October 8, 2025 • 35 mins
Is rodeo the key to saving American culture—and our boys? Raymond Arroyo sits down with the founders of the Hondo Rodeo Fest to explore how rodeo, faith, family, and country music are coming together to inspire the next generation. From Phoenix to Nashville and beyond, the “World Series of Rodeo” is bringing families back to authentic adventure, values, and tradition.
Guests include Founders: James Trawick (CEO), Blake Cody (Managing Partner), and Bob Coker (President), who share how they built a national rodeo and music festival rooted in God, family, and country. Discover how this new wave of rodeo is attracting top athletes, country stars, and thousands of families across America. The conversation also looks at the rodeo lifestyle itself—its values of discipline, respect, and courage—and why those lessons matter now more than ever in a culture struggling to give boys real challenges and heroes.
Raymond also shares a powerful opening story about the dangers of online radicalization and how young men are being drawn into destructive digital worlds. It’s a reminder that boys need authentic adventures and real communities—something rodeo and cowboy culture are uniquely equipped to provide.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kind a new style of rodeo and it's cowboy culture
save America. The founders of the Hondo Rodeo Fest think
it can, and it could save our boys. All on
this edition of the Royal Grande Show. Come on, I'm
(00:22):
Raymond Arroyo. Welcome to a Royal Grande. Go subscribe to
the show right now. Turn those notifications on. We've got
some incredible interviews coming, and if you'd like to support
the show, go to Raymondarroyo dot com. You can donate
there and catch up on all things of Royal Grande.
Something is clearly wrong in American culture. I came across
this story the other day in the Wall Street Journal
(00:44):
that underscored the point. It read how two men got
pulled into Internet darkness and how they got out. The
upshot is these young men are being pulled into these
online rabbit holes of conspiracy and ideology that end in
self destructive behaviors and sadly violence, as we've seen in
(01:05):
recent days. One of the young men in the article,
A M. Hickman, became an anarchist and for eight years
he found himself in a nomadic world of drug use
and sexual depravity. He was squatting in abandoned buildings and
watching friends die of overdoses. Something Hickman said jumped out
at me. It was this boyhood now is a void.
(01:30):
The thrilling extremist ideas you find on the internet become
your surrogate boyhood adventure. What does that tell you? Boys
need adventures, real lived adventures, which my guests are going
to talk about in a moment. But Hickman, by the way,
he woke up from this troubled world in twenty nineteen.
(01:51):
He joined the Coastguard. He found discipline, and he returned
to his Catholic faith. He and his wife, by the way,
recently had their first child. A lesson here is obvious.
If we want to protect our boys and stop the
maddening violence we see all across society, we have to
let them have authentic adventures and offer them discipline undergirded
(02:13):
by faith. Which brings me to my guest tonight. What
greater adventure is there than being a cowboy? It's classic Americana.
It takes skill and commitment, and these three gents founded
something called the Hondo Rodeo Fest. It combines rodeo champions
competing live with the biggest names in country music. James
(02:36):
Trowick is the Hondo Rodeo CEO, Blake Cody is the
managing partner, and Bob Corker is the VP. There are
so few areas in American culture today where families can
together multi generations enjoy the same activity or watch and
take part in the same thing. It seems to me,
(02:59):
Hondo Rodeo, that's really what you're trying to do. Absolutely, Bob,
tell me about that. Talk to me about the vision
for this and how it came out of that ethos,
that idea.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, first of all, our motto is God, family and country,
so that is what brings family together. And actually Blake's
the guy that had the idea.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Here.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We all go to the rodeo and it is a
family event, just like you said. But only about ten
percent of the population are rodeo fans.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Why is that, do you think?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I think it's because they've never been, so we
decided that we needed to. We wanted to have the
best of the best in the rodeo. But how do
we get people more than ten percent there? Yeah, Well,
forty to fifty percent of the people like country music,
So if you get enough good acts to come to
an arena. You draw the people, the forty to fifty
(03:55):
percent of the people to this act, and if they
come early, they see a road and then they're hooked.
And last year in Phoenix, we got hundreds of emails
from parents who said, we came because my child loves.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The Zach Brown band.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
But we got there early, we saw the rodeo, and
when it was all said and done, the kids said
they liked the rodeo better than the country music. So
now we're a rodeo fan and we'll go to every
rodeo we have this in our area.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So what we're doing is working.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And it's going to create ten fifteen years from now
where there's forty percent of the population going to rodeo.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah. Click expand on that. This idea of really using
the country acts, which is at the end of the day,
the country act comes out after the competition. It really
is a lure.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It is. So just to back up to what Bob said,
So James and are family by marriage. James married my
cousin and he comes from the rodeo background. I come
from the music background. So he and I meat and
we start talking rodeo and We're talking music and all
these ideas and we're just shooting stuff back and forth,
(05:06):
and it was kind of Uh, it was one of
those aha moments. I was out in Houston, Texas at
the Houston Rodeo, and uh, I was watching George Straight
play and if you've ever seen George straight in Texas,
the only word to describe it is biblical. So I'm
watching that show and I'm watching almasch one hundred thousand people.
(05:28):
You know, George comes in and they take the cowboy
hats off and they're shaking them in the air, and
it's like, wow, I never felt that way other than
being in church right on how in tune everybody was
and how everybody had gotten there and they watched a
great rodeo and then you have, you know, you have
music that comes after. So I get out of that
show and the first person I call is James, and
(05:50):
I was like, Hey, dude, I got to talk to
you bout something. Don't hang up the phone and don't
tell me I'm crazy. You probably are, But I think
that we need to change the game game with the
rodeo and music and.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And this was originally we should say the Hondo rodeo
was originally your idea and this is the this was
the genesis of it.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It was a genesis of us. But I can't take
four credit for being my idea. But no, it was
back and forth with he and I like it was.
It was a culmination of us going back and forth.
But it was you know, the kind of the straw
that brought the camel's back to the phone call, like
are you know, are you going to do it? Are
you in? And James, being the cowboy that he is,
was like, well, heck, yeah, let's go, you know. So
(06:28):
we uh, we got off that phone call and he
and I started taking it more seriously and started meeting
and putting the stuff together and putting the team together.
And I was going to work on the music part
of it and bring the music side in James the
rodeo part of it.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And because you were a cowboy, James, still you were
a cowboy.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
You still can't throw past tents on that phone?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
All right? Are you?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Are you still.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Competing weekend Warrior?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Right?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
We're raising our kids on horses, and we like, you know,
this is the whole thing, is right, build something that
we can take the family to.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
How long were you in the game, competing.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
From junior high, high school, college, and then beyond. But
I wasn't even good enough to compete at this event, right,
So the idea is that we're going to create something
for the top one percent, so that when we go
to new markets, we're bringing the best to town.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, Bob, how did you get involved in this? Because
you look, I've seen you over the years. You look
you've produced and presented a lot of different hunting and
really culture, I would say, in some ways American culture
in various ways. How did you get involved in Hondo Rodeo?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Well, I know Blake's father and uncle from a long
time ago, and so he knew that I'd been putting
on the World Dear Expoe for forty two years now,
and he'd never been there, but he knew that it
had grown to be the world's largest expo. So he
came up somewhat not too long after he'd had the idea,
(07:54):
and he wanted to see what the expo was all about.
And he came in unbeknownst to me, and about three
days later he called me and he said, Hey, I
came to your expo.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I was impressed.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
We want you to fly out to Dallas and we
got something we want to show you. So I flew
out there. They gave me this presentation. I had some
ideas about it. They at first wanted to hire me
to help run it and get it going. I told
him I needed a week to pray about it. I
(08:29):
took a week and I came back to him and said,
I don't want to be hired, I want to become
a founder. And so we sat down went over the
ideas of the things that I saw from my end
of being a promoter of festivals in three day events.
Altered a few things and took us a year and
(08:49):
a half to put it all together. The hardest part
was getting the artist that we wanted.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But that's Blake's problem. That breaks Blake's problem.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
But then finding a venue, you know, because it needed
to be us being new, we had to fall when
there wasn't a big PBR, a PRCA rodeo going on,
so that the athletes would come, and doing it where
we felt safe that weather wasn't going to interrupt us.
(09:21):
And we came to Nashville and we looked around here
first because that was the number one city we wanted
to do it in huh. But after evaluating everything that's involved,
the first of February in Phoenix, Arizona, it never rains
according to the almanac. Plus they have a stadium that
has a retractable roof just in case it does.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Wow. And our first year.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
It rained Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before we started on Thursday.
So we were puckering a little bit, but at least
we had a We had a cover.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And burned the almanac. I am age.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, I burned the almanac after.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, why is it? Why is this build as the
World Series of Rodeo? This is different from these other competitions.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
So when we showed up in Arizona, we partnered with
the DBACS, the Arizona Diamondbacks, right, and so Derek Hall,
their CEO, was doing an interview. In his interview that
they were talking about special events that were coming to town.
They do concerts and they do all kinds of stuff
outside of just baseball. When he got to us, this
is when he coined the phrase the World Series of Rodeo.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Right, good point.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We took it and we are going to use it
for all time.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah. I don't play, but it is very different. How
is this different? Who wants to take this? How is
this different from other I've been to the PBR where
they just ride the bulls. Yes, how is this different?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So the way that we're doing it different the PBR,
you're right, is just riding the bulls. Most of your
PRCA events are. It's a draw system, so explain to
people what that is. So you enter the rodeo, you'll
pay your entry fee and then the PRC has a
draw system where they draw you know each road and
they place you and it's kind of a schedule that
they map you out on in the draw system on
(11:04):
what you entered. Where different is we are inviting people
and the only people that we're inviting are the top
one percent in the sport. So in the draw system
with the PRCA, you know you could have a world
champion one night or not. You're not going to see
the best in the world every single night compete. So
you can, and that's part of why we're trying to
(11:26):
change the sport. If you go to a Major League
Baseball game, where you go to an NFL game or
you go to an NBA game, you get to see
the best in the world every single night compete against
each other. Well, if you go to a rodeo today,
you're not guaranteed that at the Honda, you're guaranteed to
see that the best in the world, world champion after
world champion every night.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And why is that possible? Bob? How is this How
is it designed differently from these other competitions.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, first of all, we cover most of their costs
to get there. They're not paying an entry fee. Huh,
They're not filling out an application and hoping they get drawn,
and they're competing for one million dollars.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
It's it's shining a light on those athletes that don't
normally get that spotlight. Right, they're unsung heroes, if you will. Right,
they don't get treated similar to the NFL they get.
They don't get that kind of treatment. And so something
that we do differently is consider a lot of things,
simple things like hotels, catering, making sure that those accommodations
(12:23):
are there for them, right.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Because these guys are basically on their own if there
are the other road they are.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
You're talking about sixty to seventy and up more events
a year, and you're an independent contractor covering the expense
of your own rig your own health, your own insurance,
everything is on you. So wind loser draw, the bills
are yours at the end of the year. And so
to get to the national finals radio, it's kind of
a break even endeavor, you know, And then you make
a living on those ten days if you're in the top,
(12:51):
if you make it right, well, think about all those
individuals that didn't make that cut, right. So what we're
going to offer is going to elevate the field of
play to where an individual could make one hundred thousand
dollars in a weekend one weekend, right, and then as
this league matures, they'll have ten or twelve opportunities a
year at that type of purse.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And they know that if they get invited, they're in
the top eight in the world in their particular category.
And they know that we're bringing in the best livestock
in the world. So the half of the score comes
from the animal they're riding, so they know they're going
to get that part of their score high, and if
they perform like they should, they're going to have a
(13:31):
real high score and they're going to win the company.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I didn't even realize that they were I knew that
their ride the length of time they stay on the
bull is charted and they get a rating for that.
I didn't realize the bull was also rated.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Yeah, yeah, does that work. Yeah, the judges there are
paying attention for the bulls, the horses, sad of bronck
and bear back. Right, So the judged events, the judges
are there too.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Just tell us all the event. You've got a bunch
of events here.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's not that's a big difference maker two as far
as just bor riding only events. So it's all events
including breakaway, right, which is something that a lot of
events don't include. You've got ladies barrel racing and ladies breakaway.
In addition to that, I just answered the question about
the rough stock. The guys that are competing on those broncs,
the horses right at the bucking stock there, the horse
is earning half the score. The athlete is earning half
(14:16):
the score. So the judge is looking at how they kick,
how they jump, turn, all these things right, how complex
is the ride and how in control is the athlete
and what kind of style do they put on top
of that?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Well, and you've got fairback riding, steer wrestling, death and
the bull rock I mean it for kids. I know,
because I know people went to your Phoenix event. For kids,
this is like corn Haven. I mean, it's an incredible
day for them.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
It is. And it all starts with the outdoor festival.
So you know, people show up.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Tell us about that because this is a three day festival.
But tell us what happens.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know, there's an outdated festival where you know, you
show up at eleven o'clock and we have everything going
on outside. There's live music, there's local vendors, there's all
the these activities, the stages outside h correct and you know,
you're able to really immerse yourself in the culture of Phoenix, right.
You're able to get all the Phoenix has to offer
from the local vendors from the area there, from local music,
(15:11):
local talent, and really really enjoy, you know, bring the
whole family and enjoy the day out there before you
come inside. The doors open at five o'clock and then
at five o'clock you come inside, and then the rodeo
starts at six and from six o'clock till the time
that you know the music's over, it's full throttle. Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
How long does it normally take? How long is the competition.
The rodeo is two hours, so two hours, yeah, five
to seven.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Is well, five is when you open the door. Six
six to eight is the rodeo, right, and then between
the rodeo we've got an intermission. So really fun thing
about our event is we have a floor space right
between the rodeo arena and the stage, so you can
have your ticket for the rodeo right, experience the best
in the world from that perspective, and then in the
end between you can come down to a pit right
(15:54):
and be front row for the concert. And it's just
a it's a floor pass risk ban upgrade, but you
can literally have row in both cases.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
One ticket gets you both of them. So you buy
one ticket for the rodeo, you get the full concert,
you get everything under for the price of one ticket.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeap, What are family saying? I mean you all promise
that this is a true Western experience. What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
You should take that one?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
James, So, as a father to twins that are four
years old, okay, right, this is a huge priority for
me in coming out of the sport itself, trying to
do a good thing and building something for the athletes
that are to come but then also creating an environment
where my family can get together and build memories that
are focused on God, family, and country. My dad will
(16:38):
tell you to your face that he used rodeo in
that community to help raise me.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What does that mean, holl.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's just the community and what they stand for, right.
It takes a village. You've heard the saying, And part
of that, I think is just putting yourself in a
position where you're around like minded people so that those
emotional experiences that you have as you're raising your children
and building a family affirm the things that you stand for.
And so it's important to us that that we do
that in the music that we book and the way
that we capture and build our content and a lot
(17:07):
of the stories that we tell throughout the year. And
profiling athletes do the same thing.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
How do you I mean, look, I know a lot
of musicians, A lot of them have sat where you're
sitting now. How do you keep them in a family
frame of mind when they go into your rodeo as
opposed to you know, playing the Late Show with Tippa Timos.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I mean, it's you know, it's it's an understanding, you know,
when they get there you meet with them and it's
an understanding of what you know, what you're doing, and
what you're what you're there for and what you stand for.
And we've been very fortunate last year. You know, we
had great acts. We had the first night we had
Whiskey Buyers and Hank Wiams Junior, and then we had
the second night Brooks and Done and Turnpike, Troubadours and
then Old Demating the Zach Brown Band and all of
(17:49):
those acts. You know, they understood what it was and
they loved the family crowd. They do it as a
family crowd, and they came in and they're the most
respectful and they're very humble. As a matter of fact,
Zach Brown stood on the bucking shoots before his performance
and we were he kept looking over in the bucket
shoots and when the bull they would open the shoot
and bullet, you know, the gate and the bull buck out.
He leaning back really quick and you see the bulls,
(18:10):
you know, feet fly up and missing Zach Brown's chin
and we're sitting there going he's gonna get kick in
the mouth and not be able to sing it right
exactly exactly. But they totally immersed theirselves on what we're
trying to do, and and you know they and they
respect what we stand for. And you know, you go
in before and you just have a conversation like we're
having run now and say hey, you know, look, this
is what we are. Please respect us, and please be here,
(18:31):
and we want to we want to have you back
as much as you'll you'll come back. And you know,
every act that played last year came to us at
one point another and said, hey, man, we want to
come back. You guys will have us back. We want
to be here.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Bob, what are families telling you when they come out
of this experience. I mean, it's one thing to build it,
it's quite another to hear from them after they come.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
You know, we had over seventy thousand people last year
come through and not one single complaint have we gotten
by way of email or any other social media outlet
that we have. All everything we heard was positive and
and like I said earlier, there were parents who said,
(19:11):
you know, we've never been to a rodeo, but we
got there early. We saw the rodeo and the kids
love that more than the music. So we're now rodeo fans.
We have accomplished what we've tried to accomplish. We want
to grow the fan base of Rodeo and we're using
the music industry to help this as a tool.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Huh. And it's working.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
It is the whole experience, you know. It's it's kind
of like the old I always call the old Rodeo dance.
So you go to the rodeo and they have the
Rodeo dance afterwards. Only difference, says Brooks and Duns on
the stage. You know, So do.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
People dance show out? Yeah, I'll bet I'm sure they
get that.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's the nature and it's the wife and the kids,
and you know that. You know, James said something last
year and it stuck with me. You know, when we
were doing this. He looked out and he said, you know,
somewhere as a kid sitting in that audience that says,
I want to be a cowboy one day, I want
to compete one day at the Honda Rodeo Fest, And
there's another kid in that audience that looks up at
that stage and said, I want to be a musician.
(20:08):
So if there's a way that we can touch those
those little people right and turn them into you know,
the Stars of tomorrow then you know then and and
and stand for what our culture stands for. I mean
I thought, how does how does that not win?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
All? This from your George straight to pissany.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, a little bit from the George Straight at fifty yeh.
So it's and it's you know, it's been so much fun.
We've uh, we've totally immersed ourselves in it, right, Yeah,
I can tell. And what I mean it's important to
you all it is and and and and the way
of life and what it stands for. I mean, you
know it's just a few years ago. Uh, there's another
gentleman there. Actual, there's two more gentlemen that are are
founders with us, Cordon McCoy and Brad Hughes. And James
(20:50):
introduced us. So when back to where we started, James
probably in a lot of the rodeo part, we're bringing
the music part and Bob, but he brought this guy,
Himed Cordon McCoy and chords raised bucking bulls his whole
life and stock and he's produced Roady and he was
a professional cowboy in the PBR and a you know
national finals guy before and he starts raising bucking bulls
and Now, I grew up on a on a cattle
farm in southeast Alabama, and James told me, he said, man,
(21:15):
don't don't do it. Don't do it. Next thing I know,
Bob and I are riding with Cord and we bought
our first bucking bull about three years ago and now
we're up to about fifty fifty five head and growing
every year. So it's it's addiction. So we're raising bucking
bulls and in Southeast Alabama and sending Mount Oklahoma Cord
and partners with him on raising those next PBR champions,
(21:38):
those next PRCA and Honda j But.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
That distinguishes HONDO too, right, because you're I mean, you
have a you're also in charge of the livestock. So
you're choosing the top athletes. What is it eight percent,
the top eight percent?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I would say one, really that'so.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
But in the in the athletes, it's the ranked eight.
I see, ranked eight in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
They are invited and that's nobody else, nobody else.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Wow. And then you're really taking the choice the bulls
and the choice livestock and bringing them in as well.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Correct, I mean it's kind of like the Super Bowl
of rodeo. Every time you go out.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
It is every ride, every run, every city. Part of
the idea is talking about building the fans of Rodeo. Yeah,
like what Blake's example earlier, when you got ticket to
go to an NBA game, you know you're getting to
see the starting five.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Right, with Rodeo, it's kind of all over the place
except for the National Finals. Rodeo like that is fifteen
contestants that have earned that spot in each category. And
our idea is that that should be on the road, right,
that should be in a lot of other markets, and
right now it's just in Right now, it's just in Phoenix.
But there are big plans in store for the Hondo
(22:47):
and growth as we move forward in cities all over
the un Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, I'm told that you're thinking of branching out.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
So right now we're working on a plan to go
to several new markets and there's a growth strategy across
multiple years.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So what we've done is created a successful, successful event
in Phoenix. We're coming back for year two this year.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Is that going to be the template for the rest
of these Correct? The Phoenix Correct?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And Phoenix was the hub where this was born out
of and so what will eventually happen. Also because of
the fact that it's in November, the series will culminate
into a finale in November and Phoenix at Ah as
we add cities and new markets all over the US
that will begin to build standings that come back into Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
How did it change from what you envisioned to actually
putting it on its feet in Phoenix? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
What did it change?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah? Everything change?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Everything changed. Well, well, that's the nature of this kind
of stuff, and it organically the audience and the place
sort of starts telling you. I mean, it's like TV.
Being in TV, they will tell you what they like
and what they don't like.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Well, you know, I say this, from the time we started,
God had his hand in it, you know, and we
as we would go and we would try to build
this thing, we would run in of what you would
think would be a roadblock, and it was really just
God saying, turn this way. And every time we turned
and just followed the way he had us going, another
door opened and it became better. So everything changed, but
(24:13):
it all changed the right way. And it was you know,
me and James, Bob and Core and Brad talk about it.
It's you know, it's it's you know, he had his
hand in it, you know, and in everything that we did.
So by the time the final product got there in
November and it was our first big stadium like that
on doing an event, everything went off. And as Bob said,
you know, we had people coming to us saying like this,
(24:34):
this is your first one in a Major League Baseball stadium,
and we well, yeah, and they were like we we
don't believe it, Like this thing was so great, like
if this is where you guys are starting, we can't
wait to see where you guys are going.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, And it was so smooth that you would never
have known it.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Was the first This was a startup exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
But from day one, even when they brought me into Dallas,
it was always the idea of making this into it
a series and doing it in multiple cities and having
somewhere where we culltimate the final.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
And the multiple different the different events or no, yeah,
that came the different competitions.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yes, it's always been a full rodeo in every single
competition that a rodeo has to offer.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Even that it's also about the lifestyle and the culture.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
This is exactly what I wanted to talk about next.
It seems to me what you're really doing. Look, I
came out of the years and years ago. I was
trained as an actor. I had an acting teacher. Her
name was Stella Adler. She trained Marlon Brando, a lot
of incredible people, and Stella, who is ninety years old.
When I studied with her, she had a line and
she said, you have one job as an actor. It's
(25:42):
to get on that platform and remind people of their
humanity and call them back to their humanity. And when
I hear this, so I'm very sensitive, and in fact,
I'm always looking for who's building culture, not exploiting it
or or or beating it. Who's building it? Seems to
(26:03):
me this is a cultured builder, and it's an America.
It's a bit of Americana that we're in danger of losing.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
I agree more.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
What's the only thing that's one hundred percent original to America?
The Cowboy jazz?
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Gotcha Cowboy and jazz. But I'll take I'm sorry, you
know it's a fixation. I'm sorry, and you know the
roots of that. People always think, oh, it's just you
know that really also like Cowboy because people think Cowboy's
a god with a hat horizon. No, no, no, it's the whole.
(26:40):
It's Oklahoma, it's Texas, it's the Far West, it's Louisiana
and Florida. It's all those strains of versions of cowboy
that create what we have. And it's the same thing
with jazz, that is actually the root of it, the
base of it. Before the Caribbean beats and the African
beats come in. It's German Papa, It's Italian tarantella. Then
(27:05):
they brought the beat on top of it. It's a gumbo.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
It's the people that make it work.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It is. It's a musical gumbo. And I feel the
same way about this. There's so many touches tell me
about the inflections and the shades of rodeo life that
come from different parts of the country and that you've
tried to shine light on.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Yeah. Well, if you think about just ranching culture or
beef production. In agriculture, there's there's all over the Southeast
road crops, peanuts, cotton, soybeans. And then if you want
to think about beef production, Central Florida right as one
of the biggest beef producers in the United States and
in the world quite frankly so. And then what's the
stat on peanuts being produced in the Tristate area.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I think southeast eight percent of peanuts in the US
come from that one little area. Wow. So it's it's
you know, all that culture, it's it's everything that everything
all put together. Then you got to Texas and New Mexico,
in Arizona and California.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, you know it's so you're going to be highlighting
if you expand this, and I imagine it sounds like
you are. If you take it to Florida, it's going
to have a different flavor than it does in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Sure, absolutely so the athletes, the thing that will remain
the same, right, is the core of the structure of
the sport itself. Right, the best eight period bar and
I we will put up a million dollar perse. We're
going to have the best music in the world. And
so whether you want to come to Phoenix to experience
the Hondo, or you would like to come to a
city like maybe Nashville, may one day we bring it here,
(28:34):
or Tampa or New Orleans or anywhere in the US
that's coming with us. It's going to be the best. Right.
But when we show up in that city as an example,
we talked about agriculture and Florida and the beef production there,
and so part of our philanthropic endeavors will be partnering
with those local FFA chapters and four H programs and
national beef rasers associations. Right to shine a spotlight on
(28:57):
the communities that are the backbone of the sport.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And those locals is a part of your pre show,
if you will, the pregame show that I was stunned.
Friends of maybe I'm wrong on this. Friends of mine
told me that you could anybody can walk into the Yeah,
it's you don't have to have a ticket, you don't
need to take it to the rodeo to come to
the to the whatever noon to five festivities and music
and Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Another thing is the big part to us is telling
the stories of these people, you know, and why it's
important to hold onto this way of life, you know
where everything's growing up around you. But what's why it's
important to preserve our way of life and and and
and preserve you know, these industries that are inherently ours,
you know. So that's that's a big part. And then
there's no better storyteller than this guy.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well, something that he said early on about this city
where we sit today is that Nashville's the hub, the
the beginning of country music. Right, Like, maybe not the beginning,
that might not be how you said it, but the
idea is that this is the hub, right and.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
All where it's where prominence it's really but yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
And it flows out of Nashville. And some thing that
we're doing in a similar fashion is taking that Western culture,
the code of ethics of the cowboy, right, the morality
that the cowboy stands for. Simple things like hold the
door for the lady, take your hat off when you
introduce yourself, say yes, ma'am, say no, ma'am. You know,
little things like that that I think our society has
completely pushed to the side, right, And that when you
(30:21):
talk about building culture, those are the things that we
stand for. Those are the things that we're going to
emphasize as we go forward.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Well, and culture is rooted and its foundation is morality, values, cult,
What do you believe?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Right?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
This is exactly this is what you believe. And I
do love that you all are kind of bringing all
of that together and it's fun and it's musical. I
mean that's a novel approach.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yes it is. You know, it's been very very eye
opening to see. And what I mean by opening to see,
it's been a pleasure to watch all these people come together.
And you know, when James is talking about culture and
standing on culture, you know, we welcome everybody and we
want everybody to come see it. We stand on what
we believe in and we're not going to change who
(31:06):
we are, but we'll hope that you come in. We're
going to welcome everybody into what we do and what
we stand for and who we are, and we hope
that you take a little piece of at home and
in some way it impacts your life for the better.
And that's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
That's why we're going to ask you. What do you
want people to take away from this? What do you
want audiences to come away with?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I mean the kids, right, that's where we talked about
that earlier. I want them to walk away inspired, right.
I want them to think about what could be. You know,
as when I was a kid, I think my parents
and the people that were around me, my village so
to speak, did a really good job of building me
up in a way to believe that anything was possible.
Whether that meant if I wanted to sing, or ride
(31:45):
a horse or become the president of the United States,
right there was You're going to have to work, You're
going to have to sacrifice, and nothing's going to come easy.
But if you do those things and something else that
that's coming to mind in this moment is something that
we actively talk about among our group of leadership, is
actively work to set aside your own ego. The point
(32:06):
in all of this is not us. It never will be,
not any one of us individually, right, And if we
do our jobs well, it will mean that we could
be removed or taken out of the picture and the
mission could still succeed.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Right.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
And I think that that's going to work and is
actively working, because we agree on the things that we're
trying to do in inspiring the next generation of contestants
and people that are going to lead this country. Right,
we're talking about a sport. But what's going to happen
is these morals, these ethics, these things that we're carrying
with us in all of these cities are going to
(32:38):
impact the next generation in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Bob, I'm going to give you the last word. I mean,
you've spent a career doing this with the dear Expo Broadcasting.
I mean you've you've taken you've certainly popularized a sport,
but you also have advertised the culture that went along
with it. And that seems to be exactly what this is.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
It is exactly what this is.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I was a perfect fit for this shoe, and I'm
glad they brought me in.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I hope you put new socks on it every now
and every now and then. Well, here's here's my only
request when you get the Pope himself, when George Strait
comes to the Hondo Rodeo, I want to be at
least in the third or fourth row.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We don't stop working on that so.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
He's gone every day. I mean, George, come on, TikTok,
you got to go on the Hondo Rodeo. Now.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
The thing I think that makes the Hondo great is,
like we talked about, everybody's welcome to come. So in
a time in America where we all need to come together, yes,
instead of being continually tore apart, this is an event
where we can all come together. And then one thing
about George straight when I was looking around during that
Houston rodeo George straight Night, I'm looking around. It didn't
matter what you look like, where you came from, what
color you were, how tall you were, how short you were,
(33:53):
if your blue, black, green, red, blue, everybody was a cowboy.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And all your exes living texts, well they're spread out,
little bit credit. We're not gonna do it check on
that one, Blake, but we weren't going to do a search.
But since you brought it up, thank you all. This
has been a lot of funds. They cannot wait to
see the next rodeo in Phoenix in November and then
(34:20):
come on, what happens next. I'm gonna bring my hat
next dot.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Where did you fix that with a new lid? If
you need one.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
In addition to the Phoenix Hondo Rodeo Fest November seventh
through the ninth, they have plans to take their rodeo
to Tampa, New Orleans, and Denver. Go to the Hondo
rodeofest dot com for all the details and tickets, and
next week, don't miss our interview with country legend Crystal
Gale about her relationship with her sister Loretta Lynn. The
(34:50):
door she opened for women and so much more. I'm
so glad you spent time all this. Why live a dry, narrow,
constricted life when if you fill it with good things
can flow into a broad, thriving Arroyo Grande. I'm Raymond Arroyo.
How's that for a tan galla? And this is my stats?
And make sure to subscribe like the episode. Thank you
(35:11):
for diving in, and we'll see you next time. Arroyo
Grande is produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and DP Studios,
and it's available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts
Kind a new style of rodeo and it's cowboy culture
save America. The founders of the Hondo Rodeo Fest think
it can, and it could save our boys. All on
this edition of the Royal Grande Show. Come on, I'm
(00:22):
Raymond Arroyo. Welcome to a Royal Grande. Go subscribe to
the show right now. Turn those notifications on. We've got
some incredible interviews coming, and if you'd like to support
the show, go to Raymondarroyo dot com. You can donate
there and catch up on all things of Royal Grande.
Something is clearly wrong in American culture. I came across
this story the other day in the Wall Street Journal
(00:44):
that underscored the point. It read how two men got
pulled into Internet darkness and how they got out. The
upshot is these young men are being pulled into these
online rabbit holes of conspiracy and ideology that end in
self destructive behaviors and sadly violence, as we've seen in
(01:05):
recent days. One of the young men in the article,
A M. Hickman, became an anarchist and for eight years
he found himself in a nomadic world of drug use
and sexual depravity. He was squatting in abandoned buildings and
watching friends die of overdoses. Something Hickman said jumped out
at me. It was this boyhood now is a void.
(01:30):
The thrilling extremist ideas you find on the internet become
your surrogate boyhood adventure. What does that tell you? Boys
need adventures, real lived adventures, which my guests are going
to talk about in a moment. But Hickman, by the way,
he woke up from this troubled world in twenty nineteen.
(01:51):
He joined the Coastguard. He found discipline, and he returned
to his Catholic faith. He and his wife, by the way,
recently had their first child. A lesson here is obvious.
If we want to protect our boys and stop the
maddening violence we see all across society, we have to
let them have authentic adventures and offer them discipline undergirded
(02:13):
by faith. Which brings me to my guest tonight. What
greater adventure is there than being a cowboy? It's classic Americana.
It takes skill and commitment, and these three gents founded
something called the Hondo Rodeo Fest. It combines rodeo champions
competing live with the biggest names in country music. James
(02:36):
Trowick is the Hondo Rodeo CEO, Blake Cody is the
managing partner, and Bob Corker is the VP. There are
so few areas in American culture today where families can
together multi generations enjoy the same activity or watch and
take part in the same thing. It seems to me,
(02:59):
Hondo Rodeo, that's really what you're trying to do. Absolutely, Bob,
tell me about that. Talk to me about the vision
for this and how it came out of that ethos,
that idea.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, first of all, our motto is God, family and country,
so that is what brings family together. And actually Blake's
the guy that had the idea.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Here.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We all go to the rodeo and it is a
family event, just like you said. But only about ten
percent of the population are rodeo fans.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Why is that, do you think?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I think it's because they've never been, so we
decided that we needed to. We wanted to have the
best of the best in the rodeo. But how do
we get people more than ten percent there? Yeah, Well,
forty to fifty percent of the people like country music,
So if you get enough good acts to come to
an arena. You draw the people, the forty to fifty
(03:55):
percent of the people to this act, and if they
come early, they see a road and then they're hooked.
And last year in Phoenix, we got hundreds of emails
from parents who said, we came because my child loves.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The Zach Brown band.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
But we got there early, we saw the rodeo, and
when it was all said and done, the kids said
they liked the rodeo better than the country music. So
now we're a rodeo fan and we'll go to every
rodeo we have this in our area.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So what we're doing is working.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And it's going to create ten fifteen years from now
where there's forty percent of the population going to rodeo.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah. Click expand on that. This idea of really using
the country acts, which is at the end of the day,
the country act comes out after the competition. It really
is a lure.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It is. So just to back up to what Bob said,
So James and are family by marriage. James married my
cousin and he comes from the rodeo background. I come
from the music background. So he and I meat and
we start talking rodeo and We're talking music and all
these ideas and we're just shooting stuff back and forth,
(05:06):
and it was kind of Uh, it was one of
those aha moments. I was out in Houston, Texas at
the Houston Rodeo, and uh, I was watching George Straight
play and if you've ever seen George straight in Texas,
the only word to describe it is biblical. So I'm
watching that show and I'm watching almasch one hundred thousand people.
(05:28):
You know, George comes in and they take the cowboy
hats off and they're shaking them in the air, and
it's like, wow, I never felt that way other than
being in church right on how in tune everybody was
and how everybody had gotten there and they watched a
great rodeo and then you have, you know, you have
music that comes after. So I get out of that
show and the first person I call is James, and
(05:50):
I was like, Hey, dude, I got to talk to
you bout something. Don't hang up the phone and don't
tell me I'm crazy. You probably are, But I think
that we need to change the game game with the
rodeo and music and.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And this was originally we should say the Hondo rodeo
was originally your idea and this is the this was
the genesis of it.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
It was a genesis of us. But I can't take
four credit for being my idea. But no, it was
back and forth with he and I like it was.
It was a culmination of us going back and forth.
But it was you know, the kind of the straw
that brought the camel's back to the phone call, like
are you know, are you going to do it? Are
you in? And James, being the cowboy that he is,
was like, well, heck, yeah, let's go, you know. So
(06:28):
we uh, we got off that phone call and he
and I started taking it more seriously and started meeting
and putting the stuff together and putting the team together.
And I was going to work on the music part
of it and bring the music side in James the
rodeo part of it.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And because you were a cowboy, James, still you were
a cowboy.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
You still can't throw past tents on that phone?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
All right? Are you?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Are you still.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Competing weekend Warrior?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Right?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
We're raising our kids on horses, and we like, you know,
this is the whole thing, is right, build something that
we can take the family to.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
How long were you in the game, competing.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
From junior high, high school, college, and then beyond. But
I wasn't even good enough to compete at this event, right,
So the idea is that we're going to create something
for the top one percent, so that when we go
to new markets, we're bringing the best to town.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, Bob, how did you get involved in this? Because
you look, I've seen you over the years. You look
you've produced and presented a lot of different hunting and
really culture, I would say, in some ways American culture
in various ways. How did you get involved in Hondo Rodeo?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Well, I know Blake's father and uncle from a long
time ago, and so he knew that I'd been putting
on the World Dear Expoe for forty two years now,
and he'd never been there, but he knew that it
had grown to be the world's largest expo. So he
came up somewhat not too long after he'd had the idea,
(07:54):
and he wanted to see what the expo was all about.
And he came in unbeknownst to me, and about three
days later he called me and he said, Hey, I
came to your expo.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I was impressed.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
We want you to fly out to Dallas and we
got something we want to show you. So I flew
out there. They gave me this presentation. I had some
ideas about it. They at first wanted to hire me
to help run it and get it going. I told
him I needed a week to pray about it. I
(08:29):
took a week and I came back to him and said,
I don't want to be hired, I want to become
a founder. And so we sat down went over the
ideas of the things that I saw from my end
of being a promoter of festivals in three day events.
Altered a few things and took us a year and
(08:49):
a half to put it all together. The hardest part
was getting the artist that we wanted.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But that's Blake's problem. That breaks Blake's problem.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
But then finding a venue, you know, because it needed
to be us being new, we had to fall when
there wasn't a big PBR, a PRCA rodeo going on,
so that the athletes would come, and doing it where
we felt safe that weather wasn't going to interrupt us.
(09:21):
And we came to Nashville and we looked around here
first because that was the number one city we wanted
to do it in huh. But after evaluating everything that's involved,
the first of February in Phoenix, Arizona, it never rains
according to the almanac. Plus they have a stadium that
has a retractable roof just in case it does.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Wow. And our first year.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
It rained Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before we started on Thursday.
So we were puckering a little bit, but at least
we had a We had a cover.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And burned the almanac. I am age.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, I burned the almanac after.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, why is it? Why is this build as the
World Series of Rodeo? This is different from these other competitions.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
So when we showed up in Arizona, we partnered with
the DBACS, the Arizona Diamondbacks, right, and so Derek Hall,
their CEO, was doing an interview. In his interview that
they were talking about special events that were coming to town.
They do concerts and they do all kinds of stuff
outside of just baseball. When he got to us, this
is when he coined the phrase the World Series of Rodeo.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Right, good point.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We took it and we are going to use it
for all time.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah. I don't play, but it is very different. How
is this different? Who wants to take this? How is
this different from other I've been to the PBR where
they just ride the bulls. Yes, how is this different?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So the way that we're doing it different the PBR,
you're right, is just riding the bulls. Most of your
PRCA events are. It's a draw system, so explain to
people what that is. So you enter the rodeo, you'll
pay your entry fee and then the PRC has a
draw system where they draw you know each road and
they place you and it's kind of a schedule that
they map you out on in the draw system on
(11:04):
what you entered. Where different is we are inviting people
and the only people that we're inviting are the top
one percent in the sport. So in the draw system
with the PRCA, you know you could have a world
champion one night or not. You're not going to see
the best in the world every single night compete. So
you can, and that's part of why we're trying to
(11:26):
change the sport. If you go to a Major League
Baseball game, where you go to an NFL game or
you go to an NBA game, you get to see
the best in the world every single night compete against
each other. Well, if you go to a rodeo today,
you're not guaranteed that at the Honda, you're guaranteed to
see that the best in the world, world champion after
world champion every night.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And why is that possible? Bob? How is this How
is it designed differently from these other competitions.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Well, first of all, we cover most of their costs
to get there. They're not paying an entry fee. Huh,
They're not filling out an application and hoping they get drawn,
and they're competing for one million dollars.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
It's it's shining a light on those athletes that don't
normally get that spotlight. Right, they're unsung heroes, if you will. Right,
they don't get treated similar to the NFL they get.
They don't get that kind of treatment. And so something
that we do differently is consider a lot of things,
simple things like hotels, catering, making sure that those accommodations
(12:23):
are there for them, right.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Because these guys are basically on their own if there
are the other road they are.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
You're talking about sixty to seventy and up more events
a year, and you're an independent contractor covering the expense
of your own rig your own health, your own insurance,
everything is on you. So wind loser draw, the bills
are yours at the end of the year. And so
to get to the national finals radio, it's kind of
a break even endeavor, you know, And then you make
a living on those ten days if you're in the top,
(12:51):
if you make it right, well, think about all those
individuals that didn't make that cut, right. So what we're
going to offer is going to elevate the field of
play to where an individual could make one hundred thousand
dollars in a weekend one weekend, right, and then as
this league matures, they'll have ten or twelve opportunities a
year at that type of purse.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And they know that if they get invited, they're in
the top eight in the world in their particular category.
And they know that we're bringing in the best livestock
in the world. So the half of the score comes
from the animal they're riding, so they know they're going
to get that part of their score high, and if
they perform like they should, they're going to have a
(13:31):
real high score and they're going to win the company.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I didn't even realize that they were I knew that
their ride the length of time they stay on the
bull is charted and they get a rating for that.
I didn't realize the bull was also rated.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Yeah, yeah, does that work. Yeah, the judges there are
paying attention for the bulls, the horses, sad of bronck
and bear back. Right, So the judged events, the judges
are there too.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Just tell us all the event. You've got a bunch
of events here.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
It's not that's a big difference maker two as far
as just bor riding only events. So it's all events
including breakaway, right, which is something that a lot of
events don't include. You've got ladies barrel racing and ladies breakaway.
In addition to that, I just answered the question about
the rough stock. The guys that are competing on those broncs,
the horses right at the bucking stock there, the horse
is earning half the score. The athlete is earning half
(14:16):
the score. So the judge is looking at how they kick,
how they jump, turn, all these things right, how complex
is the ride and how in control is the athlete
and what kind of style do they put on top
of that?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Well, and you've got fairback riding, steer wrestling, death and
the bull rock I mean it for kids. I know,
because I know people went to your Phoenix event. For kids,
this is like corn Haven. I mean, it's an incredible
day for them.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
It is. And it all starts with the outdoor festival.
So you know, people show up.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Tell us about that because this is a three day festival.
But tell us what happens.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know, there's an outdated festival where you know, you
show up at eleven o'clock and we have everything going
on outside. There's live music, there's local vendors, there's all
the these activities, the stages outside h correct and you know,
you're able to really immerse yourself in the culture of Phoenix, right.
You're able to get all the Phoenix has to offer
from the local vendors from the area there, from local music,
(15:11):
local talent, and really really enjoy, you know, bring the
whole family and enjoy the day out there before you
come inside. The doors open at five o'clock and then
at five o'clock you come inside, and then the rodeo
starts at six and from six o'clock till the time
that you know the music's over, it's full throttle. Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
How long does it normally take? How long is the competition.
The rodeo is two hours, so two hours, yeah, five
to seven.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Is well, five is when you open the door. Six
six to eight is the rodeo, right, and then between
the rodeo we've got an intermission. So really fun thing
about our event is we have a floor space right
between the rodeo arena and the stage, so you can
have your ticket for the rodeo right, experience the best
in the world from that perspective, and then in the
end between you can come down to a pit right
(15:54):
and be front row for the concert. And it's just
a it's a floor pass risk ban upgrade, but you
can literally have row in both cases.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
One ticket gets you both of them. So you buy
one ticket for the rodeo, you get the full concert,
you get everything under for the price of one ticket.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeap, What are family saying? I mean you all promise
that this is a true Western experience. What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
You should take that one?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
James, So, as a father to twins that are four
years old, okay, right, this is a huge priority for
me in coming out of the sport itself, trying to
do a good thing and building something for the athletes
that are to come but then also creating an environment
where my family can get together and build memories that
are focused on God, family, and country. My dad will
(16:38):
tell you to your face that he used rodeo in
that community to help raise me.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What does that mean, holl.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It's just the community and what they stand for, right.
It takes a village. You've heard the saying, And part
of that, I think is just putting yourself in a
position where you're around like minded people so that those
emotional experiences that you have as you're raising your children
and building a family affirm the things that you stand for.
And so it's important to us that that we do
that in the music that we book and the way
that we capture and build our content and a lot
(17:07):
of the stories that we tell throughout the year. And
profiling athletes do the same thing.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
How do you I mean, look, I know a lot
of musicians, A lot of them have sat where you're
sitting now. How do you keep them in a family
frame of mind when they go into your rodeo as
opposed to you know, playing the Late Show with Tippa Timos.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I mean, it's you know, it's it's an understanding, you know,
when they get there you meet with them and it's
an understanding of what you know, what you're doing, and
what you're what you're there for and what you stand for.
And we've been very fortunate last year. You know, we
had great acts. We had the first night we had
Whiskey Buyers and Hank Wiams Junior, and then we had
the second night Brooks and Done and Turnpike, Troubadours and
then Old Demating the Zach Brown Band and all of
(17:49):
those acts. You know, they understood what it was and
they loved the family crowd. They do it as a
family crowd, and they came in and they're the most
respectful and they're very humble. As a matter of fact,
Zach Brown stood on the bucking shoots before his performance
and we were he kept looking over in the bucket
shoots and when the bull they would open the shoot
and bullet, you know, the gate and the bull buck out.
He leaning back really quick and you see the bulls,
(18:10):
you know, feet fly up and missing Zach Brown's chin
and we're sitting there going he's gonna get kick in
the mouth and not be able to sing it right
exactly exactly. But they totally immersed theirselves on what we're
trying to do, and and you know they and they
respect what we stand for. And you know, you go
in before and you just have a conversation like we're
having run now and say hey, you know, look, this
is what we are. Please respect us, and please be here,
(18:31):
and we want to we want to have you back
as much as you'll you'll come back. And you know,
every act that played last year came to us at
one point another and said, hey, man, we want to
come back. You guys will have us back. We want
to be here.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Bob, what are families telling you when they come out
of this experience. I mean, it's one thing to build it,
it's quite another to hear from them after they come.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
You know, we had over seventy thousand people last year
come through and not one single complaint have we gotten
by way of email or any other social media outlet
that we have. All everything we heard was positive and
and like I said earlier, there were parents who said,
(19:11):
you know, we've never been to a rodeo, but we
got there early. We saw the rodeo and the kids
love that more than the music. So we're now rodeo fans.
We have accomplished what we've tried to accomplish. We want
to grow the fan base of Rodeo and we're using
the music industry to help this as a tool.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Huh. And it's working.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
It is the whole experience, you know. It's it's kind
of like the old I always call the old Rodeo dance.
So you go to the rodeo and they have the
Rodeo dance afterwards. Only difference, says Brooks and Duns on
the stage. You know, So do.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
People dance show out? Yeah, I'll bet I'm sure they
get that.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's the nature and it's the wife and the kids,
and you know that. You know, James said something last
year and it stuck with me. You know, when we
were doing this. He looked out and he said, you know,
somewhere as a kid sitting in that audience that says,
I want to be a cowboy one day, I want
to compete one day at the Honda Rodeo Fest, And
there's another kid in that audience that looks up at
that stage and said, I want to be a musician.
(20:08):
So if there's a way that we can touch those
those little people right and turn them into you know,
the Stars of tomorrow then you know then and and
and stand for what our culture stands for. I mean
I thought, how does how does that not win?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
All? This from your George straight to pissany.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, a little bit from the George Straight at fifty yeh.
So it's and it's you know, it's been so much fun.
We've uh, we've totally immersed ourselves in it, right, Yeah,
I can tell. And what I mean it's important to
you all it is and and and and the way
of life and what it stands for. I mean, you
know it's just a few years ago. Uh, there's another
gentleman there. Actual, there's two more gentlemen that are are
founders with us, Cordon McCoy and Brad Hughes. And James
(20:50):
introduced us. So when back to where we started, James
probably in a lot of the rodeo part, we're bringing
the music part and Bob, but he brought this guy,
Himed Cordon McCoy and chords raised bucking bulls his whole
life and stock and he's produced Roady and he was
a professional cowboy in the PBR and a you know
national finals guy before and he starts raising bucking bulls
and Now, I grew up on a on a cattle
farm in southeast Alabama, and James told me, he said, man,
(21:15):
don't don't do it. Don't do it. Next thing I know,
Bob and I are riding with Cord and we bought
our first bucking bull about three years ago and now
we're up to about fifty fifty five head and growing
every year. So it's it's addiction. So we're raising bucking
bulls and in Southeast Alabama and sending Mount Oklahoma Cord
and partners with him on raising those next PBR champions,
(21:38):
those next PRCA and Honda j But.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
That distinguishes HONDO too, right, because you're I mean, you
have a you're also in charge of the livestock. So
you're choosing the top athletes. What is it eight percent,
the top eight percent?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I would say one, really that'so.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
But in the in the athletes, it's the ranked eight.
I see, ranked eight in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
They are invited and that's nobody else, nobody else.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Wow. And then you're really taking the choice the bulls
and the choice livestock and bringing them in as well.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Correct, I mean it's kind of like the Super Bowl
of rodeo. Every time you go out.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
It is every ride, every run, every city. Part of
the idea is talking about building the fans of Rodeo. Yeah,
like what Blake's example earlier, when you got ticket to
go to an NBA game, you know you're getting to
see the starting five.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Right, with Rodeo, it's kind of all over the place
except for the National Finals. Rodeo like that is fifteen
contestants that have earned that spot in each category. And
our idea is that that should be on the road, right,
that should be in a lot of other markets, and
right now it's just in Right now, it's just in Phoenix.
But there are big plans in store for the Hondo
(22:47):
and growth as we move forward in cities all over
the un Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, I'm told that you're thinking of branching out.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
So right now we're working on a plan to go
to several new markets and there's a growth strategy across
multiple years.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
So what we've done is created a successful, successful event
in Phoenix. We're coming back for year two this year.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Is that going to be the template for the rest
of these Correct? The Phoenix Correct?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
And Phoenix was the hub where this was born out
of and so what will eventually happen. Also because of
the fact that it's in November, the series will culminate
into a finale in November and Phoenix at Ah as
we add cities and new markets all over the US
that will begin to build standings that come back into Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
How did it change from what you envisioned to actually
putting it on its feet in Phoenix? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
What did it change?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah? Everything change?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Everything changed. Well, well, that's the nature of this kind
of stuff, and it organically the audience and the place
sort of starts telling you. I mean, it's like TV.
Being in TV, they will tell you what they like
and what they don't like.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Well, you know, I say this, from the time we started,
God had his hand in it, you know, and we
as we would go and we would try to build
this thing, we would run in of what you would
think would be a roadblock, and it was really just
God saying, turn this way. And every time we turned
and just followed the way he had us going, another
door opened and it became better. So everything changed, but
(24:13):
it all changed the right way. And it was you know,
me and James, Bob and Core and Brad talk about it.
It's you know, it's it's you know, he had his
hand in it, you know, and in everything that we did.
So by the time the final product got there in
November and it was our first big stadium like that
on doing an event, everything went off. And as Bob said,
you know, we had people coming to us saying like this,
(24:34):
this is your first one in a Major League Baseball stadium,
and we well, yeah, and they were like we we
don't believe it, Like this thing was so great, like
if this is where you guys are starting, we can't
wait to see where you guys are going.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, And it was so smooth that you would never
have known it.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Was the first This was a startup exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
But from day one, even when they brought me into Dallas,
it was always the idea of making this into it
a series and doing it in multiple cities and having
somewhere where we culltimate the final.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
And the multiple different the different events or no, yeah,
that came the different competitions.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yes, it's always been a full rodeo in every single
competition that a rodeo has to offer.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Even that it's also about the lifestyle and the culture.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
This is exactly what I wanted to talk about next.
It seems to me what you're really doing. Look, I
came out of the years and years ago. I was
trained as an actor. I had an acting teacher. Her
name was Stella Adler. She trained Marlon Brando, a lot
of incredible people, and Stella, who is ninety years old.
When I studied with her, she had a line and
she said, you have one job as an actor. It's
(25:42):
to get on that platform and remind people of their
humanity and call them back to their humanity. And when
I hear this, so I'm very sensitive, and in fact,
I'm always looking for who's building culture, not exploiting it
or or or beating it. Who's building it? Seems to
(26:03):
me this is a cultured builder, and it's an America.
It's a bit of Americana that we're in danger of losing.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
I agree more.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
What's the only thing that's one hundred percent original to America?
The Cowboy jazz?
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Gotcha Cowboy and jazz. But I'll take I'm sorry, you
know it's a fixation. I'm sorry, and you know the
roots of that. People always think, oh, it's just you
know that really also like Cowboy because people think Cowboy's
a god with a hat horizon. No, no, no, it's the whole.
(26:40):
It's Oklahoma, it's Texas, it's the Far West, it's Louisiana
and Florida. It's all those strains of versions of cowboy
that create what we have. And it's the same thing
with jazz, that is actually the root of it, the
base of it. Before the Caribbean beats and the African
beats come in. It's German Papa, It's Italian tarantella. Then
(27:05):
they brought the beat on top of it. It's a gumbo.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
It's the people that make it work.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It is. It's a musical gumbo. And I feel the
same way about this. There's so many touches tell me
about the inflections and the shades of rodeo life that
come from different parts of the country and that you've
tried to shine light on.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Yeah. Well, if you think about just ranching culture or
beef production. In agriculture, there's there's all over the Southeast
road crops, peanuts, cotton, soybeans. And then if you want
to think about beef production, Central Florida right as one
of the biggest beef producers in the United States and
in the world quite frankly so. And then what's the
stat on peanuts being produced in the Tristate area.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I think southeast eight percent of peanuts in the US
come from that one little area. Wow. So it's it's
you know, all that culture, it's it's everything that everything
all put together. Then you got to Texas and New Mexico,
in Arizona and California.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, you know it's so you're going to be highlighting
if you expand this, and I imagine it sounds like
you are. If you take it to Florida, it's going
to have a different flavor than it does in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Sure, absolutely so the athletes, the thing that will remain
the same, right, is the core of the structure of
the sport itself. Right, the best eight period bar and
I we will put up a million dollar perse. We're
going to have the best music in the world. And
so whether you want to come to Phoenix to experience
the Hondo, or you would like to come to a
city like maybe Nashville, may one day we bring it here,
(28:34):
or Tampa or New Orleans or anywhere in the US
that's coming with us. It's going to be the best. Right.
But when we show up in that city as an example,
we talked about agriculture and Florida and the beef production there,
and so part of our philanthropic endeavors will be partnering
with those local FFA chapters and four H programs and
national beef rasers associations. Right to shine a spotlight on
(28:57):
the communities that are the backbone of the sport.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And those locals is a part of your pre show,
if you will, the pregame show that I was stunned.
Friends of maybe I'm wrong on this. Friends of mine
told me that you could anybody can walk into the Yeah,
it's you don't have to have a ticket, you don't
need to take it to the rodeo to come to
the to the whatever noon to five festivities and music
and Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Another thing is the big part to us is telling
the stories of these people, you know, and why it's
important to hold onto this way of life, you know
where everything's growing up around you. But what's why it's
important to preserve our way of life and and and
and preserve you know, these industries that are inherently ours,
you know. So that's that's a big part. And then
there's no better storyteller than this guy.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well, something that he said early on about this city
where we sit today is that Nashville's the hub, the
the beginning of country music. Right, Like, maybe not the beginning,
that might not be how you said it, but the
idea is that this is the hub, right and.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
All where it's where prominence it's really but yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
And it flows out of Nashville. And some thing that
we're doing in a similar fashion is taking that Western culture,
the code of ethics of the cowboy, right, the morality
that the cowboy stands for. Simple things like hold the
door for the lady, take your hat off when you
introduce yourself, say yes, ma'am, say no, ma'am. You know,
little things like that that I think our society has
completely pushed to the side, right, And that when you
(30:21):
talk about building culture, those are the things that we
stand for. Those are the things that we're going to
emphasize as we go forward.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Well, and culture is rooted and its foundation is morality, values, cult,
What do you believe?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Right?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
This is exactly this is what you believe. And I
do love that you all are kind of bringing all
of that together and it's fun and it's musical. I
mean that's a novel approach.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yes it is. You know, it's been very very eye
opening to see. And what I mean by opening to see,
it's been a pleasure to watch all these people come together.
And you know, when James is talking about culture and
standing on culture, you know, we welcome everybody and we
want everybody to come see it. We stand on what
we believe in and we're not going to change who
(31:06):
we are, but we'll hope that you come in. We're
going to welcome everybody into what we do and what
we stand for and who we are, and we hope
that you take a little piece of at home and
in some way it impacts your life for the better.
And that's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
That's why we're going to ask you. What do you
want people to take away from this? What do you
want audiences to come away with?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I mean the kids, right, that's where we talked about
that earlier. I want them to walk away inspired, right.
I want them to think about what could be. You know,
as when I was a kid, I think my parents
and the people that were around me, my village so
to speak, did a really good job of building me
up in a way to believe that anything was possible.
Whether that meant if I wanted to sing, or ride
(31:45):
a horse or become the president of the United States,
right there was You're going to have to work, You're
going to have to sacrifice, and nothing's going to come easy.
But if you do those things and something else that
that's coming to mind in this moment is something that
we actively talk about among our group of leadership, is
actively work to set aside your own ego. The point
(32:06):
in all of this is not us. It never will be,
not any one of us individually, right, And if we
do our jobs well, it will mean that we could
be removed or taken out of the picture and the
mission could still succeed.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Right.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
And I think that that's going to work and is
actively working, because we agree on the things that we're
trying to do in inspiring the next generation of contestants
and people that are going to lead this country. Right,
we're talking about a sport. But what's going to happen
is these morals, these ethics, these things that we're carrying
with us in all of these cities are going to
(32:38):
impact the next generation in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Bob, I'm going to give you the last word. I mean,
you've spent a career doing this with the dear Expo Broadcasting.
I mean you've you've taken you've certainly popularized a sport,
but you also have advertised the culture that went along
with it. And that seems to be exactly what this is.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
It is exactly what this is.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I was a perfect fit for this shoe, and I'm
glad they brought me in.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
I hope you put new socks on it every now
and every now and then. Well, here's here's my only
request when you get the Pope himself, when George Strait
comes to the Hondo Rodeo, I want to be at
least in the third or fourth row.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We don't stop working on that so.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
He's gone every day. I mean, George, come on, TikTok,
you got to go on the Hondo Rodeo. Now.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
The thing I think that makes the Hondo great is,
like we talked about, everybody's welcome to come. So in
a time in America where we all need to come together, yes,
instead of being continually tore apart, this is an event
where we can all come together. And then one thing
about George straight when I was looking around during that
Houston rodeo George straight Night, I'm looking around. It didn't
matter what you look like, where you came from, what
color you were, how tall you were, how short you were,
(33:53):
if your blue, black, green, red, blue, everybody was a cowboy.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And all your exes living texts, well they're spread out,
little bit credit. We're not gonna do it check on
that one, Blake, but we weren't going to do a search.
But since you brought it up, thank you all. This
has been a lot of funds. They cannot wait to
see the next rodeo in Phoenix in November and then
(34:20):
come on, what happens next. I'm gonna bring my hat
next dot.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Where did you fix that with a new lid? If
you need one.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
In addition to the Phoenix Hondo Rodeo Fest November seventh
through the ninth, they have plans to take their rodeo
to Tampa, New Orleans, and Denver. Go to the Hondo
rodeofest dot com for all the details and tickets, and
next week, don't miss our interview with country legend Crystal
Gale about her relationship with her sister Loretta Lynn. The
(34:50):
door she opened for women and so much more. I'm
so glad you spent time all this. Why live a dry, narrow,
constricted life when if you fill it with good things
can flow into a broad, thriving Arroyo Grande. I'm Raymond Arroyo.
How's that for a tan galla? And this is my stats?
And make sure to subscribe like the episode. Thank you
(35:11):
for diving in, and we'll see you next time. Arroyo
Grande is produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and DP Studios,
and it's available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts
Host
Raymond Arroyo
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