Matt Stell: The Drift, Growth & Staying Inspired

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Come on. [00:00:15] Speaker A: This is Outside the Round with Matt Burrill for Rage Rowdy Podcast. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to Outside the Round with me, Matt Burrill. Today, a very special guest. He's an OG in town. He's been over on the Raised Rowdy Podcast. He's getting ready to put out some new music. He's from the great state of Arkansas. We got our man, Matt Stell with the tallest microphone setup I have ever had in my years of doing these podcasts. Brother, how you doing, man? [00:00:41] Speaker B: I'm doing. I'm doing well this morning. And I don't know, I feel pretty good about the fact that that's the tallest mic stand, but only because I have terrible posture, so I'm trying to make myself sit up straight. [00:00:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Cuz I got to go home for Thanksgiving and I'm going to hear about it, so. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Yeah, you're going. Going back to Arkansas. [00:00:59] Speaker B: Going back to Arkansas. Yeah, we're going to leave tonight and. And get back and I do a lot of the cooking, which I like it. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Oh, no. Okay. Look at you, Chef Matt in the kitchen. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, so my mom. My mom is just a. Is just a. Just a badass in. In every way. [00:01:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:16] Speaker B: And, you know, she was like, you know, for a lot of my life, you know, it was just me and her, you know, growing up. And she, like, got Most of her PhD done as a single mom and like, did all this crazy. That's awesome. And is one of the best barrel racers in the state of Arkansas. [00:01:31] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:01:32] Speaker B: Does all this stuff, like, all this outside. But the joke is, like, she just doing all that. She never had time to, like, cook, so. Yeah. [00:01:41] Speaker A: So, like, learned. [00:01:42] Speaker B: She doesn't. She. She just eats to live. She doesn't live to eat. Like, you know, and so, so when we do, anytime I'm back home, but especially, like Thanksgiving and Christmas and stuff, I try to. I try to get in the kitchen and. And make something happen, because if not, it's gonna be. Not. Yeah. [00:02:00] Speaker A: What are, what are your specialties, man? [00:02:02] Speaker B: I make a gumbo before Thanksgiving just to eat on, like, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. [00:02:08] Speaker A: Cajun, something warm when it's a little cold. I like it. Good for the soul. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah. My wife killed a big ass deer in Oklahoma a few weeks ago, so I'll probably make some chili out of that. Just stuff that can sit around, you know. [00:02:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:20] Speaker B: And that's good that. That stays good. But. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, I'll cook the turkey. I'm gonna brine it. I'm Gonna. I don't know if I'll fry it, but yeah, whatever. I like to get down in the kitchen a little bit. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah. The first time I ever had a deep fried turkey was actually my Uncle Ted. He's from, he's from Arkansas. [00:02:35] Speaker B: Okay, shout out Uncle Ted. [00:02:37] Speaker A: Ted llen Uncle Ted. And he, and I. I'm from New York. And he was like, man, we're going to fry turkey this year. I was like, I didn't know you could deep fry. I was a little kid in the New York City suburb and Uncle Ted came up there and he fried that turkey and didn't blow. [00:02:52] Speaker B: What can't you fry, honestly? Show me something you can't fry. [00:02:55] Speaker A: Honestly, man. So growing up in Arkansas, what was. It's a, it's a state. I, I've done my, done my travels to George's Majestic and there's great venues in Fayetteville and been to Little Rock and been to. Been out towards like Pine Bluff and the mountain home out there in the mountains and everything. What's it like growing up out there? I know you've been living out here for a while, but take us to small town Center Ridge, Arkansas. [00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I mean, I grew up in, on a, on a cattle farm and you know, I grew. So I'm from Arkansas, was born there. My mom got remarried, we moved to Florida. So I grew. I spent a lot of my, like kindergarten through eighth grade. I was in like in Bradenton, south of Tampa, Florida. [00:03:34] Speaker A: Oh, nice. [00:03:34] Speaker B: And then I'd be back in Arkansas summers and stuff, like in Christmases and stuff. But which, I mean, maybe made me appreciate it, I guess, you know, more. You kept like, we were talking a little bit before we started. You just, you end up making your own fun, you know, you end up outside a lot. You end up. Yeah, yeah. If you, It's a great place to be if you, if you can make your own fun. You know what I mean? And then, you know, when you get wheels underneath you, when you get, you know, you know, four wheelers or, or you know, trucks later on when you get a little older, then it really opens up, you know, you're not as. You're not as dependent on somebody to take you on a ride for something, you know. [00:04:13] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, because you have to do a lot of driving to get the places out there, man. [00:04:17] Speaker B: Yeah, 100. It's. It's a long way from everywhere. We're like, we're like almost 30 minutes from Walmart. So. Yeah, like, we're, we're. I'm from, like, a small, small town. [00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:27] Speaker B: So. And I. I mean, I. I love it, but. And it has its charms, but, you know, it's. It's not. It's never like, oh, I'm hungry. What? Let's just. Let's just Uber eat something. It's like, nah, let's just Uber eats. [00:04:39] Speaker A: Let's just go down to 12 south or somewhere that's here in Nashville with the city living. What were your initial thoughts when you moved out here, man? Because you've been here a little over 10 years, right? [00:04:47] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Well, you know, I. I was kind of, you know, in and out a little bit beforehand, trying, like, I thought I was going to come here and, like, write a week out of the month and, like, get big, big cuts on country artists and. And that was my goal, and then have my own, which, you know, we'll talk about that later, but, like, have my own, like, thing that I did and then write these country hits. And, you know, like, looking back is like, man, that's kind of arrogant to think you're just gonna come to town and write songs with the best songwriters. You're about to say some stuff that. That they've never heard of is like, really I needed. Once I figured out, like, once I got here and played some writers rounds and just went and watched some people play, and I was like, oh, my God, I will never write a song that good, you know? And then I was like, okay, well, there's. There's. There's no part time in this, right? So, you know, I had. I had a little success writing some songs in. In the Texas world with. With a few Texas artists, and I gave me the confidence to kind of come here and do this. But, man, once you get here, it's like how the learning curve is steep, but it's awesome, bro. [00:05:51] Speaker A: It's the athlete mentality. You came here like, you're. You have that basketball background. And growing up playing sports where it's like, you get on the floor and no matter where you're at, even if you're not necessarily at the level you play, you play up, and you're like, I've got that confidence, so I can dunk on these guys. I can hit a three. [00:06:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Same thing when you come here as an artist, so it makes sense. You're young. You come up here like, yeah, man, it's similar. [00:06:14] Speaker B: Like, you certainly playing against better competition makes you better, right? Yeah. And. And, you know, like, a lot of it is you don't, you know, you know, people. I'm in a position now where, you know, people like ask me, oh, what should I do? You know, in my. For. It's like if you're trying to be a songwriter, it's like, it's really cliche, but it's like, man, like, probably the best advice is to move here, you know, like, even if I remember when I first started making music, which, you know, when I first started making music like I. I did, I wanted nothing to do with what I considered Nashville country. Yeah. You know, I grew up in that and you know, I really fell in love with like Texas country, Americana, like Red, whatever you want to call it. But. But sort of that independent streak in. In the country music that sounded a little bit more like something older. And I just didn't, like, I didn't care for anything coming out of here. And then I got here and I realized a, a lot of the stuff that I liked was coming out of here. [00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:11] Speaker B: Just branded a little different. And then B, it's like, you know, how many, how many great songs and like the concentration of like unbelievable songwriters. No matter what kind of songs that you're into, here is where it is, you know, especially in the. In the country. In the country or Texas country or red dirt Americana world. Like, like this is kind of ground zero for it. And it's. Yeah, man, it's a. It's still amazing. Like I was still on my tick tock. Somebody, like some song will pop up and I'll just be like, damn, that's a great song. You know, it'll be like a quote unquote simple country song. But it's like those are the hardest. But yeah, it's. It's awesome. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah, man, there's. There's so many, so many kids and people coming up. And I feel like now with the way that social media is, it's easier to get your name out there. I say it's easier to get on the highway as far as getting music out and stuff. But there's just a lot more traffic when you're going to get off that exit. Like, there's so many guys and girls doing it now to where it's a different thing versus rewinding back to when you were. You were starting in the. In the 2010s, being like you had vine, you had Facebook, you had YouTube, you had like that. [00:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you were starting to see like, you know, I got. I got to town and benefited from independent music being made. Like the start of that happening. Like, you know, when I, when. When pray for you came out. The reason that I had success with it was because we made an ep and then, you know, it got, it got. It got playlisted. Right. Like, or, you know, it caught a little bit of fire. So it was like we definitely were the, the indie artists that sort of put something out in the world and it, and it somehow caught, you know, in some way. But, you know, and then, but to watch the acceleration of that, you know, to watch, I think I saw a stat where like Red Clay Strays, you know, one, you know, group of the year. And, And I think, I think I read somewhere where there's like they're being played on like three radio stations right now. Yeah. You know, and it's like it, it speaks to a lot of different things. You know, like my first, I have to really watch out because not as much anymore, but like, used to me my first thought was just like, yeah. Sees everybody's trying to. To keep the good down. And like, it's like. No, it's also that, you know, a country radio is a different kind of music than, Than that, but it's just under a big umbrella. But, but anyway, to say all that, to say it's like it's really cool to see music like, like you said, it's like, now there's a lot of traffic. It used to be I want to get heard. And now it's like you have to be raised above all the noise. You know, before it was a bottleneck, and now it's just like kind of a free for all. It's, it's. It's cool, but it's different. [00:09:52] Speaker A: Yeah, man. And as like a music consumer, which I'm sure you started out as like a lover of music, I feel like nobody gets into this if they don't love music. [00:10:00] Speaker B: You know, I, I think, I think more. You said it exactly. But I'll even take it a step farther. It's like not even, not even just artists and players. Like, if you get into wanting to build an awesome brand around country music, like raise Rowdy or you want to, you know, my manager sitting right there, you want to work in music? You know, he and I got to be best friends in about 20 minutes because he drove up and had a drive by trucker sticker in the back glass of his truck. Yeah, so like. Yeah, so like those kind of people, like publishers, music entertainment lawyers, like radio, PDs or whatever, like everyone in the periphery of this, the one thing that we share, we might not share what we love, but we share a love of music. [00:10:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:46] Speaker B: And that's what makes it special and awesome. And that's like the heartbeat of this. The, like, city. And. And it's like, you know, we were briefly kind of talking about this before then when, like, you can get inside it and kind of forget the whole reason you wanted to do it. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Dude, you get so close to the sun and you get stuck in this bubble, man. [00:11:04] Speaker B: It's the. It's a classic forest for the trees kind of thing, you know, And. And you start trying to, you know, maybe your taste change. But then also, you sort of. You start trying to. You. You start having other priorities because you kind of have to. But, you know, at the end of the day, it all comes back to the fact that. That we all love music and we love music. We love, like, I love music so much that I hate most music. You know what I mean? Like, I love what I love so much that it makes me, like, actively dislike. Yeah. I'm less like that now because I. Once you make it and you realize that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not good, you know? [00:11:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:43] Speaker B: Like, that's a big. At first, I used to say things like, oh, that artist sucks. And it's like back when I'm gonna come up, it's like, now I look back, it's like, no, that artist does not suck. You just don't like songs about kids. [00:11:56] Speaker A: Not my thing. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. You don't like songs about. About. Yeah, about being the world's best dad, you know? Like, no, that song doesn't suck. Yeah. [00:12:02] Speaker A: When you're young and on the come up, it's not something you can relate to. You're not the guy who's putting that song out for. [00:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And then now I hear some of those songs and I'll be like, oh, my God, what a. What a lyric. Or. Or, you know, then I, you know, I got married, you know, first of this year, and it's like, dude, I. I didn't have three love songs on that phone right there, you know, and then. And then now it's like all those songs start to make sense. And, like, I start listening to stuff and then I start realizing that all my favorite songs about, you know, whiskey and in the road and all this is just a bunch of. It's like, it's. It's just a different set of cliches that I loved and was trying to use it in my music. It does. It wasn't better or worse. It was just like, you know, that world Anyway, that's some growth that I've had. [00:12:49] Speaker A: That was the chapter that you were living, man. Yeah, yeah, like, that was the chapter. And you talk about, like, going rounds and stuff. What was. That's a world that we're heavily involved with with Razor Audi. We do a lot of events in town, and I've been hosting them since freaking 2019. I like to say that I was doing them bc before COVID when the world all got all up and changed or whatever. But, like, what was the round scene like? And what were. [00:13:12] Speaker B: What. [00:13:12] Speaker A: Where were you going and hanging out when you first got here? Because 2014's like, my head goes to Whiskey Jam. It goes to revival, it goes to. Why not Wednesday? Like, it goes to some sick events. [00:13:23] Speaker B: I mean, I think, like, Whiskey Jam served as the, like, kind of baseline for everything because even, you know, it got to be so big there for a minute that it was like, less about the. You couldn't really hear the music all the time going on, but you could get the vibe and you. You would hear it like, don't get me wrong. But it also became a place where, you know, when you first get to town, you know, like, I'm not the. What. I'm like everybody else. You know, it's like, kind of awkward to go out by yourself and things like that. And you kind of like a little bit self conscious. I was. But you could go to Whiskey Jam and at least. At least a good handful of the people there in the same boat you are. Yeah. So you either gonna make friends or you're gonna be judged less harshly for the. Like, I don't. No one's judging you anyway, but you know what I'm saying, Like. Yeah. In your mind, you're like, oh, my God, what am I doing with my hands? I feel weird here. There, man. Yeah. I think that's such a big. I think that's such a big impediment to people getting to town and figuring stuff out is like, you got to get out and go kind of do it. Even though there's just awkward moments and, oh, I'm going to forget somebody's name. Somebody's going to forget my name and those kinds of things. But I remember that you. Whiskey Jam was big Belcourt Taps had. Remember Belcort? [00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [00:14:40] Speaker B: Belcor had. Like. I was so. I had. I had a. My cousin. She. She was. Is a fantastic singer and was in a band and they. They were signed a big machine at the time, and it was. Shoot, you know, and it was like. So when I would come to town some, you know, I would. She was always really good about, you know, if I was in town to be like, yeah, you know, swing through whatever. And then, you know, and she was like, she's an unbelievable singer and everybody in her band was so awesome. And that's the thing too. Like, everyone here is so, they're so good. [00:15:12] Speaker A: There's so much talent. [00:15:13] Speaker B: Everyone here is so good. Like the level. What Good. Good. Nashville good is like unbelievable musicianship. [00:15:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:22] Speaker B: And whatever. And so I remember getting here and like Listening Room also, you know, it's a still great. [00:15:30] Speaker A: The OG Listening. [00:15:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:31] Speaker A: You were there for the OG I. [00:15:32] Speaker B: Was there for the OG Listening Room. Yeah. And then, you know, even now, like, I, I, I, if people ask what to go do in town, I'll say go to a writers round. And a lot of times it's just easier to tell them because, you know, Listening Room will have two shows a night. Right. So you can just tell them like, you know, go down there and, and check that out. Because everybody loves music, but not everybody loves songs, you know, and so when you go there and you can. It's just a different experience. Yeah, because. Because, you know, everybody wants to come to town and go to Broadway and that's great. [00:16:04] Speaker A: Like, I've had to got to go at least once. Yeah, you got to go if you're visiting. [00:16:08] Speaker B: Oh, dude. And also, like, if you have people in town that haven't been. That's the fun part for me going now, like, I don't want to go to Broadway, but necessarily, like, I'm not, I'm not gonna go grab a beer at, at, you know, Aldean's, but you know, but if I have people here, oh, let's go to Broadway. Like, yeah, I want to go watch you have fun. Go watch all these bands, all these love. It's very special. Yeah, dude. [00:16:29] Speaker A: The energy of watching those musicians and those, those cover bands just grind, just grind. [00:16:35] Speaker B: And watching the people that, that are there with you get blown away by these, by these people that are, you know, for the most part, really good. You know, that's great. But to answer your question, I would say like, you know, those were a couple of the rounds. Whiskey Jam, Bus Call, Revival, those kinds of like show up hangouts and then, and then the other like the rounds where there'd be like 8th was that place on 8th right across from Zay Poor House. [00:17:02] Speaker A: No, right across from Zany's. Oh, that was Douglas Corner. [00:17:07] Speaker B: Okay. [00:17:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, Douglas Corner was there for a long time now. It's something else. [00:17:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, there's a. There's a bunch of great places, and you just hear these songs, and you hear people singing them and hear people, like, playing guitar while they're singing them. Just me going, I'm gonna go drive some more Uber tonight. Like, I just go think about my life, you know, that's what I did. I did everything when I first. Yeah. [00:17:28] Speaker A: Who were somebody? Like, your first crew. Like, you talk about those awkward moments of going to winners for the first time or going out and then you make friends with the other guys or girls that are new to town. Like, who are some of the other folks that you remember? Like your homies you'd end up at Red Door with or people like that. [00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah, well, so I think Joe Fox is one of my. We moved to town about the same time. [00:17:50] Speaker A: No, I didn't know that. [00:17:52] Speaker B: Yeah, we didn't know each other. We met each other through ascap. So ASCAP has, like, a little program where they'll, like, put. It's really cool. It's like their GPS program or whatever. And. And so they'll, like, put together these writers camps, and they'll have, like, you know, a dozen writers, and they have you writing three times a day for, like, four days a week. It was just super cool. And I met Joe and. And we hit it off, and, you know, we've written singles together. I've cut songs that he's written. You know, we've. We've. [00:18:18] Speaker A: He's a Jersey boy and he's a Jersey boy. My neck of the woods, Monmouth county boy. [00:18:22] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. He's crushing it right now. Oh, he is. [00:18:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:25] Speaker B: Him. Paul Sykes has been a good buddy of mine for. [00:18:29] Speaker A: What a guy. [00:18:29] Speaker B: The best guy in the world. [00:18:30] Speaker A: What a guy. [00:18:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I bet. I've been knowing him and them for a long time, and. And. And we've been making music together. You know, he's. He's kind of from here, so he. You know, he was sort of always here, but. But anyway, we got to hanging out pretty. Pretty regular, and I. And. And, you know, it's crazy, like, how life takes you. And I need to make sure. And I need to reconnect with those guys I hadn't seen. I saw Paul at the ASCAP Awards a couple nights ago, and I randomly ran into Joe the other day, but it's like. Yeah, man, those are. Those are, like, OG buddies, for sure. [00:18:59] Speaker A: Yeah, man. Every life. Life happens, man. You know, and it's like everybody gets busy and. And goes And. And everybody goes through, like, different journeys, which is why I'm so excited for this next chapter of what you've got Cooking man. And. And Sugar Coat. And like, tell me about this. This switch of. Because you've. You're a guy that's been here a while, you've seen success, you've done the touring thing, you've done the radio tour thing, you've written hits, you've got. You've been fortunate to put some out. [00:19:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:25] Speaker A: Talk about kind of this new era of where. Where Matt Stell is going. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Well, you know, I. I'm very lucky. You know, I moved to town and. And like, we were speaking briefly about it before, but, you know, I wrote. I wrote a song that changed my life and opened up a lot of doors. I didn't know that I had written that, so I didn't know that prayed for you was that. When we wrote it, I thought, oh, we wrote a cool song today. And then we put it out and I thought. I really thought, okay, cool. Because I put the song out on an EP with my publisher at the time, and I. So I was like, okay, well, we got this EP out. Okay, we'll put this song on there, and then maybe somebody will cut it, you know, because everybody would kind of like, you know, in my little world was like, oh, this is a great song. Well, long story kind of short, you know, that was Spotify got a hold of it and put it on new boots or something, and it just kind of blew up. [00:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:24] Speaker B: And then. And then. Then John Marks, he was running it at the time, gave it a chance on hot country, and it just. Just blew up. And, like, I got, you know, a call from. From a record label and whatever. That's how that story went. And so that changed my life. But the point of that, of me saying that is I thought I was writing that song for another artist to cut. I was really proud of that song. But I thought, like, we were speaking before. I wanted to be like Jaren Johnson or. Or Stapleton. Like, I wanted to write country hits and then have my own, like, band where I kind of chased my muse around, you know, and. And the door opened up for this song just was like, changed my life. And so I became the, like, country. I. I became the guy on the radio, you know, for a few years. And that was awesome. But it was also like, you know, having to feed this beast that I wasn't not be. I mean, I, like, I don't want to ever be negative. I'm very happy. I'M very proud of that song. It wasn't the music I thought that I was going to make as an artist. Yeah. And so now, you know, fast forward, like, you know, we have a couple hits, then Covid hits, and then, you know, we make a couple runs at radio and have a little success. But then it was like, man, you know, I really moved to town because I love country songwriting, but I, you know, me as an artist, the kind of music I want to make, I don't like. I would turn in songs that I would love, and I have a great team, but I would turn in songs that I would love. And you know, my. My record label at the time, this is cool, but like, what, you know, we don't have a place for this, you know, but cool song, bro. You know, like, in a. In a positive way. But it's like they can't go out market, they can't put it on country radio or whatever. [00:22:07] Speaker A: And so, like, which is where you were at the time. [00:22:10] Speaker B: Exactly. And, and you know, again, I was very, very happy about that chapter of, of life. And, and who knows, like, the point of, like, who knows where anything's going to end up? I didn't think, you know, that was going to happen in the first place, but, you know, now it's like I was doing this thing and turning in these songs, and I felt like I had maybe something to say is a little too pretentious, but I felt like I had. I felt like I wanted to do something that. Less worried about what anyone was going to think about it and just wanted to kind of make. I thought was cool. Yeah. And some of it is country and some of it's not. And, and I. And so I would turn that in and then, you know, my, my manager and my management was like, you know, why won't. Why don't we just kind of chase this down? You know, you're kind of drifting away from. From what? From the sort of radio grounding that we had. And they were like, why don't we embrace that? Why don't we make your. The fact that you do different stuff, that you're interested in different things, that you. Your influences are different, like, and you make different music. Why. You know, up to that point, that was a little bit of a liability because of, you know, feeding the. The radio kind of beast. And, and, and they were just like, well, why don't we turn that liability into an asset? Why don't you just do whatever you want to do? And, and my folks, my publisher, my folks at emg, they, you know, basically did a label deal around that idea and. And then it was kind of a collaboration with. With my management and. And me on trying to figure out, you know, what's it going to look like, what are we going to call it, you know, those kinds of things. And then it just turned into this. Into this project that I'm working on right now, and it's called Adrift. And, you know, the first song on it, Sugarcoat. And yeah, man, when we cut it, I was just like, this isn't like, I don't know what it is. I. I don't care really what it is. You know, I just know that I like it. And so that's what we are, man. And just following that, following that thing, you know, trying to do something that that kid sitting at the end of his dorm bed with the guitar would be like, okay, you're. You know, this is. This is dope, or this is. This is more chasing the. The. The muse that you kind of thought would be in the beginning, you know, that's. That's what I'm really excited about. [00:24:33] Speaker A: So, yeah, man, it's got to be, like, a liberating feeling to be in the game because, again, I mean, you've had great success, and that's a huge. And that's a huge blessing. But it's. You go down road sometimes in life that you become grateful for, but they're not the roads that you initially set out to do. And now you've put yourself in a position. Position to where you can do what you want to do. And I love the title Adrift. Like, it sounds like it's drifting away to a path that you've been wanting to go down all along. [00:25:02] Speaker B: Yeah, man. And it's like, who knows? Like, this is. I've. I've learned that when you make music, you only ever, like, something is done when you run out of both time and money. Yeah, Like, I've never. [00:25:14] Speaker A: It's a great way to look at it. [00:25:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:16] Speaker A: Never thought about it that way. [00:25:17] Speaker B: It's never like, I remember trying to, like, wanting to make these seminal records, you know, Like, I want to make, like, Purgatory, you know, like the Tyler Childer's record that. That changed, like, but even that was, like, it exists in a period of time. So, like, I don't know what comes after this. I just know what I'm doing. Right. I mean, I, you know, I may. I may go back to what I. Who knows? Like, or I may stick with this or whatever. I don't have to, like, think about that anymore. And. And so, like, I'm just enjoying the time in the moment doing something that, like, you know, creatively is interesting, the most interesting, you know, to me. And yeah, that, that, that part, like you said, you know, kind of drifted. That. That was. That was the whole kind of. That was the whole vibe of what we were kind of. [00:26:05] Speaker A: I love it. [00:26:06] Speaker B: I appreciate it. [00:26:06] Speaker A: That's sick. How many songs are we looking at on there? [00:26:09] Speaker B: Well, so it's initially. Initially 4. 3. Initially 3. And then like, we'll drop kind of a. We'll drop kind of singles that'll end up being, you know, an EP and then, you know, go from there. That's kind of what I felt like, you know, talk about, like, earlier about the differences in. In making music and, you know, even. Even five years ago or 10 years ago, for sure. Like, you know, now if you can't. If you don't put time into. Into promoting each one as a single, you know, hopefully you get to a point where you put out a record and people will listen, you know, kind of through it. But I've done that and I, you know, it's better when I would rather have a collection of singles that get their own time to shine and they're like, one thing together than. Than try to make a project that. Or something might get lost on the shuffle. Because, you know, I made a record, I guess, last year, and I'm really, really proud of a lot of it and. But I feel like, you know, a couple of the. A couple of the things you got lost in the shuffle a little bit. No, for no fault of anything. It just like, you know, it's hard. It's hard to keep attention how it is now, dude. [00:27:25] Speaker A: I mean, you got. You got guys putting out double albums and then dropping a single like two weeks after the record comes out. Yeah, it's a wild time to be releasing music. [00:27:34] Speaker B: It is. And you have. So you have the kind of artists that. That release. You know, you've got, you know, Luke and Cody and Morgan and. And Zach, Brian, and that whatever amount of music they release is going to get listened to by a fan base that really, really loves what they do. And I'm one of them. I mean, I like all of that. Yeah. For different reasons in different degrees, you know, like. Or I say I'll find something in all of it that I. That I like. But, you know, for somebody like me, especially with we're trying to do something new, it. I don't have the benefit of the Doubt of, of, oh, you know, the Drift, put out a record. Let's go listen to 20 songs. It's like, no, I'm gonna have to win them over a little bit before I can start being that prolific. And, you know, that's fun. I, I, It's, It's. I think most of us are kind of in that, in that world a little bit. And it's just something that you know, too, that I've learned, like, because I, like, I really, I'm somebody that. So, for instance, like, that Vincent Mason song, Hell is a Dance for. I love that song. Right. And I don't know Vincent or nothing, but I, or anything like that. But I, I didn't message him. Like, when I heard the song, I just caused like, bro, this is a great song, and it's awesome watching, you know, kind of, kind of what he's doing. But I sort of lost my train of thought talking about him because that song is awesome. Yeah. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Vincent's a great dude, but good people. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I can't remember what exactly what I was. I was gonna make a point about something there, but it'll come back, releasing. [00:29:05] Speaker A: Music and the Drift and everything kind of having its moment. [00:29:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I guess maybe like. Yeah. Okay. So. That's right. Thank you. So you know that song when, When I, When I know this is what I was gonna say when I, When I heard that song, you know, I went to like, listen to everything else. Like, I, I like if I find a song that I really dig, I want to go listen to the, the project. [00:29:30] Speaker A: The project or the catalog if it's somebody new and the guy girls only got four or five songs. [00:29:35] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:29:35] Speaker A: Give me all four or five. See if this. These other four or five. Give me that feeling. [00:29:39] Speaker B: 100. Just like the Hudson Westbrook song. [00:29:42] Speaker A: Another great. [00:29:42] Speaker B: But yeah, I did that song. I mean, I just actually of a good songwriter buddy of. Of ours just sent me that. I just out of the blues, like, bro, this is dope. And it was. And so I just like, started listening, you know, that was before that if you know me was out. So I was like, going off of, like, past and. But that's how I like to consume music. Like, okay, cool, let me hear what you got. You know, like, like, but that's just not most people, you know, most people. Most people want to catch something on a playlist and go, oh, I like that. You know, and, and that's cool because my whole life is music, and most people's whole lives are a lot, you know, or not yeah, music is. [00:30:18] Speaker A: They're working in 9 to 5, and the music's what they listen to. The way home and on the way to work. [00:30:22] Speaker B: Music is a side dish. It is not the main course. [00:30:25] Speaker A: Oh, dude, it's the main course for us. It's the main course, the side dish, the dessert, the drinks. It's all of it, bro. [00:30:30] Speaker B: What? It is 100. So. But anyway, you know, that's just like. Just thinking about how, you know, music is consumed these days, you know? But what's really special, though, what's really cool, is how the impact that a song can have, man. I mean, it can. It can. It's just so cliche, but it's so true. It's like, it could just change your whole life. [00:30:50] Speaker A: Take me back to 20, 2014, 2015. You're. You're a younger guy coming out here, and you said that you remember, like, songs kind of making you stop in your tracks being like, oh, that's good. Like, do you remember, like, a song having a moment, like, before you took off as an artist with prayed for you? Like, do you remember being at Belcourt or being at Douglas Corner or revival and hearing a song? Because, like, for me, I moved here 2018. So for me, it was like Hardy was starting to have his moment, and, like. Like, she got the best of me going number one. I remember watching that at Revival with Channing and Big Rob Snyder, you know, it's like. [00:31:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:26] Speaker A: Do you have any of those memories where you remember of seeing an artist take off maybe before you did? [00:31:31] Speaker B: I don't certainly, like. Like seeing some. Some artists, like, really, you know, really pop off. I'm trying to think of, like, at. At that time, like, Cadillac 3 was. You know, I mentioned Jared. [00:31:44] Speaker A: They were badass. [00:31:45] Speaker B: They were. They were probably already catching on. But I just got to town, you know, and, like, I was like. And again, Jiren doing that thing, like, writing these hit country songs and then having this badass band. And I was like, that sounds awesome. [00:31:56] Speaker A: You're like, that's what I want to do. [00:31:57] Speaker B: That's what I want to do. I want to do that. You know, Daryl Scott does that same thing, you know, I remember that. I remember. I don't know if it's when I moved. It's hard to, you know, like, the dates get kind of fuzzy in there. But I remember seeing Jonathan Singleton at Whiskey Jam one night, bro. [00:32:13] Speaker A: Jonathan in the Grove, his old band. [00:32:15] Speaker B: Project was so good. Unbelievable. But he, you know, he was up there playing, you know, you know, hits. But, like, I remember I remember seeing him play, you know, watching Airplanes and a guy walks into a bar and that. I remember that song specifically being like, that is. That is song is so good. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's one of those songs that I've tried to write a hundred times, you know, like, not that, but, you know, like, I want to tell a story in the chorus that does this kind of thing and. And that progression is that progression, like the verse. The verse sets up the chorus and it's just like I. And I remember. I remember hearing it that. That kind of sticks out of seeing that at Whiskey Jam inside, you know, at. At Losers. And I'm sure I could think of some others, but right now. [00:33:09] Speaker A: And the funny story of that song was Tyler Farr found out about it because he just happened to be getting a beer that night and heard Jonathan play it and was like, what's going on with this? And then that's how a guy walks into a bar. Happens is it's Jonathan's just playing one, playing a Monday or a Thursday over there at Winners. [00:33:26] Speaker B: And that's crazy. [00:33:27] Speaker A: It's wild. But that's the power of Nashville, like you said, like the good songs. And I feel like back then before it was, you have to get this thing to blow up on Tick Tock. It was a guy or a girl or a suit or somebody seeing it, seeing somebody play it. And it was like, that song has a moment. That's how a song would get on hold. [00:33:45] Speaker B: Oh, you know. Yeah. Or, you know, the publishers, you know, going around and pitching, you know, doing that same thing, but in offices and pitching the songs. But like, it's just. I didn't realize that. That. I mean, again, it just goes back to like. I didn't realize how good good was when I first got here. But I just remember, like, dude, I mean, somebody like Jonathan Singleton can sing better than most of us, can play guitar better than almost all of us, can write a song better than almost all of us. And then. Oh, by the way, can build a company, you know, and. And produce and produce. Produce hits, produce smash hits. And it's just like, you know, like, you know what? It's just kind of like it's amazing, you know, and. And it's just. It's special, you know, and he's. And he's from, like, he's from, you know, less of nowhere than I'm from, but he's. You know, Jackson's not Tennessee. Not that much either. So it's like, it's just a Cool special place. But then to that point, like, you know, Jonathan had a, had a band that's. That's awesome. And then was just like, you know what? I don't, I don't want to do the band thing or, or my time. I don't know. I don't know exactly. You know, I don't want to put. Tell his story because I don't exactly know it. But, but just all that to be said, but like somebody that, that has, has been there as an artist, has been there as a writer and you know, had a producer and has success on, on all that stuff just kind of shows you like the mini pads, the way the doors open up. Because I mean, if you ever heard, if you heard Jonathan Singleton singing Galison to a bar, you would wonder. I mean, Tyler Farr's unbelievable. He's awesome. One of my buddies, you know, plays guitar for me. Tyler's always been cool to me and he's great. But you would hear Jonathan Singleton playing that song in a bar and be like, why isn't this person the most famous person in the world? Right? You know? Yeah, it's like, I don't, I don't know. That's a great question. [00:35:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, dude. I mean that's like, you hear there's so many people that just are, are on that side of it that are incredible. And on that like you even look at like some of the legendary like OG writers like the Craig Wiseman and the Bob the Heroes and the Jeffre steals and the Jesse Alexander's on the female side that are like 100 and. [00:36:06] Speaker B: The ones that, the ones that, that, that not only write like that, but also sing incredibly great and, and like, you know, and some of them just like the road. I mean, whatever. The, the point of, the point of that I'm trying to make is like, you know, the music that gets made here is, is unbelievable. And you know, that's another reason why, you know, at least for me, if I'm going to be making new music and doing new stuff, that I really want it to be aimed at the target of like what I like. And I'm all over the place, you know, like, artistically. Like what I think is interesting because when you do get to town and you do, you know, get people to believe in what you're doing and then have some success, you know, you'll put pressure on yourself probably to make decision and it'll make decisions that are coming from a good place, but they, they don't. They're. It's not Necessarily serving the music. It's sort of serving the marketplace a little bit. And there's nothing wrong with making a living playing music. [00:37:13] Speaker A: No, not at all. [00:37:14] Speaker B: You have to make those decisions. But, like, I'm just at a point now to where, you know, I want to. I want to play inspired music as much as I can and all the time, and I want to keep trying to, like, ring that bell as opposed to, you know, worry about what other people might think of the music that I'm making when I don't like the music they like anyway. You know? You know what I mean? [00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:41] Speaker B: And so I. You know, that, like, that is the. That to me, is the. Is the point of, like, the Drift and all this, because it's like, even now, like, this project doesn't even sound like one thing. Like, it sounds like, you know, the first song on this doesn't sound like the second song, and it probably won't. [00:37:56] Speaker A: Sound like the third, but it sounds like you. [00:37:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Which is the big thing, because you're more than just one flavor of ice cream, brother. Like, it's. It's. It's the different sides of you, and it's letting the fans more into you than you've probably been able to do with your releases, right? [00:38:10] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I mean, you know, I've. I've. I don't have a. You know, I've got a couple horror stories about, you know, the business side of stuff, but for the most part, man, you know, I think I've gotten done right by in a lot of ways, and. And, you know, I've had. I've had some freedom to do some stuff, and that's been cool. But it's. But it very much is when you. When you're doing. When you're an artist, Right. Like, I'm just like. You talk about being different flavors of ice cream. [00:38:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:47] Speaker B: People will associate you with that flavor of ice cream, you know, all the time. [00:38:52] Speaker A: I feel like it's different now, though, because I feel like. I feel like guys are taking more chances. I really do. [00:38:58] Speaker B: But it's like. And it's. It's a beauty of the. Of the world we live in musically, where, you know, to make. To make great music requires less stuff. Right? So we just named a bunch of records that we like. That. You mean you sitting here that are awesome. That, like. I mean, Zach, Brian's filling up stadiums with, you know, with iPhone recordings. You know what I mean? Like, it doesn't. So it's like, why not take the swings? It's like you don't have the overhead that you once did of getting a whole band together at. At Ronnie's place and, and, you know, having to pay scale and then master scale. Something goes out. I mean, all that stuff great, and they're awesome and it's worth it and it's. That's great. But it also, unless you're, you know, Luke Combs, like, you can't take a bunch of those swings and them not work out because it's just. You're getting something awesome, but you get what you pay for and you, you know, it's expensive. So now when you can make music in the box, when you can write songs, you can be much more prolific in terms of getting songs back with demos and stuff like that, you know, it. It. It allows for more pitches you can swing at. [00:40:13] Speaker A: Have you seen that AI thing? It's like Sono or no. [00:40:16] Speaker B: Yeah, bro. [00:40:17] Speaker A: We were down at the Florabama for the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival. We had some buddies that we brought down there with us, and they were showing me some of their. Some of the stuff they've been working on. They're like, oh, check this Suno thing out. And then it was like. I was like, holy. Like, yeah, this is a game changer. I'm. [00:40:32] Speaker B: I'm all. I'm. [00:40:33] Speaker A: I'm all. Not. Not about like the. The AI as an artist thing, but I think as a tool to get your work tape to a demo quick. [00:40:40] Speaker B: Yeah. For pitching. [00:40:42] Speaker A: For pitching. It's incredible. [00:40:43] Speaker B: It's a tool. Like, you know, I'm never impressed with the. So Suno or, you know, AI music is a tool. I've used it. I use it for that very reason that you're saying is because I have ideas, but I don't have the. The wherewithal to, like, I can't. I can't play the drums. You know, I can't. But I can tell, you know, I can't play the drums or the keys very well, and I can't. I can play guitar good enough to write the song, but I can't, you know, so if you talk to Suno like it is a. The producer that you're. You're having to lean on anyway and be like, man, I wish this thing sounded heavier. And you tell it to sound heavier and you tell it that 30 times and you get something heavier that you like. Cool. That is a tool to get the. The idea that. That I had down quicker. I don't use it to generate the ideas. [00:41:43] Speaker A: No, it's not the release. It's the idea starts here, and then that's the tool. That's your toolbox. [00:41:48] Speaker B: It's exactly. It's just like when they first put a computer in between the instrument and the. The tape reel. Right. So that you could splice stuff there without having to have a razor blade like it is. And then, you know, sometimes it gets, you know, like. Like we're saying it is a tool. And. And I find that anytime that I've done that, which I've. I've used it and. But what we end up doing is using. That's the demo. Yeah, very. We've never used. [00:42:16] Speaker A: Who you go to the producer with. That's what you go with and say, hey, would love to get it to sound like this. Let's bring our, let's bring our guys. [00:42:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Here's what we are on the demo. Let's. Let's capture these elements. Let's try some other stuff. Especially if you've got some of these, you know, the best players in the world, you know, in there, and you want their input, you know, their musical input. So it's definitely a tool and it's here to, to stay. You know, I, I'm not like, I got. I'm like everybody else, like, you know, some of the, like, you know, country, you know, music, like song generation, you know, there's like the robot cowboys. Yeah, the robot cowboys, but. And then they're all just like. Like gay. You know, make him say the gayest stuff. [00:43:00] Speaker A: Yeah, they mess with them. [00:43:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:01] Speaker A: They put like the weird, like the weird things, like the outsider music almost. [00:43:05] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I'm talking about literally the lyric. [00:43:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:08] Speaker B: It will spoof it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like. Yeah. And it's like. That's, that's funny for a minute. You know what I mean? And then it's like. I'm not worried about that. Sort of like taking. [00:43:19] Speaker A: No, because those guys aren't. Those things aren't out. Yeah. It's a, It's a joke and it's been taken. Taken really far. And it's a while. [00:43:27] Speaker B: Really far. [00:43:28] Speaker A: We're talking about. [00:43:28] Speaker B: It's taken so far. It's. It's. It's funny in that sense. [00:43:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:33] Speaker B: But speaking of completely unrelated. [00:43:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:36] Speaker B: Completely unrelated to that. Taking stuff too far. Dude, my algorithm has blessed me in the last week or so, bro. I've been getting these. I've been getting these videos of those 90s decoration shows, decoration scents and these clips. [00:43:56] Speaker A: I don't even know what that is. Enlighten me. What's up. [00:44:01] Speaker B: Let me tell you what was going on in the 90s. [00:44:04] Speaker A: I was born 95. I missed out on. [00:44:07] Speaker B: Dude, I didn't know this was going. This is like when. When the HGTV channel or whatever it used to put. TLC used to be these design shows were on and. And they would be. A lot of them were like, the. The like, design on a budget ones. And like, bro, they up so many houses with, like, bro, they painting rugs on hardwood floors. Oh, like, like handwriting cursive around the top of the kitchen that says, like, ciao Bella and all this. But, like, painting it, bro, it is. It's my favorite thing. And if you're on there, dude, I've been slaying. I've just been. I've just been on the couch watching League Pass and I'll just be in the middle of TV timeouts just, like, in the comments. Just like, making myself laugh. Like, like, roasted. The comments are the best part. They'll be like, you know, it's one of these accounts. [00:45:07] Speaker A: I gotta look this up real quick, bro. This is a special level of brain rot that I have not achieved, bro. I'm into, like, the Rizzler and, like, that. I'm on that level. [00:45:15] Speaker B: The decorations that you'll watch, you'll be like, oh, my God, this is awful. And then you'll go to the comments, and the comments will be like, yeah, Millennial Beige was a trauma response to. [00:45:25] Speaker A: This stuff in Central. [00:45:26] Speaker B: I got to look decoration sense. It's like C N T S or something like that. And they'll have these. These accounts that put them up, and it's like, the most hilarious in the world, dude. And the comments are. What is so funny? The comments. The comments would be like, oh, I can't even think of the ones right now, but they're. They're the best, dude. [00:45:46] Speaker A: I'm gonna have to look into that for sure, dude. Yeah, that sound like the. What the phones pop up on our algorithms is wild, man. I've been getting. I got. I've been talking to my Midwestern friends a little too much. Yeah, I've been Edmund Fitzgerald for a long. [00:45:59] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [00:46:00] Speaker A: I've been deep in the Edmund Fitzgerald train for about a month and a half now, bro. I've been heavy into it. Like, I. I am all team Edmund Fitzgerald now. Like, it's the Midwest 9 11, bro. It's a big deal. It is, it is. I got buddies in Michigan, Ohio that go nuts over that. They're drinking for those 28, 29 lost souls, brother. [00:46:22] Speaker B: Like, Gordon. Gordon Lightfoot over here. Just. Yeah, dude. [00:46:26] Speaker A: Like, literally, like, if I scroll on Instagram for a few minutes, I'm going. [00:46:29] Speaker B: I'm getting the bumper stick. [00:46:31] Speaker A: Gerald, bro. [00:46:31] Speaker B: Bro. Midwest 911 is crazy. It is. It is, bro. It's. [00:46:35] Speaker A: It's a big thing. Like, it's a big deal. They go, I'm trying to find one here. Now, of course I say it. It's not going to pop up for me, but I get like, Edmund Fitzgerald. I mean, I've been sending them to my buddy, too, so I've been, like, kind of encouraging it. I'm not getting one now. I'm getting all the. I'm a big New York sports fan, so I'm getting all. The Giants just fired their defensive coordinator. Yeah, we fired the head coach, so I'm deep in that stuff, too. And, like, baseball off season, do you watch a lot of sports? You were talking about league pass. That's NBA, right? [00:47:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. NBA, NBA. We're. So my wife loves, like, NFL football. She kind of likes. She'll kind of tolerate college football. And then basketball, she doesn't really like. Except the Denver Nuggets. Like, we get to watch. [00:47:16] Speaker A: Oh, is she from Colorado? [00:47:18] Speaker B: No, no. I just introduced her to the beautiful game. And look. Okay, this is great. Talk about some more that I know too much about. So I'm a hoops head. I'm a hoops. [00:47:27] Speaker A: Makes sense. You're tall enough for it. [00:47:30] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I grew up playing. You know, my hoop dreams took me all the way through college, and that's what I wanted to do, but I wasn't good enough. But here we are. It's good. Nikola Jokic is having one of the greatest seasons in the history of basketball, and he's won three MVPs, and he's playing better than he ever has, and he's playing basketball at a level that's like the same. It's like the same as, like, Ohtani's baseball, what he's doing on. On a baseball diamond stat line right. [00:48:08] Speaker A: Now, because I've been following the Knicks, but. [00:48:10] Speaker B: Yeah, myself, too. Jokic is averaging a triple double. Just under 30 points. [00:48:16] Speaker A: He's averaging a triple. I mean, I know it's early in the season still, but averaging a triple. Doubles. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Crazy. It's crazy when you do it and you win. You know, Westbrook did it and they didn't win. He does it and they win, and he's doing it on an unbelievable, unbelievable efficiency. Like, I don't know. I'm probably boring everybody Today. Yeah. And they lost on a back to back last. The night before last to Sacramento, and they got a bunch of guys hurt. [00:48:42] Speaker A: Leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, bro. [00:48:45] Speaker B: He's leading the league, insane. He's leading the league in. In rebounds, assists, and I think steals. And he's like second or third in points anyway. [00:48:55] Speaker A: That's crazy. [00:48:56] Speaker B: I got new music coming out and it's all about. It's all about Nicola. So my wife started calling him Daddy. [00:49:02] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:49:03] Speaker B: Yeah. It doesn't even bother me. Doesn't bother me. She's like. She's like, is Daddy playing tonight? And I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna act like that bothers me, but it doesn't because it makes you want to watch Nicole Yokos. [00:49:14] Speaker A: You get to a lot of basketball games, man. [00:49:16] Speaker B: I don't, because, you know, it's like the Grizzlies are just, you know, too far away to just like buzz over there. They were. They actually. They played Denver, played Memphis last night, which if we weren't doing this today, I would have gone home for Thanksgiving. Yeah. But no, we couldn't. [00:49:32] Speaker A: But you go to, like, the SEC tournament when that happens here. Have you been to that at Bridgestone? [00:49:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I'll go to the SEC tournament. I used to do a little bit of sports talk radio way back in the day. Oh, no. In Arkansas. [00:49:42] Speaker A: I'm a die hard sports talk radio fan. I listen to WFAN out of New York. [00:49:46] Speaker B: Oh. Every day, dude. [00:49:48] Speaker A: That's what I grew up wanting to do. That's what led me to this. I wanted to be a guy. I was a communications major. I know you were, too. [00:49:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:54] Speaker A: And it's like. Like I wanted to be on ESPN or on the Fan or on Comcast or like, I interned at msg. Like. Yeah, I wanted to be talking Yanks and Knicks and Giants and. And Rangers and all that. [00:50:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:06] Speaker A: It led me to country music. But good sports talk radio is just. It's mint, bro. [00:50:11] Speaker B: You want to know what the best sports talk radio is? Is calling in to a proud big market or not calling it. Listening in to a proud big market after a terrible loss. [00:50:24] Speaker A: Oh, bro, that's. That's the fan. Right now we have the Giants and the Jets. [00:50:27] Speaker B: It's. It's. [00:50:28] Speaker A: Bro, listening to Tiki Barber, Evan Roberts talk about the Giants. Every week is on freaking parallel, bro. It's unparalleled because Tiki's not an angry guy, but he gets pissed and the callers freak out. Dude, it's the best, dude. [00:50:43] Speaker B: I, you know, I'm a big, like, you know, I consume a lot of, A lot of podcasts and, and it's just. This is another golden age for like, Dude. I remember even, like on tour, even when I was a kid, like in, back in Florida, you know, I'd be, before I go to school, you know, Sports center to be on, like, it was always a part. [00:50:59] Speaker A: Scott. [00:50:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And then, and then, you know, we'd be touring around, you know, back in the day when it was van and trailer, and we get to the, we get to whatever hotel that I could, you know, Motel 5 or whatever, and it would be Sports Center Family Guy. That'd be what was on tv. And like, now I can't even, I can't. I can't watch First Take or anything like that. It just, it just like, kind of bores me. But I consume a lot of podcasts, you know, because you'll get some really smart people talking about some really interesting stuff. Yeah, yeah, some. Some domain expertise, dude. [00:51:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. I was a big part of my take guy for a while. Like, when I first moved to town, I was a big, I was a big stoolie with. Listen, part of my take in KFC radio. [00:51:39] Speaker B: Yeah, they're great and all of that. [00:51:40] Speaker A: That stuff. [00:51:41] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. I, I'm friends with the, with some of those ringer guys. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. So we, We. We gamble in some sports leagues together and, and they're pretty, they're pretty sharp. [00:51:52] Speaker A: How hard. How easy is it for, like, the NBA, obviously, going through like, the Chauncey Billup and all that going on, and obviously had Tim Donaghy years ago and like, things like that. But it seems like basketball was probably the easiest one to rig. Like, it makes sense that it would be happening. Happening. [00:52:07] Speaker B: It's. Well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot. [00:52:09] Speaker A: Can miss shots and miss rebounds. [00:52:11] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And in basketball, because there's only, you know, 10 guys on the court, but five guys on a team, you know, at any one time they're playing both ways, that means each player can affect the game in a, in a way greater way than you could in any other sport. Right. And so when you, when you have, you know, prop bets on the ninth player on the bench to go over under or something, you're kind of asking for it, you know, like, like there's some ways to. Yeah, whatever. I mean, there's smarter people than me that probably have figured this out. I mean, it's probably good that we have sanctioned gambling. We could catch it because they Caught it. But then also, why are we offering. Why are we offering prop bets on Terry Rozier coming off the bench? [00:52:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:56] Speaker B: You know, in a random game in regular season, you'll get to get a. [00:53:00] Speaker A: Triple doubles a little bit different. [00:53:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, those star players are like, you know, there's a lot that even. Even in the NFL or Major League Baseball, maybe. Yeah. I mean, even. Even there with injury reports, you know, like how diligent they have to be about those kind of things. They're up. They're updated every hour, you know, so. So it's. It's a wild. It's a wild time. [00:53:22] Speaker A: Wild time. What are you hoping people get from. From the drift from this project, from this new era? Like, what's a message that you would tell the. The fans that have been riding with you now for years and that are looking forward to new music coming out in this new chapter of you as an artist? [00:53:38] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, first off, you know, the fact that I have people that, that listen to music when I put it out is like, I never take that for granted and I appreciate it. And it's just like this is my attempt at being the, the realest that I can be, you know, and with, with all of these songs in this whole project. And, and you know, I would, I would, you know, I would say if you've written with us, you know, till now, you probably listen to some hints of this stuff, you know, in the last couple records, but. But, you know, now something new and fresh and I don't know how long this chapter will be here, but. But I'm glad it's here and I'm really excited about it. And yeah, I would just, I would just hope I get a, I get a listen out of it if. If you've ever messed with what we've done before or if you haven't, you know, like, give me, give me two and a half minutes or listen like a publisher here in town. Just listen to the verse chorus, baby. Yeah, give me a verse chorus. And if you. And if you still with it, then, then, yeah, let it, Let it ride. But exactly what have been some of. [00:54:41] Speaker A: Your favorite spots that you've gotten to go on tour because you've probably. You've gotten to go to. You were touring and you talk about the van and trailer days, talk about buses. You talk. [00:54:49] Speaker B: You've been. [00:54:51] Speaker A: Been on some, some great support slots over the years, gotten to go out and do your own headlining thing where, like, if you had to pick like a top three markets, we won't Even go venues. We'll go, like, markets where you're like, yeah, I want to go back there. [00:55:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I tell you what, man, I love, like, Southern California, like San Diego. [00:55:10] Speaker A: Moonshine Beach. Moonshine Flats, brother. [00:55:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:13] Speaker A: We're hosting at Odies now, which is with Michael Harris. [00:55:15] Speaker B: Oh, hell, yeah. All those guys, you know, Met my wife there. [00:55:18] Speaker A: Really? [00:55:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep. She was. She was living. Yeah, I met her. I met her out there opening up acoustic for Michael Ray, and that's awesome. Yeah. [00:55:27] Speaker A: And back in the day. [00:55:28] Speaker B: Back in the day, it's like 2018 and then 20. Maybe it's 2019, and then 2020, we came back and did our own headline tour there. And. And that was awesome. And then we, you know, my wife and I didn't date for like, three years in between then. And then, you know, here we are. But I did meet her out there, and it's my favorite place. It's my favorite. [00:55:50] Speaker A: You have to come check out Odies if you haven't been yet, because it's set up just like beach and Flats. It's like a venue that doubles as a bar. It's right where Rebar used to be. [00:55:58] Speaker B: Oh, sick. [00:55:59] Speaker A: On Division Street. [00:55:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So we. [00:56:00] Speaker A: We host there every Wednesday night. We do the full band showcases in there and. [00:56:03] Speaker B: Oh, done deal. [00:56:05] Speaker A: There's a green room. There's a big video wall. Like, it's. It's the people, the guys that were running the club there that opened that joint with. With Matt and Brad and the Old Dominion. [00:56:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:56:14] Speaker A: So San Diego. Where would two others be? [00:56:17] Speaker B: Man, I've had a lot of fun. I've had a lot of fun in the Northeast, too. Like, I've. Long island was great. Like, Mulcahy's is awesome out there. Gramercy Theater in the city was the. [00:56:30] Speaker A: That's one of the things with having a hit at radio. New York City embraces the. Out of that big Northeastern cities like Boston, Philly, Pittsburgh. [00:56:40] Speaker B: That was our show that we played right before COVID or we. We were. We were up at Gramercy and. And. [00:56:47] Speaker A: Oh, wow. You were in New York right before it happened, bro. [00:56:49] Speaker B: I was in New York on a Tuesday play. Gramercy had a day off. Something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, A day off. Wednesday. Went and saw Hamilton. Maybe it was Monday. Tuesday, actually. Windsaw Hamilton. And the next day they closed all the Broadway down. We had a show in Salisbury, Massachusetts, and Foxborough, and we went and played our show in Salisbury. And it was like half full, but it, you know, but it was like, sold out. But it was, like, half full because people didn't come because of, you know, covet. And then we, the next day, we're on our way between Salisbury and Foxborough, you know, around Boston, and we got the call. The tourists canceled. Everything's canceled. I remember that bus making that U turn on the highway right there. And we came back to Nashville. Yeah. Oh, dude. [00:57:42] Speaker A: What crazy times. [00:57:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:44] Speaker A: But, yeah, the Northeast and then anywhere. [00:57:46] Speaker B: Else Northeast, man, I love to just. [00:57:48] Speaker A: I mean, I know it's hard to say because you've had. You've been doing it so long. You've had great times all over the place. [00:57:53] Speaker B: Yeah, man. It's hard to say, you know, I love. You know, I, I. I grew up in that Texas country world, so I still love to. You know, we've had some great shows in, In Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin. You know, we got to play Chesapeake arena one time with Chris Young on his tour. It was great. Played Rupp Arena a couple times, actually. [00:58:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a big. For a college arena, 20,000 people. It's like the size of MSG. Like, gets ridiculous how big that arena is and how much those people love country music. [00:58:27] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I mean, there's some, there's some little pockets, too. Like, there's a place just up outside of Spokane, Washington, in, In Idaho. Unbelievable. Like, people were screaming so loud that, like, we couldn't hear our. We couldn't hear. Pacific Northwest is awesome. [00:58:46] Speaker A: Have you ever hit a golf ball off the Gorge? [00:58:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I have, actually. Yeah. The Gorge and George. Yep, we. That was fantastic. You know, there's some great venues down the Carolinas. [00:58:58] Speaker A: The Coyote Joe's, the Blind Horse Saloon. [00:59:00] Speaker B: Oh, yes. Saddlebags, our boy. [00:59:02] Speaker A: Oh, Saddlebags. Down there in Savannah. Oh, yeah, man. Loading in on that cobblestone road, bro. [00:59:07] Speaker B: We shot a music video there. We shot part of the Everywhere but On video there, right? Yeah. Yeah. Those places are awesome. I've had some great shows in Florida, like Fort Myers. Get the ranch down there. [00:59:21] Speaker A: Oh, the ranch. The. You get the ranch on a rat, which most nights are rowdy in there. [00:59:25] Speaker B: There. [00:59:26] Speaker A: That's a room where those people just go nuts, dude. That Dallas Bulls and other good ones. [00:59:32] Speaker B: Yeah, dude. I grew up just south of there, so. I mean, there's just so many cool places. The Midwest is. It's awesome, too. I mean, they're the friendliest people. [00:59:41] Speaker A: I love the Midwest mentality. [00:59:42] Speaker B: Yeah, man. And it's. It's great in the right time of year. It's perfect. You know, it kind of sucks ass when it's cold but yeah, whatever, dude. It's worth it, though. [00:59:53] Speaker A: Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota. Like that. [00:59:56] Speaker B: So great, dude. It's so much fun. They. They love their country music and they love the party, love cold beer. [01:00:04] Speaker A: More beers are consumed in the Midwest, I think, than anywhere. [01:00:08] Speaker B: I would totally agree. [01:00:09] Speaker A: And I like Oshkosh, Wisconsin. You ever been there? [01:00:12] Speaker B: I have been, dude. I've been everywhere, bro. Wisconsin is awesome, man. I've been. I've been to Oshkosh. I've been to. Up around Green Bay. We've been to Duluth, you know, Minnesota. We've been. I've been to every state we've turned. Hawaii and Alaska. [01:00:27] Speaker A: Like, not a lot of guys can say that you've done all 50. [01:00:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'd say I toured Hawaii. I did, like, I did a. A deal for. For CMT, like a hot 20 salute. Hot 20 countdown. Like, salute to the military. Because there's a lot of bases out there. [01:00:43] Speaker A: That's cool. [01:00:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And I. They were. It was kind of last minute around Christmas, so I took my mom for a Christmas present to Hawaii. [01:00:51] Speaker A: That's not a bad Christmas present at all. [01:00:53] Speaker B: And then they were like, yeah, you and your tour manager will get you there. And I was like, cool. But I just put my. My best friend's name as my tour manager. So cmt, like, flew him out there. He brought his wife, and. And, dude, the four of us just vibed out in. In Hawaii, and, like, he was trying to tour manage me, and, like, he's having absolutely no idea, like, what. He's a real estate appraiser. Like, he didn't even know. At the end of the thing, they were like, oh, man, y' all have such a good rapport. Y' all work so well together. Let us know what other artists you have. Talking about Buddy Will. And that's what this hat is. Yeah, talking about Buddy Will. And he's like, yeah, yeah, man. I'll let you know what other artists I'm working with, and I'll get you the roster. I'll get you the roster. He was like, dude, I'm a real estate appraiser. [01:01:33] Speaker A: That's awesome. [01:01:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that was a great one. [01:01:35] Speaker A: That's awesome, man. So going back to. To the Drift, this new project, when are we looking at. At stuff coming out? [01:01:41] Speaker B: When is. When does Sugar coat come out? 12,5. Sugar coats out 12,5. And then after Christmas, the next one in the chamber that I've got will fire off, and then we'll. We'll probably do the. The third, you know, whatever. You know, usually the life of a single. You know, it usually takes something like six weeks to, like, do something, promote something kind of thing. So, you know, with the holidays being in there, so we'll see. [01:02:07] Speaker A: But it's awesome, man. 2026. The year of the Drift, man. [01:02:10] Speaker B: The year of the Drift, man. I'm so. I'm so pumped about it. Like, it's like. It's like. It's hard to kind of talk about without making my time making kind of country. The music that I was making. I don't want to, like, make that sound like I'm not proud of that, or was it. That wasn't what I wanted to be doing. But at the same time, this is, like. This is scratching an itch and. And, like, more fulfilling in a way of, like, the reason that I came to town, you know, because I. Because I. I really, you know, I kind of thought that I would have written. I thought I wrote prayer for you for, like, you know, fill in the blank artists at the time. And then it changed my life, and I'm very happy. But, you know, now I'm just, you know, I don't feel like I. I owe anybody anything except the songs to be what I want them to be. And I'm blessed with people around me that believe in that kind of vision and. And it just kind of gets a little dumb talking about songs so much, but, like, you know what I mean? Like. Like, I want. I want people to go listen to it. Like I said, verse course, you know. [01:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, man. It's a thing where if you. If ten years from now, if you. Or later on, if you look back on it and you hadn't done it, you'd say, man, I really wish that I had done this. So it's something that you want to do. It's. It's that fulfillment. And you're the boss, man. You're the CEO of what you want to do. A lot of artists don't know that. And you've. You've been able to have creative freedom with your past stuff and seen a lot of success, so I'm very excited to see where this chapter goes, man. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Man, thank you. [01:03:40] Speaker A: I'm pumped. I'm stoked. [01:03:41] Speaker B: Thank you very much. And. And I appreciate y' all having me on today, and. Absolutely. I'm a listener. I'm a fan. So, dude, come. [01:03:48] Speaker A: Come hang out, Odie, sometime. It'd be full circle for you and the wife if you guys met at. At one of those Good Time properties out there. [01:03:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:03:55] Speaker A: They've talked about Razor Audi Us going out to San Diego and doing some stuff too. Those folks have been really good to us, and I've been out there before. I know it's a. It's a party at beach and Flats, so that's cool you have that part of your story. [01:04:07] Speaker B: It's a party in perfect weather all the time. [01:04:09] Speaker A: God bless San Diego, brother. And seriously, thank you so much for coming on and hanging out, man. And everybody go and be on the lookout for the drift. The project's coming out. Be on the lookout for sugarcoat out here December 5th. And be on the lookout for more stuff from our boy Matt still, our tallest guest that we have had. The microphone placement is absolutely pristine. What's that watch you got on too, by the way? [01:04:32] Speaker B: Oh, this thing? This is. Thank you for asking. This is an Auris. [01:04:35] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, bro. Hey, we're. We're working on this. Some stuff with them right now. So we're Razor Audi about to be in that Oris family. [01:04:41] Speaker B: They're. They're a great partner. They're a great partner. My stupid fat wrist. I'm on the absolute last, like, I kind of like the. The leathery, rubbery band. I'm on the, like, the last hole. [01:04:51] Speaker A: That's how some of my boys are with their hats. Yeah, the last whole hat, guys. [01:04:55] Speaker B: One little. Got one little. One little ring, like a lunch lady bra. Just one little clasp. [01:05:00] Speaker A: That's awesome, man. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Y' all be sure to check out our friends from Surfside as well. No bubbles. No trouble. Bubbles. It ain't a seltzer. It's a Surfside. Go surfing. Great iced teas, green teas, lemonades. We love you, Surfside. We appreciate you. And for more on us, visit raised rowdy.com My man Matt Still. I'm Matt Barillis. Has been outside the round I never. [01:05:23] Speaker B: Been the kind for still one place for too long I never been the best to say I I love you. [01:05:33] Speaker A: To a girl I love Only got a couple tricks up my sleeve they. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Usually just make them leave so if you know me if you really know me you know I'm just a two trick pony but maybe the drinking and the lack of money for show I'm just a two trick pony yeah.