Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For thirty five years, Cindy Stumpo has been a female
home builder with a passion for design, a mastery of detail,
and a commitment to her crack. With daughter Samantha Stumpo
by her side, I.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Don't need my whole family on a date with me.
That's a good no. It's godemn weird.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
See. Stumpo Development is the only second generation female construction
company in the country.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You're crazy, You're a wacko.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're insane.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I mean, it just doesn't end together. Cindy and Samantha
welcome guests to explore the world of construction, real estate, development,
design and more.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
You're unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Every time I think I know what you want, you
switch it out.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
But that's what makes sure houses all you need.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Discuss anything that happens between the roof and the foundation.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Nothing is off limits.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You truly do care about everybody. She can yell at
SHEI get screen, but when you get her alone, she's
the best person on the planet. Cindy Stumpo is tough
as nails.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And welcome to Cindy Stumbo Tough his nails on WBZ
News Radio ten thirty and I'm in the studio tonight
with Sammy. I gotta really She'll guess so country music started.
Drew Baldwich Drew So, Drew.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
I'm actually very impressed that she got your name right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Why is you stuck? Okay? Yeah, I could call you Tim,
I could call you Bob, but no, I found Drew.
It's kind of funny, you know how social media works.
On my Instagram and I played that one song and
I started to cry. I had to be. I was
one of those emotional moms at the moment, and she's
somebody's daughter. Can she's got that lat? And I came
on like can she have me for three more? And
(01:28):
I was like, oh, I got to watch this whole thing.
And then it went out right. I didn't get the
whole song. I'm like pissed. I'm like, all right, let
me find it somewhere else. I could at the time.
And I reach out to you when you're climbing three
in the charts and you're hit number one, buddy crazy,
And I come from a generation where like you needed
Sony Records and you needed RCA and back and you know,
(01:48):
to get you to that level and you did it yourself, man.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
Yes, And it has been an absolutely crazy ride for
me and from my family. You know, back in fifteen
to twenty nineteen, I did have a record deal. It
was a small end Pennic company, and we put out
some songs and none of them really worked like we
want them to. They all kind of died in the forties.
And you know, twenty twenty year olls around COVID. I
obviously hits and I lose that record deal. The guy
(02:12):
had owned it, he decided to close down their label,
and I was like, well, that's that kind of sucks
for me. And you know, I never I never got
another label. And it's kind of like in Nashville, kind
of get one shot. You know, you get a record deal,
you put out a couple of songs. If it doesn't work,
they kind of move on to the next, which I get.
You know, I understand that. And but I had this
song that I saw that I really believed in and
(02:33):
it was working. It was blowing up on TikTok and
streaming and all that stuff, and I was like, man,
I want to just give this a real chance. I'm
going to hire my own staff, create my own label,
and send this song country radio by myself.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And that's it. So what'd you play like? An? What
was it call? Back in the day? Ar guy, ar Guy,
I forget the name. Give it them me. I'm in
a studio at how Hot Media. I should know the
spine now, but I think back in my day was
called A and R an R. Thank you. We're guys
just ran around and said, hey, to play this song. Dude,
(03:08):
play this song, Dude, play this song.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Does that mean something else?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Now?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Those in our plans, I don't know care about that.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
It was just like, you know, I knew I had
a song that was working. And then the biggest thing
is in radio and in the country space is that
you've got to have promo reps. So what that means
is just like, if you're going to start any business
and you want to take it all across the country,
you've got to have reps in every market. So let's
say if we were, you know, selling shoes, and we
we were Nike, we would have a Northeast rep, a
(03:36):
Southeast rep, a Midwest rep, and a West Coast rep.
And they would go out to all the stores and say, hey,
put my shoes in your store. So what I had
to do is I had to hire those people for
country radio. So how that works is every label in
Nashville all has a Northeast, a Southeast REP, a Midwest REP,
and a West Coast rep. And what that does is
they go around to radio stations and they say, hey,
play play my boy, play my song. And so what
(03:59):
I did is I just had to create my own
staff and hire people that was really respected already in
the business, that have been doing it for a long time.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And and we went around to Raidio hod On.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Did you forget Boston because I'm the one running running
into the bull?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Boston was a big market and we, you know, stopped
in up there and they started playing our song. And
they've been so good to us. You know, country radio
in general, just radio has really latched onto our story,
especially us. You know, it's kind of like you said earlier, Cindy,
like most of the time you hear this is a
Sony artist, or this is a Warner or Universal artist,
and it's just it's our own record label. And it's
(04:35):
never been done before. For an artist to independently self
fund their first number one, that's never happened. And now
the world has really changed, the times have changed, and
I just think it really is a big win for
artists all across the format, all format of just like, hey,
now you can have a real chance in today's modern
society if if a song is working and people love it,
(04:57):
you can get it played on radio. And that's what
we just proved, which is exciting for me.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And what took you there? Was it social media? Completely?
Was it Instagram? What was it like? You came on
my Instagram like you just popped in? Well, yeah I
liked it. I hit follow, and that's it. I was
in love, right, That's just how I was.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah, well it was. It's crazy story.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So I put this song out all the way back
in twenty nineteen, Cindy, and it kind of just set out.
It was on my old record label. We put it out,
and then the record label shut down and it just
sit there. It did nothing. So then in twenty twenty one,
me and my wife were getting married and it was
always her favorite song, so I thought, man, I'm going
to go in the studio and I'm going to make
(05:38):
a wedding version. So it's just me and a piano
and a cello and just so she could dance to
it with her dad. So that's what I did. I
went in the studio, made a wedding version, and she
danced to it with her dad. It was so special.
And the next week I got on TikTok. We were
on our honeymoon and I just said, hey, if this
gets five thousand likes, i'll put it out on Friday.
It was a Wednesday night and I posted this TikTok.
(06:02):
I fell asleep and I woke up the next morning.
I had almost ten million views in four hours, and
I was like, man, every record label is going to
be calling, and nobody. I had some LA labels called,
but nobody in Nashville. And I couldn't get anybody's excited.
But you know, twenty twenty one, from twenty one to
twenty three, it was blowing up on TikTok. Everybody was
using it in videos, dad's daughters, and then that you know,
(06:25):
transformed over to Instagram to Facebook, and you know, I
looked up one day and the song had almost a
billion plays on TikTok and I was like, oh my goodness,
look at all these people were reaching. How do we
not have a record deal? Why is Nashville, not caring
about this. I'm watching all the streams happen in real time.
I'm playing shows, everybody's singing every word back. And that's
(06:47):
when I said, you know what, screw it, I'm just
going to do it myself. I'm going to really try this.
I know it's going to be expensive, but I don't
want to look back in thirty years and say, why
did't I freaking try with a song that was reaching
so many people and touching so many people's hearts. That's
what we did. And it's crazy to think that we're
a year later and sending now. We have a we
have a manager, we have a booking agent, I have
(07:08):
I'm getting ready to go out on tour with Cody Johnson,
who's like one of the biggest artists in country music,
and we have other tours lined up for twenty twenty five.
And it's all because we didn't We didn't stop believing,
you know, And I think that's just so important for
any business that you're in, no matter if it's radio,
if it's you know, a job that you love so much,
and you believe in yourself, keep going, keep believing, and
(07:32):
doors will open. And that's kind of the message that
we've been sharing throughout this whole process.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So you've been doing this for how long?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Now?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You're how old?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
I'm thirty three? So I moved in there?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yes, such a big thirty three. Okay, so is so old? So?
And you started how long ago?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I moved to Nashville at nineteen. So, uh, Richard, June
of next year, I'll be fourteen years. I've lived in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And you're originally from where I grew up.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
In southern Ellen, a little town called Patoka, town of
five hundred people.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And you thought by playing in all the bars in
Nashville you get picked up, and you did get picked
up by a record label, but it really didn't do
much and they probably shelfed you back in those days, right,
is that what they did?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah? Yeah, we got picked up.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
I was so young. You know when I first moved
to town. Everything happened fast. I moved here at nineteen.
I end up signing a songwriting deal at twenty one,
and then you know, twenty three, I'm signed to a
record deal. You know, just four years in Nashville, four
or five years in Nashville, and I'm on tour with
some of the biggest artists in the format, playing every
live nation festival, all the festivals, everything, and you know,
(08:38):
then twenty twenty comes and all that kind of goes
away because of COVID, and I had this kind of
idea that just kept me going. I was on my
last straw and I was just like, you know what,
Nashville's kind of giving up. I'm just gonna post on
my social media Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and just say hey,
I'll play in anybody's backyard.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Were you went.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Did you have a job at the time, like doing
construction or anything, like you just putting all you tough this.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
It was just all music. You know.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
By this time here it is twenty twenty. I've been
to Nashville for nine years. All I've made a living
buy is just playing.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Wait, we just hold that thought because we've got to
go to break and then we'ld be right back. Okay,
all right, I like it. Okay, thank you. I'm Citty Stump.
When you're listening to Tough as Nails on w BZ
News Radio ten thirty, be right.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Back, sponsored by Floor and Decor, National Lumber and Village Back.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Baby Here will why dress in a black Tomes first
night with the same last name every hears on this
and you look just logging names spinning round on this floor.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Never been so in love, never been so sure.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
But baby when our song.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And welcome back to Toughest Nails on w BZ News
Radio and I'm Sindy, I'm Samantha and we're here with
Drew baldrig.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Hey, what's it feel like when you hear that song
for the hundred thousand times?
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Though?
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Oh my goodness, It's never gets old. It never gets old.
It's such a blessing. I you know, a lot of
people get frustrated. I talk to artists, are like, man,
I'm so wore out on the song that, you know,
my my first number one song, And I was just
so lucky that mine is says a lot about who
(10:32):
I am, It's about my wife, and it's just a
song that that I'll never get tired of. You know,
I'm very thankful for it. It's a song that, you know,
has now allowed me to go on tour and have
people sing along and things and do dreams that I
thought would never be possible, and so I'm very very.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Thankful for it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And then I fell in love with the other song
Can I Have this Last Dance?
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And that's your can she have? Yeah? Okay, can she
have the Last Dance? But the point was I was
in like again one of my like you know, Chad
and I were fighting my son at the time, like
what a beautiful song, right.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Like.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
They're just heartfelt, right, They're just the lyrics are just there.
The music's just great like it is, and you deserve
every bit of success that you're getting right now, and
you've worked hard for it.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
And this song, you know, it's so funny. Both of
these songs were the songs that I I kind of
wrote for my wedding. You know, Can She Have This
Dance was something I just wrote for my mom so
I could dance with her on our wedding night. My
wife wanted me to write all the special dance songs,
and so I wrote this song.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's almost have been one wedding that everybody was crying
a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Yeah, yeah it was.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
And you know it's so funny. It was just me
and a guitar that I recorded it really really quick,
that can She Have This Dance? And I thought it
was special. And then me and my wife we now
have a little baby boy, and uh, I listened to
this song again, can she have this dance?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Holding?
Speaker 6 (12:07):
I was holding my son, my wife was out running errands,
and I came across this song. I had studio time
the next day. I didn't know what I was going
to record.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean that, I don't know. That will be my
song when my son gets married, for sure. That's how
much I love that song. But let's go back a
little bit, bringing back to a little bit of your
childhood late. What was that like growing up.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Fifty people, Cindy.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I don't know if that's like I think I graduated
with a class just about five hundred kids in that class.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah, so I had I graduated twenty two kids in
my class. And it was just I grew up on
you know, my grandpa had a farm, so we spent
a lot of time on tractors and four wheelers and
you know, growing up fishing, jumping the fence behind the
house and and going over to the farm across the way.
And it was, man, it was a really good life.
(13:02):
And and a lot of people ask why you why
do you sing country? And it's just like, man, it's
all I know. It's it's what I grew up doing.
You know, we grew up riding back roads and sitting
on tailgates, people drinking cold beer, sitting around fires, and
that was our fun.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Our fun was was being out in the woods, being
out in the sticks, and.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We did how any causes you tip, Drew, I just
need to know.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
We had about a little over one hundred head of
beef cows and how the cow calf business Grandpa did
and my brother, you know, he still does that my cousins.
I was the only one that kind of got a
got out and was playing music.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I was the black sheep of the family. You know.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
We'd be throwing haybales and I'd be singing by the
door and turning the lights down the little and they'd
be like shut up, and you just shut your mouth,
like you getting on our nerves. And yeah, it was
just I just loved music. It was so I grew
up singing in church and my dad dad saying, and
so we spent a lot of time riding around in
the truck with my dad singing, and.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Didn't really figure out at what age that you really
could sing just like naturally.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Yeah, I think it was first grade Christmas program when
I performed for my first time in front of people,
and that was when I really got the bug. When
you know, we got done singing and everybody started clapping
and screaming. I was like, oh man, we must be
pretty good at this. It was just really then after that,
you know, we didn't have a music program. We were
so small. We didn't have football, we didn't have a
(14:33):
music program, nothing like that. Because we're K through twelve school,
all one school. So what the school I started in
kindergarten with? That's the same school I graduated with.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Which part did you miss? Sammy? Twenty two people we
went to school with us something like that. I had
graduating class, I think the whole thing. I think they
went from k to senior.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was twenty two in my class.
I think from from kindergarten to senior was about a
couple hundred kids, a little under two hundred, one hundred
and sixty something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Is your wife from there or did you meet your
wife where you are now?
Speaker 6 (15:04):
So I met my wife when I was out on
the road about eight years ago, seven or eight years
ago up. And she's from Illinois too, And I was
playing a show up there at at a college town
Western Illinois University town called McComb and I was passing
through playing a show and I met her out at
a bar afterwards and became friends, and she moved here
a handful of years later, and we just got together
(15:24):
and had dinner the first night we've been together ever since.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
It's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It's actually funny because right now we've got you streaming
into chatter, which is it's an audio device. I don't
know if you've heard a clubhouse ever heard of twitter X,
so chatter twitter x where you can actually go into
audio and talk to people blah blah blah. So you're
actually streaming in there and people saying, oh, well, they've
heard your song and that's going to be that song
(15:51):
to dance with their Yeah, either or whatever. I ors
either way, I guess it can work both ways. Is
it's just a beautiful song. But so you realized you
met your wife, Okay, did you know? Did you fall
in love with her right away? I?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Did you know?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
It was Uh, you know, it was kind of a
long process. We met and uh I had a girlfriend
at the time and I was out on the road,
so you know, we just said hello that first night.
I think how it happened was we were at a
bar and there was some guy really hitting on her
and bothering her, and she just leaned down.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
She's like, can you just talk to me until he
goes away. I was like, sure, yeah, I'll talk.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
To you, and so we talked and became friends that night,
and I came back the next year to that same venue.
We were playing and I was single, and so I
hit her up. I think it was probably on Facebook.
I slid into her DMS and I was like, hey,
I'm playing a show tonight, like you should come out,
blah blah blah. And she hit me right back and
(16:50):
is like I can't. I got to work tomorrow. And
she never came.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
How that works.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yeah, so she blew me off, and I was like, dang,
it only always works and girls always came out, and.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
So she was just this one didn't.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
This one didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
There was something special about her, and so we just
became friends and talked a lot, and you know, she
said she always wanted to live in Nashville. She moved
down here a couple of years later, and yeah, we
got dinner one night. And when she moved down here.
We've been together ever since, pretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And then how long before you married her?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
It took me five years?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I think.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I think I proposed at four years, and then we
ended up getting married and right at our five year mark.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And then let me just get married, have the baby,
and have the hip music at the same time.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Hey, that's what I'm talking about. And she's been such
a big supporter of this, you know, Cindy. It was
not having a record label. It was just kind of
me and her, you know. And this was the song
started streaming. She somebody's daughter started streaming like crazy, and
that was the first time we were really making money,
you know, we started seeing money come in from this.
And then I look at her and say, hey, so it's.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Been that money.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm still on the iTunes and I'll pay and that
one of those songs is at the highest number still, okay.
So that's how you know when the songs are hit,
because you ain't paying nine nine cents anymore. Okay, you're
in the dollar what is it? Dull ninety nine? Right?
So my kids go time, mom, why you still buy
music on iTunes?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Leave me alone. I don't care. They're like just one
one yearly fee. Yeah, it's just easy dull nine nine,
click right and it comes on. So do they take
care of you guys on those iTunes? And they really
pay what they're supposed to pay. Because a friend of mine,
I don't know if you know the name Wendy Stalin.
I don't so Wendy, And actually I should hook you
(18:38):
up with Wendy. She's got a new app coming out
and she was the she found Lady Gaga. Okay, and
so all these musicians are not getting their fair share
of the money and that's the problem, and that's what
she's doing right now. But she's she's a big player
in that space. Lady Gaga obviously was a big home
(19:00):
run for her. But that's an introduction I'll make for
you as time goes on here. All that thought, Oh no,
I don't have to all that thought. I know, don't
you stick that? They stick that thing in my face
like my clock is running out? All right, go ahead,
I'll make I'll make Ross happy. We'll go to break
and be right back. I'm city stuff who listens to
his nails, and we'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
W B sponsored by Pellow Windows of Boston. Next Day
molding and Kennedy Carpet can.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
So City Cake became fat the world manner of fat.
Speaker 8 (19:49):
She's more than just a briefect in a lay night ball,
more than just a paratig sitting in you.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And welcome back to Tough his Nails on WBC, And
I'm Cindy Stumpo and I'm here with.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
And Drew Balders, you buddy.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Both those songs just kill it. I mean they just
kill it. It is what it is. I can't take
it away. I listen to them. I swear to God
it every They're in my car, there, they're home on
so no nos, I'm blasting that all over the place.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Looking back, you happy how it happened versus how you
thought it was going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Well, the record label taking half his money got.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
More well, I think too, Like.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
Sometimes sometimes in life we feel like, you know, in
moments when things are going bad, you're like, this is
the worst thing that can.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Possibly happen to me.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
And I remember losing the record deal, losing the manager,
losing all of it, and thinking like, wow, this is
as low as it gets, you know, and then just
learning from all those all those loads, and you know,
without without all those learning curves and curveballs throwing my way.
I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have a numb one
by myself. I wouldn't have been the first artist to
ever do this. And sometimes I feel like God, you know,
(21:06):
prepares you for those moments and you don't even recognize it.
And for me, you know, without all those trials, without
all those errors, I'm not where I'm at right now.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So my daughter's got something to say to you, since
she's missed astrology, right She's going to tell you why
it didn't work out, Because why, Sam.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
So, I was doing the math backwards for your age
now and when this happened in twenty nineteen brings you
back roughly five years through around twenty eight twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
So there's this thing called you're sat in return where
satin is roughly between twenty eight and thirty years where
it was when you were born. And life like throws
things at you, whether you pick the right path of
the wrong path. Now, you kept getting hit with things
over and over again that you had never experienced before,
and it could have brought you down a really bad path,
and it didn't. It brought you to a better situation
(21:54):
than you could have thought of. But it doesn't always
work that way for everybody. Because you made the right choices,
follow me.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Man, I mean, that's that's pretty powerful. I think. I
don't know if they.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Were the right choices or they were just the ballsy ones,
you know at the time.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
He is a good thing, buddy. I live with them
all day long. Okay, I got about four of them. Okay,
most men have two. I got four.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
And it was just like, Hey, this is my dream,
this is what I want to do. I'm gonna chase it,
and I'm I'm gonna do it till the wheels fall off.
You know, this is all I want to do in
my life. And you know, if that means I fall
flat on my face, try and I'm gonna go down swinging.
And I just really believed, like I said, believed in
this song, believed in the message of it.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And that's what was so cool.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
Was like the song that ends up being our biggest
song that gets over a billion plays, billions, you know,
views or whatever, talking about treating women right and knowing
they're worth and I just think that's.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Such a powerful.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, excuse me, gentlemen, did you hear that. You just
said something that's very resonating, that it's teaching men how
to treat women. Yeah, now I don't know. I mean
you might be a closet case. He's feed her. I
don't know. But you don't come off that way. So
I'm not going to take you as that person. So
you should be that face is kind. He's always seeming
(23:09):
like Sharaija, goat kind dice. Okay, now we're going by
kind ice. What's what you said?
Speaker 5 (23:14):
What?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
What? What? What's the sign? I don't know what's your sign?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
My sign's a LEO?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Was right by leos and tourists lately.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Little fire sign out there?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What's your wife?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
She's she's a leo too, So we got a lot
of fire going.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
On fish family too. I'm a kid, sir, I'm the
double side, oh double sage.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
The fire, I'm aris fire.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So that morning when you woke up and you saw
all those views, were you jumping around the house or
wherever you were?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. So we were on our honeymoon.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
We were in our little condo and me and my
wife were jumping around, crying all sorts of things, Like.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Every record label is going to call us we got
to hit blah blah blah.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
And that just didn't happen. You know, I went, I remember,
I'll never forget. We were on our honeymoon. I've made
the post already about playing people's back I booked a
bunch of people's backyards. And when we land from our honeymoon,
my tour manager comes in in the van, picks me
up from the airport, and we go out and we
played twenty shows in nineteen days in people's backyards, back
(24:16):
to back to back to back, just going around the country.
And that turns into playing over three hundred shows in
a couple of years in people's backyards. And I just
that's what I thought my life was going to be
for a long time, is just being the guy that's
sang in people's backyards. But I'll tell you this, Cindy,
when I was in when I was in folks back backyards,
it really just changed everything for me because I was
(24:37):
so caught in this Nashville system, and I think artists
we moved to Nashville, LA, New York or whatever, and
you get so caught up and thinking I got to
make music for all these label heads. I gotta make
music that sounds like the radio or it sounds like this,
and at the end of the day, you just got
to make music for people. And I didn't realize that
until I was in their backyards and they were telling me, Man,
(24:57):
this song means so much to me because of this,
or this song so much to me because of that,
and you know, and now I wrote it turned it
into me writing my brand new single. It's called Tough People,
and it's a really really special song just about how
tough times can sure make some tough people. When you're
at your lowest loves, you really figure out who you are.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I don't you know. Look at I'm watching you, like
I said, and I've been following you on Instagram, and
you're more impressive being right in my face right now.
And I didn't think that was gonna be possible. You
hit the but something about morals and values, like big
Time Samuel will tell you, like, I either love you
or I don't even like you. How's that right? You're
(25:39):
either evil or you're a good human being, right, And
I just like the human beings, and that's what you are,
and you deserve so much good success. And I can
see the way that you treat your wife. And I
think any mother should be so proud to have you
as a son in law because and I'm sure your
wife's a wonderful woman too. To take me, it takes
(26:00):
two people to I'm gonna meet it, trust me. I'm
gonna meet both. You trust me, okay, And but at
the end, it's just this is there's just this gleam.
And Sim'll tell you, like I'll stroll through things on
Instagram and you see my follows, and you see are
you following Sidney Stomp? I'm not sure, but my content
(26:22):
has got a lot of back and forth, back and forth,
and I'm way over my algorithm of what I should have.
But there's tons of everybody's got something to say. Right,
you're gonna love that about people. Right, you're gonna get
your hits, You're gonna get you knocks, she's gonna get
your likes. And me on the other side, every time
I get a guy and that comes in and knocks me
after thirty eight years an ultra ultra high end construction. Right,
(26:43):
and dude, you got a bathroom from home? Deepo, Like
you're seriously gonna come at me. I will just emasculate them, right.
So one guy writes back, He's like, do you really
answer these? I thought you didn't read these? Like, oh nobody.
This is a sport for me. You just you just
hit up a Boston broad like, buddy, what do you
think was gonna happen here?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Like?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Did you think I was gonna come in?
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Can be kind? It's actually funny. But what's been most
of your feedback on your social media besides the hate is.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
It's all been very positive? You know, I think social
media can be what you make it.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Obviously for me, that's what changed my life with social
media was daughter blowing She's somebody's daughter blowing up? Can
she have this dance? Just like you said, Cindy, you
found us and discovered us because of social media, and
you know, it's all. What I love about social media
is what you put out there is who follows you.
And that's something that I've really noticed. By playing people's backyards,
everybody's like, man, did you run into some weird people
(27:38):
out there playing people's backyards? And you just showed up
and you didn't know them? And I was like, man,
to be honest, there are mostly people that I would
hang out with. There are people that have the same
morals that I do, the same you know, kind of
vibe on life. And it's all because what you put
out into the world is what is it the people
that follow you? And I never really put that all together,
(27:58):
but it's all been really great.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Obviously, you always have some people on there that are
that are haters, and you know, I might post a
picture of my wife and and me, and there's been
times where you know, she's in her bikini or whatever
and we're out on the boat and people come at
her and say hateful things to her, and that really
bothers me more than anything, I think is when people
come at my family, you know. I remember we posted
(28:20):
a picture this past Christmas of me, her, Santa Claus,
and our son, and my wife had a little red
dress on. It was the first time she felt pretty
since we've had our son, and she was going out
dressed up and people started attacking to her, calling all
sorts of names because she had a you know, a
pretty looking dress on. And so it can definitely be
(28:41):
you know, social media can be tough and rude and hateful,
but for the most part, a lot of people on
our socials are really kind and if I if I
don't think so, I just block them. I just delete
them and block them.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's now, that's the same. It does what I do.
I wait for you to come back again, and I
go after your throw it again. Okay, well, yell at
them for you and then they eventually like they just
they just like go away like little bugs, right because
they're not ready for that.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
So that's right there.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
That's total Boston. But you know, look at I realized
that I wasn't made for HGTV. I wasn't made for
TV because I could take the hits. But when they
were coming after my kids, oh yeah, watch out, it
was just I decided, like, you know, what can your
son do more than golf? He's a he's an amateur
pro golfer. Like, what else should you do? Well, maybe
(29:31):
you should be sitting on a street corner shooting drugs
and his arm. I don't know. So you weren't supposed
to go on the HGTV website. I did it, and
then I got yelled at. I'm like fighting me, HGTV.
They're like, we can't fight you, Cindy. I'm like, well,
then then leave me alone, right, So yeah, I mean,
something's a hurtful and we have to learn to accept
the good with the bat hold that thought we're going
to break. I'm Sidy stumbling. Listen, top his nails on
(29:51):
WBZ and We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Sponsored by new Brook Realty Group, Boston, would Smaller Insurance
World Auto Body and Tosca Drive Auto Body.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
She somebody's do she, somebody's everything, ge, somebody's fattal girly
on it.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
She's grown up.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And welcome back to tap his nails on WBZ. And
I'm Sindy and I'm here with Samantha, and now we
see each other. Buddy, this is better. You know we
look like here. That's good. We've been watching you. So,
I mean, I got so many questions. See him go ahead,
she went on, So as your career was going, and
(30:39):
where you stand right now?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So it was at one point with somebody saying, hey, buddy,
you need to get a real job, like you better
go cut some lumber, you better stop building houses, how
to be a mechanic, Like anybody tort you that way
or they were just had your back.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
It was I think whenever I first moved here, you know,
my My mama was worried about that. You know, I
think there were some people in my life worried about that.
But I was always just so lucky. I found a
way to make a living playing bars. And when I
first moved here, I'll never forget I made a I
had this envelope and I sat in my computer and
I had my guitar and I sang like forty songs
into my old MacBook, and I had had the CDs,
(31:15):
and I made cards that said my name and my
phone number on them. And I walked down all of
Broadway in Nashville and I took these envelopes into every
bar and I was like, Hey, my name's Drew Baldridge.
Is your music director here? And they'd be like, nah,
just put it on the desk. I'd be like, oh cool.
So I'd set it on the desk and I'd leave.
And then I walked into Tutsies one night one day
(31:37):
and I was like, hey, is your music director? They're like, yeah,
he's actually upstairs, and it was like something out of
a movie.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I actually called yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I was st and this guy's counting hundreds on his
desk and I walked in. I was like, hey, I'm Drew,
you know, and he's like, you want to play our bar?
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I was like yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
He's like, you know about forty songs Old country and
New Country. And I was like, yeah, I sure do.
He's like, I tell you what I like the way
you look. You go up tomorrow. And I was like,
oh okay. So I went, you know, started playing at Tutsies,
and that allowed me to make a living and all
at this time. You know, where I'm from is only
four hours from Nashville. So I would go up every
Friday and Saturday and play bars in my hometown area
(32:17):
where I came from, and then I would play Tuesday
Thursdays in downtown Nashville.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And that's the name Tutsy is like I think a
roadhouse when I hear Tutsies, Rightidaville, you think of wild Listen.
Boston is so different, right, Like it's so different from
where you grew up. And you know where you live now,
tell me something your roots home? Right? So how far
(32:46):
away from your mom? Know you that you live?
Speaker 6 (32:49):
We're four hours you know, I live in Nashville. They
still live up in Illinois. All my family does they still,
like I said, my brother still works on the farm
and my cousins still do.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And that's really fun.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Tomorrow we're actually having our number one party in Nashville
tomorrow for She's somebody's daughter. It's our first ever number
one party, and so all of my family is coming
down to go to it, so my brother and you know,
my mom and having what's that, No, it's gonna be
a it's gonna be at a rooftop in downtown Nashville,
which would be super cool. And we actually today we
(33:21):
craned in ash like turf, so the whole rooftop it
looks like a big backyard. So we can kind of
say we went from backyards to having a number one
song in country music, which is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So they're only a four hour drive from you.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah, only four hours there in southern Illinois.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
How proud?
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Oh well, it was fun this this last weekend. Every year,
I do a festival in my hometown. I called the
I called the tour the Baldridge and Bonfire Tour, And
so I thought, when I was riding around playing backyards,
I thought, ma'am, how cool would be if I did
a big one called up the Big Baldridge and Bonfire
And so this is my third year. Last weekend we
did it and all my hometown people came and big festival,
(34:02):
you know, a thousand people come out. And then I
actually do one in my wife's hometown too that we
just started. And so that was the past two weekends.
We were up in Illinois visiting them, playing festival, and
it was it just that's a special event. We get
to raise money for charity and I just always really
really love helping out our small town area.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Country fest' Let's stadium? Yeah, oh, oh, you haven't played
je Lette Stadium yet country Fest? Have you?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I haven't yet. No.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I have played a bar outside of Gillette Stadium. What's
that bar there called? There's a bar club, dance club
outside of Jillette Stadium across the street, maybe something strings.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
She's at every game. How you should know the semi.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
I don't hang out around there.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Well, it doesn't matter. We gotta get when's country Fest.
That's when it already happened. It's a spring though, right
August August it's Country Fest.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Well, we gotta we're gonna come back up bear Sandy.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Oh, it doesn't matter. I have my pull on that one.
I like it, Come on, I have on that one.
So I start on your schedule of what you've got
coming up. Boston's not on there. Where's the closest run
new hem? Sure do you do Maine? Do you do
any of those areas?
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Or so this summer we're not allowed to announce it yet.
We're gonna go out on tour with another artist this
summer and we're going to be close to y'all, so
you know.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Everybody out there.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
If you just follow Drew Baldridge Music, which is my Facebook,
Instagram and TikTok, it's all the same thing. We post
all our tour dates all the time where we're playing,
when we're playing, and you can follow along and we'll
be announcing more dates. Right at the start of the year.
We just announced that Cody Johnson tour and we're gonna
have more with some other artists coming up really soon.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
So when do you go back on tour?
Speaker 6 (35:43):
So I'm on tour pretty much all of the time.
So so like this weekend, we're playing in Indiana next weekend. Cool,
we are, Like if you go to Drew Baldridge music
dot com, you can see all the tour dates. But
we're officially doing our own headlining tour this November. Going
out for November in a couple of dates in December.
It's just called Drew Baldridge Live. It's celebrating cheet somebody's
(36:05):
daughter going number one. We're gonna be in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
We're gonna be.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
In Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta, not Boston. I really wish we
were coming to Boston, but there's a lot Florida. We're
gonna be playing a town called Niceville.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Is that right?
Speaker 6 (36:20):
Niceville, Florida, something like that, I think coming up in November.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I don't know. I'm a city slicker. I go back
to I go to Florida. I'm still around pavement. We
got part of Florida. It's actually funny. And I'll tell
you a little story. Charlie Walks a really good friend
of mine. He was the VP of Sony Records. And
when I first found you, I shared you with Charlie
because he's got his own label. Right, I go, Charlie,
just listen to him. Just listen to him. Ah, Sidney
Country is not okay, Charlie. And then like Millie, months later,
(36:46):
when Charlie is not at number three, and then you
went to number one. I go, you just lost out, buddy, right,
like I just I just love sticking it up. That's going, Okay,
you just lost out, buddy.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
It's now at a point that those labels aren't going
to come screaming out because it's what part of Florida Dustin?
What the heck is that?
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I don't know?
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Panhandle, Hanhandle?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Okay, probably down there like Branton, we rather went to school. Yeah,
probably how we on the hills Brayton. But what was
I just went, what was this thing?
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Charlie Walk?
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, so I was like, Charlie, well hit number one.
Now he doesn't need you anymore? Right? So do you
think now because of this, artists will realize if just
keep pushing the rock up the mountain, you don't need
these labels to make you feel bad.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yeah, you know, I think too, like.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Because there was a time you had depend on the labels.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yeah, you know, I think for like award shows and
things like that, you do need help. You know, you
do need votes, you need all this stuff. And so
we're very open to a partnership. I always think I'm
going to own at least half of what I'm doing,
you know, because I've worked so hard for it and
pushed so hard for it. But if we could find
like a real partner, a major label that wants to
come alongside of my label and be a partner.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And I'll be calling Charlie back tonight.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
You know, directly to Charlie too, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
Over the next little bit. I really believe that we
will find a partner, somebody that believes in our music
as much as ours.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Who is it that you'd love, who would be your
first choice to partner up with.
Speaker 6 (38:17):
There's this record there's this record label in Nashville called
b MG, and they are just really really good. They
have people like Laney Wilson, Jelly Roll, Jason al Dean.
They know what they're doing, They've been doing it forever.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I'm going to tell you something. I love Jaysontine. You
know why when he came up with that, because because
Christy Nome's a friend of mine. Number one, okay, and
number two when she go out behind him.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
On small town Oh yeah, small Town USA.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, and she you know, she stood right behind him
and said, look, he wasn't doing trying to put any
points across that he you know, wasn't what people wanted
to read into it and so on, and I thought
it was a great song. I know I'm a Boston
broad that las country, right, you can't make but actually
is a lot of it is a lot of us.
That's why we have the Bull here because.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
Yeah, and Boston is massive, massive country fans. You know.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
I know Kenny Chesney loves coming up there. He's got
a song called Boston. And I actually came up to Boston.
I did this tour. Right before I played the Backyards,
I had this song called Senior Year and it was
talking about how the hook of the song said, never
thought it would disappear senior year. And I put this
song out in twenty nineteen, just mean, live it up, kids,
It's going to go by fast. On twenty twenty, all
these kids in senior year did disappear. And I remember
(39:32):
sending this song around to radio stations and just saying, hey,
I'm doing zoom concerts for the class of twenty twenty
since school shut down. One of the very first stations
I sent it to was up there in y'all's area,
and I ended up coming in and playing a graduation
a drive in graduation in debt Ham Debtham.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, it's down the street from us.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
So we've been up there a couple of times and
played for the seniors and did a big senior send
off for all the graduations. When twenty twenty hit, we
was on a big flatbed trailer, had all the kids
pull up in their cars and I was on on
this big trailer by myself, just kind of giving a
commencement speech right there and little deadhim Dedham.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Massachusets, Massachusetts. It's actually a big get him that's so small,
you know, all that thought we're going to break. I'm
Sinny Stumbley. He looks tough his nails on WBZ with
Radio at Temper. Can't you steal me the next one?
(40:34):
And welcome back to Cindy Stumpo tough his nails on
WBZ And I'm here with Sammy, I'm here with Drew Joe.
The song just makes me cry every time I hear it.
I'm sorry, but it's just so beautiful, so beautiful.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
Appreciate y'all having me on here, and I appreciate y'all
letting me let me talk about my music. And we're
so excited to be out on the road this fall
and you can check out all our tour dates at
Drew balderge music dot com.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
And at the start of the year, we're gonna be.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Going out on tour Cody Johnson, our first ever arena tour,
which is crazy to think. We're to be playing for
like fourteen or fifteen thousand people a night, and we're
hoping to come up y'all's area really really soon. And
we've got a brand new song and it's called Tough People.
You on my socials which is just Drew Baldridge Music, TikTok,
Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
And please tag me in all of it, okay, because
I got a lot of follow us, Okay, so please, okay, everybody,
have a great, safe weekend. This is Cindy Stump and
we'll see you next day.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
Night,
For thirty five years, Cindy Stumpo has been a female
home builder with a passion for design, a mastery of detail,
and a commitment to her crack. With daughter Samantha Stumpo
by her side, I.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Don't need my whole family on a date with me.
That's a good no. It's godemn weird.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
See. Stumpo Development is the only second generation female construction
company in the country.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You're crazy, You're a wacko.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You're insane.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I mean, it just doesn't end together. Cindy and Samantha
welcome guests to explore the world of construction, real estate, development,
design and more.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
You're unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Every time I think I know what you want, you
switch it out.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
But that's what makes sure houses all you need.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Discuss anything that happens between the roof and the foundation.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Nothing is off limits.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You truly do care about everybody. She can yell at
SHEI get screen, but when you get her alone, she's
the best person on the planet. Cindy Stumpo is tough
as nails.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And welcome to Cindy Stumbo Tough his nails on WBZ
News Radio ten thirty and I'm in the studio tonight
with Sammy. I gotta really She'll guess so country music started.
Drew Baldwich Drew So, Drew.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
I'm actually very impressed that she got your name right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Why is you stuck? Okay? Yeah, I could call you Tim,
I could call you Bob, but no, I found Drew.
It's kind of funny, you know how social media works.
On my Instagram and I played that one song and
I started to cry. I had to be. I was
one of those emotional moms at the moment, and she's
somebody's daughter. Can she's got that lat? And I came
on like can she have me for three more? And
(01:28):
I was like, oh, I got to watch this whole thing.
And then it went out right. I didn't get the
whole song. I'm like pissed. I'm like, all right, let
me find it somewhere else. I could at the time.
And I reach out to you when you're climbing three
in the charts and you're hit number one, buddy crazy,
And I come from a generation where like you needed
Sony Records and you needed RCA and back and you know,
(01:48):
to get you to that level and you did it yourself, man.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
Yes, And it has been an absolutely crazy ride for
me and from my family. You know, back in fifteen
to twenty nineteen, I did have a record deal. It
was a small end Pennic company, and we put out
some songs and none of them really worked like we
want them to. They all kind of died in the forties.
And you know, twenty twenty year olls around COVID. I
obviously hits and I lose that record deal. The guy
(02:12):
had owned it, he decided to close down their label,
and I was like, well, that's that kind of sucks
for me. And you know, I never I never got
another label. And it's kind of like in Nashville, kind
of get one shot. You know, you get a record deal,
you put out a couple of songs. If it doesn't work,
they kind of move on to the next, which I get.
You know, I understand that. And but I had this
song that I saw that I really believed in and
(02:33):
it was working. It was blowing up on TikTok and
streaming and all that stuff, and I was like, man,
I want to just give this a real chance. I'm
going to hire my own staff, create my own label,
and send this song country radio by myself.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And that's it. So what'd you play like? An? What
was it call? Back in the day? Ar guy, ar Guy,
I forget the name. Give it them me. I'm in
a studio at how Hot Media. I should know the
spine now, but I think back in my day was
called A and R an R. Thank you. We're guys
just ran around and said, hey, to play this song. Dude,
(03:08):
play this song, Dude, play this song.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Does that mean something else?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Now?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Those in our plans, I don't know care about that.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
It was just like, you know, I knew I had
a song that was working. And then the biggest thing
is in radio and in the country space is that
you've got to have promo reps. So what that means
is just like, if you're going to start any business
and you want to take it all across the country,
you've got to have reps in every market. So let's
say if we were, you know, selling shoes, and we
we were Nike, we would have a Northeast rep, a
(03:36):
Southeast rep, a Midwest rep, and a West Coast rep.
And they would go out to all the stores and say, hey,
put my shoes in your store. So what I had
to do is I had to hire those people for
country radio. So how that works is every label in
Nashville all has a Northeast, a Southeast REP, a Midwest REP,
and a West Coast rep. And what that does is
they go around to radio stations and they say, hey,
play play my boy, play my song. And so what
(03:59):
I did is I just had to create my own
staff and hire people that was really respected already in
the business, that have been doing it for a long time.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And and we went around to Raidio hod On.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Did you forget Boston because I'm the one running running
into the bull?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Boston was a big market and we, you know, stopped
in up there and they started playing our song. And
they've been so good to us. You know, country radio
in general, just radio has really latched onto our story,
especially us. You know, it's kind of like you said earlier, Cindy,
like most of the time you hear this is a
Sony artist, or this is a Warner or Universal artist,
and it's just it's our own record label. And it's
(04:35):
never been done before. For an artist to independently self
fund their first number one, that's never happened. And now
the world has really changed, the times have changed, and
I just think it really is a big win for
artists all across the format, all format of just like, hey,
now you can have a real chance in today's modern
society if if a song is working and people love it,
(04:57):
you can get it played on radio. And that's what
we just proved, which is exciting for me.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And what took you there? Was it social media? Completely?
Was it Instagram? What was it like? You came on
my Instagram like you just popped in? Well, yeah I
liked it. I hit follow, and that's it. I was
in love, right, That's just how I was.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yeah, well it was. It's crazy story.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So I put this song out all the way back
in twenty nineteen, Cindy, and it kind of just set out.
It was on my old record label. We put it out,
and then the record label shut down and it just
sit there. It did nothing. So then in twenty twenty one,
me and my wife were getting married and it was
always her favorite song, so I thought, man, I'm going
to go in the studio and I'm going to make
(05:38):
a wedding version. So it's just me and a piano
and a cello and just so she could dance to
it with her dad. So that's what I did. I
went in the studio, made a wedding version, and she
danced to it with her dad. It was so special.
And the next week I got on TikTok. We were
on our honeymoon and I just said, hey, if this
gets five thousand likes, i'll put it out on Friday.
It was a Wednesday night and I posted this TikTok.
(06:02):
I fell asleep and I woke up the next morning.
I had almost ten million views in four hours, and
I was like, man, every record label is going to
be calling, and nobody. I had some LA labels called,
but nobody in Nashville. And I couldn't get anybody's excited.
But you know, twenty twenty one, from twenty one to
twenty three, it was blowing up on TikTok. Everybody was
using it in videos, dad's daughters, and then that you know,
(06:25):
transformed over to Instagram to Facebook, and you know, I
looked up one day and the song had almost a
billion plays on TikTok and I was like, oh my goodness,
look at all these people were reaching. How do we
not have a record deal? Why is Nashville, not caring
about this. I'm watching all the streams happen in real time.
I'm playing shows, everybody's singing every word back. And that's
(06:47):
when I said, you know what, screw it, I'm just
going to do it myself. I'm going to really try this.
I know it's going to be expensive, but I don't
want to look back in thirty years and say, why
did't I freaking try with a song that was reaching
so many people and touching so many people's hearts. That's
what we did. And it's crazy to think that we're
a year later and sending now. We have a we
have a manager, we have a booking agent, I have
(07:08):
I'm getting ready to go out on tour with Cody Johnson,
who's like one of the biggest artists in country music,
and we have other tours lined up for twenty twenty five.
And it's all because we didn't We didn't stop believing,
you know, And I think that's just so important for
any business that you're in, no matter if it's radio,
if it's you know, a job that you love so much,
and you believe in yourself, keep going, keep believing, and
(07:32):
doors will open. And that's kind of the message that
we've been sharing throughout this whole process.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So you've been doing this for how long?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Now?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You're how old?
Speaker 4 (07:40):
I'm thirty three? So I moved in there?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yes, such a big thirty three. Okay, so is so old? So?
And you started how long ago?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I moved to Nashville at nineteen. So, uh, Richard, June
of next year, I'll be fourteen years. I've lived in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And you're originally from where I grew up.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
In southern Ellen, a little town called Patoka, town of
five hundred people.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And you thought by playing in all the bars in
Nashville you get picked up, and you did get picked
up by a record label, but it really didn't do
much and they probably shelfed you back in those days, right,
is that what they did?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah? Yeah, we got picked up.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
I was so young. You know when I first moved
to town. Everything happened fast. I moved here at nineteen.
I end up signing a songwriting deal at twenty one,
and then you know, twenty three, I'm signed to a
record deal. You know, just four years in Nashville, four
or five years in Nashville, and I'm on tour with
some of the biggest artists in the format, playing every
live nation festival, all the festivals, everything, and you know,
(08:38):
then twenty twenty comes and all that kind of goes
away because of COVID, and I had this kind of
idea that just kept me going. I was on my
last straw and I was just like, you know what,
Nashville's kind of giving up. I'm just gonna post on
my social media Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and just say hey,
I'll play in anybody's backyard.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Were you went.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Did you have a job at the time, like doing
construction or anything, like you just putting all you tough this.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
It was just all music. You know.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
By this time here it is twenty twenty. I've been
to Nashville for nine years. All I've made a living
buy is just playing.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Wait, we just hold that thought because we've got to
go to break and then we'ld be right back. Okay,
all right, I like it. Okay, thank you. I'm Citty Stump.
When you're listening to Tough as Nails on w BZ
News Radio ten thirty, be right.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Back, sponsored by Floor and Decor, National Lumber and Village Back.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Baby Here will why dress in a black Tomes first
night with the same last name every hears on this
and you look just logging names spinning round on this floor.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Never been so in love, never been so sure.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
But baby when our song.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And welcome back to Toughest Nails on w BZ News
Radio and I'm Sindy, I'm Samantha and we're here with
Drew baldrig.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Hey, what's it feel like when you hear that song
for the hundred thousand times?
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Though?
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Oh my goodness, It's never gets old. It never gets old.
It's such a blessing. I you know, a lot of
people get frustrated. I talk to artists, are like, man,
I'm so wore out on the song that, you know,
my my first number one song, And I was just
so lucky that mine is says a lot about who
(10:32):
I am, It's about my wife, and it's just a
song that that I'll never get tired of. You know,
I'm very thankful for it. It's a song that, you know,
has now allowed me to go on tour and have
people sing along and things and do dreams that I
thought would never be possible, and so I'm very very.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Thankful for it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
And then I fell in love with the other song
Can I Have this Last Dance?
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And that's your can she have? Yeah? Okay, can she
have the Last Dance? But the point was I was
in like again one of my like you know, Chad
and I were fighting my son at the time, like
what a beautiful song, right.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Like.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
They're just heartfelt, right, They're just the lyrics are just there.
The music's just great like it is, and you deserve
every bit of success that you're getting right now, and
you've worked hard for it.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
And this song, you know, it's so funny. Both of
these songs were the songs that I I kind of
wrote for my wedding. You know, Can She Have This
Dance was something I just wrote for my mom so
I could dance with her on our wedding night. My
wife wanted me to write all the special dance songs,
and so I wrote this song.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It's almost have been one wedding that everybody was crying
a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Yeah, yeah it was.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
And you know it's so funny. It was just me
and a guitar that I recorded it really really quick,
that can She Have This Dance? And I thought it
was special. And then me and my wife we now
have a little baby boy, and uh, I listened to
this song again, can she have this dance?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Holding?
Speaker 6 (12:07):
I was holding my son, my wife was out running errands,
and I came across this song. I had studio time
the next day. I didn't know what I was going
to record.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean that, I don't know. That will be my
song when my son gets married, for sure. That's how
much I love that song. But let's go back a
little bit, bringing back to a little bit of your
childhood late. What was that like growing up.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Fifty people, Cindy.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I don't know if that's like I think I graduated
with a class just about five hundred kids in that class.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah, so I had I graduated twenty two kids in
my class. And it was just I grew up on
you know, my grandpa had a farm, so we spent
a lot of time on tractors and four wheelers and
you know, growing up fishing, jumping the fence behind the
house and and going over to the farm across the way.
And it was, man, it was a really good life.
(13:02):
And and a lot of people ask why you why
do you sing country? And it's just like, man, it's
all I know. It's it's what I grew up doing.
You know, we grew up riding back roads and sitting
on tailgates, people drinking cold beer, sitting around fires, and
that was our fun.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Our fun was was being out in the woods, being
out in the sticks, and.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We did how any causes you tip, Drew, I just
need to know.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
We had about a little over one hundred head of
beef cows and how the cow calf business Grandpa did
and my brother, you know, he still does that my cousins.
I was the only one that kind of got a
got out and was playing music.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I was the black sheep of the family. You know.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
We'd be throwing haybales and I'd be singing by the
door and turning the lights down the little and they'd
be like shut up, and you just shut your mouth,
like you getting on our nerves. And yeah, it was
just I just loved music. It was so I grew
up singing in church and my dad dad saying, and
so we spent a lot of time riding around in
the truck with my dad singing, and.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Didn't really figure out at what age that you really
could sing just like naturally.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Yeah, I think it was first grade Christmas program when
I performed for my first time in front of people,
and that was when I really got the bug. When
you know, we got done singing and everybody started clapping
and screaming. I was like, oh man, we must be
pretty good at this. It was just really then after that,
you know, we didn't have a music program. We were
so small. We didn't have football, we didn't have a
(14:33):
music program, nothing like that. Because we're K through twelve school,
all one school. So what the school I started in
kindergarten with? That's the same school I graduated with.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Which part did you miss? Sammy? Twenty two people we
went to school with us something like that. I had
graduating class, I think the whole thing. I think they
went from k to senior.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was twenty two in my class.
I think from from kindergarten to senior was about a
couple hundred kids, a little under two hundred, one hundred
and sixty something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Is your wife from there or did you meet your
wife where you are now?
Speaker 6 (15:04):
So I met my wife when I was out on
the road about eight years ago, seven or eight years
ago up. And she's from Illinois too, And I was
playing a show up there at at a college town
Western Illinois University town called McComb and I was passing
through playing a show and I met her out at
a bar afterwards and became friends, and she moved here
a handful of years later, and we just got together
(15:24):
and had dinner the first night we've been together ever since.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
It's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It's actually funny because right now we've got you streaming
into chatter, which is it's an audio device. I don't
know if you've heard a clubhouse ever heard of twitter X,
so chatter twitter x where you can actually go into
audio and talk to people blah blah blah. So you're
actually streaming in there and people saying, oh, well, they've
heard your song and that's going to be that song
(15:51):
to dance with their Yeah, either or whatever. I ors
either way, I guess it can work both ways. Is
it's just a beautiful song. But so you realized you
met your wife, Okay, did you know? Did you fall
in love with her right away? I?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Did you know?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
It was Uh, you know, it was kind of a
long process. We met and uh I had a girlfriend
at the time and I was out on the road,
so you know, we just said hello that first night.
I think how it happened was we were at a
bar and there was some guy really hitting on her
and bothering her, and she just leaned down.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
She's like, can you just talk to me until he
goes away. I was like, sure, yeah, I'll talk.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
To you, and so we talked and became friends that night,
and I came back the next year to that same venue.
We were playing and I was single, and so I
hit her up. I think it was probably on Facebook.
I slid into her DMS and I was like, hey,
I'm playing a show tonight, like you should come out,
blah blah blah. And she hit me right back and
(16:50):
is like I can't. I got to work tomorrow. And
she never came.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
How that works.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yeah, so she blew me off, and I was like, dang,
it only always works and girls always came out, and.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
So she was just this one didn't.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
This one didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
There was something special about her, and so we just
became friends and talked a lot, and you know, she
said she always wanted to live in Nashville. She moved
down here a couple of years later, and yeah, we
got dinner one night. And when she moved down here.
We've been together ever since, pretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And then how long before you married her?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
It took me five years?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I think.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I think I proposed at four years, and then we
ended up getting married and right at our five year mark.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And then let me just get married, have the baby,
and have the hip music at the same time.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Hey, that's what I'm talking about. And she's been such
a big supporter of this, you know, Cindy. It was
not having a record label. It was just kind of
me and her, you know. And this was the song
started streaming. She somebody's daughter started streaming like crazy, and
that was the first time we were really making money,
you know, we started seeing money come in from this.
And then I look at her and say, hey, so it's.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Been that money.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm still on the iTunes and I'll pay and that
one of those songs is at the highest number still, okay.
So that's how you know when the songs are hit,
because you ain't paying nine nine cents anymore. Okay, you're
in the dollar what is it? Dull ninety nine? Right?
So my kids go time, mom, why you still buy
music on iTunes?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Leave me alone. I don't care. They're like just one
one yearly fee. Yeah, it's just easy dull nine nine,
click right and it comes on. So do they take
care of you guys on those iTunes? And they really
pay what they're supposed to pay. Because a friend of mine,
I don't know if you know the name Wendy Stalin.
I don't so Wendy, And actually I should hook you
(18:38):
up with Wendy. She's got a new app coming out
and she was the she found Lady Gaga. Okay, and
so all these musicians are not getting their fair share
of the money and that's the problem, and that's what
she's doing right now. But she's she's a big player
in that space. Lady Gaga obviously was a big home
(19:00):
run for her. But that's an introduction I'll make for
you as time goes on here. All that thought, Oh no,
I don't have to all that thought. I know, don't
you stick that? They stick that thing in my face
like my clock is running out? All right, go ahead,
I'll make I'll make Ross happy. We'll go to break
and be right back. I'm city stuff who listens to
his nails, and we'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
W B sponsored by Pellow Windows of Boston. Next Day
molding and Kennedy Carpet can.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
So City Cake became fat the world manner of fat.
Speaker 8 (19:49):
She's more than just a briefect in a lay night ball,
more than just a paratig sitting in you.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And welcome back to Tough his Nails on WBC, And
I'm Cindy Stumpo and I'm here with.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
And Drew Balders, you buddy.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Both those songs just kill it. I mean they just
kill it. It is what it is. I can't take
it away. I listen to them. I swear to God
it every They're in my car, there, they're home on
so no nos, I'm blasting that all over the place.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
Looking back, you happy how it happened versus how you
thought it was going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Well, the record label taking half his money got.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
More well, I think too, Like.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
Sometimes sometimes in life we feel like, you know, in
moments when things are going bad, you're like, this is
the worst thing that can.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Possibly happen to me.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
And I remember losing the record deal, losing the manager,
losing all of it, and thinking like, wow, this is
as low as it gets, you know, and then just
learning from all those all those loads, and you know,
without without all those learning curves and curveballs throwing my way.
I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have a numb one
by myself. I wouldn't have been the first artist to
ever do this. And sometimes I feel like God, you know,
(21:06):
prepares you for those moments and you don't even recognize it.
And for me, you know, without all those trials, without
all those errors, I'm not where I'm at right now.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So my daughter's got something to say to you, since
she's missed astrology, right She's going to tell you why
it didn't work out, Because why, Sam.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
So, I was doing the math backwards for your age
now and when this happened in twenty nineteen brings you
back roughly five years through around twenty eight twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
So there's this thing called you're sat in return where
satin is roughly between twenty eight and thirty years where
it was when you were born. And life like throws
things at you, whether you pick the right path of
the wrong path. Now, you kept getting hit with things
over and over again that you had never experienced before,
and it could have brought you down a really bad path,
and it didn't. It brought you to a better situation
(21:54):
than you could have thought of. But it doesn't always
work that way for everybody. Because you made the right choices,
follow me.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Man, I mean, that's that's pretty powerful. I think. I
don't know if they.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Were the right choices or they were just the ballsy ones,
you know at the time.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
He is a good thing, buddy. I live with them
all day long. Okay, I got about four of them. Okay,
most men have two. I got four.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
And it was just like, Hey, this is my dream,
this is what I want to do. I'm gonna chase it,
and I'm I'm gonna do it till the wheels fall off.
You know, this is all I want to do in
my life. And you know, if that means I fall
flat on my face, try and I'm gonna go down swinging.
And I just really believed, like I said, believed in
this song, believed in the message of it.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And that's what was so cool.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
Was like the song that ends up being our biggest
song that gets over a billion plays, billions, you know,
views or whatever, talking about treating women right and knowing
they're worth and I just think that's.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Such a powerful.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, excuse me, gentlemen, did you hear that. You just
said something that's very resonating, that it's teaching men how
to treat women. Yeah, now I don't know. I mean
you might be a closet case. He's feed her. I
don't know. But you don't come off that way. So
I'm not going to take you as that person. So
you should be that face is kind. He's always seeming
(23:09):
like Sharaija, goat kind dice. Okay, now we're going by
kind ice. What's what you said?
Speaker 5 (23:14):
What?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
What? What? What's the sign? I don't know what's your sign?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
My sign's a LEO?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Was right by leos and tourists lately.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Little fire sign out there?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What's your wife?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
She's she's a leo too, So we got a lot
of fire going.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
On fish family too. I'm a kid, sir, I'm the
double side, oh double sage.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
The fire, I'm aris fire.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So that morning when you woke up and you saw
all those views, were you jumping around the house or
wherever you were?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. So we were on our honeymoon.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
We were in our little condo and me and my
wife were jumping around, crying all sorts of things, Like.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Every record label is going to call us we got
to hit blah blah blah.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
And that just didn't happen. You know, I went, I remember,
I'll never forget. We were on our honeymoon. I've made
the post already about playing people's back I booked a
bunch of people's backyards. And when we land from our honeymoon,
my tour manager comes in in the van, picks me
up from the airport, and we go out and we
played twenty shows in nineteen days in people's backyards, back
(24:16):
to back to back to back, just going around the country.
And that turns into playing over three hundred shows in
a couple of years in people's backyards. And I just
that's what I thought my life was going to be
for a long time, is just being the guy that's
sang in people's backyards. But I'll tell you this, Cindy,
when I was in when I was in folks back backyards,
it really just changed everything for me because I was
(24:37):
so caught in this Nashville system, and I think artists
we moved to Nashville, LA, New York or whatever, and
you get so caught up and thinking I got to
make music for all these label heads. I gotta make
music that sounds like the radio or it sounds like this,
and at the end of the day, you just got
to make music for people. And I didn't realize that
until I was in their backyards and they were telling me, Man,
(24:57):
this song means so much to me because of this,
or this song so much to me because of that,
and you know, and now I wrote it turned it
into me writing my brand new single. It's called Tough People,
and it's a really really special song just about how
tough times can sure make some tough people. When you're
at your lowest loves, you really figure out who you are.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I don't you know. Look at I'm watching you, like
I said, and I've been following you on Instagram, and
you're more impressive being right in my face right now.
And I didn't think that was gonna be possible. You
hit the but something about morals and values, like big
Time Samuel will tell you, like, I either love you
or I don't even like you. How's that right? You're
(25:39):
either evil or you're a good human being, right, And
I just like the human beings, and that's what you are,
and you deserve so much good success. And I can
see the way that you treat your wife. And I
think any mother should be so proud to have you
as a son in law because and I'm sure your
wife's a wonderful woman too. To take me, it takes
(26:00):
two people to I'm gonna meet it, trust me. I'm
gonna meet both. You trust me, okay, And but at
the end, it's just this is there's just this gleam.
And Sim'll tell you, like I'll stroll through things on
Instagram and you see my follows, and you see are
you following Sidney Stomp? I'm not sure, but my content
(26:22):
has got a lot of back and forth, back and forth,
and I'm way over my algorithm of what I should have.
But there's tons of everybody's got something to say. Right,
you're gonna love that about people. Right, you're gonna get
your hits, You're gonna get you knocks, she's gonna get
your likes. And me on the other side, every time
I get a guy and that comes in and knocks me
after thirty eight years an ultra ultra high end construction. Right,
(26:43):
and dude, you got a bathroom from home? Deepo, Like
you're seriously gonna come at me. I will just emasculate them, right.
So one guy writes back, He's like, do you really
answer these? I thought you didn't read these? Like, oh nobody.
This is a sport for me. You just you just
hit up a Boston broad like, buddy, what do you
think was gonna happen here?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Like?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Did you think I was gonna come in?
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Can be kind? It's actually funny. But what's been most
of your feedback on your social media besides the hate is.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
It's all been very positive? You know, I think social
media can be what you make it.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Obviously for me, that's what changed my life with social
media was daughter blowing She's somebody's daughter blowing up? Can
she have this dance? Just like you said, Cindy, you
found us and discovered us because of social media, and
you know, it's all. What I love about social media
is what you put out there is who follows you.
And that's something that I've really noticed. By playing people's backyards,
everybody's like, man, did you run into some weird people
(27:38):
out there playing people's backyards? And you just showed up
and you didn't know them? And I was like, man,
to be honest, there are mostly people that I would
hang out with. There are people that have the same
morals that I do, the same you know, kind of
vibe on life. And it's all because what you put
out into the world is what is it the people
that follow you? And I never really put that all together,
(27:58):
but it's all been really great.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Obviously, you always have some people on there that are
that are haters, and you know, I might post a
picture of my wife and and me, and there's been
times where you know, she's in her bikini or whatever
and we're out on the boat and people come at
her and say hateful things to her, and that really
bothers me more than anything, I think is when people
come at my family, you know. I remember we posted
(28:20):
a picture this past Christmas of me, her, Santa Claus,
and our son, and my wife had a little red
dress on. It was the first time she felt pretty
since we've had our son, and she was going out
dressed up and people started attacking to her, calling all
sorts of names because she had a you know, a
pretty looking dress on. And so it can definitely be
(28:41):
you know, social media can be tough and rude and hateful,
but for the most part, a lot of people on
our socials are really kind and if I if I
don't think so, I just block them. I just delete
them and block them.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's now, that's the same. It does what I do.
I wait for you to come back again, and I
go after your throw it again. Okay, well, yell at
them for you and then they eventually like they just
they just like go away like little bugs, right because
they're not ready for that.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
So that's right there.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
That's total Boston. But you know, look at I realized
that I wasn't made for HGTV. I wasn't made for
TV because I could take the hits. But when they
were coming after my kids, oh yeah, watch out, it
was just I decided, like, you know, what can your
son do more than golf? He's a he's an amateur
pro golfer. Like, what else should you do? Well, maybe
(29:31):
you should be sitting on a street corner shooting drugs
and his arm. I don't know. So you weren't supposed
to go on the HGTV website. I did it, and
then I got yelled at. I'm like fighting me, HGTV.
They're like, we can't fight you, Cindy. I'm like, well,
then then leave me alone, right, So yeah, I mean,
something's a hurtful and we have to learn to accept
the good with the bat hold that thought we're going
to break. I'm Sidy stumbling. Listen, top his nails on
(29:51):
WBZ and We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Sponsored by new Brook Realty Group, Boston, would Smaller Insurance
World Auto Body and Tosca Drive Auto Body.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
She somebody's do she, somebody's everything, ge, somebody's fattal girly
on it.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
She's grown up.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And welcome back to tap his nails on WBZ. And
I'm Sindy and I'm here with Samantha, and now we
see each other. Buddy, this is better. You know we
look like here. That's good. We've been watching you. So,
I mean, I got so many questions. See him go ahead,
she went on, So as your career was going, and
(30:39):
where you stand right now?
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So it was at one point with somebody saying, hey, buddy,
you need to get a real job, like you better
go cut some lumber, you better stop building houses, how
to be a mechanic, Like anybody tort you that way
or they were just had your back.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
It was I think whenever I first moved here, you know,
my My mama was worried about that. You know, I
think there were some people in my life worried about that.
But I was always just so lucky. I found a
way to make a living playing bars. And when I
first moved here, I'll never forget I made a I
had this envelope and I sat in my computer and
I had my guitar and I sang like forty songs
into my old MacBook, and I had had the CDs,
(31:15):
and I made cards that said my name and my
phone number on them. And I walked down all of
Broadway in Nashville and I took these envelopes into every
bar and I was like, Hey, my name's Drew Baldridge.
Is your music director here? And they'd be like, nah,
just put it on the desk. I'd be like, oh cool.
So I'd set it on the desk and I'd leave.
And then I walked into Tutsies one night one day
(31:37):
and I was like, hey, is your music director? They're like, yeah,
he's actually upstairs, and it was like something out of
a movie.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I actually called yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I was st and this guy's counting hundreds on his
desk and I walked in. I was like, hey, I'm Drew,
you know, and he's like, you want to play our bar?
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I was like yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
He's like, you know about forty songs Old country and
New Country. And I was like, yeah, I sure do.
He's like, I tell you what I like the way
you look. You go up tomorrow. And I was like,
oh okay. So I went, you know, started playing at Tutsies,
and that allowed me to make a living and all
at this time. You know, where I'm from is only
four hours from Nashville. So I would go up every
Friday and Saturday and play bars in my hometown area
(32:17):
where I came from, and then I would play Tuesday
Thursdays in downtown Nashville.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And that's the name Tutsy is like I think a
roadhouse when I hear Tutsies, Rightidaville, you think of wild Listen.
Boston is so different, right, Like it's so different from
where you grew up. And you know where you live now,
tell me something your roots home? Right? So how far
(32:46):
away from your mom? Know you that you live?
Speaker 6 (32:49):
We're four hours you know, I live in Nashville. They
still live up in Illinois. All my family does they still,
like I said, my brother still works on the farm
and my cousins still do.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And that's really fun.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
Tomorrow we're actually having our number one party in Nashville
tomorrow for She's somebody's daughter. It's our first ever number
one party, and so all of my family is coming
down to go to it, so my brother and you know,
my mom and having what's that, No, it's gonna be
a it's gonna be at a rooftop in downtown Nashville,
which would be super cool. And we actually today we
(33:21):
craned in ash like turf, so the whole rooftop it
looks like a big backyard. So we can kind of
say we went from backyards to having a number one
song in country music, which is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So they're only a four hour drive from you.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Yeah, only four hours there in southern Illinois.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
How proud?
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Oh well, it was fun this this last weekend. Every year,
I do a festival in my hometown. I called the
I called the tour the Baldridge and Bonfire Tour, And
so I thought, when I was riding around playing backyards,
I thought, ma'am, how cool would be if I did
a big one called up the Big Baldridge and Bonfire
And so this is my third year. Last weekend we
did it and all my hometown people came and big festival,
(34:02):
you know, a thousand people come out. And then I
actually do one in my wife's hometown too that we
just started. And so that was the past two weekends.
We were up in Illinois visiting them, playing festival, and
it was it just that's a special event. We get
to raise money for charity and I just always really
really love helping out our small town area.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Country fest' Let's stadium? Yeah, oh, oh, you haven't played
je Lette Stadium yet country Fest? Have you?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I haven't yet. No.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I have played a bar outside of Gillette Stadium. What's
that bar there called? There's a bar club, dance club
outside of Jillette Stadium across the street, maybe something strings.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
She's at every game. How you should know the semi.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
I don't hang out around there.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Well, it doesn't matter. We gotta get when's country Fest.
That's when it already happened. It's a spring though, right
August August it's Country Fest.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Well, we gotta we're gonna come back up bear Sandy.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Oh, it doesn't matter. I have my pull on that one.
I like it, Come on, I have on that one.
So I start on your schedule of what you've got
coming up. Boston's not on there. Where's the closest run
new hem? Sure do you do Maine? Do you do
any of those areas?
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Or so this summer we're not allowed to announce it yet.
We're gonna go out on tour with another artist this
summer and we're going to be close to y'all, so
you know.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Everybody out there.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
If you just follow Drew Baldridge Music, which is my Facebook,
Instagram and TikTok, it's all the same thing. We post
all our tour dates all the time where we're playing,
when we're playing, and you can follow along and we'll
be announcing more dates. Right at the start of the year.
We just announced that Cody Johnson tour and we're gonna
have more with some other artists coming up really soon.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
So when do you go back on tour?
Speaker 6 (35:43):
So I'm on tour pretty much all of the time.
So so like this weekend, we're playing in Indiana next weekend. Cool,
we are, Like if you go to Drew Baldridge music
dot com, you can see all the tour dates. But
we're officially doing our own headlining tour this November. Going
out for November in a couple of dates in December.
It's just called Drew Baldridge Live. It's celebrating cheet somebody's
(36:05):
daughter going number one. We're gonna be in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
We're gonna be.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
In Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta, not Boston. I really wish we
were coming to Boston, but there's a lot Florida. We're
gonna be playing a town called Niceville.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Is that right?
Speaker 6 (36:20):
Niceville, Florida, something like that, I think coming up in November.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I don't know. I'm a city slicker. I go back
to I go to Florida. I'm still around pavement. We
got part of Florida. It's actually funny. And I'll tell
you a little story. Charlie Walks a really good friend
of mine. He was the VP of Sony Records. And
when I first found you, I shared you with Charlie
because he's got his own label. Right, I go, Charlie,
just listen to him. Just listen to him. Ah, Sidney
Country is not okay, Charlie. And then like Millie, months later,
(36:46):
when Charlie is not at number three, and then you
went to number one. I go, you just lost out, buddy, right,
like I just I just love sticking it up. That's going, Okay,
you just lost out, buddy.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
It's now at a point that those labels aren't going
to come screaming out because it's what part of Florida Dustin?
What the heck is that?
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I don't know?
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Panhandle, Hanhandle?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Okay, probably down there like Branton, we rather went to school. Yeah,
probably how we on the hills Brayton. But what was
I just went, what was this thing?
Speaker 5 (37:18):
Charlie Walk?
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, so I was like, Charlie, well hit number one.
Now he doesn't need you anymore? Right? So do you
think now because of this, artists will realize if just
keep pushing the rock up the mountain, you don't need
these labels to make you feel bad.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Yeah, you know, I think too, like.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Because there was a time you had depend on the labels.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yeah, you know, I think for like award shows and
things like that, you do need help. You know, you
do need votes, you need all this stuff. And so
we're very open to a partnership. I always think I'm
going to own at least half of what I'm doing,
you know, because I've worked so hard for it and
pushed so hard for it. But if we could find
like a real partner, a major label that wants to
come alongside of my label and be a partner.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And I'll be calling Charlie back tonight.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
You know, directly to Charlie too, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
Over the next little bit. I really believe that we
will find a partner, somebody that believes in our music
as much as ours.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Who is it that you'd love, who would be your
first choice to partner up with.
Speaker 6 (38:17):
There's this record there's this record label in Nashville called
b MG, and they are just really really good. They
have people like Laney Wilson, Jelly Roll, Jason al Dean.
They know what they're doing, They've been doing it forever.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I'm going to tell you something. I love Jaysontine. You
know why when he came up with that, because because
Christy Nome's a friend of mine. Number one, okay, and
number two when she go out behind him.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
On small town Oh yeah, small Town USA.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, and she you know, she stood right behind him
and said, look, he wasn't doing trying to put any
points across that he you know, wasn't what people wanted
to read into it and so on, and I thought
it was a great song. I know I'm a Boston
broad that las country, right, you can't make but actually
is a lot of it is a lot of us.
That's why we have the Bull here because.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
Yeah, and Boston is massive, massive country fans. You know.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
I know Kenny Chesney loves coming up there. He's got
a song called Boston. And I actually came up to Boston.
I did this tour. Right before I played the Backyards,
I had this song called Senior Year and it was
talking about how the hook of the song said, never
thought it would disappear senior year. And I put this
song out in twenty nineteen, just mean, live it up, kids,
It's going to go by fast. On twenty twenty, all
these kids in senior year did disappear. And I remember
(39:32):
sending this song around to radio stations and just saying, hey,
I'm doing zoom concerts for the class of twenty twenty
since school shut down. One of the very first stations
I sent it to was up there in y'all's area,
and I ended up coming in and playing a graduation
a drive in graduation in debt Ham Debtham.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, it's down the street from us.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
So we've been up there a couple of times and
played for the seniors and did a big senior send
off for all the graduations. When twenty twenty hit, we
was on a big flatbed trailer, had all the kids
pull up in their cars and I was on on
this big trailer by myself, just kind of giving a
commencement speech right there and little deadhim Dedham.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Massachusets, Massachusetts. It's actually a big get him that's so small,
you know, all that thought we're going to break. I'm
Sinny Stumbley. He looks tough his nails on WBZ with
Radio at Temper. Can't you steal me the next one?
(40:34):
And welcome back to Cindy Stumpo tough his nails on
WBZ And I'm here with Sammy, I'm here with Drew Joe.
The song just makes me cry every time I hear it.
I'm sorry, but it's just so beautiful, so beautiful.
Speaker 6 (40:46):
Appreciate y'all having me on here, and I appreciate y'all
letting me let me talk about my music. And we're
so excited to be out on the road this fall
and you can check out all our tour dates at
Drew balderge music dot com.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
And at the start of the year, we're gonna be.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Going out on tour Cody Johnson, our first ever arena tour,
which is crazy to think. We're to be playing for
like fourteen or fifteen thousand people a night, and we're
hoping to come up y'all's area really really soon. And
we've got a brand new song and it's called Tough People.
You on my socials which is just Drew Baldridge Music, TikTok,
Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
And please tag me in all of it, okay, because
I got a lot of follow us, Okay, so please, okay, everybody,
have a great, safe weekend. This is Cindy Stump and
we'll see you next day.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
Night,
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