Thomas Edwards: East Tennessee Roots, 'High Times' & Nashville Dreams

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Come on. This is Outside the Round with Matt Burrill for Rage Rowdy podcast. What's going on, guys and girls? Welcome back to another episode of Outside the Round with me, Matt Brill. Make sure you hit follow, subscribe, Check out all the razor outy stuff that we have cooking. And today, one of my favorite new friends in Nashville, Tennessee, he spent time running through the power tea at Rocky Top. He's a native of East Tennessee. He's a follower of one of my favorite fast food joints in the world, pal. Sudden service from the Tri Cities. We got Thomas Edwards. Big Dog, how you doing, man? [00:00:52] Speaker A: If I was any better, I'd be you. It's great. It's great to be here. [00:00:56] Speaker B: I have been looking forward to this hey, dude for a while, man. [00:01:00] Speaker A: That's right. One man to interview the world. Yeah, dude. I'm stoked, man. [00:01:05] Speaker B: It's great to be here, man. Yeah, dude, it's great to have you. So how's life been treating you, man? I know we've been working on music and you got a wild story that we'll get into, but it's been great, it's been great. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Just like you know how you do in this business, Keeping busy, staying busy all the time with all sorts of stuff. And got a. Just wrapping up an ep. We just cut it Fame Studios down in Muscle Shoals. [00:01:27] Speaker B: That's so. [00:01:28] Speaker A: It's been crazy, man. [00:01:29] Speaker B: So many great things about that place. Obviously history of who's come out of there. But yeah, there's a lot of artists that are starting to go down there and yeah, kind of nice when you get out of town and feels like there's an aura and an energy when you're in that room. [00:01:42] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. I mean like the. I'm signed with Warner here in town and the biggest benefit of having a deal like that is you get to spend money when you record music. And you know, a lot of the times music can, you can make music in a box today. Like you can make an entire song on your computer right now and sample instruments. You could introduce AI, but you can't. The biggest thing that I wanted to do was pack up five of the best studio musicians, go down to Muscle Shoals for five days or they can't leave because studio musicians in town, they'll go play on a Luke Bryan record, then go home to their kids soccer game. It's just their normal 9 to 5. So I wanted to go step forward further. I was like, take them out of the, Take them out of their comfort Zone. Go down to Muscle Shoals, you know, and get to know these guys. And. And it turned out to be really great, man. It was one. It was the most rewarding week of music that I've ever been a part of. [00:02:36] Speaker B: And you get to go down and create a project. [00:02:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:38] Speaker B: Think about all those great rock albums from back in the day, or even like the rap and hip hop albums that, like, were coming out of LA and New York and Atlanta, where it's like people would go somewhere, lock themselves in. [00:02:49] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. [00:02:49] Speaker B: Right. And create a record. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's right. [00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:52] Speaker A: And greatness of music is there needs to be tug of war. You need to be pissed off at the people you're making it with, you know, like, because they should be saying, hey, maybe you should do that again and again and again. They want to get it just right. And that gets you a little irritated. And then this brings up a whole nother level of. It's kind of just like, you know, like rolling the balls out and playing a game of football or basketball or something like that. You know, when you're out of that comfort zone and you kind of just got to do your instincts and when you're making music, then you get the most true to form, who you are music. And that's. That was kind of what we did, man. I went down there, we cut a. The whole thing is about, you know, it's like the grief cycle of breaking up with a girl. So it's like the anger part, then there's like acceptance, you know, the whole. And you know, the whole kid and caboodle about that. So it was just. It was awesome to get. We had an all star cast, people playing on it, dude. And just got to stay down there for a week in a nice little resort and make music, dude. I feel like every single day. I'm so grateful, man. I feel so blessed to even sit here to do any of this. I think it's crazy, man. I mean, we. I came in Tractor supplies on the other side of here, and that's where I used to work. I used to work. Really? Yeah. I used to work in the warehouse. Tractor supply. [00:04:03] Speaker B: No. [00:04:03] Speaker A: So I left school and then for three years, two of them, I worked night shift. Wow. Worked in a million square foot warehouse. I was a supervisor there on the floor. And then moved to a production manager. Started a new role there. But it's cool, man. It's cool. Coming in here, doing this and then driving past Tractor Supply right next to it, I'm like, dang, dude, this is My life's a simulated simulation. You know, it's like. Yeah, that's a whole other podcast. That's right, that's right. This podcast is about simulation and aliens, [00:04:33] Speaker B: country music and all that crazy, dude. But I want to kind of back up because your story is definitely unique and different where you growing up. Like you played big time Division 1 SEC football at UT. Yeah, man, that was going to be your path, right? Yeah. [00:04:50] Speaker A: So I mean I got, I grew up around music. I was always a music guy. My whole family is kind of neck deep in music. My mom's a music minister, my dad's a fiddle player. My great grandfather played banjo for the Carter Sisters. And growing up in Bristol, I never met him. He was before my time. But I'm named after that guy. So the whole time buried in within, deep in me was music. But then when I was in high school, that was like, shit, dude, I'm huge. Like I'm. I'm 6 foot 5, 300 pounds. And like I wasn't even starting on the team as a junior in high school. Really. And I was like, I just gotta do something about this. So this was like in the day of like DVD training sets. You remember the thing P90X? [00:05:33] Speaker B: Yes. [00:05:33] Speaker A: Remember Insanity? [00:05:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:35] Speaker A: So I got the DVD copy of Insanity when I was a junior. Me and my buddy Elliot, he's another lineman, we're like, dude, we're tired of being fat asses, dude. Like we're gonna be ballers. And we just took them, we watched that DVD set every day after school. Just got, kept losing weight, kept getting stronger. [00:05:51] Speaker B: How low did you get? [00:05:52] Speaker A: Not low. I mean it's kind of like a. When you're a big guy. Yeah, when you're a big guy, muscle, your weight just kind of goes like this when you're working out. [00:05:58] Speaker B: It's like redistribute the fat to the muscle. [00:06:01] Speaker A: That's right. It's like we. Then I got to. I left school when I was 6 5, like 305 and probably left after UT. I was 65 3, 35 size. That was, that was an absolute hunk of meat after leaving there. But the, the. And I'm probably like 652-85- now, but muscles just kind of gone away and just eat a bunch of these Dunkin donuts. Donut holes. Yeah, I just kind of, I just kind of was like, you know, I should take this seriously. And then, you know, the best ability is availability in life. Doesn't matter what you're doing. And I was just around one day and working out extra. And one of my teammates, or two of my teammates were getting recruited by Tennessee and they're like, who's this guy? And then that was just kind of the first domino that gave me the chance to go to Tennessee. And, you know, I ended up playing there for four years. It was a backup and you know, it wasn't like the. I had. It was honestly the sweet spot of where you need to be on a roster. Like, you're not so low that you're just getting hit every day and you're a tackling dummy. [00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:03] Speaker A: But you're not high where you're starting. I was always just like kind of second string world. I played in like 12 or 13. I can't remember how many games. Just around that many games. Yeah, but I was just, you know, you're, you're. How's the morale guy? You know, like if somebody went down a lot, you know, like if an old lineman went down at the end of the game or, or we were up big or down big, I went in. But like, dude, I had a ukulele in football in the locker room. And every time I see my teammates, they're just like, dude, you are the best thing in the locker room. And I realized now, like, the, it was, it was less my physical athletic prowess that I gave to that TV and more just kind of the energy, you know, I was always. Because it's miserable. Playing football in college is miserable or in general, like, at any level. Like, it's, you're, it's just like their true testament of will. Like as you are going through the hardest practices you've ever experienced, you check your phone and your, your best friends on the lake, you know, like, and you're like. And you're like, what am I doing? [00:07:55] Speaker B: Those double and triple sessions? [00:07:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:57] Speaker B: Hot, man, those are brutal. Because what, what year, what years were you at UT? [00:08:01] Speaker A: 2013 to 2017. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Okay. So yeah, so we were there. The. We were in. So you're what, 31? 30. [00:08:07] Speaker A: 31. [00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah. You and I are the same age because I graduated high school 2013. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Oh, sweet. [00:08:12] Speaker B: So that was back. Like, that was when the concussion stuff was first starting to come. Rebel speed helmets were starting to come out more, you know where, like, that was a big emphasis. So we were kind of at the tail end of when the practices were. [00:08:26] Speaker A: Oh, man, high school. We joke about this all the time. I was at the. I literally went to college at the dark ages of college. Like when I. My first or actually probably two years before me is when The. When, like, the NCAA rules didn't really match up to the level of entertainment that was provided. You know, like, it was like. Like, we could go in the summer, but you couldn't eat. There was, like, all these little rules. Like, you could. They couldn't give you money in the summer, so they'd give you vouchers for restaurants around campus that were worth 10 bucks. [00:08:59] Speaker B: So you're, like, using a voucher like Calhoun. Yeah, yeah. [00:09:02] Speaker A: It was all. And then. And then flash forward. That was in 2014. [00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:06] Speaker A: And then 2024, people were making half a million dollars for being a backup. Like, that happened in 10 years. Like, it's crazy. We went to the. I mean, I even started a Twitter account because we were friends with our quarterback, Josh Dobbs, one of our good friends. And if you walk around with a quarterback in Tennessee, anywhere around Knoxville, you're gonna stop every five seconds to take a picture. [00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:28] Speaker A: So it was always a bunch of O linemen and then Dobbs. So we'd always snap a picture of the O lineman in the foreground of the picture and Dobbs in the background getting his picture taken with someone. And we called it Life in the Shadows, you know, and we just do it in all sorts of places. But that Twitter account blew up, dude. We had a live Sports center interview, 10am on a Saturday with Matt. Matt. Whatever I can't remember his name is. He's like, the main guy on Sports Center. But I was. I was hot off of shoulder surgery. I had two shoulder surgeries, too, that kept me off the field. Even though that, you know, that wasn't the only thing that kept me off the field. The other thing that came off the field is other people were better at playing football than me. But I was hot off a should. Shoulder surgery took my sling off, you know, on painkillers, trying to null the pain of this shoulder surgery. Live interview on SportsCenter for a Twitter [00:10:16] Speaker B: account that you guys made with. [00:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. And if Nil was around, that would have been a. You know how much money you would have made off that? Where you throw some ads on there. [00:10:23] Speaker B: I think I actually got to watch you play once. Really crazy story. We haven't talked about this. I grew up a big Virginia Tech fan. [00:10:30] Speaker A: Ah. [00:10:31] Speaker B: So I was at the Battle of Bristol game. [00:10:33] Speaker A: Ah, okay. [00:10:33] Speaker B: So that was during your time. [00:10:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that. That was. But it was. Right. It was the week after I got my first shoulder surgery. So I had. So really, honestly, I've played in 12 games, but if it wasn't hurt. I bet I'd play in, like, 15, you know? [00:10:45] Speaker B: What was that like? Just being at UT during that time, being a Tri Cities East Tennessee kid and getting to play in the Coliseum. [00:10:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:53] Speaker B: Motor Speedway. Like, just being. Being a part of UT history and college football history during that time, being in your hometown. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Dude. Yes. It's the best. It was the best thing ever. [00:11:02] Speaker B: The. [00:11:02] Speaker A: I mean, the. The. The flyover at the beginning of the game. Yeah, it was like stealth bombers. [00:11:07] Speaker B: Greenwood coming. [00:11:08] Speaker A: Lee Greenwood. Dude, I was. I was like, dud. The greatest place. [00:11:12] Speaker B: The cars parked in the embankments. They had the flag, like, up in the. [00:11:17] Speaker A: Oh, my God. It was so good. [00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:19] Speaker A: Like, it was just. It was perfectly executed. Like, the fly. All those card thing where people were doing it was just so good. But I mean, like, if you wanted to watch the football game, you could [00:11:28] Speaker B: see we were up, man. And we went to. Because my. My uncle, who got me into college football as a Tech grad, and then his two daughters. My two cousins have both since graduated from Tech, but we went to the concert the night before. [00:11:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Where it was Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion and Bam Perry. And Kenny had Peyton come out and sing with him. [00:11:48] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, dude, that's just the best. Like, it was just like the. The whole weekend was like that at that point, you know, obviously we didn't get to experience it, but, like, the. Just looking back at the, like, which I remember seeing videos of the tailgates, [00:11:59] Speaker B: and it was like, oh, the tailgates were wild. [00:12:01] Speaker A: Here's the beat in. [00:12:02] Speaker B: Because at that time, it was like, Bristol was obviously built for, like, during the. Was built into the Coliseum during the heyday of nascar. And you know how big those race weekends. [00:12:12] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:12:13] Speaker B: But the getting in and out of that place, it took, like, two hours waiting in line to get through the gate to get into the stadium. [00:12:22] Speaker A: It's the best. I mean, I think the one thing I learned about college football was, like, chaos and chaotic environment. I just love them, you know, like. Like, even just the idea of just swathes of people trying to go into this huge. Like, they've never done it before. So, you know, all. All the rules are a little bit like, let's see how it works, you know? And it's just like, you need to get 160,000 people. I mean, it was such a big moment for East Tennessee. There's a furniture store in my hometown that last year, 2025, that for. For the last 10 years, they had a huge mural painted like a hokey Versus Smokey on the side of their furniture store. And it was there for 10 years. They just. Just took it off like last year. It was epic, dude. You know, it's like a. Especially because, like, Virginia Tech, it's. It's a weird thing because, like, in northeast Tennessee, you're probably two and a half, three hours from black 81. Yeah. So, like, there's a lot of Virginia Tech fans in northeast Tennessee, so. But then you come down to Knoxville, and they're gone. You know, it's like, it's only up in that little corner. [00:13:22] Speaker B: It divides somewhere along the I40. The 81. Yeah. Like Dandridge or something like that, you know. Dude, it just shifts, man. Yeah. So you got to be in that environment. So now playing show, like, being around environments where you're getting to do shows. [00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah, you've performed. [00:13:40] Speaker B: You performed on the football field in front of some of the biggest crowds that there are, from playing. Playing obviously, at Neyland or going down to that. That trash hole that is Tuscaloosa. [00:13:53] Speaker A: Yeah, Tuscaloosa. You know that football. Football wise, we hate them. But the great town for a good. For a good. [00:13:59] Speaker B: For a good weekend. [00:14:01] Speaker A: Yeah, for a great little weekend, man. I love it. [00:14:03] Speaker B: They're a lot of fun. But now it's like you're getting to be on a stage and performing in front of people. [00:14:08] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [00:14:09] Speaker B: Talk about what that transitional period was like, where you're not on the field hitting and you're out there. Yeah. You're out there writing songs and you're getting to do all kinds of cool. She talked about them. You had the musical background growing up, but you've gotten to team up with folks like Vavo that live in that ed. That EDM country, EDM space. [00:14:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:27] Speaker B: You've gotten the right songs with incredible people, and now you're. You've got your own projects coming out. [00:14:31] Speaker A: Yeah, man. You know, it's like I said, dude, I'm so grateful. I think everything that I did up until this point in my life kind of prepared me for this. Like, football is. The parallels of football and music are incredible. Like, it's just like your body is your asset and music. You're not going through a hundred simulated car wrecks every day. But, like, you know, like, that's what it is. I mean, like, I always say it's so funny. Like, o lineman playing a line in college is not fun. It is not what you would think playing football is like the quarterbacks and the receiver over there just throwing the ball around routes on Air. And then all day we're just hitting a sled and pushing it across. [00:15:08] Speaker B: Collision sport. [00:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. And if you're not doing that, you're doing it to your teammates and then you're. And then you fight each other and then you make up and then it's just repeat, you know. So, you know, going from that world to. You know, when I got a shoulder surgery, I kind of just. I tore my labrum and I was. It goes from 100 miles an hour to zero. I went from like squatting 650 pounds to trying to curl a 1 pound weight with my hand. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Wow. [00:15:34] Speaker A: To get strength back in my hand. And you can, you know, just hearing that, you can feel how crazy that might make it. So, like, the first song I wrote was just out of, like, I don't know what. [00:15:43] Speaker B: I'm. [00:15:44] Speaker A: I'm so bored and I need to figure out a way to use my brain and. And challenge myself again. So I. I used my little limp gimp arm that I had and kind of threw it up on the neck of a guitar, which I never knew how to play at this point. Like, I was. It was not even a. [00:15:58] Speaker B: It was not even like a thing. Like. Like you had been around the. [00:16:01] Speaker A: I had a guitar in my apartment. It was just kind of like you just like your normal guy that has a guitar in his apartment just like there. Yeah, you touch it every now and then. It's completely out of tune. You don't know how to tune it, so you just kind of don't touch it, you know, it's just there. Yeah, it's there. So eventually I. I figured out how to tune them over and. And put, you know, put my hands on the guitar and played. Wrote a song called Leave Me Alone and then didn't really think anything about it. I just kind of just like, oh, that was cool. And I really love doing it, but I. You know, when you're in that football mode, you're. Everything's so fast and fleeting that, like, it was just like, I was like, I gotta rehab, gotta get better. So then I flash forward, you know, I go. I'm skipping a lot of steps here, but I go, leave school. And I'm like, you know, this is not. I just lived a fake life. Like, everybody loves me here and I don't even play. Like, I need to go work in the real world and get a real idea of what's going on. Went to tractor supply. I worked for three years and only through working for two. Two years there where I Was like, okay, I got. I need to figure out what I want to do. [00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:57] Speaker A: So then I was just very diligent, man. I was very calculated about saving up money and not. And being, and being very, you know, frugal as I worked. And then because like, I, like when I first started working, man, I got in that comfort hole, man, where I was like going to work, didn't like my job that much, love the people I worked with, but it was just, I'm this delusional, I need some bigger grandiose vision, you know, like. And if whatever I'm doing doesn't lend to that, I feel like I'm doing myself a disservice. So I'm like, you know, I'm sitting here, I was. And I was just thinking about growing. I was like, am I going to be. Is this what I'm going to do? And then I just realized I was getting off work, I was going to fancy dinners because I was making good money. I was just getting drunk and fat and hated my life. You know, I could just see my, my trajectory of just be working at Tractor Supply, maybe getting another job, maybe going over here. And so I just quit, you know, and for about a year I didn't do anything. I just kind of just had enough money saved up and I hadn't invested in some stuff and had enough money. Just kind of figure things out. And that's where I kind of assimilated into the music world and met friends in music. And then I was the guy that picked up a guitar up at a party one time and somebody said, you should do that. Like, seriously, like you're good at it. So then I just. After that day, I just started writing songs, you know, and I. Since then, that was probably the. October 2021, I quit my job. It's 2026. I've written hundreds and hundreds of songs. And because I knew just from the football background there's only one way to get into this business or any business anytime. And it's just practicing it and getting better at it. And I think we romanticize music like there isn't sweat equity in this business. You need reps. Reps, that's right. [00:18:34] Speaker B: Reps in all reps as a writer, reps, recording reps, performing reps, reps networking reps. Being. Being the best hang you can be. That's so important. Like, yeah, man, yeah. [00:18:45] Speaker A: And they call this place a 10 year town. Not because there's some like you have to earn your stripes. It's just because you as a human are not going to understand the inhuman nature of this business without really being in it and understanding like, okay, I don't need. I don't need to worry about this stuff because I've witnessed and I've seen this and I need to worry about this stuff and this stuff and I need to get this aligned with this. But yeah, I mean it's just kind of the. I'm on your. I'm 40% in on my 10 year town bid. You know, it's like. It's like I'm in prison. [00:19:17] Speaker B: Who were the first like music connections that. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. John Bradley was the first guy I met just through a mutual friend and got one of my first co rides. Was hilarious. It was right when it was with. It was with Jet Harvey too. It's right after he. Right after he had wrote Rocking a Hard Place too, you know, and. And co writing in itself was a whole other beast to figure out because I'm so full of myself and won't shut up half the time. So like that's a skill you got to learn to tailor back in a writing room. [00:19:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:48] Speaker A: Otherwise the, the shy person that's going to be reluctant to really speak their opinion unless there's a perfect little hole in the conversation. [00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:55] Speaker A: Will never say anyway, you know. So that's those. That's the cool thing about that writer room chemistry is I need those people in the room with me because I'm such the opposite, you know? [00:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Dude. It's all. And it's about getting vulnerable and being there to listen to other people's while you're sharing your. [00:20:12] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [00:20:13] Speaker B: It's collaboration, you know, for sure. Important, man. [00:20:16] Speaker A: I've had some. I've had some funny co writes, man. Some awesome ones too. I mean I wrote. I wrote some songs with Neo when he was in town. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Really? [00:20:24] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. It was the funniest day, man. The night before they had. They announced my record deal. So I had signed for six months. But I was just like, you know, as soon as you get a press release, like I gotta get drunk, you know, it's party, you know, I got [00:20:38] Speaker B: a reason to drink tonight. [00:20:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. It's exactly right. So I was like, all right, we're tearing it down. [00:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah, we're doing this. [00:20:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So I got loaded that night and the next morning at 11am I had it right. And I knew. Usually never look at my calendar until the day of. I kind of just wake up and go. Because now it's to the point, like if I'll look at it. It'll be like you're writing with Michael Buble, you know, like, it's just like it's not really him, but, like, random. You're crazy scale writers now because of just. I have a wonderful publisher, wonderful in making those connections and getting in some awesome rooms. So I kind of will overwhelm myself if I kind of look far ahead, because I just firmly believe that everyone's instinct in writing songs or singing is why you're here. And you. And you train your instinct, and then, like, you by writing a bunch of songs, and then in a moment like this, if you've done the work, then even if you're hungover in half of a human shell of a human walking into the biggest global pop star house that he rented in Franklin, you can still kind of pull something out of your ass, you know? [00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:39] Speaker A: But, like, dude, that first I remember, I was so hungover, I could barely open my eyes. I get to this place, this mansion in Franklin that he had rented, and I walk in there, dude, and the. I was just hilarious, man. First of all, I didn't. I didn't. I got there, and I was like, dude, there's nobody here. Then all of a sudden, somebody came to the door, and just a very, very short guy, and he was just like, you looking for Neo? And I was like, yeah. He's like, come on, and brought me into this house. And then everybody was just in this kitchen. There's about 20 people in this kitchen also. [00:22:09] Speaker B: The whole entourage. [00:22:10] Speaker A: Yes. Everybody's in there. I'm the only white guy. The. I'm in this kitchen, and they're all talking about. I walk into this conversation, and they're going, ain't no way Jesus is white. So I'm walking in. I can barely open my eyes. I'm Seung Ho. I'm the only white guy in this place. And the first conversation was like, ain't no way Jesus way. It's the Middle east, you know? And we'll borrow the conversation of that. But I'm just sitting there, like, what do I say if I. If I say anything? I'm just gonna. I'm gonna be like, hey, I'm Thomas. And they're gonna be like, whatever, you [00:22:41] Speaker B: know, what do you contribute to the situation you just walked into? [00:22:44] Speaker A: So. So then, you know, we kind of. I kind of sat there a little longer. [00:22:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:47] Speaker A: And then we go outside by the pool. Neo has a bunch of kids. They're all running around, and I start blowing up balloons. So, like, I'm blowing Up, like, blowing up just balloons for his kids. Like, I'm tying knots, these little balloons, throwing them up. [00:22:59] Speaker B: You're just balloon guy at the party. [00:23:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. I'm the balloon guy. I'm the balloon guy. And I literally, at one point, I looked over to Neo, and this is before I really talked to him, man. And I was like, hey, your kids better not pop this balloon. They might get drunk and. Cause it was just my breath. And he just kind of looked at me like I was crazy. And I was like, you wanna write a song? We ended up writing a couple great songs, you know, but, like, it was just one of those moments where it was like I had about 10 break the fourth wall office moments where I would, like, look at the camera and go, like, the camera, like it was there and just go, how the. How the hell is this happening to me? [00:23:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like the office of Curb. You're enthusiastic, dude. [00:23:39] Speaker A: My life is Curb. You're thinking. [00:23:40] Speaker B: You're like, where is Larry? [00:23:41] Speaker A: Where's Jeff 100? [00:23:43] Speaker B: Where is. What's JB Smooth? Where's Leon? Yeah, Leon's just gonna walk through the gate and do something crazy. [00:23:50] Speaker A: The crazy thing about. I used to love that show. Used to love that. Curb your enthusiasm. [00:23:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:54] Speaker A: But the last season, there's a dog in that. In this. In the show. It's my ex girlfriend's dog. [00:23:59] Speaker B: No. How does that happen? [00:24:01] Speaker A: She lived in la. Dog got cast into the show. [00:24:04] Speaker B: So wait. Dogs. So wait, you can offer your pet up to be an actor in Hollywood? [00:24:10] Speaker A: I don't know how to say this politely, but I guess, like, when you're trying to get into the business, anything works. [00:24:14] Speaker B: It's like, worse than, like, raising a child actor and like, forcing a kid to go to trials because the animal really has no idea what's going on. [00:24:21] Speaker A: I just like to think about there's a house somewhere in, like, in Hollywood that's just full of exotic animals. And it's just this weird guy that's trying to get him in a bunch of movies, you know? [00:24:29] Speaker B: Yes. [00:24:29] Speaker A: You need a kangaroo. [00:24:30] Speaker B: He's got a leopard. He's got kangaroo Jack. He's got an ostrich. [00:24:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you need a chimpanzee. You need one that's a Komodo dragon. Yeah, you need. You need a. You need a. A friendly one. And one that's a little ornery, you know? Ornery one's gonna cost a little money. [00:24:44] Speaker B: Just the exotic dealer guy that's somewhere hanging out in. In. In Hollywood. That's Crazy. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah. But I don't know that. You did ask me a question that started. That's why I was so excited. [00:24:55] Speaker B: I'm like, bro, this is gonna be a roller coaster. Shout out to everybody listening and watch. [00:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah, man. [00:24:59] Speaker B: Because this is gonna be a fun one. But so you, like talking about that transition period and you were going into the Neo story. [00:25:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:08] Speaker B: What was he like as a. As a collaborator? [00:25:11] Speaker A: Well, dude, it kind of. Sometimes you. You write with people and you get uninspired. You're like, oh, there was not. There's. This was all just kind of bells and whistles and smoke and mirrors. It's an act. It's a circus act. You know, he was not that. That dude was an assassin. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Like, once you got in, he was right. [00:25:30] Speaker A: He was writing. He was the driving the ship lyrically. He was driving the ship melodically. Singing. He's the great, craziest singer ever. When he laid down vocals, he laid down five vocal passes in a row. The lead, the harmony, the reverb, background, the ends. [00:25:46] Speaker B: He did all of it. [00:25:47] Speaker A: All of it. [00:25:48] Speaker B: So it's like normally where somebody's putting a plug in on, it's like, no, it's all. [00:25:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Or even. Even, like, even just. He didn't even. There was no direction. Like, he was direct. He was guiding the ship, and he was the engine of the ship. You know what I'm saying? [00:26:00] Speaker B: Like, wow. [00:26:00] Speaker A: So there was another guy that was like. That was Quavo. I worked with Quavo, too. [00:26:04] Speaker B: Oh, dude. What's that? [00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, but they're both had the similarities of their artists, man. Like, they have their craft. They're masters of their craft. Like, Quavo came into a room with us, and he just said, I want to write like you guys. Right. I mean, you know how rap studios work. It's a party in there, you know? Like, when I was walking in, I was, like, drinking water all day one, because I was. I had to come back from Bonnaroo. I was at Bonnaroo. Then I came back to work with him. [00:26:29] Speaker B: You would. You would go to Bonnaroo? We got to get into. We'll get into that after this Quavo story. I want to hear all about that. [00:26:34] Speaker A: Yeah, but it was just. It was awesome and refreshing, man. I think. I think a lot of the times we create silos for genres and how music's made, but at the top, the top creatives in all genres, they're all humans approaching this in the same way. Like, they understand that you need to collaborate without an ego. Like, Even Quavo, a guy that could do whatever he wants in the. In the music space, he comes in and says, hey, I can sell at every club. I want to sell out stadiums. [00:27:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:01] Speaker A: So, like, he's still driven, you know, he's still. The guys I grew up banging all that music, you know, like, in. In the football locker rooms. [00:27:08] Speaker B: And. [00:27:08] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like a cultural piece of my life. [00:27:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:11] Speaker A: And still he's. He's chopping wood at the top, you know what I'm saying? Like, he's not, like, coasting and doing whatever he's trying to keep, you know, [00:27:18] Speaker B: getting bigger and better, not just popping into multiple. Because I've heard other art artists that do this, and it's like they'll. They'll host, like, a writer's retreat, and then there's like three or four rooms that are working on stuff, and they'll pop in throughout, like, a day. [00:27:32] Speaker A: He's in the room the whole time, man. I mean, I don't go too much detail about it, but the. I mean, there was a time where we were just. We just turned the lights off and smoked something and just laid back and just. And Jackson Nance was playing guitar. [00:27:45] Speaker B: I love Jackson. [00:27:46] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. [00:27:46] Speaker B: Jackson's one of my favorite dudes in. [00:27:48] Speaker A: In town. Killer, man. Lefty, Lefty, Lefty. Mississippi blues boy. [00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Legend. [00:27:54] Speaker A: He's so good, man. And I think, yeah, it was kind of the. The similarities of just, like, masters of their craft, and it really just inspired me to. You got to fly your own flag, man. I feel like a lot of times, especially in this genre, we get really hung up about bowling with gutter guards on. Like, does this fit in the lane of whatever. [00:28:14] Speaker B: Gutter guards are gone. Yeah, bro. We're in 2026. You can do whatever the hell you want to do. [00:28:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, this is. The music is to tell your story as an artist. And it's a vehicle. It's a medium of art. Just like wearing, you know, like the Met Gala a couple weeks ago. The thing was, fashion is art. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:34] Speaker A: Medium of art. Art music, medium of arts and a medium of expression. And the country ness. In my opinion, the inherent country ness of music comes from the people first. The music that they deliver is a vehicle to express their art. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:48] Speaker A: And that's where, you know, you see these as people, as time goes and passes. You look at these artists that come out of the woodworks and to the grand stage. You know, a lot of them, there are the. Actually, I would venture to say all of them, they're just doing a great job of showcasing who they are. Ella Langley, like, she. You're. You're friends with her. [00:29:09] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. The. [00:29:10] Speaker A: Like, her entire act exploding is the perfect culmination of the right people musically, her direction, sonically, and her understanding who she is to give the world. Yeah. [00:29:21] Speaker B: She's one of those artists that. What she'll do. Before she. Before she went into that album, she made a playlist of inspirational. Like, this is what I'm listening to right now. This is what I want to create. This is what I want to deliver to the world. [00:29:31] Speaker A: And yeah, yeah, it's like that. That's powerful for sure, man. And it's. It's fueled by delusion. It's fueled by. You listen. It's like, me, I listen to Prince because my mom. My mom really liked no artist except for Prince, and I'll hear some Prince song and just be like, I got to be better than that. And like, Prince is the best guy to ever do this thing. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, one of the greatest ever. [00:29:51] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like, you know, like. Yeah. So I think about, like, Prince and Ray Charles, and, like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, how do I do what they do? How do I create this? That's your delusion. That keeps you going. [00:30:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:03] Speaker A: And then you just be honest and truthful for your platform, and then people can grow to know who you are. And then. Yeah, that's. [00:30:09] Speaker B: You know, you gotta be crazy to want to do this. [00:30:11] Speaker A: That's right. You can't. [00:30:12] Speaker B: If you want to do, be a little messed up in the head. I want to be a singer. I want to be an artist. I want to be a songwriter. I want to be a producer. I want to be. [00:30:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Even your role, man, your role is full of risk. Yeah. Like, you're. You can't. If you want to be extraordinary, you can't take advice from ordinary people. [00:30:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:26] Speaker A: And when you try to do. When you take the first step into anything, the first. Your friends are gonna tell you you're crazy. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:33] Speaker A: My brother called me when I was quitting my job, and he said, you're an idiot. Just go to work and figure it out when you get off work. And I was like, I can't do that, dude. I can't. I have to do that. I have to take this jump. I had to leap off the ledge. Yeah. And I just. That's one of my biggest things in my act, is I want to empower people to do that, to try it, and it doesn't matter. You don't have to do this fancy music thing. It could just be like, I wanna cook. And you're just sitting there on your hands at your house and you're like, maybe one tomorrow I'll go get stuff at the grocery store and cook. But you know, and then, but that, that's a creative outlet, you know, like it's just, we just. You got to take the first step every time and you never know what happens. Like. [00:31:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:11] Speaker A: 20, 21. When I was leaving Tractor Supply Company, did you think in the next five years that I, you would ever thought that I would have a record deal, publisher deal, I work with Quavo, Neo, Luke, Bryan, all this, all that stuff. I had never imagined it. [00:31:25] Speaker B: You're recording at Fame Studio? [00:31:27] Speaker A: Yeah, recording for my own record. Recording on a record deal, you know, like, but I think it just goes back to the, you know, this, it's sweat equity, you know, like, you only get caught up in this business when you stop working and you start coasting, you know. And a lot of like, that's the, the goal in this business for those watching at home is to go like this, you know. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:47] Speaker A: And, and a lot of the times as in this business, there's so much this going on around you. There is, you know, so like if you're trying to do this the whole time, it's like you're on a kid's roller coaster, you know, and then in the meanwhile there's just like 46 switchback roller coaster happening around you and you're like, yeah, that looks kind of fun. But then in the meantime, you know, like you doing this for a long time, you're gonna get a lot further. [00:32:12] Speaker B: I want to go on the, what is it? The Wild Eagle at Dollywood. You know, I want to, I want to go on that. [00:32:17] Speaker A: I've got a crazy story about the [00:32:18] Speaker B: Wild Eagle Dollywood I've, I've rode. I'm not a huge roller coaster guy. I've got a lovely girlfriend. She's got an amazing soon to be 8 year old daughter. Oh, I learned how to be stepdaddy for. And she's great. And we took a trip to Dollywood for 4th of July last year, which was awesome. I'd never been before and she is so adventurous. I, I didn't grow up a huge roller coaster guy, but I went on every roller coaster at Dollywood multiple times with that little girl. Dude, we did, we did Wild Eagle in the front, Wild Eagle in the back and she's loving it. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Did you do a blazing fury the old one. I love that one, dude. [00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah, we did all the old. [00:32:50] Speaker A: He's about to jump off that house and he goes, she's got the little. They're like a caricature. She's got a little trampoline. He goes, now, you be careful now. I got a week back. I grew up going there all the time. [00:33:01] Speaker B: I was gonna say Dollywood has to be a huge party for you and your family, being East Tennessee folks. Oh, yeah. [00:33:06] Speaker A: The season pass costs as much as two tickets. So, like, you could get. And you can go to Food City and get some promo. [00:33:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:13] Speaker A: Where it's even cheaper. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Shout out food. [00:33:14] Speaker A: Yeah, shout out Food City, dude. So I was in. I was there all the time. And I. Funny story, though, but the Wild Eagle, and when it first opened, I think I was in school and I was. You know, I'm a big guy. I got a big shoulders, man. And sometimes those. Sometimes those roller coasters are not really kind of built for a guy of my stature. [00:33:33] Speaker B: So everybody thinks you're too small, though sometimes you might be too big. [00:33:37] Speaker A: Yes. [00:33:37] Speaker B: Big is just as much. Yeah, dude. [00:33:40] Speaker A: So, like, the Dollywood lines are never crazy long unless the ride is brand new. In this case, the ride was brand new. So it's crazy there, you know, And I get in this line, I wait for an hour and a half and then I get in. The line is crazy. It's like the. It's like buzzing. It's like the new ride, Dollywood. And Dollywood's not like Disney that throws something new up every five minutes. Like, it's pretty thought out. And the community of Dollywood loves to see something new, but they're gonna, you know, they gotta go check it out. [00:34:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:03] Speaker A: So I get to the ride, I sit down in the seat, and they push down those little shoulder clamps on me, and they don't snap. So then. So then at the first time, I'm like, all right, he's gonna push it a little harder, and then it's just going to make it. So then guy goes against a little. Little guy, you know, working a little kid. He tries to push it down again, and it doesn't snap. So then he gets his other little kid friend that's working now. Here, here. We're. We're. I'm stalling the whole thing up. There's a line. It's an hour and a half, and here's two kids just trying to, you know, jump on top of this damn harness, push it down. They couldn't get it, dude. And. And for Whatever reason, you know, like, that's. Whatever. I'm fine with that. You know, the, the embarrassing part was they didn't let me leave the. On the exit side. [00:34:47] Speaker B: Oh, so you had to walk past? [00:34:48] Speaker A: Yeah, because. Because there's probably some precaution when they run the roller coaster, because they. As soon as I got off, I was just laughing and joking. And then they let the roller coaster go. But then I guess because the roller coaster was going, I couldn't go out the exit one. So they made me walk through the line against the traffic and just all those people. Look, everybody in the face that just watched me not able to sit on this roller coaster, and they're like, walking shame. Everyone was like, I'm sorry, man. I was like, it's. It's all right, dude. You know, like, yeah, by the time I get to the end of the line, I got like, 50. I'm sorry. Like, I just did the, like. The worst thing in the world happened to me, and I started believing it. I was like, dang, dude, that does suck, you know? [00:35:26] Speaker B: But have you gotten to ride it? No, no, it's never been able to. [00:35:30] Speaker A: I know it's a. You know, it's kind of like. It's kind of like skydiving. I've always wanted to skydive, but you got to do tandem skydiving first, and you got to be below £250. [00:35:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:35:39] Speaker A: I haven't been below £250 since I eighth grade. You know, I don't know how I'm gonna get down there, man. [00:35:45] Speaker B: It'd be a fast dive. [00:35:48] Speaker A: It's right. It'd be quick. It's cost. Cost effective. Just try. Just come on, dude. Just go pick me up, drop me off. [00:35:53] Speaker B: Take a risk. God damn it. That'd be crazy, man. [00:35:58] Speaker A: Yeah, Dollywood's the best, man. [00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it, man. I'm hoping we get out there again, again this summer, man. [00:36:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:04] Speaker B: But talk about this project. What's the title? [00:36:06] Speaker A: Yeah, man, it's called High Times. [00:36:08] Speaker B: So High Times, the title track. [00:36:09] Speaker A: Title track of A.P. yes. It's Eight Song Guy. You know, I, I, I. When I went down there, I took a camera guy, camera crew. We did a little documentary, too. [00:36:19] Speaker B: I love that. [00:36:21] Speaker A: Spent a lot of time on it, man. I think. You know, a lot of time just me talking about the songs and what they mean to me. It's all the songs I wrote with people here. And it's all kind of around one relationship I had in the last year and a half, too. And it's really cool and rewarding that despite writing hundreds and hundreds of songs, the ones that permeate up to the top are the ones that are just like real stories that have happened. And that's kind of just the. The direction I think the. We got a. I really wanted to get after human made music. I wanted, you know, in the world of procedurally generated music, which I use and love. I think it's fun. It's a kitschy little. [00:36:59] Speaker B: There's a time and place for everything. [00:37:00] Speaker A: Yeah, it's fun. But like I wanted to make a record that was just. Just five dudes in a beat up old studio. That is the legendary studio fame. You know, in fame you walk out like. You're like. It's a picture of like, you know, all of Leonard Skynyrd or you know, Aretha Franklin at the door sitting, standing right there. And you walk out and there's just a CVS pharmacy right there. You know, like, it's just like. You're just like in the normal place. [00:37:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:23] Speaker A: And it's just so magical. And I think that it contributed a whole bunch to the music. I think we all in you as an artist. The only thing you can want in that scenario is buy in from the session musicians. Yeah. I mean we had got. We had Tom Bukavac playing electric, who's a legendary electric guitar player. Mark Hill on the bass, Chris McHugh on drums. Mark and Chris were Keith's backline for 15 year. Keith Urban. Wow. Gordon Mo on the piano, who's a phenomenal piano player. Organ player. Keys player. Stuart Duncan playing fiddle, who's my dad's fiddle player. Favorite fiddle player. [00:37:57] Speaker B: Dude. That's so cool. Yeah. Your dad's fit one of your dad's favorite musicians. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Yeah. My dad got to come up here and pick his brain too about fiddle questions. [00:38:04] Speaker B: That's so cool. Yeah. [00:38:06] Speaker A: That was more rewarding than about anything. I mean, I think one of my missions through all this is my family is so musical and they never did anything for themselves. They are always supporting others or for God or. And I was the guy that's like, ah, wait a minute, everybody needs to know about this. And I think whenever my perspective in this job left, I'm doing this for me and went to. I'm doing this for a bigger purpose than me. [00:38:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Then things started happening, you know? You know, and it's not like things weren't happening anyway. It was just. It lined up in my brain better. You know, as a. I'm very grateful to have morally sound parents that Made me, like, have semi good character and, you know, it just felt empty. If I did this whole thing for myself, the whole. My whole life, it was just like, here I am making songs, Woohoo. Who cares? You know, like, why is. What's the reason why, what's the purpose? And I found that in my family just because there's so much illustrious history in my family, which eventually I'm gonna do a documentary on that too. [00:39:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:10] Speaker A: Because you know, that that's just kind of what keeps me going. It's what wakes me up. [00:39:13] Speaker B: A lot of people don't know this. Bristol is the birthplace of country. [00:39:17] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. I mean, my great grandfather, when he was playing with the Carter Sisters, this is one of the reasons why I want to play the Opry. He was playing banjo for the Carter Sisters. And they're always apprehension, apprehensive to leave East Tennessee and come down here for no other reason other than the fact it was a getting down here. Like, it was. This is the 70s. Like, it's like it's not like this how it is today. Like, it's, you know, they're leaving the holler, you know, like it's dangerous. They're going out into the wilderness. Yeah, it's right. So they finally do. They get up and come down to. To the Opry. Then the Carter Sisters are playing the Opry, and my great grandfather's here to play banjo. And he gets up on the stage and he couldn't play because he wasn't a union card member. Oh. So then in back of my head, I was like, that's. I gotta. I gotta go play it. I gotta play it and I gotta talk about him. I gotta talk about my family. Because that's what that stage is, you know, the Opry is. It's stories like that. It's people that. Like my great grandfather that came from the middle of nowhere, they. They grinded up the elbow grease and started playing, picking good music and wsm. You got the opportunity to come down to Opry, play on the radio, you know what I'm saying? And he gets here and he can't come on stage. So I was like, all right, dude, I know what I got to do. I got to go on stage and tell his story and I think, do it for Grandpa and do it for him. And I never met him, but I'm named after that guy. [00:40:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:36] Speaker A: So, like, I was just like, oh, this is like, like simulation, you know, like, yeah, like I, like, I have no choice, you know, like Fast forward [00:40:42] Speaker B: all these years and Thomas Edwards will get on. [00:40:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. We had our meeting with the Opry people a month ago too. So it's, you know, cross our fingers it all works out, but yeah, dude, that's freaking awesome. [00:40:54] Speaker B: I want to talk about high times because I love this song. You put me. You put me in. In early release. Like, early release because it's Matt. Because it's like mastered, like ready to go. Right. So it's not quite demo jail, but. But you had sent that over to me when we had set up this podcast here, and it's such a great song. [00:41:10] Speaker A: Thanks, man. [00:41:10] Speaker B: Tell me the story about that. [00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah, so me and my buddy Jeff Garrison, I wrote with Jeff Garrison, Michael Whitworth, Love wit. [00:41:17] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know Jeff super well, but wits. [00:41:19] Speaker A: Oh, we were the man. He's a man. I love him so much. I just. We've sat down, you know, the day before we wrote this, I was in Electric field, my publisher and passed Jeff in the hallway and he just goes, I got one for us tomorrow. And I was like, all right, sweet. And then the next day we start writing it. Jeff and I were going through the same thing of a breakup. Like, it was like, we're just like, oh, woohoo. We could do. We're back to freedom. Woohoo. You know, freedom, when you're a 23 year old man sounds wonderful, but when you're 31 and you felt the loving touch of a woman. For real. [00:41:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:50] Speaker A: Then you're like, dang, it's gone. So the whole point of High Times is like, like, dang, I'm so excited to be a piece of shit again because it's inherently going to happen, you know, I'm going to go out and get drunk and. And think I'm having a good time, when all in all reality, the good time has left me, you know? And I think that's kind of this whole song. It was. And really this whole. The whole EP is just kind of like dealing with that, you know, like dealing with that. Kind of like, oh, here's all this freedom I have back, you know, like. But I don't. I just liked when someone took all my. I liked having somebody to call when I got out of a right and just be like, what are you doing? [00:42:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:27] Speaker A: Instead of just being like, well, I could do anything I want to, you know, so. So we wrote this song and Jeff. Jeff always had a verse of it done. And just the title too, and the kind of Melody to it. So, like, we just sat down and just kind of said the things that were happening. Like the, you know, line about, hey, I don't want to find another hair tie in my room. I don't want to. I need to take the sunset dinner out of the frame. Just a picture of, you know, us eating at sunset. I mean, it's all this stuff that's just. And also, I like that song too, because it kind of breaks the conventional rules of. Of how I write songs a lot. I mean, like, the chorus is down here and the verses are up here. [00:43:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I noticed that when you played at the local. [00:43:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just like, in your face in three seconds. And I think the. I think that was just cool. I just like that. I like. I like being able to yell at you within three seconds on the mic, you know? So, like, the. Yeah, I'm super stoked about it because it's kind of the pacesetter for the next little chapter of Thomas Edwards, the Thomas Edwards artist experience, you know, because I'm pretty happy. Go, lucky guy. And really, the only way I kind of cope with my sadness is by making. Making sad music. But it's not. I'm never gonna be the guy that's gonna beat it over your head and say, like, look. Look how sad I am. Yeah, that's why I had to, like. That's, like, for this one, when I did all these sad songs, I had to have something else to talk about. I was like, all right, we gotta do them somewhere cool. So the whole thing isn't like, look how sad I am. It's like, no, we did them. We did these sad songs in a cool place. [00:43:48] Speaker B: Incredible people playing on these sad songs. [00:43:50] Speaker A: Yeah, we cut a. I had two outside songs that I cut, and they're both. Or one of them is an Etta James song. [00:43:57] Speaker B: Wow. [00:43:57] Speaker A: And one of them's a Leonard Skynyrd song. Wow. So, no, they're just covers. So other than that, they're all songs I wrote. And I wanted to cut kind of the Spiel of Fame Studios, which Skynyrd song. I know a little. [00:44:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Okay. [00:44:10] Speaker A: So I had a. I had all these players down there, and they were playing all this sad for a week. And I was like, it's like a bunch of dogs on a leash trying to. You know. Yeah. Trying to run. And you're just like, stay right here. And then I was just like, all right, dude, let's play skater song. And then. And last day, we just kind of figured out which one we Wanted to. And we'd sang it and they played it and it was just. It's just rock solid, magical magic, dude. I mean, Skynyrd's so good. And that's just kind of an era of. That's a kind of a sound that. I was watching a clip yesterday of Joe Rogan and Marcus King talking about rock and roll music. [00:44:41] Speaker B: That was a great podcast. That's one of my favorite Rogans in recent years. Yeah. [00:44:45] Speaker A: Yeah. I just think it's. There's this huge void for this sound we all love, you know, And I think it's because of the defiant, like, stick it to the man nature. [00:44:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:44:53] Speaker A: Of all that music, like Lynyrd Skynyrd. They are. Their commercial success is plaster with a rebel flag. But their lyrics of their music are talking about. Have you ever been to the ghetto? I can't watch the news because I'm taking care of the people right here. Like, it's all these, like, forward, progressively lyrically cool rock and roll. Stick it to the man. [00:45:13] Speaker B: They just use the Southern symbol. We're from Duvall. [00:45:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Then they're just like, you're, you know, it's freebird, freebird, freebird, freebird, freebird. [00:45:23] Speaker B: That was back in the era of the Southern Democrats. [00:45:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:45:26] Speaker B: Different. It's a different time. And yeah, they were as much hippies. I've heard Artemis Kyle talk about that, where they were a bunch of hippies and it got changed over. Over time. [00:45:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I always say my mom's a hippie in disguise. Like, she. She's a Bible Belt Baptist woman. Sounds like she swallowed a banjo. But like, the parallels that she liked, even though, like, you know, not. Not my mom necessarily, but like, like in the. In that eye of a person, you know, like hippies bad. But like, they. They're just the same kind of thing, really. You know, they had the same. They. They love each other, love your neighbor kind of. Yeah. But, yeah, it's. It's a right. It's this weird little thing. It's kind of like Almond Brothers are the same way. It's like this is a country ass Southern hicks that are progressive thinkers and [00:46:09] Speaker B: little hippies that are wanting more for their community. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Oh, like, funny, funny. There's, you know, so I think I just wanted to get a taste of that back. And I think there is a little bit of. You know, the cool part of Leonard Skinner is that little bit of rebellion that you feel with them. And it's just rowdy, dude. You know, like. And I know little is a rowdy ass song. We had to get that one going. It was awesome, dude. [00:46:31] Speaker B: Yeah, dude. I want to talk about the night that we were fortunate enough to have you over at the local because what a. That was one of my favorite rounds of all time. I've gotten the host rounds now for coming up on eight years. Wow. And. And that was one of my favorite nights. So talk about being up there with Dalton Davis. [00:46:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:46:47] Speaker B: Casanova and the boys. [00:46:48] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. Dalton and Jake, man. They. Dalton Davis and Jake Hess, one of the first couple people that I kind of got in with as friends, just through a mutual friend here. And I love, you know, that we always joke about it because our trajectories kind of start. They always talk about finding your group of people here. And they're definitely in my group of people. You know, like, whenever any of us have any kind of remote success, we're texting each other in a group message saying, check this out, and cheering for each other. [00:47:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:16] Speaker A: Because nobody will cheer for your wins in this business unless you create an environment like that where it's positive and good. [00:47:22] Speaker B: Create a friendship. [00:47:23] Speaker A: That's right. You know, so. So playing with them is awesome, dude. It's just. There's Rowdy as I am and love drinking six beers on stage in an hour and a half. And anytime I could play, I've written a handful of songs with them. And, you know, Dalton's from western North Carolina, which is kind of just like the neighbor of where I'm from. Yeah. Yeah. And. And Jake's from Georgia. Columbus, Georgia. So. But also spent a lot of time in. In, like, the Chattanooga world area. Like the. So they're all. We're all in this little bubble, so we're kind of. We kind of get each other. And just a mutual friend just introduced to us. That wasn't even a music. And thank God for her. She. And she. Her name was Andy. Shout out to Andy. [00:48:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:01] Speaker A: But, yeah, it's just cool. And then that. That night was awesome to be able to play with everybody. And it was so rowdy, man. [00:48:07] Speaker B: Yeah. The local was. Was a vibe that night. It's. So Dalton is the only other podcast guest that I've had that has brought donuts to. [00:48:15] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, dude. [00:48:16] Speaker B: Dalton brought. Dalton brought donuts. You brought the little munchkins, bro. I love it. [00:48:21] Speaker A: You know, I don't really buy into that health that everybody's kind of. It's kind of pushed in her throat now. [00:48:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:26] Speaker A: Like, I'm so tired of people telling me they got in a cold tub. I don't give a. [00:48:29] Speaker B: Like, I've done it. That's one of the most viral. Viral moments that I've had with Ray's rowdy. Was. [00:48:36] Speaker A: Was. [00:48:36] Speaker B: I got in. I did a video with Gavin Adcock getting his cold tub because he. He brings in as part of his, like, rider. He has a giant ass cooler that he gets in to. I think it's to sober up after every show. Like, he does it in the morning. So I did it with him. And normally they're set at like 40 degrees. His was probably like 25. Like, it was just pure ice. And he made me just rip my shirt off and get in there. And he had me in the. For five minutes. Then I got up on stage to host. I couldn't feel my hands. But, yeah, I get what you're saying. Like, there's. It's being shoved down our throat. This holistic. Yeah. [00:49:11] Speaker A: I mean, dude, it's just. [00:49:12] Speaker B: It's. [00:49:13] Speaker A: It's just the same thing as like whenever the Atkins diet came out. Yeah. It's just like we think anything's different, dude. Like, go to Paris, France, nobody's fat and they don't go to workout classes. Like, it's like, it's just kind of the thing we proliferate here. [00:49:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:26] Speaker A: Like, you could just like go outside, be healthy and have a good time without like, like 10xing. Like, I need to wake up at 5am and get in a cold tub. Like, just chill the out. [00:49:34] Speaker B: Just. Just get up and just go for a run. And don't eat. And don't eat. Like a gang banger. [00:49:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. That's right. [00:49:39] Speaker B: Anything in moderation. [00:49:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. And it's just like now we've created. I don't know how I got this. Tangel. Get off. [00:49:43] Speaker B: You're good. You're good. [00:49:44] Speaker A: I just. We just created this world where everyone wants to talk to each other, how much they work out. Who gives a. Like, it's your responsibility to be a healthy person. I don't care. It's like I saw this on the Bert Kreischer talking to Zach Topp the other day. He's like, before the Internet, there was like 10 people that ran ultra marathon, like 100 mile marathons. Now I swear to God, I was like, oh, my God. I agree with this so much. I get on my damn phone every time there's somebody like, oh, mile 117 of a 200 mile race. Like, go to the house, dude. Like, you don't need to run that much. [00:50:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:13] Speaker A: What are you running from? [00:50:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like, good for that person, but everybody should be able to do what they want to do. [00:50:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's. I don't know, man. All my buddies are in these workout classes, classes here and. And girls and stuff, and they're always talking about them, and I'm just like, you know, I'm trying to act like I'm interested in it because I just feel left out, but I just not start thinking. [00:50:32] Speaker B: Nashville is also an interesting place in that we are very similar to. We've become like a. Like a Hollywood or like a New York City or like a Miami. I joke around with people where I'm like, bro, a hometown. Ten is like a Nashville. Four, like, people here, like, whether it's the cosmetic stuff or it's the fitness stuff, it's that vegan stuff. Like, people here just look different because that's the culture, you know, I. I want. [00:51:01] Speaker A: I want people to look like me here. [00:51:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:03] Speaker A: A little like, A little crazy. Like, is this guy homeless? You know? [00:51:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Because there's. There's also on with it being a creator city. There's a very fine line between brilliant and crazy. [00:51:13] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:51:14] Speaker B: Want people to tow that line. [00:51:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:16] Speaker B: I think of folks like yourself. I think of my buddies, Aaron Ray Tier, and, you know, I think of like. Like Jackson's one of those guys. [00:51:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:24] Speaker B: Where it's like he's. His wheels always going, always going. And he's brilliant. I love him for that, you know, and. And you can feel that when you. When you have a conversation with him, like, the wheels always going. And that, to me, is the essence of a creator hub, like Nashville is. You people are like, oh, you always talk so much chocolate. Well, no shit. I'm from New York. But also it's like, you got to be. You gotta. That passion. [00:51:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. And that's why it's the best. Like, the town of Nashville rocks. The city of Nashville. I can't. I don't. I'm not. Regret it. I don't like it that much. [00:51:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:52] Speaker A: I love the community of Nashville. I love going to Music Row. I love seeing five people I know walking into a door on Music Row. I love going to the same place as my friends. I hate that I have to pay for parking on the street. [00:52:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:05] Speaker A: I hate that I have to pay. List goes on and on. Like. But there's taxes going up the town, man. I think. And that's why I love you. And you're. What you do is because it promotes the town, it promotes the people. [00:52:20] Speaker B: It's about the scene. [00:52:21] Speaker A: Yes. [00:52:21] Speaker B: About the community. It's about folks popping up. Whether it's one of our events, whether it's a whiskey jam, whether it's grindhouse, whether throwback to like revival and Billy Block and like the history of. And that's what the Opry was back in. [00:52:35] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:52:35] Speaker B: It was. WSM was the scene, you know, and going to the Commodore and going to Belcourt Taps back in the day. [00:52:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:42] Speaker B: Having that community of songwriters to be with each other and create and then the band guys and getting together and jam, you know. Poppy Zeigle Hour, another great one. Yeah. [00:52:53] Speaker A: I think it takes a guy like yourself that's as passionate as a. As an organizer because a lot of times, you know, in the city they will. There'll be writers rounds in random places with not the support that you're giving your outfit. Like you. You are pouring yourself into this to make it a thing. [00:53:10] Speaker B: You know, I mean, we're a country music lifestyle brand and media company that specializes in events here in Nashville. We wouldn't have something to talk about on the blog. Gets to come on the podcast. People and music to talk about without you guys and girls in the trenches creating the. Yeah. You know, like. [00:53:25] Speaker A: And I think. But that's a great little tug of war. You know, you get the. [00:53:28] Speaker B: No songwriters, no songs, songs, no band guys, no musicians, no music, no producers, no music. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Like for sure. [00:53:34] Speaker B: No. No industry people, no publisher, no agent, no manager, no business manager, no attorney, no entertainment attorney. Like there's none of it. It's an ecosystem. Yeah. [00:53:44] Speaker A: It's right. And I love. I think that's the coolest shit is. Is I've always thought that there's this veil of secrecy of this business and we lift it when it's convenient and we put it down when it's convenient. But I think it's cool to see under the hood all the time because. Because then it exposes what the magic is. Like, are you relying on some post production magic? Are you relying on things that are not contingent from Thomas Edwards? For example, like for me, I'm just like, fuck, drop me off of Fame Studios, leave me there for five days with some people playing music. And on this ep, like half of the songs are the vocal takes from Muscle Shoals. Because wanted to capture that human driven moment. [00:54:24] Speaker B: That's what that project was. Now know the next project could be something different. [00:54:27] Speaker A: That's right. [00:54:27] Speaker B: As A creator, you can do what [00:54:29] Speaker A: the hell you want to do for sure. And that's why, like that, that Vavo song and, and you know, my act of defiance when I was 16 years old when I got a car was to get two 12 inch Kenwood subwoofers and listen to Skrillex while I'm inside my parents. Yeah, scary monsters. And I was banging that in my car. Meanwhile, did I less. Little did I know, inside of my house my parents are playing the most beautiful music that now I want every second of be able to hear it. [00:54:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:57] Speaker A: But like there's a little piece of me that my music journey was like riding around in a busted up car with subwoofers shaking my whole neighborhood listening to dubstep. So I think the best thing about music is it's a medium to express yourself. So like I get now I get to this point where, you know, growing up, Ray Charles is an idol, you know, Prince is an idol. Random things, you know, and then, and you know, you get to go do that kind of sound and fame, you know, with that world. And then also at the same time, I got people in China doing dances to my Vavo song that people send me videos to all the time. And it's crazy, man. It's just, it's, I think the, it's, it's. I'm just so grateful to be here and doing it, but it's just like I'm just hungry to keep going, man. I think, I think living a musical life is what I sought out to do and, and, and do it for on my own accord. And we made it this far, man. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Talk about how great it is to have a team that lets you be Thomas Edwards. They let you like you're a one of a kind individual. And I love you for it and this town and this scene loves you for it. But to have the team that you have with Electric Field, with Warner, with the guys and girls that are in your corner. [00:56:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:06] Speaker B: Talk about how important it is to have that man. [00:56:08] Speaker A: It's, it is your team is who you are. I mean, I think from the very beginning I made it very clear that we're going to be doing things the way that I want to be doing things. And coincidentally, that's not like some crazy hard task. It's just treating other people correctly and right and, and not taking shortcuts on behalf of another person, not stepping on other people. Like, I'll go broke in this business before people disrespect me as a person and know that I'M going to. Or think that I'm disrespectful. Let me rephrase that. You know, like, so, like, yeah, my manager, he was a friend of my mom's. He's just a real estate agent in town. And I met with him and he was just like, I don't know what to do, man. I was like, neither do I, but I know I can trust you. And I was like, I know I could. Every single day I'm gonna lay down my head and you're not gonna have anyone interested in your except for me, you know? So started working with him, and then we got to a point where I was like, all right, there's a bunch of just random knowledge in this business that no one really writes down. You just kind of got to know somebody. So then we're like, we got to partner with somebody. So then we partnered. Long story short, we partnered with Cappy at Make Wake, so. [00:57:14] Speaker B: So now you have Rush Shout out Cappy. [00:57:16] Speaker A: Cappy's the man we love. [00:57:17] Speaker B: We love Cappy. And the Makeway team. [00:57:19] Speaker A: Yeah, they're great. [00:57:20] Speaker B: Very close with those because Kurt Ozon and Luke's band. [00:57:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:23] Speaker B: Co hosts the podcast with Nick, the Race Rowdy podcast. [00:57:26] Speaker A: Oh, gotcha. [00:57:26] Speaker B: So Kurt and the Makeway team has been very close in our world. [00:57:30] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. It's just they're. They reminded me a lot of. Of kind of like Rusty and me kind of remind me of Cappy and Luke when they started. Like, happy. Cappy tangentially knew about this business. He was in the cruise ship business or something. So it was just very similar, this situation. I was just like, we need someone that can just help us at the top. Because at this point, me and Rusty rub sticks together and caught on fire to get a record deal. [00:57:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:52] Speaker A: Like, with no Tick Tock anything. [00:57:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:55] Speaker A: And in this environment where people looked at me like I was doing something wrong when I got a record deal because my Tick Tocks weren't viral. [00:58:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:03] Speaker A: And I was like, yeah, wait a minute. You just kind of. You kind of took the medicine here. It kind of doesn't work that way. It's kind of like if you have something to say, if you're an artist that wants to be developed and grow into this community, like, that's the people that you know. That's. If you have. If you can sell yourself to these people and articulate your business plan and where you see yourself going, then they're going to jump all over it. And I think that's, you know, if people watching that are in this, you know, limbo state before a publishing deal or a record deal, the biggest advice I could give is never let anybody see your poems. Never let anybody see you do this. Like, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what the merch should be. I don't know what we should charge for a ticket. I don't know what we should put on a hat. Just make something up. And then if you. If it changes and it changes, it's. It's. It's planned. You plan. If you. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So if you go in there and you just start going, I don't know what's going on. Why do you think someone's gonna cut you a check to do something if you. If you just blatantly tell them you don't know. [00:58:58] Speaker B: I'm just here to make music that's not a business. [00:59:00] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. And I think that's what my manager helped me realize is like, I live in sunshine, flower, hippie world. I love laying around grass and eating berries and. And playing. Playing music and hanging out with hot girls. Like, that's pretty fundamental, primal instinct of mine. And I. And I think I needed a manager that had this business mindset. [00:59:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:21] Speaker A: And coming from real estate, he was just able to kind of not think of the frills of this business and just run it like a business and help me articulate it like that. But manager is so important. They just got to be trust. Like, don't. You can't fall for anybody's little trap that they know the sauce. You know, the sauce changes every week. It's like the. It's like Wendy's chicken nuggets. Like, they got some crazy sauce, seasonal sauces, but they change every two weeks. Dude. Nobody knows what they're doing. You got to know what you're doing, you know? And I think. Think, you know, it starts with your manager, dude. But my. I love my whole team, man. I got. Just started working with Jacob Lapidus at caa. [00:59:55] Speaker B: Jacob's a great dude. Yeah, man. He was. He was one of the guys that had reached out, was like, you gotta get Thomas on. Yeah, man, we gotta get him. [01:00:03] Speaker A: Yeah. I love the people I was friends with. It just goes back to being in this town. Like, I was friends with him for years. [01:00:08] Speaker B: Elite red door hang, by the way. Yeah, yeah. With Jacob in midtown. You're gonna have. You're gonna have a good time. [01:00:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And we. I went to Key west with him a couple years ago for the songwriter festival. And, you know, but just your team as your. As your mission as an artist becomes more visible and you know it more, then you're able to fill the spaces of what you need as a team. And it changes. It's malleable, you know, like, there's not. This business changes. Your music changes. I mean, like, tomorrow I can make an R B record. You know, like. Yeah, that's how I feel too, is like, I'm going to do that. I'm gonna make. I'm gonna make a bluegrass record. I've already got a Christmas record started where I'm going to sing every Christmas song. Song, Everyone. Yeah, so like everyone that's like, noteworthy. It's gonna be like 55 songs. [01:00:49] Speaker B: I want Dominic the donkey cowbell or something like wolf. [01:00:53] Speaker A: Yeah, you just gotta. You just gotta send the ones you want to hear. I swear, I was like, I was joking with Warner. I was like, I'm doing a Christmas record. It's gonna cost $500,000 just to get snow everywhere I'm at. And then once we get snow inside of the studios and all the tarps laid down so the water doesn't mess anything up, then we'll start discussing how much the music is gonna cost. [01:01:13] Speaker B: You're like, I need the vibe. [01:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, and I think now I'm kind of just giving advice about this, but I think it's very important. I think. I mean, I got a music video coming out that's an animated music video and it's about my song called a frog. And it's just about what. How life would be a lot better if I was a frog. [01:01:30] Speaker B: You played that at the local. Yeah, my favorites. [01:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's great one. So the music video starts with me getting out of my car on a busy interstate gridlock traffic, and I just walk into a pond, and as I go full underwater, the whole thing turns animated. Yes. Yeah. So we get, you know, it's all. It's about getting lines in the water, man. I think, you know, we get really hyper fixated as creatives about will people like something? And you can guess what. That never goes away. But the. You can forget about it more if you put more lines in the water, you know, like, so, like right now I can worry about will people like the animated video or they like my record or they like the documentary. And then there's also. When there's so much out there like that, you go, it doesn't really matter as long as I like it. It's true. Yeah, that's right. So, like, that's only through doing a bunch of random stuff like that do you realize you like the process of creating? And I think that's the stark difference between a lot of people, like artists and song singers. We've platformed a lot of song singers these days that once you kind of pull the songs back that they can really sing well, they don't have anything to say. Yeah. And. And I think that's the. The difference is like, do you. Do you want to live a creative life where you're creating? Are you. [01:02:46] Speaker B: Are you an artist, are you a singer, are you a songwriter, or are you a musician? Yeah, those are the four things. And there's people that are great. I mean, you look back at like. Like Garth Brooks wasn't a what. What he would. He's called an artist, but a lot of it was. He was a singer. Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, and I love all those. Yes, I grew up on that. It. But it's like they are. Are singers, they are performers. And by doing that, it feeds the ecosystem of the studio musicians and the songwriters. You know, without George Strait, who knows if we have Dean Dillon as this weird guy, you know, they work. They work together in ecosystem. [01:03:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:03:21] Speaker B: And I get what you're saying, where there's a difference between artists and singers. [01:03:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think. I think we're. This is where I say the veil of music comes up sometimes. I feel like we're telling lies. A lot of the times that people are either artists or singers and they can kind of confuse the listener, that they're one or the other. You know what I'm saying? I think for me, the whole time I knew I was going to be an artist. I knew that I was just going to be the crazy guy with crazy ideas singing, you know, And I think that clarity for me has helped me, and I think that can help other people is just like, it's. They're both great roles, you know, but, like, if you want to be the artist guy that's kind of pushing the limits all the time, having the conversations, like my conversation for the remainder of my career are going to be convincing people that think I'm crazy that an idea is going to be worth their money. And if that's not how you want to spend the rest of your career, you probably might want to sing songs, [01:04:13] Speaker B: you know, I want to just sing and entertain. [01:04:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Because it's about. Art, is about pushing the boundaries, you know, and. And when you, and if you don't push the boundaries, then you're kind of not doing your job, you know. And I think that's what I always want to do is I want to take the, the ways that I learned this, the world of music, push the boundaries, ask the questions, have opinions, talk about it. You know, then that's the whole artistry thing is, you know, an artist is an orator too. A person that can speak and articulate their opinions and, and help other people with them. [01:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:44] Speaker A: You know, some, some people use their powers for evil, you know, but like that's that charisma, that influence that artists should have, you know, that should also be a driver to like. Like, it's just like for me, all I want to do is tell people you can do it. Just find that thing you want to do and just start working at it. I promise. The hardest thing is just doing the first step of it, you know, and that's when all the. I always say when all the music goes away, I'm practically Tony Robbins, dude. Like, I'm a motivational speaker because I just feel like you can do anything. I've done the things that somebody's kid to someone listening to this has two boys and one of them wants to be a rock star and one of them wants to play football. Well, guess what? I've gotten to the point where I've gotten the opportunity to do both. And there's no secret except for hard work. Like there's. We'll mystify it, we'll make it look like it's unreachable. It'll be promoted to you. Like it's unreachable. It's. They're going to show you pictures of football players that are 6 foot 8, 385 pounds and say, look at this freakin nature. And then meanwhile a kid that's 6 foot 3, 275 just beat him out because he worked out every day. [01:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:48] Speaker A: You know, like, and I think that's the whole thing. It's like it, it doesn't matter how shiny the goal is. Like if you work for it and don't lie to yourself, you can do it. [01:05:57] Speaker B: You can't coach hustle and you can't coach desire. [01:05:59] Speaker A: That's right. [01:06:00] Speaker B: You have desire and hustle. You're gonna, you're gonna do it. You're gonna do it, you know, man, and that's like with, with raise reality to be fully transparent with you. It's like Nick and I for a long time were, I mean, we still Are, like, not quite financially where we want to be. [01:06:13] Speaker A: But yeah, I'm loving every second of [01:06:16] Speaker B: what I'm doing because my desire is I want to create something cool and give back to this community and show people music that we don't. That we don't think is being heard enough. [01:06:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [01:06:25] Speaker B: Artists and musicians and bands. A platform. [01:06:27] Speaker A: Yeah. If you open yourself up like that, if you're. It starts. That's. It sounds like you're already on the right track. The first thing is just to stop putting the horse blinders on. You know, live in this world of abundance. [01:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:41] Speaker A: Like. Like, if you have a lofty goal, it should look crazy and it should. You should always think in the back, your mind delusionally, like, oh, it'll come to me when I need to. When I need it, you know, it's gonna come. I just gotta keep working. I gotta. I love it. I love it. And as long as you know that you're doing that work and you're not lying to yourself, like, it's gonna happen, you know, like, the only way to quit, only to lose, is to quit. And that's what I always say. It's just like this. This town is a great microcosm of the world. In a very quick, short amount of time, you can learn. You can learn that and feel, hey, nobody cares about what I'm doing. And then that. You turn that in your head to, hey, nobody cares about what I'm doing. [01:07:21] Speaker B: You know, Like, I never thought about it. Yeah, Right. [01:07:25] Speaker A: So then that. That moment is where you start kneading the clay and you start making something that no one knows that's coming because they don't care about what's coming. And then eventually they'll care about it. But that's only this much time anyway, bro. [01:07:39] Speaker B: And I gotta tell a wild story. So we got. I still haven't hung it up yet. I've had that thing for, like, two years. [01:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:44] Speaker B: That's probably the one and only platinum plaque that I will ever have. And it's from my buddy Trey Lewis for a song called Dick down and Down. [01:07:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:50] Speaker B: And the story of that moment, of that song was during Coven. We were sitting around a fire, and three of our buddies, Matt McKinney, Brent Gafford, and Drew Truscular. I know you know, Drew, well wrote that song, and none of them were gonna put it out. None of them were really doing the artist thing at the time. And Trey was like, like, well, you know what? I've been doing music for 10 years nobody's ever given a. [01:08:08] Speaker A: That's right. [01:08:08] Speaker B: Put this out and I'll start posting about this and look at what it did, you know, nobody cares what I'm doing. Nobody cares what I'm doing. [01:08:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it's right. [01:08:17] Speaker B: Let's take some chances. You know, like let's, let's just do it. You have the, like you said, the world of abundance. You can do whatever you want in this world. [01:08:25] Speaker A: That's right. [01:08:26] Speaker B: So much reach to do whatever. [01:08:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:29] Speaker B: Like it's so free. We live in such a great country where you can do whatever you want. [01:08:33] Speaker A: That's right. [01:08:33] Speaker B: You know, any given day, I mean [01:08:35] Speaker A: every, every negative thing that people will say to me about the rules world, well, don't bring a kid in this world. You know, like, it's just the wrong mindset. You know, like people go like, well, kids are just on iPads all day old. That's all they do. Well, guess what? There's a poor kid that's got a 37 Walmart tablet that just figured out on YouTube that you can figure out how to play every song on piano. And he's obsessed with piano and he's got a little shitty Casio $75 piano and he's sitting there learning how to play every song on this tiny little screen. And his parents don't give a about it, but he does. And now he has access to the entire world's knowledge of how to play piano. [01:09:12] Speaker B: And that kid could change. [01:09:13] Speaker A: And that kid could change music. [01:09:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:15] Speaker A: Like that is the tool that the world that we have at our disposals and we sit here and complain about how you can look up how to do anything on YouTube. You can look up how to change the oil in my car blindly unfolded right now on YouTube. And if a kid gets this much of direction and it's like you can learn how to do stuff if you just practice and you take a little guidance. And then they take that 37 Walmart tablet. Watch that piano video, dude. That's the next Ray Charles. Given that, I'm not wishing him to go blind, but you know, but like that's the. [01:09:48] Speaker B: But that's the next extraordinary human. [01:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. The tools that we're having have, we have are phenomenal. It's just about, you know, you can't be wait on the world to change. You just have to, you have to have the mindset of, no, let's just use these things for good. Yeah, man. [01:10:04] Speaker B: I mean, I think back to I'm a being from New York. I'm A huge lover of like 80s 90s, like New York era hip hop and rap. [01:10:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:10:11] Speaker B: And it's like that when they got there, when the folks in that era got their hands on those. On those digital. On those mixers, those analog. [01:10:18] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. [01:10:19] Speaker B: And we're going to those record meetups and they created so much cool stuff out of this technology. And they were living in the project. [01:10:25] Speaker A: Yes. [01:10:26] Speaker B: And they were saving up all their money and records and making samples and they changed the world. [01:10:30] Speaker A: Guess what they were talking about? Just. Just how broke they were and how hard they were hustling and just real. Like there was no. There's no. No fanfares. It was just like. Like, I'm a tough dude from wherever. Like, I'm from Queen, you know? Like, it's. It was just like tough. [01:10:44] Speaker B: I'm from Queensbridge. [01:10:45] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. That's. That's right. Like, dude, Nas is so good. I mean, lyrically, he's one of Maddox, [01:10:50] Speaker B: one of my favorite records. [01:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah. What's. He has that one song. It's like from the perspective of a gun or something like that. I can't remember what it is, but it's just like the whole thing is written like he's a gun rapping. [01:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:00] Speaker A: And it's like so daunting and hu. It's just like poetry, dude. And it's. It's forged from the human experience. And you. You give him a sample machine and access to a record store. See you later. [01:11:12] Speaker B: And I bet there were a lot of people saying he was wasting his time, what he was doing. And people saying, oh, that technology, that's not real music. Whatever. And that changed and forged the way for where we're at. You think about bands from that era too, like Rage against the Machine. People probably thought they were crazy. [01:11:28] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's Pink Floyd. Yeah. Every one of them. Like, it's the cultural zeitgeist. Musicians are. They don't. People don't get them at first. Like, it's because they're challenging that normal sound that you hear in your ears. [01:11:43] Speaker B: You know Sheeran Lupus playing in front of stadiums. Just him on stage with a couple pedal boards. [01:11:48] Speaker A: I saw him. I saw him. I think it was either Bridgestone or Nissan. I can't remember. I don't remember past about two months of my life, really. But it was insane. It was him and four, like huge video boards behind him. That was just him four times. [01:12:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:03] Speaker A: And he was just playing him and a guitar and that much control. Over 60,000 people or how many people it is. [01:12:08] Speaker B: And he's just looping. [01:12:09] Speaker A: He's just looping it up. Like, it's just there. It. There's no rules of music, you know? Like, I think that's the. I always talk about the spongebob episode when they go to the future. [01:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:17] Speaker A: And it's a great one. The first. First season of spongebob is art. [01:12:21] Speaker B: Oh, it's one of the best. [01:12:22] Speaker A: It's so good. [01:12:22] Speaker B: I mean. And that changed that world. [01:12:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. You know, and. But they go to the future, and it's just like a bunch of random assortments of beeps and boops as the music. And I was like, that's kind of right. Because music is becoming so predictable that eventually the only thing that's going to be new is just complete, unpredictable randomness. So, like, that's why, like, you ever just, like, see a song go crazy viral, but it's just, like, nonsense, Angie. [01:12:48] Speaker B: And do. Do poutine. [01:12:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Unpredictable. That's right. That's a perfect example. [01:12:53] Speaker B: Intricate, like Jad's playing. But it's so unpredictable. The guy's got a bass, a guitar. [01:12:58] Speaker A: He's got the double frets where it's [01:12:59] Speaker B: like, he's got the big nose. Coming to Brooklyn Bowl. I'm trying to get. [01:13:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Like. [01:13:04] Speaker B: Like, I want to go and experience. [01:13:06] Speaker A: Do you see the uproar that that causes? Yeah. I mean, maybe it's in our own. Maybe because we're music people. [01:13:11] Speaker B: They're, like, singing in some weird alien language. Like, you don't even know what they're saying. [01:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [01:13:16] Speaker B: And the world is captivating. [01:13:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [01:13:18] Speaker B: So it's already starting the beats, and the poops are. [01:13:20] Speaker A: That's right. [01:13:20] Speaker B: People say the Simpsons predict the future. Spongebob. [01:13:23] Speaker A: Yeah, it's right. It's right there, dude. I think it's. But I think in this world of predictable music, like, what's the only thing that's unpredictable in this world? It's the human brain, you know, like. Like, just. Just. Just everything else. Like, I could just go. I could think of anything right now. [01:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:38] Speaker A: You know, in my head, I'm thinking of 12 things right now. Like, that's. That is the magic that you got to translate to the music, you know, instead of, you don't want to meet something that's already happened at the creek, you know, just make your own creek. [01:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah. The world is your oyster. [01:13:53] Speaker A: That's right. [01:13:53] Speaker B: Go and do they, man. So what are the big goals for this year? I know we got high times coming out. Yeah. [01:13:58] Speaker A: I got a bunch of other songs that coming out from other artists, too. I love writing music, and I have so many songs that I got two Darius Rucker songs, bro. [01:14:06] Speaker B: That's huge. [01:14:07] Speaker A: Congratulations. Thanks, man. I gotta. You know, if holds were gold, I'd grow old rich. But I got a bunch of different random holds from artists, too. Miranda Lambert one. [01:14:17] Speaker B: Wow. [01:14:18] Speaker A: I'll send you that one. It's crazy. The best song I ever made. [01:14:20] Speaker B: Wow. [01:14:21] Speaker A: It's called Something's Gonna Get Me. The first line is like, they got me hooked on nicotine, caffeine, methamphetamine, red meat diet tea, benzodiazepines, ranch from the Dairy Queen. Just a list of all this that we're all just accustomed to. It's great. It's a real. It's a good little, like, fun hoedown. Would you write that with Troy Cartwright and David Messi? [01:14:40] Speaker B: Oh, that's a great room. [01:14:41] Speaker A: And Ross Ellis, too. [01:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And Ross. I had Troy on this podcast. I love what he's doing. [01:14:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [01:14:46] Speaker B: Troy's become a homie. [01:14:48] Speaker A: I'll text Troy and go, hey, dude, I'm 4.7 years in. Just. I can't wait to see you in 5.3 years. He never responds. So, Troy, if you see this and you have a. [01:15:00] Speaker B: You have a big artist, like a generational talent like Miranda Lambert putting a song like that on hold, and it's so unconventional talking about all those things. [01:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah. In the first. First eight, ten words, there's benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, ranch from the Dairy Queen. [01:15:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:17] Speaker A: You know, like. Like, and it just goes back to art. Like, Miranda Lambert is an artist. And that's the cool thing about this business, though, is, like, there's so many styles of acts. [01:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:25] Speaker A: Like, you can write stupid songs like that that are crazy. Like, challenge. What's going On Song. [01:15:30] Speaker B: I think of the Armadillo song that she. [01:15:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:15:33] Speaker B: Aaron Raytier, John D. Armadillo with the doobie. Yeah. Yeah. [01:15:37] Speaker A: Dude. It's like, I think that's the beauty of this town is, like, you can get. You can get a David Mescon Berkeley grad in room with a South Georgia redneck that doesn't know one thing about music theory. And they could just spit out this. Not even this. This is a random scenario. [01:15:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, there's so many. [01:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah. But, like, that's just kind of the beauty of this is, like, the through line is just music. Some Redneck dude that all he knows is the actual living life of the country song. [01:16:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:04] Speaker A: Comes to me with a guy like. Like Messi Berkeley grad that's probably never hunted unless someone drove him out to go hunting. [01:16:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:11] Speaker A: And then they'd make the craziest country song ever, you know, like. Yeah, it's awesome. I think it's a cool. It's a cool way that two paths would cross that never would have happened. [01:16:20] Speaker B: No, dude. Like, there's. So that's what I love. Like, I grew up in suburban New York. I had a great upbringing. I went to college in New Jersey. And then I took a leap and made the move down here knowing a few people and whatever. But my pads, like Alabama feels like home now because I've toured through there so much. I've worked with. With the Muscadine Bloodline guys and I've worked with Trey Lewis. Like, you get so much better perspective of the world being in an industry like this because you cross paths with people that you otherwise would have never in a million years met. [01:16:48] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. I mean, last year we played a bunch of festivals. We played Carolina country and Myrtle Beach. [01:16:53] Speaker B: Oh, I love Myrtle Beach. Is a vibe. Dude. [01:16:56] Speaker A: It's sick. We played for 12, like 12, 000 people. Like, where our. It's all like the slot. The festivals are hilarious. [01:17:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:17:02] Speaker A: That just depends on not where your slot is. You can get lucky, you know? [01:17:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:17:05] Speaker A: Got new artists like me. Like, there's. I mean, maybe there'll be a handful of people that want to catch me there, but it's an exploratory discovery platform. [01:17:12] Speaker B: That's what I love about festivals. [01:17:13] Speaker A: It's great, you know, but like, you got. One week I was playing there for 12,000 people, and then three weeks later at Watershed at the Gorge in Washington state, there was 15 people in the crowd because that was the second day, first slot. You know, people recovered that first night. I played early and I eventually. And that said, I was just like. Like asking people their names, you know? [01:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that was crowd work. [01:17:34] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. You know, so, like, it was. It's just so cool, man. The opportunities change in this business, and you just got to control what you can control and just gotta get out there and play your music and do whatever you need. [01:17:45] Speaker B: How do shows look for this year? You. [01:17:47] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're working on that right now. We're trying to. I can't dox who. I'm. We're trying to get on tour somebody. But, you know, I wanted the. I kind of Want to go. I've been really leaning towards trying to get on an older act and. And open up for them instead of, like, trying to, you know, combine in a new act world, you know, I. I just kind of. I. You know, my dream. I would love to open for Darius Rucker. I feel like the environment that he creates is just. No, everyone's there just to have a good time. Sitting a lawn chair. Like, listen to Darius. [01:18:20] Speaker B: Something special about going out with an og. [01:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, especially, like, learning the road, because that's when the thing I have not cut my teeth. And I've played a handful of shows, but, like, not nearly as many as I need to, you know, as far as, like, go back to the football thing about, like, really doing the reps. And the number one thing I need now is just reps with my band and playing those shows and play. Figuring out the songs that make sense to play live a bunch and. [01:18:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, you ever want to come play at Odies, you're welcome on. Yeah, you're welcome on a Razor Audi stage anytime you want. [01:18:50] Speaker A: Bubba Olapitas. Is he. He's cooking something up. [01:18:52] Speaker B: That's great, man. Yeah, we got. I got to do a tour with Kid Rock with Craig. Oh, that's awesome. With Uncle. Uncle Bob, with Bobby. And that was again, something like, I had sold merch for the Muscadine guys, and we did the club thing with the Sprinter van and did some shows with like, Co Wetzel and Brantley, but nothing like, too extensive, but a summer with Kid Rock. I learned. I learned the ropes. [01:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [01:19:14] Speaker B: You're talking about with a guy like Darius. [01:19:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And also, like, I'm sure, like, Kid Kid rocks like the guys in his team. He probably has, like, two dudes that are just like, have been on his team for 50 years. [01:19:24] Speaker B: The band that he has, I believe. And someone can comment and correct me if I'm wrong. I believe. With the exception of Uncle Cracker on the DJ thing and Joe Ceno, who's no longer with us. I think it's the same band that he had at Woodstock 99. [01:19:38] Speaker A: Wow. [01:19:38] Speaker B: Like, it's still the same guitar players, drummer Stacy still back there. The bad from the leader of the Brown Trucker Band. Like, they. [01:19:48] Speaker A: What was the lil. What was his name? [01:19:50] Speaker B: Joe C. Jo. [01:19:50] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. [01:19:52] Speaker B: I'm the K.O. that dude is awesome guy. [01:19:57] Speaker A: I wish I could be alive to go watch that. [01:20:00] Speaker B: Call me sick. 3 foot 9 and the whole crowd scream. Yeah. And Bob still plays that live because we're doing all those Rock the countries this year. So I just got to see him in Texas and we got Georgia coming up in two weeks. And it used to be that he would play the video of Josie performing that@woodstock99. Now it's like an AI generated Joe C. On the screen. And it's like this AI Joe on the screen just rapping his parts. And Bob goes, give it up for Joe C. And it just goes into it and the band just keeps playing. [01:20:33] Speaker A: What a time to be alive, dude. [01:20:36] Speaker B: And you see everybody in Texas, just everybody at the crowd still screams. [01:20:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's so. That's. Dude, the. That's so funny. [01:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah, he's wild. [01:20:44] Speaker A: They need to give him that Tupac hologram tech, you know? [01:20:46] Speaker B: I know, I know. If we had a hologram Joey C. Up there, bro, that'd be so lit. He comes out and like an American flag pimp outfit. That would be so good. So cool, man. Yeah, I love going back. Watching those old, like, old concert videos are one of my favorite things to [01:21:04] Speaker A: look up on YouTube, dude. Absolutely. And just seeing the like my. That's like my go to, dude. Like Iris in the Rain Goo Dolls. [01:21:13] Speaker B: So iconic. [01:21:13] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. And just the crowd is just like. You could just tell that. I bet everybody is in that crowd still talks about that show. [01:21:19] Speaker B: Nobody had a phone. [01:21:20] Speaker A: No phones, dude. It's just. They're just like. Like girls are just looking like looking in like the saddest faces, just looking at the. But they're just like moving around. It's like. It's like they want to cry, but they love it, you know? [01:21:31] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Yeah. My. I had a cousin that went to Woodstock 94, which was the muddy one. And then I had. My uncle Matt was going to school at Cornell at the time and him and his frat brothers went to Woodstock 99. And he said it was the wildest weekend of his life. [01:21:44] Speaker A: Oh, man. [01:21:45] Speaker B: He still. He still has stories about that they nerfed it, man. [01:21:48] Speaker A: They won't let us have festivals like that no more. [01:21:51] Speaker B: Europe still has them like vodka rocking and download and all those big like rock festivals and stuff, man. But I love. And what I loved about the Woodstock thing was that it was the all genre, you know. Yeah. So I want to go back to Bonru because that's on my bucket list to go to. [01:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:22:05] Speaker B: What is it like going. [01:22:06] Speaker A: I've only been there once. I've been. I've been, you know, growing up in Tennessee as a Tennessee Bonnaroo is like the super bowl for like a year in high School. And like you smoke a little weed behind your parents house at night. It's like, dude, we're going to Bonner. [01:22:19] Speaker B: Who played the year that you went? [01:22:21] Speaker A: I got. I went because Post Malone was playing and he's at Electric Field, so we got a bunch of extra passes. But that was just. I. It was just. I was seeing. I kind of ventured away from everybody [01:22:32] Speaker B: and I go in the woods. [01:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah, you went in the woods. [01:22:35] Speaker B: I hear the woods are where it's at. Overnight sets in the woods here are like. You're in a different world, dude. [01:22:43] Speaker A: It's like the. The loudest bass you've ever heard ever. Just constantly. And then you look around, people are somehow asleep in hammocks. They're probably not asleep. They're probably just tripping. Yeah, in these hammocks. And they're just like. And I was just like alone. I was like wandering through, just kind of checking everything out. [01:22:58] Speaker B: It's like you're the kid in Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah, just right through the wardrobe. Yeah. [01:23:01] Speaker A: That's like minotaurs everywhere. You know, Mr. Tumnus runs out. But people look like that there too. So, I mean, like, it probably was Crime Chronicles in Aria, I've heard. But just imagine back to that quaver thing. It was. I was up all night. I went to bed at 6am Just from staying up all night. And we had artist guest passes, but it's still just behind the main stage. But you're still camping in a tent. And it's June and it's so hot. Like it's at 7am it is 90 degrees. [01:23:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:23:29] Speaker A: We. [01:23:29] Speaker B: We tend camp for some of the festivals we go to. And those are in July. So I've 10 I festival 10July. [01:23:34] Speaker A: You just have to just bask in the misery of it, you know? So I go to bed at 6am I get a call at 9am and that is, hey, Quavo is in town. Can you write with them today? And this is after I'd spent all night long in the woods in the Chronicles of Narnia woods. And. Oh, and I didn't even drive down to Bonnaroos. Like, I hear, hear. I wake up. No, everybody in my camp is like half awake. You know, it's nine in the morning. I'm like, what am I about to do, dude? Like, I'm a shell of a human and I've slept for two hours on the ground. I woke up in a microwave in this tent. I went to the cooler, got a [01:24:09] Speaker B: Coors light, cracked her open. [01:24:11] Speaker A: Cracked her open, went into Bonnaroo, watched the Teske brothers. And then I was like, I gotta figure out a way to get outta here. So I found a girl to give me a ride home. And then I went home and I was in the studio with Quavo from 5pm to 5am all night long. We wrote three or four songs, including that Georgia Way song that came out. [01:24:30] Speaker B: Holy. [01:24:31] Speaker A: And then we did it again Sunday night. So I was. I went from getting no sleep for one night to staying up all night to sleep during the day and waking up again. [01:24:39] Speaker B: And went from Bonnaroo to hitchhiking your way back to town to studio with Quavo, back to back. That led to a Luke Bryan Quavo cut. [01:24:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is the craziest simulation cut ever. If you would have told me. That's another one of those. If you would have told me, you know, like, that. I was like, it's like a. You know, I'm holding both sides of the. Of the rope over here just to connect them. And it's Quavo and Luke Bryan. The power of music, you know? [01:25:09] Speaker B: Tennessee boys singing about Georgia. [01:25:11] Speaker A: Well, it's all started because we were watching the Tennessee. I turned the Tennessee baseball game. They're in the World Series on. In the studio with Quavo. And he just started talking because he loves Georgia. So I just started talking to him. And then I. We got. I started talking about how I wrote a song in Tennessee plays on the Jumbotron. And he just went, you know what? Kirby Smart asked me to do that for Georgia. Then that's how that song started. [01:25:31] Speaker B: Wow. [01:25:31] Speaker A: I was just like, dude, let's write one real quick. Because it. I didn't. Trust me, man. I don't. I just had recently gone through this thing of like, what does the school. What will they use? What will they platform, Especially with a guy like Quavo, you know, like, it's a fine line. Like, even though we did put Magic City in the song and it still gets played. But the, you know, he wanted to have something that goes back to that thing where I sell out clubs, I want to sell out stadiums. How do I grow my act? Even a guy like Quavo, you know, like, so he's like, come in here writing a country song, getting in the space and. And it was so redeeming, dude. Like, he was still, like, he was leveling up with us and being like, kirby Smart wants me to make one of these songs. I was like, oh, we could do it right now. And we did. [01:26:12] Speaker B: And then how does Luke Bryant end up on the song? [01:26:14] Speaker A: Because we just get done. We're like, who's from Georgia that would love to get on this song? And we. Then we send it to Luke Bryan, just immediately to Carrie Edwards, his manager. And then he just loves it, gets on it, man. And when he comes into the studio and. And we write a verse with him, and we kind of just are the guard rails for him to spew all the Georgia that he goes into his verse. And then we just kind of massage it in there. And then after that got done, they're like. The school was like, we love if Teddy swims got on it. So then. So then. Yeah, so then. I never even met Teddy or even. He. [01:26:48] Speaker B: I hear he's a hell of a guy. [01:26:49] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a. He seems like the man. I just really wish I could have met him. The. But he just put his verse on it, and then they just put it all together, Frankensteined it up, and did a music video. It's awesome, dude. It's just. [01:27:01] Speaker B: And now it's played in the hedges. [01:27:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. They play. They. They. It got synced to the ESPN when they were in the playoffs, and it was on ESPN for a minute. Yeah. It's just a funny thing, man. It's just. It's. The music is so fleeting, man. It's like, if you think about your opportunities too much, they'll just pass you by. [01:27:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:17] Speaker A: You know, you just got to do it. The best ability is availability. Like, if I could have been like, I'm at Bonner. I'm not coming. [01:27:23] Speaker B: You know, you found your way. [01:27:26] Speaker A: It's right. [01:27:27] Speaker B: 24. [01:27:28] Speaker A: Yeah. That's my North Star. [01:27:30] Speaker B: You could have easily just stayed there, blacked out, and gone to the woods again. Oh, no, but. But a best. Best ability is availability. [01:27:38] Speaker A: That's right, dude. [01:27:39] Speaker B: That's a quote. I'm gonna write that down and live my life. [01:27:41] Speaker A: That's all you got to do is show up, bro. It's not hard. Like, the. Like, the world is being geared against, like, show. Not showing up is okay. Like, you can go. Like you don't want to go get your groceries. [01:27:52] Speaker B: Ah. [01:27:52] Speaker A: You can just press a couple buttons on this little glass thing and they just show up at your door. You don't have to show up, but [01:27:57] Speaker B: you pay a premium. [01:27:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. So you're. You're. You're. It's a double negative. You lose the lifeblood interaction of people. [01:28:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:04] Speaker A: I go to the grocery store almost every day. I get exactly what I'm Gonna eat that day, go home and cook it. Because I love seeing the people at a grocery store. I love talking to people. I don't know who they are. [01:28:12] Speaker B: I went into KRoger yesterday, like one in the afternoon and that was where there wasn't a wheel. There wasn't like a motorized cart not being used. Like I was in there with the old heads. I could have. I was like, like grandchild age of everybody in that Kroger and it was awesome. Nobody's using self checkout. I love going into Kroger middle of the day. [01:28:35] Speaker A: Dude, have you ever been to a. You ever been to a grocery store? Like right when it opens, people are like waiting at the door. It's like 7am like, like gotta get in here and buy the same I bought last week. You know, like, what the heck? [01:28:49] Speaker B: Like it's not gonna be there. [01:28:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. [01:28:52] Speaker B: Dude, I love that. That's awesome. Buddy. I gotta talk about Tennessee baseball. Tony may not be in there and just. [01:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:28:58] Speaker B: Struggling in the majors. Yeah. [01:28:59] Speaker A: Dude. Tony Mattello is the. [01:29:01] Speaker B: Have you gotten the meeting? [01:29:02] Speaker A: Yeah, he's my buddy. Dude. One of my favorite pictures in Tennessee is. Man, he's so awesome, man. It's me and him on the sideline because I always joked about going on the sideline. I was always just end up in like pictures with people. And this is like before I did music, I would. It would just be like. Like there's a picture of me and Peyton Manning doing the like cover the mouth talk. And I wasn't even talking to him. Like I'm just like right next to him. That's right. I do, I did. I did have a funny show. I'll tell you the Peyton Manning. But Tony V and I, there's a hilarious picture of us just doing this talking to each other. And it was like on the school website and it was like. Vfl Thomas Edwards discusses whatever with coach Tony Vitello. We are not talking about anything that was related to sports. My. [01:29:47] Speaker B: My. My girlfriend loves Tony as a lot. As a lot of. As a lot of women do. [01:29:54] Speaker A: Tony B. I've been with the Mini Nashville some too. He's so fun, man. [01:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I've heard like he went out on Broadway. Like he has a good time when he comes out here. [01:30:01] Speaker A: Man. He needs to come back to college. [01:30:03] Speaker B: I know. [01:30:03] Speaker A: I don't have him watch what he's doing. I just know he's gonna have more fun. [01:30:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:30:07] Speaker B: And. And I feel like there's a difference between a college coach and a Pro coach. [01:30:10] Speaker A: Oh my God. [01:30:11] Speaker B: College coach. You're developing and you're like elite. You're developing guys, finding talent. You know, you're recruiting and you're developing boys into men. [01:30:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Tony V would be good. Tony V would go down to Puerto Rico or something, watch like a 13 year old guy play like six innings of baseball and just get on the plane and come back home. Really like that. That's the coolest job ever. Like, because like I've always had this thing where. Back up, I want to say that the, the, you know, you, that's such a cool job is like being able to go discover talent at that scale. Like baseball talent is not like football talent. Football talent. You can just probably get a hotel in Atlanta and drive in a three hour radius around you and fill up an entire sec. [01:30:54] Speaker B: Or Dallas or something. [01:30:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [01:30:56] Speaker B: Those hubs. [01:30:57] Speaker A: Yeah. But like baseball, there's some dude that's hitting, hitting, hitting the ball in a rock with a stick right now that's going to pitch 102 miles an hour when he's 15. You know, they go find them and they do and they bring them all and they come to America. That's why baseball is so awesome, bro. I think baseball is such a cool spectacle, tradition, sport. Like, it's just like the second that they start trying to digitize that sport and make the robots. [01:31:23] Speaker B: I'm Die Hard. As you can see from my bobbleheads. Yeah. I got Don Corleone and I got Garrett Cole, then Ron Gidgey who's missing an arm over here. I don't. What happened, what happened to poor, poor Louisiana? Lightning came into my house. Yeah, yeah. [01:31:38] Speaker A: The day of my daughter's wedding. [01:31:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. He pissed, he pissed off old Don Corleone over here. Old Marlon Brando sleeping with the fishies. Yeah. I'm a die hard baseball guy. We got the sun and I got the Yankees hat on. I just realized. [01:31:49] Speaker A: Did you know I went to the last game at the old Yankee Stadium? [01:31:53] Speaker B: No. Yeah. [01:31:54] Speaker A: When I was a kid my parents were just like randomly like. We went to New York one time. My dad drove a van and that [01:31:59] Speaker B: was the one time. [01:32:00] Speaker A: Yes, yes. And he bought tickets like months prior to that. So like got the shittiest tickets of this place. But it was the last game in the, in the old stadium. [01:32:10] Speaker B: Wow. [01:32:13] Speaker A: And I don't know anything about anything about Yankees baseball. Like it was. It's one of those things where people like you are probably. [01:32:19] Speaker B: I remember watching that on TV because that was 08. So we would have been 13. Yeah. At the time. Yeah. I remember watching that on TV and, like, my mom crying. She grew up having, like, Yankees posters when she was, like, in high school. [01:32:32] Speaker A: New York is just sick. [01:32:33] Speaker B: There's a tradition to it, man. It's. It's like Tennessee football, like, the way that people get up for the balls. That's how it is being a Yankees fan, you know, it's like just this. This is the thing. It's like a religion, you know? And I was ra. I was brought up, luckily as a Yankees fan and not a Mets fan. We have two teams every sport. [01:32:50] Speaker A: Like, Mets never win. [01:32:52] Speaker B: Yeah. It's funny because it's like the losing teams, the people are fans of all of them. So, like, I'm Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers. And the other path is usually if you're a Mets fan, you're a Jets fan. If you're a Mets and jets fan, usually a Nets fan. [01:33:06] Speaker A: Why do they all rhyme? [01:33:08] Speaker B: You're a Mets, Jets, Nets fan. Usually an Islanders fan. [01:33:11] Speaker A: Why is it not the island debts island dads met? Jets. Jets. [01:33:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Because of where. That's where the stadiums are located. Like, back in the day, a lot of people don't know this. The Yankee. Yankee Stadium was the home of the Giants. So Giants football started with Polo Grounds and Queens and then was at Yankee Stadium. And the jets started where the Mets used to play at Chase Stadium. And that's why they were called the jets, because the airport's right there and there's just airplanes flying over. Oh, but, yeah, I'm so lucky I'm not a Mets. Jets, Nets. I thank my parents. Parents every day. [01:33:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And island dance. [01:33:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Make Island. I think my parents all the time for being a Yankees. Giants. Even though the Giants haven't been good in a while. But I'm very excited about what they're doing with Harbaugh. [01:33:54] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [01:33:54] Speaker B: Jackson Dart. We just got the fullback for Card. We're gonna be. [01:33:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:33:57] Speaker B: Scatter Boo's just gonna be running people over. [01:33:59] Speaker A: Hey, dude. Scatter Freak. [01:34:01] Speaker B: I feel like every football team needs to have. [01:34:03] Speaker A: He's not. He's not gonna be able to count to 10 when he's 30, but he's gonna be electric. [01:34:08] Speaker B: On New York sports talk radio Pipeline Report. [01:34:12] Speaker A: It's going to be crazy. [01:34:13] Speaker B: That's Cam Scaboo podcast in, like, three years when he has to retire. It's going to be so electric. [01:34:20] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. It's going to be a fiery three years. [01:34:23] Speaker B: I'm excited for it. I'm. I'm here for it, buddy. But, dude, what's something that you would tell yourself when you start, like, looking back, what's something that you would tell the younger you when you started pursuing this music journey, knowing what you know now and getting to do all this cool? Like, what would you tell that kid that's getting ready to pack up and move out here to Nashville, kid, with that. That untuned guitar and your brother saying you're an idiot for quitting tractor support? [01:34:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right, dude. All right. Two things, man. Never trust a fart and never waste a boner. No, I'm just kidding. Aaron Rayer said that in a big interview with Time. Yeah, I can't remember. I can't remember what it was, but my ax. Sorry. [01:35:05] Speaker B: You're good. Shout out, Aaron. Shout out the ratty dishes. We love these boys. Go. [01:35:11] Speaker A: What would I tell myself, man? Just don't stop believing the little voice inside your head, man. I think that's the. That's the most important thing, man. I think other people's voices get louder, and then they get quieter, and then they get louder. But the voice in your head, you just got to recognize the difference between that and what people. Other. Other people are saying. The thing your. Your gut feeling is right, and it doesn't matter. That doesn't mean it's going to be the right commercial feeling or the right. Whatever external circumstances happen, but if it feels right to you when you do it, trust it and run for it and then just keep working, man. I think just, you know, the. We didn't get this job because it'd be easy. We got in this job because we thought it'd be easy. [01:35:59] Speaker B: We're doing it because we're doing it because it's on our hearts and it's on our mind, and it's what we feel like we need to be here to do. [01:36:05] Speaker A: Yeah. But also, I kind of. I kind of cast away that ideology of, like, I got something to prove. I don't. I ain't got nothing to prove. I'm just. I'm trying to prove to myself and figure out more about me every single day. Yeah. And leave my footprint and legacy on this earth by being the best version of me through making music or whatever it may be doing, you know? And I think that's what I'd tell myself back in the day, is just like, just stay true to yourself, man. Like, there's times where it's going to make no sense. There's going to times where it's going to be like, damn, I'M the smartest person in the world. But it's not about the wins or losses. It's just about staying true to yourself while you're doing it, you know? [01:36:41] Speaker B: Amen, brother. Well, dude, thank you so much. I know we could sit in here for another. [01:36:45] Speaker A: I know I could. [01:36:47] Speaker B: And you're getting a podcast. Are you still doing the podcast? [01:36:50] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, I got, I got a bunch of. A bunch of. Just kind of backlogged. I'm just gonna. I'm making a bunch of like non time bound shit. Just like things I'm interested in. Like I'm doing a whole kind of empirical analysis on Pixar movies. I love, I think, I think the best pieces of art in the last 30, 40 years as far as just like holistically the. They have the widest net of audience that can enjoy of any piece of art. So I'm doing a bunch of talking on that just shit. Shit that I like, man. I just. And I'm, you know, it's a lot of music obviously and a lot of my opinions on random things and. But eventually that'll start coming out, man. I. I'm gonna. I'll probably do that as this EP comes out. I'll probably do that and love it. But yeah, it's me just right. It's like a. I'd say it's similar to Tim Dillon podcast. [01:37:41] Speaker B: Oh, cool. I love Dylan but. [01:37:42] Speaker A: But a little less like he's just like scorched earth, you know, you don't [01:37:47] Speaker B: need to go scorched. [01:37:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna stay true to my opinions and, but not. I'm not trying to dismantle the staff. [01:37:58] Speaker B: Well, if you're ever looking for a guest on one of those, I'd love to hop on and talk about something random with you. [01:38:03] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [01:38:04] Speaker B: You don't even have to tell me what it's going to be about. I'll just find a way to. Yeah. Love to do that and just chill in the studio. [01:38:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's my goal was to have. Make the shows like what is he gonna talk about today? [01:38:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that spontaneity. [01:38:16] Speaker A: That's right. You know, that's another one of those things like when you're trying to develop a crowd and a niche and an audience. It's really tough when you're. When one episode's about the chipotle vinaigrette and the next one is about Toy Story 2. So I mean like. But the through line is me, baby. [01:38:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what it is. They come. They come for you. They come for your opinions, your thoughts, your humor, your realness. You know, that's what I appreciate about you, bud, is the realness this. And I can't wait for the world to have high times. [01:38:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:38:44] Speaker B: To them. I can't wait for the doc that's coming with it. And yeah, thank you so much for coming on. [01:38:49] Speaker A: Absolutely. [01:38:49] Speaker B: I haven't had an episode where I've had the shades on. Just hung out and kicked it like this in a long, long. [01:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. [01:38:56] Speaker B: I appreciate the hell out of you, brother. [01:38:58] Speaker A: Dude, I appreciate you for having me, man. Everything about what you're doing, man, I love it. And carry the fight, man. Keep going. Chopping wood. [01:39:05] Speaker B: Amen, man. We're going to be chopping a lot of wood. That's for Dan. Y' all be sure to go check out our man Thomas Edwards. Go stream the music that's out. Be on the lookout for the new that he's got cooking a whole ass project High Times. And just give him a follow. He's a great follow because you'll never know what exactly. Yeah, it's gonna be something interesting and something fun. We appreciate you, brother. Shout out to our friends from Surfside. No bubbles, no troubles. I'm gonna send you home with an eight pack. You can enjoy. You can enjoy this weekend. [01:39:32] Speaker A: It's enough for the ride home. No, just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Kidding. Drink responsibly. [01:39:36] Speaker B: Responsibly. No bubbles, no troubles. And be sure to visit razori.com for more on us. My man, Thomas Edwards. I'm Matt Brill. This has been outside the ramp. I ain't never been the kind for stay one place for too long I never been the best AT s I love you to a girl I love [01:40:00] Speaker A: Only got a couple tricks on my [01:40:02] Speaker B: sleeve they usually just make them leave so if you know me if you really know me you know I'm just a two trick pony but maybe the drink and the lack of money for show I'm just a two trick pony yeah.