[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's going on, everybody? It's your boy Matt Barill here to tell you guys about my friends from Big Friendly Productions. Now, they specialize in creating merchandise for bands, artists, and even lifestyle brands. With their in house equipment, they can provide shirts, branded hats, and more, as well as some graphic design services. They offer order fulfillment to handle your online orders and ship your merch straight to your fans from their shop down in good old Birmingham. Am, Alabama, baby. Now, whether you are getting your first shirt, you're just starting out, or you're going on a 40 show run, hit them up for all your merchandising needs. Check out their website, bigfriendlyproductions.com or shoot them an email
[email protected]. Now we're going to get into the episode. This is outside the round with Matt Burrill. Also, make sure you guys like rate subscribe, tell your mama and them. And for more details and to get in touch with the rest of the familia, visit razerowdy.com. Now let's get into it. Outside the round with me, Matt Peril. A Raise Rowdy podcast.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: This is outside the round with Matt Barill, a Rage Rowdy podcast.
What is going on, everybody? Welcome back to Outside the round with me, Matt Burrill. Today a very special guest, a guy that we actually did a big takeover for his latest release song. And he's a good buddy of ours and got the bomb with him throughout town for a while.
A big, proud member of our Seagail FAM, right?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: We got our boy Jordan Gray in the house.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Jordan, how you doing? What's going on, man? Good, brother. Can't complain, man.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: How's your week been going?
[00:01:46] Speaker B: It's been good, man. We've been starting to try to roll out some of this new music and kind of switching gears into an artistry kind of thing. So it's been good, man. Just busy with that. We shot some footage for some upcoming things we're hoping to release for the end of the year, too, which we're really excited about, too. And writing, man. Just stay writing too, man. But it's been pretty busy. But good, man. Excited to be here, man. Thank you for having me.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Hey, I like the shoes, bro.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Thank you, bro.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: I like the fucking kicks.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Thank you, bro. I just actually copped these. Crazy enough.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Are you a StockX guy or where do you go to get your shoes? Or do you go to places in town where you got to physically touch them before you buy them and throw some dough on them, man?
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Bro, honestly, I'm not a shoe geek or whatever they call it, the sneaker head, kind of. I'm not anything like that. I do love good sneakers, and I just kind of like putting fits together and stuff like that. I just got these from finish line. Crazy enough.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Oh, perfect.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Yeah, crazy enough. Honestly, I mean, I'll just kind of poke my head in places and see, I was kind of actually in a rush. I was putting a fit together for this video we shot on Monday, Tuesday, and I needed something a little bit of brown and some stuff in it, too. So I was just kind of looking around the mall. I went to, like, Finish line. I went to Champs. I went to what was the other place? Foot Locker. I've been to a couple of different places, and then I randomly came across these, and I was like, I don't know. I honestly didn't like them when I first saw them. Honest to God, I didn't like them. I was like, it's a little too much. I was like, I don't know if they'll go, but they did go with the shirt that I had planned out. So I was like, all right, I'll see what it is. I ended up copping them, putting them together. Actually, I do like them. I mean, I love forces in general. Forces are one of my favorite cut of shoes and stuff, too. So they were four is. I think that's what ended up making me pull the trigger on it just because there were forces.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And you and I are around the same age, right? Your late 20s.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah, 2027. I'll be 28. Okay.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: I'm 28. So it's like, we got to grow up, and when, like, mall culture, and we had a cool time growing up, man. And I know we both got little ladies in our life, and we got to grow up being, like, being born in the 90s, going through the 2000s, like, music, discovery, the influences that we got, even you being a South Carolina guy, me being a New Yorker, we got to experience a lot of cool shit. So it's cool to be going to the mall and getting some sneakers, doing it the conventional style.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Absolutely, man. Throwing it back.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: You take little Addison to the mall quite a bit?
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure. Honestly, I take her, and then sometimes it's like, on a day like the other day when I got these, like, I got to be in and out. Know what I'm saying? If you take the little ones in, they want to kind of see everything, which is totally understandable. When I was a kid, I was trying to get into everything.
But when we do go, I mean, she's always wanting to pop in here and there and see this, see, and then ask me.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Then there's those little rides where you got to keep corners on you. I guess a lot of them now have, like, where you can just scan your card. They got smart. They're like, we're going to get more than $0.25 out of these guys.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: I'm not going to lie. I had to break her heart the last time we went to the mall because and she wanted to get one of the little cars that you push them in, like the little carts kind of thing.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: And bro, just me being the cheapscape bum that I am, I looked at it, and I was like, $10. I was like, bro, you are tripping. I was like, I'm not paying $10 for this baby. I was like, I'll carry you if you want me to. I was like, get you on my shoulders, whatever. So I ended up carrying around my shoulders through the mall and all this kind of stuff, too. But one day, if I got the spare change or something for $10 on these little cars, I'll probably cop one for it, for sure. But no, it was funny, man. But, yeah, she does. She likes those little things, for sure. But honestly, some of that stuff is so honestly, it's just dirty as hell, too, right?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: You want to try to get away from malls are dirty trampoline parks and.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Shit, bro, she loves the trampoline park, dude.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: That is a smart thing to learn for taking a little one. Take them to the trampoline, and then their nap time comes. Easy, bro.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Easy, bro. Wear them out. Got to wear them out.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: So how long have you been out here, out here in Nashville now? Because you were coming out here, you were taking trips out here for a while, right? And started doing the music thing back home in Carolina for sure.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: So I was commuting from 2014 and 15 from South Carolina into 2016, and I put a lot of miles on a car in those couple of years, just coming back and forth, and a lot of people said, man, you need to move here. You need to move here. But honestly, at the time, I was so successful doing what I was doing from South Carolina that I was like, I don't know if there's any reason for me to be here, you know what mean? So and also, that was a big leap for me at that time, as well. I mean, it was very different for me. I had moved around a lot in South Carolina. I'd lived in Charleston and Columbia, Lexington, the mid state stuff, a little bit of upstate stuff, too. But to make that leap 8 hours across a couple of states kind of thing by myself, it was definitely like, I had to think about it, you know what I mean? But January 1, 2017, I took the leap and moved here, man. And, I mean, now that I've been here since 2017, I totally see why people say you need to move here. You need to get here and be involved, for sure.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: That resonates with me a lot, and I've been lucky enough to go out on the road with folks, doing the tour manager thing, doing the merch selling thing. And I've been out to South Kakalaki a lot, and there are a lot of things to love about South Carolina, man.
There's tons of stuff to do. You've got mountains, you've got beach, you've got cities, you've got two of the greatest college towns in the country, and music wise, you've got venues like The Boathouse. You've got the tin roof circuit that's out there.
You've got the Senate, you've got the bars in Clemson, you've got the bars in Columbia.
I can see why it would be why would I leave this?
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Sure. For sure. I mean, honestly, for me it was like I don't know, man. I guess for me personally, it was always that for my artistry and for what I really wanted to know, I was the crazy kid in school that always thought I could be the biggest thing, all that. I wanted to be a rock star. I want to do these things.
Life happens and then reality sets in and things like that. But for whatever reason, I always still had this itch in the back of my brain that was like, I feel like what I have to bring to the table, I could do it further and way more. For me, it was like South Carolina just kind of had almost like a barrier, though. If I just played those areas and those places for eternity, I'm just going to kind of get stuck in that cycle. So that's why that move here was headed. But you're right, man, it's like so many good reps, though. A lot of up and coming guys and dudes from their individual towns as well. I mean, there's so many good places to get good reps at the Boathouse. And I had this little tiny club in my hometown, actually, where I met a lot of dudes I still know to this day. A little club called Carolina Nightlife, which is right there in Darlington, South Carolina. And I played that venue a good bit back in the day as well, man. So me and Kane, that was one of the first places we played ever back in 2015.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah, man, for sure.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: You say like, Cain Brown back? I didn't know you and him were connected.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, it's crazy, man. Crazy story. But I just put out a five song EP in 2014 into 2015.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Are we talking this being on, like, Spotify? Are we talking, like, underground, like, SoundCloud?
[00:08:41] Speaker B: No, it's on spotify.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: So this was like, for sure. You were doing this stuff yourself?
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Dude, I was working a job at a credit union. I basically saved up some checks previously, before that, before I even started working at this place. And I knew about this guy in North Carolina who did some really great production work on some stuff around just my hometown in South Carolina. And man, honestly, the quality was so good on what he was putting out now. He did like, more like metal records. Crazy enough. He did, like, a lot of rock bands and underground metal and hardcore stuff as well. So he was working with a band that was sounding like tooth and nail, switchfoot, all that kind of stuff.
There's a band called Sent by Ravens in my hometown, which them boys honestly influenced me so much growing up and even getting me to a place of performing. In a way. They inspired me crazy at the beginning, but they did a lot of their pre pro and stuff with this guy up in north Carolina. He did their first EP and stuff, as well. But long story short, dude, I saved up two grand, hit this guy up, and was like, dude, this is going to be some left field kind of stuff for you, because I know you do a little bit of that. And honestly, I had met this guy through a band that I played in. We played metal music, and we kind of had a plan to go record some stuff with this guy. So this is kind of how I had the connection. But long story short, I hit him up. I was like, do I want to do some country songs? I was like, I know that's real far FET's left field. I still kind of had a little bit of my rock influence in what I was doing and kind of bringing that in, but it was more like kind of bro country kind of thing, which was kind of what was popping back in the day.
And so I was like, I don't know if you want to do anything like that, but I'd be interested to record stuff with you. And he hit me back and was like, dude, honestly, I grew up on bluegrass. He said, so his roots were in country music, like real authentic country music. He said, come on up, man. So I spent a week with him, had written five songs all by myself, and went up there to this guy's place, and I tracked everything. I tracked the drums, I tracked the guitars, I tracked the bass, all this kind of stuff with this guy. He ended up mixing it, putting together, and I dropped this five song EP, and I just put it out to the world. Honestly, I didn't even know how to release music at the time. I was so blind to it.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Nobody does, bro.
You got to just take some shots and see what works. And even being in town now, it's like, you have that kind of mentality, but that's a badass story to be so eight years ago. So you were 19? Yeah, 1919, with a full time job, working your ass off to take a chance on doing what you love now for sure. What was that first track like you talk about? People say bro country. For me, that's an era of country music. It's an era of fusion, for sure.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Well, I was going to say this, too. That's probably not even the right phrase or right kind of label to put on it. I mean, there were five songs, and it's kind of just how my brain even works right now. It's like, I'm working on a project right now, too, to put out. And the first EP is kind of not mirrored in the sense of like, it's the same stuff because obviously I've grown so much in eight years. You know what mean? But, like, at the time, it was kind of a montage of different vibes and different sounds of what I felt like I could do and what that was organic to me. So there was a little bit of, you know, sam Hunt was really popping at the time as well. Montevello. Shout out Sam. He's a big influence of mine, as, like, I feel like with all those influence at the time, FGL was really popping at the time.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Dude, bro, you see in your music now, bro, right?
You're a melodies guy.
You've just got this flow to where I'm like, that's a Jordan Gray song, and it's great music to listen to, and it's music that defines that era because we all grew up on a little bit of hip hop. We all grew up on some country. We all grew up on some slipknot, some butt rock, for sure. Our generation grew up on so much different shit. Of course we're not going to sing just standard style of anything. It's going to have so many mixes because that's what happens over time.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: No doubt, man. And honestly, you can hear that in Sam's stuff. You could definitely hear his Drake influence.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: And dude's got flow.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: No doubt, man. And you can just tell he did his thing, and I was doing the same thing. I was just trying to figure out for me, and honestly, that's what the last eight years have been for me.
But that EP, though. Yeah, I put it out. I was working this part time job. I didn't really know what to do. My mom actually, crazy enough, had a hard copy CD of the whole EP that I had recorded with this guy, took it back home to my hometown, to my mom's house, and showed her my dad and was like, I don't know. She's like, well, what do you want to do with this? And I was like, I don't know. I was like, honestly, God's honest truth, my response was, I want to just have something to show my kids one day, man, that their dad could do music shit. That's really exactly all I ever wanted to do, because the only thing that I knew I was really good at, that I could stand ten toes on, that I knew. I was like, if I really gave this thing everything that I had, I feel like I could do something with it, even if it was just like being a touring drummer for somebody, you know what I mean? I was like, I want to make a living out of this somehow. Yeah, but a lot of my singing, performing kind of at the front of stage came through church, you know what I mean? I got a lot of my why.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Does that not surprise me? The soulfulness.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Sure, we know where it comes from, right? For sure. Definitely a more spiritual place. For sure.
I've been in those places, man, of like not even just leading worship, but being in a worship setting as well, where you feel like something bigger than the music, you feel something kind of like hits you, especially if you're down bad, man. You got a spot in your heart that's like a little bit tender. You're going through some things as well. You find yourself in a place where it's right and the setting is right and the message is right, the song is right, the vibes right. It'll hit you, man. And I've definitely felt like a spiritual connection to music as well, man, and been moved not even just from a church setting, but even through just I don't know if you know this girl, Yeba, maybe you've seen her. This girl, she's got a song, I haven't yet, it's low key, an old video, but she sings this song where I'm trying to remember, I think it's out of My Mind, I think is what it's called. It was an old video. It's just her and this dude playing guitar and it's like in this place, I'm pretty sure they're New York or Brooklyn or something like that. And they're just kind of like in it's almost like a spoken word kind of vibe where people just kind of open mic kind of thing as you get up and kind of do a.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Thing, cypher kind of stuff.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: 100% at the end, everybody snaps.
Yeah, for sure. But she ended up doing this bro. She's saying this song and it's just her voice and this dude's guitar and I shit you not, bro. Halfway through, you don't even know the guitar is happening anymore. And it's just like, bro, and she's singing from this place, bro, of just pure emotion and I mean, I love that aspect of music and how music can have that kind of connection with people. And you can feel this person's pain, you can feel this person's thing. And especially again, if you are going through those things and you come across something like that, it's really healing because you know you're not alone and you feel those same things that person say and you can hear what that person's how they're saying it, and you can just make that connection as well. So, I mean, music is really cool that way, man.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. Now, so you go record music 2014, 2015, and then you start coming out here, reflect a little bit on this whole journey to where we're at now, 2023, you're putting out music, you've got an incredible woman in your life.
You're doing the family thing, you're doing the life thing, you're maturing closing on 30. We're around that same place. I'm in a very similar situation to where life just kind of happens, man.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: And then COVID too.
The past few years has been pretty fucked up.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: We made out pretty good, for sure. We made out pretty good.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Well, you hope you did. A lot of people, you hope you come through all of that stuff and be a little bit more wiser, be a little bit more mature through it all.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Where were you during the lockdown and everything?
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Oh man, just right here on the east side, nashville. I actually wasn't far from Hermanage. I mean, I was right in East Nashville. I stayed there for the last four or five years.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Were you there when the tornado hit?
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Yes, bro.
It was literally like a street over from us.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: What was that like? Because I remember where I was, I was living in Laverne at the time, so I was out of people don't remember that two week stretch in Nashville history right around St. Patty's Day for sure. Was fucking crazy, bro. It was bananas. I remember I was out on the road with the Muscadine Bloodline guys and I remember we had to borrow somebody's Sprinter because the storage unit in Hermitage got destroyed with the Sprinter. Something went through the sprinter. We had to borrow Drew Baldridge's Sprinter and then go do these shows and then that was my last run of shows I ever did with them. Because then COVID hit the next week.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, COVID and tornado back to back. Sure. And you couldn't have planned that. They couldn't have planned that one, you know what I mean? We just kind of got the raw end of the stick on that, I feel like. But dude, it was hilarious. Honestly, I think I was on the game. It was pretty late. Like when that tornado came through that first one. Anyways, there was another one that came through not long after. It was maybe six months, maybe it was a year after, I'm not sure, I can't remember. But it seemed a lot closer than it probably actually was. But I was on the game, had my headset on playing the game, and my roommate comes down attached from the shoulder, he's like, you hear that? And I pull my headset off and I was like, are those sirens? And he said, yeah. He said, I'm pretty sure we got one coming. It's on the way. So I remember taking my head, just shutting it all down, getting on my phone, turning the TV on, just trying to see what's going on. And by the time I could get the TV on, I could hear the lady say like, it's coming towards Inglewood. I was like, oh shit, it was on our heads, bro. And I remember we got this back door right out of our kitchen. I just walked out there and it was super eerie, bro. Like zombie apocalypse kind of thing. I was like, oh, this is about to get weird, dude. It's about to get crazy. And then it was dead silent, and then it was chaos, you know what I'm saying? You couldn't see out the back glass at a door. I had to slam the door shut because the wind was blowing so hard. And I was like, oh, it's honest, man. I was like, this is crazy. Honest to God, I've never been that scared for my life about anything, bro. I really hadn't. When I was like, oh, this could be it right here. This could be a wrap. Who knows where we could all not have anything tomorrow. Crazy. But it ended up hitting the street behind it because it came through five points. Oh, yeah, because it nailed the basement. East.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: I was out there those following days and we were getting through debris and lending a hand, man.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Yeah, bro, for sure. I had a few budies of mine, too, like barring chainsaws and stuff like that. Getting out, trying to get out there and help some things too, man. But it was wild, bro. It's a very wild time. Very wild time.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: That was crazy. So you like the east side? You like being in East Nash?
[00:19:03] Speaker B: For sure, man. We actually just recently moved. We went a little further east. I like East Nashville for sure. But I felt like for a family situation, not to say that East Nashville was bad. I mean, we had a lot of great families around us with kids and everything.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: It is a great place if you're a musician, though, and you're looking to really get the feel of Nashville, it reminds me of back home, like in Brooklyn.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Oh, I feel it.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: It reminds me of Brooklyn. Or I'm sure you guys have it in certain cities in the Carolinas for sure. Like Raleigh or Charlote where you just have this artsy thing going, right?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I was going to say that's definitely more North Carolina. South Carolina. Because South Carolina? Honestly not. Maybe Charleston. Charleston is definitely probably a little more artsier. I mean, they got some of the history down.
Very it's got a crazy aesthetic to it. You know what, when you I don't know, I think for me, South Carolina, having that in my blood and like, East Nashville, I don't know, it could be a little weird, too, if you're.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Not used to oh, culture shock, for sure. You take a country boy or a country girl and put him in East Nashville, like, where am I?
[00:20:04] Speaker B: You look around, you see the jetsons everywhere. It's like, what's going on, bro? A lot of straight cuts.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: You pop over to Lakeside Lounge or go over to Dukes.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: I do like lakeside.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: I like Lakeside a lot.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: That's a vibe.
[00:20:17] Speaker A: Feels like I'm in a time machine.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Feels like I'm in Roadhouse.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm in roadhouse. Or an old Paul Newman movie, like.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Flat Shot or something.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: That seventy s. Eighty s vibe.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah. What's the dude in roadhouse, what was his name?
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Patrick Swayze.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Patrick Sway. Yeah. I feel like he's going to walk in at any moment in time, you know what I mean? But that's the same thing, like the Lakeside Lounge. I mean, it's a real cool spot. I go during the day normally. Like, I might pop in on a Saturday during the day, get a cold beer, play some pool, just kind of hang out. But even as like a nighttime spot, I mean, even the East Nashvillians that we were just talking about, they wander in everything. You see some of the more hipster.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Kind of style, everybody is somebody because they dress. You were talking about Fitz earlier, right? You're like, this guy's? Got to be. But it's just Joe Schmo hipster in East Nashville.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: For sure, for sure. No doubt. Exactly.
You see a lot of crazy stuff, bro. Honestly, Halloween was crazy around that, bro.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: Trick or treating as a kid in East Nashville has got to be a vibe.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: The new spot we just got in Laverne. We're in this little subdivision.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: That's where I used to live down in Laverne.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Dude, I love it, man. It's a good little spot, man. But where we're at, it's a nice little neighborhood and seems like it'll be a cool spot for Addison, for sure. Yeah, dude, it's dope for her, too, man. We got an ice cream truck.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: It must have been a good summer.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Dude, I was in the middle of nowhere growing up, so we never had ice cream truck.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Dollar, General.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: Was your piggly wiggly bro? That was it. We go got some popsicles from Piggly Wiggly. That's a fact. But yeah, man, she's got an ice cream truck. And I thought that was the coolest thing for her, man. She gets to come up here, and it's new for her as much as it is new for Mary Ashley as well, and myself. Just the whole kind of move and transition and everything. But it's all just been such positive things and everything. In my head, I knew it would be. It's all progressive. It's not regressive, you know what I mean? They're not going backwards. It's only going to be good things, man. But, man, she loves it. I mean, she hears that music come around the corner, bro. It's a rap.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: We had one in New York. Mr. Frosty. Mr. Frosty in New York.
That was the classic. That was the one in New York City. And we had out in the suburbs, mr. Frosty. Mr. Frosty came around. I was getting my choco taco or my little SpongeBob with the two dumb balls in the eyes, bro. That was where it was at.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Dang, bro, that's crazy. I remember the only time I remember getting a SpongeBob thing was when I was a kid. We had this place called Carowinds, which was on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. And they had it was Nickelodeon based, like theme park, essentially. They had like that's.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I didn't know that existed as a kid. We had to drive like, close to an hour and some change to get to it. But roller coasters, they got a little water park set up and everything but that's I think the first time I ever had one of those SpongeBob popsicles was at Carol Wins. But yeah, dude, the whole ice cream truck thing was crazy, man. It's cool for her, man. She loves it. I got to keep cash on me 24/7 now.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I keep cash on me for that reason.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: You found little goodies.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So how did you get linked up with Mary Ashley?
Tell me a little bit about that story because I know she's a Carolina girl as well. And it's a love story. Dude.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Dude, it's a very unorthodox love story for mean, those are the best kinds. It's the best, man. It's ours, man. You know what I mean?
She and I have had that conversation a lot too, man. Just over the last four years of we're very different. It's very unorthodox. But for me, mean, she didn't know that getting into it, but she know I was very pretty straightforward early on as like, my life is very different. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. I write songs for a living. That's crazy. You know what mean? Like, this is nuts that I even do anything that I do. And I think anybody in the music industry would tell, you mean, even the fact that we all get to do what we mean it's, you know, we're very blessed to do what we do. But it is unorthodox. It's different. And so first things first is meeting her, it was immediately we know it's going to be long distance. You know what I'm saying? Automatically it's like, different. You know what I mean? There's other folks that definitely have done long distance for sure, but for me, it was one of the first times I've ever done that. And for her, same thing. And while it was very exciting at the beginning, for us, it was a lot of just being real and trying to figure this thing out with one another. But it's been a blessing, man. But we are from the same little small area in South Carolina.
She would tell you that she knew me when she was like 13. Like as a kid, she saw me playing in that band. I think I was 15. She's a couple of years younger than me, so she probably was like 1213 somewhere around there. I'm like 15 playing in this metal band, like touring this little area around.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: My little now, is this like the what the fuck is up, Denny's kind of metal band?
[00:24:59] Speaker B: Not one. Well, honestly, bro, we had friends of ours who were in bands like that that we would show up to, like tattoo parlors and IHOPs and random pizza Den type. Yeah, absolutely. For sure.
But she'll tell you that she knew me then obviously I was a kid. Just kind of like in the mix of all that kind of stuff too. But I'm sure she says she's like, I know we've seen you play before when you were younger and all this kind of stuff too. So that's kind of where we merged. But again, it's a small town, bro. I knew of her for a long time. I knew kind of some of her mutual friends, vice versa, like some of my friends as well. So years pass, and we had just met through Snapchat, honest to God, and just started talking back and forth. And honestly, I had been here for like, four or five years, bro, and played the field a single dude up here in Tennessee and made some stupid mistakes early on and this, that, and the other. But honestly, never really was serious about wanting to find anything to settle down or be in a relationship or anything. I was really focused on myself and the things that I want to do, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing for a while. It's good, I think, to focus on you and be the person that you want to be. But we were just talking about it. I'm getting closer to my thirty s and I've always been an old soul. I've always wanted a family. I've always wanted to have those things too. I was super blessed to have great parents, great brother, man, like in a real solid family unit and having that, I always kind of wanted to have my own that way as well, even from an early age. So when we connected it was immediate. Like, again, no shade on anybody here. It was just having that touch of home, man. Like her understanding the things that I grew up on, her understanding kind of even just the subtle things. Like we got a Chinese place at the mall where we're from that if you're not from there you don't know anything about it, but they stack up the food on the plate, you know what I'm saying? It's subtle things like that, that she knows all these little things, man, and we can relate and we love to talk about it and all that kind of stuff too. But yeah, man, she's been a huge blessing, bro. Just huge. And I mean, I was very honest with her too. I was like, I don't want to rip her away from everything she's ever known to bring her up here but she was just as hungry to want to see more and push herself to become more than she could ever see for herself as well, bro. She knew there was more out here for her as well.
I was like, well, if you're down, I'm totally down to stand by you if you stand by me know, kind of thing. And that's exactly what we've kind of established for ourselves man, which is that's beautiful. It's a blessing, man, for sure.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: That's beautiful. It's funny you guys met, started talking over Snapchat. I started talking to my girlfriend Aaron.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Over Instagram there you go.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: About a year ago, and it's like just seeing how things can progress and now having that dynamic now with your girls, right.
Have you felt like your writing has changed a little bit now? Like, having a different perspective on life, dude, because I feel like my life perspective has changed over the last year.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, honestly, it's been crazy, man. I mean, at the beginning of our relationship, it was new for both of us, man. We both had similar previous relationships that didn't end necessarily the greatest, and I had some years to kind of get through that for myself and kind of know, figure out all the things I needed to figure out through that for myself. I had spent some years doing so, but, again, by the time, you know, met Mary Ashley, I was, you know, I'm I think for the first time, I'm actually ready to kind of pursue something I don't have any sort of like, well, I say that she'll tell you otherwise, I'm sure. But, yeah, for me, at least for the most part, I was like, I think I'm at least ready to be serious if I do end up finding that person that I'm like, man, there's a cool connection here. Which day one for her, it was exactly what that was. It was a very different connection than I had had previously with hanging out with anybody else. It wasn't the straight just go straight in for a kiss or anything like that, or, like, let's link up here, and none of that. It was the first time we linked, bro. She sat on one end of the couch. I sat on the other end of the couch, and we had a long conversation. Just talked life talked good shit, man. Just talked about we laughed, cried. You had some good combo, bro. And I was like, damn, this is really cool, bro, that I'm having this conversation with you. I've not had this conversation with a female in the last three or four years. I feel like it's always just kind of like the here today, going tomorrow kind of thing. So it definitely gave me a different vantage point on relationships, and I was like, honestly, this could be cool. But for her, she was getting out of a relationship she wasn't too far out of it's been only a few months kind of thing, so it was still kind of fresh on her. So it was slow, and it was kind of tedious. But my writing, though, to answer your question, early on, there were some miscommunications between she and I. There was definitely some button heads with each other kind of thing, and so some of my writing was kind of from a place of trying to I just had things to say, you know what I mean? I wanted to tell her some things, but not in a way that I was speaking down on her. But the best way that I could say it was through writing. And so I would write. So the song two wrongs. Crazy enough. Not a lot of people know that, but it's a story kind of based similarly off of our relationship. We broke up for like three months and I didn't speak to her for about three months, and it was just a lot of bitterness back and forth.
She's taking shots, you know what I mean? This whole kind of thing, just us being kids still and so just writing through some of that stuff, I wrote some of those things. But now four years deep and getting some of that immaturity behind us and getting a little more serious with each other and being honest with each other kind of thing through all of that, now I write songs that reflect Addison.
Isn't that great?
[00:31:05] Speaker A: I got to say, when we did the release for Stuck There and that night, the highlight of my night for that, which was awesome, we had some damn heaters. You had. Damn tucker. Bethard on stage. It was badass. We can get into all that. But watching little Addison with that phone, taking pictures of you and just her soaking it all up and being like that's Jordan right there. Like, her just being so excited at Live Oak, that little smiling face and seeing how happy you were carrying her around, introducing her to everybody, her saying hi to Uncle Ben and JD. And the whole crew. Dude, it was so cool, man. That whole Night is one that I look back on is one of my favorite rounds for that reason, because not every day that you get to have a little one in the bar watching you do your thing, especially as things progress with you in your career, you're going to be spending time out on the road. You're going to be going out on tour, you're going to have hopefully, if everything works out, when you're touring for weeks at a time and you're going and you're doing the damn thing. But for her to get that moment with you, that was awesome, man. That made me really happy to see that's.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Sweet, man. I appreciate you saying that, bro. For sure it was. But we made a joke that night. I was like, I don't know how many four year olds spend as much time in a bar as this one does kind of thing. But it's really cool, though, man, that she gets to grow up and experience things like that, man. And that's kind of my whole thing. I want to introduce her to. This is that lifestyle. This is a little bit and not to force it upon her, you know what I mean? She enjoys it. She loves it. But again, not trying to be too overbearing with any of the parenting stuff, but just, again, this is my job. This is what I do. And she knows it, man. Like, when I leave in the mornings, she said, dad, are you going to work? I'm like, yeah, I'm going to work, and I'm going to write a song. You know what I mean? Or like, I'm going to do a podcast or I'm going to film a video, do something like that. She knows she was there with some of that filming that we did as well. And she's over there pressing play on the phone so the music can start, so I can start filming and doing my thing, too. But she's brilliant, man. She's such a smart little girl. She's sweet. She's more grown than she is a baby.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: For sure, right? Yeah, I got that vibe for sure. Now, some of the guys you had playing that round with you, bro, that was a crazy night. Like, some of the connections that you've made in your time being here, bro, you've got a great group of guys around you that you get to go and create with. And being over at Seagale and being with the team that's over there, man, you're in a good spot. Honestly, a lot of people, they don't get to this level of writing and creating and to have the connections with all kinds of writers, artists, things like that, dude.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Dude, it's wild.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: It is wild. Exactly.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: It really is wild, man.
The whole time I was sitting on stage that night, I was just kind of like, internally, just like, what is going on, man?
Four years ago, I was either in the crowd at one of these things or at my house just pinning songs. And now, like, you're saying just how to do a bunch of name drops, but like, Tucker and again, I could go through a whole list of all these folks. Matt, but Jordan Walker. It was funny. By the end of it, we call.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: Him Jordan talker because that boy can talk.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: He loves to roast.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: You got to have it, man. You got to have him talking. And he keeps the right rooms alive, man. He's definitely putting a lot of good energy into the room to keep it alive. I mean, I've been in rooms where it can die, so having a guy like that in a room is huge, man. It just keeps everything active, keeps it going, and he's always throwing out something worth having, you know what I'm saying? So shout out Joel Walker. He's great. But funny enough, they said, realize this, but at the end I was like, how did you get a Jordan every round? And I was like, did I do that? I was like, I didn't even mean to do that. But crazy enough, bro, we had a bunch of Jordans, man, all the rounds. But it is crazy to think about, man. Shout out seagal. Shout out.
Chris.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Yeah. How'd you first meet JD. Man? Because that guy's been like a mentor to me as well with my time. When I was out in the road as a tour manager, we had nights where the wheel bearing on the trailer fell off, and I called up JD. And I was like, hey, man, what do I do?
[00:35:29] Speaker B: Honestly, man, JD. And I met around that 2015, 2016 era of me playing out on the road, playing some dates with Kane, and I had a few one offs here and there, and I would play the Gin down in Georgia.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Oh, God bless. That place is a staple. If you're a country artist and you haven't played that yet, you're going to.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: And, I mean, I felt that way with the gym, man. At that time. It was know everybody who was everybody in town in Nashville played the, you know, almost kind of even looking back on it now, I'm like, damn, I'm really glad I got to play that place before the shutdown and all that stuff as well. But that's where we met her originally. And JD. Has always been a fan, kind of from day one. And then years passed. I moved here. Funny enough, it was right after COVID. Me and the boys, we hadn't been out in a while, and Whiskey Jam was coming back. Was the first Whiskey Jam back since the shutdown. And we got there early, got some wings, got some beer, got a spot at the table, and everything kind of started funneling in. And that night, specifically, Ward ended up stepping down. I think he might have had COVID, and JD. Stepped in and was hosting that night. And so me and the boys sitting at the table, and I was like, that's my boy JD. Man, I ain't seen JD. In years. I mean, since some of those times at the gym, man, like, way back. And I knew he'd been in town with John Langston. And that's pretty much all I knew about JD. I was like, I knew he was kind of tour managing and doing his thing from that standpoint. Had no idea he was affiliated in the publishing world or anything like that. And I went to the bathroom. When I came out, he was standing right there and just was like, well, here's my opportunity. So I just pat him on the back. I was like, what's up, big guy? And he was a big guy then, not no more. He's half the man now.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: He didn't just do 75 hard. He's done 151 50 hard.
[00:37:16] Speaker B: 100%, bro. And he's not bullshitting, bro. He is 100% active on that shit. He's going crazy dedicated. I give that man all my respect, bro. He's definitely doing it. But yeah, man, he turned around, he didn't even recognize me. I grew this beard during COVID as well, and just kind of like, what and I was just like, what's up, man? Jordan Gray. He was like, dude. He's like, where have you been? And I'm like, Right here, brother. You know what I'm saying? And he was like, bro, let's link for some lunch and hang out next week. So ended up linking up when he just sent me an address again, had no idea where I was headed. Ended up pulling up his ego. And when I walk in, this man goes and sits behind a desk and got a little name tag on a desk. And I was like, whoa, bro, what's going on here? And he's like, I'm here at seagull. I work in publishing now. I was like, you work in publishing? He's like, yeah. And he's like, that's why I brought you here, man. Play me some tunes, man. Let me hear what you got.
And I told him, too. I was like, I'd love to play him some stuff and sharing some music with him and stuff too. So I played him like four demos maybe that I had during COVID That's all I did. I just wrote and stacked up little work tapes, demos. He'll tell you about it too, but I'll just do like an acoustic vocal kind of work tape. Just something clean you can listen, know that's not a voicemail on your phone. Kind of know, just something clean where you can write out. It might not have all different elements to it, but it's just something clean of what we wrote. So me and my boy Nate shout out Nate as well. We wrote a bunch of songs during COVID Yeah. Nate Jones.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah, bro.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah, bro. Bar spitting Nate, man.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: Love that guy.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Yeah, bro. Same.
[00:38:43] Speaker A: Love his music.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Same. Dude. Dude. He's talented out of the wiser, bro, no doubt. But me and him wrote a bunch of songs. And I had just done these little work tapes and I was playing them for JD. I got through about four of them. And he was like, bro, send me all of those. And I was like, all right. So I sent them to him and I shit you not, bro. That next Monday, I got a call from he said, hey, Christopher is going to call you. They're going to offer you a publishing deal. And I was like, it had been like a week. And I was like, Damn. I was like, you serious? He's like, yeah, right on the spot kind of thing. Apparently, he had gone in with those demos I sent him and went to their creative meeting that they had and played it for him. And what he tells me is that they didn't get through about two of them. And Chris was like, I don't know who this kid is, where he's at, what he's doing. Get him on the line. Let's offer him a pup deal. And it happened pretty fast. It was like a couple of months went by and we were in long form, so it was pretty rapid again right after COVID and everything, and it was just at a good time for me.
I felt like, again, all the time I'd spent writing and really finding my niche, all those little work tapes I was cutting during COVID every time I listened back, I was like, man, these songs are great. I mean, I say that now about songs. I write three years now deep into the pub, like but then, too, I was like, I'm ready, man. I'm ready to get in these rooms and offer what I can, man. So shout out JD, Chris, the whole team over at Seagull who believed in me, and they still do, man, like crazy.
And that's who gets me in the rooms with those guys, man. You know what a good that's a.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Good team over there.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: It is, man. That is a quality people, bro.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Really good team. And at that point, I mean, you had been in the music game for a minute and you had gone through COVID and you kept grinding in the way that you could. So to have that moment happen, and it just came from you and the boys being at Whiskey Jam and popping out of the bathroom, patting him on for sure, bro.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: And during that COVID time, too, shout out my boy JT. We filmed a bunch of videos and he ended up getting some editing software on his Mac and just chopping up some videos for me, too. And we just, again, just doing all that we can during COVID while we can't play shows, can't do anything like that, and really couldn't go do a whole bunch socially. So we just kind of did what we could right where we were, man, just trying to stay active and keep doing what we're doing to be prepared for that when everything did let up, you know what I mean? Which we were at one point, we weren't really hopeful, but kind of latter and all of that, we were like, okay, this thing might finally let up. We can get up out of here and kind of move on with our lives kind of thing. And so I was just glad that we kept hustling during that time to be able to kind of have that stuff stacked up and ready to go for that opportunity, man.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. Now, when you're not doing music and you're not spending time with your ladies, what are you out doing? Because I know we saw you on the golf course this week out there at Old Hickory, dude. Felt like we were out in Scotland, dude.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: It was awesome, man.
[00:41:31] Speaker A: Weather. That course is freaking beautiful.
[00:41:34] Speaker B: Beautiful course. I love the course, man. But yeah, cold muggy, bro.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: That rain. I was lucky. We were under ten. We were at hole five, and we were the party tent over there.
[00:41:43] Speaker B: Honest to God, you all were lit.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: We were cigars, we were cigars and we had Cole's. I forgot the name of it, but we had Cole's, like, moonshine over there.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Yeah, that's yeah, yeah, I can't remember the name of it.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: We're like, hey, guys, go to hole five. Raise rowdy and Moonshine and cigars. And here's a hat. And we definitely held up the pace of play a little bit because people were just coming and kicking it at our tent.
[00:42:06] Speaker B: They were holding up the pace of play on their own self. So it ain't on you all. No, we enjoyed, but it was fun, man.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: We had our speaker going, playing some tunes. How'd you play?
[00:42:14] Speaker B: Pretty decent, man. As a unit, everybody's kind of playing best ball kind of thing. But we definitely as a unit, we were scrambling a little bit, but between the four of us, man, we definitely had some good gameplay. I had some great shots, more better shots than I thought I was going to have. Honestly, I love playing golf, man. It's such a fun little thing to do. I used to go back home a good bit when me and Mary actually were still long distance, and I would play with my boys back home every time.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: You're a South Carolina guy?
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Golf is in your yeah.
[00:42:43] Speaker B: Well, honestly, shout out my uncle, man, when I was a kid, and also my cousin Derek, man.
He's amazing, bro. He's a really strong golfer, and he was one of the guys in our family. That was his bag. That's what he did. Kind of same way I was with music. If you caught me as a kid, I might play baseball, play some sports with some friends from school or whatever, but nine times out of ten, I was probably home playing my drums, playing guitar, playing out in the yard or doing something, just keeping my mind active, doing my own thing. Derek was always taking swings, man, doing his thing. So between him and his dad, my uncle, and then my other uncle as well, he was a strong golfer. He got me one of my first set of clubs when I was really young, like in middle school. I tried to get on like, a golf team, like a little summer situation kind of thing, and just play. But I'm so scatterbrained as a person, I can never stay with one thing.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: See, I did the golf team in high school, and what's great I was what they call an I got, so my score didn't really matter in the match. And where I grew up, we played all those bougie country clubs, and my family couldn't afford it outside of New York City.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: So I got to do nine holes on all these fancy courses. I played one of the trump courses up there, do all this cool stuff, and my score would count for, like, three matches, so I'd get the varsity letter. I was, like, one of the few guys that would do football in the fall and do golf in the spring, and it was fun, man. I just got to play golf on tax dollars. It was fucking pretty cool.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: That's hilarious. That's great, man. Honestly. Funny story, too. You talking about getting a letter. I did get a letter when I was, I think, a freshman or sophomore. I was just playing baseball at my school, but I bounced around from schools as well. I ended up graduating from a public school right there in my hometown, lamar High School. And academically bro trash. I'm not academic guy at all. And again, not strict. My brain was always on some other things.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: You an ADHD guy as well? For sure. That's me.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: I'm always tapping.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: Me too, dude. Fidget, spinner. Play with the candidate.
[00:44:45] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: See that?
[00:44:46] Speaker B: For sure. I'm always just like, my hands are always moving. I'm always just twitching my foot kind of thing, all that kind of stuff. Same. So school is just never my bag. But I remember somebody told me, like, hey, if you give blood each quarter between your junior year and your senior year, they'll give you a red cord, red cord around your gown when you graduate. And so I was like, well, I don't want to be naked, bro. When I get my gown. I was like, boy, I gave blood every time they had I was like, I'll give it all, bro. Just give me that red cord. So I just don't like a lame.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: What's your blood type?
[00:45:19] Speaker B: I think it's o positive.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: Okay. So you got that good stuff.
[00:45:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that's good.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: I was AB positive. Okay, that's another one. I did that a lot in college, and I would do the plasma or whatever. Do that little bit of extra. Get them little snacks, eat them bugles. Get that extra. Absolutely. Get that orange juice.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: Did you do the college thing at all, or did you just do the mute? You go right into music.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: I did one semester of college straight out of high school, and I didn't show up at all.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: What school were you at?
[00:45:47] Speaker B: It was a little technical college in my hometown. Okay. My mom, again, just because school wasn't my strong suit, I was going to have to basically retake all of my high school courses or whatever it was that I had to do. So my first year of college was just basically redoing high school one more time. And my mom was like, Jordan, I just want you to go try. Just just for me, try school. My brother had gone to school. He loved it. My brother was a great school person, good in academics.
For me, though, it just wasn't for me. But she was like, please go. Just try it for me. So, okay, so I went and I skipped most days. My buddy would pick me up. He had an FJ, and he would pick me up. We go back to. His career and play GTA. GTA Five had just dropped at the time. We played GTA five every day.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Best games ever, for sure.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: By the end of that first semester, I still hadn't chosen, like, a major or anything, and so we had to go meet with the quote, unquote guidance counselor or whoever at the time, and they were like, all right, Jordan, so you got to pick something. And at this point, they had done laid it all out for my mom. He had been showing up for class, like, all this kind of stuff, and my mom just being my mom, just kind of just like, okay, Jordan, what do you want to do? I was like, Is there a music course? She was like, he's like, well, we have, like, an arts no, I'm like, I don't want to paint pictures. Do you have a music course? And they're like, well, we have music theory, or some sort of it's more like just history of music kind of know. And I'm like, yeah, that's cool. I was like, but y'all don't have anything where I can be in a studio or try to figure out how to record or anything like that? They're like, no, we don't have anything like that. And we couldn't afford Belmont. I didn't have academics to go to Belmont or any other school or music school for that matter, either. So I just said, honestly, Mom, I'm done. I want to move down to Charleston. My brother was in college in Charleston. I was like, Just let me move down there and let me play some shows and stuff. I'll get a job. I'll figure it out. Just kind of let me do my thing.
And I had written two of the five songs on that five song EP I put out in 2015 while I was living in Charleston, just bumming it with my brother. And then I ended up getting a room situation in a house full of homies, too. And crazy enough, I learned more about music during this kind of wave right after that.
I've learned a lot now, obviously, but one of my roommates at the time, his name's Kendrick, and other roommates, his name was Sam, he was a drummer. I mean, Sam taught me a whole lot about just drums and things because I was a drummer. I mean, that was what I loved to do growing up. And so just being able to be around that guy, learn from him. Kendrick had gone to Juilliard for piano.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: And he was just Duke. I remember we would play bar gigs down in Charleston, these little bars, and I played drums for Kendrick when Sam couldn't fill in, or I would fill in for Sam when he couldn't play. And Kendrick would play superstitious. And when he would play, he played the bass line with his left hand. He'd play the chords with his right hand oh, boy. And sing the whole song. And so that whole he's doing all that with his left hand and then playing the actual parts, the chord parts with his right hand and singing the whole thing. And I'm over on the drum just like, the whole time, like, oh, my God. I was like, this is crazy. But he really is one of the most talented dudes I've ever been around. And he taught me a lot. He taught me natural notation. We would ride in his car, and he would just pick some of the easiest songs because he knew for me, I learned better through visuals and put my hands on it than you just telling me what things meant. And so he would play a song and be like, all right, that chord is the one. This is the four. That's the six. He's like, Your minor chords are these. Your major chords are these. So right out of high school, around, like, 1718 years old, I had already known, like, national notation and things like that, too, and also just Church World, too. I ended up getting a little internship and started working at this church down in Charleston. It was one of those multi site campus church kind of thing, but they ran tracks and queues and stuff like that. And I mean, they were pretty regimented with their system of getting music and stuff together and stuff like that, too. So it was good, man. I mean, I ended up kind of going to school for music. Just school of hard knocks, man.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: That's how I feel, too. I did the college thing, and I did four years up at a college in New Jersey called Ryder, and I was involved in the radio station there. And that's what led me here to Nashville. But I've learned more about the music business in the five years that I've been here. Working on Broadway, watching people when I was working the door at Whiskey Road, being on the road and seeing it that way to doing the rounds and being in rooms with songwriters and musicians and artists. So you're familiar with Charleston? I've only been to Isle of Palms. Yeah, I've been out to the Wind Jammer a couple of times. But Aaron, my girlfriend, is from Goose Creek originally.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: That's where our house was.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: So we're going to be going out there for Thanksgiving. Where are some places in Charleston if somebody like me for Yankee Boy right here who's never been there, where's some good spots in Charleston to go?
[00:50:45] Speaker B: It's been some years, man. I'm sure there's a bunch of new places. My brother still lives him and his wife live in Somerville, which is right outside of Goose Creek. Still in Charleston and stuff, too. But I would have to ask my brother, bro, honestly, I mean, when I was there, they did this thing called Restaurant Week, which I don't think it'll be during Thanksgiving, but you can go basically down and get like, a five star meal that would normally be like $200 for half the price, essentially.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: Also go to, like, halls or something like that.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Halls? Yeah. My brother loves halls. Now, my brother did bet me a hall steak dinner that I've played these songs on this project for my brother. And he's told me, like, track five, the last track on the project, he said, that'll be the one that goes for you. And I'm like, all right, let's raise the stakes. He said literally, like a hall steak dinner. I was like, if that's the one that blows, or if that's the one that catches real fire, I was like, cool. I was like, I'll buy you a steak dinner. I was like, if it doesn't, you buy me one. So I got a Haul Steak getting on the line for sure. That's a great spot. But another place called 82 Queen, which I don't know if it's still there or not. I'm not 100% sure, but they got some of the best crab BISC I've ever had in my life. I love it.
Again, that's just me and I don't know a whole lot.
I remember just playing just the little places that I would play down there would be taboolis and little random spots. I don't even know if those places still exist, honestly. It's been so long.
[00:52:04] Speaker A: And there's like, the road of the houses that are all the different colors.
[00:52:08] Speaker B: Rainbow Row.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Rainbow Row. And then there's, like, the market. And there's so much history in Charleston. It is literally one of the oldest cities in America. The oldest city.
[00:52:17] Speaker B: Wow. That one in Savannah. A little bit further down, which is which?
[00:52:20] Speaker A: I've been down there loading in Savannah to Saddlebags. I've gone through there, and you go down that cobblestone, you can't bring the bus down.
[00:52:28] Speaker B: It's a whole mess. It's a mess. No doubt. For sure, bro. For sure. But I love it, man. Yeah, the history down there is incredible. I think. O'darius. I think he's got a spot down there. And I think Danny McBride, crazy enough, has a spot.
[00:52:43] Speaker A: All of his big shows are filmed down there. Righteous Gemstones is filmed. The big megachurch is like the arena or one of the malls that's down there where Brother Bobby Billy or whatever his name is, uncle Brother Bobby Billy, whatever the hell. Aaron's going to roast me forgetting.
[00:53:02] Speaker B: All I can hear is John Goodman saying it. That's all.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: And then all the Eastbound and down stuff, which is great.
[00:53:09] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: So what have you got? So we've got stuck there out right now. What do people got? Look forward to you've been promoting this project, being in the tank and been grinding, writing these songs for a while, and now going to have a new project out eight years after that first one you put out.
When could we be expecting some shit, dude.
[00:53:34] Speaker B: So we got another one in the chamber right now. We're looking to fire off in the next four to six weeks or so, and I think we're going to drop another single and then you know how the music industry dies out, you know what I mean? Kind of towards the end of November into December kind of thing.
[00:53:48] Speaker A: Take a big Christmas break.
[00:53:51] Speaker B: Everybody puts too much work in throughout the year to not do that.
But, yeah, taking a little break. And I think at the turn of the year, we'll drop the whole project. But the next single is called you. I knew it was a two way between me and the boy, Bobby Pinson. Shout out, Bobby. Yeah, bro. And it is the most it's the most non Bobby Pinson bobby Pinson song you'll ever wow.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: Give me your favorite Bobby Penson story. Oh, man, we've all got a lot of Bobby Pinson stories.
[00:54:15] Speaker B: I got some I got a few that come to mind. The funniest one for me, honestly, was the first time me and Bobby met, and it was actually, I think, in this, right? I mean, growing up around all my uncle's grandpa stuff, like, know, everybody pretty much straight know, and they're always taking jabs and joking with you kind of thing. And that's why me and Bobby connected that way pretty fast, just because he reminded me a lot of just kind of people I grew up around, just real quick, real witty, and just kind of hit you with a stinger kind of thing. And he hit me with one, and I hit him right back with one. And when I hit him right back with one, he didn't even look up from the paper. He just said, hey, man. He said, hey, budy, I don't need no help being a dick, or something like that. And it was the funniest shit ever, dude. I laughed, but it was like, then that's where we'll draw the line, you know what I'm saying? And I was just being a young and kind of thing, too. That was the first time we met. But ever since then, bro, bobby's been such a huge supporter and believer in me as well. And again, just talking about being blessed and I can't believe I'm even saying what I'm saying right now, you know what I mean? It's cool that people like Bobby who are such strong writers and hit songwriters in know he likes what I do and vice versa, man. That's why that song is so cool to me, too, that we're putting out, is because I say that it's the most non Bobby Bobby Pinson song. It's just because when you hear it, you'll be like, bobby Pinson wrote this. But lyrically, though, Bobby's so strong, and that's kind of how we wrote that song. Bobby was pretty straight. He knew exactly what he wanted. He was like, I'm going to do me, you do you. You know what I mean? I was like, cool. And he ended up throwing this thing out, and he's, all right, how would you do this? You know what I mean? And just kind of vice versa, man. And I'm asking him, Would you say this, or would you do it like that? And he's like, Just do it like you do it. Do it like that. And I went home and demoed it out and sent it back, and it turned out to be one of my favorite songs that I had written up to that point and still is one of my favorite songs. It's a really cool song, and I think it fits perfectly. The follow up, Stuck There, it's kind of that same vibe a little bit. But I am excited for the rest of the project, man, because it kind of starts veering off a little bit.
I've said it from the beginning. I think when the whole project releases, stuck There will make a whole lot more sense, and this next song, UI new, will make a lot more sense as a unit in a package. It'll all go together, and you'll kind of see all the different influences kind of come to life when the whole project's released, too, which I'm super excited about.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: Hell yeah, dude. Well, fucking excited for you.
[00:56:39] Speaker B: Thank you, man.
[00:56:40] Speaker A: Good freaking, dude. And good things happen to good people, man. And the grind you've been on and the journey of starting back in Carolina and having those experiences early on, and then now you're getting to do this next chapter of songs and doing the family thing, dude. I mean, it's awesome.
[00:56:57] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, I appreciate it, man. I always said, man, for me, it's kind of like this last year, I was like, I don't want to forfeit real life for this career, you know what I'm saying? Which I know a lot of people do. And obviously, there are things that have to be forfeited. I might miss some games somewhere along the way, or I might miss this family gathering, which I have before, and continue to I will continue to miss some things for sure, man, which that's kind of the give and take of it all. But at the same time, I was like, man, I've always wanted to be a family man, too, and that's just as important to me, and I love that just as much as I do this passion and this thing for music that I have, too. And I'm just blessed to have a wonderful lady in my life, fiance in my life as well, who believes in what I do and loves what I do. You know what? She's just she is on fire for it as much as I am. She stays running that song at the house. She's giving me just as many spins as any fan would, and she's my number one, man. And Addison is just a beautiful, amazing person and so smart little girl, man. And she just uplifts my life as well, and it makes me going to do all these other things. The music, which know, kind of my cornerstone and the thing that I definitely want to find success in and I work so hard for. But it makes going and working harder for that more worth it. You know what I mean?
[00:58:24] Speaker A: Amen. Rude.
[00:58:24] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: Well, where do people go to find you on all the social medias and stuff?
[00:58:28] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Jordan gray music. Man. At Jordan gray music. I think that's across the map. Twitter and Instagram, TikTok, which of the.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: Social media platforms do you enjoy the most?
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Me as a consumer, I mean, I found myself scrolling. IG I didn't really hop on heavily on the TikTok. I think IG was kind of like the OG for me. Yeah, same now. It just depends. Speaking of the weather stuff, early on, if you don't follow Nashville severe weather on Twitter, you're are if you live in Nashville and you don't follow that guy, you got to follow him. He gets you to updates real live on time, lets you know. So I hit Twitter for that guy pretty much. If there's ever like, oh, we got a bad storm coming, I'm immediately on Twitter looking for that guy for sure. Or if I'm looking for some real data or something like that, I'm trying to look for, I might go to um, but yeah, it's mostly that. And then Facebook shout out. Facebook Market. I hit Facebook Market a good what's.
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Been your best deal? Facebook Market?
[00:59:26] Speaker B: That truck's sitting out front, bro.
[00:59:28] Speaker A: Really?
[00:59:28] Speaker B: No doubt, yeah.
[00:59:30] Speaker A: Facebook Marketplace.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: I did, bro. I scoured everything because I wasn't looking for a brand new truck anyways. I wanted that your model truck? Because that's just one of my favorite shapes of a silverado. And so I was just kind of looking around. But I scoured the internet for years, man, looking for a truck and just spending 80 grand, 50 grand, even 40 something on a truck is just wild, bro. You know what I'm saying? I got places back at home where you could find one for I mean, it's going to be a mom and pop kind of place kind of thing. But you can find one for thirty s and maybe even in 20s, but it's a little bit older. Your model truck a little bit higher miles, too. But yeah, I got it for a crazy steel, man. But I randomly was scrolling down Facebook Market and I saw this truck. And I was like, dang, bro, there's no way that thing's that pretty to be that old to have that many miles. So I linked up with the guy and checked it out in person, drove it around. And dude, it's immaculate. It's in such good shape. And I was like, yeah. I was like, I think this is going to be the one right here. So I ended up scooping that thing off Facebook Market, too. But yeah, I always find some good stuff on there. My mom, she's proud of me. She's the wheeler and dealer in the family, too.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: There's always one in the family.
[01:00:36] Speaker B: I keep it going. I'm keeping it going. I wheel and deal pretty well.
[01:00:41] Speaker A: Awesome, man. Well, appreciate you coming on the pod, dude.
[01:00:43] Speaker B: Thank you, man. I appreciate you asking me and having me. I love you guys, man. Y'all are great. Yeah.
[01:00:47] Speaker A: And happy to have you as a part of the razor outdy family.
[01:00:49] Speaker B: Come on, man. I'm happy to be here, brother. I appreciate it. For sure.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Hell yeah. Well, guys, be sure to check out our boy Jordan Gray. Stuck there is out now. He's got more music coming down the pipe. A whole project. I'm going to be hooking y'all up with a single not too long from now. So y'all be on the lookout for that. Follow our boy Jordan Gray. Thank you guys, as always for watching Outside the Round. Watching, listening, like rate subscribe follow. Tell your mama and them and shout out, of course to our friends, whaletail Media, big Friendly Productions, saxman studios. Our boy Mitch Wallace with the digital marketing agency. You want to find out more about us, go to raisedrowdy.com. We'll see you all next time. This has been outside the Round.
[01:01:35] Speaker B: Come on it I never been the kind for stand one place for too long.
I never been the best at this.
I love you. To a girl I love only got a couple drink on my sleeve. They usually just make them leave so if you know me, if you really know me you know I'm just a two trick pony maybe the drinking and the lack of money for show I'm just.
