November 9, 2025 • 37 mins
Join us for a replay of one of our favorite episodes as Buzz Knight from the takin a walk podcast talks with country music artist Drew Baldridge. In this conversation, Drew opens up about his journey in the country music industry, his songwriting process, and what it’s like building a career in Music City.
During the conversation, Drew discusses his biggest hits, the stories behind his songs, and his experiences performing across the country. Buzz talks with Drew Baldridge about the challenges and triumphs of being an independent country artist in today’s music landscape.
In This Episode:
• Drew Baldridge’s path to becoming a country music artist
• Behind-the-scenes stories from his music career
• Songwriting tips and creative process insights
Please subscribe to Takin A Walk Nashville future episodes with host/singer songwriter Sarah Harralson.
This Nashville storytelling podcast is part of the IHeart Podcast Network and is produced by Buzz Knight Media Productions.
Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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 so hade this idea. I was like, man,
am I still supposed to do music? I'll post on
social media. I'll play anybody's backyard that wants to happen me.
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):
Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk.
Nashville joined Buzznight on Taking a Walk as he has
a conversation with country singer songwriter Drew Baldridge as he
speaks about his journey from being a signed artist to
an independent artist with the support of his organic fan base.
(00:50):
His viral song She's Somebody's Daughter was released in twenty nineteen,
and now he continues to tour the world and release
new music with the support of his audience.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Drew Baldridge, thanks for being on Taking a Walk. We're
here in Nashville. I'm so grateful to be in personal
with you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Man. I'm so glad this worked out. I'm excited to
be a part of it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So what do moving cows around there in uh Pakoda,
Illinois have in common with the music business?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
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
(01:44):
we don't really know what they're gonna do. It's kind
of like, you know, putting seed in the ground and
you don't know why it's 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
(02:04):
of times, and so you know, that's kind of feel
like a lot of my journey in music has been that,
you know, and it took you know, a couple of
years ago my grandpa passed away and me going back
home and kind of reliving that country lifestyle, helping with
the cows for a while and just find getting back
(02:25):
to me and not so much of chasing a sound
in Nashville, but more of, like, 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 4 (02:42):
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 (02:49):
Yeah, you know, I think I chased 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. 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 I
(03:12):
did this tour over twenty twenty, you know, Covid hit.
I didn't think I didn't know what to do. I
was living on 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 a 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
(03:36):
play in anybody's backyard that wants to have 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. I thought people would be like, hey, yeah,
we'll do it. Mean I got over twenty some thousand
requests and I ended up going around the country for
(03:57):
two years and turning over three hundred people's back yards
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 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,
(04:20):
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 strive to the music that I'm
creating today.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
That's when I first heard about you.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Now many of those were they were backyard barbecues, they
were graduation parties, right, Yeah, there's a.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Lot of I even did a great like you said,
I had a song called Senior Year that kind of
had this moment during twenty twenty because the hook of
the song said, never thought it would disappear. Senior year.
All these kids of Senior year disappeared, and the songs
already out. I wrote it. When I wrote that hook,
I just meant, live it up, kids, it's going to
go by fast. But third year really did disappear. So
(05:04):
I posted before I did the backyard thing, first, I
did this Senior 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's 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 would you
(05:25):
fly down here and drive down here and play this
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
(05:45):
should be doing it for people. And that's what turned
into the backyard shows.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
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 (06:08):
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, and
(06:30):
we haven't. We haven't been able to go to any
This is our release, this is 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,
(06:50):
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
(07:13):
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 4 (07:27):
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 played some of those shows.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
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 amens and I was like,
what are you talking them? 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,
(08:09):
oh my gosh, you're a musician, you travel all around
the world. It's like, yeah, most of the time, all
I see are pilot gas stations, the club, and where
we're eating dinner that night. 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
(08:31):
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 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
(08:52):
they got to do what they thought was fun with me,
Like hey man, we take our four wheelers down to
this lake and we sit here and we catch you know,
Channel Cat Like okay, well let's let's go do that.
Let's go take the folder 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 5 (09:13):
I'm just so fascinated by it. So I'm hung up
on it in a good way.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
There was a man that I 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 VH 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, make everyone a star.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
What's your reflection on that?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, I think that's awesome. I think you know, we
can get caught up artists sometimes and egos, you know,
And I've been there before where I'm like, well, I'm
a country singer and I'm rolling in. You know, nobody
can see me before I take stage. I'm backstage. It's
this cool moment. And you know, when you do it
(10:07):
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 not you're rolling in and you're fancy Dan and
your bus and stuff. You know, it's it's really just
(10:28):
knocking those walls down and treating people like humans and
take 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 weird word to me. I think just people that
(10:49):
listen to your music is better, is what I like
to say. More of it, and it just the people
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.
(11:10):
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,
(11:31):
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. It was just really it was
really cool.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Do you believe it really was the beginning that fueled
your organic growth as an artist with your fans.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
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 will create 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,
(12:12):
you know, people following my 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
(12:35):
catapulted us to allow what we're doing today, is to
know that we have those people out there that shared
that story with the surrounding towns that they were Hey,
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,
(12:57):
I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and you know, I did
a I played first school up there, not that far away,
and the principals texted me and saying, hey, I'm so
glad you come back. We're gonna come watch it, you know,
and it's just like all these little you know, finger
legs kind of come out and start kept touching people.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
It's like a textbook in marketing. You didn't know you
were coming up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
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 a special way for me.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And I don't know, I always tell my band too,
it's like this might be something I do every year.
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 might do this again. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
So when was the first moment that you remember that
music touched you? How old were you What do you
remember most about being first touched by music.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
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
(14:37):
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. I want to do that. And
then I started singing. My first time performing in front
of people was my first grade Christmas program. I sang
(14:59):
all the different language just 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
(15:21):
wasn't much singing then. It was more dancing and lip
singing to like you know, there's some really embarrassing videos
out there, but as of me doing Thriller and trying
to act like I know how to moonwalk, Oh yeah, man,
And then the Blues Brothers and give me a sing
me a chorus of Thriller. I can't sing. You don't
want to hear that, but but just like that's why
(15:42):
I lip singing 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 my mom and dad really
always pushed me along through that. I started taking piano
lessons in kindergarten and that was something that really started
driving me to music too, was you know, learning piano.
(16:02):
And then about third grade, I said that was a
girl instrument playing piano and I was like, looking back,
it was like, well, that was dumb.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Why do I do that?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
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. 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 4 (16:27):
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.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
What were those influences.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
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
(17:02):
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 dumb and Alan
Jackson and you know, Randy Travis and those people that
(17:25):
could really have those voices that could bring my lifestyle
to life, that was what, you know. I think a
song was like Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn.
That was literally my life, you know. And Alabama the
very first country. My dad had this old mixtape that
he bought this car and the mixtape was stuck in
it and it was and it was a mixtape of
(17:47):
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 land on the outskirts of town down
Home because that's where he grew up and his great
grandpa was first there. And so it's been in my
(18:08):
family for over one hundred years. 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
(18:29):
this is really authentic to me and who I am.
And so Alabama was a big was a big big.
John Anderson was also on that mixtape you Look Better
Than Money, and boy, 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 4 (18:49):
And it's the simplicity of the life and how these
songs come to life in a very clear way, right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, the simplicity of it, but also just the authentic
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 lived in that
white house. I can. I can picture my neighbor running
(19:18):
down 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.
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 4 (19:38):
One of your fans, Deborah k Is how she listed herself.
She says, Drew's the man Drew draws pictures with his music.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
How does that make.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
You feel when you hear one of your fans talk
like that about your work?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
That's I mean, that's exactly what I hope for, you know,
I hope that when people hear my music. That's I
always try to set in the writing 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
here in 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
(20:16):
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 4 (20:34):
How about tell me about the creation of the song
before you.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
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. Yeah, on Long Island. So we were on
on Long Island, playing at a place called mult Kahes,
which are actually playing March seventh, and we were up
above and we were writing songs, and I was about
(21:00):
to get married, and we were talking about just all
of our wives, and we were talking about little Cash boys.
You know, they'd like 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
(21:22):
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. 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,
(21:42):
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 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 to play it for So I
had to go in literally call my producer and said,
(22:03):
we have to change we have to change it. We're
gonna fly we flew to Aruba. I was like, we
gotta change it too. I never thought I'd fly to
an island to get down on my knee, and so
we changed into this and then we ended up going
to Aruba and that's it. It all worked out. But
that was a song that I used to propose my
wife with.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Yeah Wow.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And then the song lost in Love talk about that
and talk about collaborating with the Harper Harper Grace.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
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 at 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 know.
(22:51):
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
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
(23:11):
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
(23:31):
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 call the Big One,
and so we put a festival on in my hometown
(23:53):
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 thousand people and sing that
song with me, and that was really special.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
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 (24:12):
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
(24:32):
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. You know,
you're kicking around ideas and you're 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 led me into this,
let me into this title. Most of the songs that
I write always start with the title or an idea,
(24:56):
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 I knew coming into that, right, this
is what I wanted to write about. After meeting my
wife's dad for the first time. This was a message
to myself to not screw it up, but treat her right.
(25:16):
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 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
(25:38):
listen to those in a big way. But the artist,
you know, you gotta 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. Of if somebody, if you're writing
with a hit writer and they say this line 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
(25:59):
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. And so that's what
I always try 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,
(26:20):
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 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,
(26:41):
let's write that title that you have and let's point
everything 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
this and it comes out correctly, I think it's something
that could be really special and powerful.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
We produce this other podcast. It's called Music Save.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
It's about the healing power of music.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Do you believe music has healing powers?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah? I really do. You know, I really saw it
a lot over this tour where I played in people's
backyards and people wasn't getting music, they weren't gathering around music.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
They were you.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
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 could see the smiles on their face or their
tears in their eyes that you know, it really does
affect them.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Even for me.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean, when I listen to the right song, I
get goosebumps over my entire body. You know, it puts
me in it, 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 Alzheimer's,
but when the right song comes on, they know the words,
you know, or they it takes them back and you
see them dancing. It brings cheerful, it brings happiness. And
(27:59):
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 so yeah,
I totally believe that that music can heal. Music can
(28:20):
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 going to
connect as much as you have a melody to it.
And so I really believe that that music can heal,
but also I believe that music can can change lives.
And you hear a song that says, you know, I'm
(28:43):
really friends close friends with Tim Nichols, and he wrote
Live like You Were Dying, and it talk 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,
he said, people message 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
(29:07):
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. They don't want to pick
up the phone call her, you know, And it's like
it changes lives.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
It must strike you as you're crisscrossing all over the
country at a very divided time. How music unites everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
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. There is a lot
of opinions in music, you know, in country music too,
Like on social media, you can let it get to
(29:52):
you a little bit of people saying, well, it's not
country enough, you know, or it's too 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.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
For sure, we're 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 (30:25):
Man, 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
she 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. And you know, you kind of get one
(30:47):
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.
Love for that to have. 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
(31:08):
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 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.
(31:30):
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 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
(31:53):
that other artists record. Hopefully have a hit hit or
two on some other artists besides myself as a song.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
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.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
What's the advice you would give them?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
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 like your
opinion of what you're doing. You can let those people
(32:43):
tear you down with one word of a no. 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 no, 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 art in country music, are still hearing no.
Country radio programmers are still telling them they don't like
(33:04):
that song, we're not gonna play it. But guess what
they end up playing it when 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, y'all right at the beginning,
(33:28):
it's not gonna work because you have a plan B
and you want to get you want to 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. He
(33:49):
didn't have his first hit for eleven years. And it's like,
if you move down and you think, hey, I'm gonna
do this, I'm gonna go back to the farm, or
I'm gonna 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 want to do this
(34:10):
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
(34:31):
or Facebook, you have the 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
and maybe only two of them are good, or maybe
(34:51):
they're all good and you're phenomena. I don't know, 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 good 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 going
to build a following if they don't throw it out
(35:12):
there and see if people like it, and if they
like it, build on that, put out another one, put
out another one. 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
(35:32):
to be heard. Now you can be discovered every night.
Somebody's millions of people are swiping on their phone in
their bed and you can be discovered and that 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
(35:55):
and don't compare yourself. I think that's another big thing
for me and that 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 artists in country music, and I haven't got
that shot yet. And maybe that's not my cards, but
maybe it is, you know. And so I think putting
your blinders on and just saying this is my path.
(36:16):
Nobody's gonna run my path except me. I just need
to do what I'm here to do, and don't look
at you know, your buddy down the street that's also
that may be 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
(36:37):
guess I don't know, keep.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Kicking its man.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
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
pot a guest
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I
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 so hade this idea. I was like, man,
am I still supposed to do music? I'll post on
social media. I'll play anybody's backyard that wants to happen me.
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):
Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk.
Nashville joined Buzznight on Taking a Walk as he has
a conversation with country singer songwriter Drew Baldridge as he
speaks about his journey from being a signed artist to
an independent artist with the support of his organic fan base.
(00:50):
His viral song She's Somebody's Daughter was released in twenty nineteen,
and now he continues to tour the world and release
new music with the support of his audience.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Drew Baldridge, thanks for being on Taking a Walk. We're
here in Nashville. I'm so grateful to be in personal
with you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Man. I'm so glad this worked out. I'm excited to
be a part of it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So what do moving cows around there in uh Pakoda,
Illinois have in common with the music business?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
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
(01:44):
we don't really know what they're gonna do. It's kind
of like, you know, putting seed in the ground and
you don't know why it's 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
(02:04):
of times, and so you know, that's kind of feel
like a lot of my journey in music has been that,
you know, and it took you know, a couple of
years ago my grandpa passed away and me going back
home and kind of reliving that country lifestyle, helping with
the cows for a while and just find getting back
(02:25):
to me and not so much of chasing a sound
in Nashville, but more of, like, 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 4 (02:42):
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 (02:49):
Yeah, you know, I think I chased 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. 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 I
(03:12):
did this tour over twenty twenty, you know, Covid hit.
I didn't think I didn't know what to do. I
was living on 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 a 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
(03:36):
play in anybody's backyard that wants to have 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. I thought people would be like, hey, yeah,
we'll do it. Mean I got over twenty some thousand
requests and I ended up going around the country for
(03:57):
two years and turning over three hundred people's back yards
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 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,
(04:20):
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 strive to the music that I'm
creating today.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
That's when I first heard about you.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Now many of those were they were backyard barbecues, they
were graduation parties, right, Yeah, there's a.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Lot of I even did a great like you said,
I had a song called Senior Year that kind of
had this moment during twenty twenty because the hook of
the song said, never thought it would disappear. Senior year.
All these kids of Senior year disappeared, and the songs
already out. I wrote it. When I wrote that hook,
I just meant, live it up, kids, it's going to
go by fast. But third year really did disappear. So
(05:04):
I posted before I did the backyard thing, first, I
did this Senior 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's 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 would you
(05:25):
fly down here and drive down here and play this
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
(05:45):
should be doing it for people. And that's what turned
into the backyard shows.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
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 (06:08):
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, and
(06:30):
we haven't. We haven't been able to go to any
This is our release, this is 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,
(06:50):
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
(07:13):
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 4 (07:27):
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 played some of those shows.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
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 amens and I was like,
what are you talking them? 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,
(08:09):
oh my gosh, you're a musician, you travel all around
the world. It's like, yeah, most of the time, all
I see are pilot gas stations, the club, and where
we're eating dinner that night. 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
(08:31):
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 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
(08:52):
they got to do what they thought was fun with me,
Like hey man, we take our four wheelers down to
this lake and we sit here and we catch you know,
Channel Cat Like okay, well let's let's go do that.
Let's go take the folder 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 5 (09:13):
I'm just so fascinated by it. So I'm hung up
on it in a good way.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
There was a man that I 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 VH 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, make everyone a star.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
What's your reflection on that?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, I think that's awesome. I think you know, we
can get caught up artists sometimes and egos, you know,
And I've been there before where I'm like, well, I'm
a country singer and I'm rolling in. You know, nobody
can see me before I take stage. I'm backstage. It's
this cool moment. And you know, when you do it
(10:07):
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 not you're rolling in and you're fancy Dan and
your bus and stuff. You know, it's it's really just
(10:28):
knocking those walls down and treating people like humans and
take 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 weird word to me. I think just people that
(10:49):
listen to your music is better, is what I like
to say. More of it, and it just the people
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.
(11:10):
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,
(11:31):
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. It was just really it was
really cool.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Do you believe it really was the beginning that fueled
your organic growth as an artist with your fans.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
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 will create 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,
(12:12):
you know, people following my 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
(12:35):
catapulted us to allow what we're doing today, is to
know that we have those people out there that shared
that story with the surrounding towns that they were Hey,
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,
(12:57):
I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and you know, I did
a I played first school up there, not that far away,
and the principals texted me and saying, hey, I'm so
glad you come back. We're gonna come watch it, you know,
and it's just like all these little you know, finger
legs kind of come out and start kept touching people.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
It's like a textbook in marketing. You didn't know you
were coming up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
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 a special way for me.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And I don't know, I always tell my band too,
it's like this might be something I do every year.
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 might do this again. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
So when was the first moment that you remember that
music touched you? How old were you What do you
remember most about being first touched by music.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
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
(14:37):
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. I want to do that. And
then I started singing. My first time performing in front
of people was my first grade Christmas program. I sang
(14:59):
all the different language just 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
(15:21):
wasn't much singing then. It was more dancing and lip
singing to like you know, there's some really embarrassing videos
out there, but as of me doing Thriller and trying
to act like I know how to moonwalk, Oh yeah, man,
And then the Blues Brothers and give me a sing
me a chorus of Thriller. I can't sing. You don't
want to hear that, but but just like that's why
(15:42):
I lip singing 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 my mom and dad really
always pushed me along through that. I started taking piano
lessons in kindergarten and that was something that really started
driving me to music too, was you know, learning piano.
(16:02):
And then about third grade, I said that was a
girl instrument playing piano and I was like, looking back,
it was like, well, that was dumb.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Why do I do that?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
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. 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 4 (16:27):
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.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
What were those influences.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
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
(17:02):
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 dumb and Alan
Jackson and you know, Randy Travis and those people that
(17:25):
could really have those voices that could bring my lifestyle
to life, that was what, you know. I think a
song was like Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn.
That was literally my life, you know. And Alabama the
very first country. My dad had this old mixtape that
he bought this car and the mixtape was stuck in
it and it was and it was a mixtape of
(17:47):
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 land on the outskirts of town down
Home because that's where he grew up and his great
grandpa was first there. And so it's been in my
(18:08):
family for over one hundred years. 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
(18:29):
this is really authentic to me and who I am.
And so Alabama was a big was a big big.
John Anderson was also on that mixtape you Look Better
Than Money, and boy, 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 4 (18:49):
And it's the simplicity of the life and how these
songs come to life in a very clear way, right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, the simplicity of it, but also just the authentic
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 lived in that
white house. I can. I can picture my neighbor running
(19:18):
down 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.
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 4 (19:38):
One of your fans, Deborah k Is how she listed herself.
She says, Drew's the man Drew draws pictures with his music.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
How does that make.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
You feel when you hear one of your fans talk
like that about your work?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
That's I mean, that's exactly what I hope for, you know,
I hope that when people hear my music. That's I
always try to set in the writing 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
here in 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
(20:16):
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 4 (20:34):
How about tell me about the creation of the song
before you.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
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. Yeah, on Long Island. So we were on
on Long Island, playing at a place called mult Kahes,
which are actually playing March seventh, and we were up
above and we were writing songs, and I was about
(21:00):
to get married, and we were talking about just all
of our wives, and we were talking about little Cash boys.
You know, they'd like 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
(21:22):
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. 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,
(21:42):
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 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 to play it for So I
had to go in literally call my producer and said,
(22:03):
we have to change we have to change it. We're
gonna fly we flew to Aruba. I was like, we
gotta change it too. I never thought I'd fly to
an island to get down on my knee, and so
we changed into this and then we ended up going
to Aruba and that's it. It all worked out. But
that was a song that I used to propose my
wife with.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Yeah Wow.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And then the song lost in Love talk about that
and talk about collaborating with the Harper Harper Grace.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
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 at 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 know.
(22:51):
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
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
(23:11):
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
(23:31):
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 call the Big One,
and so we put a festival on in my hometown
(23:53):
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 thousand people and sing that
song with me, and that was really special.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
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 (24:12):
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
(24:32):
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. You know,
you're kicking around ideas and you're 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 led me into this,
let me into this title. Most of the songs that
I write always start with the title or an idea,
(24:56):
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 I knew coming into that, right, this
is what I wanted to write about. After meeting my
wife's dad for the first time. This was a message
to myself to not screw it up, but treat her right.
(25:16):
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 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
(25:38):
listen to those in a big way. But the artist,
you know, you gotta 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. Of if somebody, if you're writing
with a hit writer and they say this line 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
(25:59):
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. And so that's what
I always try 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,
(26:20):
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 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,
(26:41):
let's write that title that you have and let's point
everything 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
this and it comes out correctly, I think it's something
that could be really special and powerful.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
We produce this other podcast. It's called Music Save.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
It's about the healing power of music.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Do you believe music has healing powers?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah? I really do. You know, I really saw it
a lot over this tour where I played in people's
backyards and people wasn't getting music, they weren't gathering around music.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
They were you.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
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 could see the smiles on their face or their
tears in their eyes that you know, it really does
affect them.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Even for me.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean, when I listen to the right song, I
get goosebumps over my entire body. You know, it puts
me in it, 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 Alzheimer's,
but when the right song comes on, they know the words,
you know, or they it takes them back and you
see them dancing. It brings cheerful, it brings happiness. And
(27:59):
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 so yeah,
I totally believe that that music can heal. Music can
(28:20):
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 going to
connect as much as you have a melody to it.
And so I really believe that that music can heal,
but also I believe that music can can change lives.
And you hear a song that says, you know, I'm
(28:43):
really friends close friends with Tim Nichols, and he wrote
Live like You Were Dying, and it talk 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,
he said, people message 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
(29:07):
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. They don't want to pick
up the phone call her, you know, And it's like
it changes lives.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
It must strike you as you're crisscrossing all over the
country at a very divided time. How music unites everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
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. There is a lot
of opinions in music, you know, in country music too,
Like on social media, you can let it get to
(29:52):
you a little bit of people saying, well, it's not
country enough, you know, or it's too 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.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
For sure, we're 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 (30:25):
Man, 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
she 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. And you know, you kind of get one
(30:47):
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.
Love for that to have. 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
(31:08):
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 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.
(31:30):
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 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
(31:53):
that other artists record. Hopefully have a hit hit or
two on some other artists besides myself as a song.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
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.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
What's the advice you would give them?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
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 like your
opinion of what you're doing. You can let those people
(32:43):
tear you down with one word of a no. 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 no, 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 art in country music, are still hearing no.
Country radio programmers are still telling them they don't like
(33:04):
that song, we're not gonna play it. But guess what
they end up playing it when 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, y'all right at the beginning,
(33:28):
it's not gonna work because you have a plan B
and you want to get you want to 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. He
(33:49):
didn't have his first hit for eleven years. And it's like,
if you move down and you think, hey, I'm gonna
do this, I'm gonna go back to the farm, or
I'm gonna 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 want to do this
(34:10):
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
(34:31):
or Facebook, you have the 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
and maybe only two of them are good, or maybe
(34:51):
they're all good and you're phenomena. I don't know, 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 good 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 going
to build a following if they don't throw it out
(35:12):
there and see if people like it, and if they
like it, build on that, put out another one, put
out another one. 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
(35:32):
to be heard. Now you can be discovered every night.
Somebody's millions of people are swiping on their phone in
their bed and you can be discovered and that 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
(35:55):
and don't compare yourself. I think that's another big thing
for me and that 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 artists in country music, and I haven't got
that shot yet. And maybe that's not my cards, but
maybe it is, you know. And so I think putting
your blinders on and just saying this is my path.
(36:16):
Nobody's gonna run my path except me. I just need
to do what I'm here to do, and don't look
at you know, your buddy down the street that's also
that may be 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
(36:37):
guess I don't know, keep.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Kicking its man.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
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
pot a guest
Speaker 2 (37:02):
I
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.