May 24, 2024 • 37 mins
A Classic Replay with Country Music Singer Songwriter Drew Baldridge.
Drew is forging is own independent path and has cracked the top 20 Country charts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I lost my record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming
with that loss of record deal, I lost my booking
agent and I also lost my manager. I didn't think.
I didn't know what to do. I was living on
my credit cards and side this idea, I was like, man,
am I still supposed to do music? I'll post on
social media. I'll play in anybody's backyard that wants to happen.
And I thought I'd get like ten people. Man, I
(00:22):
got over twenty some thousand requests, and I ended up
going around the country for two years and turning over
three hundred people's backyard.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm buzz night, and welcome to the Taking a Walk
Podcast and another classic replay. Now, if you've checked out
this podcast, you know that I love stories of independence
and resilience. This one is so great. I was at
the Country Radio Seminar in late February in Nashville when
I got to meet up with country music singer songwriter
(00:51):
Drew Baldridge. Drew is pursuing his path with no label,
no manager. He's funding and forging his path, and it's working.
His music has just cracked the top twenty in the
country charts, and we couldn't be happier for him. Welcome
Drew Baldridge on this Taking a Walk classic replay Drew Baldridge,
(01:14):
thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
We're here in Nashville. I'm so grateful to be in
personal with you man.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I'm so glad this worked out. I'm excited to be
a part of it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So what do moving cows around there in Pakoda, Illinois
have in common with the music business?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Man? So I grab on a farm and you know,
like you said, little town called Patoka, Illinois, and I
grab on a farm. My grandpa was like my hero,
you know, And and I always put farming and kind
of tie it to the music business in an interesting
way of like, you know, we write these songs and
we don't really know what they're going to do. It's
(01:56):
kind of like, you know, putting seed in the ground
and you don't know how to gonna yield. You know,
you don't know what's gonna turn out, if it's gonna
have a big yield, if you're gonna get rain, if
you're gonna you know, if you're gonna have a good crop,
a bad crop, if your tractor is gonna break down,
you know, And I grew up a lot of with
a lot of old tractors that broke down a lot
of times. And so, you know, that's kind of feel
(02:16):
like a lot of my my journey in music has
been that, you know, and and it it took you know,
a couple of years ago my grandpa passed away and
me going back home and kind of reliving that that
country lifestyle, helping with the cows for a while and
just find getting back to me and not so much
of chasing a sound in Nashville, but more of, like,
(02:38):
you know what, I'm making music for people, and my
people are country people. And so it's been you know,
like I said, I've always tied farming kind of the
music industry my whole life since I've since I moved
here at nineteen.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
But was there a period you felt like you were
chasing something that when you looked in retrospect, it wasn't
authentic to you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, you know, I think I chase When I signed
my record deal, I was chasing everything. I was just
wanting to be heard in any any way possible, any
kind of sound, any kind of song. And I lost
my record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming with that
loss of record deal. I lost my booking agent and
I also lost my manager in the same aspect. And
(03:21):
I did this tour over twenty twenty you know, COVID hit.
I didn't think. I didn't know what to do. I
was living all my credit cards, and I was kind
of like, man, first off, I got a girl that
I want to marry. I can't even afford to ring,
you know. So I had this idea. I was like, man,
I am I still supposed to do music. I'll post
on social media and I'll just say, hey, whoever, I'll
(03:46):
play in anybody's backyard that wants to happen me. And
you know, this is if as long as I can
do it, and you know, we can't do it for free.
We need help and get in there and travel expenses
and stuff. And I thought i'd get like ten people,
you know.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I thought people would be like, hey, yeah, we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I mean I got over twenty some thousand requests and
I ended up going around the country for two years
and turning over three hundred people's backyards and just bring
And that really changed my creative process to be like,
you know what, I'm making music for people and not
for record labels. I'm not making music for radio. I'm
(04:21):
making it to have a connection with real life people.
When I was in their yard, I was playing corn hole,
eating dinner with them. They were telling me what their song,
what the songs meant to them, and why thank you
so much. You know, you're thank you so much for
creating music that we can put into our lives. And
that's when it really changed for me also too of
just like you know, I'm making music for these for people,
for real, authentic people, and that really helped me stribe
(04:43):
to the music that I'm creating today.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's when I first heard about you. Now many of
those were they were backyard barbecues, they were graduation parties.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Right, Yeah, there's a lot of I even did a
great like you said.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I had a song called Senior Year that kind of
had this moment during twent twenty because the hook of
the song said never thought it would disappear. Senior year.
All these kids is Senior Year disappeared and the song
was already out I wrote it. When I wrote that hook,
I just meant lived up kids, It's gonna go by fast.
But third year really did disappear. So I posted before
I did the backyard thing. First, I did this senior
(05:17):
year thing and I posted. I said, hey, I'll do
a zoom concert for any class of twenty twenty that
wants a zoom concert. So I was doing seven or
a zoom concerts today from my living room couch, and
they'd be like thirty minutes a piece, and I'd jump
right into the next class play for another one hundred
and fifty kids. And then that turned into, hey, we
have a drive in graduation. Would you come? Would you
fly down here and drive down here and play this
(05:37):
drive in graduation because it's all social distancing, And I
said sure, So I went around the country. I did
about twenty schools where I just played drive in graduations,
parades and gave commencement speeches to kids all around senior year.
And then that really sparked the idea, it's why it
might only doing this for senior year kids when I
should be doing it for people. And that's what turned
into the backyard shows.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And the way it struck me when I heard about
this was as the business and musicians were incredibly confused
and frustrated during the pandemic, you did something that was
reaching out and touching them, but it was also incredibly
unique compared to what anybody else was doing.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, it was real different, and it was also the
real rewarding for a lot of people that need music
in their lives. And you know, some of these shows
where you know, we did social distancing shows, we d
had shows that were after COVID and they were just
every all of them were outside, you know, and it
brought music to people and they needed it. You know.
There were so many people that said, oh my goodness,
we normally go to concerts ten times in a year,
(06:39):
and we haven't. We haven't been able to go to
any This is our release, this is our our life.
We love country music, and now you get to be
here in our yard, you know, and it just really
it took down all the you know, all the walls
between artists and fan, artist and listener, and it was
just really I became friends with a lot of these people.
And I still today when I play shows and you know,
(07:00):
there's hundreds of people in the crowd or whatever, I
can look down and see that they got the Baldridge
and Bonfire shirt on. I know I was in their yard.
You know, they have the shirt, and it's really cool.
To know that they were with me at my hardest
time in music for me personally of just losing everything,
but still having my people that connect to my music
(07:22):
to support me and believe in me and keep me going.
And so every show that I play, and it's almost
every show now every tour that I go out and
play now that we're back to playing clubs, there's at
least one person in there I played in their backyard,
and so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
So the cool thing about podcasts are they are, you know,
domestically everywhere here in terms of where people consume them,
and they're also international. But let's deal with the domestic
part first. Talk about some of those small towns and
name them where you've played some of those shows.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Man, Yeah, we played a lot in upstate New York,
and we played some you know, from New York all
the way to California to Oakdale, California that I've never
heard of before. They call almonds amons, and I was like,
what are you talking about? You know, And I just
got to do a lot of fun stuff on this
and see a lot of see a lot of people
and towns differently, because most of the time people are like, oh,
(08:19):
my gosh, you're a musician.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
You travel all around the world.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's like, yeah, most of the time, all I see
are pilot gas stations, the club, and where we're eating.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Dinner that night.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's never I get I never hardly have enough time
to do anything. But this way of touring is I
got to see the back roads of the town, you know.
I got to go to these little towns, and all
these little towns are on the back I make their
own TOR shirt. I put their own little town name
on it, where they feel like, hey, we're not Chicago,
but we're a little town in Illinois outside of it,
but our name's on the TOR shirt. And so that
(08:50):
is what I love because I grew up in a town
of five hundred people, you know, so like our little
town's never got anything. So being able to go and
tour this way was really really special for me, but
also for them because they got to do what they
thought was fun with me. Like, hey man, we take
our four whilers down to this this this lake and
we sit here and we catch you know, Channel cat
(09:11):
like okay, well, let's let's go do that. Let's go
take the Fowler down the lake, you know, And so
I got to do a lot of this stuff with
people on a human level that I would have never
got to do before if I was just playing in clubs.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I'm just so fascinated by it, so I'm hung up
on it in a good way.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
There was a man that I.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Did some work with as a former radio programmer who
since passed away. His name was John McGann. He worked
at MTV for a while and v H one, and
he was a real trailblazer, and he had a statement
that sort of applies to what you succeeded at doing
with those tours that you made think like a fan,
(09:51):
make everyone a star.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
What's your reflection on that? No, I think that's awesome.
I think you know, we can get caught up artists
sometimes and egos and you know, and I've been there
before where I'm like, well, I'm a country singer and
I'm rolling in and I'm you know, nobody can see
me before I take stage. I'm backstage. It's this cool moment.
(10:14):
And you know, when you do it like how we
did it in those backyards, there ain't nothing glamorous about that.
Just being honest, you know, it was like we're playing
on the freaking Haywagon. They just took the bails off
of you know, the morning before. It's it's not you're
rolling in and you're fancy Dan and your bus and stuff.
(10:36):
You know, it's it's really just knocking those walls down
and treating people like humans. And it takes and it
makes me go in and being you know, we're all humans,
we're all put our pants on this morning. And it
really gave a whole new connection to me for the
people that listen to my music. And you know, because
I even hate the word fan, I just that's a
(10:57):
weird word to me. I think just people that listen
to your music is is better is what I like
to say more of. And it just the people who
listen to my music. It really allowed me to have
a connection with them. I could have put out of
all those three hundred yard this was the coolest thing
for me on this whole thing buzz was. You know,
on my social media I post about my family, I
post about God, I post about the music that I make.
(11:20):
And it's really interesting what you post and put out
in the world. Those are your people that follow your
social media pages. And so out of all those three
hundred backyards. I could have put all those people in
one big shit and it would have been the all
good time. They were all solid, salt of the earth
humans and it was really cool to see, like, Hey,
(11:40):
whoever listened to your music is an extension of who
you are. And these were all people that I would
genuinely hang out with in my little town back home
on a Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It was just really it was really cool.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Do you believe it really was the beginning that fueled
your organic growth as an artist with your fans?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah? Yeah, you know, I was very lucky. I've been
in Nashville for thirteen years. You know, I had a
record deal before that where I created fans. I've well
created listeners. I've been on Sirius XM Radio. I've created
listeners that way. I had a lot of things that
built up to that, but this was, I think the
most genuine way I've created, you know, people following my
(12:23):
music and what I'm doing, because it was a real connection.
You know. It was they see me on their social
media and talking about my music, but I actually got
to stand there next to them and talk about their
grandma passing away or their daughter going through high school
and I think that was what was really different for
this tour and really catapulted us to allow what we're
(12:46):
doing today is to know that we have those people
out there that shared that story with the surrounding towns
that they were hated. You know, Drew Balters came to
our house. You know that guy right there that's playing
on the radio now, he was in our backyard. And
that really, I think does have some sort of you know,
you kind of start seeing the branches kind of go
out when you come to these when I come, Like
in last week, I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and you
(13:08):
know I did. I played first school up there, not
that far away, and the principals text to me and saying, hey,
I'm so glad you come back. We're going to come watch,
you know. And it's just like all these little you know,
finger legs kind of come out and.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Start kept touching people. It's like a textbook in marketing.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You didn't know you were coming up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
No, I had no idea, man, I just I just
wanted to play music, and I knew that this was
a way that I could continue to do that. And
I really believe God built me to write songs and
play them and entertain people when I can, and it
was it was a special way for me to do that.
And I don't know. I always tell my band too,
it's like, this might be something I do every year.
(13:47):
I'm even talking about maybe going out and doing another
twenty yards again because I just enjoyed it so much
of meeting people on an everyday life level, and you know,
for maybe for the rest of my career on now,
I don't know I do this again. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
They'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So when was the first moment that you remember that
music touched you? How old were you when What do
you remember most about being first touched by music.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I grew up singing in church, my dad singing church,
and I think there was this old song my dad
always used to sing at church and sitting you know,
in the pews and watching my dad sing. He's still
my hero, you know, And that's I go back to
those early moments of there was a song called when
the Anchor Holds and my dad used to sing that
(14:47):
at church on Easter Sundays, and that is a moment
that really moved me of watching my dad go up
and sing, and I was like, wow, that's something that
my dad does. It want to do that, And then
I started singing. My first time performing in front of
people was my first grade Christmas program. I sing all
(15:08):
the different languages of Goodbye there was. It was like
the finale of the thing, and it was like chew audios.
I mean I can remember, it's so goofy, but but yeah.
That was the first time I sang in public and
then got the bug and I was like, man, I
loved doing that. I loved being in front of people.
I loved entertaining. And that then turned into doing multiple
talent shows every year in our little area and it
(15:31):
wasn't much singing then. It was more dancing and lip
singing to like, you know, there's some really embarrassing videos
out there because of me doing Thriller and trying to
act like.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I know how to moonwalk.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh yeah, man. And then the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And give me a sing me a chorus of Thriller.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I can't sing. You don't want to hear that, but
but just like that's why I lip sing it all.
But like the Blues Brothers, we did some some of
that and some dancing to that and Grease Lightning and
it was it was fun. Man. And then looking back,
my mom and dad really always pushed me along through that.
I started taking piano lessons in kindergarten and that was
(16:07):
something that really started driving me to music too, was
you know, learning piano. And then about third grade, I
said that was a girl instrument play piano And I
was like, looking back, like, well, that was dumb. Why'd
I do that? So I picked up guitar at sixteen
and been been writing songs ever since. But it's always
Music's kind of always had a hold on my soul
(16:28):
and since I was you know, like I said, kindergarten,
first grade is when I started, you know, really performing
in public in front of people.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And talk to me about the musical influences that you
had as you you know, would hear music on the
radio or just see it in person. What were those influences.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, so they were kind of all over the board.
You know, you just heard my Talent show influences. I
mean we're talking you know Michael Jackson, who I loved
the energy and the performing the performer that he was
at that age. That was like, Wow, this guy is
larger than life, you know, with his performances and how
he does it on stage. And then you know, when
I got old enough and was thirteen fourteen and got
(17:12):
into you know what we all did in that small
town farming and helping my grandpa out and watching my
older cousins on the tractor and driving the tractor. Country
music became life because that was what we did. You know,
we were on the tractor from sign up to sundown.
And so like people like Brooks and Dun and Alan
Jackson and you know, Randy Travis and those people that
(17:34):
could really have those voices that could bring my lifestyle
to life. That was what, you know, I think the
songs like Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn, that
was literally my life, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
And Alabama the very first country.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
My dad had this old mixtape that he bought this car,
and the mixtape was was stuck in it and it
was and it was a mixtape of Alabama singing born country.
And we would listen to that song over and over
and over again. It says, you know, I got a
hundred years of down home running through my blood. And
we had a my grandpa had this this plot of
(18:08):
land on the outskirts of town. He called it down
Home because that's where he grew up and his great
grandpa was first there.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
And so it's been in my family for over one
hundred years.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And so when that line came across and it was like,
got one hundred years of down Home in my blood,
that's when I realized, like, man, country music is life.
It's my life, you know. And so that's what I
always try to strive to do with my music now,
is write those real things to me, because Alabama back
then could do it, you know, and it really struck
a chord in my soul that this is really authentic
(18:40):
to me and who I am. And so Alabama was
a big was a big big. John Anderson was also
on that mixtape.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
You Look Better than Money Anybody.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I always just thought that was his voice was so different,
you know, and stood out in such a cool way.
And so John Anderson was alsoally a big influence.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
And it's the simplicity of the life and how these
songs come to life in a very clear way, right.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, the simplicity of it, but also just the authenticity
of it of you know, when you hear Brooks and Dunn,
you know sing I believe, Oh my goodness, like that
is so the emotion in that is so real. But
it's also so real for the town that I was
in right of, like old man regularly living in that
white house. I I can picture my neighbor running down
(19:27):
the street and seeing him. You know, we're a quarter
mile away, so we'd have to drop full of so
there's no really running down the street. But it was
just those kind of things that Country music was my
life growing up. And I hope that whatever I put
out into the world music wise, that there's some kid
out there that can say, Wow, that's that's my life too.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
One of your fans, Deborah k Is how she listed herself.
She says, Drew's the man Drew draws pictures with his music.
How does that make you feel when you hear one
of your fans talk like that about your work.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's I mean, that's exactly what I hope for, you know.
I hope that when people hear my mute that's I
always try to sit in the righting room when we write,
and I always say, hey, no, we gotta we gotta
draw a better picture of what's going on. And so
hearing her say that, that's super amazing. I mean, it
puts a smile on my face knowing that, you know,
what I'm trying to do is being you know, portrayed
(20:25):
in the in the right light. And I really, you know,
I really do strive hard to make sure that all
the images are there, because I always tell everybody I
want to close my eyes and see what's going on,
you know. And and if I can close my eyes
when the song's playing and I and it takes me somewhere,
that means we did our job.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
How about tell me about the creation of the song before.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You, oh man. So I was actually out on tour
with low Cash at that time. We were playing on
we were in Long Island. We're not in on You
can't say in Long Island. You gotta say on Long Island,
Lung Island, on Long Island. So we were on Long Island,
playing at a place called Multkahes, which were actually playing
March seventh, and we were up above and we were
writing songs, and I was about to get married, and
(21:12):
we were talking about just all of our wives, and.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
We were talking about little Cash boys. You know, they'd like.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
To have fun just like you know, I did too,
and we talked about all our wives about how we
were just saying, man, before then, we were crazy, we
were wild, and so coming across writing that song was
talking about all the crazy things that I did before
finding my wife and how she made me, you know,
a better person. And so that was actually the song
that I kind of wrote for her for our engagement.
(21:40):
And funny story, it was right at COVID and we
were supposed to get engaged in France, and so we
were going to get engaged right in front of the
Eiffel Tower. I had it all planned out, and there's
a line in the song that said I never thought
I'd fly to Paris to get down on one knee.
And what happened was three days before we left, they
(22:02):
had the travel band and we couldn't go to Paris.
And so I'm like, I got this song. I got
this it says Paris, I'm gonna play it for So
I had to go in literally call my producer and said,
we have to change it. We have to change it.
We're gonna fly we flew to Aruba. I was like,
we gotta change it to I never thought I'd fly
to an island to get down on one knee, and
so we changed it to this and then we ended
up going to Aruba and that's it. It all worked out.
(22:25):
But that was a song that I used to propose
my wife with.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, wow, and then the song lost in Love. Talk
about that and talk about collaborating with the Harper Harper Grace.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, so Harper Grace. She sent me a message years ago,
she was probably sixteen seventeen years old on Instagram and
was like, Hey, I'm a big I had a song
out that time called Rebound. And she's like, I'm a
big fan of Rebound. You know your music is awesome.
Blah blah blah blah blah. I'm a songwriter too. I
make trips to Nashville, and most of the time when
I get those, I'm just like, you know, I don't no,
(23:00):
I try not to dive too much into that that
side of discovering artists or anything like that. And I
went to her page and I just listened to her
sing and she was so good, and I hit her back.
I was like, hey, you're amazing. Like when you come
to Nashville's let's rite. So she started coming to Nashville
and then now she has a record deal on Curb
(23:20):
and she's really doing some amazing things. And so we
wrote this song together called Lost in Love, and I,
you know, put a record out year and a half
ago called Country Born. And I always thought she was
an incredible singer and I wanted to, you know, my
listeners to hear her, you know, to see what she
has to offer. And so I think the track turned
(23:41):
out really, really awesome. We wrote it together, which is
really special. It was kind of like her first cut
outside of her own project, and it was she came.
We do a festival in my hometown called the Big
Baldridge and Bonfire, And because I did the backyard dour
was called the Baldridge and Bonfire. So I decided to hey,
I'm gonna put a festival on off the big One.
And so we put a festival on in my hometown
(24:02):
last couple of years, and I brought her up the
first year we did it, and she got to sing
in front of a couple of thousand people and sing
that song with me, and that was really special.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So take us inside the collaborative process of a writing session.
How do you like to work and how are you
most productive in that session.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, you know, I think most of the time now,
like when I first came here was a lot of
new people. You write and you've never written with before.
Now I kind of have my group of friends that
I've written a lot with, and it's all give and take.
And most of the time there's three of y'all and
I can even go in and have, Hey, this is
(24:42):
what I want to write today. I've been thinking about this.
I haven't written down. I have some lines, but there's
sometimes you go in and you don't have anything.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
You know, you're kicking around ideas and you're.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Like, hey, I wrote that. I was at you start
talking about life and you're like, hey, you know, a
couple of weeks ago, I was at the beach and
I saw this, and let me in this, let me
into this title. Most of the songs that I write
always start with a title or an idea, like she's
Somebody's daughter, like our single that we're working in the radio. Now,
I started off with she's somebody's daughter, you know, and
(25:12):
I knew coming into that, right, this is what I
wanted to write about.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
After meeting my wife's dad for the first time.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
This was a message to myself to not screw it up,
but treat her right. You know, if I break her heart,
I'm breaking her mama's heart and her daddy's heart too.
And so going into that right, I knew I'm gonna
write she's somebody's daughter, and yes, I'm gonna take outside ideas.
Being the artist in the room, you kind of got
to drive it to what you would say. But having
(25:42):
writers in the room, they really bring it to the
next level of ideas, of experiences that they've been through,
and you got to listen to those in a big way.
But the artist, you know, you got to really be
honest of what you will say and what you won't say.
And I think that's that's key for an artist in
a songwriter's room that's coming to Nashville. If somebody, if
you're writing with a hit writer and they say this line,
(26:02):
and you're like, man, I would never say that line,
but they really like it. I'm just gonna go with it.
And then you get to the point you get done
with the song and you're like, wow, there's no me left.
You know, it's a cool song, but there's it's not
how I would have said it.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
And so that's what I always try.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
To remember when I'm in the writing room now, it's like,
if I'm going to record this, I need to make
sure that I really love it and say what I
would say, and take take other people's opinion because it's
such a give and take in a writer's room. And
if you're on the other side, if you're a writer,
you know, obviously give and take, but also lean on
your artists that you're in the room with that's going
to record that song, that you want to make sure
that they are loving where this is headed. And so
(26:41):
that's that's been a you know, obviously a big couple
of ways you can go in not have an idea
at all, kick around ideas. Somebody says something, you're like, wow,
I've never thought of it that way. Yeah, let's write
that title that you have and let's point everything to
that to that title. Or you're going in you have
something really convicted on your soul that day and you're saying, hey,
I think we should write this, and if we write
(27:01):
this and it comes out correctly, I think it's something
that could be really special and powerful.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
We produced this other podcast it's called Music Save Me.
It's about the healing power of music. Do you believe
music has healing powers?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, I really do. You know, I really saw it
a lot over this.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Tour where I played in people's backyards and people wasn't
getting music, they weren't gathering around music. They were you know,
COVID had kind of had them stopped up and not
seeing music alive. And when I was in these people's
yards and playing songs, I could see them come to life,
you know, I could see their soul open up. I
(27:41):
could see the smiles on their face or the tears
in their eyes that you know, it really does affect them.
Even for me. I mean when I listened to the
right song, I get goosebumps over my entire body. You know,
it puts me in It can transport me to a
whole other place, and it can you know. I've seen
so many videos too of people going through dementia or
all time, but when the right song comes on, they
(28:03):
know the words, you know, or they it takes them
back and you see them dancing. It brings cheerful, it
brings happiness. And as a writer, I don't take that lightly.
That's something I want to go in the writing room.
I want to make sure that I'm making music that
people can can do their life to and make memories
to and make, you know, long lasting connections with and
(28:25):
so yeah, I totally believe that that music can heal.
Music can bring so many great things that you can't
get a point across just talking sometimes, you know, like
if I would just sit here and talk to you,
she's somebody's daughter, she's somebody's baby, she's somebody's everything, it's
not gonna connect as much as you have a melody
to it. And so I really believe that that music
(28:46):
can heal. But also I believe that music can can
change lives. And you hear a song that says, you know,
I'm really friends close friends with Tim Nichols, and he
wrote Live like You Were Dying, and it talks. There's
a line in there that says, you know, called somebody
and forgave them, you know, for a long lost thing
they did to me in the past. And he has people,
(29:06):
he said, people messaged me and said I forgave my
dad after hearing your song, because I realized life was
too short. And and that is amazing. That's what music
is all about. I have people call me about she's
somebody's daughter. It says, Hey, you know, i've you know,
I haven't talked to my daughter in a long time,
but I heard your song. Maybe want to pick up
(29:26):
the phone call her, you know. And it's like it
changes lives.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It must strike you as you're crisscrossing all over the
country at a very divided time, how music unites everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, it really does. And you know, it's interesting. There's
what we were talking about this today. There's just there's
no rules in music, and I think that's cool. Like,
you know, you can be creatively different and you can
be creatively authentic, and it can.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
There is a lot of.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Opinions in music, you know, in country music too, Like
on social media, you can let it get to you
a little bit of people saying, well it's not country enough,
you know, or it it's two country. I don't listen
to that. So there is still some divisiveness even in music.
But like songs that have powerful messages, they can get behind,
they can get behind what that song is saying. For sure, we're.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Kind of looking out over downtown Nashville. And as you
do that, and you imagine, you know, maybe a year
from now, what do you hope is happening? In your career.
Next year at this time, after all your hard work.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Man, I hope I have a number one song. Baby,
that's the goal, you know. We I did something really
unconventional the last year. I created my own label and
I sent a song of mine that we've been talking about,
Somebody's Dollar. I sent it to radio myself because I
didn't have a record label that believed in me. And
I've had people that believed in me and then gave up.
(30:55):
And you know, you kind of get one shot here
in Nashville sometimes, and I think taking this song to
radio and showing that it's a hit, and we already
know it's a hit, but like at radio it's a
number one song, it's a top ten song.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I would love for that to have.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I've been here for thirteen years and never had a
number one hit, and I've have friends that's been here
for three and they do. And I'm not saying that
number one is everything, but I want as many people
to hear she's Somebody's daughter as possible and the message
that song brings about. And you know, sitting here looking
over Nashville, I moved here at nineteen with nothing, you know,
and now I have a wife and a little boy
that's fourteen months old, and we have a house and
(31:33):
it's all paid for by music. And it's like that's
a pretty big blessing in itself, and I'm just I'm
happy to still be here. I'm happy to create music
every day. And yes, I hope we have a number one,
But in a year's time, if that's not the case,
we'll have another song that's out there that's touching other
people's lives in a different way. And my goal is
(31:54):
I'm going to put another record out within that time. Also,
we've been recording new music and maybe even some outside
songs like that I've recorded that other artists record, hopefully
have a hit hit or two on some other artists
besides myself as a songwriter.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
So in closing, I asked this question frequently, but I
think you're more supremely equipped to answer this than most.
What advice to someone listening who's a musician who's trying
to work it, break in, make a difference with their music.
What's the advice you would give them?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, I think first off, we need to figure out
how serious you are. You know, music is an amazing path,
like to be able to wake up and play music
every day is awesome, but it's also you're so tied
to your dream, you're so tied to the fit, like
your opinion of what you're doing. You can let those
people tear you down with one word of a no.
(32:55):
You know, when I remember I moved here and the
first time I heard no, I thought I was destroyed.
But it's like the note, let the nose drive you.
And I think that's that's a really big powerful thing
for me now, is all the notes. And even when
you're you know, you're the biggest artists in country music,
are still hearing no. Country radio programmers are still telling
them they don't like that song, we're not gonna play it,
(33:15):
But guess what, they end up playing it whenever when
other people do. And so it's like let the nose
fuel you. But also, if you have a plan B,
this plan's never gonna work. That's I think the big
thing if you if you come here to Nashville and
you say, I give myself two years and now I'm
gonna move home if it don't work out, all right,
(33:36):
y'all right, at the beginning, it's not gonna work because
you have a plan B. And you wanna get a
you wanna put those other eggs in other baskets, and
that's not gonna It doesn't fly in music. And it's like,
you know, if you're gonna come here and people say
it's a ten year town, sometimes it's a fifteen year town.
You know, Ashley Gorly who's written seventy number ones in Nashville,
seventy the biggest songwriter that has ever been in Nashville,
(33:58):
he didn't have his first hit for a lets in years.
And it's like, if you move down and you think, hey,
I'm going to do this, I'm going to go back
to the farm, or I'm going to go back and
work my daddy's business, You're going to fail. There's no
I believe there's no failure in country, in music in general,
there's just quitters. And I think that if you really
(34:19):
want to do this and you're in some small town,
now it's the best time because you have the power
of social media that a lot of us didn't have
when we moved here. We had to be here, we
had to be on the radio to be heard, we
had to be playing shows. And now you can post
a video and reach millions of people. From your doorstep
right now, on your phone wherever you're at. If you
jump on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, you have the
(34:41):
chance to reach multiple stadiums full of people from your device.
And I think if you're in some little town you're
a songwriter right now, or if you're an artist, there's
no reason why you shouldn't be posting every other day
about your music or writing songs right right You could
write a hundred songs. Maybe only two of them are good,
or maybe they're all good and you're phenomena. I don't know,
(35:03):
but I'm just saying, like I think, right now is
a great time you should be posting to get your
music out. Don't be too gun shy and too like protective.
I think there's sometimes there's people that's so protective of
their music that they're never gonna build a listenership, they're
never gonna build a following if they don't throw it
out there and see if people like it, and if
they like it, build.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
On that, put out another one, put out another one.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
That's the business that we're in now, and it's very
lucky that there's a lot of people that you can
do that from your you can live in Michigan right
now and have a great artist career and put out
songs and own your masters and do all that. You
couldn't do that ten years ago when I moved here,
you had to be on the radio to be heard.
Now you can be discovered every night somebody's millions of
(35:47):
people are swiping on their phone in their bed and
you could be discovered and that song could change their
life in a day's time. So it's pretty pretty wild
where we're at in the industry. So that's just a
little bit of advice obviously, you know, don't get you know,
kind of put your blinders on and don't compare yourself.
I think that's another big thing for me and that
(36:09):
I've had to learn over the years of you know,
I've moved here and had some some of my friends
when I first moved town to the biggest artist in
country music and I haven't got that shot yet. And
and maybe that's not in my cards, but maybe it is,
you know. And so I think putting your blinders on
and just saying this is my path. Nobody's gonna run
my path except me. I just need to do what
(36:29):
I'm here to do, and don't look at you, know,
your buddy down the street, that's also that maybe further
along than you, or maybe a better guitar player than you,
or maybe he's more talented than you, but you outworking,
you know. I think that's that's a couple of little
tips along the way. I guess, I don't know. Keep
kicking it, man.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Appreciate you, Thanks for standing, Thanks for listening to this
episode of the Taking a Walk podcast. Share this and
other episodes with your friends and follow us so you
never miss an episode. Taking a Walk is available on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I lost my record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming
with that loss of record deal, I lost my booking
agent and I also lost my manager. I didn't think.
I didn't know what to do. I was living on
my credit cards and side this idea, I was like, man,
am I still supposed to do music? I'll post on
social media. I'll play in anybody's backyard that wants to happen.
And I thought I'd get like ten people. Man, I
(00:22):
got over twenty some thousand requests, and I ended up
going around the country for two years and turning over
three hundred people's backyard.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm buzz night, and welcome to the Taking a Walk
Podcast and another classic replay. Now, if you've checked out
this podcast, you know that I love stories of independence
and resilience. This one is so great. I was at
the Country Radio Seminar in late February in Nashville when
I got to meet up with country music singer songwriter
(00:51):
Drew Baldridge. Drew is pursuing his path with no label,
no manager. He's funding and forging his path, and it's working.
His music has just cracked the top twenty in the
country charts, and we couldn't be happier for him. Welcome
Drew Baldridge on this Taking a Walk classic replay Drew Baldridge,
(01:14):
thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
We're here in Nashville. I'm so grateful to be in
personal with you man.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I'm so glad this worked out. I'm excited to be
a part of it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
So what do moving cows around there in Pakoda, Illinois
have in common with the music business?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Man? So I grab on a farm and you know,
like you said, little town called Patoka, Illinois, and I
grab on a farm. My grandpa was like my hero,
you know, And and I always put farming and kind
of tie it to the music business in an interesting
way of like, you know, we write these songs and
we don't really know what they're going to do. It's
(01:56):
kind of like, you know, putting seed in the ground
and you don't know how to gonna yield. You know,
you don't know what's gonna turn out, if it's gonna
have a big yield, if you're gonna get rain, if
you're gonna you know, if you're gonna have a good crop,
a bad crop, if your tractor is gonna break down,
you know, And I grew up a lot of with
a lot of old tractors that broke down a lot
of times. And so, you know, that's kind of feel
(02:16):
like a lot of my my journey in music has
been that, you know, and and it it took you know,
a couple of years ago my grandpa passed away and
me going back home and kind of reliving that that
country lifestyle, helping with the cows for a while and
just find getting back to me and not so much
of chasing a sound in Nashville, but more of, like,
(02:38):
you know what, I'm making music for people, and my
people are country people. And so it's been you know,
like I said, I've always tied farming kind of the
music industry my whole life since I've since I moved
here at nineteen.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
But was there a period you felt like you were
chasing something that when you looked in retrospect, it wasn't
authentic to you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, you know, I think I chase When I signed
my record deal, I was chasing everything. I was just
wanting to be heard in any any way possible, any
kind of sound, any kind of song. And I lost
my record deal in twenty nineteen, and coming with that
loss of record deal. I lost my booking agent and
I also lost my manager in the same aspect. And
(03:21):
I did this tour over twenty twenty you know, COVID hit.
I didn't think. I didn't know what to do. I
was living all my credit cards, and I was kind
of like, man, first off, I got a girl that
I want to marry. I can't even afford to ring,
you know. So I had this idea. I was like, man,
I am I still supposed to do music. I'll post
on social media and I'll just say, hey, whoever, I'll
(03:46):
play in anybody's backyard that wants to happen me. And
you know, this is if as long as I can
do it, and you know, we can't do it for free.
We need help and get in there and travel expenses
and stuff. And I thought i'd get like ten people,
you know.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I thought people would be like, hey, yeah, we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I mean I got over twenty some thousand requests and
I ended up going around the country for two years
and turning over three hundred people's backyards and just bring
And that really changed my creative process to be like,
you know what, I'm making music for people and not
for record labels. I'm not making music for radio. I'm
(04:21):
making it to have a connection with real life people.
When I was in their yard, I was playing corn hole,
eating dinner with them. They were telling me what their song,
what the songs meant to them, and why thank you
so much. You know, you're thank you so much for
creating music that we can put into our lives. And
that's when it really changed for me also too of
just like you know, I'm making music for these for people,
for real, authentic people, and that really helped me stribe
(04:43):
to the music that I'm creating today.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's when I first heard about you. Now many of
those were they were backyard barbecues, they were graduation parties.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Right, Yeah, there's a lot of I even did a
great like you said.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I had a song called Senior Year that kind of
had this moment during twent twenty because the hook of
the song said never thought it would disappear. Senior year.
All these kids is Senior Year disappeared and the song
was already out I wrote it. When I wrote that hook,
I just meant lived up kids, It's gonna go by fast.
But third year really did disappear. So I posted before
I did the backyard thing. First, I did this senior
(05:17):
year thing and I posted. I said, hey, I'll do
a zoom concert for any class of twenty twenty that
wants a zoom concert. So I was doing seven or
a zoom concerts today from my living room couch, and
they'd be like thirty minutes a piece, and I'd jump
right into the next class play for another one hundred
and fifty kids. And then that turned into, hey, we
have a drive in graduation. Would you come? Would you
fly down here and drive down here and play this
(05:37):
drive in graduation because it's all social distancing, And I
said sure, So I went around the country. I did
about twenty schools where I just played drive in graduations,
parades and gave commencement speeches to kids all around senior year.
And then that really sparked the idea, it's why it
might only doing this for senior year kids when I
should be doing it for people. And that's what turned
into the backyard shows.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And the way it struck me when I heard about
this was as the business and musicians were incredibly confused
and frustrated during the pandemic, you did something that was
reaching out and touching them, but it was also incredibly
unique compared to what anybody else was doing.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, it was real different, and it was also the
real rewarding for a lot of people that need music
in their lives. And you know, some of these shows
where you know, we did social distancing shows, we d
had shows that were after COVID and they were just
every all of them were outside, you know, and it
brought music to people and they needed it. You know.
There were so many people that said, oh my goodness,
we normally go to concerts ten times in a year,
(06:39):
and we haven't. We haven't been able to go to
any This is our release, this is our our life.
We love country music, and now you get to be
here in our yard, you know, and it just really
it took down all the you know, all the walls
between artists and fan, artist and listener, and it was
just really I became friends with a lot of these people.
And I still today when I play shows and you know,
(07:00):
there's hundreds of people in the crowd or whatever, I
can look down and see that they got the Baldridge
and Bonfire shirt on. I know I was in their yard.
You know, they have the shirt, and it's really cool.
To know that they were with me at my hardest
time in music for me personally of just losing everything,
but still having my people that connect to my music
(07:22):
to support me and believe in me and keep me going.
And so every show that I play, and it's almost
every show now every tour that I go out and
play now that we're back to playing clubs, there's at
least one person in there I played in their backyard,
and so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
So the cool thing about podcasts are they are, you know,
domestically everywhere here in terms of where people consume them,
and they're also international. But let's deal with the domestic
part first. Talk about some of those small towns and
name them where you've played some of those shows.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Man, Yeah, we played a lot in upstate New York,
and we played some you know, from New York all
the way to California to Oakdale, California that I've never
heard of before. They call almonds amons, and I was like,
what are you talking about? You know, And I just
got to do a lot of fun stuff on this
and see a lot of see a lot of people
and towns differently, because most of the time people are like, oh,
(08:19):
my gosh, you're a musician.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
You travel all around the world.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's like, yeah, most of the time, all I see
are pilot gas stations, the club, and where we're eating.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Dinner that night.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's never I get I never hardly have enough time
to do anything. But this way of touring is I
got to see the back roads of the town, you know.
I got to go to these little towns, and all
these little towns are on the back I make their
own TOR shirt. I put their own little town name
on it, where they feel like, hey, we're not Chicago,
but we're a little town in Illinois outside of it,
but our name's on the TOR shirt. And so that
(08:50):
is what I love because I grew up in a town
of five hundred people, you know, so like our little
town's never got anything. So being able to go and
tour this way was really really special for me, but
also for them because they got to do what they
thought was fun with me. Like, hey man, we take
our four whilers down to this this this lake and
we sit here and we catch you know, Channel cat
(09:11):
like okay, well, let's let's go do that. Let's go
take the Fowler down the lake, you know, And so
I got to do a lot of this stuff with
people on a human level that I would have never
got to do before if I was just playing in clubs.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I'm just so fascinated by it, so I'm hung up
on it in a good way.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
There was a man that I.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Did some work with as a former radio programmer who
since passed away. His name was John McGann. He worked
at MTV for a while and v H one, and
he was a real trailblazer, and he had a statement
that sort of applies to what you succeeded at doing
with those tours that you made think like a fan,
(09:51):
make everyone a star.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
What's your reflection on that? No, I think that's awesome.
I think you know, we can get caught up artists
sometimes and egos and you know, and I've been there
before where I'm like, well, I'm a country singer and
I'm rolling in and I'm you know, nobody can see
me before I take stage. I'm backstage. It's this cool moment.
(10:14):
And you know, when you do it like how we
did it in those backyards, there ain't nothing glamorous about that.
Just being honest, you know, it was like we're playing
on the freaking Haywagon. They just took the bails off
of you know, the morning before. It's it's not you're
rolling in and you're fancy Dan and your bus and stuff.
(10:36):
You know, it's it's really just knocking those walls down
and treating people like humans. And it takes and it
makes me go in and being you know, we're all humans,
we're all put our pants on this morning. And it
really gave a whole new connection to me for the
people that listen to my music. And you know, because
I even hate the word fan, I just that's a
(10:57):
weird word to me. I think just people that listen
to your music is is better is what I like
to say more of. And it just the people who
listen to my music. It really allowed me to have
a connection with them. I could have put out of
all those three hundred yard this was the coolest thing
for me on this whole thing buzz was. You know,
on my social media I post about my family, I
post about God, I post about the music that I make.
(11:20):
And it's really interesting what you post and put out
in the world. Those are your people that follow your
social media pages. And so out of all those three
hundred backyards. I could have put all those people in
one big shit and it would have been the all
good time. They were all solid, salt of the earth
humans and it was really cool to see, like, Hey,
(11:40):
whoever listened to your music is an extension of who
you are. And these were all people that I would
genuinely hang out with in my little town back home
on a Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It was just really it was really cool.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Do you believe it really was the beginning that fueled
your organic growth as an artist with your fans?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah? Yeah, you know, I was very lucky. I've been
in Nashville for thirteen years. You know, I had a
record deal before that where I created fans. I've well
created listeners. I've been on Sirius XM Radio. I've created
listeners that way. I had a lot of things that
built up to that, but this was, I think the
most genuine way I've created, you know, people following my
(12:23):
music and what I'm doing, because it was a real connection.
You know. It was they see me on their social
media and talking about my music, but I actually got
to stand there next to them and talk about their
grandma passing away or their daughter going through high school
and I think that was what was really different for
this tour and really catapulted us to allow what we're
(12:46):
doing today is to know that we have those people
out there that shared that story with the surrounding towns
that they were hated. You know, Drew Balters came to
our house. You know that guy right there that's playing
on the radio now, he was in our backyard. And
that really, I think does have some sort of you know,
you kind of start seeing the branches kind of go
out when you come to these when I come, Like
in last week, I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and you
(13:08):
know I did. I played first school up there, not
that far away, and the principals text to me and saying, hey,
I'm so glad you come back. We're going to come watch,
you know. And it's just like all these little you know,
finger legs kind of come out and.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Start kept touching people. It's like a textbook in marketing.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You didn't know you were coming up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
No, I had no idea, man, I just I just
wanted to play music, and I knew that this was
a way that I could continue to do that. And
I really believe God built me to write songs and
play them and entertain people when I can, and it
was it was a special way for me to do that.
And I don't know. I always tell my band too,
it's like, this might be something I do every year.
(13:47):
I'm even talking about maybe going out and doing another
twenty yards again because I just enjoyed it so much
of meeting people on an everyday life level, and you know,
for maybe for the rest of my career on now,
I don't know I do this again. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
They'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So when was the first moment that you remember that
music touched you? How old were you when What do
you remember most about being first touched by music.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I grew up singing in church, my dad singing church,
and I think there was this old song my dad
always used to sing at church and sitting you know,
in the pews and watching my dad sing. He's still
my hero, you know, And that's I go back to
those early moments of there was a song called when
the Anchor Holds and my dad used to sing that
(14:47):
at church on Easter Sundays, and that is a moment
that really moved me of watching my dad go up
and sing, and I was like, wow, that's something that
my dad does. It want to do that, And then
I started singing. My first time performing in front of
people was my first grade Christmas program. I sing all
(15:08):
the different languages of Goodbye there was. It was like
the finale of the thing, and it was like chew audios.
I mean I can remember, it's so goofy, but but yeah.
That was the first time I sang in public and
then got the bug and I was like, man, I
loved doing that. I loved being in front of people.
I loved entertaining. And that then turned into doing multiple
talent shows every year in our little area and it
(15:31):
wasn't much singing then. It was more dancing and lip
singing to like, you know, there's some really embarrassing videos
out there because of me doing Thriller and trying to
act like.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I know how to moonwalk.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh yeah, man. And then the Blues Brothers.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And give me a sing me a chorus of Thriller.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I can't sing. You don't want to hear that, but
but just like that's why I lip sing it all.
But like the Blues Brothers, we did some some of
that and some dancing to that and Grease Lightning and
it was it was fun. Man. And then looking back,
my mom and dad really always pushed me along through that.
I started taking piano lessons in kindergarten and that was
(16:07):
something that really started driving me to music too, was
you know, learning piano. And then about third grade, I
said that was a girl instrument play piano And I
was like, looking back, like, well, that was dumb. Why'd
I do that? So I picked up guitar at sixteen
and been been writing songs ever since. But it's always
Music's kind of always had a hold on my soul
(16:28):
and since I was you know, like I said, kindergarten,
first grade is when I started, you know, really performing
in public in front of people.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And talk to me about the musical influences that you
had as you you know, would hear music on the
radio or just see it in person. What were those influences.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, so they were kind of all over the board.
You know, you just heard my Talent show influences. I
mean we're talking you know Michael Jackson, who I loved
the energy and the performing the performer that he was
at that age. That was like, Wow, this guy is
larger than life, you know, with his performances and how
he does it on stage. And then you know, when
I got old enough and was thirteen fourteen and got
(17:12):
into you know what we all did in that small
town farming and helping my grandpa out and watching my
older cousins on the tractor and driving the tractor. Country
music became life because that was what we did. You know,
we were on the tractor from sign up to sundown.
And so like people like Brooks and Dun and Alan
Jackson and you know, Randy Travis and those people that
(17:34):
could really have those voices that could bring my lifestyle
to life. That was what, you know, I think the
songs like Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn, that
was literally my life, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
And Alabama the very first country.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
My dad had this old mixtape that he bought this car,
and the mixtape was was stuck in it and it
was and it was a mixtape of Alabama singing born country.
And we would listen to that song over and over
and over again. It says, you know, I got a
hundred years of down home running through my blood. And
we had a my grandpa had this this plot of
(18:08):
land on the outskirts of town. He called it down
Home because that's where he grew up and his great
grandpa was first there.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
And so it's been in my family for over one
hundred years.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And so when that line came across and it was like,
got one hundred years of down Home in my blood,
that's when I realized, like, man, country music is life.
It's my life, you know. And so that's what I
always try to strive to do with my music now,
is write those real things to me, because Alabama back
then could do it, you know, and it really struck
a chord in my soul that this is really authentic
(18:40):
to me and who I am. And so Alabama was
a big was a big big. John Anderson was also
on that mixtape.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
You Look Better than Money Anybody.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I always just thought that was his voice was so different,
you know, and stood out in such a cool way.
And so John Anderson was alsoally a big influence.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
And it's the simplicity of the life and how these
songs come to life in a very clear way, right.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, the simplicity of it, but also just the authenticity
of it of you know, when you hear Brooks and Dunn,
you know sing I believe, Oh my goodness, like that
is so the emotion in that is so real. But
it's also so real for the town that I was
in right of, like old man regularly living in that
white house. I I can picture my neighbor running down
(19:27):
the street and seeing him. You know, we're a quarter
mile away, so we'd have to drop full of so
there's no really running down the street. But it was
just those kind of things that Country music was my
life growing up. And I hope that whatever I put
out into the world music wise, that there's some kid
out there that can say, Wow, that's that's my life too.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
One of your fans, Deborah k Is how she listed herself.
She says, Drew's the man Drew draws pictures with his music.
How does that make you feel when you hear one
of your fans talk like that about your work.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's I mean, that's exactly what I hope for, you know.
I hope that when people hear my mute that's I
always try to sit in the righting room when we write,
and I always say, hey, no, we gotta we gotta
draw a better picture of what's going on. And so
hearing her say that, that's super amazing. I mean, it
puts a smile on my face knowing that, you know,
what I'm trying to do is being you know, portrayed
(20:25):
in the in the right light. And I really, you know,
I really do strive hard to make sure that all
the images are there, because I always tell everybody I
want to close my eyes and see what's going on,
you know. And and if I can close my eyes
when the song's playing and I and it takes me somewhere,
that means we did our job.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
How about tell me about the creation of the song before.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You, oh man. So I was actually out on tour
with low Cash at that time. We were playing on
we were in Long Island. We're not in on You
can't say in Long Island. You gotta say on Long Island,
Lung Island, on Long Island. So we were on Long Island,
playing at a place called Multkahes, which were actually playing
March seventh, and we were up above and we were
writing songs, and I was about to get married, and
(21:12):
we were talking about just all of our wives, and.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
We were talking about little Cash boys. You know, they'd like.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
To have fun just like you know, I did too,
and we talked about all our wives about how we
were just saying, man, before then, we were crazy, we
were wild, and so coming across writing that song was
talking about all the crazy things that I did before
finding my wife and how she made me, you know,
a better person. And so that was actually the song
that I kind of wrote for her for our engagement.
(21:40):
And funny story, it was right at COVID and we
were supposed to get engaged in France, and so we
were going to get engaged right in front of the
Eiffel Tower. I had it all planned out, and there's
a line in the song that said I never thought
I'd fly to Paris to get down on one knee.
And what happened was three days before we left, they
(22:02):
had the travel band and we couldn't go to Paris.
And so I'm like, I got this song. I got
this it says Paris, I'm gonna play it for So
I had to go in literally call my producer and said,
we have to change it. We have to change it.
We're gonna fly we flew to Aruba. I was like,
we gotta change it to I never thought I'd fly
to an island to get down on one knee, and
so we changed it to this and then we ended
up going to Aruba and that's it. It all worked out.
(22:25):
But that was a song that I used to propose
my wife with.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, wow, and then the song lost in Love. Talk
about that and talk about collaborating with the Harper Harper Grace.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, so Harper Grace. She sent me a message years ago,
she was probably sixteen seventeen years old on Instagram and
was like, Hey, I'm a big I had a song
out that time called Rebound. And she's like, I'm a
big fan of Rebound. You know your music is awesome.
Blah blah blah blah blah. I'm a songwriter too. I
make trips to Nashville, and most of the time when
I get those, I'm just like, you know, I don't no,
(23:00):
I try not to dive too much into that that
side of discovering artists or anything like that. And I
went to her page and I just listened to her
sing and she was so good, and I hit her back.
I was like, hey, you're amazing. Like when you come
to Nashville's let's rite. So she started coming to Nashville
and then now she has a record deal on Curb
(23:20):
and she's really doing some amazing things. And so we
wrote this song together called Lost in Love, and I,
you know, put a record out year and a half
ago called Country Born. And I always thought she was
an incredible singer and I wanted to, you know, my
listeners to hear her, you know, to see what she
has to offer. And so I think the track turned
(23:41):
out really, really awesome. We wrote it together, which is
really special. It was kind of like her first cut
outside of her own project, and it was she came.
We do a festival in my hometown called the Big
Baldridge and Bonfire, And because I did the backyard dour
was called the Baldridge and Bonfire. So I decided to hey,
I'm gonna put a festival on off the big One.
And so we put a festival on in my hometown
(24:02):
last couple of years, and I brought her up the
first year we did it, and she got to sing
in front of a couple of thousand people and sing
that song with me, and that was really special.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So take us inside the collaborative process of a writing session.
How do you like to work and how are you
most productive in that session.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, you know, I think most of the time now,
like when I first came here was a lot of
new people. You write and you've never written with before.
Now I kind of have my group of friends that
I've written a lot with, and it's all give and take.
And most of the time there's three of y'all and
I can even go in and have, Hey, this is
(24:42):
what I want to write today. I've been thinking about this.
I haven't written down. I have some lines, but there's
sometimes you go in and you don't have anything.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
You know, you're kicking around ideas and you're.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Like, hey, I wrote that. I was at you start
talking about life and you're like, hey, you know, a
couple of weeks ago, I was at the beach and
I saw this, and let me in this, let me
into this title. Most of the songs that I write
always start with a title or an idea, like she's
Somebody's daughter, like our single that we're working in the radio. Now,
I started off with she's somebody's daughter, you know, and
(25:12):
I knew coming into that, right, this is what I
wanted to write about.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
After meeting my wife's dad for the first time.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
This was a message to myself to not screw it up,
but treat her right. You know, if I break her heart,
I'm breaking her mama's heart and her daddy's heart too.
And so going into that right, I knew I'm gonna
write she's somebody's daughter, and yes, I'm gonna take outside ideas.
Being the artist in the room, you kind of got
to drive it to what you would say. But having
(25:42):
writers in the room, they really bring it to the
next level of ideas, of experiences that they've been through,
and you got to listen to those in a big way.
But the artist, you know, you got to really be
honest of what you will say and what you won't say.
And I think that's that's key for an artist in
a songwriter's room that's coming to Nashville. If somebody, if
you're writing with a hit writer and they say this line,
(26:02):
and you're like, man, I would never say that line,
but they really like it. I'm just gonna go with it.
And then you get to the point you get done
with the song and you're like, wow, there's no me left.
You know, it's a cool song, but there's it's not
how I would have said it.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
And so that's what I always try.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
To remember when I'm in the writing room now, it's like,
if I'm going to record this, I need to make
sure that I really love it and say what I
would say, and take take other people's opinion because it's
such a give and take in a writer's room. And
if you're on the other side, if you're a writer,
you know, obviously give and take, but also lean on
your artists that you're in the room with that's going
to record that song, that you want to make sure
that they are loving where this is headed. And so
(26:41):
that's that's been a you know, obviously a big couple
of ways you can go in not have an idea
at all, kick around ideas. Somebody says something, you're like, wow,
I've never thought of it that way. Yeah, let's write
that title that you have and let's point everything to
that to that title. Or you're going in you have
something really convicted on your soul that day and you're saying, hey,
I think we should write this, and if we write
(27:01):
this and it comes out correctly, I think it's something
that could be really special and powerful.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
We produced this other podcast it's called Music Save Me.
It's about the healing power of music. Do you believe
music has healing powers?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, I really do. You know, I really saw it
a lot over this.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Tour where I played in people's backyards and people wasn't
getting music, they weren't gathering around music. They were you know,
COVID had kind of had them stopped up and not
seeing music alive. And when I was in these people's
yards and playing songs, I could see them come to life,
you know, I could see their soul open up. I
(27:41):
could see the smiles on their face or the tears
in their eyes that you know, it really does affect them.
Even for me. I mean when I listened to the
right song, I get goosebumps over my entire body. You know,
it puts me in It can transport me to a
whole other place, and it can you know. I've seen
so many videos too of people going through dementia or
all time, but when the right song comes on, they
(28:03):
know the words, you know, or they it takes them
back and you see them dancing. It brings cheerful, it
brings happiness. And as a writer, I don't take that lightly.
That's something I want to go in the writing room.
I want to make sure that I'm making music that
people can can do their life to and make memories
to and make, you know, long lasting connections with and
(28:25):
so yeah, I totally believe that that music can heal.
Music can bring so many great things that you can't
get a point across just talking sometimes, you know, like
if I would just sit here and talk to you,
she's somebody's daughter, she's somebody's baby, she's somebody's everything, it's
not gonna connect as much as you have a melody
to it. And so I really believe that that music
(28:46):
can heal. But also I believe that music can can
change lives. And you hear a song that says, you know,
I'm really friends close friends with Tim Nichols, and he
wrote Live like You Were Dying, and it talks. There's
a line in there that says, you know, called somebody
and forgave them, you know, for a long lost thing
they did to me in the past. And he has people,
(29:06):
he said, people messaged me and said I forgave my
dad after hearing your song, because I realized life was
too short. And and that is amazing. That's what music
is all about. I have people call me about she's
somebody's daughter. It says, Hey, you know, i've you know,
I haven't talked to my daughter in a long time,
but I heard your song. Maybe want to pick up
(29:26):
the phone call her, you know. And it's like it
changes lives.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It must strike you as you're crisscrossing all over the
country at a very divided time, how music unites everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, it really does. And you know, it's interesting. There's
what we were talking about this today. There's just there's
no rules in music, and I think that's cool. Like,
you know, you can be creatively different and you can
be creatively authentic, and it can.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
There is a lot of.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Opinions in music, you know, in country music too, Like
on social media, you can let it get to you
a little bit of people saying, well it's not country enough,
you know, or it it's two country. I don't listen
to that. So there is still some divisiveness even in music.
But like songs that have powerful messages, they can get behind,
they can get behind what that song is saying. For sure, we're.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Kind of looking out over downtown Nashville. And as you
do that, and you imagine, you know, maybe a year
from now, what do you hope is happening? In your career.
Next year at this time, after all your hard work.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Man, I hope I have a number one song. Baby,
that's the goal, you know. We I did something really
unconventional the last year. I created my own label and
I sent a song of mine that we've been talking about,
Somebody's Dollar. I sent it to radio myself because I
didn't have a record label that believed in me. And
I've had people that believed in me and then gave up.
(30:55):
And you know, you kind of get one shot here
in Nashville sometimes, and I think taking this song to
radio and showing that it's a hit, and we already
know it's a hit, but like at radio it's a
number one song, it's a top ten song.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I would love for that to have.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I've been here for thirteen years and never had a
number one hit, and I've have friends that's been here
for three and they do. And I'm not saying that
number one is everything, but I want as many people
to hear she's Somebody's daughter as possible and the message
that song brings about. And you know, sitting here looking
over Nashville, I moved here at nineteen with nothing, you know,
and now I have a wife and a little boy
that's fourteen months old, and we have a house and
(31:33):
it's all paid for by music. And it's like that's
a pretty big blessing in itself, and I'm just I'm
happy to still be here. I'm happy to create music
every day. And yes, I hope we have a number one,
But in a year's time, if that's not the case,
we'll have another song that's out there that's touching other
people's lives in a different way. And my goal is
(31:54):
I'm going to put another record out within that time. Also,
we've been recording new music and maybe even some outside
songs like that I've recorded that other artists record, hopefully
have a hit hit or two on some other artists
besides myself as a songwriter.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
So in closing, I asked this question frequently, but I
think you're more supremely equipped to answer this than most.
What advice to someone listening who's a musician who's trying
to work it, break in, make a difference with their music.
What's the advice you would give them?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, I think first off, we need to figure out
how serious you are. You know, music is an amazing path,
like to be able to wake up and play music
every day is awesome, but it's also you're so tied
to your dream, you're so tied to the fit, like
your opinion of what you're doing. You can let those
people tear you down with one word of a no.
(32:55):
You know, when I remember I moved here and the
first time I heard no, I thought I was destroyed.
But it's like the note, let the nose drive you.
And I think that's that's a really big powerful thing
for me now, is all the notes. And even when
you're you know, you're the biggest artists in country music,
are still hearing no. Country radio programmers are still telling
them they don't like that song, we're not gonna play it,
(33:15):
But guess what, they end up playing it whenever when
other people do. And so it's like let the nose
fuel you. But also, if you have a plan B,
this plan's never gonna work. That's I think the big
thing if you if you come here to Nashville and
you say, I give myself two years and now I'm
gonna move home if it don't work out, all right,
(33:36):
y'all right, at the beginning, it's not gonna work because
you have a plan B. And you wanna get a
you wanna put those other eggs in other baskets, and
that's not gonna It doesn't fly in music. And it's like,
you know, if you're gonna come here and people say
it's a ten year town, sometimes it's a fifteen year town.
You know, Ashley Gorly who's written seventy number ones in Nashville,
seventy the biggest songwriter that has ever been in Nashville,
(33:58):
he didn't have his first hit for a lets in years.
And it's like, if you move down and you think, hey,
I'm going to do this, I'm going to go back
to the farm, or I'm going to go back and
work my daddy's business, You're going to fail. There's no
I believe there's no failure in country, in music in general,
there's just quitters. And I think that if you really
(34:19):
want to do this and you're in some small town,
now it's the best time because you have the power
of social media that a lot of us didn't have
when we moved here. We had to be here, we
had to be on the radio to be heard, we
had to be playing shows. And now you can post
a video and reach millions of people. From your doorstep
right now, on your phone wherever you're at. If you
jump on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, you have the
(34:41):
chance to reach multiple stadiums full of people from your device.
And I think if you're in some little town you're
a songwriter right now, or if you're an artist, there's
no reason why you shouldn't be posting every other day
about your music or writing songs right right You could
write a hundred songs. Maybe only two of them are good,
or maybe they're all good and you're phenomena. I don't know,
(35:03):
but I'm just saying, like I think, right now is
a great time you should be posting to get your
music out. Don't be too gun shy and too like protective.
I think there's sometimes there's people that's so protective of
their music that they're never gonna build a listenership, they're
never gonna build a following if they don't throw it
out there and see if people like it, and if
they like it, build.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
On that, put out another one, put out another one.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
That's the business that we're in now, and it's very
lucky that there's a lot of people that you can
do that from your you can live in Michigan right
now and have a great artist career and put out
songs and own your masters and do all that. You
couldn't do that ten years ago when I moved here,
you had to be on the radio to be heard.
Now you can be discovered every night somebody's millions of
(35:47):
people are swiping on their phone in their bed and
you could be discovered and that song could change their
life in a day's time. So it's pretty pretty wild
where we're at in the industry. So that's just a
little bit of advice obviously, you know, don't get you know,
kind of put your blinders on and don't compare yourself.
I think that's another big thing for me and that
(36:09):
I've had to learn over the years of you know,
I've moved here and had some some of my friends
when I first moved town to the biggest artist in
country music and I haven't got that shot yet. And
and maybe that's not in my cards, but maybe it is,
you know. And so I think putting your blinders on
and just saying this is my path. Nobody's gonna run
my path except me. I just need to do what
(36:29):
I'm here to do, and don't look at you, know,
your buddy down the street, that's also that maybe further
along than you, or maybe a better guitar player than you,
or maybe he's more talented than you, but you outworking,
you know. I think that's that's a couple of little
tips along the way. I guess, I don't know. Keep
kicking it, man.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Appreciate you, Thanks for standing, Thanks for listening to this
episode of the Taking a Walk podcast. Share this and
other episodes with your friends and follow us so you
never miss an episode. Taking a Walk is available on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.