Industry Series: Promotion, Label Life and Taking Chances w/ Megan Hinde

Speaker 0 00:00:13 What Speaker 1 00:00:14 Is going on, everybody? Welcome back to another edition of the In The Round podcast. Today we have got episode two of our industry series, uh, super stoked about this that we get to do having on different friends that like me are involved in the community, but not necessarily songwriters, artists, people like that, that we typically have here on the program. And today we have got my good friend, Ms. Megan Hind. Uh, she works with Peachtree Entertainment, uh, 65 South, a big company out of the southeast that has helped a lot of artists out, someone we're very familiar with here in the round. She also works with average Joe's Entertainment on the label side and does a whole bunch of other shit here in Nashville, Tennessee. So super stoked to have her. Gotta tell y'all about our sponsors real quick. Of course, our friends at Whale Tale Media are partners in this, in the Round podcast and the songwriters nights at Live Oak, which if you haven't been recently, you gotta come check them out. Speaker 1 00:01:07 Uh, we're gonna be doing our next one on January the fourth, unveiling some new merch too, which we're very excited about. So check out our friends, whale Tale Media, whale tale.com. Saxon Studios another great friend of ours, Grady Axman and his boys. You're looking for a place to record here in Nashville, Tennessee. Look no further than our boys at Axman Studios. Hit them up on social media. Just search Saxon Studios. And last, but certainly not least, our friends in the Green World, Trailside Wellness Emporium. That's right. They've ch they've since changed their name. They have got everything you could possibly ever want when it comes to hemp cbd, Delta A T H C, pre-rolls, other kinds of flower products, dabs, uh, disposables, edibles. They've got it all. And if you go online to their website, trailside cbd.com, Trailside Wellness, you can use promo code ITR and save yourself 20% off. So go check them out. Now that further ado, we're gonna get into it. We're looking forward to this one. It's our friend Megan Hind on this week's edition of the In the Round podcast. So how the hell are you doing, Megan? Speaker 2 00:02:21 I'm good. You know, survived the storms this weekend. Speaker 1 00:02:24 Yeah. So where you're at? I used to live near where you're at. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and that, that area of town and that area got hit with flooding pretty bad a couple, like a couple months ago. Right, Speaker 2 00:02:33 Right. Yeah. Ryan Nelson's house, which is kind of around the corner from where we are in Brentwood for Yeah. New listeners. Um, yeah, it got a little bit of flooding. We weren't in that new house. You yet though, so I have no clue what's gonna happen at that house. But from the storm this weekend, we lost power. Yeah. And um, I'm, it's a two story home and I'm on the downstairs and there was some water issues and things I had to deal with yesterday, so it took me a little bit to text you back. Um, but, you know, we survived the storm. Speaker 1 00:03:04 Yeah. Nashville weather is nothing to fuck with. Like, it, it's pretty crazy. And you come from California where you guys don't get a lot of rain. You guys have fires and shit, right? Yeah. Like where in ca where in California you from? Speaker 2 00:03:15 Um, I'm from, well Redding, California. I was born in Sacramento and went to college in Sacramento and lived a few other places. But Redding at California, I would say is home from 1998 and on. Speaker 1 00:03:26 That's Northern California. Yes. Right. North Cal. Speaker 2 00:03:29 It's like, did you ever watch Game of Thrones? Oh yeah. So I always tell people, I'm like, we're the true north. Speaker 1 00:03:33 Hey, there you go. Near, Speaker 2 00:03:34 Almost near Oregon, near Shasta Lake, Mount Shasta, everything's named Shasta up there. Um, it's beautiful. Yeah. And it's unique living here in the south because everyone meets me and they talk about palm trees and surfing and the ocean and you know, I grew up in lakes, Speaker 1 00:03:52 So Yeah, I, I feel that too. I, I'm being from New York, similar kind of thing where southerners are like, they look at, oh, California, it's gotta be this, it's gotta be that. And all the, all the traffic and all this, which I'm sure there's a lot of traffic in Northern California. Not as much as la Right. Speaker 2 00:04:06 I mean, when most people think of Northern California, think of like San Francisco, which is awful. Traffic. Yeah. In Sacramento where I lived, you know, 10 plus years had, has quite a bit of traffic being the capitol. Yeah. Um, I think that's since changed since Covid and a lot of government agencies shutting down. Yeah. But Redding, you know, the population's like 65 to 80,000. A lot of my friends lived in the outskirts of town. Um, and I haven't lived there in so long, so I can't like speak to the traffic Speaker 1 00:04:36 There. Do you, do you go back a lot, um, during Covid or not really? I did Speaker 2 00:04:40 Not actually. Um, I am going back on the 19th this month and I was thinking about it. I was driving over here. I mean, I've been back to California like three times, which one of them was for a wedding. I missed Christmas last year. It was Labor Day before that. And then kind of before that it was right when I moved to like train someone at my old job. Yeah. So it's been very limited. Speaker 1 00:05:03 What'd you do before you got down here? And we'll get into all the, all Yeah. You do a lot of shit here in Nashville and in the southeast. Like you're very involved in the country music, country music, uh, industry and like the scene that we have going on here in Nashville. What'd you do before you got down here? Like were you in music up there or Speaker 2 00:05:18 What? No, no, not, I mean, I've done a hodgepodge of different jobs that has really created me as a professional. I mean, it would be, well, right before I moved to Nashville I worked for a company called JLL Jones Lang LaSalle. It's a commercial real estate company, but a lot of times people here in Nashville don't see how it's applicable. Um, they think of my previous roles, which I, I mean it's just easiest to go from college and on. Yeah. Um, Speaker 2 00:05:43 Absolutely. A lot of people that you do meet go to school in music here in Nashville or were in radio and kind of fell into it. I had a few other careers actually before getting into what I do here now, but went to school at Sac State, fell into an internship at a triple a baseball team, very similar to the Nashville sounds. They're called the Sacramento River Cats. Worked up from internship through inside sales, cold calling people every day, selling group tickets for three to four seasons. Really loved that. Um, and it's sometimes important to bring up because my boss that was there at the Sacramento Rivercat just got the GM role at the Nashville sounds. Oh Speaker 1 00:06:19 Wow. Speaker 2 00:06:19 So you just never know. Full circle. Speaker 1 00:06:21 It's, it's a small world that minor league baseball, surfing. Oh yeah. Like it really is. Speaker 2 00:06:24 Sports world in general is just like music world. Yeah. Um, and I love that I worked in that industry cuz there is quite a bit of crossover in what is unique now is that I'll work with different artists that'll travel, travel to different cities and I know people in sports and get to hook 'em up with different sports experiences. Yeah. But after the Rivercat, I actually worked for the NBA for two seasons. Oh no shit. Um, in Scottsdale, well Phoenix, Arizona. That was, that was a lot Speaker 1 00:06:51 <laugh>. Now you worked, did you work specifically with the sons? Mm-hmm. Or were you with the mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So So they are killing it by the way. I know right now they are very freaking good right now. Speaker 2 00:06:59 Right. And what's funny is Devin Booker is huge and dating what? Kendall Jenner and I left the sons probably the same month the, that he was brought over from Kentucky. But yeah, I went over to the Phoenix Suns and that's actually probably when I became a workaholic because that was, I don't know, they don't have like hours like California did, whereas baseball season there, if you worked a whole, you know, 12 hour day, you'd get like the next day off. Whereas the N B A, you know, we'd get in at 8:00 AM there'd be a game being broadcasted Yeah. At eight 30 and you'd be there till midnight and then you'd be there the next day. And being that we worked within the arena, we also worked the W N B A season, the AFL season as well as like a arena shows. Yeah. Which too, like a 24 year old that's a lot of money in commission, but I had no life. Speaker 1 00:07:52 Yeah. It burns burdens you the fuck out. Yeah. I was Speaker 2 00:07:54 Very burnt out. Um, I'm super appreciative of the experience over there, but Speaker 1 00:07:58 Do you think that, do you think that that grind helped set you up for where you are right now though? Absolutely. Like, cause grind, grinding at 23, 24 I think is very important. Speaker 2 00:08:06 Yeah, I think it gave me a level of professionalism that when you show up you, you show up and you're dealing with clients and you're dealing with a competitive market of other employees and you know, wiping off the tears and just making the most of it while that you're there. But it also made me really reflect as an adult what's important and how to take care of myself. Yeah. So I mean I was at the NBA at the Phoenix Suns and I actually was interviewing to get back home, um, towards the last few months of being there while applying for a manager role there. I was kind of doing both at the same time. Yeah. It's weird to reflect Speaker 1 00:08:46 On. I I, I mean hey you gotta keep all the options open. Yeah. Especially when you're that Speaker 2 00:08:49 Young. My dad totally preached to me that it's always good to have options. So while I was optioning for things back home to become a regular human, I was trying to elevate my career over there. And um, I think the same week that I got a promotion there, I decided to take a job with Jones Lang LaSalle back in California to be a regular human, eight to five. My um, father was really sick with like a terminal illness so it just felt right Yeah. To go back to California and not come to Nashville yet. Speaker 1 00:09:24 <laugh> Were you thinking about coming out here though? Yeah. At Speaker 2 00:09:26 That point Nashville has always been in the picture probably since I graduated college. Um, Speaker 1 00:09:34 Why is that? Is it just being a country music fan? I wanting to be in a, I was huge. Speaker 2 00:09:37 Yeah. I was a huge fan. I went to all the shows with my friends, you know, any new album that came out, I'd listen to the album in hole and kind of guess what's gonna be the next single or what I gravitated for towards. And you know, I was always right to what they were pitching into radio. Yeah. And then I've always kind of had a knack for, you know, being at a show and looking at like who's the sponsors and just looking at things a little bit differently than other people looking Speaker 1 00:10:02 At through the business lens. Speaker 2 00:10:03 Yeah. Business lens and a lot of sports. The sports industry made me look at concerts and, you know, album campaigns and endorsements in magazines and why this artist is doing this. I just always had this like, escalated interest Yeah. Rather than just the music itself. So it was always, it was always there. I mean I remember working at the Rivercat and I, I mentioned my old boss, him being, he's actually from Kentucky. Him being like, have you been to Nashville yet? You'll love it. You know, and then even being in Arizona, a lot of people are like, had you gone there and visited yet? You probably won't come back. And so it was always kind of in the plan. And then I had a really close friend move out here and she actually does, she works at Samaa on Eighth Avenue and is involved in the industry in her own facet. Speaker 1 00:10:52 Big, big, big, uh, they're very involved over there. Very, Speaker 2 00:10:55 Very Speaker 1 00:10:56 Involved. You think of all, you think of all anything. Yeah. Really anything that has to do with here in Nashville or, or outside. I mean there's all the, all those different signs that you see on Music Row. I mean they are the the ones that do it. Right. Speaker 2 00:11:07 Yeah. And even beyond that, like, you know, on the front of the drums, the, I don't even know what the drum panel, the drum circle thing. Speaker 1 00:11:12 The kick drum. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:11:13 The kick drum. They design anything and everything. So she had moved out here and it was kind of opened this potential opportunity like someone from home being there, there's, Speaker 1 00:11:23 It's always a friend moving here first. That's what happened to me. I know that's what happened with Matt. That sounds, that's what happened with you. Like Right. And then it's that friend. Was she like saying, Hey Mike, you gotta get down here. Speaker 2 00:11:31 Yeah. I mean, you know, I, she'd tell me her friends' stories and you know, I was kind of her outlet of appreciation and understanding on that. You, you know, she opened up the table of like, whenever you wanna come visit, like just stay with me. And everyone knows hotels and Airbnbs are so expensive. Yes. That it allowed that opportunity. And then just keeping up with our friendship and me working in a regular human job after being a workaholic in the, Speaker 1 00:11:59 I mean it, I think, I think those nine to fives, those, those big boy big girl jobs are overrated. Personally, I like not, I like not having that. It's Speaker 2 00:12:07 Funny because I actually had this conversation recently, like I have such a suit at Whole, like I love structure and corporate and having an HR and having like goals to test to and it's maybe cuz right outta college, I had to do that in sports. And then working at jll, like this is a global company. It became, it taught me everything from Photoshop to analytics, you know, with goals and everything that I use on a day to day. Yeah. Here in Nashville in the music industry came from actually working at jll. Um, but I mean what was fun about JLL is I made great money and it was eight to five and those are the years that my friends were getting married and like going on trips and I wasn't going into debt doing all of that, but it left room for a creative side of me. So I'd started a blog about music. Speaker 1 00:12:58 Really? Mm-hmm. I did not know that. What was it called? Speaker 2 00:13:01 So I had this blog, um, called Blue Bandana Country. Speaker 1 00:13:05 I think I remember this actually. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:13:07 And uh, that's actually how I met Nick with raised Rowdy. Um, I had created this blog because, I don't know, I had this creative energy. I wanted to talk about music. I knew that if Nashville was in my sight line, that I had to be a part of the conversation and network and meet people other than being like the Woo girl at a concert and getting Speaker 1 00:13:26 On artist class. The one at the meet, the one at the meet and greet being like, Hey, so nice to meet you. I know this part. Like yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah. But you run into that, we see that now being on the other side. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:13:36 Yeah. And I just wanted to be taken a little bit more seriously and I needed a little bit of like, I, I don't know, I needed a network before I got to Nashville. So I had started the Blue Bandana country blog and um, Greta at Sanama, she was a huge part of that as well. Super helpful. Great insight. Connected with, Speaker 1 00:13:54 So, so what exactly were you doing on there? Was that like concert reviews? Was it like artist stuff? Was it like premiering things? Like what was, I Speaker 2 00:14:01 Mean, a lot of playlists. We did artist interviews. I did do a big influence of like featuring female artists. Okay. Speaker 1 00:14:09 Um, which, which was like, what was this around Tomato Gate? Speaker 2 00:14:11 A it was a little before. Speaker 1 00:14:13 A little before. Okay. Speaker 2 00:14:13 Which was what was interesting about it. And, and it was mostly cuz I was being a female and I was trying to find a niche that was a little bit different than everyone else. And I did believe in a lot of different female acts and just kind of wanted to give them Speaker 1 00:14:26 A voice. Who were, who were some of them at that time? Speaker 2 00:14:29 I mean I think one of the first interviews we had was Fair and Rachel's No shit. And that's how I met her Speaker 1 00:14:33 Badass Bitch. We love Farron. Speaker 2 00:14:35 Um, I know we talked to Ashlynn. Um, I did do an interview with Caroline Mick who's dating or is married now. Ian. Mick Ian. Right. And she had that whole not a public figure brand. Yeah. So it was, I mean there was a handful of people. I mean I met Ryan Nelson through like Blue Bandana Country that time I met Nikki T Yeah. With Raised Rowdy cuz him and I just kind of would message back and Speaker 1 00:15:01 Forth and how are you finding these people? Is it just a lot of Spotify? Is it a lot of just social media and digging? Like what's the process to running a blog like that? Cause that's a lot, that's a lot of grinding too. It was Speaker 2 00:15:11 A lot of work. Um, truthfully meeting Bradley Jordan with Peachtree Entertainment and knowing that playlist and watching who he was booking for shows and people that were in that world gave me a lot of insight on who's gonna be something Speaker 1 00:15:26 Next. So watching the Southeast. Yes. Like cuz that is the hub. Speaker 2 00:15:30 It, I I believe Speaker 1 00:15:31 It is. Well, I mean we see that people Speaker 2 00:15:34 Arguably it is the hub Yeah. Of where all the talent comes from or where act gets developed. Speaker 1 00:15:38 Yeah. So seeing that being out in Cali and running now, were you getting a lot of shows out? There were people coming out, were those folks coming out to California yet? Or like Speaker 2 00:15:47 Kind of, I mean, some radio, there would be radio shows and we were friends with people at the different stations where we would get to meet them in person. Like I think my first time meeting Riley was out there. Speaker 1 00:15:59 But those, but those big label acts. And then a lot of these independent up and comers that you're talking about, like you want to meet, like I'm talking about like me getting, like seeing like Ashlynn or Farn or, or Randy as we call him Ryan Nelson. Um, are those folks coming out there? Like how did you, not quite yet <laugh>. So you, so did you first like meet them, meet them here in Nashville? Like you kind of, yeah. You guys were internet friends and then you came here Speaker 2 00:16:21 Internet friends. And then I did this like Blue Bandana week where me and eight of my, eight of my friends, oh Speaker 1 00:16:28 Boy. Speaker 2 00:16:28 Came out to Nashville Monday through Friday. Not a weekend. Like we went to Whiskey Jam and then we went to Revival and Speaker 1 00:16:35 We did all the all the local stuff. Speaker 2 00:16:37 We did song suffragettes, we did all the things during the week. And it was funny cuz all my friends hadn't been to Nashville before either. And I think this is my second time being here and they're like, well why aren't we going, you know, Thursday through Tuesday and it's easier to not request time off. And I just said, just, just trust me. We will have a really good time if we go during the week. Take the time off work. And uh, we had a blast. I mean Speaker 1 00:17:03 Do you remember who was playing Whiskey Jam that night? Because everybody remembers their first whiskey jam. Mine was Ryan Nelson the night that show Trump Speaker 2 00:17:09 Came up. I know we met, I know we met Ryan and we went, we did go to Why Not Wednesday and why that went actually stands out to me more so than Whiskey Jam was because that's where CJ Solar, Jameson Rogers played some girls and like our group that is our song because we knew it years before anybody else did. And CJ had written the song Blue Bandana, which is what my blog was based off of. And now he's since become a good friend and his band full circle like Nick Gibbons who's in his band. Speaker 1 00:17:47 Oh dude, love Nick. Good dude. Speaker 2 00:17:48 Rents a space at average. Joe's and then like Jeremy McComb artist work I work with. Who's Tony's man? Yep. Has Tony as a manager. Um, the other lead guitarist Stevie is dating my friend Chanel. It just became this like Speaker 1 00:18:02 Hospo people connect all connected. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:18:04 Um, but that's kind of what I remember from that week. I know my girls had a lot of fun. I mean they talk about it all the time. Speaker 1 00:18:10 What now what year would that have been in Speaker 2 00:18:14 2018? Speaker 1 00:18:15 2018. So you moved here what 2018? 2019. Speaker 2 00:18:17 I moved here May of 2019. Speaker 1 00:18:19 Okay, so you're a little Cause I moved here October, 2018, so I was we're like in that same, Speaker 2 00:18:24 You could've been there that week for all you know, I should look back at photos. Speaker 1 00:18:27 I very well could have been. Yeah. Cuz I, I had done because Speaker 2 00:18:29 Trey, I think that's when I met Trey Bonner too. Speaker 1 00:18:32 Yeah. See I had met Trey Bonner playing kickball last year. Oh, okay. I didn't even know like bo that group, like all, all these guys and girls that I hang out with now, like I met through playing kickball. They're in Covid because there was nothing else to do. Yeah. Which is what's crazy too. I mean it's like all, all funny. Hap so you met Trey Bonder that week. Was that I Speaker 2 00:18:50 Feel like I did, Speaker 1 00:18:51 But did he have his long hair back then? Maybe because I didn't know long hair Bonder. I want Bonner to grow his hair out long again. He's Speaker 2 00:18:56 Got, and it could have been 20, it was a while ago. I mean, I'd been to Nashville six to seven times before I moved here. Speaker 1 00:19:02 Really? See, I, it, for me it took, it took me three times to come in here and then I was like, fuck it, I gotta get down here. Speaker 2 00:19:08 Well I mean I had the goal of moving to Nashville before I turned 30 and that's initially why the May, 2019 happened. Cuz I turned 30 in July, 2019. You Speaker 1 00:19:17 Were like, I gotta get this in. Speaker 2 00:19:18 Yeah, I mean that, it's funny. A lot of people like, I think 2020 was a struggle for a lot of people. 2019 was probably the most life-changing year for me. Um, previous to like that year starting, my boss at JLL had gone on maternity leave. So I got to test trial her role for like six months and it was really stressful. Yeah. Um, I could have stayed with the company and got promoted, but once she got back from maternity leave, I was kind of like, Hey, I think I wanna move to Nashville. And presented it to her in that way. And I'm so appreciative of her. She was such a mentor to me. Um, she created a role out here with me, Speaker 1 00:19:54 <laugh>. Oh, so you worked so you kept working for them? Speaker 2 00:19:57 I kept working for jll. Well the rule was with my mom and dad was that if I was gonna move to Nashville, I had to come out here with a job even though I can knew I could make it happen. Yeah, Speaker 1 00:20:06 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:20:07 Mom, dad trusted me. Mom, I think she just, JLL was such a great company that she's like, you can't, you can't resign and like wing it and become a bartender on Broadway. Speaker 1 00:20:17 Yeah. See that's what I did. I bounced on Broadway. Yeah. I, I left radio and was like, they were like, you need a job to be done. I'm like, hey, 15 an hour to check IDs and breakup fights on, on Speaker 2 00:20:26 Broadway. Which I think that's, I mean I grew up in a restaurant family, so I think my dad just didn't want me to fall back into restaurant serving and bartending life. What Speaker 1 00:20:36 Kind of, what kind of restaurants? Speaker 2 00:20:37 Um, well my dad did a hodgepodge of restaurants then he owned an Outback steakhouse Speaker 1 00:20:42 In Oh, nice. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. What's your go-to at Outback? Oh gosh. Speaker 2 00:20:45 Um, Speaker 1 00:20:46 I know this is a, this is a tough question. This is a make or break. Like, do you get the bloom and onion? Do you fuck with you? Fuck with the bloom and onion. Speaker 2 00:20:52 I love onions. Like, okay, fuck with the bloom and onion, cheese fries are phenomenal. Which the fun fact is like people would be like the bloom and onion has the most calories. Actually the cheese fries too. Speaker 1 00:21:02 Oh, for sure. Speaker 2 00:21:03 Yeah. Because it's, you know, mozzarella cheese and bacon and the homemade Speaker 1 00:21:07 Ranch then are, are you like the Victoria Filet person or what steak are you going for? Or do you or do you have something that's like not something people think about? Because you've been to Outback so many times. Speaker 2 00:21:16 I know. I mean I ate there for probably 20 years of my life. I haven't been to one recently. I don't think I've ever even been one here in Nashville, which is Speaker 1 00:21:22 Bizarre. Well you probably get sick of will you? No, no. You don't get sick of it. You're always, you're Outback Ride or die. Ride or Die Die because it's changed over the years too. Speaker 2 00:21:30 Yes, it has. It's changed hands to different, that's a whole different story <laugh>. But, um, oh gosh. I mean there's a lot of things that I really do enjoy. Like they have a rack of lamb there that's really good. The stakes are great. I mean the Seasoner is so nostalgic to me. The croutons are super nostalgic to me. Um, the mac and cheese is like the undercover like secret Speaker 1 00:21:52 Thing. See I've never thought to get mac and cheese Outback. Speaker 2 00:21:55 They like, it's called like a kid Mac and then you add the chicken to it. Speaker 1 00:21:58 Oh shit. Yeah. Okay. So I would Speaker 2 00:22:00 Do that like in college when I was serving there. Speaker 1 00:22:02 Yeah. Trey, Trey likes going to Outback a lot. Really? So next time we go to Outback I'm gonna be, I'm gonna get that, that kid Mac and cheese add the chicken. Well we'll let you know next time we're going. Yeah. There's one right down the road here. Speaker 2 00:22:11 Should, I'll probably cry walking into there, but, Speaker 1 00:22:13 Um, Trey usually does too. He gets very excited. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:22:18 I had no idea. We just opened up a whole plethora of conversations on the Speaker 1 00:22:21 Road. Yeah. Yeah. So what, so when, um, so you move here, you keep that, you keep your big girl job mm-hmm. <affirmative> then how do you get into, do you still run Blue Bandana while you're here in Nashville? Speaker 2 00:22:30 So, I mean the whole plan was to keep the JLL job kind of keep two blue bandana and then, I mean that was a really tough year. Like January and I'll, I'll try to bullet point this January. I kind of made the decision convinced mom and dad that I wanted to do that had come out here and visited actually for the first Whiskey jam ray Rowdy takeover. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:22:53 Come here. I I remember that one. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:22:54 Yeah. I came here to support Nick Nikki t and um, met up with some girls that are actually from California and they were like, you just have to manifest finding a room here. And in March Chanel, who's dating Stevie in CJ's band, um, they had a room open up and they were like, we think you should move in in May. And I was like, well I have to figure out a job. And so that's when I initiated the combo with jll. But then in the midst of all of that, um, my dad got really sick and he actually passed away. Oh shit. So yeah, I mean he, he had a very intense blood cancer for most of my life. Yeah. Um, you know, part of the reason I left the Phoenix Sons was to go back home so he could have a bone marrow transplant and I could be closer and visiting that much more often. I mean I think everyone can attest to one person in their family and who their person is. And I'm really close with my mom, but my dad was like, Speaker 1 00:23:50 You were Daddy Daddy's girl. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:23:52 Daddy's girl. He was my career advice guy. You know, he had to have approval on everything. He was the one I always tried to make proud. Speaker 1 00:23:59 Yeah. Was there a music connection with him? Was he going to shows with you at all? Or did he see what you were doing As far as the music stuff? He Speaker 2 00:24:04 Really believed in the Blue Bandana stuff. Um, I mean he liked live shows but my parents weren't as into live music as I was. Um, and they liked the music and each year Outback would do a huge conference and they'd get to do a huge concert like they've Speaker 1 00:24:23 Seen. But that, that was like their wedding done though. Yeah, that was, that Speaker 2 00:24:25 Was kind of it. And a lot of concerts really didn't travel up to Redding. Um, so like me going to concerts was very like, started in college just cuz there wasn't a lot of live music going up there. So I didn't have too much of absorption from them for there. But, but it was cute towards the end cuz my dad would start listening to podcasts and read New York Times articles and be like, have you heard of Ashley Monroe? And like, write down, like I have some notes from him of reminders in music that he'd wanna ask me about. That's cool. But, but he was a big advocate for me on my career and my ambition, like ambitions and what I wanted to do. And he was supportive of Nashville. And it was, it was the last conversation we had was me moving here. Speaker 1 00:25:08 Wow. And now you've been here freaking in it. Now how do you get into working in the music stuff? Like cuz you're, yeah, just to make sure, I wanna make sure I didn't butcher it. Your Speaker 2 00:25:17 I know we're jumping around. Sorry guys. Speaker 1 00:25:18 Well, we, we jump, I mean this is what we do, you know? Yeah. It's in the round. Um, with, so Peach Streete Entertainment you work with mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which by extension our friends in Alabama 65 South. Right. Sure. Speaker 2 00:25:29 I'll, I'll, uh, I mean it's Speaker 1 00:25:30 All, it's all kind of in the same family, right? Sure. Everybody's related in Alabama and Georgia somehow, you know. Yeah. It's a connection. Well, Speaker 2 00:25:36 Bradley, Jordan and Lane, I don't Speaker 1 00:25:39 Even know Flournoy, I think, I think it's Flournoy, right? Call him Flournoy Lane. We just call him Lane. Speaker 2 00:25:44 I should know how to pronounce it. I talk to him like every other day. Speaker 1 00:25:47 Um, what, what was your first experience meeting those two guys? Like? Well, uh, cause they, they're characters. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:25:52 Well I met Bradley Jordan in 2014. Speaker 1 00:25:56 No shit. Speaker 2 00:25:56 So me and girl, some girlfriends went on, I, I don't know, I saw like this Facebook ad for this Florida Georgia line cruise to The Bahamas and you know, it had Thomas RT and Cole Swindell and Russell Dickerson and just all sorts of people. Tyler Farr, you know, Florida, Georgia, July, Nelly. Um, and it just sounded fun. And I immediately had gotten like commission from like a big sale and I was like, I'm gonna buy it in front the money and I'm gonna bring two friends with me. And so we went on the cruise and before that I feel like my friend Savannah and I had messaged like from internet friends with like Jacob Powell or John Langston or something like that. And then we immediately saw them on like the Lido deck and like went over and talked to them. And that's where we met. Um, that whole group. John Ston, Travis Denning, Chris Cappy, who manages Lee Holmes and Bradley Jordan and kind of became this cruise family. I don't know if you've ever done a music cruise. Speaker 1 00:26:57 I thought about it. So as you could probably see from this flag behind me, I grew up a big, big Brantley Gilbert fan. Okay. He does, he does the cruise thing a lot. Um, and then I've, I've thought about going on them, but I never, never was able to make it happen. Speaker 2 00:27:08 Yeah. I mean, Speaker 1 00:27:09 Are they cool? Like would you recommend doing the cruise thing? I mean I'm sure it's a little bit different now with all the covid shit, but Speaker 2 00:27:14 Yes, I would, I would say, I mean it kill you, it kills you. Like Speaker 1 00:27:19 Well my thing is, I Speaker 2 00:27:20 I would say do it every four years. Speaker 1 00:27:22 My thing is, my thing is I don't drink. Speaker 2 00:27:24 No. Well and that's Speaker 1 00:27:25 The thing, my stam, I think I could last a little longer as far as like probably I've, because Speaker 2 00:27:29 Well Bradley doesn't drink. Um, and he even gets exhausted because it's just all day, Speaker 1 00:27:33 It's just nonstop. There's shit's non going on and then you get off the cruise and like go to places too Speaker 2 00:27:39 Yeah. For that. Yeah. Because you're on the cruise ship and what's cool is there's concerts during the whole time and then you do dock somewhere in The Bahamas. I think they had two stop days in 2014. One of them was on a private island and it was Nelly in Florida Georgia line. And it's still my favorite concert of all time. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:27:59 That's just ridiculous. Speaker 2 00:28:00 It was, it was. I have videos from it cause I had a GoPro and it Speaker 1 00:28:03 Was just, and that's the heyday of FGL right there. Speaker 2 00:28:06 Oh, heyday of, yeah. And then Nelly and you know, all his throwbacks and then them collabing on stage. It was probably the most fun I've ever had at a concert and a private island on a beach with, you know, just 1500 people that are your new best friends. Yeah. Um, that year the Nitro Circus guys were on the boat too and we were hanging with them. Speaker 1 00:28:24 Oh were they like driving the, were they Speaker 2 00:28:26 I think cuz they were in that music video with Speaker 1 00:28:28 Fgl. Yeah. But this is how we roll or whatever. Speaker 2 00:28:29 Yeah. And so they, I don't know, probably got a free trip. Speaker 1 00:28:32 Makes sense. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:28:33 Yeah. But it was awesome. Um, they were like, so Bradley and that whole crew were kind of our cruise fam because you didn't have service and you weren't gonna buy wifi. So we'd eat breakfast together and lunch and go to all the concerts and just kept up with all of them over the years. Um, yeah. Kept up with both Bradley and Cappi over the years and you know, the, they all knew that I eventually wanted to move to Nashville and work in the music industry. And there was always that kind of nod of, hey, when you get out here, like we'll make something happen. Speaker 1 00:29:04 Let's talk. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:29:05 Yeah. And so I always knew that I had that hookup and I always had a feeling that having that connection would create a career out of some, just knowing each other. Yeah. But that wasn't good enough for my mom and dad. So <laugh> that's why I moved out here with j l l had a different role than I did in Sacramento. And being that that was such a tough time in my life, um, losing my dad, moving 2000 miles away from all friends and family and then got put into a role that was kind of in the corner on my own in an office, not really interacting with people too often. Um, it just, I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't mentally do it. So kind of started poking around and seeing where I could get a job in the industry. Speaker 1 00:29:54 Yeah. Yeah. And how and how did you go about doing that without having the music background? I call it the B word. Yeah. Like the way Nashville works. Cause I like, like you, I didn't go to school for like music business, any of that stuff. But here I am involved in it. Right. You know, same with you. I call the B word Belmont. I call it the B word in Nashville. You know, a lot of, a lot of places look for the B word. That's what I say. It's Speaker 2 00:30:13 Funny cuz the averages, we have a lot of MTS U Speaker 1 00:30:16 Graduates. Yeah. Which that's, that's another one too. Yeah. I mean a lot of folks come out of there and stuff, but how, what was like, cuz it's different than just applying for like a corporate job on LinkedIn. Yeah. Like it's a very different avenue of having a network and applying for jobs on music row or within other aspects of the industry. It's so different. So how did you go about navigating that? Speaker 2 00:30:38 Yeah. Super valid question and um, and most things in life, I'm pretty strategic. Yeah. Um, I mean my resume, I had built it out in a way that showcased Blue Bandana but didn't wanna make it look like it was like this thirst trap blog. It was, you know, a serious blog with songwriting. And then I also knew, I mean I had hired a lot of people from JLL, so knew what a great resume was and how to catch the eye of the particular roles that you were trying to get. And kind of structured my resume way in a way that had like the full left side. Like the like index part was things that were very applicable. Speaker 1 00:31:21 So what, so what would that be? So like the sports stuff that's, Speaker 2 00:31:23 That's applicable. The sports, you know, ticketing as well as saying like I could do website deny uh, website design WordPress. Yeah. I know all the Photoshop skills. Um, just things that I knew would be appealing for our marketing role within the industry. And I also had to tame down the ego that I was gonna have to take not only a pay reduction but probably some sort of title situation to get my foot in the door. Well Speaker 1 00:31:51 It's entry level. Speaker 2 00:31:52 Yeah. Yeah. I knew that I was gonna be 30 and doing to entry level Yeah. To somewhere if I was gonna want to do it. Um, so I was poking around, not just on LinkedIn. There's Music Row magazine. Yeah. They have a section called Music Row Marketplace. And I saw a posting for average Joe's Entertainment and it was a receptionist role. So front desk, completely entry level. And there was actually a direct email to somebody normally on. And why I bring this up for people that are looking for jobs, normally when you're kind of poking around, you're gonna see like [email protected] or something that's super generic, but if you ever do see a direct email, you're more than likely to get an interview. Um, so I immediately had emailed, uh, Andrew Davis and he emailed me back right away being like, you can come in at three for an interview. And I think I had no makeup on or something and had inquired about maybe coming in Friday or Monday and went in and interviewed and you know, the interview obviously went well. And one of the biggest questions that you return with that I give advice people is, you know, asking if the person hiring you has any, you know, hesitancies in hiring me and what's, what are their thoughts on the resume as well as my qualifications. And Speaker 1 00:33:11 That's a good question. See I wouldn't even think to do that. That's a, that's a, I mean that's straight to the point, you know. Well Speaker 2 00:33:17 And why you want to ask that and on the spot of someone that's hiring you is, you know, if you're gonna get hired or not by how they respond and as well as what they're, because you put them on the spot and they're like, oh well you know, you don't have experience in this or that. So when you're sending your like thank you email, you can be like, I can rise to the occasion. You know? Yeah. Like you can kind of rebuttal it. But in that scenario, his response kind of, you know, was essentially there would be a pay reduction and you know, it's entry level, it's the front desk. Um, which, you know, working at jll, you know, I was running an office but I was still answering the door and doing the grunt work. Yeah. Bitch work if you will. And I'm not afraid to do that. I mean that's my restaurant upbringing is that a successful dinner doesn't happen from not everyone stepping up Speaker 1 00:34:06 To the place one. 100%. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:34:08 Yeah. So I had to do a second interview with them and ended up getting hired and convinced them to at least make me like a marketing coordinator that was at the front desk. Yeah. And kind of did a hybrid role for them to learn the ins and outs cuz I was brand new to music. There's so much that I didn't know that I've learned. Speaker 1 00:34:28 Have you read that yellow book or whatever? Speaker 2 00:34:30 Um, Speaker 1 00:34:31 Everything you need to know about It's like the, it's this Speaker 2 00:34:34 I should have Speaker 1 00:34:35 <laugh>. Yeah. Well well it's just, it's this book that everybody tells me like I do have it. Yeah. I have it too. I haven't read it all the way I've looked at like touring things like stuff that I Sure. But there is a lot in the music business. Speaker 2 00:34:45 There's just so much. Yeah. There's a ton in, I think I'm appreciative of my entry level cuz it allowed me an opportunity. Like it's to look great at making sure the office was organized and handled and I got to put my foot in the door and work hard and do something effectively and then got to learn the other stuff. Speaker 1 00:35:02 And you got to meet everybody in that office and be like, oh a and r what do you do? Oh yeah. Oh, production, what do you do? Oh. Like getting to know those people. And Speaker 2 00:35:12 So it was like a good, you know, six months of absorbing what everyone does and how I can help and what, you know, where I fit in and learning, you know, the industry. Um, but I will say one thing that was important that we did talk about a lot was just my interest in the blog. Um, and presenting how I could do social media through that. A lot of times that people wanna come work in the music industry kind of sit around and like, oh, I'm good at posting on my Instagram and I get 500 likes Speaker 1 00:35:46 Whole different Speaker 2 00:35:47 World. None of us care about that. Yeah. Like I, I could tell you from the Peachtree side or average Joe's side, you, you need to show that you put can put together like a marketing campaign. And being that I did do Blue Bandana, um, it led into me showing that I could do that within the music industry. Yeah. So doing that fan blog led into the record label, which was my entire motivation to do it in the first place. I loved music, but I purely built Blue Bandana to be able to get a job at a record label. Hell yeah. So, um, you know, I have me met different girls and guys on the road and they kind of ask what they should and shouldn't do, which I have a lot of shouldn't dos, but I don't know if should say those <laugh> No, we, Speaker 1 00:36:33 We can get into that, but it's a real quick like sidebar about Average Joe's and what's cool about you being, being the fan, having that blog Average Joe's was the, the first like when I was doing my college radio shit at my little 25 watt college radio station in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, they were the first, like, we'd send out those emails all the time. Hey, my name's bad, I have this radio show mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I'd love to have so and so on, can we make it happen? And they were the first ones that were like, yeah, we'd love to have Colt Ford on your college radio show. And I was like, oh shit, this is freaking awesome. And then like building that kinda relationship. But the guy that was doing that is a guy named Tony Marelli. I Speaker 2 00:37:07 Love Tony. Speaker 1 00:37:08 Which is, which is cool cause this is like 20, I'm trying to think what freaking year it would've been. It would've been Walker Hayes did an song with Colt Ford way back in the day. Okay. But he had his shaggy hair, which Walker was a guy we used to have on too. Gosh. I mean we, we had drunk, we had pre sobriety Walker Hayes on, I was pre sobriety at that point too. So we had all kinds of wild shit going on and that radio show. But we had like the average Joe's team, my moral for saying all this is like, they're so cool with like the fans and like the culture that comes out of there in that. Is it, is it technically an independent label? Speaker 2 00:37:40 Independent label? Um, Shannon Houchens, if you will, created the genre of country rap. Him and Colt Ford. Yeah. Colt Ford is also a part owner at our label. Yep. Um, and they cultivated an environment that, you know, is fans first. I mean, if there's anyone that knows their demographic. Yes. Speaker 1 00:37:59 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:37:59 It's definitely our label. Um, they're also, you know, just we're YouTube certified and experts on doing Yeah. Kind Speaker 1 00:38:06 Of. Yes. Which, which is some, which is how someone like me up in New Jersey and got to see them 20 14, 20 15 is seeing, seeing these videos and, and the way that they were doing stuff like that. And then you'd, you'd see a guy like Colt Ford with you knows everybody, you know, I mean he's, yes he does. A lot of people don't realize how and how long Colt Ford has been in this, this game of, of music and all that. What's it like working with a guy like him? Speaker 2 00:38:30 I mean, respectfully, Colt knows this game probably more so than other people. I mean, he knows a lot of people around town. He's been here a very long time. He produces quite a bit. Um, and it's just, he's a legacy to country rap. Um, average Joe is still, and Speaker 1 00:38:49 I would say country music as a whole, you know, I would say absolutely. I mean, uh, I remember videos of back in the day of him and Brantley Gilbert mm-hmm. <affirmative> at fricking Rome, river Jam. Freaking Speaker 2 00:38:59 Well they wrote, you know, dirt Road anthem Yeah. In Alde. So Speaker 1 00:39:02 Yeah. And just seeing that, that section of Georgia, which again ties in now with the the Peachtree stuff. Yes. Like the, the area of Georgia that he came out of and he had that success with the early, the early days of hip hop, country rap, whatever you wanna call it mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then all the guys and girls that have followed out of that area is crazy. Yeah. Like that Athens area of guys like Brantley, guys like Jordan Rigger, guys like John Langston. Um, I mean the list goes on and on and on of like that, that Loganville Jefferson Athens kind of area. Speaker 2 00:39:33 Yeah. I would definitely put him in like that legacy act arena. And it's, it's cool to reflect back and remarket, you know, some of the catalog. Um, that's a lot of average Joe's success. Yeah. But also the new stuff coming. I mean, Colt's coming out with a lot of new music next year and just put out an EP Speaker 1 00:39:51 And the king of having badass people feature Speaker 2 00:39:53 Songs, uh, songs. Kevin Gate was on the last feature. Yes. Which is insane with his hood. And that's, that's been really fun. You know this to end out this year and start into next year. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:40:03 You probably never see the same thing twice over there. No. Working with, working with Colton. Who are some of the other folks on that roster? Sam grows over there now, right? Yep. Speaker 2 00:40:10 We work with Sam. He is got some music coming Speaker 1 00:40:12 Next year. Bad Ash Big just made his Opry debut, right? Speaker 2 00:40:14 Yes he did. That was a very big deal. Um, this year, you know, was a great year. Speaker 1 00:40:18 Another, another, another Yankee with me too. <laugh> cause he's, he's Hess, um, I believe Maryland, right? Yes. Speaker 2 00:40:24 He's Maryland. Um, I have to think of it cuz we have country rap and then we have country obviously all I work with Sam Grow, um, Jeremy McComb, who's got some great music coming out. Josh Miranda, who's a number one songwriter. Yes. Yeah. He's got a huge single coming out in January that all of us are super antsy. Um, for it to come. It's called Till the Neon's Gone. Awesome. Can actually talk about it. Um, Speaker 1 00:40:47 Hey <laugh> Speaker 2 00:40:49 And then like on the country wrap side, I work with Lenny Cooper who they call the Mud Digger King Speaker 1 00:40:54 He's got Yep. Who he also, I believe side, I believe he's a venue owner too. Speaker 2 00:40:58 Yes. He owns Speaker 1 00:40:58 Yeah. Skyline mm-hmm. <affirmative> and Columbia, South Carolina. Yep. Speaker 2 00:41:01 He owns a venue down there that has quite a few shows. Um, and then we're working with people like Brian Martin Yep. Who's done really well on TikTok. Um, I have an artist Austin Toliver, who's kind of in that country rap world that I think is gonna have a really big 2022. Um, we have Eddie from Montgomery Gentry. Yep. So Eddie Montgomery, he's making his, you know, debut without Troy and Gracefully and, you know, his music's great. We're we're keeping busy over there. I Speaker 1 00:41:30 Mean Yeah. You've got, you've got newer folks. You're inter you're integrating the Yes. The, the the TikTok world. Yes. That has has been crazy over the last year and a half. I mean obviously we've seen that too. You know, it's how things, how that can change things. But like newer folks on both the, the country rap and the traditional side, you've got legacy acts like Eddie on there. You've got the hit songwriters now doing the artist thing. You guys have it all over there, which is cool. Speaker 2 00:41:54 Yeah. It's fun for a marketing professional to kind of switch gears too with a bunch of the different narratives. I mean, we're fans first and we want to find the things that the fans will like and we will like, and the artists will like. But you know, it makes for unique weeks of different campaigns of what I'm brainstorming and Speaker 1 00:42:13 Yeah. Going, going from Mud Digger Yeah. To, to a Josh Miranda track can be Speaker 2 00:42:17 A little bit different. Completely different. Yeah. But it's good music. I mean Yeah. You know, you're not always gonna love everything that you're marketing, but I do enjoy a lot of things that are happening on both sides of the genre. I mean we work closely with Demon Jones who has his record label. Speaker 1 00:42:32 He, he is Speaker 2 00:42:33 Raw Speaker 1 00:42:33 Records. He is a monster in that industry. Speaker 2 00:42:35 Oh yeah. He kills it Speaker 1 00:42:36 Huge. He's a mudbug superstar. Speaker 2 00:42:38 Yeah. He's amazing. Um, you know, to absorb and kind of be around and see what hes doing with his world. Um, one of my coworkers directly works essentially with that account, but he's got some artists that we're excited about Brandon Hart. Yep. Um, he just put out a single and I think he Brandon and, you know, I think he's gonna have a big year next year. I'm excited to see how we market that and the team and you know, what Demon does with it. Um, and then he has this guy named Dusty Lee, which I just love. Like I haven't helped market the music, but I actually really like the music and he always has really, it's funny, but he has hot girls in the music video and I'm like, yes. Yeah. It's just, that is perfect for country rap. Like keep the hot girls coming. Speaker 1 00:43:19 Yeah. Take take, take early two thousands of Atlanta rap and add its playing to it and get some mud tires and all Speaker 2 00:43:26 That. Yeah. So yeah, I mean average does definitely stretches my marketing brain because we've got a lot of different things that we work with. Speaker 1 00:43:32 Yeah. Now what, now for you, um, being involved in marketing now, um, or being involved in marketing for a long time, but how has TikTok changed things? Like is it it's a huge and you hear a lot of stuff Yeah. From the label side of people being like, you gotta have X amount, which average Joe's independent, it's different, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like it's not, I don't think that's what necessarily is going on there. You guys are strictly looking for TikTok people. Y'all see the bigger, broader picture. But how has that changed things like, Speaker 2 00:43:59 I mean, what's interesting is I'm still so new to the industry that I don't know a total before and after. Um, that's why I do love working at a record label where I work with people that have been there for quite a bit of time. Cuz they can talk about campaigns that they did before and, you know, when Vine was around or like when people utilize Reddit for different things, TikTok for sure was starting to pop off when I got hired and no one was really taking it seriously. Speaker 1 00:44:25 They were thinking, I mean, there was a time I remember they, they were saying that it was like from China and people shouldn't even be using it. Speaker 2 00:44:30 It sure, yeah. I mean, which is, I Speaker 1 00:44:31 Mean, which is crazy to think back on now Speaker 2 00:44:33 I, I still have friends that work in like corporate roles, you know, in Silicon Valley that aren't even allowed to have the app. But, um, but in the music world, you know, you had artists that were hesitant to use it or didn't know how and thought it, you know, you've heard it, but it's just dancing and this or that. Um, but it has changed the marketing campaigns cuz it's always a part of the marketing campaign now. Um, especially cuz the content is different than what you actually wanna put on the other platforms. Like Facebook, you can have similar posts, but TikTok it needs to feel more selfie oriented or it just changes Speaker 1 00:45:13 And it, it's so easy to reshare on Instagram and Snapchat too. Right. And right and everybody's kind of gotten their, their, their, their own form of TikTok, like the reels or clips or whatever it is. Right. Like that, that short form shit. It seems like it's huge Speaker 2 00:45:26 Short form. And I will say TikTok is probably should be one of the more important apps for musicians to utilize, especially next year. Um, I do all the analysis Speaker 1 00:45:40 Shows. Oh, no shows. You literally know the data. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:45:43 I help build artists reports each week. Um, we do more comprehensive ones and we Speaker 1 00:45:48 Can't go What, what's, what's better putting putting your, you playing the song, you lip syncing to the song or you kinda showing up your personality? Or is it that combination of all three of those? It Speaker 2 00:45:57 Has to be a combination and it's, it's, I, when I, that's Speaker 1 00:46:00 Not easy to do. Speaker 2 00:46:01 It's not, and there's no perfect algorithm for TikTok. I think I actually call it chaos. And if you're just being na like if you're just not being native, but if you're being like organic with who you are, people will resonate towards that and just post whatever. Like, I've seen videos work where it's like the lyric video and put it up there and it's, and then you've seen where the person's in the car, you know, like Ella Yeah. Where it just goes viral. Um, and I think that's what makes people so addicted to the app too. But TikTok is important because it's the app that everyone clicks out of to go search for music. Um, I mean, I have the data on it, it's in different Speaker 1 00:46:40 Reports. So pe people get out of that and go to Spotify Speaker 2 00:46:43 Or Apple or Amazon, they're just, or YouTube, they're just more likely to want to be a part of this narrative and long form being like, Ooh, you know, you work with Trey, but this song's hilarious. I wanna go download it now and listen to it or add it to this frat playlist or listen to it Yeah. With my friends. Whereas y I mean, maybe this week when you're going through your Instagram or other things, you'll kind of realize that you're not clicking out of those apps as often. Yeah. So that's why I do put a heavy emphasis on any narrative of TikTok, how important it is to utilize that because the millennials and Gen Zers are more likely to kick Speaker 1 00:47:22 Out. They they control shit. I I feel all the 26. Yeah. Like, like how different, just the, these freaking phones, these computers in our hands have changed everything. But at the same time, I, I see where everybody talks about streaming and how it's tougher on the songwriters and all that, but I think it, it creates so much more exposure, having, having Spotify and having all that stuff, you know? Speaker 2 00:47:44 Yeah. I think Speaker 1 00:47:45 Like for radio's not the end all be all Correct. And you probably see that a lot at the independent label means Sam, like Sam gr for example, Mon Monster songwriter great artist, puts on a great live show. And so many people find him through Spotify and ways like that, like his streaming numbers. Awesome. Speaker 2 00:48:00 Yeah. I mean we're definitely d s p forward type label, which Speaker 1 00:48:04 I feel like you have to be Speaker 2 00:48:05 Digital service provider. Yeah. Um, I think it's the name of the game right now. Um, and it's important because of the algorithms that they have and suggestions that, you know, all those DSPs are good partners. Um, it's better for music discovery as well. Cause you, you don't necessarily have a PD that's gonna be, this is on what's next, Speaker 1 00:48:28 But you still have gatekeepers. Sure. You still have Yes. Plenty of gatekeepers, very political in, in the playlist world. You do have, you do have plenty of those. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:48:35 But that's why you have a team behind you. I mean, I think the biggest thing that I've learned moving here and working in the music industry, doesn't matter how amazing the song is or how amazing it does. Like yes, it's step A to have an amazing artist and amazing song, amazing songwriting, and have that craft. But if you don't have the team behind you to help market it, build it, network about it, talk about it, put it in the bright slots, maybe no one will hear it. Cuz there's so much noise out there right now. Yeah. And there's so much access to everything. Speaker 1 00:49:08 It's harder than ever to get seen. Speaker 2 00:49:10 Right. It can get harder than ever to get seen unless you get a viral moment. But, you know, you can't depend on the viral moment. Speaker 1 00:49:15 That's not predictable. Speaker 2 00:49:16 You have to have people advocating for you, talking on podcasts, um, your friends sharing. But, you know, having that business structure side of being the advocate for the incredible music, I mean, it's so important to have good songs, but I just being a person in a suit and working at a label as well as, you know, maybe on the, we can dive into the Peachtree side. Yes. Yeah. You, you won't, that great song won't get heard if you don't have the people behind you. Speaker 1 00:49:43 Amen. 100%. You gotta Speaker 2 00:49:44 Have people preaching you Speaker 1 00:49:46 100%. So you're at average Joe's, then you get talking to your old pal, your cruise buddy, Mr. Bradley. Jordan, Speaker 2 00:49:52 My cruise buddy. Wow. That's gonna be, he's gonna love that. Um, yeah. So I got hired at Average Joe's. That was September, 2019. And then January, January, 2020. Speaker 1 00:50:04 Oh, you were right at the beginning of all this shit. Speaker 2 00:50:07 Oh man. Um, and I'd seen Bradley a few times. He had come to town for a muscadine bloodline show. Yep. He, Speaker 1 00:50:13 Yeah, I think I worked that one probably Speaker 2 00:50:15 At, uh, the Cannery. Speaker 1 00:50:16 Yep. That, that was my first time at Cannery Bar. My second time. My first one was Wheeler Walker Jr. Speaker 2 00:50:21 Oh. Oh boy. Speaker 1 00:50:22 <laugh>. And then my, I just saw Paul. Speaker 2 00:50:24 I was I know I was gonna ask you how that Speaker 1 00:50:25 Show was. Paul Chan was incredible. Speaker 2 00:50:27 I got a million ads of girls doing things to him and Really Oh boy. Yeah. He had this one ad on Facebook, and of course I look at those things at like the marketing level. Uh, he had this ad that, like think a girl was pouring a beer on it. Speaker 1 00:50:41 Oh, that was, that's that's from the video. Yeah. New song Country as fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Paul Coffin was awesome. But that No, I'm sure the show was great. Oh Speaker 2 00:50:48 Yeah. He's, I think he's playing Zydeco soon. So Speaker 1 00:50:50 He's, he's like Ryan Nelson. If Ryan Nelson was a Texas cowboy, that would be Paul Coffin. All right. I'm, I know Speaker 2 00:50:56 How I Speaker 1 00:50:56 Didn't go <laugh> the two of them. Yeah. Well you'll see him at Zydeco. Hopefully if I go Yeah. Down there. Yeah. You, yeah. Is it hard now to do I do you have to be selective so you don't get super burnt out. Yes. Transitioning into the Peachtree stuff, cuz you guys are doing shit all the time. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:51:09 Yeah. We can circle back Speaker 1 00:51:10 On. Yeah. So January, so January, 2020. Speaker 2 00:51:12 January, 2020. Bradley called me and um, I was like, I have an opportunity to have, you know, an assistant and, you know, I kinda, I think I was like smiling through the phone and being like, but I just got hired at a record label, um, and kind of pitched to him the opportunity to be able to maybe do both. And it was something that he had to contemplate. Obviously it was something I had to talk to about average Joe's because I already had a full-time job. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:51:41 And in the Speaker 2 00:51:42 Industry. In the industry. And I wanted to do both because I moved to town to learn anything and everything about music and to become well-rounded and jack of all trades. And it's kind of part of my mind, career path. And fortunately, um, both sides approved and I'm very lucky Speaker 1 00:52:03 For that, that that does not happen every day. Speaker 2 00:52:05 That's uncommon. And it's a testament to both of my bosses for allowing that. Um, and I had to really prove myself that I would work hard. Speaker 1 00:52:15 Yeah. What, what was the toughest part about that gig early on? Being Bradley Jordan's assistant at Peach Fore Entertainment, the top booking, like promoters in the, in the southeast. For those that don't know, Speaker 2 00:52:26 Navigating everybody he knows Speaker 1 00:52:29 It's, which is pretty much everybody, Speaker 2 00:52:30 Which is a lot of people. And there's a lot of people with the same name. Like, there's probably, there's, and, and this is like an ongoing joke, but there, you know, there's like six wills that I talk to every single week that are connected to him. Um, but yes, navigating and being respectful and mindful and appropriate of how everyone's connected with him, um, and figuring that out was probably the most difficult. Um, just because he is so well connected here, but also in the Southeast with all sorts of different business owners and there's just Yeah. Speaker 1 00:53:00 Yeah. Outside of just venue owners. Outside of just artists, like just the, the, so the Southeastern entertainment community he's been involved in Speaker 2 00:53:08 For, involved Speaker 1 00:53:08 Forever, a very long time. Speaker 2 00:53:09 Right. He had Peachtree Tavern for probably, I don't know, 10 to 12 years. And then he started Peachtree Entertainment, I think it was 2013. Yeah. Um, 2013. So, you know, he had been around a while. And just kind of being able to navigate that as well as making sure that I was executing at my current job. And then, you know, traveling for shows. Um, Speaker 1 00:53:35 What's the farthest you've had to travel for a show for Peachtree? Speaker 2 00:53:40 Well, when we did the Cody Johnson run earlier this year, we rented a bus because we were going to like Arkansas. Speaker 1 00:53:47 And what, what'd you think of bus life? Speaker 2 00:53:50 I'm not a bus girl. Really? Speaker 1 00:53:52 Yeah. I, we as, as, as, as guys that travel in Vans a lot, we, we love a bus. Speaker 2 00:53:57 Oh, I'm sure. Um, it's funny, like I'm on the road a lot, just as much as a lot of other bands. Speaker 1 00:54:03 Yeah, you pretty much are. I mean, every, every weekend you Speaker 2 00:54:06 Somewhere. Right. I'm on tour, if you will, every other weekend, if not every weekend to multiple cities. But I always have my car and that power. And I think there's a level of, um, I mean I'm, I'm like an neurotic control freak. So <laugh> there, there's a level of when I was on the bus and needing the runner to do things that I needed to do, you know, for Cody Johnson's band and his TM and taking care of them that it was just, I don't know, it was stressful for me. I mean, it was fine that it was kind of nice to sleep on the bus and like show up somewhere new. Um, but Speaker 1 00:54:42 I don't dunno. What, what bunk were you in? You bottom, top or middle? Speaker 2 00:54:47 Top on the first weekend and then middle and then next. Speaker 1 00:54:52 What'd you like better? Speaker 2 00:54:54 Probably the Speaker 1 00:54:54 Middle, middle middles. Like primo spot. Like, yeah. I didn't have to like climb like, like the way it works with, with us on the road. I'm a top bunk guy cuz I, I wanna make sure everybody else is getting to sleep. You know, a lot of 'em are waking up from hangovers. I'm not. So making sure everybody, everybody's all good. Like, Matt's a bottom bunk guy. Trey tried being a top bunk guy at one point and Fallout. He's like, he's like six five. He's yeah. Too big. Trey Bonner is perfect for top bunk. Yeah. Tiny little guy. I used to have to catch him and like hoist him up there though. Speaker 2 00:55:21 Yeah. It's really hard to get up there. Speaker 1 00:55:23 <laugh>. Yeah. Little, I mean, used to have to hoist lift little tray bonner and put him up in the bunk. But Speaker 2 00:55:28 I didn't sleep good on it though. I mean, Speaker 1 00:55:30 If you have the right driver, you sleep great. Yeah. It Speaker 2 00:55:32 Was, this sleeping wasn't an issue. I think it was more of just less control and having to like go with the flow, which I'm not really a go with the flow person when I'm working. Yeah. I mean to just like execute. It's it's restaurant mentality. Execute the thing, get it fixed now, but that's Speaker 1 00:55:46 How you get shit done. Yeah. Because otherwise it was, that was that tough for you? I mean, you, you're a West coast girl so I always think of like East coast, like New York. It's like end of the day means maybe by the end by like the next hour or two. Like deadlines are like huge bad. Speaker 2 00:56:00 Oh, e o d I love acronyms. Um, Speaker 1 00:56:01 Yeah, like people go nuts over like, like how like getting stuff done. Whereas like Nashville to me moves a lot slower than it did back in, than it than life than business would in New York. Like end of the day meant like, it better be that by the end of the day or you're getting some shit end of the day. I've noticed in Nashville at least my experiences can sometimes mean end of the week. Like it's very laid back. And then Callie has this reputation of being very chill. Maybe not in the restaurant industry, but like things are a little bit slower. Like, Speaker 2 00:56:27 I mean I'm, I'm a suit though. I'm corporate, like Speaker 1 00:56:29 That's my thing. Like, but but even on the corporate thing, is it like that out there? Like with Sure. Speaker 2 00:56:34 Um, I mean if you're also like with such a deep sales background, I mean it, I was in sports sales for five to six Speaker 1 00:56:40 Seasons. Yeah. And that's go, go go. It's Speaker 2 00:56:42 Go, go go. It's goal, if you say something's gonna happen by a certain time was you beat it by two hours. Speaker 1 00:56:46 Yeah. What was going from that to music? Do, do you see an adjustment with like just the way timetables are and being a little more chill? I mean Speaker 2 00:56:54 Sports definitely helped with like structure, like time schedules for when we're advancing the artists for shows. Um, but they're just different, different beasts. Speaker 1 00:57:04 Like I feel like down here is just a lot chiller. Yeah. Like the way, like just again, like the, like the, and even like thera like just music in general is just, Speaker 2 00:57:13 It varies per project. I don't know. I think I'm just such a like checklist go-getter type person that in part of the marketing role that I'm in, you're kind of like a project manager. You have all these different leads in different places and you're poking this person being like, Hey, where are we at with this project so I can do this project and move this, this here. So you're kind of doing this like Tetris game. So there are timelines to my role on both sides that you kind of do have to execute. But yeah, I wouldn't call it necessarily chill because like I'm dealing with agents and people on Speaker 1 00:57:51 The side. Oh yeah, you're on the other. Yeah. So yeah. That is, that is a whole different kind of thing. What's been your, what's been the um, the hardest one to deal with? <laugh>. <laugh>? Did I hit one of them? Okay. I hit one of them. Nevermind. I hit one of them. Um, what was I gonna say? Um, where was the place you did it? Where was the place you were most surprised with? Like when you went there and you were like, oh shit, this place is pretty dope. Speaker 2 00:58:14 Oh, different venues. Speaker 1 00:58:15 Um, well venues or just city states cuz like, you're like me where you didn't grow up down here. Right. But you now know the south, you know where I 20 drives, you know where I 40 drives, you know where 75 drives like. Speaker 2 00:58:27 Sure. I mean, you've Speaker 1 00:58:29 Been to Bucky's. Speaker 2 00:58:30 Yes. I do love Bucky's man. Um, that's one thing that I preach to everyone in California that's so different here is that, you know, the Southeast takes their gas stations really seriously. Pretty. And I know Buckys is Texas, Speaker 1 00:58:42 But that's cause everything's so fucking far apart from each other. They gotta have rest stops. Speaker 2 00:58:46 Yeah. But they're like really nice. Like it wasn't, it's not like that in California. I did a lot of traveling. Speaker 1 00:58:51 Not like California. Not like that in New York either. Not at Speaker 2 00:58:53 All. I mean, and I had driven from, you know, Scottsdale, Arizona back up to Sacramento, California. So I, and I've been Oregon. I've done a Speaker 1 00:59:00 Lot of West coasts and there and there was nothing. And there was, there's nothing like it. I mean, Speaker 2 00:59:03 Maybe I just didn't stop at truck stops. I have no idea. But I do now. Um, like loves are really nice. Speaker 1 00:59:09 Buckys. So Bucky's is at the top. Bucky's, you can't even compare anything to it. It's, it's at, it's the top. Yes. Like, so then where would you put put loves at two? Speaker 2 00:59:16 Yeah, I would say so. They have healthy, so I try to eat healthier and not like shit at gas stations Speaker 1 00:59:21 Very difficult on the road, Speaker 2 00:59:22 But at the truck stops they do pretty good. Love's is fine. I'm trying to think. I'm like envisioning the logos. Speaker 1 00:59:29 Pilot Speaker 2 00:59:30 Pilot's fine. Speaker 1 00:59:31 Flying J Yeah. Which is just another name for pilot. I don't even know what I like Mapco. Mapco is, you like Mapco. Speaker 2 00:59:36 I do. Well and they also like, don't, like I have a peach tree card and that one it, I never have to go inside. You know, when you like put something in a to get gas and it tells you you have to go see the cashier. That's Speaker 1 00:59:48 Just you, you don't, you don't wanna see the cashier. Speaker 2 00:59:49 Sometimes I don't. And Mapco I never have issues. Speaker 1 00:59:52 What's your go-to snacks since you're on the road all the time? Speaker 2 00:59:56 I do like the little fruit cups with grapes, <laugh>. Um, I always get coffee. Um, you know, I think, is it like Gord the, the brown chips that are like in the checks mix, but it's just the brown chip, the rye chip. Speaker 1 01:00:12 I don't even know. I skip over the checks mix section. I, I, we usually hit whatever fast food's in there and if it's closed then I do like pi Speaker 2 01:00:19 Pizza, Speaker 1 01:00:19 The, the pi, the pilot pizza or the fine J pizza. I like that. Speaker 2 01:00:22 Either or I'll do pizza from those places. I get a little sketched out by other stuff, but I'm sure they're fine. Speaker 1 01:00:27 Yeah. Like I've had, there was um, oh, the Speaker 2 01:00:29 Pickles that are like sliced in the new, um, do you know what I'm Speaker 1 01:00:33 Talking about? About you eat the pickles? Speaker 2 01:00:34 I do like pickles a lot. Speaker 1 01:00:36 <laugh>? Well that the boil, the boiled peanuts. You ever, you ever tried those? No. Speaker 2 01:00:40 I don't know. That kind of intimidates me. I've walked into Speaker 1 01:00:42 Restaurant. You gotta go, you gotta go into like a greasy like Mississippi backwards gas station where they're trying to make you trying to give you chicken gizzards and you, you see like the bulb don't, I dont even know the chicken gizzard is Oh, you don't need, I've, I got, I had, I had a, a band I had. Speaker 2 01:00:56 I'm sure I'd try it. Speaker 1 01:00:57 Well I mean it's, it's, it's not the best part of the chicken. Speaker 2 01:01:00 Um, I mean I had deer heart like the other day I'll Speaker 1 01:01:02 Try eating. Really? I mean, yeah. Who'd you have that with? Speaker 2 01:01:05 Um, one of my coworkers hunts and he killed a deer and brought it in. He's like, Speaker 1 01:01:09 You gotta eat the heart. Yeah. Hey, there you go. <laugh>. Um, but, um, yeah, there's like, like the boiled peanuts for me are, are a Speaker 2 01:01:15 Cool thing. I haven't tried them yet when we were in Dothan, Alabama where the peanut festival is. There's a giant Speaker 1 01:01:20 Peanut inside the highway. Yes. Oh yeah. They, they're very, very proud of their peanuts in Alabama Speaker 2 01:01:24 <laugh>. Um, and we do, we work with a amphitheater out there. We've had a few shows down there that's probably the furthest that I'll drive on my own. Um, there's boiled peanuts I feel like at every gas station, but I just haven't really been in a peanut mood. Speaker 1 01:01:42 Yeah. <laugh>, I feel, excuse me. Um, words are hard. Um, I was, I gonna say but um, but yeah. So, so, uh, average Joe's Peachtree, what advice would you give to somebody starting out right now? What would be some do's, what would be some don'ts? Because you said you had a lot of don'ts. Speaker 2 01:01:58 <laugh>. Well, we can go with the do's. I mean, I think it's important to embrace any type of opportunity that presents itself to learn, um, and to network. Um, so just keep trying to put yourself in the right room with different people. Don't let yourself get intimidated. Um, cuz you never know when something full circle could come later when an opportunity could come up. Um, I mean, I tried to put myself in a position to meet a lot of people through work and working with me at a show. And then we can get drinks later on. I'm not gonna do the drinks first. Yeah. Um, but also it's, you know, like the right place, right time, right attitude. So if you're putting yourself in the right spot and you're being kind and respectful cause you never know who people are working with. Yes. Um, you know, opportunities will present themselves. Speaker 1 01:02:49 Yeah. So having, having some good etiquette, still having fun, but not being, Speaker 2 01:02:53 Not being an asshole or too good to talk to anybody. Um, you know, I've been in different environments where different people won't even shake certain people's hands and things like that. And I just know, especially from my other roles in life, that that's just not proper etiquette. Yeah. You just want treat people how you wanna be treated. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:03:15 100%. Speaker 2 01:03:16 Um, as far as the don'ts, like obviously don't be an asshole. Yeah. Um, I do preach to people cuz I've been around a lot of different environments. Be smart about dating or hooking up and things. Speaker 1 01:03:29 Yeah. Shitting. Shitting where you eat is not a good thing. Speaker 2 01:03:32 Well I mean, even just early on, like partying in college, just, you never know when you're in a cross paths with people later. So don't get too caught up in the heat of the moment. Um, I was smart about it. I mean, one of the, that was one of the first things that Bradley probably asked me about. Just cuz it, it's important to know etiquette and reputation and you just have to take care of how people might perceive you. Speaker 1 01:03:58 Yes. Cause and word judge travel very, very fast. Speaker 2 01:04:00 Word travels very fast in this town. And you know what by means if you're in love, like go for it. Yeah. Get a song written about you, but Speaker 1 01:04:07 People Speaker 2 01:04:08 Just rest assured people are gonna know <laugh>. Speaker 1 01:04:11 Yeah. Yeah. One 100%. Um, so for this year coming up, so 2021 big freaking year, we made up a lot of what we had lost in 2020. You got to go out. You were pretty much you guys. When did you guys have your first Peachtree shows at this year? Speaker 2 01:04:26 I think it was with you guys, Trey Speaker 1 01:04:28 Lewis, I mean yeah, we were, we were a lot of people's first shows of 2021. Speaker 2 01:04:32 I was looking at our, um, I have a big Excel that has Speaker 1 01:04:36 All of course you do. Of course you do a big spreadsheet, girl, I'm sure. Speaker 2 01:04:38 Big spreadsheet girl. Speaker 1 01:04:39 I hate fucking spreadsheets. Oh, Speaker 2 01:04:41 I, I love Speaker 1 01:04:41 Them. They've been Alex, uh, Trey's manager has been trying to get me to use spreadsheets. Speaker 2 01:04:45 You hyperlink everything and Speaker 1 01:04:46 Yeah, he's been trying to get me to use spreadsheets and I'm like, dude, I I just can't. And he's like, bro, you gotta get on the spreadsheets. And I'm like, I I, for me they just give me anxiety. All the little grids. I just can't do it. Speaker 2 01:04:55 Yeah. I have a lot. Speaker 1 01:04:56 I'm sure you do at Josh. I'm sure you do. If you're, if you're very good at being organized, like they're great. I'm, I'm just a, a mess. I can't be organized. It's not good. Speaker 2 01:05:03 Well and it's good cuz you can like reference back Speaker 1 01:05:07 Yeah. And I know there's like all these codes you can use and like mm-hmm. <affirmative> you can make formulas, Speaker 2 01:05:11 <laugh> Speaker 1 01:05:11 Yes. Speaker 2 01:05:12 Formulas. Which I learned all of that at jll, not at my other job. So. Speaker 1 01:05:15 Yeah. Speaker 2 01:05:15 Yeah. Um, oh yeah. The start of this year. Yeah. I think it was with you guys. Speaker 1 01:05:21 Was it, um, which one would it have been? Would it have been, I'm trying to think. January. Speaker 2 01:05:25 I mean maybe Peaches and like Yes. Wendell's. Yes. And I mean we were still our Speaker 1 01:05:31 Our our that lengthy Wendell's show. Speaker 2 01:05:34 Yeah. That was the best version of Dick down in Dallas Speaker 1 01:05:37 I've ever seen. Hey. That, that could have gone one of two ways. Yeah. And thankfully it went the, the, the easier way cuz it could have been, that could have been a whole nother situation of trying to figure that one out. Speaker 2 01:05:51 Yeah. I mean mostly I just remember coming up to you and be like, we gotta pack this shit up now. And you're like, why? I was like, because we just, just in case let's get the merch table good. Like Speaker 1 01:06:00 Yeah. In ca in case this, in case this place gets crazy. But Trey got out there right away and you guys played the free bird version of Dick down in Dallas. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:06:08 Claimed to fame Yeah. Was my Speaker 1 01:06:10 Favorite wine then, Speaker 2 01:06:10 Then. I wish we should have filmed Speaker 1 01:06:11 It. Yeah. And then Gorilla meet and greet out out front trying to Speaker 2 01:06:14 Do that. Yeah. Didn't you get like pushed? Speaker 1 01:06:16 I got trampled by a very large, they're passionate Speaker 2 01:06:19 Man, those Speaker 1 01:06:20 Re Lewis fans. But yeah, those, those girls really wanted to say hello to Trey and uh, it was a mean, why wouldn't they? Yeah. It was an experience. Um, and then afterwards had a good time too. Jackie and the crew Wendell's, we like them. Oh Speaker 2 01:06:31 Yeah. Yeah. The Blackberry moonshine I do Speaker 1 01:06:34 Remember. And the Jack Daniels. Speaker 2 01:06:35 Oh, I didn't have any of that. No. I Speaker 1 01:06:36 Still had to drive. I think. I think I had to be smart. Think, I think Terry had most of that. Speaker 2 01:06:40 Probably. You Speaker 1 01:06:40 Guys are Rod and, and it was Devonte's birthday, Mr. Devonte. Speaker 2 01:06:43 Yes. Yes it was. Yes it was. That's how he kicked off this year. Speaker 1 01:06:48 That Yes. So it, so then you guys did a bunch of like, big, big shows. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, um, you guys at Rome, Georgia. Speaker 2 01:06:55 Yeah, we every year, well this year it wasn't Rome River Jam, but there's always a really big show in Rome Speaker 1 01:07:00 At the fairgrounds Speaker 2 01:07:01 And stuff at the Fairgrounds. Um, we had Morgan Wallen Hardy and Ernest this year back to back Sun, uh, Saturday, Sunday. Speaker 1 01:07:08 Not too shabby of a lineup. Yeah, it was. Or a lot of tickets. Sold. Speaker 2 01:07:11 Lots of tickets. Um, those weekends, those type of shows are always a lot of work. I mean people, even when I have a golf cart, I still put in like 40,000 steps. Um, you know, 18 hour days. <laugh>. That's crazy. And I lose like 10 pounds. Like, it's like me being in a mascot outfit at a ballgame, sweating, running around miles and miles. I wear like literally my Apple watch for that reason. Um, but that was great. That was a great weekend. All of their camps are incredible. We always love working with them. Um, exciting new chapters happening for them next year. So it'll be really cool to watch that and maybe be a part of some of it. Yeah. Um, we did seven shows with Cody Johnson. That was awesome. Speaker 1 01:07:53 Which that is, I don't think anybody outside of Texas has done anything like that Speaker 2 01:07:57 With Cody Joe. Maybe. I mean, I don't wanna put that claim to fame, but they're, they're Speaker 1 01:08:00 Now No, but it's a, it's a real thing. It's tough to get Texas artists to buy into doing runs like that in the southeast and to work with one promoter on all of that. Yeah. That, Speaker 2 01:08:09 That's really cool. Cool. Attach similar to Bradley. Yep. Um, Speaker 1 01:08:11 And he's a blue audit guy now too, which is really cool. Speaker 2 01:08:14 Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Cody is involved in Blue Otter, um, which we haven't talked about that at all. Speaker 1 01:08:19 Yeah. That's a whole nother thing. I've, I wear the damn sunglasses all the time. I know. They're great. I've, I was a gas station sunglasses guy for a long time because I'd lose them, so I wouldn't wanna spend a lot of money on sunglasses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But now, like, I keep 'em, in my case, I keep 'em attached to my bag. I have the little blue thing that like you wipe 'em off with like Yeah. They're like my precious like sunglasses. Speaker 2 01:08:38 No, they're great. I mean obviously I have to love them. I have the different, uh, CUSA pairs, like the aviator style. Yeah. Um, which I'm loosely the blue of. Right? Yeah. Well I'm like loosely involved with Blue Water just cuz Bradley is an owner. Um, I help with that golf tournament every year. Yeah. Which you guys came out to. Um, so that was another big win for this year. Um, so that's how I'm loosely involved with them. Speaker 1 01:09:03 Yeah. So what do you guys got going on for next year with Blue Speaker 2 01:09:05 Water or, Speaker 1 01:09:06 Well, what does, what does, what does Megan got going on for next year in all three facets? Whatever quick summary of what you can talk about. Speaker 2 01:09:15 Well, we'll definitely do another blue water golf tournament. Um, we're putting the deposit down on that asap. That's so fun to do. Um, I wanna get a little bit more involved around town with Peachtree and Blue Otter with some rounds. Speaker 1 01:09:31 Hey, wink, wink <laugh>. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:09:33 Um, so there's some talks with different people that manage different rounds. Yep. Um, just to get back into this market and, you know, putting my name out there alongside Bradley's Yep. For the brand. Uh, Peachtree will continue to keep busy. We'll do probably bigger shows and bigger tours, but also work with development acts Yeah. That are a part of the family. Um, some other things going on that are exciting. Yep. That I can't attest to too much. Speaker 1 01:10:02 Is that hard about your job having all this shit going on behind the scenes that you can't talk about? Speaker 2 01:10:06 I mean, I'm so busy that it's not too often that I'm put in positions like a podcast like Speaker 1 01:10:11 This. Well, just in general, like knowing all this stuff. Like, I mean you're you're, you're a very strategic person though, so like I could see that Yeah. Where you always kind of have some stuff going on. Speaker 2 01:10:22 There's always different things going on and you just know working in the industry that like respectfully you can't speak to it until it's happening. I mean, it's like that at the record label too. Yeah. Um, you know, I do have like my roommates that I talk to about different things that I'm involved in. Um, Speaker 1 01:10:37 It's good to have friends outside the industry. Speaker 2 01:10:39 Yeah. Sounding board. Speaker 1 01:10:40 You need to have that. Speaker 2 01:10:41 Right. And my, my roommate Kristen, she did actually used to manage like an EDM group. So she was in the industry and then now she's becoming a nurse. She's in nursing school. But it is good to pick different people's brains. I mean, that's what my dad was, so I had to Yeah. Redistribute that energy. Um, but truthfully I'm just working so often that I don't really have time to address it. Yeah. Too often with other people. Speaker 1 01:11:06 So, uh, five people to watch for this year coming up 2022. Megan, Megan Hines, uh, list. Oh man. Speaker 2 01:11:14 And I can't like play favorites. Speaker 1 01:11:16 No, you you just say pretend you're, pretend you're running Blue Bandana. Who are five people that you would want other people to know about? Speaker 2 01:11:23 I mean, Ella Langley, you know, she's super close to home with 65 South Peachtree Entertainment. Yep. I've become friends with her and I'm a big advocate Speaker 1 01:11:30 For her and going out on a big tour. Yes. Starting in January. Speaker 2 01:11:34 Yes. She's going out with Randy Hauser, which is awesome. Um, I think I'm gonna go to the California run cuz she's going to my hometown, which is so incredible shit. It is cool. Yeah. They have a show in March in Reding, California, so, and Sacramento. So I'm gonna hit all my friends, you know, there and perfect. Get to go home. And my mom is like, can I have a ticket? And I'm like, yeah, I think I can get you a ticket. Maybe two. Speaker 1 01:11:57 Hey <laugh>. Speaker 2 01:11:58 Um, so Ella, um, kind of outside, haven't ever even worked with him. We're gonna, well, haven't worked with him. I I think everyone has eyes on the Warren Zrs. Yeah. Um, I really like what they're doing with the social media. Speaker 1 01:12:14 Casey, Casey Dutton, as a lot of people comment on. Oh really? A lot of people think that he looks like the Casey Dutton guy from Yellowstone. Yes, Speaker 2 01:12:20 Yes. Yes. He's Speaker 1 01:12:22 By freaking identical and another damn Yankee Pennsylvania boy. Speaker 2 01:12:24 Yeah. And it's in that whole like, frontier Yellowstone vibe, energy. Speaker 1 01:12:29 It's what's, it's what's blowing up right now. Speaker 2 01:12:31 Yeah. Yeah. It's what's trendy right now and the state of the world without going into politics. I think they like the old West American vibe. Um, so I'm wa I'm watching a lot of what he's doing in, I'm like liking a lot. Speaker 1 01:12:44 It's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Speaker 2 01:12:45 And he utilizes social media in a way that I think is admirable and sticking with the trends and I'm sure I'll Speaker 1 01:12:53 And doing it all while not living here. Speaker 2 01:12:55 Correct. And he Speaker 1 01:12:56 Gets all, which is very impressive. Speaker 2 01:12:57 And you know, I've heard he is gotten a lot of pres saves and you know, he made Craig Campbell's outskirts of heaven go viral again. Yep. Which I think Speaker 1 01:13:05 That's awesome with Craig featuring on it mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which that's not easy too, to get the guy Speaker 2 01:13:09 On there with me and I admire that. Yeah. Um, I think that's just really unique and interesting. I'm really excited for Brian Martin, which is an artist that I do work with. Speaker 1 01:13:18 <laugh> was was he at the uh, golf outing as well? He was, yeah. So he was one, he was up there with Trey and Ella playing. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:13:24 I had brought him out. I thought it'd be good to get him out in front of some of the people. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:13:28 Um, yeah, he did great. He's got a cool, cool sound. It's definitely, definitely a little bit different. Like, you'll know when it's Brian singing. Right. Which is what's cool. Speaker 2 01:13:34 Yeah. He's got that unique artistry to his voice and songwriting. Yep. And a lot of depth to him. And I've obviously heard some of the music that is potentially coming out and you wanna listen to it over and over again. So that naturally tells me that I love it and I think a lot of people out there will really enjoy it. Um, which that kind of also coincides with another artist that I work with. Jeremy McComb, who's kind of on that country from Tier Rock Vibe who works with Tony. Yep. He's got an interesting project coming up. Um, an ep. I just listened to the, they were working on the five songs. One of 'em, hopefully I can talk about this. I, I, one of 'em is a song from a songwriter in town Travis Meadows that you Speaker 1 01:14:19 Cut. Oh, sick. Yeah. Big fan Speaker 2 01:14:20 Travis. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. Um, and Nick Gibbons helped produce it, so Speaker 1 01:14:26 Hey. Yeah. He knows that's Speaker 2 01:14:27 A little close to home. Speaker 1 01:14:28 Yes. Yeah. Nick, Nick knows his way around a studio board Speaker 2 01:14:30 Right now. I'm gonna like be feeding into everyone. I work with Josh Miranda, who you know, is a number one songwriter in town finally putting out music with average Joes there. It's incredible. I think it's his time to shine. I love the music that he's working through. Um, did I, what is that for Speaker 1 01:14:50 Five? Well that's a couple average Joes folks. There's some folks outside the fam. Speaker 2 01:14:53 I know, right? I have to think about it outside of the fam. I mean, I'm ex I love watching the re Lewis camp. I do like watching. Speaker 1 01:14:59 Thank Speaker 2 01:14:59 You. Yeah. Yeah. I do like watching everything that you guys, I love the music, but also you guys find unique ways like the DM Monday and I think the execution of Dick down in Dallas was really fun to watch from a business side of things. Um, obviously some of it was whim and chaotic. Yes. And I wouldn't say luck cuz I know a lot of work goes behind Speaker 1 01:15:19 That. Trey Bonner didn't sleep right. I think Trey Bonner's still awake. He hasn't slept in like a year Speaker 2 01:15:23 And people don't real, I mean they might be like, oh it went viral. But like viral moments are tough because you gotta like share that and cross post it Speaker 1 01:15:31 And maximize it and then, and then get it to where you're doing 130 shows from December, 2020 to December, 2021, which is what we Speaker 2 01:15:38 Did. It's so much work. Yeah. So there's, I give a really applaud and admiration to you guys cuz there is a way to execute that effectively. Like, Speaker 1 01:15:46 Who else would you rather drink, uh, Blackberry Moonshine with at Wendell's Dipping Branch, you know? Yeah. Even though, even though some of us don't drink, Speaker 2 01:15:52 I told you I can't pick favorite camps <laugh>, Speaker 1 01:15:56 But we, we love working with working with you too. And and appreciate you saying that. Um, um, any other young, young bucks like Ella out there? Like, like, like under, under under age? Speaker 2 01:16:06 I don't know. People's ages? Speaker 1 01:16:07 Well I'm saying like just younger, newer, newer to town. Like people that you're kind of seeing, keeping an eye on. Speaker 2 01:16:14 I mean, I really like Johnny Gates. Yes. Um, he's close with Sam Grow. Um, so I have, because of that crossover, I've seen some of his talent. That's definitely more, not the country vibe, more of a Pop la thing, but I think he's remarkably talented. Um, I really like that Carter Faith girl, the little blonde. She's a little cutie. I'll keep an eye on herself. Speaker 1 01:16:35 Yeah. She can fricking sing sing Speaker 2 01:16:36 Her and I, I've seen her alive. Um, so I like her a lot. There's people that I've, there's people on my list that I wanna see. Like there's this girl that, uh, don't know. I mean I know she's in town. Her name's Sam Hatmaker, she's this redhead and I have seen her once like two or three years ago and I wanna see her out and Speaker 1 01:16:57 Down. Where's the best place to see someone if you're wanting to go and find someone? Do you prefer the acoustic rounds thing? Do you prefer seeing 'em at a whiskey jam? Do you prefer like, where's your place where like, oh, they're playing here. This is where I wanna see them. Speaker 2 01:17:09 I mean, I really like the listening room cuz you can and really absorb an artist and listen. Um, but being that, you know, I'm with Peachtree and seeing how a band performs on stage, I mean a place like Whiskey Jam or a more rowdy environment to absorb the energy from the crowd or capture the attention from the crowd is really important to see. Yeah. I'm also not bought in on an artist till I've seen them live. Speaker 1 01:17:35 That's very important to, to know. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that's that, that, that's something that people listening you should know. Like that's if like, that's, that's how important your live show is, you know? Yes. Like your live show is very important. What's something you could tell yourself, uh, five years ago? Five, uh, five years ago? Uh, 20. I'm bad at math. 2016. 2016. Megan, what would you tell her right now? You could send her a message in a time machine. Speaker 2 01:18:02 Oh man. Um, I mean, hang in there. Uh, it'll all work out how it's supposed to. I mean, I think we glazed over it a little bit. I mean, my dad's illness was pretty traumatic. Um, and it was a lot to endure with the family. Do Speaker 1 01:18:20 You wish he got out here sooner or do you think everything happened for a reason? And Speaker 2 01:18:23 That's a loaded question. I mean, I don't regret going back home after the Phoenix Sons and being there around my family and being at, you know, U C S F for Christmas and holidays. Yeah. And being, becoming the professional that I did with jll. Um, if I came out here sooner, it would be interesting to see where it would be in my career. But like, I can't dwell and figure that out. Maybe that's why I'm hustling so hard right now. Speaker 1 01:18:51 I think the organization thing, I think you being being that suit and you know, and again, it has a lot of different connotations. Like Yeah. I think of, I think of Entourage with the director and, and Ian, he's going back and forth calling him the suit and this, that the other thing. Uh, but like I think that's, Speaker 2 01:19:07 I mean, Ari Gold is easily one of my favorites. Yes. Characters of all times. Yes. In all movies. All shows. Yes. I even have his book. Have Speaker 1 01:19:16 You ever read? Really? I have not read the book. It's Speaker 2 01:19:18 Called The Gold Standard and it's written in Ari Gold's voice and there's some really good pieces of career advice in there. Yeah. Um, yeah, he's a suit Speaker 1 01:19:28 Though, so <laugh>, but Yeah. But that, that's, but that's what I'm saying is like, you like the way, like you're a great hang. We like love, love hanging out with you on the road. You're a friend. We've gone out to whiskey jam, partied together, had a good time, but at the same time, like you're, you're on your shit and you know what, I think all that stuff you did in California, like you said, led to this, like led to this. Yeah. You know, like it all Yeah. Speaker 2 01:19:48 So full circle. I wouldn't change anything. Yeah. Um, yeah. Speaker 1 01:19:54 Awesome. Now where, so good advice to myself. Yeah. Um, now where, where can, uh, people go to find you and are you cool if we have some listeners, um, reach out to you? Because I know there's plenty, there's so many people out here that are like, I like looking up to someone like you that's involved in so many different facets. Speaker 2 01:20:11 Um, I mean, I'm on Instagram and Speaker 1 01:20:14 That's what I mean. Yeah. So what's what's your Instagram? Speaker 2 01:20:17 Well, when I was trying to get hired by jll, I changed my name from Megan Hines to meet he Kegan mind, like the pig Speaker 1 01:20:23 Line. Oh, is that why it's that? Speaker 2 01:20:25 Yeah. I just haven't switched it back. <laugh>. I did it so people couldn't find me. But now all my friends and everyone's so used to it that it seems weird to switch it. And I'm not trying to become famous, so it's just me. My name been Speaker 1 01:20:38 Well, I'm just saying like, like I'm, I'm just thinking of like the folks that are Yeah. That are thinking about moving to town that are, are very passionate about music and Yeah. They definitely, they have a blog or something like that Definitely Speaker 2 01:20:47 Can reach out and talk about things a little bit further. And, you know, average shows we do always have interns and Peachtree we want to have interns. So Speaker 1 01:20:56 Peachtree interns would be a lot of fun. It Speaker 2 01:20:58 Would be they'd Speaker 1 01:20:59 Lot of fun. Speaker 2 01:20:59 They just need to behave. Yes. Cause we get a lot of access to artists and sometimes people just, you know, they don't know how to handle that. Yes. Speaker 1 01:21:08 <laugh>. Yes. Oh, we can. Yeah, for sure. I'm sure we can talk about, talk about some of that stuff off the mic offline. Speaker 2 01:21:12 Yeah. Speaker 1 01:21:12 Yes. But Megan, thank you so much for coming on and joining us, spending some of your Sunday with us. And, uh, yeah, for real, uh, this was, this is what the industry series is like all about getting to talk with dope people that aren't songwriters aren't artists that are involved in the industry and people can take a listen and learn a thing or two and Well, Speaker 2 01:21:30 Thanks for having me. I'm flattered. Um, I mean I'm still, I still feel very fresh to the industry. I'm just trying to learn anything in everything right now. Um, but this was fun and props to you. I mean, what episode is this? Speaker 1 01:21:42 God, this is like 87. I wanna say 87. That's Speaker 2 01:21:46 Incredible. I mean, I just, from the business side of things, you guys hustle really hard. I know how hard it is to be on the road, but you should give yourself a pat on the back from I Speaker 1 01:21:55 Appreciate Speaker 2 01:21:55 That. Running around and doing a podcast, being a, now the tour manager for Trey, you, you hustle just as Speaker 1 01:22:03 Much so you have to, that's just that you, you keep, you keep, uh, you keep grinding like you were saying and it's you, you get caught up in wanting to keep going and the moment you stop moving you're like, oh shit, I should be doing something. So yeah, that's kinda what I've been telling myself. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:22:16 Well you ought to keep doing that. I appreci someone that should interview you. Speaker 1 01:22:20 Oh boy. For boy the industry series boy. See that, that, that I don't know about. Does Speaker 2 01:22:23 That make, why does that make you uncomfortable <laugh>? Speaker 1 01:22:25 Well, I mean, I don't know. Maybe, maybe put we'll get m we'll get Mwa in his, uh, his case of Miller Light from the, uh, from the rider and he can interview me or something. That could be a be Yeah, I think people should know. Or put Terry or put Terry on the other side and have Terry interview me. That Speaker 2 01:22:37 I, I Speaker 1 01:22:37 Enjoyed Terry's you enjoyed Terry's episode. Yeah, I didn't offend I listened to it earlier. Didn't offend you at all. I think Speaker 2 01:22:42 People, it's funny, all these different camps think I'm super proper. Um, Speaker 1 01:22:46 Well you, you say you enjoy hanging out with us, so I do. That means you can, that means you don't get offended easily. No, Speaker 2 01:22:51 You can't. I think maybe younger me, but now that I've been around all sorts of men in my life, that sounds like really bad. But working, working with all sorts of different camps and different people, you really just can't get offended. No. People are offended by what I do, but I don't wanna I don't wanna go down that path. So Speaker 1 01:23:13 <laugh> off the mic. Off the mic. Well guys, thank you so much for listening. Thanks again, Megan for coming on. Make sure you check out our friend Megan Hind, uh, he Egan mind. Speaker 2 01:23:22 Yeah. H e g a n m i n d e. But follow like average Joe's. Yes. Peach Tree and Blue Ter polarized. Speaker 1 01:23:28 Yes. Follow all the companies and you can see what's going, how they're doing marketing and just know Megan, Megan's a part of that and you can pick up on some learn, learn a thing or two. And if you want to, uh, if you want to find out more about Megan and her story, hit her up. Uh, she's here in Nashville, um, DM sliders. Be respectful. We're not asking my gosh for that kinda thing, which I'm sure that could be a whole nother conversation off the mic DM slides and shit like that cuz I'm sure you've run into that bullshit as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do too. I get some weird ones. We can, we can exchange, exchange our, our DM Speaker 2 01:23:59 Slides. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'd love a sugar daddy to pay me 50 k like a week, but you know, I just know that's not real Speaker 1 01:24:05 <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. They're, I I think they're, yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll leave it at that. But thank you again for listening guys. Shout out to the sponsors, uh, Trailside CBD get you that Delta eight t HC 20% off promo code ITR Whale Tail Media, Saxon Studios. Um, and uh, we will see y'all next time. This will be one of our last episodes. So y'all have a Merry Christmas. Um, and we will see you guys in 2022. Thanks again. We love you. This has been the In The Round Podcast.