, to the gin in Tifton. Yeah. I worked at Flip Flops, which is like the number one college bar at Val ota. It's just debauchery. Um, and uh, I hated school. Like I was good at school. I hated school. I had three classes left and they were like, Hey, you want to go run this bar? I was like, yeah, I never even been to Tifton. Let's go. And uh, you know, so get up there and we spend the first year trying to figure it out and learn that it can't be ran like a college bar. Cuz the college aback wasn't like that big of a size. Yeah. And started doing some national acts. We did fgl, uh, we were like one of fgl L's first shows. Like, Speaker 1 00:13:20 No shit. I did not know that. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:13:22 It was, uh, yeah, did them and then Parmley during their number first, number one. And then the next week like Cruz went to radio and blew up. And like, there's only, I I know how many people were there that night. Cause I laugh. I still have the closing sheet. It's in, it's in my house. And uh, you, there's like 142 people there, which isn't, wasn't a law for that room. And, uh, 8,000 people swear they were there that night, <laugh>. And then, so that gave, with that song blowing up, it gave a lot of, uh, validity to what we were doing. And you know, we kind of partnered with WME and CAA and got those guys that were about to be on the highway. I mean, you, you name it that from like, if they blew up from 2012 to like 2017, they, there's a good chance their first gig was with me. You know, their first real true I did parties, swindell, uh, I don't just everybody Speaker 1 00:14:17 That, and that was back when it was in the back room, right? Like you guys had Speaker 2 00:14:21 The, so we had, so 2014 I got my hands on the building next door and I cut a wall and I put like this Lowe's double door, uh, not a real like fire coated door or anything. Speaker 1 00:14:33 Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm familiar. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:14:34 Yeah. And so we, uh, and we got that cuz we got Old Dominion the, like two weeks before breakout with him was like number one. So they were hot. Like they were, it was their first run on a bus. And, and you know, I don't know if you know Tommy Garris who does their, uh, tour management, but he's, he's a hell of a guy. And, uh, yeah. And opened that room and ended up doing Cole Swindell and Langston and Travis Denning and Cadillac three and just, I mean, anybody you can think of from that time, they ended up playing the bar, which was really cool. So Speaker 1 00:15:05 Yeah. Is that how you met John was from Speaker 2 00:15:07 Yeah, I met John. Uh, so hi one of his best friends, Tyler Horn, uh, grew up with him and he was one of my fraternity brothers. Oh no shit. And he was harping on me and the guy that did all the s stuff about booking him and booking him. We gave him a shot. And, uh, he played me on a Saturday and it was just acoustic. And, uh, I think Forever Girl had been out for like a month or something and, or maybe a little longer than that. I'm not, never sure. Yeah. And me and him just hit it off, man. Like, you know, he got done and I mean, he put some people in there. I was like, oh damn this, you know, he's got something going on. And me and him just kind of talked and always hit it off and kept in touch and, you know, and that was really it, man. Speaker 2 00:15:47 He was, it was, it was a very natural, like he doesn't need anything from me. I don't need anything from him relationship. I think that's kind of why we hit it off. And dude, I'm so, I'm so thankful for Tyler and Warren for, for that because, you know, he, John is literally, you know, my best friend or, you know, if not him, you know, he knows who Stinky is. Stinky is the man. And, you know, it's, it's, I always have a tough time. Like, who's your best? Like I got a tough time with that. But, you know, John is definitely, um, helped me out so much and honestly because of him, I've got to grow up here. Yeah. You know, if it wasn't for, you know, John thinking I could handle the stuff then, you know, I, I don't know what I'd be doing up here. Just, yeah. I mean, John gave me a lot of validity not to use that word again, but, you know, he kind of, you know, he was getting hot and he stuck his neck out and like, that's my guy. And he's always been been that for me. So lot of love for John, man. Hell yeah, Speaker 1 00:16:42 Dude. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:16:42 Proud. I'm proud of where he is and what he's doing. And this new music he's got coming. Yeah. Dude is next level for him. And I mean, it's, man, it's 2023 is gonna be a huge year for John, so let's Speaker 1 00:16:55 Go. Speaker 2 00:16:56 And I'm, and I'm glad I, uh, you know, I'm glad I'm, you know, still doing, doing the road stuff with him. Cause there's, that makes it easier. Speaker 1 00:17:03 Yeah. How do you balance the, the working on working on Music Row? Doing the, doing the publishing stuff and doing the tour managers stuff? Cause I've learned that tour management is a full-time job. Like it's seven day, like with advancing shows and Yeah. All of that stuff. There's always something going on with it. That's a lot to balance. How do you do Speaker 2 00:17:19 It? Well, I got a good crew. Um, you know, we've had some good production people. Uh, right now Ben Grubbs is in charge. He's our, he's our PM dude, Speaker 1 00:17:27 Ben. Ben is my dude. Speaker 2 00:17:28 Grubbs is, uh, Grubbs is very talented and very, uh, organized and very detail oriented and Speaker 1 00:17:35 Very hungry Speaker 2 00:17:36 And hungry. And he, and he cares. He came, right? Yes. Right. And you know, it's hard. Like think about the Mustang Eye Camp. That's a hard camp to go into when those guys have been together for so long. You know what I mean? And Ben just came in like, he'd been there for like 10 years, you know what, what I mean, and he's just, he's a blessing to work with. Jason Harris was our previous guy, somebody I hired at 20 and I was at 20 years old. He got to mix Gillette Stadium, <laugh> and Ford Field and all Speaker 1 00:18:00 Absurd. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:18:01 Just all this great stuff that, you know, he got to do. And then, you know, he, uh, he moved to town to do rock music and the state champs hired him. No shit, that's like his favorite band. So it was like, okay, buddy. We understand. Yeah. And, but Grubbs has been such a blessing for us. And you know, it's, it's, it's having good people around us, you know, with management too. I mean, they're, you know, they're supportive. But, you know, it actually helps me out because like for example, we're either opening for the Luke Bryans and the Cole Swindells and, you know, the, the big acts like that. And, you know, I've got time to like hop on some buses and pitch some songs and you know, technically when other publishers are like cutting their grass on the weekends or playing catch up, I'm out there double duty. Speaker 2 00:18:43 And our, you know, we have, you know, the Dylan Marlow's and the Noah Hicks and, and they acts like that coming out and I'm getting hang time with them and, you know, learning what they like to do and what kind of music they're, they're, you know, what kind of songs they're lacking or whatever they need. Or just being, you know, one of my, one of my favorite things in town is like, I love, I got a few folks that call me like Uncle jd. Yeah. And I just love, you know, I'm not, I tell people all the time, like, you have to make yourself valuable. You have to become a Swiss Army knife in this town. Yeah. It's okay to be great at one thing, but when you're good at a lot of stuff or knowledgeable, like, oh, I need a pocket knife, boom, there I am, I need a screwdriver. Speaker 2 00:19:23 Boom, there I am. That is like the number one piece of advice I can give anybody in town is become as valuable as you can at many different things. And then as you're going through things, other things, you're like, okay, I know how to do this. Or I might not know how to do this, but Matt Burrell does, so let me call him. You know what I mean? Just make, make yourself as valuable as possible. Become a Swiss Army knife that is like my mantra in life. Mantra, whatever. <laugh>. That's Georgia. Georgia from Mantras Mantra. Speaker 1 00:19:50 Yeah. And you and some of those guys that you just mentioned, I mean, you're, you're a, you're obviously a, a Georgia guy, Florida fan, but Proud Georgia guy, um, yeah. South Georgia shit. Where you're gonna move, where you, where you're gonna root for the Gators. And I'm sure you've gotten shit for that your whole life, but you've gotten to enjoy it too. The Gators had some good Speaker 2 00:20:04 Years. Yeah. Yeah. My, my whole life, uh, trader, all that stuff. I grew up, I grew up, uh, on exit one in Georgia. I grew up 20 minutes from Jacksonville. We got all the Jacksonville, Florida stations growing up. My parents didn't care about college football or anything like that. Spurrier's putting up a hundred points a week. And I'm like, I'm wrong with that guy. Yeah. And it was great for a long time. You know, it's been a little tough lately, but, you know, it's, uh, Speaker 1 00:20:27 You could be a Florida State fan. It could be worse. Speaker 2 00:20:29 No, not me. It Speaker 1 00:20:31 Could be worse. That's what I'm saying. It could be worse. It could be for the Seminoles. But, um, you, a lot of those, um, those, um, young guys that you just mentioned, and it's cool. Like I've had them play, I had them, they were some of the original guys when were my, uh, writers round Yeah. Over at, um, over at Live Oak that I do like the Noah Hicks', the, the Dylan Marlow's, the, um, the, um, all the guys that are coming outta Tyler Chambers. Yeah. Trey team, Brian Full, there's all these kids coming out of Georgia. Right. Speaker 2 00:20:56 Brian Turner. Speaker 1 00:20:56 Dude, dude. He is about to flip people's heads over. Know I like that kid a Speaker 2 00:21:00 Lot. I don't know if you know this, but, uh, I had somebody back in the day, I was still in Tifton, reach out about Brian Ford, and he was young, young. So this was 2016, like he's young. And I let him open up for like Cadillac three and like Travis den, a couple guys. And I was like, man, this kid can fucking sing. Speaker 1 00:21:18 Got a hell voice. And at that point it was probably just raw, Speaker 2 00:21:21 Raw, you know, and to, and to watch him come up here and go through it, take his lumps, take his losses and not like get deterred and just, I mean, this, this business will make you beat your head on, on a brick wall. Absolutely. And for him to like come through the other side of this and just, I've been watching the videos and all that stuff like that, you know, just to watch him do what he's doing. I'm, I'm Brian. Brian is a talent. Yeah. And, uh, I'm, I'm very proud of him. You know, I love, I love my role in Georgia music. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:21:55 I was gonna ask, what, what is it about Georgia? Like what, what is it just, is it the work ethic? Is it the, the guys that have been there before? Like what you've, what like what you've experienced with John with, with the folks at, at KP and, and Luke and Swindell and like, is it the, the next Man up kind of thing where like you're helping, or it's like you've got the folks and everybody kind of works together and there's like this fraternity almost of Georgia folks, or what is it? Speaker 2 00:22:18 I mean, it is, I don't think it's as deep as like people make it out to be. It's, you know, we all, we all kind of grew up the same, you know, it's, we grew up listening to Alan Jackson and then Brantley and then Luke, and then like Outkast and Allman Brothers and ti like, there's just this mix of just melting pot. There's, I mean, if you go to the Georgia Theater, they've got this Georgia State thing, it's got all these Ray Charles, like all these people from Georgia. You're just like, you grew up on so much different kind of things. And you know, we root for each other. We're proud to be where we're from. And it's, uh, I mean, it's cool. I mean, even Cory Smith. Yep. You know, that's, that's a name people forget about. And like he's, you know, he's kind like a little godfather to a lot of this stuff. You know what what Speaker 1 00:22:59 I mean, he perfected the, the building the college markets. Yeah. And just growing the circle around them. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:23:04 Cory, I mean, Cory's a big influence on a lot of people down there and, and then watching, you know, buddies like, you know, Cole Taylor, you know, come up here and succeed as a writer and like get some number ones and you don't have to, you know, be in front of everything. You can be a rider behind the scenes and, and really, you know, chase your dreams. I mean, shoot, he's gotta cuddle Luke Bryan and he's got so much stuff going on and to watch him like, get married and have a family. And like, that's the kind of cool thing that I'm into right now is watch, you know, Travis Dennings about to get married and watch all these, like, people that I've met at 20 and 21 years old, shoot some of them 17, like Trey Landon, you know? Yeah. Oh yeah. Just to watch them like turn into men and be, and be families and houses and like, get everything they ever wanted because they worked hard. I mean, like, that's, that's such a cool thing to watch, honestly. I know that's like sappy and probably not what you want be here for, but like, dude. Speaker 1 00:23:59 No, that's the truth though. Yeah. Is you, you get to watch people grow and like you said, like we're talking about Brian, like, you go through those, those, um, those peaks and valleys and to to, to keep going through that. Yeah. And be able to, cuz in this life, it's hard to have a family. It's hard to find a good woman to settle down with, which, which you've got. And yes, it's, it's very hard to find someone to put up with the shit that we do for work. And so when you're able to find that and able to have a family and still do what you love here in this town where it can just eat you alive, that's, that's big shit right Speaker 2 00:24:31 There. Yeah. I mean it's, shoot, I got lucky. I got the best, best blonde deaf girl in the world. I don't, I don't know what I did, but you know, she, you know, and it is tough, you know, the touring's tough, you know, especially, you know, we dated in, you know, 2019 and then 2020, you know, I'm gone and then 2020 closes up and then I'm home all the time. And then when we went back out in 2021, it was little getting back. I was ready to go. I was like, I was like, Speaker 1 00:24:55 Hey, we all, were, Speaker 2 00:24:56 We, let's, let's, we are out, let's go. And, uh, you know, that whole year at home brought us a lot closer together and I understand, you know, everything's a two-way street and you know, that that's made me a lot better of a person and you know, it, and it takes, you know, the moments away. You know, when I'm home I take 'em a lot more serious than I used to. And um, I got a good one. You know what I mean? So Speaker 1 00:25:21 How'd you guys meet? Speaker 2 00:25:23 Uh, Speaker 1 00:25:24 Was it Tin Roof? Speaker 2 00:25:25 No, it was <laugh>. It was, we got, we got a cool, we have a crazy story. Uh, so we actually met at Red Door. Okay. But, but it wasn't like that, it wasn't like a Friday night out or anything like that. Uh, Cole had did his album release for the, uh, all of it record. And uh, I had pitched two songs on that record and, uh, including all of it. And so everybody was at that Whiskey Jam album, release party and stuff like that. And it just got too crazy. So I went across the street to Red Door and uh, uh, sh Allie was there, had never met her, but she was hanging out with like Newie and Lenny Wilson and hate the four, a bunch of people that I already knew. So I just kinda like, alright, I'm gonna hang out here for a little bit. And I actually took her, uh, took a group photo for them cuz they was, I don't know what was going on while they were out like that. But, uh, I don't know if it was like a going away thing or whatever it was. And then I was just like, man, this girl's beautiful. So I did a little sliding and uh, into the dms. Hey, Speaker 1 00:26:21 There, Speaker 2 00:26:22 There you go. You know, but, but what's crazy is like when we're talking, uh, I, I said, where she's from, she says, Seattle's like, oh, I love Washington. I'm been to Seattle, I've been to Tacoma and Spokane and Bremerton. And she's like, Bremerton, why are you going to Bremerton? I was like, well, I had a Navy base in my hometown. Everybody got transferred to that Navy base in Bremerton. So I, we would go up, up there and visit my mom's friends and stuff like that. She lived in Bremerton, which is like as big as this room. Yeah. Which is like, good for this room, but not like a city, you know what I mean? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:26:52 Like the odds of Yeah. The odds of you having been to her hometown. That's crazy. Speaker 2 00:26:56 So we would stay with my mom's room, miss Patty. So we went up there my first visit to, with her and her family and all that good stuff. Uh, we went to go see Miss Patty and then we're driving by and I was like, oh, that's where she lives at 0.4, five miles away from Ally's house is where I spent <laugh> all my time in the world by this boat launch. And, uh, it was all, it was just kind of like, okay, I'm, this was supposed to happen. Like yeah, this is it. So went back up there and, uh, I, in Christmas time I proposed to her right there and had Jordan Fletcher wrote, wrote the song I asked her to and her dad hitting the porta potty to take the picture. No shit. It was like a little park boat ramp thing. It was That's awesome. Speaker 2 00:27:39 Yeah. It was, it was cool, man. Like it's, uh, you know, and to, to have a rock like that, uh, in my life to kind of keep me grounded because you, I mean, you know, the road can, you know, you literally barely have time to do the laundry to leave again. Yeah. You know what I mean? And, and having her for a couple days always mellows me back out. Cuz when you're in charge of the ship, I mean there's just so much logistics and personalities that can get involved and Yep. You can have the best times or you could be stressed out. You know, like, like this past weekend we were at the Georgia Theater, which is like next to John's hometown, so it's friends and family. So it's like, oh yeah. Yep. It's a great night. Like it's, you know, it's a great night, sold out, all that good stuff. And, but you know what I mean, it's just, you're up and down the stairs all day and you didn't really sleep the night before and you know, but those are like, strangely enough, those are like the proud moments of touring. Yeah. When you just go shit. Like, that was epic. You know what I mean? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:28:33 That's how, that's how I felt going, uh, going to mobile with Gary and Charlie and how I felt this past year watching Trey play at Iron City in Birmingham. You know, like that was a, that was a big, big like, big deal. Like those hometown shows, which I think that's actually where I met you and John for the first time was I filled in and sold merch for you guys. Yes. We were, we had an off night and that was when, uh, de Dirt Road had come out. Gary Charlie came and I hopped, I hopped behind the merch table and was sell was selling that John Langston merch. Speaker 2 00:28:59 Yeah, man. Yeah. That was, Speaker 1 00:29:01 That was, that was Night two of the two sold out shows back in 2019. Speaker 2 00:29:05 Yeah, right before that was the last time we were there. Cuz 2020 was canceled in 2021. They were limited. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:29:12 It was a weird, weird thing over there. So you, you were also one of, um, me and M's. Favorite spots? Um, I believe over this, this weekend or recently? Oh, Speaker 2 00:29:20 Wild Greg. Speaker 1 00:29:20 Wild Greg's Speaker 2 00:29:21 Bro. Wild Greg is, he is, uh, he's a character. He's a one Speaker 1 00:29:25 Of a Speaker 2 00:29:25 Kind. He is a one of a kind man, uh, very, uh, generous, very on top of things as far as like hospitality, making sure we have everything Speaker 1 00:29:34 We need security Speaker 2 00:29:35 Just onto the, I've never seen many owners sit in security meeting with me. Oh yeah. Which was awesome. You's adamant Speaker 1 00:29:41 About Speaker 2 00:29:41 That. Uh, but I mean, he, he rolls out a red carpet for us. We've, we've done the Pensacola one twice and we've done the Lakeland one. Speaker 1 00:29:47 Don't, don't you love that load in, Speaker 2 00:29:50 You know, we have to forklift stuff, right? Speaker 1 00:29:51 Yeah. That's what we do. We, we, we, we go up through the, we have the, the forklift and do the elevator and do this and do that and Yeah. Yeah. A Pensacola loading is not for the faint of heart. Speaker 2 00:30:02 Yeah. So this was Grubs first time doing that. I was like <laugh>, I was prepping him hard. Yeah. And, uh, I think we got like a Drumhead Smashed or something. <laugh>. Oh geez. We had to go to Guitar Center and replace something. I don't remember what it was, but, uh, yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a cool thing. He is got going cuz it's, I mean there's so much stuff to go do. You can go to the beach, you can, you know, eat some good sushi at the Con's place right there. Speaker 1 00:30:25 Yep. Speaker 2 00:30:25 Yeah. Uh, man. Yeah. Wow. Speaker 1 00:30:28 Have, have you done Lakeland? Yeah, we did as well. Lake. We've, so we've done all four of 'em with Trey is, um, so we've done Austin, Texas, which that, that place is wild. And then his place in Minneapolis is wild too. Yeah. What I love about Wild Greg is he's a, he's a freedom fighter. He'll go out there, he'll get he'll, he'll be in the news man. He is a regular, Speaker 2 00:30:47 He told me he's on Fox News or Fox and Friends like every other week he sends Speaker 1 00:30:51 Me the videos of it. He like texts me. He'll put he'll, he'll send it to me, um, and Trey in a group chat. Yeah. And be like, look at me and Tucker and it's him on Tucker Carlson talking about how he's suing all these cities over Covid mandates. Speaker 2 00:31:03 Yeah. Doing that. Isn't he running for mayor or something? He was talking Speaker 1 00:31:06 About Yeah, he's, he's running for town council in Min in Minnesota. Has he told you about St. Gregory his island? No, he has an island on the border of many Minnesota and Canada where he is just got like, it's like Greg's island. Speaker 2 00:31:18 Yeah. I mean, I'm not shocked. Speaker 1 00:31:20 Yeah, dude, that's what I'm saying. Why Speaker 3 00:31:21 He's technically got a pilot's license too. Yeah. So if you ever wanna fly with him, you know, just let him Speaker 2 00:31:26 Know. He, uh, Speaker 1 00:31:26 We brought him to one of the Kid Rock shows. Dude, he had a ball. He, Speaker 2 00:31:29 I stepped in the foot in the door and you were the first thing he brought up this time. He goes, I didn't know, you know Matt Barre. I Speaker 1 00:31:35 Was like, oh geez, <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:31:37 Yeah. And he was like, I I love that guy. That guy's awesome. So he definitely Speaker 1 00:31:42 Loves you. Yeah. We've, we've seen, we've, we've seen Wild Greg a lot. We always try to, we, he, he takes care of us. We take care of him. And our, our our, um, our guys like to have fun with him after the shows. Speaker 2 00:31:51 He's, I wish we could have hung out this time. We had to, we had eight hours ago to Athens. Speaker 1 00:31:56 So. Yeah, that's the thing is getting all the way down there to Pensacola, there's no like, super easy routing for it. But the Georgia Theater Show, I mean, like you were saying, I mean that's what are, so having like a big guest list like that the hometown shows at the Nashville shows can be like, those, those to me are what stress me out as far as like guest list and all that. When you got like friends and family coming or you got, you got cousins, uncles, brother. Like, it's, it just becomes so many people. What are some other like, stressful spots that you've kind of been in? Just not even count, not even counting like the guest list stuff, but like things breaking down, like shit, shit like that. Like over the years of, because I called you that one time. Yeah. When we, um, we were driving Mag going don't remember this. We were driving, um, was when the, the shot the, uh, wheel bearing blew out on the trailer Speaker 2 00:32:41 Buddy. That is the story of our lives. Speaker 1 00:32:43 And we went and got the box truck and we had to cross load everything to the box truck, go all the way out to North Carolina for that mud bog. Speaker 2 00:32:49 Yeah. That, uh, we are, uh, you know, knock on wood, this trailer has held up pretty good. But we, we are known trailer killers. Uh, it's, I mean there's, there's been so much. I mean it's the road, like literally everything that could happen to us has happened to us. Flat tires, you know, trailer wheel bearings going out. The very, like the very first time that happened was we were going with Grizzly Rose. Oh Speaker 1 00:33:17 Geez. Yeah. We've been out there. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:33:18 But John was on radio tour. So John, our drummer, Scott and Brad, uh, were flying in and we flew our production guy that time in. And so me and Steven were like, cuz John, it was the first time Grizzly Rose John wanted to use our gear. He didn't want anything going wrong. Yeah. It was just a big deal. It was like, before we left it was pretty much almost sold out. And so we were, me and Steve were like, let's have a nice little man trip. Like, let's leave Tuesday. My buddy is equipment manager for the Rockies. Like, we were gonna go like, go to the game and go to baton practice and do all this stuff. So we had, we head west and uh, God, this story makes my skin crawl. It's like the worst time I've ever had on the road. So we're going, we stop in St. Speaker 2 00:34:02 Louis for the night and uh, we wake up. I was like, Steve, you ever been to the orange? She goes, no. I was like, let's go do that. So we take the van in trailer and we park at 11:00 AM 11:00 AM Okay. Time is very important on this. Okay. At 11:00 AM broad daylight, lunchtime, park in this brewery parking lot, walk over, get a iced coffee, ride the little small thing up. Yep. With, with some people from Green Bay or whatever they're from. Do the whole arch thing. A great mandate. You know what I mean? Yeah. Just a good mandate, bro. Speaker 1 00:34:35 Time. Speaker 2 00:34:35 Yeah. We, we get back, we were walking in the van. I was like, Steven had this camo hat and it was on the ground. I was like, oh dude, I must have kicked that out, man. I'm so sorry. Get closer. Somebody broke into our van. Stole my suitcase and backpack. Stole his suitcase and backpack. Four laptops are missing. Uh, his ear, ear monitors his, his ears. Oh geez. Both pairs gone. All this stuff's gone trailer intact because we have, we have these mega locks on there. Yeah. Like you, I mean you have to like weld this thing to get in there. Awful. No clothes, no nothing. Call the police, make a report. We're sitting there for like an hour and a half. Finally Steven calls back and goes, where are these people at? Calls? The lady lady goes, oh baby, we don't come out for for petty theft like that. This is St. Louis <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:35:31 Geez. Speaker 2 00:35:31 Yeah. And we're like, what the hell? So we're like, screw it, let's keep moving. We stop in Columbia, Missouri, go to Hooters, have a beer, laugh it all off. Best place for a beer. Yeah. Laugh it all off, get some wings. And we're like, all right, we can make the game tomorrow, Columbia to Denver's like 12 hours. Let's just go. So we're cruising. And all of a sudden this, I'll never forget it, it was a white Nissan Altima pulls up right next to us on the interstate on I 70. And she, and she's like, fire, fire. And I look in the, uh, the side mirror, smoke everywhere. Get off of the exit in Concordia, Missouri. Ever heard of it? No, neither have they. <laugh>, I mean small town. I mean, and we pull into the, it's like a ta uh, but it's like a Missouri version of a ta. Speaker 2 00:36:26 Yeah. They can fix it. But we pull in at five 13, they close at five. Oh geez. So we drive slow across the interstate. There's a hotel, we're just gonna wake up in the morning, figure it out this day's in, still had keys, like not cards, keys. Oh geez. Yes. We have no, no stuff, no clothes, no nothing. So we dropped the trailer, take the van 20 minutes away to the closest Walmart buy, you know, tell the boys they're gonna bring us all stuff. You know what I mean? But for the day we get toothbrush, toothpaste, all that. And I bought this Hawaiian shirt and some shorts and just had field day and went to this little bar that's like really small called D's and just had played country music all night. Drove everybody out of there cause they didn't want to hear that. Played pool, get up the next day, get on the road, everything's fixed. Speaker 2 00:37:16 And then uh, they have to put a new tire because the tire melted. You know how that goes. And yeah. And then, uh, the metal grate on the nose of the trailer started flapping. Cause the whi crosswinds in Kansas are so bad. Stop at a truck stop. Gorilla Glue tape. I mean it's a white trailer, orange spackle tape everywhere. We're just laughing. And then, uh, we are an hour outside of Denver. If you ever made that drive, literally there's signs that say free land if you put a business on it, because that's just how out of the way you are. Yeah. Driving pop. And I look at Steven, I was like, if that is the new tire that they just put on today, you'll never see me as mad as I'm gonna be get out is that new tire. And I didn't even get mad. Speaker 2 00:38:10 I laughed like a crazy person. And so, you know, we carry a spare and a jack and all this in the trailer. Guess where the trailer keys were? And my backpack that was stolen in St. Louis. Oh Lord. So the boys had just kind of landed. I called Scott, our drummer was like, Hey, I'm gonna call you an Uber. It's about an hour away. This is what's going on. So he gets there. You know, the Uber driver didn't wanna take him obviously because it was like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. AA wouldn't come out. That's how far away we were. So he gets there, he unlocks the trail. I mean, I was like a NASCAR pick guy. Like I just, I never changed the tire that fast. And Scott, god bless him, was like, Hey, you want me to finish this up? I said, no, get in the effing back. Speaker 2 00:38:54 Like I'm finished in this drive. Give the hotel, toss the keys. I was done. So then the next week everything goes fine. The rest of the week. We get back the next week. Uh, we're playing in Minnesota, having an off day to get to one of those country concerts in Ohio wasn't, I think it was Country Fest. I don't Yeah. One of their big festivals. Yeah. Yeah. They, they've got like four and they're all called country something. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's just like Ohio shit. Yeah. Yeah. And so we have an off day, we have this great day playing. We're gonna spend it in the, in the Dales of Wisconsin. Go to water parks and just have a, have a time kid, you know. Yeah. Raining a little bit. I'm like, ah, I got this changed Van Trailer or Van Tire. Went out, changed it, going, going down. We got music, you know how it is. Music's blasting. Everybody's having a good time. We're thinking about tomorrow. Speaker 2 00:39:46 Scott goes, y'all smell that? No. Look in the side mirror. Smoke everywhere. We had lost both tires to the trailer. Okay. We only had one. So we had to call a tow truck guy's first day on the job. Oh geez. Has a flatbed. We had to put it up there. Our bass player, Steven had work at a tow company in college. He put it up there cuz a guy couldn't do it. Jesus Christ. So we go, we have him drop it off at Walmart, get two new tires and screw us up. Put us in this hotel. Uh, got us in this hotel. I stayed up till five 30 whenever the tire center opened up, went to Walmart. Like God. The guy was like, cool, uh, it'll be done probably in an hour. So take the van. I go back, get a shower. By the time I'm outta the shower, guy goes, Hey you need to come back up here. Speaker 2 00:40:35 We can't do this or no, no, excuse me. I forgot I had to drive 45 minutes to get the tires. Cause they didn't have 'em at like the Wisconsin Tractor Supply, whatever that that thing's called. So I bring him back, I'm like, lemme know when it's done. Be about an hour, get a shower. He goes, Hey man, we're not gonna be able to do this. I go back up there. I was like, Steven, wake up. Steven just fallen asleep. I felt so bad. Steven was like my little partner in crime on the road. He's like so handy. And uh, we go up there cause can't do it. The axle's bent. They bent in. I'm like, what? Cuz I dunno what to tell you man. So we have a show still. So, all right, I'm gonna get a U-Haul trailer. Guess where the U-Haul place was? 45 minutes away next to that tractor supply place. Oh jeez. You go all the way back, go all the way back, get this trailer, get everything in there. Our risers don't fit. Our drum riser doesn't fit. And it was like this cheap thing we found on Craigslist. Anyways, so we leave it there. We left this trailer just in Wisconsin. <laugh>. That was all in a two week span. I was, I was geez. So aggravated. Speaker 1 00:41:36 But yeah. Yeah. I haven't run into anything quite like that. We've gotten into some, gotten into some, some stuff on the road with, we actually, one of our experiences, it was actually in Georgia. It was in, um, in Milledgeville. Yeah. Somebody slashed our, uh, trailer tire in Milledgeville. They, they that, that to me is one of Thera. Like, I love going to Georgia because the crowds are always great. When I was selling merch. They buy a ton of shit. Awesome. Very welcoming people. Yeah, very. You have a lot of fun in Georgia. What is what, I mean you might be biased towards Tifton, but like for you of all those college towns that are down, there's like, there's Tifton, Valdosta, Statesboro, Athens, Milledgeville. Like which one or Rome, like which one for you is like, how would you rank Speaker 2 00:42:20 'em? Sadly, if number one overall is 2004 to 2009 states or 2012 Statesboro. Speaker 1 00:42:28 So Statesboro before Speaker 2 00:42:30 Anywhere else could changed. But that time, that wa I mean it was like the number four party school like Playboy. Speaker 1 00:42:35 I, I put Statesboro up there now. Speaker 2 00:42:37 Yeah. I mean, you know, sadly a lot of stuff has changed. I mean, Valdosta had a great reputation cuz of Riverton and had the strip of bars. Uh, I mean we kind of put Tifton on the map a little bit with our place. Milledgeville is always fun. Um, I mean Athens is just, Athens is the best college town in the whole country. And I'm a Florida Gator fan. And Char Speaker 1 00:42:57 Charlie and Gary say that too. And they're Auburn boys. They say Athens is their favorite college town in Speaker 2 00:43:02 The country. Country. There is nothing, there is nothing greater than a Saturday, a Friday night show in Athens and a day off or Yeah, Friday night show in Athens and a day off Saturday when then there's a game on a game come to town that, I mean the town becomes like the fourth biggest town in Georgia. Yeah. With everybody coming in there. I mean, there's so many great bars, uh, and so much good food and so much like, it's just an energy man. Speaker 1 00:43:23 Lots of fun to be had. Speaker 2 00:43:25 Yeah, man. It's ath ath Athens, Georgia. And I openly say that as a Florida fan, ath, you can't touch Athens, Georgia, no matter how hard you try Athens, Georgia's the best college town in the whole country. So take that out of it. Then it'll probably be Statesboro. Speaker 1 00:43:38 See I like, I like going out to the Midwest and doing some of those college towns. Like if you done Manhattan, Kansas Speaker 2 00:43:44 No we haven't, but we did Ames, Iowa and that place is Rowdy Speaker 1 00:43:47 <laugh>, Manhattan, Kansas brother Do Dollar Wells. Speaker 2 00:43:50 I used to that. That was Speaker 1 00:43:51 Dollar, dollar Wells. The whole, the whole time. So, which sounds very Tifton thing to do, it sounds like, sounds like, sounds like Tifton. But Manhattan, Kansas, where Kansas State is, they have a trip called Ville where like the hat is the venue right on the end. And then it's like 15, 20 bars, all dollar wells all night. And it's just rowdy kids that like to like, to like to fight and fuck and have a good time. <laugh>. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:44:17 Ames. Ames was fun for what's Speaker 1 00:44:19 Ames at Iowa State. Speaker 2 00:44:19 Yeah, Iowa State. They were, they have like a back to the future theme bar down there. Speaker 1 00:44:23 Oh shit. That's cool. Speaker 2 00:44:24 We opened for like Jana Kramer at some like out like downtown, outside Yeah. Amphitheater thing. Like the hell, like three or 4,000 people or whatever it was. And it was a block away from all the bars. So we sound checked and went to the back of the future bar. Cause I love, that's like one of my favorite movies. Yeah. I had good good time in Ames, Iowa. Then we ended up going to this country bar and I never handled Bible. I had never had a Bush light in my life. And somebody bought me a beer and I was like, you know, I'm 30. I, I was older than 30, then I was like 32. I was like, I can drink a Miller Light. You know what I mean? And they're like, no, this is like what you drink here. I'm like, all right, turn up a bush light. And I was like, all right, I, I get it. Cuz like before Bush, like Natty was like the thing. Yeah. But to date myself even older, Keystone was the first beer to sell a 30 pack. Yep. And it was $7 and 98 cents shitty. Nah, this is 2000 4, 5, 6 when I was in college. And that's what we drink. And very, very Speaker 1 00:45:28 Down in Georgia. You guys were even drinking Speaker 2 00:45:29 Keystone in 30 packs because of that. That was the only reason it was Natty, you know, if you had a little bit extra coin. But it was the 30 stone and it was, I mean dude, I, it's so bad. Speaker 1 00:45:41 Yeah. I used to drink Keystone, but that's a north, that's like Yeah. Growing up, growing up in New York, like in the northeast you have all the Pennsylvanian used to drink a lot of Labat or tte, however you wanna say it. Oh, all the Canadian beers. Canadian Molson. Yeah. We get Molson's really good. Yeah. Yeah. We used, Yingling was a big one. Lion's Head, all that. All that stuff. Speaker 2 00:45:57 I wasn't, when I was in college, Yingling wasn't even sold in Georgia yet. You had to go down to Florida or like, I, I did. Uh, ultimate Frisbee. Speaker 1 00:46:06 You weren't an ultimate Frisbee guy. Speaker 2 00:46:08 Uh, I, my buddies were so, I was like, yeah, I'll go to this trip. Yeah. You know what I mean? And play a little best. I scored a point on Georgia. No big deal. Hey, there you go. Uh, but, uh, yeah, so we went on this thing, we brought like three kegs of it back cuz it wasn't in whatever, Speaker 1 00:46:21 It's good Speaker 2 00:46:22 Beer. And we had, we had built two crates, like in our garage out of old fridges. So we just put 'em in there and then, uh, our buddy had the bar and we put the other keg in that bar and kept it cold until we were ready for the other one. It was awesome. Hell Speaker 1 00:46:34 Yeah. That is awesome. What's the wildest gig you've done with John? Like what? Or wildest and then like, most obscure, like, cause I'm sure you guys have done the, the mud bog thing and like the private party thing and like you've been to some interesting fair, like weird kind of stuff where it's different. Speaker 2 00:46:52 Uh, we just did our first round of mud bogs this year. It Speaker 1 00:46:56 Was ju just this year. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:46:57 Yeah. Really? Something we never really done. We did one in Arkansas and then we did one somewhere else. I don't remember off the top of my head. Speaker 1 00:47:06 Oh, did you do the one in, um, Louisiana? Did you do Louisiana or Butler, Georgia or any of those? No, Speaker 2 00:47:13 No, no. Not in Georgia. I don't, man, I wish I remember what that was. And those are tough days cuz you're in the middle of nowhere. Speaker 1 00:47:19 Yep. Oh yeah. We did about 10 of them last year. So we do 'em. But they, they just, they pay Well those guarantees on those mud bogs are out the Speaker 2 00:47:26 Ass. They pay well, they treat you right. I mean, that's all you can ask for. Yeah. It was definitely different. Cause the first one, they have this big area marked off for people to put chairs and stand and all that stuff. And everyone sat on top of their four wheelers outside of the square. Speaker 1 00:47:41 Yep. Yeah. So it's like you're playing like a crowd. Like the crowd is like the outer circle. Speaker 2 00:47:45 Yeah. Yeah. And it tr John John's one of the best entertainers. Like, Speaker 1 00:47:50 Oh, he's flying around Speaker 2 00:47:51 In our genre. I mean, those guys didn't have a choice but to get up by that stage we're tossing beers out. Like they didn't have a, that's where, that's where John wins, man. I, I stand by that. John is the best, or at least one of the best like pure stage live guys. Yeah. In our genre, in our format. And he just, I mean, he gets off tape, he's just dripping, so Oh yeah. You know, he's like, he's got football mentality and like that's, I mean, there's never a dull moment at our shows for that. Speaker 1 00:48:17 So, speaking of never a dull moment. Another a place, we gotta say R i p Sliding Ride. Speaker 2 00:48:22 Sliding Ride. Martin Speaker 1 00:48:24 Tennessee. Speaker 2 00:48:24 Yeah, that was, uh, we, that was our last show before Covid. Speaker 1 00:48:27 Yeah. I was there. Yeah. I was there with, uh, Ethan Willis. Speaker 2 00:48:31 Yeah. Yeah. That was our last show before Covid. It was, uh, yeah, that's, I didn't know they, I just recently learned that they closed that down, but in their, they moved to Jackson, right. Speaker 1 00:48:41 They opened the second location in Jackson and that one has Pooky and those guys have live bull riding in that venue there. There's bulls in that venue. Speaker 2 00:48:51 Oh Speaker 1 00:48:51 My God. So it's not, you ride the bull, it's, you watch people ride the bulls with helmets on. Yeah. So, Speaker 2 00:48:56 So it's, it's it's Tennessee Billy Bob's. Speaker 1 00:48:58 Yes. Tennessee. Billy Bob's in Jackson, Tennessee in a smaller area. But we, we did a show, Trey. Cause I had my first time the sliding ride was with, um, was I went out there twice with Ethan Willis, which was when he was opening with for you guys. Um, and then I did one with Musk Andon and then I did one with Trey. One with Trey was like January of 2021. Yeah. So it had just come back. And that I had never like, cause I had seen it packed with, with um, going to see, going to see John there, but sliding. Right. Like when you like those small towns, man, when there's, there's that energy of those like that like 800 to like 1800 if you're being generous cap room. There's nothing like the energy in those small town kind of rooms, man. Speaker 2 00:49:42 No, no. Man, this and Speaker 1 00:49:43 Martin said to see those people got after it. Yeah. They are rowdy. Speaker 2 00:49:47 That club level man is infectious. You know what I mean? It's just like they're small thousand cap rooms and everybody's right up on you. And it's just, I mean there's so many places that I genuinely love. Like, and God bless John for, you know, letting me be a part of this. And I've got to see so many different places and cities and yeahs stuck places I never imagined, you know, I'm from, you know, little town in Georgia. I never thought I'd get outta there. And you know, John is taking me around the world and you know, to Canada and Mexico and all these cool places and you get to go to these legendary spots like, you know, I don't have a list of my fa I know where I like going. You gotta Speaker 1 00:50:34 Have a top five. Speaker 2 00:50:35 Yeah. It but it's so hard to even say that out loud. I mean, Speaker 1 00:50:38 Billy Bobs is on there. Speaker 2 00:50:39 Yeah. But it's because like, I Speaker 1 00:50:41 Know you build relationships with the folks that work at the venue. Like, like, like I've got with Wild Greg or like I've got with, with the folks at, um, at Coyote Joe's and the Blind Horse Saloon in Greenville. Speaker 2 00:50:51 Like, like Coyote Joe. Coyote Joe's is on my list because as a tour manager, it's an easy day. Heidi is like on top of everything, all day. They Speaker 1 00:50:59 Got lunch there for you when you show up Speaker 2 00:51:01 The sandwich bar. Speaker 1 00:51:02 The sandwich bar is the best best phenomenal prime veggie trays right there. They give, hook it up with the barbecue in the green room. Speaker 2 00:51:09 Yeah. Those wing wings and Mac and shit. And then, and the peanut butter pie, dude, like Speaker 1 00:51:13 Peanut butter pie is great. Speaker 2 00:51:14 Yeah. Yeah. Coyote Joe is high on my list. Uh, Rick's in Starkville just cause Rick, Rick is like, Speaker 1 00:51:19 He's OG man. He's the man, man. Speaker 2 00:51:21 There's, I mean, Rick during Covid texted and checked on me, you know what I mean? Like Rick's just like, yeah, he's got a business and he's in it for the business, but at the same time he like actually cares about the humans in it. And Yeah. You know, we show like we will always try to get there before they close the next night or the night before. Cause we, we, Rick will come sit up there and have a beer with us and you know, so Rick's for sure Billy Bob's is, you know, obviously, you know, like the premier mu like when you get to headline that back room at Billy Bob's you like, okay, things are going the right way Speaker 1 00:51:54 Right now. Shit means something Speaker 2 00:51:55 Because you know, they, Texas doesn't care about what we do up here half the time. And very true. You know, for, for Robert Gallagher to like, you know, handpick John and be like, Hey, like you're up. And he let us play two times in like five months. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:52:10 Which is a huge deal. Speaker 2 00:52:11 And he put us on the same night Cody Johnson was in town and we still did damn good number in there. Yeah. And that, that just shows the love that he has. Uh, if you ask the band as a whole, cause everybody likes different things. I'm just talking from a tour manager aspect. Yeah. You know, cause Kylie Joe's, everything's laid out. Speaker 1 00:52:29 Joe Joe's on weed. Speaker 2 00:52:31 Oh, ed is a man, dude. Ed is Speaker 1 00:52:32 There is only one Ed worm. Speaker 2 00:52:35 Yes. There. Ed is, uh, you know, ed took a shot and let Jeb open up for Core Smith and you know, that's what Ed does. Ed Ed's kind of like Rick, but he's just the Chicago rick. You know what I mean? Like, so Yeah. I mean there's just so many. Like if, but you, if you ask the band as a whole and cuz everybody's top five are different, you know? Yeah. The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri is on everybody's top five. Speaker 1 00:52:59 I've heard so much about that place. I haven't gotten to go there yet. And I'm hoping we get there at some point. Speaker 2 00:53:03 It's an old theater. Um, the loading is easy. It's the back door's right at the stage. Um, pro their production crew's on top of everything. Hospitality management's on top of everything. It's right in the middle of downtown, which is now s sec Country. Yep. So it's a s sec school and they got this coffee bar next door with like the best Vietnamese coffee, iced coffee I've ever had in my life. Like, I, I had one and we, we didn't have a merch seller then. So we got the venue to sell. And I know after that I went in there and went a hundred miles an hour explaining this and I had to like stop and go, Hey, I'm sorry, let me slow down a little bit. Yeah. But like in the, if you sell it out. So we, we played it three times, four times. We sold out three the first time. They were only gonna open the bottom part, but John did so well. They had to open up the upper deck and even the guy was like, Hey man, I don't know who you guys are, but like, let's do this shit again. Sold it out three times. They give you a little trophy, it's a microphone that says sold out. Fuck Yeah. On it. And like, oh shit. Speaker 1 00:54:03 Awesome. Speaker 2 00:54:04 John kept the first one. He gave me the second one, which is in my office at ceo. And then Carrie Edwards has one as well. And it's just like, I cannot wait to go back there in November. Like that's just one of those places you walk in. It's the same like guy, it's the same production. Yep. And it's, you're just hugging like, hey gimme. Yeah. It's good to see you again. And we haven't been there since we played February, 2020 right before Shut Down. We played on my birthday weekend. Speaker 1 00:54:28 So So you're due to go, you guys do have a date coming up? Speaker 2 00:54:30 Yeah, we're doing, uh, midnight Rodeo in Springfield and then, uh, Saturday, November 12th, whatever that is, uh, in Colombian. I cannot wait. Speaker 1 00:54:42 So it's a Saturday night. Speaker 2 00:54:44 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:54:45 Yeah. That's gonna be big. Speaker 2 00:54:45 Yeah. And Missouri's out of town so that it'll Speaker 1 00:54:47 Be Yeah, that's, that that is the, the place to Speaker 2 00:54:50 Be. Yeah. So we're, we're we're pumped for that. Fuck. Yeah. But like yeah, there, I mean there's so many, like I don't wanna offend anybody when I talk. Yeah. Cause I've done that before and like, I left out Rick's and Rick's like sending me a sad face. I'm like, dude, like I'm so sorry. Like I got put on the spot. But like Yeah. I mean, Rick's co Joe's Billy Bob's Blue note. Speaker 1 00:55:10 You done Tumbleweed in Stillwater? Speaker 2 00:55:11 No, we have not played in Oklahoma. Speaker 1 00:55:14 That is Tumbleweed in Stillwater is one of my favorites. We're going out there next week Yeah. For, uh, the outside City Limits festival and they always take such good care of us. Yeah. And they, it's, that plays and, but it's like you said, it's funny going out to Red Dirt country cuz it's just, it's different. Yeah. You know, and it's, it's cool when you're with a Nashville Act that gets to go out there and gets to do the, the, because the south the, the south, the Nashville crowd and the Texas crowd are very different. Yeah. If they like your shit in Texas, sometimes they're just dancing in a circle to it. They're swing dancing to it if they like that or they're upfront and rocking, like you're in, like you're in Tifton and they're, they're in the front row and they're rocking. We like it when they're, when they're rocking. Or I think our guys at least do, you know, it was a little odd the first time and you got people to step in and swirling around the dick down in Dallas, you know. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:55:59 <laugh>. Yeah, it was definitely, you know, we had, we had played Billy Bobs with Cole before, you know, they don't typically let openers, but they bought the tour package and we were on the tour and, uh, to see 'em sit down at tables was Speaker 1 00:56:11 Like, yeah. The picnic table thing tripped me out the first Speaker 2 00:56:14 Time. The craziest thing. And so when we got in there, I made a joke was like, so are we moving these tables out tonight? Robert goes, no, you ain't earned that yet. <laugh>. I was like, all right dude. So, but no, I mean, there's so many, like I said, I'm, I'm so grateful to, you know, that I got a best friend like John who like, lets me do this and is so understanding about like, my other goals and my other passions and my other dreams, like as far as, you know, this publishing stuff. And, uh, my boss, Chris Dub Bois, um, or those, I don't know, Chris Dub Bois's got Speaker 1 00:56:45 Fucking hits the def definition of a heavy hitter hits such a heavy hitter that he has his own publishing company. Speaker 2 00:56:51 <laugh>. Yeah. He's got hits. I mean like Yeah. All the perhaps Paisley stuff you love. He wrote Buy Me a Bow. He just got a number one on. You should probably leave. Speaker 1 00:56:58 Did he have some Carry Underwood stuff too? Speaker 2 00:57:01 Uh, I, I think he's on one Okay. With Kelly Lovelace. Okay. Um, but no, he's, I mean, dude and he's, he's such a professional writer. Like hits like he cares about, he's just not in there to bust a song out and leave like he Speaker 1 00:57:16 And developing talent. Yeah. It seems like it's a big thing going on at Seagull right now with the roster you guys have and how it's growing and Yeah. Seeing artists like, like Jordan and Jeb doing their thing and Everett and different people coming up. You guys aren't just just looking for people to write songs. You're looking to grow people into Yeah. Well that's talented writers and artists. Speaker 2 00:57:34 Well that's, I mean, that's where we're heading nowadays with just, you know, the way Publishing's working. Um, it's a tough business to be in. Speaker 1 00:57:41 How big, how big was that, that news that came out yesterday? Speaker 2 00:57:43 Uh, Speaker 1 00:57:44 The, the 15%. Speaker 2 00:57:46 I mean, it's going from what, like seven something. I mean, you're, you're getting double, which is not great, but it's a, it's a good start on where it's a Speaker 1 00:57:54 Going's a big, big step in the fight. Speaker 2 00:57:56 Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, every, every little thing counts. I mean, these songwriter, there's no songs without songwriters. Yeah. You know what I mean? The quality is, there's so many people who can tell stories better than some of the artists can write, you know what I mean? And that's, and that's okay. Like, it's o I love when people are comfortable enough to take an outside song and, and realize what a good song is. I mean, like the house that built me would've never seen the line today if, you know, there's no artist on that, you know, or, you know, so I, I love pitching songs. It's like, it's it's hard because it's 99% no. Yeah. And you gotta like, navigate those waters because like you, you know, you get to know a song like Wynn Hutton is one of the writers. I get to work with Speaker 1 00:58:36 Another, another heavy Speaker 2 00:58:39 Hit's, Speaker 2 00:58:40 Talented air church cuts, nobody gets air church cuts. No. And he's got, you know, he wrote, uh, uh, Jack Daniels kicked my Ass again last night and then, uh, that was a cold one. Yep. Two of his bigger songs. And, you know, and you get to work with him and then get to meet, you know, his wife Tammy, and see what like cuts and stuff mean to them, you know what I mean? Because that's how they make their money and how they're, you know, surviving. And then so you care a lot more, you know what I mean? Speaker 1 00:59:04 You become invested. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:59:06 Man. Like I w like, you know, I want to get Len another number one. Like, I wanna stand on stage and I want to introduce him to the town and be like, Hey, sucker's like Lynn Hutton right here. You know, like, I mean, and he's doing well. He's, he's gonna be on Melaney record. He is all over the Jameson Roger stuff. He's got a cut on John. Speaker 1 00:59:24 How many, how many calls are you making a day plugging? Speaker 2 00:59:27 Uh, it varies. I mean, like, there's a lot of calendar work that goes into it, which is I'll openly admit not my strongest suit. Speaker 1 00:59:33 That's a admin kind of stuff, or you're just Yeah. Booking right Speaker 2 00:59:36 Calendars. Yeah. Yeah. Just booking rights and stuff like that. But, you know, I get a lot of my cuts through my artist relationships, you know what I mean? And I don't, I don't send 900 songs to an artist because that just gets overwhelming and it's like I'm trying to sell 'em something. Speaker 1 00:59:51 Yeah. They're not gonna open, they're gonna see 900 songs and be like, I'm, I'm not open this Dropbox, I'm not opening this file share. Speaker 2 00:59:56 But when I send something, I just, they know and I want them to know if the case they don't know. It's like I put a lot of time and thought into actually sending that song. There's plenty of songs I would love to send, but I've literally thought about it long enough, listen to it at least, you know, five or six times and been like, alright, this, this is it. You know what I mean? And I, I'm, I'm grateful for the opportunity and, you know, and to work with, you know, everybody over Sea Gale, I mean, uh, the, the, the two girls. I say ladies, um, that work with me, um, Kim Wiggins, who is been the business for a while. So Speaker 1 01:00:34 Kim is awesome. Speaker 2 01:00:35 She is, she's great man. Kim Wiggins is, is a pros pro. Um, I've learned so much from her with, with her time there. She got there a year after I did. And, uh, she knows how to navigate me when I'm like upset or like, I, you know, I'm feeling a certain way about something. She's like, she's got enough experience in the business to like, hey, like, calm me down or, you know, or like guide me through any kind of situation. I'm very grateful to have Kim on my side and, uh, Emily Craig, who's married to Adam. Yeah. Um, she started a couple years ago and to watch her grow and, you know, sign people now and like, just, just man, I'm, it's, it's a good company. Kendra Smith, who, oh yeah. Kendra was my intern, or I say my intern, our intern. And, uh, now she's our catalog manager and, uh, Brandon Greg, who's our, Speaker 1 01:01:25 You got a great team over there. Speaker 2 01:01:26 Yeah. Yeah, man. Like, I just wanna make sure I said everybody's name because like, I genuine, I genuinely, genuinely love that place. Yeah. And there's a lot of stuff that, you know, we're getting done right now. And I, I'm just excited to see such a small independent grow the way we're growing with all these artists, you know, like you said. Speaker 1 01:01:43 Yeah. I was gonna ask being a part of an independent thing, but also you with your background. Like you're in a way, like I came up doing radio stuff. I don't have this, this music business fancy Belmont degree. Nikki t doesn't have it either. Neither do. A lot of my friends that that are doing shit in town right now don't have that. And to me, it, it could be the, the New Yorker in me where it's just the, the, the hustling and like, kind of having a little little chip on there where it's like I, I'm, I'm, I'm proud to be doing this and not have the, I call it the B word, the the Belmont Decree. Yeah. Like, I, I feel like that that a little bit, do you have that kind of thing? And do you have that being, being an, being with an independent publisher like Seagall? Speaker 2 01:02:28 Like No, that's what we, Speaker 1 01:02:29 An underdog mentality kind of thing? Speaker 2 01:02:31 No, that's, I mean, we get all our interns from there and there's a lot of good kids. I mean, you know, CJ Solar was an intern for Speaker 1 01:02:37 Oh yeah, no, I know there's a lot of good stuff out there, but I feel like Speaker 2 01:02:40 Just, no, I don't really, you know, there's, there's, there's many roads that can get you to Walmart, you know what I mean? There's many paths and mine was a dirt road, you know what I mean? Yeah. And that, and that's the way I look at it and you know, like everybody, that's, everybody moves to this town for a dream and who am I to? And I'm not getting on your shit or nothing, but Speaker 1 01:03:00 Yeah, no, no, I gotcha. Speaker 2 01:03:01 Like, you know, some people got put in a better situation Yeah. Than we did. Not their fault. Yeah. Let them chase their dreams. He's like, Graham, uh, he just dropped us on preachers and people. Yep. Uh, people need preachers need people like me. He's my intern. Yeah. Cool. Shit. Never would've met the kid if he wasn't the intern. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:03:17 If he wasn't. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:03:18 You know what I mean? And I don't know, that's, I don't get into all that because I didn't, I didn't live here long enough or like, you know what I mean? Like, that doesn't rub me the wrong way. I just, you know, you're gonna work hard regardless if you work hard, you're, you're straight Speaker 1 01:03:34 Work hard, good shit happens. Yeah. If you work hard and you're a nice and you're a good, you're a good person. Speaker 2 01:03:38 Yeah. Doesn't matter if you went to, you know, Phoenix online or <laugh> or Belmont. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, if that's the path you had to take, like I know that was probably the most redneck things I've ever said, but <laugh>. But, you know, everybody's trying to get to Walmart, but, you know, I just had to take a dirt road. Everybody else gotta take the freeway. Speaker 1 01:03:54 Now, two Nashville institutions, you were, you've had a lot of, you've had a lot of involvement in and I know because of you posting about 'em and stuff. Daddy's dogs Speaker 2 01:04:02 Yeah. Man Speaker 1 01:04:03 And Tin Roof. How important are both of those things to you? Because they are Nashville Staples and you got to kind of, you, when you moved to town, they were kind of still coming up. They weren't what they are now. Speaker 2 01:04:14 Yeah. I mean, Shawn and Andrew at Daddy's dogs. I mean that, so when I moved up here, you know, I had to find something I didn't want to get back in the bar. Uh, had plenty of opportunities to bartend and do some other stuff. And I was like, if I get back in that bar, I'm not getting back out. Yeah. It's, it can be a trap. And uh, I had to find something to make it so I didn't blow my savings or nothing like that. And, uh, Shawn and Andrew hired me at Daddy's dogs and I would work outside of losers on like Mondays and Tuesdays. What Speaker 1 01:04:43 A networking opportunity that, that is where you meet everybody. Speaker 2 01:04:46 Dude, I would have, I shit you not Megan Patrick Fair and Rachels Laney Wilson, all that whole group of Speaker 1 01:04:54 People, that Girl Gang Yeah. Speaker 2 01:04:55 Would come and sit on the coolers and play me demos and just hang out with me. And, you know, Megan would bum dips off me and, you know, <laugh> and it was a sneak me beers and stuff like that. Yeah. You know, sorry, Sean. Uh, you know, and you know, it was that, you know, that can get misconstrued from the outside of like, look at that guy, look what he's doing that, you know, it's selling hot dogs and stuff like that. But you know what, man, like, it enabled me to stay here, enabled me to go on the road on the weekends and it kind of made me tougher to the nose a little bit, I'm not gonna lie. And Shawn, Shawn tour managed L King for a little bit. Andrew played, I think when Mickey Guyton a little bit on guitar. And so those guys have toured and they're in the music business, so they understood it. Speaker 2 01:05:39 So when I had, you know, I'll tell you this, I got my job at Seagall, uh, man, it was, it was cra I was actually working at daddy's dogs when I got the call. Uh, I had taken a meet when Mark D School who was our VP and then did one with Chris. It was a dinner. And then I didn't hear anything. And I'm like, and I've been trying to get in publish and I, I met with some companies and I was like, you're an idiot. Why did you leave Tifton? You left a gold mine. You, you know, you had such a good thing going, you. And it was, I'll never forget it was, uh, uh, the Winter Fest in Centennial Park. And I had to get out there early cuz the festival opened at 10. So I had to like, go to the old daddy's dog's house, get the cart, load the coolers. Speaker 2 01:06:24 The girl didn't show up because it was December 1st it was snowing, it was 12 degrees. So I was out there by myself setting this 10. And me and God were like, we were going at it <laugh>. That was, that was one of the few times me and me and God had a come on bro. Like meeting. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, you moron. And just so down on myself, I'm not selling any hot dogs till lunchtime. So I'm out there from like seven to 12 freezing, uh, God bless Sean for having these little heaters. Yeah. Uh, that are not enough <laugh>. And then Saturday, it was a Saturday, phone rings Mark Driscoll. And I was like, I was like, hello. He goes, Hey man, you busy. I was like, nah man, what's going on? He goes, Hey, so, uh, you know, we've met and uh, we wanna offer you a job for, you know, X amount of money and full benefits and all this stuff. Speaker 2 01:07:11 You interested. I said, buddy, you could have had me for nothing. You're an idiot. I would, I would've took this job for free and called Shawn. You know, I called my folks and I, you know, called my buddies and, and John and everybody and let 'em know what was going on. And then called Shawn. And Shawn was just like, man, I hate losing you, but like, this is it, dude. I'm proud of you. Yeah. Shawn texts me once a month every other couple months and Shawn's big daddy. It's his face on everything. Yeah. Yeah. And dude, he's been such a support system and such a good thing for this town and he gets involved with, so I try to do everything I can for him, hook em up with contacts or whatever. Remember Speaker 1 01:07:47 Remember the concerts they were doing during Covid, the, the drive up things, man. Yeah, that was, those were, Speaker 2 01:07:51 Yeah, we did one. See Ga did one of those. And you know, I love, I got a lot of love for that. Even like they're hiring right now. I reposted their hiring thing. I Speaker 1 01:07:59 Saw that. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:07:59 Just because, like, you never know who's gonna see that and there's no, there's no in working hard to, to get by. You know what I mean? But I fully embraced it. Like, I posted videos of me cooking hot dogs. Like I just loved it. I didn't, you know, it's not a serious job, but like the cause is serious. It's good for Nashville and Yeah. You know, it's a staple Speaker 1 01:08:17 Dude. Speaker 2 01:08:18 Yeah. And you know, tin Roof is just tin roof's, tin roof, man. Like that's just, you know, that's the spot. Hey, Speaker 3 01:08:23 I don't need a job, but I love daddy's dogs. So dude, I'd go work there just to get some free hot Speaker 2 01:08:28 Dogs. Well, I'll tell you this, man, they pay well plus you got drunk people tipping you. I mean, dude, I don't wanna like, cause I don't know if it's changed hourly or not. So I don't wanna say that, I'll tell you later, but like that hourly was nice, dude. Speaker 3 01:08:42 I can imagine. And then people, no, they have a spot down on, it's uh, I think I had it down on Printer's Alley. Speaker 2 01:08:46 Yeah. They, they opened, they're Speaker 1 01:08:48 All over the place now. When Speaker 2 01:08:49 I, when I was getting started with them, they were opening up the nations. So I was in there like helping paint and cleaning and uh, installing like whatever they need or building shelves and stuff like that. And man, uh, and then they opened Printers Alley. And man, I'm, I love that company, dude. It's, Speaker 1 01:09:06 I used to get hot. So my first job in town, I was a, I was a bouncer on Broadway. That was my way of staying here. You bounce. I moved, I was a door guy at Whiskey Row. Speaker 2 01:09:14 Oh man. I was Speaker 1 01:09:15 A Broadway, Broadway guy. Speaker 2 01:09:17 Not right. I was Speaker 1 01:09:18 Never, and I was there for a year, but like similar to your kind of story where I was like, there were nights where I was like, this fucking sucks. Yeah. I don't want to be working this Saturday night when the Eagles are coming into play against the Titans the next night. Yeah. And I'm just fighting dudes from Philly all night. Yeah. Like I, it ain't worth the $15 an hour in the door money. But, but that's how I met. I met Tyler who at this, um, he's doing, um, now he's tour managing and production managing for Gary and Charlie. Yeah. And that was how I got the musket on gig was by again, just, just you're in that. And I had a lot of moments like that where I was like, am I an am am I an idiot for leaving New York and New Jersey for coming down here? Yeah, man. But it's like, again, you gotta do what you gotta do to stay in town. Speaker 2 01:09:59 There's a, it's important, there's a writer, I say a writer because I want people to know he's a great writer, but, uh, Swindells guitar player, his name's Joel Hutzel. Speaker 1 01:10:08 Yeah. Oh yeah, I know Joel. Speaker 2 01:10:09 And Joel is a guy like I was talking about moving up and stuff like that. And he looks at me one time and goes, buddy, you can't win the game if you're not there to play it. And I'm like, alright Joel, fire me up one time. Let's get, you know. So I always, I always tell people, Joel says that that's one of my other big things I like telling people is, and I let people know that Joel said that cuz he's right man, if you're not here, if you're not here to play the game, you can't win it. And you know, 84 people, it's probably more than that. 84 people, uh, move here today. They want your spot. They want my spot. Yeah. They want Luke Bryan's spot. They want, you know what I mean? So you have to like, you have to work a little bit these people that, you know, move here for two years and then go home and shit on Nashville because, you know, they didn't make it or whatever. Man, you didn't work hard enough. Like it's a 10 year town and Haley Woodard did 12 years in a 10 year town for a reason. You know what I mean? Speaker 1 01:11:04 Yeah. Everybody's like you said, everybody's path is different. Speaker 2 01:11:06 Yeah. Man. It's, uh, it's such a competitive town and, but I wouldn't wanna live anywhere else. Me too. I love, I love getting to see the country with John and, and just help him as much as I can. Speaker 1 01:11:18 Do you think touring helps you not get sick of Nashville because we're gone so much? Yes. I think for me that's because I was, I think if I had stayed bouncing and I was doing that five nights a week, yeah. I'm Broadway, I'd feel different. But going to x, y, z town city. Yeah. It keeps it fresh. Speaker 2 01:11:33 Yeah. I I think so too. I mean it's, you know, it's grown. Nashville's grown a lot Yeah. Speaker 1 01:11:38 Since you've been here especially. Speaker 2 01:11:40 Yeah. I mean it's, it's, it's a lot different. But you know, it's, I love it man. It's just, I don't know, it's like, I don't wanna say little New York City, but there's always something in the air there, you know what I mean? Like, it's, Speaker 1 01:11:51 It's, there's an energy. Speaker 2 01:11:53 Yeah. Man, it it, it's cool to watch, you know, you could go into That's what I tell people all the time. I'll get people that visit and they'll send me a video of somebody playing. They're like, this is the best guy I ever heard. I was like, yeah, everybody's best from their hometown is here and some of 'em are playing Chili's. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, it's just what it is. And I, I love it. And, and the people who really, you know, hunker down and, and work are the people who end up, you know, making it. And that's, you know, I got a lot of love for Charlie and Gary, the way they do stuff and their mentality on things and you know, those boys work hard and you know, that whole, like, you talk about that whole class of guys of, you know, Riley John Combs and Travis Denning and, and people like that. Speaker 2 01:12:32 Those are, you know, they came here to do the damn thing, you know, in that same group, Jordan Rage and Cole Taylor, you know? Yep. Like I love it man. It's, it's an infectious town and there's nowhere I'd rather be. And like I said, like I'm, I'm very blessed to get, most people don't get to do one thing they love. I get to do two things I love. Yeah. And I'm very, very, I i, it, it is not lost like Coach Taylor on Friday night, light says, he's like, it ain't lost on me. Yep. It's not lost on me. Like I understand, I, I understand that I'm a very lucky human to get to do this. But Speaker 1 01:13:03 You, but you worked your ass off to get here dude. Amen. It's Speaker 2 01:13:06 Part of it. And I'll, I'll tell you one cool thing is, so John does hate one thing I do. Speaker 1 01:13:12 What's that? Speaker 2 01:13:13 Anytime we have a big nine or big celebration, I kind of give him a hug and he's like, we still got work to do. He's like, man, just enjoy it. I'm like, we still got work to do. And uh, and that's our mentality. Well you know, he makes his Grand Ole Opry debut. God bless John for being one of the best dudes I know. Um, we were supposed to play Grand Ole Opry 2020 April, 2020 gets canceled and then uh, they come around and ask again. And so I get a phone call, John's like, Hey man, got a new Opry date? I was like, hell yes cuz I'd never been. Yeah. I said I was not going to the Grand Opry until John Langston plays it. I missed Fletcher Combs Ray, I missed all the homies. De Denny. I missed all the homies debut cuz I stuck to this promise. Speaker 2 01:13:59 And uh, Fletcher and Everett were making their debut in January. I'm like, hell yeah. Like I might get to go watch them. He goes, man, they told me I could pick any of these days. And I picked February 22nd. I said, do what? He goes, dude, you waited this long. Like it's gotta be your birthday <laugh>. So, so I, I Ms. Fletcher and Everett obviously. Yeah. And we uh, or I say we, but he makes his Grand Opry Day be on my birthday. That's what kind of guy John is. Cuz he knew how important that was. I'd been in Nashville forever. Never been to the, to the holy grounds of the opera. We were Speaker 1 01:14:34 Wait waiting until waiting until he was playing and he was standing in the circle Speaker 2 01:14:37 And uh, we get in there and we go to the green room and I guess he had already been there or like snuck it in or I forgot how that happened. I was, it was such an all day for me cause I was looking around. Yeah, Speaker 1 01:14:48 You're a historian of country. You love country music, man. Speaker 2 01:14:50 I, man I love country music. I'm just, I'm looking at like names on the wall and like they got Luke Combs hat, Kadu, Joe's hat and a case. I'm like, man, that guy played my bar. You know what I mean? Like all this cool stuff and getting the green room and he's got this guitar. He's like, get that guitar outta the case for me. And it was his guitar from radio tour and he had wrote a nice note for Happy birthday for me. And at the bottom he says, uh, PS we still got work to do. Speaker 1 01:15:17 Hell yeah. Speaker 2 01:15:18 So if you ever need to know anything about John Langston, that's the kind of guy he is. So I'm very lucky. Hell Speaker 1 01:15:23 Yeah dude. Yeah man. Absolutely. I Speaker 2 01:15:25 Hate telling that story cause I was like, I get all like Speaker 1 01:15:29 Dude, I, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a family thing. That's your fucking brother. You guys have been through, been through breaking down on the way to Colorado together and been through all that and then to see the, and then like you said, still still got work to do. You guys still still growing And now another thing that you love that I gotta ask about cuz uh, and down here you're the fast food game Bojangles. What is it about Bojangles that separates it from all the other? Cause I like, we don't have all these, all these chicken places up north. We got Popeye's and KFC and that's it man. I like Bojangles though. It's good. Speaker 2 01:16:00 Bojangles is awesome because Do they Speaker 1 01:16:01 Sponsor you Speaker 2 01:16:02 Yet? I've done some stuff for 'em. Really? Yeah. It was, it's funny, I I uh, the first like giveaway thing I got to do, it was this thing where I like had to post and you tag people and I was giving away like a $50 gift card or whatever. Nobody tagged anybody because everybody was just so happy. It finally happened for me. Yeah. Like it's like 200 some comments like you finally did it. Way to go. I'm so proud of you and all this. I'm like damn I have nobody to give these gift cards to, you know? Yeah. But, uh, no, I mean it's, you get a breakfast biscuit all day, you wake up hungover at one o'clock in the afternoon or whatever it is and you're like, damn I missed breakfast. Well no you didn't cuz Bojangles, Speaker 1 01:16:42 It's bow time. Speaker 2 01:16:43 It's always bow time, Cajun filet biscuit, egg and cheese, whatever kind of tea you drink order I got, I'm now on only unsweet tea game. I'm not a real southerner anymore. <laugh> and the bow rounds, I mean it's good. I mean it's, it's do Speaker 1 01:16:56 Do you fuck with the bow berry biscuits if you're feeling frisky? Speaker 2 01:16:58 No. You know what, Speaker 1 01:16:59 Throw a lot of sugar in those things. Speaker 2 01:17:00 Yeah. Contrary to popular belief. I know what I look like. I'm not a sweets guy. Speaker 1 01:17:04 Really. Speaker 2 01:17:05 Like I'll dabble with like some hot chocolate chip cookies outta the oven but not gimme an extra hotdog or gimme some more fries like that. That's my thing. You know what I mean? Like Speaker 1 01:17:14 You won't get the chocolate cake at port's Speaker 2 01:17:16 That No, I get the chocolate cake shake. Speaker 1 01:17:19 Oh dude. Yeah. I didn't do the shake last time. I've only been there once I got the, okay. Trey was giving me shit cuz he's been on the diet game. Trey's down about 30 pounds right now. Yeah. He's been, I give him credit cuz he was in, he I've been on the road. I've been, it's just been me and him on the road together the last couple weeks. Yeah. And we were in Chicago. And Chicago has, is a legal, legal state and city. So I'm hitting the dispo. I'm, I'm feeling extra hungry. I'm getting, I'm getting like Luminates um, deep dish pizza. I'm eating all this shit. I ate a big one of the, what is it, the big beef sandwich they have there. That's what she ate. It wet. I couldn't decide between fries and onion ring. So I got a small fry and a small onion ring and the old lady behind me said, you better get the chocolate cake. So I was like, fuck it, I'm gonna get the chocolate cake too. Yeah. I ate all of that in about 15 minutes before the, before we had to be at the Kid Rock show and Trey was just looking at me like, you fat fuck. And I'm like man, it tastes so good though. Speaker 2 01:18:08 Portillo's where it's at. Dude, I so good. I I don't get the, that's another case of like the extra, I get the, the Portillo's beef sandwich. You get Speaker 1 01:18:17 It What Speaker 2 01:18:17 Portillo's way, which is wet with onion, extra onions and all that stuff. Speaker 1 01:18:22 Ooh, Speaker 2 01:18:23 Okay. And then, uh, I get a dog too cuz it's Chicago. So I get a Chicago dog and then I'll get a, I'll get a cake cake shake. Usually Speaker 1 01:18:32 I've heard the cake. I mean, are there actually pieces of cake in the shake, buddy? All right. Next time McElroy. Remember that next time we're up there, we're getting, we're getting Portillos and we're getting cake shakes. Speaker 2 01:18:41 Bloody Portillo's. If you, if you got the, the extra coin, uh, Chicago Cut is the best steak restaurant in the whole country. Really? I mean, dude, it's like, Speaker 1 01:18:54 Do you know, do you know Dave Canavan? You know him well he has Emerald is the bar up there. He's he's boys with um, partners with Ed on a lot of stuff up there. Speaker 2 01:19:02 If I've met him, I've met him in the past Speaker 1 01:19:03 Now. Yeah, he's a good, good, good dude. But he kind of was like my, cause we went to the casino. Have you been to the Rivers Casino up in Chicago? Speaker 2 01:19:10 No, and I like to Speaker 1 01:19:12 <laugh> casinos are dangerous, bro. Especially on the road when you're with the boys. Speaker 2 01:19:16 Yeah, yeah. Me and John are connoisseurs of casinos and if there's like trips where like we need to get out, like I kind of don't mention them, you know what I mean? I don't even think he knew there was a, if he watches this now he's gonna learn. There's a casino in Chicago now, but no, uh, it's Speaker 1 01:19:33 Right in the heart of it too. Speaker 2 01:19:34 Oh goodness gracious. Speaker 1 01:19:35 Not far from Wrigleyville. Speaker 2 01:19:36 No, we, we, our Chicago trips are pretty like planned out cuz that's like, it's one of our favorite cities to go to. And obviously cuz of Ed and Joe's and, but we go to the Cut, then we go to uh, Speaker 1 01:19:47 You've been to a Cubs game? Speaker 2 01:19:49 Oh yeah. I went to, I've been to a couple Cubs games. I went this year when Jeb played, I went saw Cubs Braves and Oh, sick. Speaker 1 01:19:54 That's Speaker 2 01:19:55 Great. We were on our 14 game winning streak and yeah, Cubs were on their 12 game losing streak and the Cubs beat us <laugh>. So I jinxed us. But uh, and then, uh, what's the bar called? There's a bar we like going to, uh, old mother. No Old Mother Hubbards. It's one of seven, seven or 10 bars. I forget what it is. That's a allowed to stay open until 4:00 AM and it's basically like the tin roof of Chicago. It's like an old sports bar. It's, you know what I mean? Like Christmas lights up and just Speaker 1 01:20:22 A good time Speaker 2 01:20:23 Man. It good bar tenderers, uh, who remember us every time we go in there. Really? Which, which is, which Speaker 1 01:20:28 Is cool. That's impressive. Yeah. What you're just visiting. Speaker 2 01:20:30 Yeah. Yeah. It's the same like lady, I say lady, I don't know who she is, <laugh>, but she's always in there and she's like, oh, Nashville. So last time I was over there with Jeff, she did that. I was like, Speaker 1 01:20:40 So Chicago's your favorite one. The say your favorite one to go. Favorite city to man Speaker 2 01:20:45 Go to Chicago's up there, Portland, Oregon is up there for me. We're actually going there next week. We're doing Speaker 1 01:20:51 Why Portland? I feel like that's just so dude out there and I haven't been up that way, dude. I've been to Portland, Maine a bunch. I haven't been to Portland, Oregon. Speaker 2 01:20:57 Summers in Portland, Oregon. They're, it's like 70 degrees, no humidity. Uh, they've got like this food truck alley that's like a mile long of like Speaker 1 01:21:08 Food truck alley. Speaker 2 01:21:09 Like it's nothing but food trucks. It is in, it is. We're going up next week. I'll send you a picture. Yeah, please do. If we get time to roll through there. <laugh>. But I mean, any kind of food you can think of is like in this block of, of just food trucks and then Voodoo Donuts, which is Speaker 1 01:21:26 Like a Oh, voodoo Donuts is great. Yep. Speaker 2 01:21:27 But yeah, I mean we had a good time. We did like three days up there in Portland. Um, yeah, I like it up there a lot, man. We found the only country bar. Speaker 1 01:21:35 Hey there, you, Speaker 2 01:21:35 You go and drank. They, they had like John DA's on like for their special and or we just sat up there and drink John Dailies. But I love Portland. I love Cincinnati. Uh, Cincinnati's very underrated. Yeah. They have a casino as well. Yes Speaker 1 01:21:48 They do. Yep. Been there. Speaker 2 01:21:49 They have a casino and a tin roof. Yep. So very underrated city. Plus like, you know, the van days where you're driving, there's not a more beautiful drive in or around. I've hit it at Sun up sundown just going over that bridge and looking at Cincinnati. Speaker 1 01:22:04 I'm like, yeah, the Bengal stadium's right there. Yeah Speaker 2 01:22:06 Man. And then you get to drive through like the har I'm like, man, this is like whoever designed this, like whatever architect or whoever did this, did this. Right. Cause you're just coming through Florence. Y'all, you know that big water tower? Yep. You, you're going through Speaker 1 01:22:21 <laugh>. You get from Kentucky to Ohio real quick. Speaker 2 01:22:23 Yeah. You're just like, oh shit, you know, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Oh man, this is beautiful right here. Yeah. And then nothing, nothing, nothing until Columbus. Speaker 1 01:22:31 So. Speaker 2 01:22:32 No, that's, that's one of the craziest things is like learning the whole country. Speaker 1 01:22:36 Yeah. Learning the high. And if you've been in the van, do you still drive the uh, drive the drive the bus every day? Again, Speaker 2 01:22:42 I help, I help out with that. Cause you don't need a CDL for it. I think we're like, yeah, Speaker 1 01:22:45 That's how we are with the bandwagon. Speaker 2 01:22:46 Yeah. And, and I, you know, I like driving. Uh, I feel the safest when I'm dri obviously. Speaker 1 01:22:52 What, what do you have up, what are you, are you a Gatorade guy? Are you a peanut m and Ms. Guy? What? Are you like snacking on drinking on Jerky guy? Speaker 2 01:22:58 No, dude, I'm not really a big snack guy when I'm driving. It's Or Speaker 1 01:23:02 Are you a zit? You just popping in the Zis? Speaker 2 01:23:03 Yeah man, I have it. I gave up Dip in 2020. Speaker 1 01:23:06 God bless you. Speaker 2 01:23:07 When everybody else picked it back up. Speaker 1 01:23:09 <laugh>. Speaker 2 01:23:09 Yeah. And then, uh, I've had a couple in the Times. Um, but you know, it's What Speaker 1 01:23:15 Was your, what was your can of choice? What were you Speaker 2 01:23:17 Oh, grizzly Wintergreen. Speaker 1 01:23:18 Grizzly Wintergreen Guy Brew Speaker 2 01:23:19 Dude. Well bear welfare Bear all day long dude. It was dude 2 87 A can. Yeah. And dude, it was, I'd buy buy the roll and feel like a king dude. But I got on the, on the Zen train. I'll have Speaker 1 01:23:33 To swap cuz motherfucker The skull over here. Yes. The price of skull has gone up here recently. It's $5 a can, my $5 a can for skull. You gotta get on that grizzly. Speaker 2 01:23:41 No, I got out at the right time. You did? Yeah. Speaker 1 01:23:43 I mean it's like, it's like Dogecoin, you got out at the right Speaker 2 01:23:45 Time. Yeah, this stuff is expensive too for like the 15 pouches or whatever. But I mean, dude, when I got on that I was such a big dipper. Like I would, I would do the sixes and I'd put three sixes in my mouth. So 18 milligrams of like nicotine. Geez. And like that was the only thing that would help me. And then I've weaned off one on the threes. I do like two threes just for instead of one six just for, so I could feel like, feel it in my mouth. Yeah. You know, kind of thing. Use that as a soundbite, but <laugh>. But no, it is, it is literally, uh, black coffee, iced coffee usually and good, Speaker 1 01:24:22 Good, good cold Speaker 2 01:24:22 Brew nicotine and, uh, Keith Whitley, I think the boys are about sick of hearing Keith Whitley out out of the front of that thing. <laugh> but old country. I mean, what's cool is like, you know, Brad will hop up with me and he'll play like, you know, the rock stuff or play me his demos and Steven hops up and it's like Boys to Men and stuff like that. And you know, so I mean it's, it's good. Our old sound guy, Jason would get up there and play Hard Rock and like I could tolerate the nickel back and Speaker 1 01:24:53 You're not a big butt rock guy, Speaker 2 01:24:55 Man. The ba So our new drummer is, his name's Pablo Riveras. He's from, he was in Chelsea Grin. Steven and Brad love Heavy Metals, Speaker 1 01:25:04 So Oh yeah, Speaker 2 01:25:05 Dude, when John goes to bed and like that, that lounge area like two in the morning, it's like Speaker 1 01:25:14 There was room for a mosh pit. They'd be doing it. Yeah. I'm Speaker 2 01:25:17 Like, what the hell is, and like there's a sub, like Tommy did this right. Put a great sound system. The sub is right behind the driver's seat. So it's just, I'm like, what in the, I still didn't figure out how to unhook that thing. I'm gonna learn how to unhook that thing. But no, I mean we, we got a good crew and you know, it's man, God's good. You know what I mean? Amen. Life is good. God's good. I just, you know, love, love sitting here and talk. I'm not a me, me, me guy. You know what I mean? That's kind of why I put this off for like the longest time. Yeah. Um, but I got a lot of respect for what you do and Nicky t and just appreciate that man lot man. Lot of stuff going on in town. You know, the in round podcast, the in the round stuff over at Lab Speaker 1 01:25:58 Oak. Yeah. The round, the round's taken off from what it was. I mean, we had helped. I, I don't want, I don't want to say like 2020 was a great year for the second half of 2020 for me was awesome between seeing what, seeing what happened with, with Trey and all of his stuff. And then we were one of the few rounds we were lucky to be at Live Oak. Yeah. And they let us do our thing even though there were people up in the, in the apartment across the street taking pictures from the balcony trying to get him in trouble. You know. Well Speaker 2 01:26:22 Ha Hastens a g dude. Speaker 1 01:26:23 Hasten is a G dude. He is the man to me. He's the one of the best ambassadors as far as like bar owners in town. Yeah. He's right up there with anybody else. And just supporting the music, supporting what we do on the industry side. Like Yeah. He's the guy. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:26:36 Hasten, you know, in the same aspect of obviously Wards. Ward's great. Speaker 1 01:26:40 Yeah, dude, the God I call Ward the Godfather Speaker 2 01:26:42 Ward. You know, we did a whiskey jam in Tifton. Like in You did a Speaker 1 01:26:45 Whiskey jam at the gin. Speaker 2 01:26:47 Yeah. Back in the day we had Travis Fair and Rachel's Eric Dillon Ward played. And it wasn't like, it wasn't how it is up here cuz it was a rowdy ass college bar. I mean like, it was like, I Speaker 1 01:26:58 Did not know that is, I would've paid to have seen that. The Tifton crowd on a whiskey Speaker 2 01:27:03 Jam. Yeah. Yeah, man. That's where I met Eric Dylan at. It was, there's a, I'm not gonna tell that story on camera. Uh, cause I love Eric. Uh, Eric had, it was, it was, it was a fun night. Eric. Eric, me and Eric still talk about that man every time I see him, man. Uh, but Ward, I mean there's not, I mean, nobody's doing what Ward's doing and nobody, like everybody tries to replicate obviously because, you know, this is such a music town. But the brand, you know, alone is just, yeah. Speaker 1 01:27:30 I say if it weren't for Ward, I don't think I'd be doing what I'm doing. Speaker 2 01:27:32 No, I mean, he literally gave the town the playbook, you know what I mean? And he's such an evil genius. He didn't give you all the plays <laugh> because he's still growing and you know, ward is a Ward's somebody I lean on a lot in Speaker 1 01:27:46 Town. Yeah. He's somebody I can text. Like he's, he's one of those guys that'll just bring like me being new, me being, it'll be four years in October that I've lived here and Ward's been here, obviously a lot longer that Whiskey Jam's older than I've been in town. Yeah. And I could shoot him a text or give him a call and he'll he'll answer, he'll hit me back. Like he's Yeah. Ward, he's very supportive of what, what we all do. It's important to have that in the community. Speaker 2 01:28:07 Yeah. Ward Ward likes the idea of Nashville growing and I mean just to, we did the, the Hardy takeover and just to watch all that go down and like, just like take a step back and just look and be like, damn Lord. Like, and Rh Onan, he's a part of that too. I wanna make sure his name was said. Cuz Ryan's just the biggest part of that. And he, Speaker 1 01:28:27 That was Nick t's thing with Hicks tape. Yeah, yeah. Nicky T was part, I was texting Nicky T and he's like, bro, you're not gonna believe we were out on the road. We were heading out to um, I think Indiana, that, that, that night. Yeah. And we, and then, and Nicky t was like, bro, you're not gonna believe what's going on over here. Yeah. It's like, oh shit. Speaker 2 01:28:43 Yeah, it was, it was wild. I, I j John went up on the bus with Hardy and uh, I went to go grab him for our set or whatever, and I popped my head up, said, Hey to Hardy and was like, dude, you broke losers. You broke the bar. You broke the bar. He just laughed. <laugh>, you know, and it's, it's, it's man and, and throw Hardy in that category too, man. Like he's, Speaker 1 01:29:04 You've watched him, you've watched him come Speaker 2 01:29:06 Up. I met Hardy back in the day. He played bass for CJ Solo. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:29:09 He was a bass player Speaker 2 01:29:10 And CJ played my bar. And man to watch Hardy just evolve like that. Like, I mean, it's special man. Speaker 1 01:29:16 You've seen all those Hardy and Morgan, everybody that's, that's out there right now. You've gotten to see Speaker 2 01:29:21 Yeah, man, Speaker 1 01:29:21 It's from your time in town or just being in the business. Speaker 2 01:29:24 Yeah. Man, it, it makes me excited about, you know, what's coming, like Speaker 1 01:29:29 Yeah. There's a lot of cats out there Yeah. Coming up right now. There, Speaker 2 01:29:32 There's some, there's some dude at Red Door tonight that's gonna be Luke Combs big and nobody knows it yet. Nobody Speaker 1 01:29:36 Has any idea. He's just, he's just sitting there spending his last, his last 20 bucks. Yeah. Having a good time with his friends. Speaker 2 01:29:42 Yeah, man. I mean that's, that's the beauty of this town. I mean, it's, it's a lot of hard work and it's sometimes it's luck too and being in the right place at the right time. But yeah, I mean, like, like I said, there's some kid who gonna be at Red Door tonight that's gonna be selling out stadiums one day and it's like, man, that's, that's what this town's all about, dude. Like, just the come up and the hard work and I don't know, man, I, I just love it here. Yeah. Like, I never thought I'd leave Georgia. Never, ever. I love where I'm from. I'm fa I mean, you know, my Facebook, I've got my Camden county. I'm from Camden County, Georgia. That is my Facebook picture header I'm proud of where I'm from, the nine 12. And Dylan and Screech know all about that. And you know, and watching every, you know, watching the Dylans and the Noaha Hicks come up and have their turn. Like it's just so, I mean, like, where do you get to see that? Like, okay, the minor leagues, you get to see it for like, somebody's down there for like six months and then they make it to the big leagues or whatever. But like somebody's working their ass off for like 10 years before they even get to sniff like aa, you know? So, and then Bradley Jordan, of course, Brad. I, I definitely Speaker 1 01:30:54 Uncle, uncle Ronnie. Speaker 2 01:30:55 Yeah. I've known Bradley since 2011. Yeah. Long, long, long, long time. I used to go to Peachtree Tavern and hang with him and hang with, with his crowd. And you know, he's got a lot of good stuff going on with him and he's man, him and I would put him in Ward in the same category as like, I hope that one day there's like a place in the hall of fame dedicated to guys like those two and Ed Warm and Rick and stuff like that. Because they're a big part of, Speaker 1 01:31:25 Because cause without, without them, none of the guys we work with are, are at the point they're, we're not at the, like, country music as a whole is, is would not be the same without those kind of guys. Speaker 2 01:31:37 Yeah. I mean, y you asked me today, you know, country Music, hall of Fame, Bradley Jordan and War Gunther. Yeah. And you know, Rick and all those guys, I own all Robert Gag, Robert Gallagher. Yep. They all deserve their little spot in that, because without those clubs, there's nowhere to cut your teeth and figure out what works, what doesn't work. There's no way to build a fan base. There's no, you don't get to the radio without those guys. Yep. Hands down. And I true when I, I genuinely mean that. Like, I'm not just saying that to be whatever, like the country music Hall of Fame needs to have guys like Ward and Bradley Jordan there a Speaker 1 01:32:13 Hundred percent at least Speaker 2 01:32:14 For a month. You know what I mean? Like, at least give their, give them, give their flowers while they're still here and not have to talk about 'em. Like, oh, he was so Speaker 1 01:32:22 Goods. Yeah. No need for a was. It's They are. Yep. They are in the, in the present. What's something you wish you could, you could have? What's something you would tell yourself, um, say seven years ago, you're grinding down at the gin before coming up here. What's something you'd tell yourself now Speaker 2 01:32:36 Pack your shit and get up here now, <laugh>. Yeah. Honestly, dude, like I got lucky moving when I did. And it wasn't like a lot of people who move here, I knew people here already. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I didn't have it as hard. I knew where the spots were, I knew where to go and where to hang and how to network and stuff like that. But just get up here sooner and like, you know, trust, trust in yourself. I mean, I had a lot of people from, you know, the Coles in the world and Luke's and Carrie's and John's, you know, telling you for so long. Like, dude, just, you're, you're, you're better than a bar. You know what I mean? And there's nothing, there's no negative to that at all. I love my time down there and, you know, you know, it's just, it's just one of those things, man. Like, I should, I should have been up here, I should have left out Austin 2009 and just said, I'm out. I'm, I'm going up there. But without Speaker 1 01:33:28 The, but your but your years never there. Speaker 2 01:33:31 But you never know. Like, everything Speaker 1 01:33:32 Happens for a reason. God has a path and you gotta go on Speaker 2 01:33:35 It. Yeah, man, it's, uh, God's been very good to me. I'm very open about that stuff. Yep. Everybody knows that. Um, yeah. It's, you know, you put your faith in, in the Lord and he'll return. It might not be the way you see it at first. Yeah. You might be selling hotdog, Speaker 1 01:33:51 That's Speaker 2 01:33:52 For sure in front of the, in front of the bar for a little bit. But there's a method to the madness and, you know, not only just putting your faith up there with him, surrounding yourself with good people and good things happen. You know what I mean? Yeah. For sure. That's really it, man. Dude. Speaker 1 01:34:06 Well this has been a pleasure, my Speaker 2 01:34:08 Man. Yeah. Sorry. It's hard if I went too long Speaker 1 01:34:09 Longer. No, dude. The more, the more you talk, the more, the better the episode is. Trust me. There's, there's guests that I've had that won't say a word. Yeah. And it's like pulling, it's like, it's like I'm a dentist pulling their teeth out, you know? Yeah. So this was freaking great. Um, JD really appreciate it, brother. Yeah. You know, I Speaker 2 01:34:23 Love you. I'm proud of what you do and keep it up and keep giving all these guys chances cuz without, you know, your rounds, some people don't ever get heard and songs never get heard. You never, you never know whose life you're gonna change, man. Speaker 1 01:34:35 Yeah, man. We, we, I, I sure as hell appreciate that, man. Y'all be sure, um, look him up on social media, JD Groover, just look up, look up, um, all the dates where John, where you guys are gonna be out on the road. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:34:47 We're, uh, this is our only weekend off till Thanksgiving. Speaker 1 01:34:49 Let's go. So that's exciting stuff. I know, I know. The, the, the lady back home doesn't like hearing that, but yeah, that as a, as a guy, that tours, that hypes me up Speaker 2 01:34:57 To hear. Yeah, man. It's, it's what we love. You know, there's, uh, I know at one point nobody played more shows in our genre than John Langston at one point. Yeah. We're we, were road dogs. We ain't scared to, I mean, we've been from, from Maine to Spain, man, <laugh>, Speaker 1 01:35:11 Whatever. We, Speaker 2 01:35:12 We ain't scared we've been to Monkton Canada. Look that place up, <laugh>. So hell, hell yeah. Speaker 1 01:35:17 Yeah, man. That's what it's all about. But, uh, guys, thanks as always for, uh, watching, uh, the in the Round podcast. Uh, shout out to our sponsors, whale Tale Media, Saxon Studios, and of course our boy Mitch Wallace with the Digital Marketing Agency. If you enjoy the episode, make sure you, uh, leave a review, leave a rating, tell your mama and them, and, uh, we'll keep growing this thing. And, uh, remember we do every other Tuesday night at Live Oak Music Row, we do our in Thero Songwriters night. So hopefully we'll see you all there. Thank you for tuning in. We will see all next time. This has been the In the Round podcast. Sweet. Speaker 2 01:35:48 Oh, I held that fart in No, I'm just kidding. Speaker 1 01:35:50 <laugh> held that far in.