April 8, 2026 • 53 mins
This week on The Upload with Brooke Taylor, Brooke and Pastor Mark Evans sit down with country artist Corey Kent for one of the most raw and vulnerable conversations yet. Corey opens up about navigating miscarriage and loss, sharing how one of the hardest seasons of his life became a defining moment in his faith—not just for him, but for his entire family.
From walking his children through grief to holding onto the hope of heaven, this conversation is a powerful reminder of what it means to trust God when life doesn’t make sense. The conversation also dives into fatherhood and purpose, as Corey reflects on raising four kids, how becoming a dad reshaped his priorities, and why he believes success 50 years from now has nothing to do with awards—and everything to do with whether his kids still want to be around him.
Plus, Corey shares a pivotal moment on stage in front of 60,000 people where he felt God clearly reveal that the life he thought he wanted—fame, accolades, being “the biggest artist”—wasn’t actually what his heart was made for. Instead, he’s learning to surrender the outcome, trust God with his career, and create from a place of peace—even if that means praying over his record in a Taco Bell parking lot.
This episode is about: Finding faith in the middle of grief Letting go of control and surrendering your plans Redefining success through family, not fame And choosing to believe God is still good—no matter the outcome If you’ve ever wrestled with loss, questioned your purpose, or felt torn between ambition and what truly matters, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey all, I'm Corey Kent. Do I really still think
God's good? Because this is terrible. You find out if
your faith is something you actually believe or not. My
journey has been a series of like God chasing me down,
and he was like, I know what you want more
than you know what you want. And it was really
the moment where I was like, I'm good with where
I'm at and this is the upload.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, we are getting the thumbs up that we're rolling.
You guys have seen him on the voice back in
twenty fifteen, which can you believe it was that far No, yes,
you heard him on the radio. Singer, songwriter, husband and father.
We're so excited to welcome Corey Kent to the upload.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So we're just learning about how you're not in Nashville,
but you're in Texas with your fam and every time
you come you have to pack everything in in one day.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So this coffee is getting you through.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, this is the only food I've had today, which
is no food. So yeah, it's part of it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
If we want to get super cheesy, you've probably had
a little bit of the bread of life today, you know,
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Of that a little bit. We and my wife is
here with me this time, and we just had our
fourth little baby, girl. I was a third girl, fourth baby,
but it's fun. It was her first flight with us.
And uh yeah, now that we are into the four territory,
we're like, man, it makes it makes us realize like
(01:21):
we took one for granted big time. You know, the
first time around, you're just like man, trying to figure
it out. But feels it feels like the fourth time
we finally have it down, you know, like we've nothing
really rocks us too much.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
What was the hottest? Was it one? The hottest? Two? Three?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think zero to one was the toughest for us,
just because when we were so young. You know, I
think we're twenty two, twenty three, and we're the first
of our you know, Dana's got a bunch of siblings,
but we were the first ones. She's not the oldest sibling,
but we were the first ones to have kids. Kind
of first of our friend group to have kids. You know.
We told our parents and they were like, are you
sure you know what you're getting into. We're like nope,
(01:58):
but uh, you know, figure it out. And but yeah,
I think zero one was tough for us, and we've
been really big proponents of just like encouraging people to like,
if you're on the fence, about how many like have
have one more and because in our life it has
been it's been amazing. And a lot of the people
I look up to. There are three or four guys
(02:19):
specifically that along the journey I was just seeking advice from,
and the common thing that came back, if you could
change anything and go back and do something differently in
your life, what would it be. The common answer among
all those guys that I really respected was like, I'd
have one more kid. And I was just like, I
just don't want to do, you know, be in that
situation something go I wish blank And so yeah, here
(02:41):
we are with way more kids than I ever thought
i'd have. Yeah it's great.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Well yeah you're four too. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot,
but it's the best. Yeah. We talk a lot on
the podcast actually about just having children opens up purpose
in your life to a whole another level. Like it's
like you understand the point, you know, and it's it's
why I pray a lot for people who can't have
children or struggle or you know, go through those things,
(03:06):
and it's my heart is so for them to see
them to be able to experience that beauty and challenge
and craziness and yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You find out what you're made of.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I'm telling you. We always talk about it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Like my husband and I we were like two kids' tops,
Like he comes from a family of three. I have
five siblings, six of us, and I was just like
meet somewhere in the middle, and we were like two
sounds great. And then we had our second and we
were like, yeah, we should, we should try again, and
we recently lost our pregnancy.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But it is it's it's okay, it's.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, we've we've been down that road and it's unfathomable,
Like it doesn't that that sense doesn't even do it justice.
So I know, I'm really sorry. That's that's not a
especially when you know what that that leads to in
the relationship that at least too, it's not the same
as just like, well try again, it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, it's definitely an emotional le coaster, but it's so sweet.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
We actually haven't talked about it on the podcast before, but.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was such a sweet, almost just conversation that I
got to have with God about like, why is this
happening to me? That he literally met me right there
and was just like he spoke so clearly to me
in those moments of I could spury all of the
long story, but there were just things that happened. We
were so early on in our pregnancy where the Lord
specifically spoke to me. He was just like, you didn't
(04:28):
lose it. I moved it. You didn't lose it. You
weren't ready for number three yet. And it was such
a sweet moment with just me and my husband of
like we feel guilty for not being so sad, Like
it was a very traumatic experience and a very hard
thing to go through, but we by the grace of God,
like that peace that people talk about that surpasses all understanding,
Like it just doesn't ever make sense.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
But yeah, I mean, anybody that's been through that, I
hate that for them. But there is purpose in it,
you know, and you don't know it until you walk
through it.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm glad my wife's not in here right now because
we'd both be crying. But we we had it was
not super super early on for us, and so we
actually my wife had to deliver and we we ended
up burying that baby on our land in Texas. And
it's such a like, it's such a good reminder, like
(05:23):
my kids know that they like they talk about baby
Sonny and they talk about like can't wait to meet
baby Sonny like we have. If you ask my kids
how many kids are in our family, they would say five,
which is whild because we did not try to instill
that in them, but they they prayed for that baby
and when it you know, we we announced to them
(05:44):
on Christmas morning of last year that like you're going
to have another sibling. And then when I mean tell,
this conversation I ever had to have was telling them
that they weren't going to get to meet this one
at least decide, you know. And so then they they
were like, well, but we'll get to meet someday, and
I was like, yeah, you yes, you will one hundred percent.
And so like I think that, you know, God in
(06:07):
my life use that to kind of help my kids
understand that this isn't all there is, right and then
also I'll never forget out At our ranch, we had
my wife's family, you know, she be part of a
big Italian family and families, everything, and they came out
and it was I was just like, man, if nothing else,
(06:28):
my kids got to see a room full of adults
in the midst of the saddest, hardest, most confusing thing
that we had walked through, like a room full of
people praising God, you know, and in the midst of
something that nobody wanted, you know, and going, hey, like
we choose to believe that God has this, like there's
(06:48):
purpose for it. It's good. That's yeah. I mean, I'm
with you. It's not something that you just walk around
and offer up as information. But you know, as crazy
as it sounds, it's been really like formative for my
kids here.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You know, so cool to hear you say one of
the things that I've seen people walking through we had
to during our four journey, and the theology of heaven,
understanding of heaven in a little kid's heart is so
beautiful to see like that they see beyond the veil,
(07:25):
you know, and I think grief, it's not this false hope.
It's not just trying to make them feel better and
a band aid over sadness. It's like true, real hope
beyond the veil, and life is but a vapor here
one day, gone the next, as the Bible says. And
to see my children and to hear your children no
(07:47):
for sure a certainty in their heart, it shifts that.
It shifts the narrative from being this baggage I carry
around to being this vision I look forward to. Yeah,
and that's just just so cool to hear man like
really moving. And thanks for obviously we have the conversation,
but just thanks for your vulnerability Brian and that and
(08:08):
YouTube broken.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I love you guys, love you too.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I you know something you said about how your kids
know that they're somewhere else now, like they understand that
there's another side of eternity that we you know, hopefully
we'll see soon. But that was the moment where I
feel like it like really changed for my husband specifically
when everything happened.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know, you're so disconnected.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
In a way like compared to the to the woman
right where it like the physical act is happening.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
But he the.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Moment my daughter Emma, like she had asked me, like
when do I get to see baby brother?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Because she would always say baby brother.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we were sitting out on our back porch around
a fire, and it was a few days before Christmas
this year, and she's I tell her, you know, like
baby brothers in heaven and you know we'll get to
meet him someday. So she starts crying and she goes
into my husband and she's just like.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Why is he in heaven?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Like I want him to come back, and like even
when we pray sometimes now she was like, can you
pray that baby brother would come back from heaven? And
like she just seeing your kid, like you said, understand
that there's more. Yeah, it's such a cool feeling as
a parent, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
When you I feel like it's it's the same you
know principle in a lot of different areas of life.
But you do find out what you're made of too.
You find out, like if you find out if your
faith is something you actually believe or not. And you
don't know that until you go through something that tests you.
(09:41):
Like it's the same thing as like you can think
you're tough, but until you're in a real fight, like
you don't know how tough you really are. You know,
there's just no way to test that except to test it,
you know. And so for me, I just remember that
in that season, like being being grateful that like I
actually believed what I believed, you know, because you find
(10:03):
out in that moment it's like, do I really still
think God's good? Because this is terrible? And I am
frustrated with how God's letting this unfold, you know, and
to go, all right, I get to choose whether I
still believe that He has my best interest. That I
get to choose to believe whether he loves me even
(10:23):
you know that good that bad things can happen to
good people, right Like I have to wrestle with that now,
and do I actually believe that like a good God
would let this happen? That adjust God with it because
like this this child didn't do anything, like what do
we do to you got to wrestle with all that,
and then man, I was just so like it sounds weird,
(10:44):
but I was just relieved to go like, oh, I
really believe this stuff. This is not something that I
just talk to talk and show up on Sunday or
like you know, country music fans like me better because
I talk about Jesus. It's not that, and you know it.
There was always a little small part of my mind
about like how real is this to me? You know
(11:06):
and then when you when you get tested, there's no
fake in it. Yeah, there is no like you know
exactly where you stand in that moment. So I'm in
a in a weird way, grateful for that of like
the testing of my faith and my kids being able
to see that, you know, of just like they know
what mom and dad believe is a real conviction and
(11:28):
like a deep, deeply held belief even when it doesn't
make any sense. So I know that's heavy and sorry
if we way deep, but never expected to talk about
that on here, but here we.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Are to put a p like an exclamation point on
something that you just said about like watching your kids
see you go through a test and like learning that
you actually you know, yeah, I do believe in this.
I think it has been in my life specifically so cool.
Seeing the people around me, especially non believers, go like, how.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Are you okay? And I'm like, I'm good. I was
back to you know, back to work.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That next week, Like Christmas was still great for our family,
like it was a whole thing, and they're just like,
what is it about you that you're you're okay? And
I'm like I consider it joy, which sounds nuts, but.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It doesn't make sense that doesn't play by the rules
of here, you know, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, And I just appreciate real conversations. I don't know,
you know, I just appreciate so many times you talk
about Jesus. We're talking theories, or we read, we rehash
stories we've heard. But like man, when it really rubber
hits the road and it's tested and it's real and
it's like, man, you find out what you made of
everything you're saying, is like, I think that's that's what
people are looking for. People are wrestling with real stuff,
(12:47):
Like Yeah, the question of how could this even possibly?
How could God allow this is like the center point
of like, man, how could I believe? Because how could
this app so for me? In this journey? There is
there is We all have a story, you know, I
think when it becomes real for me of this is
how I came to that place where I knew Jesus
(13:10):
wasn't just a story you heard about or a place
that you go to, you know on Sunday. But what
does faith look like for you? Where did it start?
What was the journey to where men in the in
the most horrific of circumstances. I it wasn't an idea
that was borrowed. It was personal for me. What did
that journey look like for you? Man?
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I feel like my my journey has been a series
of like God chasing me down, like I've you know,
from from an early age. My mom was pretty instrumental
in in you know, exposing me to who Jesus was
and is and you know, helping me to just like
(13:58):
find my way into good, good circles and stuff. But
I was super I don't know, I guess disinterested and
kind of rebellious, and I wanted to be my own thing.
And I was like on this quest to prove I
was a man for so long and I just did
just really dumb stuff from fighting to girls, to drink,
(14:18):
into drugs to whatever, like just on just what is
I'm trying to define manhood or masculinity to me? And
I just like was it was never like a complete
like I don't believe this and I'm going this way,
but it was you know, I know truth, and then
I would I would just deviate and then like I
(14:40):
don't know how, truly, don't know how, but especially with
like the circles and some of the influences or maybe
lack of influences in my life. I'd talk to my
wife all the time about this. I'm like, it's it's
a like it's a miracle that I the God keep
like he kept coming after me, you know. And so
(15:01):
I would say, like there were multiple points where I
was like grasping, but I would say, like, the real
turning point for me was I was I was a
freshman in college, and really like between like my senior
year of high school my freshman year of college, when
(15:22):
I really grasped that what I was doing and how
I was living my life was if I claimed to
believe in Jesus, that it was no longer just impacting
me and my reputation because I was kind of of
this mindset of I can do whatever I want and
if it doesn't hurt anybody else or nobody knows about
(15:43):
this or whatever, I'm I'm good. And then it was like, well, no,
but now you're you're claiming to be one way, and
if someone sees you claim that and then you know
the next day sees you completely contradicted. This is this
is problematic now because now that's gonna cause them to
(16:05):
question what you're putting your entire life into if that's
even real, if you're not you know, walking how you're
talking right. So that was kind of the first time
in my life and really a huge moment for me
was I had never really heard what my dad believed
growing up, and my folks split when I was super young,
(16:27):
and I, you know, my mom raised me, and I
was really wrestling with like my own faith in this moment.
And I was about seventeen years old and I just
confronted my dad. I was like, what do you believe?
And there really wasn't much of an answer. It was
just kind of like, well, I've I've read a lot.
My dad's really smart guy, but just didn't He was like,
(16:51):
I don't really know. I've read a lot of everything,
but I don't really have like a belief system. And
that was really kind of like daunting for me here
because it was the first time where I was like,
I know what I believe, and I'm you know, I'm
I'm going this way and everybody better come with me,
Like I gotta save everybody around me now that I
have this thing. And so I had this real immense
(17:11):
pressure to be like man if if I don't see
my dad in heaven as my fault. And I remember
that being such a weight and talking to my mom
about that and she's like, that's not your job at all.
And so anyways, having some heavy conversations with my dad,
and it caused a lot of tension in our relationship.
(17:31):
But thankfully now we're at a great point in our relationship,
Like God's really really redeemed that. And it came through
when I was eighteen. Back to circle back to this
moment where I really think it became real to me
was I got a phone call from my dad one
day I had gone to you know, off to Oklahoma
(17:53):
State and and I don't really know what triggered this.
I know that I had changed the way that I
was living, and I do believe that that was pretty obvious.
You know, I was kind of crazy, Uh just I was.
I was smart enough to get into trouble and not
get caught, you know, but people people knew, like my
(18:16):
parents aren't dumb. They just couldn't catch me in.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
It, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And I know you're up to something. I'm like, catch
me if you can. But you know, so, anyway, I
think my dad saw you know, a shift in just
how I was approaching life, and you know, I kind
of like, as weird as it sounds like, coming out
of high school going into college, I stopped drinking and
(18:41):
I was like, I'm I'm looking for a different type
of woman, somebod that I could spend my life with,
you know, and just really kind of changing everything about
the direction I was going and college felt like a
completely fresh reset. And I got a call from him
one day and he's like, what are you doing on
so and so weekend? I was like, I don't know,
(19:03):
we're not on great terms at this point. And he
was like, well, i'd love if you come home because
I'm going to get baptized. And I was just like,
what are you Like, I just couldn't. I couldn't believe it.
And he goes, yeah, and your stepmom and your stepsister,
we're all going to get baptized. And I was like,
I'll be.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
There, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And so that that, I want to say, it was
like a Saturday, or it might have been a Sunday afternoon,
but we all, all four of us, got baptized in
a pond out in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma by
a really close friend of my dad's who happened to
be a pastor that I guess had a massive impact.
(19:47):
He was a pastor of a small church and a firefighter,
and it was just it was just a really special
moment where I saw God do what I didn't think
was ever going to happen, just you know, not that
I had given up on anybody or anything, but like
it was so powerful. Like and my dad is like
(20:10):
to me, you know, maybe he feels like he's the
exact same, but like to me, I've seen a different
side of my dad, you know, and just like our
relationship just grew and you know now like I love
seeing him around my kids and I don't know. And
then what was even cooler is fast forward a little
bit my grandfather. So his dad is dying in the
(20:34):
hospital of cancer, and my dad got to have like
a salvation conversation with my grandfather, who nobody ever knew
where he stood, Like he just was a very quiet
man and nobody really wore a cross around his neck,
but nobody knew. And it was such a like peace
(20:55):
of mind to know, like to hear my dad come
back out of this hospital room and be like I
got to I got to just get real with your granddad,
and I got to tell him about Jesus, and I
got to tell him, you know, the road to salvation,
this is what it looks like. And you got to
believe and you got to confess and he did. And
(21:15):
so you know, who's to say, but like, what an incredible,
incredible moment to see just like God doing things that
I just never expected to see. And it just started
to become to become real because there's no other explanation
for it. It's not like people just wake up one day
and go, I want to completely change and make my
(21:36):
life harder and you know, like and operate by a
new set of rules that really are inconvenient. Like, it
just doesn't make any sense unless you have heart change,
you know, unless something supernatural happens. And I just watched
it happen and and then you know fast, it's just
been a series of like God pulling me back. You know,
(21:56):
even in this crazy music industry, there's there's moments where
Guy's gotta remind me of of what's important, you know.
And one of the things recently that he's just made
super well known to me is like what I thought
I wanted and what I actually want are two different things.
(22:18):
I thought I wanted to be the most successful record
breaking you know, like the country artist that's everywhere, and
he's like, no, you don't like because that comes at
a cost, and the cost is something that you actually,
fifty years from now wouldn't want. And so to have
this realization that like, oh, God's looking out for me
(22:39):
and my like maybe the next person actually wants that,
and that's the but he knows that I want first
and foremost a great relationship with my wife and my kids,
and I can't. I can't do both, Like I've seen
what people have to give up to be, you know,
this as successful as I thought I wanted to be.
(23:01):
And so now it's this amazing like realization of just
like I am truly grateful for where I'm at because
if I if I would have hand picked it, I
don't think that I would have the relationship with my
wife and kids that I do have. And uh, it's
been That's that's the ultimate payoff, right Like, what I'm
(23:21):
judging success fifty years from now is not going to
be how many platinum records are on my wall. It's
going to be like, well, do my kids want to
hang out with me, you know, like that that is
how I'm going to judge success. Do they do they care? Like,
do they want to be around do they enjoy me
being around them or their kids or so anyway that
(23:43):
that might be a long winded way of wrapping that up.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Just so good. That's and as you're talking, I just
feel this in my heart for you. But there's a
story in the Bible when God comes to Solomon. He says,
what do you want? And he's like, that's the question
he asked him and so on, and says, I want wisdom.
Are you going to have anything? So I actually want wisdom?
(24:07):
And God says what Wow, Like God, that's amazing. And
not only am I going to give you wisdom, I'm
also going to give you peace. I'm also going to
give you wealth. I'm also going to look after like
everything else is going to follow because your heart's in
the right place and you want the right thing. And
so even just hearing you talk, I just feel I
can see that like that solemn and wisdom in you
(24:29):
and on you, which is also the reason behind the peace.
You know, he was the only king in the Bible
that didn't have any wars. It wasn't fighting on all this,
so he had a lot of women. That's another story,
but you won't get into the theology of that in
the Old Testament, but we will say this that when
you go after the right thing, when your eyes are
just that statement of God's kindness is He's helped me
(24:53):
by not giving me or not like redirecting my focus
and what my heart really wants of what my fifty
or fifty years later down the track self is like, yes,
this is the peace, the family, the the you know,
just everything that follows when your heart is said on
the right thing, and that is that is how you know.
(25:14):
It's not always easy. The road's not you know, we
go through our stuff for trials, but man, that is
the goal goals hashtag? Is that still the thing? But
I just think I don't think it is. I think
that's twenty twenty one. But oh my gosh, I'm not
in the I'm not the trend guy. But meim, I
love it so good. No.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, for I know the plans
that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to
prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you
hope at a future and just even reading that and
hearing kind of like what you're saying, it's so funny
because my husband and I recently started saying, like, you know,
we used to want all these things as a couple.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
You know, you want the.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Land and you want all these all these things, and
it's just like the second we had our girls, it's
just like we are rich. Yeah, like we are physically
just rich with family and love. And when your heart
posture changes to that, truly, I feel like that's when
the piece that you're talking about and all the things
just like fall into place.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
And you are going to a number one party tonight.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, So honestly, you know, I want you to think
that I dressed up for you guys. The reality is
I was gonna wear sweatpants and then I found out
I can't go home until like midnight tonight and we
have a number one party. So here I am doing
my press stuff and whatever.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
This is but really nice outfit.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, it's something that this coffee is gonna pair nicely with.
So I had this specific moment. We played some shows
with Morgan wall in this summer and he invited me
out to sing a song and we're playing in our
g stadium, which is most people we've ever played for,
was like sixty thousand people or something crazy, and I'm
(26:55):
on stage realizing that, like four years ago, it was
this total out of body experience and I don't even
like the human mind is amazing because I'm trying to
remember words to a song that's not my song that
I've never sang before on stage in front of like,
I don't know, fifty sixty however many tens of thousands
(27:16):
of people, trying to remember to also like be entertaining,
like move around and engage with the audience. And in
the middle of that, in that minute and a half
that I'm out on stage, I'm also recounting the last
fifteen years of my journey while I'm up there, and
(27:36):
I'm having this full on conversation with God while I'm singing,
while I'm dabbing people up and throwing drinks into the crowd,
like it was crazy. But he reminded me of a
couple of things. And the first thing was like, look
how far you've come in a few short years. And
that was, you know, in twenty twenty one, I'm working
for a pavement company in Texas. I'm we're below the
(27:59):
the like least or the most like ego stripping moment
of my life was when our son was born. We
didn't have to pay a hospital bill because we were
below the the whatever family income for a family of five,
and they were just like, don't worry about it, you
need the help. And I was just like, m you know,
I mean, just as a as a hard working Oklahoma
(28:22):
like you don't want a handout ever, and you never
want to feel like you need help. And so that
was that was tough. And then he's like, man, you've
you've had the lows and now here's here's a massive high.
And it was just amazing to go, like man, four
years pavement company to on stage with the biggest country
(28:42):
artists in the world in front of a football stadium
of people. And in that moment I told my wife
this and it's like, I don't know how to explain
it because all this happened in a minute and a half.
In that moment, he's like you see all this. I'm
like yeah. He's like I could give you all this,
like this could these people could all be here for
(29:03):
you and you could be what you're standing next to right,
which is like what you thought you wanted, but he's like,
I knew for you that's not what you really wanted.
And this is all happened in a minute a half.
I don't know how to explain it, Like thats why
I'm going the human mind is amazing, Like something obviously
not from here is happening in my mind right, Like
(29:25):
this is a spiritual, crazy, outside of time kind of thing.
And he was like, I know what I know what
you want more than you know what you want. And
it was really the moment where I was like like
just drop my shoulders and went, I'm good with where
I'm at, Like not that I'm not ambitious or that
(29:46):
i'd not that I don't want to be the best
at what I do or give it one hundred and
ten percent, but like throwing up my hands, going like
I will work on the craft and I will give
it everything I've got, but I will draw lines in
the sand when I'm not willing to give stuff up,
and I will let you handle the outcome. And so
like this record that I've been working on is the
(30:07):
first time me and my buddy that's Austin Goodlow, who's
producing this record we got done one night from from
cutting songs in the studio, and the only place that
was open was a Taco Bell and we sat in
the parking lot of Taco Bell and prayed over the record,
and I was like, I've never done this before. Like
I just felt like we should just go, Hey, we're
doing what we know we're supposed to be doing to
(30:30):
the best of our ability, and God, you just use
it like however you want to. You can make it
massive or you could make it completely obscure, but like,
use it. And I've never had so much peace about
a record. I'm just like, I don't the outcome doesn't
matter because the outcome's not up to me, and I've
just given that, given that away. But it just has
(30:52):
been a huge, like paradigm shift for me to go
what I think I want and what I actually want
be two different things. And to know that you know,
I am where I am as a result of God
just choosing to bless it. Like that's that's really it.
I've been making the same kind of music for years
(31:12):
and years and years and years, and then all of
a sudden, one of the songs just works, and then
another one works, and it's like, man, but I've had
songs in between those songs it didn't work. So's the
what's the It was just it's not in my control
and to be able to just go all right, I'm
just I'm gonna, you know, be good to my family
and prioritize them and work hard at what I do
(31:34):
and let everything just fall where it will.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
What's happening is you're speaking this is what this is
kind of my thing I do. Like I can just
kind of feel, bro, like this is so real for
you and such a there's an authority on it, like
a realness and authenticity to everything you're sharing that it's
like real time discipleship because you're sharing that it's like
an impartation of your life message, which is surrender. And
(32:01):
that bro that that it's like this, this story and
this testimony and the realness of that is everything. The
Bible says that the enemy that's trying to, you know,
prowl around looking for whom he can take out. We
overcome the wrestles, the struggles, the fights, the things that
come against us with the power of our testimony and
(32:22):
the blood of Jesus. And I just I can feel
even in me, bro, it's like, okay, let go a
little bit more, Let go a little bit more. Stop
you know, trying to grab onto that outcome. It's like
just release and let God and be be okay with
who you are, Like you're his son. You know. It's
like that identity that's freedom. And there's so many people
(32:45):
who aren't free, bro, there are so many people that
are bound up by like the stress of all tomorrow
and what's going to happen and how am I going
to do this and that? But it's that freedom. It's
more it's peace, it's it's surrender, it's all that. But man,
I just there's a freedom that I believe that that
there is on your life to speak into people. It's
an impartation. It's more than words. It's a spirit thing,
(33:05):
like you know, the same thing's happening on stage with
you for that minute and a half. It's like that,
like download, It's like that's what It's an upload? Should
I say what I say download? I will not say
that that's heresy. No, the upload, there's an upload, bro.
That's that that God's called you to impart from a
life message, testimony story perspective.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, well you're saying you're saying surrender, and I was
just thinking, like, I don't know much about horses. We
have a few horses in Texas. They're my wife's one
hundred percent not my horses, they're her horses. But I
was just thinking, it's like, man, it would have been
a lot easier, but I was like the stubborn horse
that had to be broke that eventually just was like,
(33:47):
all right, you're right, you know, fine, I'm gonna stop.
I'm gonna stop bucking, you know. But it was not
I don't know, I just want I just want to
make sure that as people listen to this, they also
know that this was not an easy realization to come to.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It wasn't just like yes, sir, whatever you said. It
was a lot of me fighting what fighting to surrender,
you know what I mean. It was just not it.
It was not a natural thing. But once and I
feel like that is truly, especially in what I do,
that's like a that's an everyday recurring choice you get
(34:24):
to make. It's not just like one time when I
was on stage with Morgan Wall and I was like,
all right, surrender and then my life was roses.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It's like, right, right.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
It's like every day I still struggle with that, like
am I going to actually trust that God's got me?
You know, and that that's uh, you know, sometimes I
make the right choice. Sometimes I don't. But as you
were talking, I was just like, it reminds me of
like the stubborn horse that just that was that was
me for a long time, and you know, I still
(34:53):
struggle with that. But yeah, I think I think you're right.
Like what what I'm you know, excited about, is that
like I don't really get to talk about this stuff
all that much, and I'm more of I'm more of
a like, hey, he'll know a boy how I live
my life kind of person I'm and and honestly like
(35:14):
love Jelly role. I love what he is like professing,
and but I'm like almost the exact opposite of that
in terms of like I'm just understated and it's like, man,
you want to see what's important to me, come watch
come watch how I live. And you know, I could
probably be I could probably take a page out of
Jelly's book for for just you know, how many how
(35:37):
many people he's you know, reaching to just reassess what
do I believe? You know, and I think his story
is amazing. But for me, I'm just I don't really
get to talk about this or I haven't made it
a point to talk about this stuff all that much.
And most of that's just personality. Like I'm pretty introverted.
(35:57):
I'm really comfortable in settings like this because it's just.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
You and me.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, right right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
But you put me in a room full of like
a thousand people, I'm gonna be in the corner hoping
nobody talks to me, you know. So, but it is
it's really special to get to, you know, dive deep
on this stuff. And yeah, I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, And I just want to encourage you with what
you're just talking about with Jelly Roll and his story
and how awesome it is that he is professing and
he's you know, he's up on the stage at what
the Grammy is just.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Like Jesus everybody's name and all the things.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Uh, but also too, like Jelly's story is so different
where his is like a tangible story of forgiveness and
like what the Lord can do, and like you living
your life and not striving and surrendering and just being
different to where people look at you and they see
how you're living and they they're like, what does Corey
have that I want more of? I think that also
(36:50):
is such a cool tool to have because people will
lean in on their own. It's no, it's not a
oh well, that guy just talks about this. It's like
you're you're going to reach so many people that don't
even want to pursue Jesus just because of who you
are and who you're being to other people. So I
just want to put a period on that because I
feel like, man, like just just the wisdom that you
(37:13):
have in your story and what you've been talking about
so far, just that surrender that you talked about, and
I just see this young this young guy Corey striving
to be this giant country star to like getting to
a spot, like you said at the show and realize,
like you realize in that moment what's important to you
and you're like, yeah, this is awesome and like cool,
I love to be here, but also like my family
(37:35):
is here, you know, my career is here. And I
think that's just such a cool thing to.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, well, I also think it's really important to you know,
to again this this is to you know, coincide with
Jelly real story, right, Like, like, first off, Jelly, if
you're listening, what is for everybody? You a the only
country are No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Together.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Okay, yeah, yeah that too, that too, No, But I
guess what my point is is it'd be really easy
for you call it somebody who's wrestling with what do
I believe to see Jelly real story and go like, oh,
when you win, you decide to follow, to give your
life to Jesus, like this equals life change and turn
(38:26):
around and now you're winning everything and you're winning Grammys
and you're like everything's good. But I also want that
same person to be able to look and go, hey,
even when that stuff isn't happening, life is still so
much better, right, Like I'm not up there winning Grammys,
and like, I got stuff in my life that isn't easy,
(38:47):
and we still got to work hard for the living
that we make. And that's not takeaway from anything that Like, obviously,
if I could win to snap my fingers tomorrow and
have a Song of the Year for country, like that
would be amazing. But even though I'm not like still
following and being like this is it's not because of
the outcome of my life that I it's not because
(39:09):
all these good things are happening to me, I believe think,
you know. And it's not because I believe this, that
all these good things are happening. It's just like I believe,
whether it's whether it's a miscarriage or whether it's a
Grammy like it, there's something powerful to me about that
when I see people, even even despite maybe the results
aren't what they want it to be, you know, and
(39:32):
for somebody to still go, hey, this is what I
base my whole life on, regardless of the outcome like that,
I think people need to hear that, you know. I
think people need to see that, and and maybe that
who knows, maybe that's my whole role. Maybe that's why
I don't have a Grammy, is to speak to those people.
But it's not supposed to be. It's not it's not
(39:52):
guaranteed that you know, you give like Jesus and you
start winning Grammys. That's that's a crazy awesome story and
in an insane bip, but that's not how it always goes.
And that's okay, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
And Grammys don't travel well to heaven anyway, right, I mean,
at the end of the day, like what we look
at as success, it it will come a point where
what really matters is obvious and it's not right now. Yeah,
what really matters isn't that obvious? You know? I think
those are good things, but like it will be a
(40:26):
day when it is obvious. Yeah, just like there will
be a day when you're reunited with Sonny, right, yeah.
And I I just I think, like living with your
eyes on eternity is not an easy thing. Like, it's not. Man,
there's so many distractions. I mean, this thing, We've to
(40:47):
talk about this thing all the time. But all of
the all of the addiction experts of the tobacco industry
moved to tech and then we were and then we
have what we have now. And that's the that's the
truth of it, bro Like funny, it's it's crazy. That
is that a real.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
I'm like thirty years behind because I'm on tobacco and
not on the phone, so I'm.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Just nicotinees healthy.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
No, you can't get to me.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
I'm outside. I'm outside. You got to be outside to
smoke this stuff, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
As you were talking a second ago talking about how
you know about not having all of the things go
well after you know, you put your whole full trust
in Jesus. I saw this this quote somebody said that
was like, you know when they say that I'm hanging
on by a thread, and they were like, I might
be hanging on by a thread, but if it's the
thread of his garment, I'll be okay. And I thought
(41:43):
that was so profound, and it just it's funny that
I wrote this randomly on this paper because I saw
it this morning, and then as you're talking, I'm like,
that's it.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
We got a two month old I'm hanging on by
a thread of sleep right now. Yeah, tell it. You
guys know that all too well, right back in it.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
The days are long, years are short.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah that's right. Yeah, that's right. It's been it's been
really cool, like getting to bring my kids out on
the road with me and some like I never really
dream that I get to do, but like you know,
I'm friends with Ella Langley, and so my girls came
out on the road and we were playing a show
together and Ella was like, you guys want to come
(42:23):
out and sing this song. And so it's also just
been cool to show my kids, like what is possible? Right,
Like we they went out, I was like, listen, if
you don't do this, you don't have to do this.
You don't have to go out there. There's thirty thousand
people out there. It's gonna be scary. But if you
do this, you will be really glad that you did this,
(42:45):
you know, fifteen years from now, like you and you'll
probably be upset with yourself if you don't do it,
So but do whatever you want. And then they walked
out there and they sang with Ella in front of
all these people, and it was awesome, and I was
really proud of them. But what's cool is like this
opportunity in this same breath right where we're talking about
how I might not have reached the height of the
(43:06):
pinnacle of country music yet who knows, but to also
be like, it's also just possible to go for something
that's completely crazy to most people. And if I can
do it, y'all can definitely do it because you have
a huge leg up in life that that I didn't have,
which is like the family unit together, you know, and
(43:27):
mom and dad who are both like one hundred percent
on the same page trying to give you every opportunity,
and you know, like again like just the the the
faith component of understanding how to chase the dream but
also handle the tough moments, because like that's something that
(43:47):
I did not I didn't grasp. There were a lot
of ups and downs where I just was not handling
those well. And to like be able to show my
kids like you can you ain't truly if you can
dream it up, you can go get it whatever that
might be. Like it's we were watching the super Bowl
(44:08):
the other day and I was I had talked to
a legendary producer in Nashville and was talking to him
about number one hits and he was like, because we
were talking about celebrating, and he was like, you know
that there's like two hundred and eighty seven. I don't
know that numbers. That's probably wrong, but he said, like
the exact number. He's like, there's two hundred and eighty
(44:29):
people that have had a number one hit in country
music over the last X amount of years. And I
was like, well, that's crazy, and he's like, you realize
every two years, that's how many people play in the
super Bowl. So he's like, you have astronomically better odds
of being a peewee football player and going to the
(44:49):
super Bowl then you do playing country music and having
a number one hit, Like that's crazy to think of.
And then to be able to go, you know, to
my kids and be like, hey, not only like is
are you not crazy for wanting to do something that
might not be normal, but like if I can do it,
you can definitely do it. Like, look at these odds.
(45:10):
This doesn't make any sense. But it's it's been cool
to bring them on the road and to kind of
expose them to this. I hope that they don't do music.
I hope they don't choose something else. If you want
to do music, I'll you know, obviously support you. But
it's been it's also just been cool to to realize
that like we're able to, like I don't know, expose
(45:31):
them to a different way of thinking.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
Then.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
I feel like, you know, in bis Bi, Oklahoma, I
kind of grew up with a very one dimensional school thought,
you know, and now she's like, hey, you can do whatever.
I also feel like, you know, twenty twenty six is
just a different day and age, Like ninety percent of
your friend's parents are working from home these days. You know,
that's crazy, but that's been cool too, to be able
to bring them out on the road and for them
(45:57):
to see like behind the curtain of the music industry.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And I just see you know.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
We talk about childlike faith and having that child like faith,
and I picture you on this stage with Morgan Wallen,
your daughter's on this stage with Ella Langley, and like
you both were looking.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Through the eyes with this childlike faith of.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Like wow, like we've done it, you know, and like
how cool and parallel those moments are, and just having
that childlike faith for even moments of like I've done
better than my parents, you know what, I've already broken
a generational curse of like whatever this is.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And I think it's so cool to just have that moment.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I don't know, I'm just like listening to you talk
about your daughters and I'm like you literally just had
the same moment where you're like looking at these people
and you're like wow, like look what the Lord has done.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
That's why I love America. I grew up in Australia
and really love an Alabama.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
I did.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
I'd always do the American accent on here, and I
need to stop doing it because it's an absolute sure job.
But I love America. I love America because that spirit
of those eyes of look what you can do, like
look out at the opportunity and look at this stage,
anything's possible. Whereas in Australia you grow up and it's like,
(47:18):
may don't get too big ahead. So we have call
what's called tall poppy syndrome. If you get too big,
we'll cut you down. We'll take care of it. We'll
do the job of the enemy, and we're gonna pull
you down because don't remember where you came from. We
were a prison colony one hundred years ago. So it's like,
while there's honor among thieves and there's authenticity, there's the
other side, which is don't forget your roots punk. Yeah,
(47:42):
not that I was going to say something else, but
don't forget your roots punk. And I love America. Coming
here it was like I felt that let the world opened.
So to see you already like training your children in
that that way from Texas the heart of America, which
my funny story, I went to Texas for the first time.
(48:04):
I got engaged in Austin, Texas. Okay, when we were
you know, fourteen years ago and it was I was
at a bass pro in Plano proposed engagement. Yeah, like
by the fish. That is the most American I'm fishing.
I'm kidding it was. It was on a lake so sorry,
it was close. It was on a leg, but I
(48:26):
but I love baspro. So I was going there and
I was like, this is amazing. I've never seen a bastro. Anyway,
I'm there and I was in Texas and someone was
handing me like, hey, can you sign this position. I'm like, yeah,
I'm Australian will account I don't know, but it was
to secede from the United States of America, and I
was like, I love Texas, man, They're just like we
we we are America and so amazing. Bro, That's all
(48:47):
I have to say. I don't know where I was
going with that, and I just loved it.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
So we're gonna have to wrap up, even though I
feel like we could continue this conversation for hours, but
we always wrap up just asking about something that we
can pray for you for if it's for you specifically
your family, just something that we can cover you in.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Man.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
We've had we've had a lot of er trips recently,
so maybe maybe for some good fortune in that respect,
but no, really I think that obviously I would ask
for prayers for my kids. You know, they're still really
young and they still have you know, a lot of
life ahead of them, and I'm praying that as they
(49:26):
grow up they choose to follow Jesus, and that's that's
my biggest prayer man. And then outside of that that, uh,
kind of like just praying like in agreeance with what
I've already said, which is like, hey, God, use this
however you want to. I don't have any pre you know,
disposition about or preconceived idea about how you're gonna use it.
(49:50):
But I am h really excited about continuing to pray
for this next record and just what what He's gonna
do with it, you know, because it's just completely a
different way of creating where it's just like I'm not
worried about the result anymore. And and you know, it's
(50:11):
been really cool because like people who are helping us
create this record are sensing that and feeling that, like
we are creating from a different vantage point here, and
so we're doing things that you wouldn't normally do, and
we're taking risks and we're.
Speaker 3 (50:23):
And it's just praying a Taco Bell parking lot prayer.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Come on, I mean, when's the last time you heard
of a country artist praying over his record in a
Taco Belt parking lot at too in the morning. That
it's I just I'm excited to see how he uses
it and I and I and I pray that it's
you know, in a way that that helps people. And
I pray that you know, my family and I can
continue to live a life that points back to Jesus.
(50:47):
And it's hard. It's increasingly hard to do. As you
experience success, they're just more things coming at you all
the time that, don't you know, they're disguised as good
things that might not be good. So but yeah, I'd
say the main thing is for my kids. I just
you know, they're still young. There's seven, five, four and
(51:08):
two months, so yeah, just wanting to see them. It's
a miracle to like, for life to play out in
a way that you know, all of my kids would
would find a spouse that you know, believes in believes
in the Lord, and for them to have marriages that
(51:31):
that stay together and are healthy and all those things.
I just in my own life have realized how rare
and tough it is. So just I'm constantly like trying
to pray that over my kids because it's such a
long shot. So uh yeah, if you pray for anything.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Husbands already and they're four one, so good for you.
That's so important.
Speaker 4 (51:51):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
Would you like to close today, let's pride.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Lord. We just bring Corey in his beautiful family, his wife,
his five kids before you. We just pray right now
over them health. God. I just pray an end to
the er trips. Lord, to just protect them in every
possible way, in their health God, in their clumsiness. God,
we just pray that you would just guide their steps
(52:16):
in everything. And above all of that, we just pray
for their hearts God, a revelation, a personal understanding and revelation.
I thank you for the example and the witness of
their godly parents showing them the way pointing to you. God,
we just pray for a personal revelation. Would you speak
to them, that seven year old, that five year old
(52:36):
to four year old God, and the little two month
old and the one in your arms right now. God,
we just pray that you would be near to them. God,
that is the cry. Thank you that you hear the
cry of our heart. That is the cry of our heart.
Of course his heart, his wife's heart. God, we thank you.
We just pray over this record, absolutely dedicate it to you.
(52:59):
We dedicate it again to you. In your hands. God,
You're in charge of the outcome. We thank you. The
Bible says you say, Jesus, that the meek shall inherit
the earth. We just speak an inheritance over this record
in Jesus' name, God, a supernatural, heavenly inheritance in Jesus' name.
We thank you for him. We thank you for his testimony. God,
and just grace and strength in Jesus' name over everybody
(53:21):
involved in its Amen. Amen,
Hey all, I'm Corey Kent. Do I really still think
God's good? Because this is terrible. You find out if
your faith is something you actually believe or not. My
journey has been a series of like God chasing me down,
and he was like, I know what you want more
than you know what you want. And it was really
the moment where I was like, I'm good with where
I'm at and this is the upload.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, we are getting the thumbs up that we're rolling.
You guys have seen him on the voice back in
twenty fifteen, which can you believe it was that far No, yes,
you heard him on the radio. Singer, songwriter, husband and father.
We're so excited to welcome Corey Kent to the upload.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So we're just learning about how you're not in Nashville,
but you're in Texas with your fam and every time
you come you have to pack everything in in one day.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So this coffee is getting you through.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, this is the only food I've had today, which
is no food. So yeah, it's part of it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
If we want to get super cheesy, you've probably had
a little bit of the bread of life today, you know,
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Of that a little bit. We and my wife is
here with me this time, and we just had our
fourth little baby, girl. I was a third girl, fourth baby,
but it's fun. It was her first flight with us.
And uh yeah, now that we are into the four territory,
we're like, man, it makes it makes us realize like
(01:21):
we took one for granted big time. You know, the
first time around, you're just like man, trying to figure
it out. But feels it feels like the fourth time
we finally have it down, you know, like we've nothing
really rocks us too much.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
What was the hottest? Was it one? The hottest? Two? Three?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think zero to one was the toughest for us,
just because when we were so young. You know, I
think we're twenty two, twenty three, and we're the first
of our you know, Dana's got a bunch of siblings,
but we were the first ones. She's not the oldest sibling,
but we were the first ones to have kids. Kind
of first of our friend group to have kids. You know.
We told our parents and they were like, are you
sure you know what you're getting into. We're like nope,
(01:58):
but uh, you know, figure it out. And but yeah,
I think zero one was tough for us, and we've
been really big proponents of just like encouraging people to like,
if you're on the fence, about how many like have
have one more and because in our life it has
been it's been amazing. And a lot of the people
I look up to. There are three or four guys
(02:19):
specifically that along the journey I was just seeking advice from,
and the common thing that came back, if you could
change anything and go back and do something differently in
your life, what would it be. The common answer among
all those guys that I really respected was like, I'd
have one more kid. And I was just like, I
just don't want to do, you know, be in that
situation something go I wish blank And so yeah, here
(02:41):
we are with way more kids than I ever thought
i'd have. Yeah it's great.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Well yeah you're four too. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot,
but it's the best. Yeah. We talk a lot on
the podcast actually about just having children opens up purpose
in your life to a whole another level. Like it's
like you understand the point, you know, and it's it's
why I pray a lot for people who can't have
children or struggle or you know, go through those things,
(03:06):
and it's my heart is so for them to see
them to be able to experience that beauty and challenge
and craziness and yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You find out what you're made of.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I'm telling you. We always talk about it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Like my husband and I we were like two kids' tops,
Like he comes from a family of three. I have
five siblings, six of us, and I was just like
meet somewhere in the middle, and we were like two
sounds great. And then we had our second and we
were like, yeah, we should, we should try again, and
we recently lost our pregnancy.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But it is it's it's okay, it's.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, we've we've been down that road and it's unfathomable,
Like it doesn't that that sense doesn't even do it justice.
So I know, I'm really sorry. That's that's not a
especially when you know what that that leads to in
the relationship that at least too, it's not the same
as just like, well try again, it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, it's definitely an emotional le coaster, but it's so sweet.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
We actually haven't talked about it on the podcast before, but.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was such a sweet, almost just conversation that I
got to have with God about like, why is this
happening to me? That he literally met me right there
and was just like he spoke so clearly to me
in those moments of I could spury all of the
long story, but there were just things that happened. We
were so early on in our pregnancy where the Lord
specifically spoke to me. He was just like, you didn't
(04:28):
lose it. I moved it. You didn't lose it. You
weren't ready for number three yet. And it was such
a sweet moment with just me and my husband of
like we feel guilty for not being so sad, Like
it was a very traumatic experience and a very hard
thing to go through, but we by the grace of God,
like that peace that people talk about that surpasses all understanding,
Like it just doesn't ever make sense.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
But yeah, I mean, anybody that's been through that, I
hate that for them. But there is purpose in it,
you know, and you don't know it until you walk
through it.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm glad my wife's not in here right now because
we'd both be crying. But we we had it was
not super super early on for us, and so we
actually my wife had to deliver and we we ended
up burying that baby on our land in Texas. And
it's such a like, it's such a good reminder, like
(05:23):
my kids know that they like they talk about baby
Sonny and they talk about like can't wait to meet
baby Sonny like we have. If you ask my kids
how many kids are in our family, they would say five,
which is whild because we did not try to instill
that in them, but they they prayed for that baby
and when it you know, we we announced to them
(05:44):
on Christmas morning of last year that like you're going
to have another sibling. And then when I mean tell,
this conversation I ever had to have was telling them
that they weren't going to get to meet this one
at least decide, you know. And so then they they
were like, well, but we'll get to meet someday, and
I was like, yeah, you yes, you will one hundred percent.
And so like I think that, you know, God in
(06:07):
my life use that to kind of help my kids
understand that this isn't all there is, right and then
also I'll never forget out At our ranch, we had
my wife's family, you know, she be part of a
big Italian family and families, everything, and they came out
and it was I was just like, man, if nothing else,
(06:28):
my kids got to see a room full of adults
in the midst of the saddest, hardest, most confusing thing
that we had walked through, like a room full of
people praising God, you know, and in the midst of
something that nobody wanted, you know, and going, hey, like
we choose to believe that God has this, like there's
(06:48):
purpose for it. It's good. That's yeah. I mean, I'm
with you. It's not something that you just walk around
and offer up as information. But you know, as crazy
as it sounds, it's been really like formative for my
kids here.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You know, so cool to hear you say one of
the things that I've seen people walking through we had
to during our four journey, and the theology of heaven,
understanding of heaven in a little kid's heart is so
beautiful to see like that they see beyond the veil,
(07:25):
you know, and I think grief, it's not this false hope.
It's not just trying to make them feel better and
a band aid over sadness. It's like true, real hope
beyond the veil, and life is but a vapor here
one day, gone the next, as the Bible says. And
to see my children and to hear your children no
(07:47):
for sure a certainty in their heart, it shifts that.
It shifts the narrative from being this baggage I carry
around to being this vision I look forward to. Yeah,
and that's just just so cool to hear man like
really moving. And thanks for obviously we have the conversation,
but just thanks for your vulnerability Brian and that and
(08:08):
YouTube broken.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I love you guys, love you too.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I you know something you said about how your kids
know that they're somewhere else now, like they understand that
there's another side of eternity that we you know, hopefully
we'll see soon. But that was the moment where I
feel like it like really changed for my husband specifically
when everything happened.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know, you're so disconnected.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
In a way like compared to the to the woman
right where it like the physical act is happening.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
But he the.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Moment my daughter Emma, like she had asked me, like
when do I get to see baby brother?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Because she would always say baby brother.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we were sitting out on our back porch around
a fire, and it was a few days before Christmas
this year, and she's I tell her, you know, like
baby brothers in heaven and you know we'll get to
meet him someday. So she starts crying and she goes
into my husband and she's just like.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Why is he in heaven?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Like I want him to come back, and like even
when we pray sometimes now she was like, can you
pray that baby brother would come back from heaven? And
like she just seeing your kid, like you said, understand
that there's more. Yeah, it's such a cool feeling as
a parent, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
When you I feel like it's it's the same you
know principle in a lot of different areas of life.
But you do find out what you're made of too.
You find out, like if you find out if your
faith is something you actually believe or not. And you
don't know that until you go through something that tests you.
(09:41):
Like it's the same thing as like you can think
you're tough, but until you're in a real fight, like
you don't know how tough you really are. You know,
there's just no way to test that except to test it,
you know. And so for me, I just remember that
in that season, like being being grateful that like I
actually believed what I believed, you know, because you find
(10:03):
out in that moment it's like, do I really still
think God's good? Because this is terrible? And I am
frustrated with how God's letting this unfold, you know, and
to go, all right, I get to choose whether I
still believe that He has my best interest. That I
get to choose to believe whether he loves me even
(10:23):
you know that good that bad things can happen to
good people, right Like I have to wrestle with that now,
and do I actually believe that like a good God
would let this happen? That adjust God with it because
like this this child didn't do anything, like what do
we do to you got to wrestle with all that,
and then man, I was just so like it sounds weird,
(10:44):
but I was just relieved to go like, oh, I
really believe this stuff. This is not something that I
just talk to talk and show up on Sunday or
like you know, country music fans like me better because
I talk about Jesus. It's not that, and you know it.
There was always a little small part of my mind
about like how real is this to me? You know
(11:06):
and then when you when you get tested, there's no
fake in it. Yeah, there is no like you know
exactly where you stand in that moment. So I'm in
a in a weird way, grateful for that of like
the testing of my faith and my kids being able
to see that, you know, of just like they know
what mom and dad believe is a real conviction and
(11:28):
like a deep, deeply held belief even when it doesn't
make any sense. So I know that's heavy and sorry
if we way deep, but never expected to talk about
that on here, but here we.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Are to put a p like an exclamation point on
something that you just said about like watching your kids
see you go through a test and like learning that
you actually you know, yeah, I do believe in this.
I think it has been in my life specifically so cool.
Seeing the people around me, especially non believers, go like, how.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Are you okay? And I'm like, I'm good. I was
back to you know, back to work.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That next week, Like Christmas was still great for our family,
like it was a whole thing, and they're just like,
what is it about you that you're you're okay? And
I'm like I consider it joy, which sounds nuts, but.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It doesn't make sense that doesn't play by the rules
of here, you know, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, And I just appreciate real conversations. I don't know,
you know, I just appreciate so many times you talk
about Jesus. We're talking theories, or we read, we rehash
stories we've heard. But like man, when it really rubber
hits the road and it's tested and it's real and
it's like, man, you find out what you made of
everything you're saying, is like, I think that's that's what
people are looking for. People are wrestling with real stuff,
(12:47):
Like Yeah, the question of how could this even possibly?
How could God allow this is like the center point
of like, man, how could I believe? Because how could
this app so for me? In this journey? There is
there is We all have a story, you know, I
think when it becomes real for me of this is
how I came to that place where I knew Jesus
(13:10):
wasn't just a story you heard about or a place
that you go to, you know on Sunday. But what
does faith look like for you? Where did it start?
What was the journey to where men in the in
the most horrific of circumstances. I it wasn't an idea
that was borrowed. It was personal for me. What did
that journey look like for you? Man?
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I feel like my my journey has been a series
of like God chasing me down, like I've you know,
from from an early age. My mom was pretty instrumental
in in you know, exposing me to who Jesus was
and is and you know, helping me to just like
(13:58):
find my way into good, good circles and stuff. But
I was super I don't know, I guess disinterested and
kind of rebellious, and I wanted to be my own thing.
And I was like on this quest to prove I
was a man for so long and I just did
just really dumb stuff from fighting to girls, to drink,
(14:18):
into drugs to whatever, like just on just what is
I'm trying to define manhood or masculinity to me? And
I just like was it was never like a complete
like I don't believe this and I'm going this way,
but it was you know, I know truth, and then
I would I would just deviate and then like I
(14:40):
don't know how, truly, don't know how, but especially with
like the circles and some of the influences or maybe
lack of influences in my life. I'd talk to my
wife all the time about this. I'm like, it's it's
a like it's a miracle that I the God keep
like he kept coming after me, you know. And so
(15:01):
I would say, like there were multiple points where I
was like grasping, but I would say, like, the real
turning point for me was I was I was a
freshman in college, and really like between like my senior
year of high school my freshman year of college, when
(15:22):
I really grasped that what I was doing and how
I was living my life was if I claimed to
believe in Jesus, that it was no longer just impacting
me and my reputation because I was kind of of
this mindset of I can do whatever I want and
if it doesn't hurt anybody else or nobody knows about
(15:43):
this or whatever, I'm I'm good. And then it was like, well, no,
but now you're you're claiming to be one way, and
if someone sees you claim that and then you know
the next day sees you completely contradicted. This is this
is problematic now because now that's gonna cause them to
(16:05):
question what you're putting your entire life into if that's
even real, if you're not you know, walking how you're
talking right. So that was kind of the first time
in my life and really a huge moment for me
was I had never really heard what my dad believed
growing up, and my folks split when I was super young,
(16:27):
and I, you know, my mom raised me, and I
was really wrestling with like my own faith in this moment.
And I was about seventeen years old and I just
confronted my dad. I was like, what do you believe?
And there really wasn't much of an answer. It was
just kind of like, well, I've I've read a lot.
My dad's really smart guy, but just didn't He was like,
(16:51):
I don't really know. I've read a lot of everything,
but I don't really have like a belief system. And
that was really kind of like daunting for me here
because it was the first time where I was like,
I know what I believe, and I'm you know, I'm
I'm going this way and everybody better come with me,
Like I gotta save everybody around me now that I
have this thing. And so I had this real immense
(17:11):
pressure to be like man if if I don't see
my dad in heaven as my fault. And I remember
that being such a weight and talking to my mom
about that and she's like, that's not your job at all.
And so anyways, having some heavy conversations with my dad,
and it caused a lot of tension in our relationship.
(17:31):
But thankfully now we're at a great point in our relationship,
Like God's really really redeemed that. And it came through
when I was eighteen. Back to circle back to this
moment where I really think it became real to me
was I got a phone call from my dad one
day I had gone to you know, off to Oklahoma
(17:53):
State and and I don't really know what triggered this.
I know that I had changed the way that I
was living, and I do believe that that was pretty obvious.
You know, I was kind of crazy, Uh just I was.
I was smart enough to get into trouble and not
get caught, you know, but people people knew, like my
(18:16):
parents aren't dumb. They just couldn't catch me in.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
It, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And I know you're up to something. I'm like, catch
me if you can. But you know, so, anyway, I
think my dad saw you know, a shift in just
how I was approaching life, and you know, I kind
of like, as weird as it sounds like, coming out
of high school going into college, I stopped drinking and
(18:41):
I was like, I'm I'm looking for a different type
of woman, somebod that I could spend my life with,
you know, and just really kind of changing everything about
the direction I was going and college felt like a
completely fresh reset. And I got a call from him
one day and he's like, what are you doing on
so and so weekend? I was like, I don't know,
(19:03):
we're not on great terms at this point. And he
was like, well, i'd love if you come home because
I'm going to get baptized. And I was just like,
what are you Like, I just couldn't. I couldn't believe it.
And he goes, yeah, and your stepmom and your stepsister,
we're all going to get baptized. And I was like,
I'll be.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
There, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And so that that, I want to say, it was
like a Saturday, or it might have been a Sunday afternoon,
but we all, all four of us, got baptized in
a pond out in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma by
a really close friend of my dad's who happened to
be a pastor that I guess had a massive impact.
(19:47):
He was a pastor of a small church and a firefighter,
and it was just it was just a really special
moment where I saw God do what I didn't think
was ever going to happen, just you know, not that
I had given up on anybody or anything, but like
it was so powerful. Like and my dad is like
(20:10):
to me, you know, maybe he feels like he's the
exact same, but like to me, I've seen a different
side of my dad, you know, and just like our
relationship just grew and you know now like I love
seeing him around my kids and I don't know. And
then what was even cooler is fast forward a little
bit my grandfather. So his dad is dying in the
(20:34):
hospital of cancer, and my dad got to have like
a salvation conversation with my grandfather, who nobody ever knew
where he stood, Like he just was a very quiet
man and nobody really wore a cross around his neck,
but nobody knew. And it was such a like peace
(20:55):
of mind to know, like to hear my dad come
back out of this hospital room and be like I
got to I got to just get real with your granddad,
and I got to tell him about Jesus, and I
got to tell him, you know, the road to salvation,
this is what it looks like. And you got to
believe and you got to confess and he did. And
(21:15):
so you know, who's to say, but like, what an incredible,
incredible moment to see just like God doing things that
I just never expected to see. And it just started
to become to become real because there's no other explanation
for it. It's not like people just wake up one day
and go, I want to completely change and make my
(21:36):
life harder and you know, like and operate by a
new set of rules that really are inconvenient. Like, it
just doesn't make any sense unless you have heart change,
you know, unless something supernatural happens. And I just watched
it happen and and then you know fast, it's just
been a series of like God pulling me back. You know,
(21:56):
even in this crazy music industry, there's there's moments where
Guy's gotta remind me of of what's important, you know.
And one of the things recently that he's just made
super well known to me is like what I thought
I wanted and what I actually want are two different things.
(22:18):
I thought I wanted to be the most successful record
breaking you know, like the country artist that's everywhere, and
he's like, no, you don't like because that comes at
a cost, and the cost is something that you actually,
fifty years from now wouldn't want. And so to have
this realization that like, oh, God's looking out for me
(22:39):
and my like maybe the next person actually wants that,
and that's the but he knows that I want first
and foremost a great relationship with my wife and my kids,
and I can't. I can't do both, Like I've seen
what people have to give up to be, you know,
this as successful as I thought I wanted to be.
(23:01):
And so now it's this amazing like realization of just
like I am truly grateful for where I'm at because
if I if I would have hand picked it, I
don't think that I would have the relationship with my
wife and kids that I do have. And uh, it's
been That's that's the ultimate payoff, right Like, what I'm
(23:21):
judging success fifty years from now is not going to
be how many platinum records are on my wall. It's
going to be like, well, do my kids want to
hang out with me, you know, like that that is
how I'm going to judge success. Do they do they care? Like,
do they want to be around do they enjoy me
being around them or their kids or so anyway that
(23:43):
that might be a long winded way of wrapping that up.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Just so good. That's and as you're talking, I just
feel this in my heart for you. But there's a
story in the Bible when God comes to Solomon. He says,
what do you want? And he's like, that's the question
he asked him and so on, and says, I want wisdom.
Are you going to have anything? So I actually want wisdom?
(24:07):
And God says what Wow, Like God, that's amazing. And
not only am I going to give you wisdom, I'm
also going to give you peace. I'm also going to
give you wealth. I'm also going to look after like
everything else is going to follow because your heart's in
the right place and you want the right thing. And
so even just hearing you talk, I just feel I
can see that like that solemn and wisdom in you
(24:29):
and on you, which is also the reason behind the peace.
You know, he was the only king in the Bible
that didn't have any wars. It wasn't fighting on all this,
so he had a lot of women. That's another story,
but you won't get into the theology of that in
the Old Testament, but we will say this that when
you go after the right thing, when your eyes are
just that statement of God's kindness is He's helped me
(24:53):
by not giving me or not like redirecting my focus
and what my heart really wants of what my fifty
or fifty years later down the track self is like, yes,
this is the peace, the family, the the you know,
just everything that follows when your heart is said on
the right thing, and that is that is how you know.
(25:14):
It's not always easy. The road's not you know, we
go through our stuff for trials, but man, that is
the goal goals hashtag? Is that still the thing? But
I just think I don't think it is. I think
that's twenty twenty one. But oh my gosh, I'm not
in the I'm not the trend guy. But meim, I
love it so good. No.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, for I know the plans
that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to
prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you
hope at a future and just even reading that and
hearing kind of like what you're saying, it's so funny
because my husband and I recently started saying, like, you know,
we used to want all these things as a couple.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
You know, you want the.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Land and you want all these all these things, and
it's just like the second we had our girls, it's
just like we are rich. Yeah, like we are physically
just rich with family and love. And when your heart
posture changes to that, truly, I feel like that's when
the piece that you're talking about and all the things
just like fall into place.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
And you are going to a number one party tonight.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, So honestly, you know, I want you to think
that I dressed up for you guys. The reality is
I was gonna wear sweatpants and then I found out
I can't go home until like midnight tonight and we
have a number one party. So here I am doing
my press stuff and whatever.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
This is but really nice outfit.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, it's something that this coffee is gonna pair nicely with.
So I had this specific moment. We played some shows
with Morgan wall in this summer and he invited me
out to sing a song and we're playing in our
g stadium, which is most people we've ever played for,
was like sixty thousand people or something crazy, and I'm
(26:55):
on stage realizing that, like four years ago, it was
this total out of body experience and I don't even
like the human mind is amazing because I'm trying to
remember words to a song that's not my song that
I've never sang before on stage in front of like,
I don't know, fifty sixty however many tens of thousands
(27:16):
of people, trying to remember to also like be entertaining,
like move around and engage with the audience. And in
the middle of that, in that minute and a half
that I'm out on stage, I'm also recounting the last
fifteen years of my journey while I'm up there, and
(27:36):
I'm having this full on conversation with God while I'm singing,
while I'm dabbing people up and throwing drinks into the crowd,
like it was crazy. But he reminded me of a
couple of things. And the first thing was like, look
how far you've come in a few short years. And
that was, you know, in twenty twenty one, I'm working
for a pavement company in Texas. I'm we're below the
(27:59):
the like least or the most like ego stripping moment
of my life was when our son was born. We
didn't have to pay a hospital bill because we were
below the the whatever family income for a family of five,
and they were just like, don't worry about it, you
need the help. And I was just like, m you know,
I mean, just as a as a hard working Oklahoma
(28:22):
like you don't want a handout ever, and you never
want to feel like you need help. And so that
was that was tough. And then he's like, man, you've
you've had the lows and now here's here's a massive high.
And it was just amazing to go, like man, four
years pavement company to on stage with the biggest country
(28:42):
artists in the world in front of a football stadium
of people. And in that moment I told my wife
this and it's like, I don't know how to explain
it because all this happened in a minute and a half.
In that moment, he's like you see all this. I'm
like yeah. He's like I could give you all this,
like this could these people could all be here for
(29:03):
you and you could be what you're standing next to right,
which is like what you thought you wanted, but he's like,
I knew for you that's not what you really wanted.
And this is all happened in a minute a half.
I don't know how to explain it, Like thats why
I'm going the human mind is amazing, Like something obviously
not from here is happening in my mind right, Like
(29:25):
this is a spiritual, crazy, outside of time kind of thing.
And he was like, I know what I know what
you want more than you know what you want. And
it was really the moment where I was like like
just drop my shoulders and went, I'm good with where
I'm at, Like not that I'm not ambitious or that
(29:46):
i'd not that I don't want to be the best
at what I do or give it one hundred and
ten percent, but like throwing up my hands, going like
I will work on the craft and I will give
it everything I've got, but I will draw lines in
the sand when I'm not willing to give stuff up,
and I will let you handle the outcome. And so
like this record that I've been working on is the
(30:07):
first time me and my buddy that's Austin Goodlow, who's
producing this record we got done one night from from
cutting songs in the studio, and the only place that
was open was a Taco Bell and we sat in
the parking lot of Taco Bell and prayed over the record,
and I was like, I've never done this before. Like
I just felt like we should just go, Hey, we're
doing what we know we're supposed to be doing to
(30:30):
the best of our ability, and God, you just use
it like however you want to. You can make it
massive or you could make it completely obscure, but like,
use it. And I've never had so much peace about
a record. I'm just like, I don't the outcome doesn't
matter because the outcome's not up to me, and I've
just given that, given that away. But it just has
(30:52):
been a huge, like paradigm shift for me to go
what I think I want and what I actually want
be two different things. And to know that you know,
I am where I am as a result of God
just choosing to bless it. Like that's that's really it.
I've been making the same kind of music for years
(31:12):
and years and years and years, and then all of
a sudden, one of the songs just works, and then
another one works, and it's like, man, but I've had
songs in between those songs it didn't work. So's the
what's the It was just it's not in my control
and to be able to just go all right, I'm
just I'm gonna, you know, be good to my family
and prioritize them and work hard at what I do
(31:34):
and let everything just fall where it will.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
What's happening is you're speaking this is what this is
kind of my thing I do. Like I can just
kind of feel, bro, like this is so real for
you and such a there's an authority on it, like
a realness and authenticity to everything you're sharing that it's
like real time discipleship because you're sharing that it's like
an impartation of your life message, which is surrender. And
(32:01):
that bro that that it's like this, this story and
this testimony and the realness of that is everything. The
Bible says that the enemy that's trying to, you know,
prowl around looking for whom he can take out. We
overcome the wrestles, the struggles, the fights, the things that
come against us with the power of our testimony and
(32:22):
the blood of Jesus. And I just I can feel
even in me, bro, it's like, okay, let go a
little bit more, Let go a little bit more. Stop
you know, trying to grab onto that outcome. It's like
just release and let God and be be okay with
who you are, Like you're his son. You know. It's
like that identity that's freedom. And there's so many people
(32:45):
who aren't free, bro, there are so many people that
are bound up by like the stress of all tomorrow
and what's going to happen and how am I going
to do this and that? But it's that freedom. It's
more it's peace, it's it's surrender, it's all that. But man,
I just there's a freedom that I believe that that
there is on your life to speak into people. It's
an impartation. It's more than words. It's a spirit thing,
(33:05):
like you know, the same thing's happening on stage with
you for that minute and a half. It's like that,
like download, It's like that's what It's an upload? Should
I say what I say download? I will not say
that that's heresy. No, the upload, there's an upload, bro.
That's that that God's called you to impart from a
life message, testimony story perspective.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, well you're saying you're saying surrender, and I was
just thinking, like, I don't know much about horses. We
have a few horses in Texas. They're my wife's one
hundred percent not my horses, they're her horses. But I
was just thinking, it's like, man, it would have been
a lot easier, but I was like the stubborn horse
that had to be broke that eventually just was like,
(33:47):
all right, you're right, you know, fine, I'm gonna stop.
I'm gonna stop bucking, you know. But it was not
I don't know, I just want I just want to
make sure that as people listen to this, they also
know that this was not an easy realization to come to.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It wasn't just like yes, sir, whatever you said. It
was a lot of me fighting what fighting to surrender,
you know what I mean. It was just not it.
It was not a natural thing. But once and I
feel like that is truly, especially in what I do,
that's like a that's an everyday recurring choice you get
(34:24):
to make. It's not just like one time when I
was on stage with Morgan Wall and I was like,
all right, surrender and then my life was roses.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It's like, right, right.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
It's like every day I still struggle with that, like
am I going to actually trust that God's got me?
You know, and that that's uh, you know, sometimes I
make the right choice. Sometimes I don't. But as you
were talking, I was just like, it reminds me of
like the stubborn horse that just that was that was
me for a long time, and you know, I still
(34:53):
struggle with that. But yeah, I think I think you're right.
Like what what I'm you know, excited about, is that
like I don't really get to talk about this stuff
all that much, and I'm more of I'm more of
a like, hey, he'll know a boy how I live
my life kind of person I'm and and honestly like
(35:14):
love Jelly role. I love what he is like professing,
and but I'm like almost the exact opposite of that
in terms of like I'm just understated and it's like, man,
you want to see what's important to me, come watch
come watch how I live. And you know, I could
probably be I could probably take a page out of
Jelly's book for for just you know, how many how
(35:37):
many people he's you know, reaching to just reassess what
do I believe? You know, and I think his story
is amazing. But for me, I'm just I don't really
get to talk about this or I haven't made it
a point to talk about this stuff all that much.
And most of that's just personality. Like I'm pretty introverted.
(35:57):
I'm really comfortable in settings like this because it's just.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
You and me.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, right right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
But you put me in a room full of like
a thousand people, I'm gonna be in the corner hoping
nobody talks to me, you know. So, but it is
it's really special to get to, you know, dive deep
on this stuff. And yeah, I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, And I just want to encourage you with what
you're just talking about with Jelly Roll and his story
and how awesome it is that he is professing and
he's you know, he's up on the stage at what
the Grammy is just.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Like Jesus everybody's name and all the things.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Uh, but also too, like Jelly's story is so different
where his is like a tangible story of forgiveness and
like what the Lord can do, and like you living
your life and not striving and surrendering and just being
different to where people look at you and they see
how you're living and they they're like, what does Corey
have that I want more of? I think that also
(36:50):
is such a cool tool to have because people will
lean in on their own. It's no, it's not a
oh well, that guy just talks about this. It's like
you're you're going to reach so many people that don't
even want to pursue Jesus just because of who you
are and who you're being to other people. So I
just want to put a period on that because I
feel like, man, like just just the wisdom that you
(37:13):
have in your story and what you've been talking about
so far, just that surrender that you talked about, and
I just see this young this young guy Corey striving
to be this giant country star to like getting to
a spot, like you said at the show and realize,
like you realize in that moment what's important to you
and you're like, yeah, this is awesome and like cool,
I love to be here, but also like my family
(37:35):
is here, you know, my career is here. And I
think that's just such a cool thing to.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, well, I also think it's really important to you know,
to again this this is to you know, coincide with
Jelly real story, right, Like, like, first off, Jelly, if
you're listening, what is for everybody? You a the only
country are No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Together.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Okay, yeah, yeah that too, that too, No, But I
guess what my point is is it'd be really easy
for you call it somebody who's wrestling with what do
I believe to see Jelly real story and go like, oh,
when you win, you decide to follow, to give your
life to Jesus, like this equals life change and turn
(38:26):
around and now you're winning everything and you're winning Grammys
and you're like everything's good. But I also want that
same person to be able to look and go, hey,
even when that stuff isn't happening, life is still so
much better, right, Like I'm not up there winning Grammys,
and like, I got stuff in my life that isn't easy,
(38:47):
and we still got to work hard for the living
that we make. And that's not takeaway from anything that Like, obviously,
if I could win to snap my fingers tomorrow and
have a Song of the Year for country, like that
would be amazing. But even though I'm not like still
following and being like this is it's not because of
the outcome of my life that I it's not because
(39:09):
all these good things are happening to me, I believe think,
you know. And it's not because I believe this, that
all these good things are happening. It's just like I believe,
whether it's whether it's a miscarriage or whether it's a
Grammy like it, there's something powerful to me about that
when I see people, even even despite maybe the results
aren't what they want it to be, you know, and
(39:32):
for somebody to still go, hey, this is what I
base my whole life on, regardless of the outcome like that,
I think people need to hear that, you know. I
think people need to see that, and and maybe that
who knows, maybe that's my whole role. Maybe that's why
I don't have a Grammy, is to speak to those people.
But it's not supposed to be. It's not it's not
(39:52):
guaranteed that you know, you give like Jesus and you
start winning Grammys. That's that's a crazy awesome story and
in an insane bip, but that's not how it always goes.
And that's okay, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:06):
And Grammys don't travel well to heaven anyway, right, I mean,
at the end of the day, like what we look
at as success, it it will come a point where
what really matters is obvious and it's not right now. Yeah,
what really matters isn't that obvious? You know? I think
those are good things, but like it will be a
(40:26):
day when it is obvious. Yeah, just like there will
be a day when you're reunited with Sonny, right, yeah.
And I I just I think, like living with your
eyes on eternity is not an easy thing. Like, it's not. Man,
there's so many distractions. I mean, this thing, We've to
(40:47):
talk about this thing all the time. But all of
the all of the addiction experts of the tobacco industry
moved to tech and then we were and then we
have what we have now. And that's the that's the
truth of it, bro Like funny, it's it's crazy. That
is that a real.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
I'm like thirty years behind because I'm on tobacco and
not on the phone, so I'm.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Just nicotinees healthy.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
No, you can't get to me.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
I'm outside. I'm outside. You got to be outside to
smoke this stuff, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
As you were talking a second ago talking about how
you know about not having all of the things go
well after you know, you put your whole full trust
in Jesus. I saw this this quote somebody said that
was like, you know when they say that I'm hanging
on by a thread, and they were like, I might
be hanging on by a thread, but if it's the
thread of his garment, I'll be okay. And I thought
(41:43):
that was so profound, and it just it's funny that
I wrote this randomly on this paper because I saw
it this morning, and then as you're talking, I'm like,
that's it.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
We got a two month old I'm hanging on by
a thread of sleep right now. Yeah, tell it. You
guys know that all too well, right back in it.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
The days are long, years are short.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah that's right. Yeah, that's right. It's been it's been
really cool, like getting to bring my kids out on
the road with me and some like I never really
dream that I get to do, but like you know,
I'm friends with Ella Langley, and so my girls came
out on the road and we were playing a show
together and Ella was like, you guys want to come
(42:23):
out and sing this song. And so it's also just
been cool to show my kids, like what is possible? Right,
Like we they went out, I was like, listen, if
you don't do this, you don't have to do this.
You don't have to go out there. There's thirty thousand
people out there. It's gonna be scary. But if you
do this, you will be really glad that you did this,
(42:45):
you know, fifteen years from now, like you and you'll
probably be upset with yourself if you don't do it,
So but do whatever you want. And then they walked
out there and they sang with Ella in front of
all these people, and it was awesome, and I was
really proud of them. But what's cool is like this
opportunity in this same breath right where we're talking about
how I might not have reached the height of the
(43:06):
pinnacle of country music yet who knows, but to also
be like, it's also just possible to go for something
that's completely crazy to most people. And if I can
do it, y'all can definitely do it because you have
a huge leg up in life that that I didn't have,
which is like the family unit together, you know, and
(43:27):
mom and dad who are both like one hundred percent
on the same page trying to give you every opportunity,
and you know, like again like just the the the
faith component of understanding how to chase the dream but
also handle the tough moments, because like that's something that
(43:47):
I did not I didn't grasp. There were a lot
of ups and downs where I just was not handling
those well. And to like be able to show my
kids like you can you ain't truly if you can
dream it up, you can go get it whatever that
might be. Like it's we were watching the super Bowl
(44:08):
the other day and I was I had talked to
a legendary producer in Nashville and was talking to him
about number one hits and he was like, because we
were talking about celebrating, and he was like, you know
that there's like two hundred and eighty seven. I don't
know that numbers. That's probably wrong, but he said, like
the exact number. He's like, there's two hundred and eighty
(44:29):
people that have had a number one hit in country
music over the last X amount of years. And I
was like, well, that's crazy, and he's like, you realize
every two years, that's how many people play in the
super Bowl. So he's like, you have astronomically better odds
of being a peewee football player and going to the
(44:49):
super Bowl then you do playing country music and having
a number one hit, Like that's crazy to think of.
And then to be able to go, you know, to
my kids and be like, hey, not only like is
are you not crazy for wanting to do something that
might not be normal, but like if I can do it,
you can definitely do it. Like, look at these odds.
(45:10):
This doesn't make any sense. But it's it's been cool
to bring them on the road and to kind of
expose them to this. I hope that they don't do music.
I hope they don't choose something else. If you want
to do music, I'll you know, obviously support you. But
it's been it's also just been cool to to realize
that like we're able to, like I don't know, expose
(45:31):
them to a different way of thinking.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
Then.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
I feel like, you know, in bis Bi, Oklahoma, I
kind of grew up with a very one dimensional school thought,
you know, and now she's like, hey, you can do whatever.
I also feel like, you know, twenty twenty six is
just a different day and age, Like ninety percent of
your friend's parents are working from home these days. You know,
that's crazy, but that's been cool too, to be able
to bring them out on the road and for them
(45:57):
to see like behind the curtain of the music industry.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And I just see you know.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
We talk about childlike faith and having that child like faith,
and I picture you on this stage with Morgan Wallen,
your daughter's on this stage with Ella Langley, and like
you both were looking.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Through the eyes with this childlike faith of.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Like wow, like we've done it, you know, and like
how cool and parallel those moments are, and just having
that childlike faith for even moments of like I've done
better than my parents, you know what, I've already broken
a generational curse of like whatever this is.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
And I think it's so cool to just have that moment.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I don't know, I'm just like listening to you talk
about your daughters and I'm like you literally just had
the same moment where you're like looking at these people
and you're like wow, like look what the Lord has done.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
That's why I love America. I grew up in Australia
and really love an Alabama.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
I did.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
I'd always do the American accent on here, and I
need to stop doing it because it's an absolute sure job.
But I love America. I love America because that spirit
of those eyes of look what you can do, like
look out at the opportunity and look at this stage,
anything's possible. Whereas in Australia you grow up and it's like,
(47:18):
may don't get too big ahead. So we have call
what's called tall poppy syndrome. If you get too big,
we'll cut you down. We'll take care of it. We'll
do the job of the enemy, and we're gonna pull
you down because don't remember where you came from. We
were a prison colony one hundred years ago. So it's like,
while there's honor among thieves and there's authenticity, there's the
other side, which is don't forget your roots punk. Yeah,
(47:42):
not that I was going to say something else, but
don't forget your roots punk. And I love America. Coming
here it was like I felt that let the world opened.
So to see you already like training your children in
that that way from Texas the heart of America, which
my funny story, I went to Texas for the first time.
(48:04):
I got engaged in Austin, Texas. Okay, when we were
you know, fourteen years ago and it was I was
at a bass pro in Plano proposed engagement. Yeah, like
by the fish. That is the most American I'm fishing.
I'm kidding it was. It was on a lake so sorry,
it was close. It was on a leg, but I
(48:26):
but I love baspro. So I was going there and
I was like, this is amazing. I've never seen a bastro. Anyway,
I'm there and I was in Texas and someone was
handing me like, hey, can you sign this position. I'm like, yeah,
I'm Australian will account I don't know, but it was
to secede from the United States of America, and I
was like, I love Texas, man, They're just like we
we we are America and so amazing. Bro, That's all
(48:47):
I have to say. I don't know where I was
going with that, and I just loved it.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
So we're gonna have to wrap up, even though I
feel like we could continue this conversation for hours, but
we always wrap up just asking about something that we
can pray for you for if it's for you specifically
your family, just something that we can cover you in.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Man.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
We've had we've had a lot of er trips recently,
so maybe maybe for some good fortune in that respect,
but no, really I think that obviously I would ask
for prayers for my kids. You know, they're still really
young and they still have you know, a lot of
life ahead of them, and I'm praying that as they
(49:26):
grow up they choose to follow Jesus, and that's that's
my biggest prayer man. And then outside of that that, uh,
kind of like just praying like in agreeance with what
I've already said, which is like, hey, God, use this
however you want to. I don't have any pre you know,
disposition about or preconceived idea about how you're gonna use it.
(49:50):
But I am h really excited about continuing to pray
for this next record and just what what He's gonna
do with it, you know, because it's just completely a
different way of creating where it's just like I'm not
worried about the result anymore. And and you know, it's
(50:11):
been really cool because like people who are helping us
create this record are sensing that and feeling that, like
we are creating from a different vantage point here, and
so we're doing things that you wouldn't normally do, and
we're taking risks and we're.
Speaker 3 (50:23):
And it's just praying a Taco Bell parking lot prayer.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Come on, I mean, when's the last time you heard
of a country artist praying over his record in a
Taco Belt parking lot at too in the morning. That
it's I just I'm excited to see how he uses
it and I and I and I pray that it's
you know, in a way that that helps people. And
I pray that you know, my family and I can
continue to live a life that points back to Jesus.
(50:47):
And it's hard. It's increasingly hard to do. As you
experience success, they're just more things coming at you all
the time that, don't you know, they're disguised as good
things that might not be good. So but yeah, I'd
say the main thing is for my kids. I just
you know, they're still young. There's seven, five, four and
(51:08):
two months, so yeah, just wanting to see them. It's
a miracle to like, for life to play out in
a way that you know, all of my kids would
would find a spouse that you know, believes in believes
in the Lord, and for them to have marriages that
(51:31):
that stay together and are healthy and all those things.
I just in my own life have realized how rare
and tough it is. So just I'm constantly like trying
to pray that over my kids because it's such a
long shot. So uh yeah, if you pray for anything.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Husbands already and they're four one, so good for you.
That's so important.
Speaker 4 (51:51):
Mark.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
Would you like to close today, let's pride.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Lord. We just bring Corey in his beautiful family, his wife,
his five kids before you. We just pray right now
over them health. God. I just pray an end to
the er trips. Lord, to just protect them in every
possible way, in their health God, in their clumsiness. God,
we just pray that you would just guide their steps
(52:16):
in everything. And above all of that, we just pray
for their hearts God, a revelation, a personal understanding and revelation.
I thank you for the example and the witness of
their godly parents showing them the way pointing to you. God,
we just pray for a personal revelation. Would you speak
to them, that seven year old, that five year old
(52:36):
to four year old God, and the little two month
old and the one in your arms right now. God,
we just pray that you would be near to them. God,
that is the cry. Thank you that you hear the
cry of our heart. That is the cry of our heart.
Of course his heart, his wife's heart. God, we thank you.
We just pray over this record, absolutely dedicate it to you.
(52:59):
We dedicate it again to you. In your hands. God,
You're in charge of the outcome. We thank you. The
Bible says you say, Jesus, that the meek shall inherit
the earth. We just speak an inheritance over this record
in Jesus' name, God, a supernatural, heavenly inheritance in Jesus' name.
We thank you for him. We thank you for his testimony. God,
and just grace and strength in Jesus' name over everybody
(53:21):
involved in its Amen. Amen,
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Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com