February 24, 2025 • 25 mins
Brett Young's piercing eyes and 6'6 athletic frame is the prototype for a Hollywood set. Instead, the family man and country star made a run at professional baseball before an elbow injury took him down his journey as a singer-songwriter. Today, the music icon has recorded six number 1 hits and doesn't appear to be slowing down. Young joins the Florida Keys Weekly Podcast to discuss his love for music and family, while juggling a career from the road. For remaining tickets visit thekeywestamp.com to see Brett Young live on March 8th from the Coffee Butler Amphitheater.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to the Florida Keys Weekly podcast. I'm your host,
Brett Myers. Again, happy uh to be on the show
with all you listeners for a very special show. I've
got an incredible guest today. I say it every time
and I have an incredible guest every time. This is
one I personally love.
Good chance you do too once I get him going here.
Before we do that, let's get some things, some house
(00:22):
cleaning items out of the out of the way real quick. Uh,
I wanna thank our sponsors, Overseas Media Group, OMG, that's
the digital company here in the Florida Keys that takes
care of your digital marketing needs, websites, social media, you
name it, they've got the expertise you want and the
service you need from a local standpoint, so I wanna
thank those guys at Overseas Media Group.com.
And also our radio listeners, you're still out there, uh,
(00:43):
coming in early in the morning on WKWF 1600 AM
103.3 FM. All you early risers, I always appreciate it,
getting up early and listening in and of course the
rest of you here with me in podcast land, Apple, Spotify.
Amazon, you name it, you can find that and more
on those platforms or Keysweekly.com, all of our podcasts on Keysweekly.com. Now,
(01:06):
let's get to the part we all tuned in to
hear about and listen in. I have an incredible guest today.
It is none other than country star icon, Mr. Brett Young.
He's coming down to the Coffee Butler Amphitheater here on
March 8th. He'll be playing out to a sold-out crowd,
I can guarantee you that evening is gonna be a
special night. Before he gets here, I've got him right here, Mr.
(01:27):
Brett Young. Brett, thank you so much for coming on
with us.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
What's going on, brother? Pleasure to be
Speaker 1 (01:32):
here. Absolutely, man, um.
So Brett, I feel like I know the answer to this,
but just for our listeners, um, what is your, you've
been down to Key West before I assume, correct? and
had some had some experiences here. Um, what's your last
trip here? Have you been down here since you've had the, uh,
I know you've had some family additions and and a
lot of things going on. When's the last time you
(01:52):
came down to Key West? Do
Speaker 2 (01:53):
you remember? No, you know what, it's been a while.
It's been since before the family. Um, I would, uh,
I would frequent the BMI singer-songwriter festival there quite a bit, um.
Uh, before, before we got busy, I mean, before there
were kids running around and, and there was a home
to keep up and, and the whole thing. Um, so
it'll be, it'll be the first trip down since, uh, probably.
(02:15):
2017.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's, uh, which is pretty interesting considering the trajectory of
your career. I know you had things going on before that,
we'll talk about that, but that's really some things really
kicked into gear there, uh, and then marriage and family,
you've had a lot happen in the scope of 5
or 6, maybe 10 years, even with the pandemic mixed in.
Uh, we'll talk about some of that, but we're glad
to get you back. Any chance the family's coming down
(02:37):
with you to Key West or is this just another stop?
I know you're working hard. I've I've seen your schedule,
it is chock full of stops right now, but any
chance they get to come down with you or is this,
Speaker 2 (02:46):
uh, you know, I wish they did. Uh, we, uh,
we have this.
Annual, my, my wife and and her side of the family, they,
they kind of brought the girls up skiing, and so, um,
while I do not snow ski, I grew up in
Southern California, I do not have that skill set. Um, they, uh,
the girls, the girls now have, uh, have me roped
into an annual ski trip, so.
Um, I'll be flying back from that ski trip early
(03:08):
to play that weekend of shows, and they will be
staying in Idaho on the slopes. So unfortunately they won't
be with me on this one, but they'll be having
a lot of their own fun.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Well, that sounds great. Now you have become a celebrity,
you're on different TV shows, whether it be the Bachelor, obviously.
Um, and I didn't do a lot of it. I
got scolded, Brett, usually I do your intro and I've
had big names on and people, and I, I talk
about all your accolades and and people are like, you
don't need to say their accolades. Everyone knows you've had
6 number one songs and all of these things, but I,
(03:39):
I don't want you to think I skipped over it lightly,
but you're so accomplished. I think most people know, uh,
what you've done out there, they know your songs, they
know Make Believe it came early and then
You know, Brett Young later and of course some of
these big songs, uh, Sleep Without You and in case
you didn't know one of my favorites, um, so I
didn't do all that and, um, but everyone knows who
you are. When you go skiing, say Idaho, you're out
(04:01):
there in the bitter root or wherever it's at, in
those mountains, do people still, are you able to like
be you and get away with the kids for a bit,
or are people still like, hey, there's Brett Young, let's
get a picture or uh are they looking over at
you during dinner or can you get away with it?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You know, I'm, I'm pretty fortunate with like flying under
the radar for the most point with it, which is
strange because I'm huge. I'm like 6'6, 240 pounds, so
I'm not like I'm not like easy to hide, um,
but I've been pretty fortunate to, to just kind of
have a lot of privacy and anonymity. The the places
where it happens are usually airports or, you know, if
(04:34):
we're talking about skiing.
Um, it seems like any like random activity like skiing
or going to the beach or whatever, it's usually fine
unless one person starts it. So if you get that
one person asking for a picture, people that didn't really notice,
they start going, Wait, why did that person ask for
a picture? And then they start googling and you see
the phones come out and then all of a sudden
you got a you got a uh unplanned meet and
(04:54):
greet going on. But for the most part, um, been
really fortunate to, to, you know, I think part of
it is country music fans are really respectful and whether
or not they see you, they might want to let
you and your family have your space.
I don't know that that exists in all genres of music,
but I feel like we have a good fan base
uh in country music. So, um, no, for the most
part we we get to kind of enjoy our privacy
as a family and do our thing. That is
Speaker 1 (05:16):
cool, and this wasn't on my questions to ask you today,
but you're making me think about this because, uh, I'm
a little older than you but not much and as
we said, I know you were singing and writing and
doing things throughout, but you really kind of hit your stride.
Uh, in terms of commercial and people recognizing you, it
looks like, you know, in the mid 2 200 teens there, 1516, 2017, um,
(05:38):
do you ever look back and think, would it be
different for you? Would you write different? Do you think
your career would be different? And we'll talk about baseball
as well, but from from a standpoint of music.
Had you broke through, say, when you were 21 years old,
like a lot, you know, some of these younger people do,
you ever think, would it be different, um, would it,
would it have, you know, chewed you up and spit
you out, or do you do you have that maturity
back in your twenties? What what would what would that
(05:58):
have been like for you because you kind of did
it differently?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think, I think
the biggest thing that I, the, the, I think the
biggest contributor to that answer would be just that I
think I needed the hours playing the bars and restaurants.
I mean, I did, I did 10 years of
You know, 3 to 5 days a week, 3 to
4 hours a night, um, the whole 10,000 hour thing
was real for me. I just wasn't doing it at
honky tonks. I was doing it in bars and restaurants
(06:21):
in California. Um, and so I think the biggest thing
takeaway for me would be that I probably wouldn't have
been ready for it musically, um, uh, had it happened
right out of the gates, you know, um, the other
part of it is like you touched on that, I
think I needed to mature quite a bit to be
able to not become an absolute main.
Maniac, um, after experiencing success and you see it happen,
(06:42):
unfortunately there's so many kids that get it young, they
ruin it, they screw it up. And uh I think that,
you know, for me, getting the experience of all those
those bar and restaurant hours on top of getting to
kind of grow up a little bit before, um, I
had to try to, you know, handle the success. Um,
I think it all worked in my favor, so I
don't have, I don't have any regrets. I'm I'm glad
(07:03):
it happened the way the way and when it did.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Well, dude, and again, you can't talk to a sports
guy like me, an amateur sports guy without, I know
you get these questions all the time, but most people
know that you were not just a baseball player, but
you were extremely talented, you were pre-drafted by I think
the twins and the Rays, you, you journeyed in your
college career to Ole Miss, no joke in the SEC,
back out to Fresno State. So I mean you you
(07:26):
were the real deal, you had the elbow injury.
Um, that's well known and and reported that that gave
you a turn in your career to music out of baseball,
but did baseball play a part in your discipline being
that kind of athlete, having to put that kind of
work in? Were you were you still dabbling in music
at the time or was it baseball or bust until
that until that elbow injury?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, no, I'm kind of all in with whatever it
is I'm doing. So music existed for me before I
went off to college to play ball, um, because I
grew up in the church and leading worship was kind
of a thing that, you know, it was, it was,
it was almost as lucrative in attracting girls as playing sports. So,
so I definitely was, I was, I was, I was
(08:09):
doing a little bit of everything, but when I went
away to college, I, I, I left the guitar at
home and I, I said, you know, if you're gonna,
if you're gonna
You know, if you're gonna chase after something like baseball,
which is so unlikely to happen, um, you better, you
better be all in. And so, um, music didn't come
back around for me until after the elbow injury, um,
and it was something that I leaned on then to
kind of get through that. Um, you know, there's, there's,
(08:31):
you can imagine when you're at, at that high of
a level, almost at the elite level, um, there's a
lot of kind of like, um, depression and, and, uh,
a lot, a lot of emotional stuff you got to
work through when you, when it's taken away from you, uh,
when you're so close, you know.
And, um, and so music, I didn't really fall back
on that until I was, you know, 23 years old.
I started, I started really diving back into that, but
(08:53):
I would, I would agree with what you said 100%
that that what you learn in sports, the work ethic
and the drive, I think is, is what served me
the best in this industry because it would have been
really easy after 10 years in Los Angeles of
You know, successfully making money playing music but having no
real traction in terms of record labels or radio play or, um,
(09:16):
you know, songs getting traction or or or having success.
It would have been really easy to walk away from
it if I didn't have that kind of like head
down bullish.
Um, work ethic and athletic mentality, and I think you
see that actually in country music quite a bit. You've
got the Sam Hunts and the Chris Lanes, and even
Morgan Wallen was the baseball player. I mean, you have
a lot of Chase Rice, a lot of ex-athletes in
country music that I think are willing to willing to
(09:37):
put the work in, and I think that's why you see.
You know, in a lot of other genres, you see
a lot of kids like you talked about earlier getting
their record deals really young and in country music is
a lot of guys that weren't willing to stop grinding,
you know, and I think that was something that served
me really well. Uh,
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I'm not gonna dwell on the sports, but Key West,
in case you didn't know, is a huge baseball town,
pumps out quite a bit, uh, a few D1 players
each year and college players and some pros and
Boy, you, you know, we could talk baseball all day,
but I will ask you, because it is a baseball
town and people will enjoy hearing this, uh, you were
a pitcher, I know. What do you have some guys
that I know you played Ole Miss, you played the SEC,
(10:12):
you played Fresno State. Do you see some guys in
the show today that you played against and anybody who
sat down that you can say, yeah, I sat that
guy down one time.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Um, you know, unfortunately, I'm a little too old for
anybody to still be in the league that I played again.
All right, um, but that being said, yeah, there was,
there was some, there was some cool stuff, uh, you know,
we had, uh, my, my ace Jeff McAvoy.
at Ole Miss, who was a senior when I was
a freshman, I ended up going into the league and
um the on the transverse side of it, the year
(10:42):
I hurt my arm when I was our Friday night
starter at Fresno State, the scrub that I was kind
of charged with bullying and getting into shape because he
was our, our biggest prospect as a freshman, um, ended
up getting his act together. His name was Matt Garza.
He threw for the Cubs for a long time.
Um, but you know, kids that I grew up playing
with Casey Jansen, who ended up pitching for the Blue
Jays for a long time. I mean, there's a lot of,
there's a lot of people that were, you know, people
(11:03):
that I came up with that ended up having success, uh,
in the league and, and, uh, and it's fun, you know, the, the,
the one that's left still, and I, and we barely
missed each other, but only because I hurt myself was
Justin Turner was at uh Cal State Fullerton when I
was at Fresno State.
And had I not hurt myself, I would have played
against him my senior year, and I thought he just
got picked up by the Cubs. So he's still playing.
We've become friends. So yeah, it's really cool. I never
(11:25):
thought that I would get to be this close to
the game and know so many pro ball players because
of my music career, but it's funny how it worked out.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, and again, you don't need me to tout you,
but I don't think some people know you played some baseball.
I'm not sure everyone realizes how good you were.
Um, and, and, you know, I know the work that
went into that. There is another story too, and I
don't know everything on everything on the internet is true,
someone told me it's not, uh, but I did read
that you know, you got your love for music, there
was a church function. I grew up in North Georgia,
(11:54):
sports and church, these types of things, I could see
this in my head.
But someone didn't show up and you went up and
just started singing, I mean, is that, is there some
truth in that or what?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Oh,
that's that's close, that's not exactly it, but that's close.
It the my sophomore year in high school at a
Christian school, there was a chapel every Friday and so
there was worship before chapel, and my sophomore year, um,
a senior first baseman on the baseball team was the
worship leader and one week he asked, um,
If I was available, uh, his second guitar player wasn't around.
(12:24):
He said, Can you learn these 5 songs and just play,
you know, guitar, you know, kind of behind me? Um,
and I did, and he said, Man, you did great.
I'm gonna be gone next week. I need you to lead.
So he did kind of throw me into the fire
and it wasn't just uh playing second acoustic guitar. It was,
it was, you're gonna have to sing in front of
700 people next Friday. So I did get kind of
thrown to the wolves and, and it was, I was,
(12:46):
you know, a sophomore in high school. I wasn't quite
yet even 16.
Um, and it was mortifying. I'm sure it was terrible,
like I, you know, I, I had never, I, I
wasn't trying to sing in front of people at this
stage of my life, so, um, but it was, it
was what I needed to, um, kind of, I guess.
You know, kind of shake the nerves off because when
he graduated that that gig became mine, so my junior
(13:08):
and senior year I was leading
worship.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Was there a rush, like the first time you did
it in front of those people was there that like
endorphins did it give you that little bit of that,
you know, I could do that? Oh yeah,
Speaker 2 (13:18):
to the point to the point that it was full
blown blackout and I don't remember the experience at all.
That's great.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Uh, nerves, like just like taking the mound. You
Speaker 1 (13:26):
go from that talking today, you've covered Tim McGraw's Don't
Take the Girl, I mean you've got your hits and
your number ones and all that you've done, and then
suddenly you're covering Tim McGraw, which I think was so cool.
You've been traveling the globe, I know you've been doing
a lot of stuff overseas, you've you've performed in front
of military, um, what what's this career showing you, especially
traveling the globe, I know you do this stuff in
the states and we love you and there's country music fans.
(13:48):
You've been in places like Ireland and places like that,
it surprises me that there's, you know, I'm so insulated,
I think country music's, uh, kind of isolated to the
states and you realize it's not. What what's is there
a difference in the fans when you go overseas and
what's that like?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, it's a very different fan base over there. Um, well,
first off, I mean, it's, it's wild to, in the
same way that you, you, you know, I'm such a
big baseball fan, you forget that they like music too,
so you, you feel like you're being done a favor getting,
you know, tickets to a game and then you forget
that they're big fans of your music, you know, it
works kind of the same way. You think that country
music is kind of this southern genre of music that
(14:24):
exists in a in a portion of the United States,
but it's, it's really taken over the world.
So it's, it's still wild to me to go overseas
and fill, you know, we sold 8500 tickets in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. We've never been there before, you know, so you,
you don't really know that that's going on until you
go stick yourself in the middle of it. Um, but yeah,
one of the cool things about, uh, specifically like the
(14:45):
EU and the UK, um, the fans over there are like, um.
They're a little different. They don't, they don't just come
for the big hits that they heard on the radio.
They dig really deep. They know every, they're asking for
setlists before the show, so just in case there's a
song they haven't heard, they learn it before the show.
They're singing every word, but they're also very respectful, you know,
when you're when you're talking, it's pin drop silent.
(15:06):
Um, and after a song, it's a roaring applause, but
it's for, you know, 1520 seconds and then it's back
to Pindrop silent for the next song so they can
sing along. Um, so it's, uh, it's almost like going
to church, man. It's just like really, uh, reverent, uh,
special experience over there, and it's a different kind of
fan for sure, so we always enjoy our trips over
the pond.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's really cool and you hit on something, uh, made
me think too to ask you, Brett, you know, I'm
a guy from Georgia and I love all kinds of music.
I grew up, you know, I love it, just like
a lot of us do.
Um, but it used to be, you know, particularly in
the 70s and 80s before things really turned the corner
of country music that you had to be have a
southern accent, be a Southern person and that kind of thing.
There's really no, there's really no, I guess, kit, label,
(15:50):
cookie cut way to be a country artist now.
Um, you know, and you're from, like you said, you're
from California, you've got people from Austria. What, what defines
a country artist today? I mean, I always ask that,
and it's a great thing, it's not it's not a
thing I think people should should have a snooty outlook on.
I think it's incredible what the country industry has done,
but here you are, a guy from California. How how
(16:11):
do you define country music? Is that something you think
about being a guy from from the West Coast?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think it ebbs and flows more
than most genres in terms of what what's being considered
country at the time. I think it's the least definable
now than it's ever been because I think now, I
think we made a big swing when I first got
to Nashville into that bro country pop country thing, um,
and now we've swung really hard back to traditional country
(16:37):
and you've got the Zach Topps and you've got John
Party still having success and all of that, but now
we've been infiltrated by
Um, a lot of what would have been considered like
folk or Americana, which is being considered country music, but
we haven't lost the pop country acts either. So I,
you know, I think it's a, I think it's a
uh indefinable line as to what you would call country
music within the genre right now. Um, but, but I
(16:59):
know I, you know, it's really easy to forget that
pop music just meant popular music at first before we
decided that that was its own genre of music as well. So, um,
I think that right now country's on a tear and
it's global and it's um
you know, unfortunately for music fans right now, there isn't
the singer-songwriter, coffeehouse kind of the genre that that existed
(17:20):
when I first started playing music and those artists, you know,
they have no choice but to consider themselves country if
they want to.
Be attached to a genre and so the country's kind
of taking in all strays and I think it's been
really good for the genre. I think it's why the
genre has exploded and taken off it's because it's not
pigeonholed as one thing right now. I
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I love it. I think it's incredible and the collaborations
we're seeing, you've done some as well. Um, I will
ask you because we talked about the trajectory of your
career and at your age and
Recently had two daughters, um, has that changed the way
and of course COVID comes along and and it's right
in the middle when you're just just really full, you know,
the pedals to the metal, uh, and then COVID hits,
(17:59):
but being it gave you a chance to be a dad,
I'm sure and and having the first daughter, has it
changed the way you write though? Has it changed the
way you look at music or or is that even
a thing, or you say, hey, you know, to me
it just seems like, I know I have kids, you
look at the world a little different, does that does
that kind of transition into music?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, it does. I mean, it, it, I think the
biggest thing is that I've always written what I'm living
at the moment, and I can't do that, otherwise you'd
be getting lullaby records, you know, I can't just only
write the only write what's going on in my house
right now, you know, if we got off the phone
right now, I'd have to write about how my youngest
daughter's crying, um, because it's past her nap time, you know,
that's not a song. So, um, it's certainly changed the
(18:36):
way I go about writing because I have to dig
a little bit deeper for, for content and topics now.
Um, but, you know, the, the, the, the, most of
my success, even though I'm known for a really big
love song, has been my sad songs, and I think
the more cynical I get about the world, the easier
it is for me to dig into that, that side
of my brain. So writing, writing a breakup song um
(18:58):
has strangely gotten wildly easier at a stage in my
life where I'm happily married with two beautiful little girls
because I think there's, I think, you know.
You look at the world when you have kids as
a dad, as a protector, you get, you become a
little bit cynical and a little, a little bit negative.
I think I think that lends itself pretty well to
writing a pretty angsty breakup song. So I've noticed that
(19:20):
I get into those rooms and I'm like, this is sad,
but I think we can go sadder. So I think,
I think there's a little bit of a potion there
that's been working out for me, but for the most part,
I still try to, even if I'm not living it
right now, I try to make sure that anything I'm writing.
Um, comes from personal experience, even if it's just drawn
from an emotion that I can connect to the topic
that we're writing, um, and so I try not to
(19:42):
let
Um, I try not to let this new stage in
my life alienate old fans that remember the heartbroken Brett,
but also, um, I try not to overwrite the love
song just because I'm happily married, and that's where I'm
at in my life. So it has changed just because
it can't be all one thing, there has to be
variety and I have to fight for that a little
bit.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Let's make no mistake about it, I mean we could
dance around it, but you're a good looking dude. Were
you really that heartbroken? Do you have stuff to fall
back on? I don't see how you going, Brett.
Brett, can you hear me OK now?
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, I got you. Did I lose you in
the middle of that? No, no,
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I got all of that, so, uh, and I can
I can edit a little spot out here. I apologize.
It's a it's a glitch here on this machine probably, uh, so,
but I said one thing I said you're talking about
the heartbreak and uh falling back on that I was
I was joking but.
You know, you're a let's we could dance around it,
you're a good looking dude. Uh, did you really have
that much heartbreak in your past? Has Taylor or your
(20:37):
wife ever say, wait a minute, who is this person
you're talking about? Are you going with? I mean,
Speaker 2 (20:41):
the funny thing is the breakup songs are about her. Um, we, we,
we got together pretty young. I mean, me and Taylor
have been.
Um, 2008 was our first date. Um, so, you know,
this Thanksgiving this year will be 17 years since we
first went on a date. So, we, uh, you know, we,
(21:02):
we weren't in the same place a handful of times
in our relationship, which resulted in a breakup.
Um, and so, yeah, no, it was, it's been her
for so long that even the breakup songs were times
where we were, we weren't on the same page. So, um, no,
I wasn't, I wasn't out there, I wasn't out there
trying and getting shot down on a regular basis. I
was just, I was just chasing the same girl for
(21:23):
17 years and finally
got her.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's a beautiful story, I love it and um well
hey I got Brett Young here. I've used most of
my time up with you, Brett. I'm gonna do a
quick rapid fire with you. Is that OK? I get
some questions around the office.
You know, we do like 4 or 5 quick rapid
fire questions. This one's pretty basic. Someone asked me, he said,
ask Brett, do you have a fast food fetish? Like
what do you eat on the road? Do you have
like a guilty pleasure, like a fast food place that
you eat or do you have some?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, leaving California, there are two spots that I miss, um, uh,
and everybody expects one to be in and out and
it's just not. I love In and Out, but that's.
Not one of them. It's Del Taco, and it's moving it,
that's moving its way, uh, southeast now, so we're getting
some down here, uh, and then the other one, and
it's Carl's Junior, and everybody says, well, you have Hardee's,
it's the same, it's not the same. I get it's
(22:06):
the same company, it's not the same. Carl's Junior.
That charbro, charbroiled burger is something else. So those are
my childhood, um, and it's very nostalgic, and those are
the two whenever I'm in a city that has them,
I'm gonna order way too much of it, um, and
just leave it on the bus and and go through it, uh,
all weekend long.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Alright, I love it. Uh, second question, someone said to me,
he said, ask Brett, he said, what's the one thing,
this is a young person doing music down here. He said,
what's the one thing a young person moving to Nashville, uh,
to play some music should do and should not do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Uh, I would say what used to be the way
to be heard was to go play on Broadway, and
now it's kind of where young talent goes to die unfortunately,
try to stay away from taking the Broadway gigs, and
what you should do, um, which is the exact opposite
of that, the same answer but different, um, you should
get into all the writers' rooms, go showcase the songs
that you're writing, be writing every day and take every
(22:59):
opportunity to play at the listening room of the Bluebird Cafe,
or it's, it's, we're lucky now that there's about 100
rooms like that where you can go get in.
Um, and, uh, and be showcasing new songs and trying
them out on people and, um, don't go, don't go
get stuck covering other people's songs if you came here
to be an artist with your original music, go be
playing your original music.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Right on, um, last couple questions here with Brett, uh, the, uh,
one was, there's a lot of collaborations out there, obviously
you've had one with Ashley Cook lately, some others, um,
but country's doing a lot of different things. You get
to pick one collab right now, doesn't matter what genre,
who it is, who who who would you love to
do a collaboration with right now that you haven't done yet?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
You mentioned it earlier. I had 3 bucket lists collabs
when I moved to Nashville, and I've gotten to do
2 of them. Uh, my first concert ever was Boyz
II Men. I got to do a CMT Crossroads with
Boyz II Men. That was incredible. The first album that
I ever heard that made me want to actually write
my own music was early 2000s. Gavin DeGraw put out
a record called Chariot, um, and I've since gotten to
(24:01):
write and record a song with him for my second
record called Chapters.
And the only one left is the, you know, growing
up in Southern California, there was nobody was really listening
to country music. I was really the only one and
there was a song, the song that got me into
it in 1993 with Tim McGraw, Don't Take the Girl. So, um,
that's Tim. I've gotten to do a lot of cool
stuff around Tim. I even got to sing Don't Take
(24:22):
the Girl to him and his family at the Ryman
for a tribute to Tim.
Um, but I've still not gotten to collab with him,
so that's the one I got left on the bucket list.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I
got goosebumps as you said that, I swear you you
get to sing to his family, his song, and you
being the guy that did that, that, I mean, we
could talk another show about that, I'm sure, but that
had to be special.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It
was really, really special. It was a once in a
lifetime deal.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Alright, we'll ask one, I got the last question here
uh for Brett Young, it's a very cliche question, but
I like it, it's the best piece of advice you
got uh in your music career.
Uh, what was the best piece of advice and who
was it
Speaker 2 (24:55):
from? It came from Gavin DeGraw, and I didn't understand
at the time, and I understand it now. He said,
if you can be happy doing anything besides music, then
do literally anything besides music. But if music's the only
thing that's gonna make you happy.
Then don't let, don't let anybody tell you what your
journey should look like. Put your head down and keep
fighting for it.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I love it. Well, rep, you've been very gracious with
your time. I love that you came on the show
with us. We can't wait to see you in Key West.
You got the upcoming show, March 8th, that's the Butler Amphitheater, everyone,
you can get your tickets if they remain.
At the Key West, the Key West AMP, the KeysAmp.com,
grab tickets there, see Brett Young right here, Brett, thanks
(25:35):
so much for doing this, man. Can't wait, I'll be
out there, can't wait to see you and it's been
it's been a real pleasure and a joy having you
on the show and talking to you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Pleasure's all mine, can't wait to see you guys real soon. Alright, brother,
Speaker 1 (25:45):
get back to that baby and uh snap. Alright man,
thanks so
Speaker 2 (25:48):
much. Thanks. Take care, bye.
Welcome back to the Florida Keys Weekly podcast. I'm your host,
Brett Myers. Again, happy uh to be on the show
with all you listeners for a very special show. I've
got an incredible guest today. I say it every time
and I have an incredible guest every time. This is
one I personally love.
Good chance you do too once I get him going here.
Before we do that, let's get some things, some house
(00:22):
cleaning items out of the out of the way real quick. Uh,
I wanna thank our sponsors, Overseas Media Group, OMG, that's
the digital company here in the Florida Keys that takes
care of your digital marketing needs, websites, social media, you
name it, they've got the expertise you want and the
service you need from a local standpoint, so I wanna
thank those guys at Overseas Media Group.com.
And also our radio listeners, you're still out there, uh,
(00:43):
coming in early in the morning on WKWF 1600 AM
103.3 FM. All you early risers, I always appreciate it,
getting up early and listening in and of course the
rest of you here with me in podcast land, Apple, Spotify.
Amazon, you name it, you can find that and more
on those platforms or Keysweekly.com, all of our podcasts on Keysweekly.com. Now,
(01:06):
let's get to the part we all tuned in to
hear about and listen in. I have an incredible guest today.
It is none other than country star icon, Mr. Brett Young.
He's coming down to the Coffee Butler Amphitheater here on
March 8th. He'll be playing out to a sold-out crowd,
I can guarantee you that evening is gonna be a
special night. Before he gets here, I've got him right here, Mr.
(01:27):
Brett Young. Brett, thank you so much for coming on
with us.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
What's going on, brother? Pleasure to be
Speaker 1 (01:32):
here. Absolutely, man, um.
So Brett, I feel like I know the answer to this,
but just for our listeners, um, what is your, you've
been down to Key West before I assume, correct? and
had some had some experiences here. Um, what's your last
trip here? Have you been down here since you've had the, uh,
I know you've had some family additions and and a
lot of things going on. When's the last time you
(01:52):
came down to Key West? Do
Speaker 2 (01:53):
you remember? No, you know what, it's been a while.
It's been since before the family. Um, I would, uh,
I would frequent the BMI singer-songwriter festival there quite a bit, um.
Uh, before, before we got busy, I mean, before there
were kids running around and, and there was a home
to keep up and, and the whole thing. Um, so
it'll be, it'll be the first trip down since, uh, probably.
(02:15):
2017.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That's, uh, which is pretty interesting considering the trajectory of
your career. I know you had things going on before that,
we'll talk about that, but that's really some things really
kicked into gear there, uh, and then marriage and family,
you've had a lot happen in the scope of 5
or 6, maybe 10 years, even with the pandemic mixed in.
Uh, we'll talk about some of that, but we're glad
to get you back. Any chance the family's coming down
(02:37):
with you to Key West or is this just another stop?
I know you're working hard. I've I've seen your schedule,
it is chock full of stops right now, but any
chance they get to come down with you or is this,
Speaker 2 (02:46):
uh, you know, I wish they did. Uh, we, uh,
we have this.
Annual, my, my wife and and her side of the family, they,
they kind of brought the girls up skiing, and so, um,
while I do not snow ski, I grew up in
Southern California, I do not have that skill set. Um, they, uh,
the girls, the girls now have, uh, have me roped
into an annual ski trip, so.
Um, I'll be flying back from that ski trip early
(03:08):
to play that weekend of shows, and they will be
staying in Idaho on the slopes. So unfortunately they won't
be with me on this one, but they'll be having
a lot of their own fun.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Well, that sounds great. Now you have become a celebrity,
you're on different TV shows, whether it be the Bachelor, obviously.
Um, and I didn't do a lot of it. I
got scolded, Brett, usually I do your intro and I've
had big names on and people, and I, I talk
about all your accolades and and people are like, you
don't need to say their accolades. Everyone knows you've had
6 number one songs and all of these things, but I,
(03:39):
I don't want you to think I skipped over it lightly,
but you're so accomplished. I think most people know, uh,
what you've done out there, they know your songs, they
know Make Believe it came early and then
You know, Brett Young later and of course some of
these big songs, uh, Sleep Without You and in case
you didn't know one of my favorites, um, so I
didn't do all that and, um, but everyone knows who
you are. When you go skiing, say Idaho, you're out
(04:01):
there in the bitter root or wherever it's at, in
those mountains, do people still, are you able to like
be you and get away with the kids for a bit,
or are people still like, hey, there's Brett Young, let's
get a picture or uh are they looking over at
you during dinner or can you get away with it?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You know, I'm, I'm pretty fortunate with like flying under
the radar for the most point with it, which is
strange because I'm huge. I'm like 6'6, 240 pounds, so
I'm not like I'm not like easy to hide, um,
but I've been pretty fortunate to, to just kind of
have a lot of privacy and anonymity. The the places
where it happens are usually airports or, you know, if
(04:34):
we're talking about skiing.
Um, it seems like any like random activity like skiing
or going to the beach or whatever, it's usually fine
unless one person starts it. So if you get that
one person asking for a picture, people that didn't really notice,
they start going, Wait, why did that person ask for
a picture? And then they start googling and you see
the phones come out and then all of a sudden
you got a you got a uh unplanned meet and
(04:54):
greet going on. But for the most part, um, been
really fortunate to, to, you know, I think part of
it is country music fans are really respectful and whether
or not they see you, they might want to let
you and your family have your space.
I don't know that that exists in all genres of music,
but I feel like we have a good fan base
uh in country music. So, um, no, for the most
part we we get to kind of enjoy our privacy
as a family and do our thing. That is
Speaker 1 (05:16):
cool, and this wasn't on my questions to ask you today,
but you're making me think about this because, uh, I'm
a little older than you but not much and as
we said, I know you were singing and writing and
doing things throughout, but you really kind of hit your stride.
Uh, in terms of commercial and people recognizing you, it
looks like, you know, in the mid 2 200 teens there, 1516, 2017, um,
(05:38):
do you ever look back and think, would it be
different for you? Would you write different? Do you think
your career would be different? And we'll talk about baseball
as well, but from from a standpoint of music.
Had you broke through, say, when you were 21 years old,
like a lot, you know, some of these younger people do,
you ever think, would it be different, um, would it,
would it have, you know, chewed you up and spit
you out, or do you do you have that maturity
back in your twenties? What what would what would that
(05:58):
have been like for you because you kind of did
it differently?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think, I think
the biggest thing that I, the, the, I think the
biggest contributor to that answer would be just that I
think I needed the hours playing the bars and restaurants.
I mean, I did, I did 10 years of
You know, 3 to 5 days a week, 3 to
4 hours a night, um, the whole 10,000 hour thing
was real for me. I just wasn't doing it at
honky tonks. I was doing it in bars and restaurants
(06:21):
in California. Um, and so I think the biggest thing
takeaway for me would be that I probably wouldn't have
been ready for it musically, um, uh, had it happened
right out of the gates, you know, um, the other
part of it is like you touched on that, I
think I needed to mature quite a bit to be
able to not become an absolute main.
Maniac, um, after experiencing success and you see it happen,
(06:42):
unfortunately there's so many kids that get it young, they
ruin it, they screw it up. And uh I think that,
you know, for me, getting the experience of all those
those bar and restaurant hours on top of getting to
kind of grow up a little bit before, um, I
had to try to, you know, handle the success. Um,
I think it all worked in my favor, so I
don't have, I don't have any regrets. I'm I'm glad
(07:03):
it happened the way the way and when it did.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Well, dude, and again, you can't talk to a sports
guy like me, an amateur sports guy without, I know
you get these questions all the time, but most people
know that you were not just a baseball player, but
you were extremely talented, you were pre-drafted by I think
the twins and the Rays, you, you journeyed in your
college career to Ole Miss, no joke in the SEC,
back out to Fresno State. So I mean you you
(07:26):
were the real deal, you had the elbow injury.
Um, that's well known and and reported that that gave
you a turn in your career to music out of baseball,
but did baseball play a part in your discipline being
that kind of athlete, having to put that kind of
work in? Were you were you still dabbling in music
at the time or was it baseball or bust until
that until that elbow injury?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, no, I'm kind of all in with whatever it
is I'm doing. So music existed for me before I
went off to college to play ball, um, because I
grew up in the church and leading worship was kind
of a thing that, you know, it was, it was,
it was almost as lucrative in attracting girls as playing sports. So,
so I definitely was, I was, I was, I was
(08:09):
doing a little bit of everything, but when I went
away to college, I, I, I left the guitar at
home and I, I said, you know, if you're gonna,
if you're gonna
You know, if you're gonna chase after something like baseball,
which is so unlikely to happen, um, you better, you
better be all in. And so, um, music didn't come
back around for me until after the elbow injury, um,
and it was something that I leaned on then to
kind of get through that. Um, you know, there's, there's,
(08:31):
you can imagine when you're at, at that high of
a level, almost at the elite level, um, there's a
lot of kind of like, um, depression and, and, uh,
a lot, a lot of emotional stuff you got to
work through when you, when it's taken away from you, uh,
when you're so close, you know.
And, um, and so music, I didn't really fall back
on that until I was, you know, 23 years old.
I started, I started really diving back into that, but
(08:53):
I would, I would agree with what you said 100%
that that what you learn in sports, the work ethic
and the drive, I think is, is what served me
the best in this industry because it would have been
really easy after 10 years in Los Angeles of
You know, successfully making money playing music but having no
real traction in terms of record labels or radio play or, um,
(09:16):
you know, songs getting traction or or or having success.
It would have been really easy to walk away from
it if I didn't have that kind of like head
down bullish.
Um, work ethic and athletic mentality, and I think you
see that actually in country music quite a bit. You've
got the Sam Hunts and the Chris Lanes, and even
Morgan Wallen was the baseball player. I mean, you have
a lot of Chase Rice, a lot of ex-athletes in
country music that I think are willing to willing to
(09:37):
put the work in, and I think that's why you see.
You know, in a lot of other genres, you see
a lot of kids like you talked about earlier getting
their record deals really young and in country music is
a lot of guys that weren't willing to stop grinding,
you know, and I think that was something that served
me really well. Uh,
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I'm not gonna dwell on the sports, but Key West,
in case you didn't know, is a huge baseball town,
pumps out quite a bit, uh, a few D1 players
each year and college players and some pros and
Boy, you, you know, we could talk baseball all day,
but I will ask you, because it is a baseball
town and people will enjoy hearing this, uh, you were
a pitcher, I know. What do you have some guys
that I know you played Ole Miss, you played the SEC,
(10:12):
you played Fresno State. Do you see some guys in
the show today that you played against and anybody who
sat down that you can say, yeah, I sat that
guy down one time.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Um, you know, unfortunately, I'm a little too old for
anybody to still be in the league that I played again.
All right, um, but that being said, yeah, there was,
there was some, there was some cool stuff, uh, you know,
we had, uh, my, my ace Jeff McAvoy.
at Ole Miss, who was a senior when I was
a freshman, I ended up going into the league and
um the on the transverse side of it, the year
(10:42):
I hurt my arm when I was our Friday night
starter at Fresno State, the scrub that I was kind
of charged with bullying and getting into shape because he
was our, our biggest prospect as a freshman, um, ended
up getting his act together. His name was Matt Garza.
He threw for the Cubs for a long time.
Um, but you know, kids that I grew up playing
with Casey Jansen, who ended up pitching for the Blue
Jays for a long time. I mean, there's a lot of,
there's a lot of people that were, you know, people
(11:03):
that I came up with that ended up having success, uh,
in the league and, and, uh, and it's fun, you know, the, the,
the one that's left still, and I, and we barely
missed each other, but only because I hurt myself was
Justin Turner was at uh Cal State Fullerton when I
was at Fresno State.
And had I not hurt myself, I would have played
against him my senior year, and I thought he just
got picked up by the Cubs. So he's still playing.
We've become friends. So yeah, it's really cool. I never
(11:25):
thought that I would get to be this close to
the game and know so many pro ball players because
of my music career, but it's funny how it worked out.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, and again, you don't need me to tout you,
but I don't think some people know you played some baseball.
I'm not sure everyone realizes how good you were.
Um, and, and, you know, I know the work that
went into that. There is another story too, and I
don't know everything on everything on the internet is true,
someone told me it's not, uh, but I did read
that you know, you got your love for music, there
was a church function. I grew up in North Georgia,
(11:54):
sports and church, these types of things, I could see
this in my head.
But someone didn't show up and you went up and
just started singing, I mean, is that, is there some
truth in that or what?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Oh,
that's that's close, that's not exactly it, but that's close.
It the my sophomore year in high school at a
Christian school, there was a chapel every Friday and so
there was worship before chapel, and my sophomore year, um,
a senior first baseman on the baseball team was the
worship leader and one week he asked, um,
If I was available, uh, his second guitar player wasn't around.
(12:24):
He said, Can you learn these 5 songs and just play,
you know, guitar, you know, kind of behind me? Um,
and I did, and he said, Man, you did great.
I'm gonna be gone next week. I need you to lead.
So he did kind of throw me into the fire
and it wasn't just uh playing second acoustic guitar. It was,
it was, you're gonna have to sing in front of
700 people next Friday. So I did get kind of
thrown to the wolves and, and it was, I was,
(12:46):
you know, a sophomore in high school. I wasn't quite
yet even 16.
Um, and it was mortifying. I'm sure it was terrible,
like I, you know, I, I had never, I, I
wasn't trying to sing in front of people at this
stage of my life, so, um, but it was, it
was what I needed to, um, kind of, I guess.
You know, kind of shake the nerves off because when
he graduated that that gig became mine, so my junior
(13:08):
and senior year I was leading
worship.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Was there a rush, like the first time you did
it in front of those people was there that like
endorphins did it give you that little bit of that,
you know, I could do that? Oh yeah,
Speaker 2 (13:18):
to the point to the point that it was full
blown blackout and I don't remember the experience at all.
That's great.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Uh, nerves, like just like taking the mound. You
Speaker 1 (13:26):
go from that talking today, you've covered Tim McGraw's Don't
Take the Girl, I mean you've got your hits and
your number ones and all that you've done, and then
suddenly you're covering Tim McGraw, which I think was so cool.
You've been traveling the globe, I know you've been doing
a lot of stuff overseas, you've you've performed in front
of military, um, what what's this career showing you, especially
traveling the globe, I know you do this stuff in
the states and we love you and there's country music fans.
(13:48):
You've been in places like Ireland and places like that,
it surprises me that there's, you know, I'm so insulated,
I think country music's, uh, kind of isolated to the
states and you realize it's not. What what's is there
a difference in the fans when you go overseas and
what's that like?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, it's a very different fan base over there. Um, well,
first off, I mean, it's, it's wild to, in the
same way that you, you, you know, I'm such a
big baseball fan, you forget that they like music too,
so you, you feel like you're being done a favor getting,
you know, tickets to a game and then you forget
that they're big fans of your music, you know, it
works kind of the same way. You think that country
music is kind of this southern genre of music that
(14:24):
exists in a in a portion of the United States,
but it's, it's really taken over the world.
So it's, it's still wild to me to go overseas
and fill, you know, we sold 8500 tickets in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. We've never been there before, you know, so you,
you don't really know that that's going on until you
go stick yourself in the middle of it. Um, but yeah,
one of the cool things about, uh, specifically like the
(14:45):
EU and the UK, um, the fans over there are like, um.
They're a little different. They don't, they don't just come
for the big hits that they heard on the radio.
They dig really deep. They know every, they're asking for
setlists before the show, so just in case there's a
song they haven't heard, they learn it before the show.
They're singing every word, but they're also very respectful, you know,
when you're when you're talking, it's pin drop silent.
(15:06):
Um, and after a song, it's a roaring applause, but
it's for, you know, 1520 seconds and then it's back
to Pindrop silent for the next song so they can
sing along. Um, so it's, uh, it's almost like going
to church, man. It's just like really, uh, reverent, uh,
special experience over there, and it's a different kind of
fan for sure, so we always enjoy our trips over
the pond.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's really cool and you hit on something, uh, made
me think too to ask you, Brett, you know, I'm
a guy from Georgia and I love all kinds of music.
I grew up, you know, I love it, just like
a lot of us do.
Um, but it used to be, you know, particularly in
the 70s and 80s before things really turned the corner
of country music that you had to be have a
southern accent, be a Southern person and that kind of thing.
There's really no, there's really no, I guess, kit, label,
(15:50):
cookie cut way to be a country artist now.
Um, you know, and you're from, like you said, you're
from California, you've got people from Austria. What, what defines
a country artist today? I mean, I always ask that,
and it's a great thing, it's not it's not a
thing I think people should should have a snooty outlook on.
I think it's incredible what the country industry has done,
but here you are, a guy from California. How how
(16:11):
do you define country music? Is that something you think
about being a guy from from the West Coast?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think it ebbs and flows more
than most genres in terms of what what's being considered
country at the time. I think it's the least definable
now than it's ever been because I think now, I
think we made a big swing when I first got
to Nashville into that bro country pop country thing, um,
and now we've swung really hard back to traditional country
(16:37):
and you've got the Zach Topps and you've got John
Party still having success and all of that, but now
we've been infiltrated by
Um, a lot of what would have been considered like
folk or Americana, which is being considered country music, but
we haven't lost the pop country acts either. So I,
you know, I think it's a, I think it's a
uh indefinable line as to what you would call country
music within the genre right now. Um, but, but I
(16:59):
know I, you know, it's really easy to forget that
pop music just meant popular music at first before we
decided that that was its own genre of music as well. So, um,
I think that right now country's on a tear and
it's global and it's um
you know, unfortunately for music fans right now, there isn't
the singer-songwriter, coffeehouse kind of the genre that that existed
(17:20):
when I first started playing music and those artists, you know,
they have no choice but to consider themselves country if
they want to.
Be attached to a genre and so the country's kind
of taking in all strays and I think it's been
really good for the genre. I think it's why the
genre has exploded and taken off it's because it's not
pigeonholed as one thing right now. I
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I love it. I think it's incredible and the collaborations
we're seeing, you've done some as well. Um, I will
ask you because we talked about the trajectory of your
career and at your age and
Recently had two daughters, um, has that changed the way
and of course COVID comes along and and it's right
in the middle when you're just just really full, you know,
the pedals to the metal, uh, and then COVID hits,
(17:59):
but being it gave you a chance to be a dad,
I'm sure and and having the first daughter, has it
changed the way you write though? Has it changed the
way you look at music or or is that even
a thing, or you say, hey, you know, to me
it just seems like, I know I have kids, you
look at the world a little different, does that does
that kind of transition into music?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, it does. I mean, it, it, I think the
biggest thing is that I've always written what I'm living
at the moment, and I can't do that, otherwise you'd
be getting lullaby records, you know, I can't just only
write the only write what's going on in my house
right now, you know, if we got off the phone
right now, I'd have to write about how my youngest
daughter's crying, um, because it's past her nap time, you know,
that's not a song. So, um, it's certainly changed the
(18:36):
way I go about writing because I have to dig
a little bit deeper for, for content and topics now.
Um, but, you know, the, the, the, the, most of
my success, even though I'm known for a really big
love song, has been my sad songs, and I think
the more cynical I get about the world, the easier
it is for me to dig into that, that side
of my brain. So writing, writing a breakup song um
(18:58):
has strangely gotten wildly easier at a stage in my
life where I'm happily married with two beautiful little girls
because I think there's, I think, you know.
You look at the world when you have kids as
a dad, as a protector, you get, you become a
little bit cynical and a little, a little bit negative.
I think I think that lends itself pretty well to
writing a pretty angsty breakup song. So I've noticed that
(19:20):
I get into those rooms and I'm like, this is sad,
but I think we can go sadder. So I think,
I think there's a little bit of a potion there
that's been working out for me, but for the most part,
I still try to, even if I'm not living it
right now, I try to make sure that anything I'm writing.
Um, comes from personal experience, even if it's just drawn
from an emotion that I can connect to the topic
that we're writing, um, and so I try not to
(19:42):
let
Um, I try not to let this new stage in
my life alienate old fans that remember the heartbroken Brett,
but also, um, I try not to overwrite the love
song just because I'm happily married, and that's where I'm
at in my life. So it has changed just because
it can't be all one thing, there has to be
variety and I have to fight for that a little
bit.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Let's make no mistake about it, I mean we could
dance around it, but you're a good looking dude. Were
you really that heartbroken? Do you have stuff to fall
back on? I don't see how you going, Brett.
Brett, can you hear me OK now?
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, I got you. Did I lose you in
the middle of that? No, no,
Speaker 1 (20:16):
I got all of that, so, uh, and I can
I can edit a little spot out here. I apologize.
It's a it's a glitch here on this machine probably, uh, so,
but I said one thing I said you're talking about
the heartbreak and uh falling back on that I was
I was joking but.
You know, you're a let's we could dance around it,
you're a good looking dude. Uh, did you really have
that much heartbreak in your past? Has Taylor or your
(20:37):
wife ever say, wait a minute, who is this person
you're talking about? Are you going with? I mean,
Speaker 2 (20:41):
the funny thing is the breakup songs are about her. Um, we, we,
we got together pretty young. I mean, me and Taylor
have been.
Um, 2008 was our first date. Um, so, you know,
this Thanksgiving this year will be 17 years since we
first went on a date. So, we, uh, you know, we,
(21:02):
we weren't in the same place a handful of times
in our relationship, which resulted in a breakup.
Um, and so, yeah, no, it was, it's been her
for so long that even the breakup songs were times
where we were, we weren't on the same page. So, um, no,
I wasn't, I wasn't out there, I wasn't out there
trying and getting shot down on a regular basis. I
was just, I was just chasing the same girl for
(21:23):
17 years and finally
got her.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
That's a beautiful story, I love it and um well
hey I got Brett Young here. I've used most of
my time up with you, Brett. I'm gonna do a
quick rapid fire with you. Is that OK? I get
some questions around the office.
You know, we do like 4 or 5 quick rapid
fire questions. This one's pretty basic. Someone asked me, he said,
ask Brett, do you have a fast food fetish? Like
what do you eat on the road? Do you have
like a guilty pleasure, like a fast food place that
you eat or do you have some?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, leaving California, there are two spots that I miss, um, uh,
and everybody expects one to be in and out and
it's just not. I love In and Out, but that's.
Not one of them. It's Del Taco, and it's moving it,
that's moving its way, uh, southeast now, so we're getting
some down here, uh, and then the other one, and
it's Carl's Junior, and everybody says, well, you have Hardee's,
it's the same, it's not the same. I get it's
(22:06):
the same company, it's not the same. Carl's Junior.
That charbro, charbroiled burger is something else. So those are
my childhood, um, and it's very nostalgic, and those are
the two whenever I'm in a city that has them,
I'm gonna order way too much of it, um, and
just leave it on the bus and and go through it, uh,
all weekend long.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Alright, I love it. Uh, second question, someone said to me,
he said, ask Brett, he said, what's the one thing,
this is a young person doing music down here. He said,
what's the one thing a young person moving to Nashville, uh,
to play some music should do and should not do.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Uh, I would say what used to be the way
to be heard was to go play on Broadway, and
now it's kind of where young talent goes to die unfortunately,
try to stay away from taking the Broadway gigs, and
what you should do, um, which is the exact opposite
of that, the same answer but different, um, you should
get into all the writers' rooms, go showcase the songs
that you're writing, be writing every day and take every
(22:59):
opportunity to play at the listening room of the Bluebird Cafe,
or it's, it's, we're lucky now that there's about 100
rooms like that where you can go get in.
Um, and, uh, and be showcasing new songs and trying
them out on people and, um, don't go, don't go
get stuck covering other people's songs if you came here
to be an artist with your original music, go be
playing your original music.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Right on, um, last couple questions here with Brett, uh, the, uh,
one was, there's a lot of collaborations out there, obviously
you've had one with Ashley Cook lately, some others, um,
but country's doing a lot of different things. You get
to pick one collab right now, doesn't matter what genre,
who it is, who who who would you love to
do a collaboration with right now that you haven't done yet?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
You mentioned it earlier. I had 3 bucket lists collabs
when I moved to Nashville, and I've gotten to do
2 of them. Uh, my first concert ever was Boyz
II Men. I got to do a CMT Crossroads with
Boyz II Men. That was incredible. The first album that
I ever heard that made me want to actually write
my own music was early 2000s. Gavin DeGraw put out
a record called Chariot, um, and I've since gotten to
(24:01):
write and record a song with him for my second
record called Chapters.
And the only one left is the, you know, growing
up in Southern California, there was nobody was really listening
to country music. I was really the only one and
there was a song, the song that got me into
it in 1993 with Tim McGraw, Don't Take the Girl. So, um,
that's Tim. I've gotten to do a lot of cool
stuff around Tim. I even got to sing Don't Take
(24:22):
the Girl to him and his family at the Ryman
for a tribute to Tim.
Um, but I've still not gotten to collab with him,
so that's the one I got left on the bucket list.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I
got goosebumps as you said that, I swear you you
get to sing to his family, his song, and you
being the guy that did that, that, I mean, we
could talk another show about that, I'm sure, but that
had to be special.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It
was really, really special. It was a once in a
lifetime deal.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Alright, we'll ask one, I got the last question here
uh for Brett Young, it's a very cliche question, but
I like it, it's the best piece of advice you
got uh in your music career.
Uh, what was the best piece of advice and who
was it
Speaker 2 (24:55):
from? It came from Gavin DeGraw, and I didn't understand
at the time, and I understand it now. He said,
if you can be happy doing anything besides music, then
do literally anything besides music. But if music's the only
thing that's gonna make you happy.
Then don't let, don't let anybody tell you what your
journey should look like. Put your head down and keep
fighting for it.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I love it. Well, rep, you've been very gracious with
your time. I love that you came on the show
with us. We can't wait to see you in Key West.
You got the upcoming show, March 8th, that's the Butler Amphitheater, everyone,
you can get your tickets if they remain.
At the Key West, the Key West AMP, the KeysAmp.com,
grab tickets there, see Brett Young right here, Brett, thanks
(25:35):
so much for doing this, man. Can't wait, I'll be
out there, can't wait to see you and it's been
it's been a real pleasure and a joy having you
on the show and talking to you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Pleasure's all mine, can't wait to see you guys real soon. Alright, brother,
Speaker 1 (25:45):
get back to that baby and uh snap. Alright man,
thanks so
Speaker 2 (25:48):
much. Thanks. Take care, bye.
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